Lesson video

Hello, everybody.

It's good to see you.

My name's Ms. Afzal, and I'm feeling pretty excited about being here today.

That's because we are going to be exploring a really, really fantastic novel.

It's not just any novel.

It's an illustrated chapter book, and it's this one here, "How to Train Your Dragon" by Cressida Cowell.

Cressida Cowell has both written and illustrated this novel, so this is really quite something.

You are going to need a copy of the novel that looks just like this one for our lesson today.

So just, I'm gonna pause here, so please pause the video and off you go and find your copy of the novel.

Okay, you're back.

You've got your copy of the novel.

Hopefully you've got some enthusiasm for dragons, for adventure stories, and for exploring fantastic fiction.

Let's get into it.

The outcome for today's lesson is, I can answer a range of comprehension questions on "How to Train Your Dragon." We've got some keywords in today's lesson.

Let's go through them.

My turn, your turn.

Inference, evidence, impression.

Fantastic, that was great to hear.

And let's find out more about these keywords.

Inference means to use clues from within the text to draw conclusions.

Evidence is the information from a text that can support or justify our reasoning.

And an impression refers to initial feelings about a person, place, or thing gained from reading a text.

So, let's make sure we're on the lookout for these words.

Let's listen carefully for them.

Let's think about them and let's find out what's happening in our lesson today.

Well, there's two parts to our lesson.

We'll begin by reading chapter seven and then we'll move on to using evidence to develop inferences.

Here we go, chapter seven.

So here's our text, "How to Train Your Dragon," which is written and illustrated by Cressida Cowell.

So what do we know so far? Hiccup and the other novices survived the first part of their initiation to become a member of the tribe.

In chapter three to six, Hiccup shows Fishlegs that he has indeed got a dragon.

He names him Toothless.

The other boys ridicule him.

The boys begin to train their dragons by yelling.

Hiccup discusses what to do with Old Wrinkly, his grandfather, a soothsayer.

Meanwhile, a terrifying and gigantic dragon begins to awaken beneath the ocean.

Oh my goodness.

It's all going on.

In chapter seven, Hiccup's dragon Toothless wakes up from his slumber.

Not everything goes to plan.

Read the first part of chapter seven, pages 83 to the end of page 87 up to the word "moment." And when you finish reading, I'd like you to answer these questions.

What is the language that Hiccup is speaking to Toothless? Why is speaking this unusual to Fishlegs? And refer to page 83.

So pause the video while you read that part of chapter seven and answer the questions to someone nearby.

Okay, what did you come up with? Maybe something like Izzy's answer here.

Hiccup is speaking to Toothless in Dragonese.

This is unusual because Fishlegs does not understand it.

The language is broken up by high-pitched popping noises.

Hiccup knowing language might also be unusual.

No one in the tribe can speak it.

Toothless is initially frightened by Hiccup and Fishlegs.

Refer to page 85.

What do dragons do when they're scared or annoyed? And why do you think they do this? So pause the video while you refer to page 85 and discuss your answers to these questions with someone nearby.

So what did you come up with? I wonder if it was something like this.

Let's see what Sophia's saying.

Dragons inflate their necks to make themselves appear bigger.

I think they might do this because it might intimidate, scare Vikings or other creatures that approach them.

All right, great answer, Sophia.

And have a look at this.

Some creatures like the pufferfish also do this to ward off predators.

Look at that.

Whoa, that certainly looks intimidating to me.

Check for understanding.

Referring to pages 83 to 87, sort the following events in chronological order.

That means in time sequence, the sequence in which they occurred.

So let's go through these events.

Hiccup tries to communicate with his dragon in Dragonese.

Toothless bites Hiccup.

Toothless tries to eat Hiccup's Cat, Fiddlesticks.

Toothless wakes up.

So pause the video while you sort these events into chronological order.

I wonder what order you put these events in.

Maybe something like this.

Did you start with Toothless wakes up? Next, Hiccup tries to communicate with his dragon, Toothless bites Hiccup, and then he tries to eat Hiccup's Cat.

Well done if you put the events in this order.

Hiccup learns that Toothless is not very obedient.

So let's look at this word obedient.

It's an adjective.

And it means willing to act on an order or request.

I'd like you to read the second part of chapter seven, pages 88 to the end of the chapter, page 94.

And then, answer these questions.

Why is comparing Stoick's dragons, Newtsbreath and Hookfang to large cats playing with a small kitten an effective visualisation? So that's like an image, something that we can see.

What impression do you get of the dragons as a result? And there's our keyword impression.

So remember, impression is initial thoughts or feelings that you have about something in the text.

So what impression do you get of the dragons? So pause the video now while you read this part of chapter seven and answer these questions and discuss your answers with someone nearby.

Okay, good to be back with you.

I wonder how that discussion went.

Did you have some answer like this, perhaps? By comparing Stoick's dragons to large cats, I think of them as predators.

They're described as having "evil" eyes that are staring right at Toothless.

And maybe by comparing Toothless to a kitten, I think that he might be helpless in this situation.

He may need help from Hiccup.

Thanks for sharing your answers.

Stoick, Hiccup's father, notices a few issues with Toothless.

Fishlegs tries to convince the chief that Toothless is very formidable.

So formidable means inspiring fear or respect.

Which fictional dragon breeds does Fishlegs refer to Toothless as being? What breed does he compare it to? And why do you think he does this? Refer to page 90 for support.

So pause the video here while you refer to page 90 and answer these questions.

Here's Sam.

What have you gotta say, Sam? So let's see.

Fishlegs says that Toothless is an "unusual" and "violent" breed of dragon called the Toothless Daydream.

He compares it to a Monstrous Nightmare because these are revered and respected.

Only the chief's family can command such a dragon.

All right.

Good answer there, Sophia.

I wonder if you came up with something like this.

Check for understanding.

Fishlegs continues to persuade Stoick of Toothless's qualities.

Which of the following are mentioned by him on page 91? Toothless has hardened scales which act as an armour.

Toothless has special, unique markings.

Toothless has dagger-like fangs.

Toothless is of royal descent.

So pause the video while you refer to page 91 and decide which of the following are mentioned as Toothless's qualities.

Well done if you selected Toothless has special, unique markings and Toothless is of royal descent.

It's time for your first task.

So, Hiccup is worried about leaving Toothless in front of the fire like his father suggests.

Do you think taking Toothless into his room is a good idea? Why or why not? And share at least one positive and negative reason for doing so.

So refer to pages 92 to 94 to explore reasons and reflect on what you've read so far to help you develop your answer further.

You might like to use sentence starters like this.

I think Hiccup was right because.

Or, I think Hiccup was wrong because.

Pause the video here, refer to those pages, and share your responses with someone nearby.

Okay, good to be back with you.

Now, what did you think? Is it a good idea, not a good idea? Let's see what Lucas says.

I think Hiccup was wrong to take Toothless into his room because Toothless does not listen to any of his commands and needs to toughen up before the forthcoming trials.

I don't think the other dragons would have really hurt him.

Jacob, I think Hiccup was right to take Toothless because he was clearly not safe with the other dragons who were drumming their razor-sharp claws in a threatening manner.

Hmm, I wonder which of these responses is more similar to yours? Okay, now we are going to look at how we can use evidence to develop inferences.

When answering questions on a text, we use a range of reading strategies.

We retrieve information, we're skimming and scanning the text to search for keywords.

Readers can read around the text to support understanding.

We can infer by using clues from within the text to draw conclusions and form impressions of people, places, or things.

So an impression is a reader's initial feelings about a person, place, or thing.

And we can look for clues in the text and illustrations.

Inference is sometimes referred to as reading between the lines, using the context of the text to support our understanding.

So we've got two of our keywords there, inference and impression.

Evidence from the text can be used to develop our answers.

Another keyword.

To locate the correct evidence, it's important to do all of these things.

Let's have a look.

Read carefully.

What's the main idea or details you need to locate? Skimming and scanning can be helpful for finding specific details.

Look for specific information.

Search for details within the text that directly relate to the topic or question.

Check the context.

Is the information you're using to support your answer accurate? Is it in the same context? And evidence should be concise and justify the point that we're trying to make in relation to the question.

Check for understanding.

Which of the following can be useful strategies to locate evidence to support an answer? Adding information that supports our answer, even if it's not in the same context.

Including all of the information we can find on a topic.

Looking for specific information directly related to the question.

Checking the context of the text you are reading.

Pause the video here while you decide which of these are useful strategies to locate evidence to support an answer.

Well done if you selected the last two.

Absolutely, you want to look for specific information that relates to the question directly, and you want to check the context of the text that you're reading to make sure that it's relevant.

Okay, here's a question for you.

There's two impressions that readers might get of Fishlegs from reading this chapter.

When answering questions with evidence, we need to locate the information that we require.

The pages that will help us here are pages 91 and 92.

Fishlegs is talking with Hiccup and Chief Stoick.

So reread pages 91 and 92.

And then, we need to identify the information that's relevant to our answer.

We can see that Fishlegs is trying to persuade Chief Stoick that Toothless is a rarer bread of dragon than he actually is.

When listing more than one impression, ideally we want to focus on two different points.

So pause the video here while you reread pages 91 and 92 and then identify the information that's relevant to your answer and list your two different impressions.

It's good to be back with you.

So what are those two impressions that readers might get of Fishlegs from reading this chapter? Firstly, Fishlegs demonstrates loyalty in him sticking up for Hiccup and making Toothless seem special and unique.

In reality, Toothless is remarkably small and not as fearsome or obedient as the other dragons.

Secondly, Fishlegs is impressed and in awe of Hiccup's ability to communicate with dragons.

He says that this will make training Toothless quicker.

And as well, let's hear this impression.

I get the impression that Fishlegs is a very loyal friend.

He persuades Hiccup's father that Toothless is a remarkable and regal dragon.

Fishlegs is impressed with Hiccup's ability to speak Dragonese.

He thinks this will make training the dragon an easier process.

Fantastic listing of impressions there.

True or false, an impression always has to be positive? Pause the video while you decide if this is true or false.

Well done if you selected false.

And now, what's your justification? Impressions are not always based on evidence in the text.

They can also be influenced by a reader's personal experience.

Impressions can be both positive and negative, as people, places, and things are not always positive.

Pause the video while you decide which of these justifications more directly relates to your answer.

Well done if you selected the second sentence.

Both of these statements are true.

However, the second one more directly relates to the response you gave earlier.

All right, it is time for the next task.

I would like you to answer the following questions using pages 93 and 94 to support you.

First of all, why does Hiccup not care about Toothless snoring loudly? And next, why do you think Hiccup had the best night's sleep? Pause the video while you refer to those two pages and then answer these two questions.

Okay, good to be back with you.

And what did you come up with? Was it something like this? Hiccup did not notice the snoring because he was so deeply asleep it would have taken a very loud noise to wake him.

And why did he have such a great sleep? Well, Hiccup's feet were stretched out and resting on Toothless's back.

Hiccup was the warmest that he'd been in six months.

He usually shivered himself to sleep.

Oh, that sounds a lot better, doesn't it? Very nice.

Nice and cosy, Hiccup.

And now here's a third question for you.

What positive impressions do you get of Hiccup from reading the chapter? Give two positive impressions using evidence from the text to support your answer.

So I'd like you to use this table, and you could write in the first box, of impression you could say, "Hiccup is.

." And just give us a word.

What's your positive impression? And then in the box alongside it, you can write out what your evidence is for that and the same below.

So, pause the video here while you write down your two positive impressions of Hiccup and supply your evidence to support the answer.

Okay, what did you have? Something like this, maybe? Hiccup is determined.

Yeah, great, great impression there.

What's the evidence? Hiccup continues to try and train Toothless, even though he bites him on both arms. Wow, he's certainly determined.

What else have we got? Hiccup is empathetic.

Yeah, it means he like, has feeling and understanding for others.

So even though Toothless is not very obedient, Hiccup cares for his dragon.

He makes sure he's fed and not attacked by Stoick's dragons.

Some great impressions there.

I hope you enjoyed reflecting on your impressions.

In today's lesson, we've covered the following.

Readers can infer by using clues from within the text to draw conclusions.

Evidence from the text can be used to develop answers to questions and support reasoning.

Evidence should be concise and justify the point that readers are trying to make in relation to the question.

An impression of a person, place, or thing can be formed by a reader's initial feelings from reading the text or from prior experience.

Well done everyone for joining in with this lesson.

It was great to hear you sharing about evidence, inference, and your impressions.

Especially loved hearing about your impressions of our protagonist, Hiccup.

I look forward to seeing you at the next lesson.

Bye for now.