Hello everyone, I hope you're doing really well today.

My name is Ms. Afzal and I'm really pleased because today I get to share with you one of my favourite novels.

It is called "Front Desk," and it's written by Kelly Yang.

So I'd like to pause the video here for a moment while you go and fetch your copy of the novel.

All right, it's good to see you again.

You have this brilliant, brilliant novel in your hands.

You have hopefully some curiosity, some ideas, some interest.

Let's begin exploring together.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can discuss the main ideas of "Front Desk." Here are some of the keywords that will come up in today's lesson.

Let's go through them one at a time, my turn, your turn.

Immigrant, prejudice, discrimination, theme.

Fantastic, it was good to hear those loud and clear.

Let's find out a bit more about what these words mean.

An immigrant is a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.

Prejudice is holding unfair and unreasonable opinions or feelings based on limited thought and knowledge.

Discrimination means treating a person or group of people differently and unfairly because of a certain characteristic.

And a theme is a big idea, topic or message that recurs within a story.

So let's make sure we're looking out for these words, let's listen for them, let's think carefully about them and let's explore them.

So our lesson today, developing understanding of "Front Desk" through rich discussions has got two parts to it.

First, we'll be exploring the story, and after that we'll be exploring themes.

Let's start off exploring the story.

"Front Desk, is written by Kelly Yang with cover illustrations by Maike Plenzke.

"Front Desk" is a novel inspired by the author's childhood.

It is a work of fiction.

Kelly Yang's family immigrated to the United States from China when she was a young girl.

She grew up in California in a similar situation to the central protagonist, Mia Tang.

The text explores complex themes including racism, bullying, poverty and justice.

It shares with readers the importance of tolerance and diversity, such, such important themes.

The author's note explores Kelly Yang's experiences and how similar they are to Mia, and look at Kelly Yang there, proudly holding up two of her novels.

Refer to pages 358 to 363.

Kelly describes how she ran the front desk at several of her parents' motels.

Like Mia, Kelly loved checking most people into their rooms, she loved the thrill of it all.

Kelly's family arrived in the United States with only $200.

She describes how her family and the weeklies, these were regular guests who would play by the week, formed close bonds through their shared poverty.

I have some questions for you.

Why is this novel important and do you think it reflects what life is like for all immigrants? So pause the video here and turn to someone nearby and discuss your answers to these two questions.

Okay, let's see, here's some responses, here's Sofia.

"This novel is important because it provides readers with experiences that might be from a perspective different to our own.

It might also reflect the lived experiences of some children who have immigrated to another country.

The text blends real life experiences with fiction.

It does not reflect what life is like for all immigrants, however, does deal with issues that many readers can relate to." Yeah, thank you, Sofia, such important points there.

I wonder if you came up with anything similar to this or maybe something different.

Check for understanding, true or false, "Front Desk" is a memoir.

It describes author Kelly Yang's childhood.

Pause video while he decide if this is true or false.

Well done if you selected false.

It's not actually a memoir.

And now I'd like you to justify your answer.

"Front Desk" is fictional, however, Kelly Yang includes many events that did happen in her own childhood, or in "Front Desk," Mia uses her writing to support fellow immigrants that she meets at the hotel.

Pause the video while you decide which of these justifications best fits with your answer.

Well done if you selected A.

While it's true that both of these statements are indeed true, justification A is the one that best fits with the answer that "Front Desk" is not a memoir.

Let's remind ourselves what happens in this fantastic text.

Here's a brief summary.

Every day, Mia supports her parents by running the front desk at a Calivista Motel.

Mia joins Dale Elementary School.

It is her fifth school since arriving in America.

Mia begins to understand that life is different for her compared to many of her classmates.

She notices people who are prejudiced against others.

Mia notices a writing competition where the prize is to own your very own motel.

She sets her sights on winning it.

Mia does not win the competition, but works hard to support her parents and the weeklies.

Through her writing, she ends up securing enough investment for her family to buy the motel from the owner, Mr. Yao.

Check for understanding.

Put the following events from "Front Desk" in chronological order.

So chronological means in time order, in the sequence at which they occurred in the text.

And you can use the text to support you.

Let me read through them, first of all.

So A, learning that the motel where they live is up for sale, Mia asks her mother to see if their family in China could help.

Mia's parents find a job advert for a motel, the Calivista.

They apply and the owner immediately accepts their offer.

Uncle Ming, a family friend, arrives at the motel.

He's fleeing from loan sharks having borrowed money he cannot pay back.

Hank, a weekly, is accused of stealing a guest's car.

He is fired from his job.

So pause the video now while you decide which order these events should go in.

Okay, let's get back together.

And which one did you have first? Did you have this one? Mia's parents finding the job advert for the motel, that was the first event that occurred out of these four.

Next is Uncle Ming, the family friend, arriving at the hotel.

Then Hank is accused of stealing a guest's car.

And the final event is Mia asking her mother to see if their family in China could help when the motel is up for sale.

And now let's move on to our first task.

Now that we've explored the story, we're going to discuss our own thoughts and our feelings about this text.

Answer the questions in the grid that will come up in a moment with your partner.

Be honest about your thoughts and make sure you listen to your partner's opinions.

So really careful, mindful listening.

So here's the grid to help you to organise your thoughts and feelings.

So likes, what caught your attention, what made you wanna keep on reading, keep turning that page? And here are some sentence stems. You might begin with, "I enjoyed," or, "My favourite part was." Any dislikes, anything that you didn't understand? You could say, "I was unsure about," or, "I wanted to know more about." And finally, puzzles.

Is there anything you found strange or surprising? I wondered, I noticed could be your sentence starters.

So pause the video now and share with someone nearby your likes, dislikes, and puzzles about this text.

I wonder what you came up with.

I'm going to share some of my responses.

Likes, I enjoyed how I was immediately able to empathise, to feel with Mia.

I could imagine exactly how she was feeling.

I felt like it was an emotional rollercoaster when I was reading.

Dislikes, I was shocked at how some of the characters were treated by others.

It really opened my eyes to many of the challenges that were faced by Mia, her family, and the weeklies.

Puzzles, I wondered how life was so different for families who immigrated from China at the same time as Mia's.

I noticed that lots of the chapters ended on cliffhangers.

Kelly Yang really made me want to read on.

I hope you enjoyed sharing your likes, dislikes, and puzzles and hearing from others about theirs too.

And now for the next part of our lesson, let's move on to exploring themes.

A theme is a big idea, topic or message that recurs, it keeps coming up within a story.

Identifying themes within a text involves inference.

It means that looking carefully looking between the lines.

Themes are not explicitly stated within a text.

So a text won't say this book is about, but instead we can find out how we can identify themes in a few different ways.

For example, considering actions and characteristics of people within the text, identifying repetition, actions, emotions, traits that recur, searching for deeper meanings using inference, considering the overall message of the text.

Two of the most prominent themes are prejudice and discrimination.

Mia notices characters and systems who judge people based on their race or ethnicity and form opinions based on negative stereotypes.

What themes do you think are shown within the text? So pause the video here, talk to someone nearby about the themes you think that are shown in this text.

I wonder what themes you came up with, there's so many.

For example, other themes might include social class, so this is the way in which some families might be able to afford lots of things, lots of spending money and lots of outings and so on, and other families, for example Mia's, can't, are not able to, bullying, friendship, resilience, just keep going, a bit connected to that determination, and hope.

There are many possible themes that can be drawn out from this text, and we just may interpret themes and they're important differently because we're all different and we all have our own life experiences that we would be drawing upon.

Check for understanding, match the theme to how it is conveyed in the text.

So here are some of our themes, social class, prejudice, friendship, and how it could be conveyed, conveyed means shown, how it is shown or represented in the text.

Lupe acts as Mia's guide to American culture.

Lupe and her family have been in the USA for eight years.

Mia's family live in poverty, they face significant financial hardships, living paycheck to paycheck despite working long hours and sacrificing their own needs.

Mr. Yao bases his opinions of characters on the colour of their skin.

So pausing the video here while you decide how you will connect up the theme and how it could be conveyed in the text.

Okay, let's take a look at these.

Did you connect social class with Mia's family living in poverty? Did you connect prejudice with Mr. Yao's basing his opinions of characters on the colour of their skin? Did you connect friendship with Lupe acting as Mia's guide? Well done for making these connections.

Throughout the text, Mia comes up against harmful stereotypes linked to her Chinese heritage and status as an immigrant.

Kelly Yang sensitively explores the challenges and injustices faced by marginalised communities like Mia's.

On page 84, Mia's mother says that life is not fair for them due to being immigrants.

What do you think she means? Pause the video here while you refer to the text and share with someone nearby, what do you think Mia's mother means? Alex says, "Mia's mother could be referring to the limited job opportunities they had, low wages for work and difficulty accessing healthcare." Yeah, thanks for sharing that idea, Alex.

I wonder if you came up with something similar.

Towards the resolution of the novel, Mia writes a letter to the businesses near her motel, telling them that the list of bad customers is discriminatory.

Discrimination means treating a person or group of people differently and unfairly because of a certain characteristic.

Refer to the text, can you think of other examples of discrimination in "Front Desk"? Pause a video while you refer to the text and share with someone nearby, and taking care, 'cause this can be a difficult subject.

Okay, thank you for sharing.

Here's a response from Andeep, "Hank experiences discrimination both by Mr. Yao and the police as he's accused of stealing a customer's car.

This is despite there being no evidence." Yeah, thank you for sharing that, Andeep.

I wonder what examples you came up with.

Check for understanding, what barriers affected Mia's family when they moved to America, A, they were not able to earn enough money to survive without sacrificing, B, they experienced prejudice and discrimination from some members of their community, C, they were able to work in the same roles as they had in China and earn lots of money, D, everyone was kind and accepting of people who had come from another country? So pause the video here while you decide which of these barriers affected Mia's family when they moved to America.

Well done if you selected those first two.

Sure, they were not able to earn enough money to survive without making sacrifices and they experienced prejudice and discrimination.

A takeaway idea within a text may link to themes that are explored and developed in it.

It may include a key message, insight, or perspective that the author has communicated to the reader.

What are your takeaway ideas within "Front Desk"? Pause the video and share with someone nearby.

Here's Izzy, "Everyone should feel comfortable expressing their identity." Yeah, I love that one, Izzy.

And Jun, "It's important for everyone to see themselves reflected in stories.

Reading from a range of perspectives makes us more empathetic." Yes, absolutely, thank you for sharing those.

Some takeaway ideas you might have mentioned could be positive relationships are not formed around money, you should stand up to injustice, you can find strength in unity and community, mistakes are sometimes opportunities in disguise, we should always try to include rather than exclude, there is power in the pen, writing can help solve problems. As our reading experiences are unique, your ideas will be too.

In our lesson today, we have covered the following.

"Front Desk" is a novel inspired by the author's childhood, it is a work of fiction.

Kelly Yang sensitively explores the challenges and injustices faced by marginalised communities like Mia's.

A takeaway idea within a text may link to themes that are explored and developed in it.

It may include a key message, insight, or perspective that the author has communicated to the reader.

Thank you, everyone, for joining in with this exploration of "Front Desk." It was really great to spend time with you and I'm looking forward to carrying on the exploration soon.

Bye for now.