Lesson video

Hi, my name is Miss Henman and I am so excited to be teaching you guys to do reading this week, and we are doing something a little bit different.

We are going to be listening and studying a song which I am really, really excited about.

So you're going to need your ears, and you're going to need your brain.

And at some point you're going to need a piece of paper and a pen.

So if you don't have those, you can go get them now.

Before we start, I just want to talk to you about something that I will do over the course of the week.

And that is my turn and your turn.

It will be when we come across new vocabulary.

So I will practise saying the words, my turn, and then you will practise saying the same word.

Should we do it with a familiar word first? Okay.

My turn first and then yours.

Orange.

Good job.

Let's try once more.

I'm going to pick another fruit.

Banana.

Good job, right? We're ready to learn.

Let's go.

Let's look at what we're doing in today's lesson, our agenda for the lesson.

First, we're going to listen to the song that we're studying.

Then we're going to form an initial impression.

That means a first impression.

So we're going to think about the lyrics and the type of music and form an opinion on the song.

Then we're going to learn about the historical context and to learn about the musician who wrote the song.

For this lesson, you will need an exercise book or piece of paper, a pencil or a pen and your brain.

If you don't have these things, you can pause the video now and go and get them.

If you do, let's get learning.

So, an initial impression, the song that we're studying is called, "London is the Place for Me." And it was written by a man called Lord Kitchener.

My turn, Lord Kitchener.

We are going to listen to the first parts of his song and consider the question below.

Does the song remind you of anything? It might remind you of a film that you've watched.

It might remind you of other songs or it might remind you of a place.

We're also going to consider what we like about the song.

Is it that you like the tempo? The speed? The instruments? Do you recognise any of the instruments? It might make you feel something as well.

What feeling? Is there anything that puzzles you about this song? Any of the language used? Are there any questions that you'd like to find out? Like when it was written or who it was written by? Or why it was written? Okay.

So now we're going to listen to the song.

You do need to have piece of paper and a pen and you can pause the song as we're listening or you can go back and listen to other parts.

I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

♪ London is the place for me ♪ ♪ London this lovely city ♪ ♪ You can go to France or America ♪ ♪ India, Asia or Australia ♪ ♪ But you must come back to London city ♪ Did you like it? Well, I think we should listen to that first verse once more.

Are you ready? Okay.

Let's learn.

♪ London is the place for me ♪ ♪ London this lovely city ♪ ♪ You can go to France or America ♪ ♪ India, Asia or Australia ♪ ♪ But you must come back to London city ♪ Now we're going to read the rest of the song.

So, we listened to the first verse.

I'd like you to pause the video and read the first verse.

Before you do that, have you heard the word verse before? Think back, I have.

When we study poetry, we look at poetry in verses.

They are laid out in a similar way to songs.

Okay.

You read that first verse then.

Great.

I'm going to read it to you now too.

London is the place for me, London this lovely city.

You can go to France or America, India, Asia or Australia, but you must come back to London city.

can you now to read the second verse.

Pause the video, off you go.

Now it's my turn.

Well believe me, I am speaking broadmindedly.

I am glad to know you're my Mother Country.

I've been travelling to countries years ago, but this is the place I want to know.

London, that is the place for me.

Now you can see there's quite a lot of repetition in this song.

I've made it in green, some of those words that are repeated.

okay, this time, I'm going to read you these verses first, once I've read them, I'd like you to pause the video and have a go at reading them and yourself.

Whilst I'm reading, you need to track the words I'm saying out loud so that when you read it yourself, you know how to pronounce all of the words.

To live in London you are really comfortable because the English people are very much sociable.

They take you here and they take you there and they make you feel like a millionaire.

London.

That's the place for me.

At night when you have nothing to do, you can take a walk down Shaftesbury Avenue.

There you will laugh and talk and enjoy the breeze and admire the beautiful scenery of London.

That's the place for me.

Pause the video and have a ago reading it yourself.

Okay.

We've got our fifth and final verse now.

You're going to read it first.

And then I'm going to read it back to you.

Off you go.

All right.

It's my turn now.

Yes, I cannot complain of the time I have spent.

I mean my life in London is really magnificent.

I have every comfort and every sport and my residence is Hampton Court.

So London, that's the place for me.

So, let's go back to these questions.

Does the song remind you of anything? I've given you a sentence scaffold here.

It reminded me of.

And I'd like you to pause the video and say out loud what it reminded you of.

Okay.

Now it's my turn.

It reminded me of the film "Paddington." Have you seen that film? Wow.

This song is actually in it.

It reminded me of the song "Under the Sea" which is in the film, "The Little Mermaid." It was a similar style of music.

And I think that's why it reminded me of that song.

It also reminded me of some parties and events that I've been to.

Okay.

Have a look at your notes.

What did you like about the song? I'd like you to pause the video and say out loud why you liked it, using the word because.

Okay.

Now it's my turn.

I liked it because it was upbeat.

Made me feel positive and the speed was really fun as well.

It made me feel like I wanted to dance.

I liked the steel drums. Did you hear those? If not, you can rewind this lesson and go back and listen to the song.

I also liked the bells at the beginning of the song.

Did you hear those? If not, go and re listen.

Okay.

What puzzled you or what confused you about this song? And what questions do you have about it? Pause the video and read your questions or the things that you're confused about out loud.

I wonder if you have any of the same questions that I have.

I want to know why Lord Kitchener wrote the song.

Why did he write it? When was it written? Why does Lord Kitchener like London so much? What is a Mother Country? Those were my questions.

Did you have any of the same ones? We're now going to look at the historical context.

That means, when the song was written and what was happening at the same time in the world.

What can you see here? You're right.

I can see a boat too.

This boat's called HMT Empire Windrush.

It's often just referred to as The Windrush.

The Windrush? Right.

Now, this boat travelled from Jamaica to England in 1948.

When did it travel? 1948.

Well done.

You might be asking me, why did it travel? And why are you telling me about this? Well, it was three years after the war, World War 2.

Can you see the dates? 1939 to 1945 is when World War 2 happened and the boat travelled three years after.

Why? Well, this photo gives us a clue.

What can you see in this photo? I can see some buildings that look like they were destroyed by a fire and that these people are putting the fire out.

And that's exactly what happened.

During World War 2, lots of cities were really badly bombed and destroyed, and the UK needed help rebuilding some of these cities.

So, they encouraged people to come and help them.

You can see the UK here.

Now you can also see these flags all around the world.

I can see some over here and I can see lots over here.

In fact, this part here is the Caribbean Sea.

And in it, there are lots of islands and these islands are all part of the British empire and they all became British colonies.

The people who lived in the British colonies helped England during the war and after World War 2, they were given permission to live in the UK.

In fact, they were encouraged to move to the UK to help rebuild some of the cities that were bombed.

Now, we're going to learn a little bit more about Lord Kitchener.

I'm describing him both as a musician and an author.

A musician because he wrote the song and the music in it and an author because he wrote the lyrics, the words in a song.

You might be asking, what does Lord Kitchener have to do with this boat? Well, let's find out.

What was his name again? Lord Kitchener.

Well done.

Although, that wasn't his real name.

He was born in 1922 and he was born in Trinidad, which is an Island in the Caribbean.

His real name is Aldwyn Roberts.

And he took on the stage name, Lord Kitchener in 1945.

So even today, lots of musicians and actors don't use their real names.

And that's exactly the same with this musician who wrote "London is the Place for Me".

This is a picture of him.

And this is a picture of him with his band.

This is a picture of the Caribbean Sea and some of the islands in the Caribbean.

Here, you can see Jamaica.

That's where The Windrush sets out from.

Calypso music.

Calypso music is a style or genre of Afro-Caribbean music, which was developed in Trinidad and Tobago during the 19th and 20th century.

Trinidad and Tobago are two islands within the Caribbean.

We use the word style and genre to describe books, but we also use it to describe music.

The rhythms of calypso music can we traced back to West Africa and when slaves were taken from West Africa to the Caribbean.

So this type of music has a long history.

Lord Kitchener, his music is in the style of calypso music and he actually travelled on the Empire Windrush in 1948.

How do you put these words into a sentence? Pause the video and have a go.

Okay.

I'm going to show you my sentences.

Lord Kitchener was a musician who immigrated from Jamaica to England on the Windrush boat in 1948.

His music can be described as calypso in style and the song we're studying is called "London is the Place for Me." Give yourself a pat on the back if you managed to use all the words.

The one I thought was tricky was immigrated.

Let's say it, immigrated.

Great.

He immigrated from Jamaica to England.

Okay.

Little bit of a quiz time now.

Can you read the question? Lord Kitchener's music can be described as jazz? False.

His music is usually classified as calypso music, which is a style of Afro-Caribbean music.

Ready for your next one? Read the question.

What do you think? Is it true or false? It's true.

And London is the place for me is a repeated refrain used in each verse.

So we hear that statement lots of times.

Can you read the third one? True or false? What do you think? It's false.

He wrote it before arriving in London.

New information.

His first public performance was the day he arrived in England.

So he wrote this song before he arrived in England.

And the first time he performed it is the day he arrived.

Congratulations.

You finished your first guided reading lesson in this unit.

I think that definitely you're going to remember all that information that we've learned today in tomorrow's lesson.

But you can speak to a parent or a carer and tell them all about it.

In fact, you might want to re listen to the song with them.

Okay.

Have a good day.

And I hope you enjoy the rest of your lessons.

Bye.