Hi there, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and I'm so glad you decided to join me for today's lesson.

Now, today's lesson is going to be a little bit different because we're going to finish off our unit on "Romeo and Juliet" by discussing a philosophical question of your choice that's raised by the play.

I think you're going to really enjoy this, so let's make a start.

Today's lesson is called "Debating a question raised by Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet", and it comes from a unit called, "Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Diary and Narrative Writing." By the end of today's lesson, you will have generated philosophical questions that relate to "Romeo and Juliet" and you'll have participated in a class discussion about one of these questions.

Now, if you're doing this lesson at home on your own, please don't worry, you can still definitely take part by generating lots of philosophical questions of your own, choosing one to express your opinion on and maybe having a discussion with someone at home as well.

Here are our key words for today's lesson.

A debate is a formal discussion about a question or subject held in public.

A theme is a central idea of a text that the writer intends the audience to engage deeply with.

A discussion question is a question about a text that can be discussed, and a philosophical question is a question that is raised by a text that can be discussed without referring to it.

So here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to start off by generating lots of philosophical questions, and then we'll choose one to have a discussion about in the second half of our lesson.

As you know, we've written a narrative and a diary entry in response to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Today, we're going to think about themes and questions raised by the play and discuss them.

So first of all, let's warm our brains up and have a discussion.

With your partner, can you discuss this question? Which single moment in the play do you think is most important? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you, or a think on your own, if you need to.

Well done, good job.

Now, the whole point of our discussion is that we might disagree, but we share our ideas and say why we think they're right.

So you might have said something like this.

I think it's the moment when Friar Lawrence's messenger is quarantined.

This means he can't give Romeo the message that Juliet isn't really dead, and that leads to two deaths.

So here, I've given my opinion and I've said why I think this is the most important point.

So hopefully you managed to do the same.

Really well done.

Now we know that a theme is a central idea in a text is something the author wants us to think about as we read.

So one theme in the play of Romeo and Juliet is this, young people will often be in conflict with their families.

So how is that shown in the play? Well, Romeo and Juliet want to be together even though their families would not allow it.

So they're already in conflict with their families though.

And then Juliet is being asked to marry Paris and she's willing to take the potion to avoid this.

So she's in conflict with her family, and that leads her to take this really dramatic step of taking this potion.

And then this conflict between Juliet and her family is what ultimately leads to the deaths of the two lovers because if she hadn't taken the potion, then obviously the situation with Romeo thinking she was dead would not have occurred.

So the conflict between her and her family and between Romeo and his family is what drives the whole plot along.

So this theme of young people and conflict with their families is really key in Romeo and Juliet.

Here are two more themes that can be linked to the play.

Love is the most important thing and we can't control everything in life.

How does each of these themes link to Romeo and Juliet? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, good thinking.

So if you think of the first one, love is the most important thing, I could link them like this.

Romeo and Juliet know that their love is forbidden by their families, but they pursue it anyway, even though it leads to them doing dangerous and risky things.

So from Romeo and Juliet's perspective, their love is more important than anything else that stands in their way, and that's what leads them to do the things that they do.

The second theme is we can't control everything in life.

So how has that shown? Well, Romeo just wants to be with Juliet, doesn't he? He's just minding his own business, but then he's drawn into a situation which leads to him killing Tybalt, and that leads to him being exiled.

So he was trying to be in control, but he couldn't keep everything in control.

And then Juliet and Friar Lawrence have a plan to help Juliet avoid marrying Paris, but it's derailed by events they can't control like the quarantine leading to Juliet's death.

So both Romeo and Juliet try to control what's happening to them, but they're not able to control everything, which is what leads to the situation unravelling in the way that it does.

So we've linked both of those themes to Romeo and Juliet.

Good job.

Now, today we are going to hold a debate about a question that's raised by the play, and it might link to one of those themes we've discussed.

It's up to you.

So let's think about questions a bit more.

There are many different types of questions, and one type is a factual question.

And a factual question is just a question about the facts of the play in this case.

So we can answer a factual question only if we know this story.

So for instance, we could say who was Juliet asked to marry by her family, where is the play set and which character gave Juliet the potion? So we can see that we can answer all of these factual questions using our knowledge.

Because we've read the play, we know that Juliet's asked to marry Paris, meaning the play is set in Verona.

We know that the character who gave Juliet the potion was Friar Laurence.

So the questions just ask us to retrieve facts from our knowledge of the play.

So let's take turns now with our partners by asking and answering factual questions about Romeo and Juliet.

So you ask your partner a question, they can answer it and then ask you a question back.

Pause the video and have a go doing that with your partner.

Well done.

Good job.

So maybe your conversation looked a bit like this.

Why does Juliet kill herself at the end of the play? Because she wakes up and sees that Romeo's dead.

What do the two families do at the end of the play? They agree to put their differences aside and get along.

Which family does Benvolio belong to in the play? He's a Montague, he's Romeo's cousin.

So we've gone backwards and forwards asking factual questions where the answer is known from the text.

You might not know it, but it's possible to get from the text, and that's what makes it a factual question.

Now, another type of question is a discussion question, and these are slightly different to factual questions.

A discussion question is a question about the text that we can discuss and about which we can have different opinions.

For a factual question there's a right or wrong answer.

For a discussion question we could have different views and we could discuss what we think.

So it might start with words like should or why or was it right? Can you see how those are going to lead towards a discussion? So here are some examples.

Should Friar Laurence have given Juliet the potion? Why did Romeo not just walk away from Tybalt? Was it right for Juliet to hide the truth from her family? You can see we'd need to know quite a lot about the play to answer these, but we could discuss them and we could disagree.

So we'd need to have knowledge of the play where we can discuss them, and that's what makes them discussion questions.

Now, of course, the sign of a good discussion question is that it is fun and interesting to discuss.

So choose one of these discussion questions and discuss it with your partner.

Select one you think will be interesting and have a discussion with your partner about it.

Pause the video and have a try.

Well done, good job.

So if he chose this one, then maybe you said things like this.

Yes, it was a great plan.

They were just very unlucky, it went wrong.

He should have spoken to Romeo himself.

And you could disagree with that view, you could say, no, it was a bad idea, he should have known that if Juliet was unconscious, anything could happen.

So can you see how that question leads to a good discussion between these two about whether it's correct that Friar Laurence gave Juliet that potion? So it wasn't just a factual answer, there's no right or wrong, we can discuss it, and so it's a discussion question.

So let's have a go at generating our own discussion questions about Romeo and Juliet.

So I'd like you to work in a group of three or four.

I want you to think about the parts of the play that interested you the most.

Then make a list of discussion questions that link to the play.

You might want to use sets of starters like these, should, why, and was it right and was it a good idea? And of course, you can check if they're good questions by trying to discuss them.

A good discussion question should lead to a good discussion.

So pause the video and have a go at coming up with your own list of discussion questions that are raised by Romeo and Juliet.

Fantastic (indistinct).

Here are some of the discussion questions you might have come up with.

I've written why did Friar Laurence get so involved in the situation? Should the Prince have done more to control the feud? Was it a good idea for Romeo to attend the Capulet ball? Should Romeo have retaliated when Tybalt killed Mercutio? Was it a good idea for Romeo to try and intervene when Tybalt and Mercutio were fighting? Was it right for Capulet to try and make Juliet marry Paris? And should Romeo have tried to deal with Juliet's death differently? So all of those could lead to a really interesting discussion.

There's no right answer to these.

They're not factual questions.

They're things we could discuss and we'd need to know something about the play in order to discuss them.

Really well done for coming up with your list.

Now, for all of these discussion questions, as I said, you would need to have seen the play to answer them.

Now, there is another type of question, which is a philosophical question.

And a philosophical question is a big question that anyone could answer.

And a play like Romeo and Juliet can raise lots of philosophical questions, but you could answer the question if it's a philosophical question without ever knowing the play at all.

So here's an example.

Do we make good decisions when we're in love? Can you see how this might link to Romeo and Juliet and their choices? But actually anyone can answer that question, couldn't they? Because they could base it on their own ideas and their own beliefs about love and what it makes people do.

And it's a big question too.

It's something worth discussing.

It's something interesting which can relate to lots of things in our lives.

So it's a philosophical question.

Now, we can take a discussion question and we can turn it into a philosophical question.

Let me show you how.

We do this by removing the context and the context of our discussion questions is the play, Romeo and Juliet.

And we think about the big idea that's behind the question.

So here are two examples.

My discussion question was, should the Prince have done more to control the feud? Well, the Prince is specific to Romeo and Juliet, and so is the idea of the feud, but I know that the Prince is someone who's in charge and the feud is something that he's trying to control.

So if I remove that context of Romeo and Juliet, I can make it this philosophical question, how much should we rely on the government to solve our problems? Here, the government, it stands for the prince, doesn't it? And our problems are the feud.

But I've removed that context and I've made it something anyone could discuss because it relates to big ideas about what's the job of the government in solving our problems? Here's another example.

My discussion question was, should Romeo have retaliated when Tybalt killed Mercutio? So we've got lots of Romeo and Juliet in there.

Romeo, Tybalt and Mercutio are all specific to the play.

But what are we really talking about here? We're talking about retaliation when someone's done something violent.

So I could say this philosophical question, is it ever a good idea to fight back when someone is violent? And you can ask any adult in your school these philosophical questions and you'd be able to discuss it with them without them knowing Romeo and Juliet at all.

They could tell you their beliefs about how much we should rely on the government and about if it's a good idea to fight back.

Because you could answer that question without any knowledge of Romeo and Juliet.

For the discussion questions, you'd need to know Romeo and Juliet really well, wouldn't you? But for the philosophical questions, anyone can discuss these.

We've removed the context and we've made it into a big idea, a big question which anyone could answer.

So which of these are philosophical questions that anyone could answer without knowing Romeo and Juliet at all? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, good job.

So A, no, it's not, because it refers to Juliet, it's specific to the play.

B says, why do people break rules? Anyone could discuss that, couldn't they? So yes, that's philosophical.

C says, should people be punished when they do the wrong thing? Again, anyone could answer that.

And it's a big idea, isn't it? It's something really worth discussing.

But (indistinct) was the Prince right to banish Romeo? Well, that's very specific to Romeo and Juliet.

So that's a discussion question and not a philosophical question.

Really well done for spotting this.

So here are those two philosophical questions we've just looked at.

Can you explain how these two philosophical questions link to Romeo and Juliet? Because today we're not just looking at random philosophical questions, we're thinking about philosophical questions that are raised by Romeo and Juliet.

So how do these two link back to the play? Pause the video and shall explain.

Well done, great job.

So for the first one, why do people break rules? Well, we know that this links to Romeo and Juliet because they both break their family's rules.

They meet each other in secret.

It'll be interesting to discuss why people make choices like this in their everyday lives.

We can all talk about our experiences of breaking rules or of choosing not to break rules, but it still links to the play because Romeo and Juliet broke their family's rules.

Let's look at the second one.

How does this link to the play? Well, this links because Romeo is punished for killing Tybalt by being banished to Mantua, which affects the story a lot, doesn't it? So it'd be fun to discuss whether punishing people like this is helpful or whether it works at all.

So here, we know we got a link back to the play, Romeo's punished for killing Tybalt and it's something we can all discuss based on our own experiences of seeing people punished in school, maybe, for doing the wrong thing and our thoughts about whether that works and whether it's the right thing to do.

So there's lots to discuss, it's a big question, but it links back to the play because of the way Romeo was punished.

Really well done (indistinct).

So let's do our second task here.

We're going to try and use our discussion questions to create philosophical questions.

So look in your group at your discussion questions that you came up with and try and convert them into philosophical questions by removing that context of Romeo and Juliet and focusing on the big idea behind the discussion question.

And I want you to write a list of philosophical questions that are raised by the play.

You might also be able to think of questions that are unrelated to discussion questions, and that's totally fine.

And here's a good tip for checking if you've made a philosophical question.

Could your head teacher answer this without knowing the play, or could anyone answer this who doesn't know the play of Romeo and Juliet? That's your test to see if it's a philosophical question, but it also has to be a big question, doesn't it? A big idea, something really worth discussing.

Pause the video and see if you can create some really good philosophical questions raised by Romeo and Juliet.

Well done, great job.

So here are some of the philosophical questions you might have come up with.

I've written, should we always stick up for our friends when they're attacked, and how far should we go to defend our friends? So those link to Romeo fighting Tybalt after Mercutio's death.

Then I've written, should we always obey our parents, and when is it okay to go against our parents? Because those link to the idea of Romeo and Juliet rebelling against their parents.

Then I've got, should we always follow our hearts, and is love always a good thing? Which kind of links to the whole theme of the play, doesn't it? Where Romeo and Juliet pursue their love against all the odds and against all the difficulties that they face.

And then I've got, is it ever okay to lie, and what is the best way to deal with grief? So all of these are philosophical questions because they could be discussed by anyone even if they haven't seen or read the play and they are big questions, big things that are worth discussing, which we can all bring our life experience to and talk about and discuss together.

Really well done for coming up with such brilliant questions yourself.

And now each groups going to choose their favourite philosophical question and make a class list of those favourite questions.

So pause the video now and do that quickly.

Okay, we're now ready for the second part of our lesson where we're going to be discussing our philosophical questions.

So we've got that list of our favourite philosophical questions raised by Romeo and Juliet and we need to now choose one to debate.

And a good way to make choices is of course to hold a democratic vote.

And we usually vote in secret so that we all feel free to express our views without being judged by other people or pressured into doing something we don't really want to do.

So I want you to look at that list of questions that you've chosen as a class and discuss with your partner, which you think will be the most interesting to debate, because we don't want to choose a question that isn't worth debating or there's not much to say about.

So chat through those questions with your partner and talk about which one you think will be most interesting to debate as a class.

Pause the video and have a chat.

Well done, good job.

So now I want you to shut your eyes and your teacher's going to read aloud each question and when you hear that question, you're going to vote for your favourite, and then the one which most people vote for is the one you're going to debate.

So pause the video, hold that vote, and by the time you come back, you should have chosen as a class, your favourite question that you want to debate.

And if you're doing this solo at home, you can just pick your own or you could ask people around you which they think is the most interesting one.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, so now we've chosen our question to discuss.

We need to think about what this debate will look like.

So when you give your opinion as part of this debate, you're going to want to explain what you think in response to the question, and of course, you're going to want to give reasons.

So what might reasons look like? Well, you might give examples from your own life or you might think of imagined situations that back up your ideas.

And it's also okay to refer to the play in your answer as well.

And you'll want to build on what other people have said.

You might be agreeing or disagreeing.

Here's some phrases you could use.

If you're agreeing, you might say, I agree with Jun, I liked Sam's point about this, I think Jacob was right when he said this, Aisha, I loved your idea that this.

If you're disagreeing, you might use phrases like this.

I thought Andeep made an interesting point, but I disagree.

Lucas, you said that this, but I think this, I disagree with Alex's idea that this.

So being respectful for agreeing and disagreeing.

It's not wrong to disagree, it's not disrespectful to disagree, but we have to use respectful language whether agreeing or disagreeing with people.

So before we debate, take a moment to share your first thoughts with your partner.

What is your opinion on the question that you've chosen to discuss? Pause the video and talk me through.

Well done.

Now I'm going to imagine that we've chosen this question.

When is it okay to go against your parents? So here are Jacob's first thoughts before we've had the debate.

He says, most of the time we should do what our parents tell us to do.

They have more life experience than us, so they usually know what's best.

However, there might be times when they make bad choices and we have to go against them.

So Jacob's kind of said that he can see both sides of this question and he's given some reasons for what he thinks.

So those are his first thoughts before the debate happens.

Well done for sharing yours too.

So let's imagine we're in a debate and Izzy says this, I think we should always obey our parents because they have our best interests at heart all the time.

How could you respectfully build on Izzy's idea? So imagine you've just heard Izzy's idea, how might you agree with it respectfully, and how might you disagree with it respectfully? Let's just practise what that might look like.

Pause the video and have a go at agreeing and disagreeing with Izzy's point.

Have a go.

Well done, good thinking.

So if you're agreeing, you might say this, I think Izzy was right, we might not always agree with our parents, but we shouldn't disobey them.

They know what they're doing.

So that was respectful and you've built on the answer.

What about disagreeing? You might say this.

I disagree with Izzy.

Some parents have their children's best interests at heart, but there are some who might not.

We need to think for ourselves too.

So we can see, we've heard Izzy's point and we've either agreed with it respectfully, we've disagreed with it respectfully.

Neither of those is right, we're having a discussion, we're having a debate, it's okay to disagree, we do it respectfully, as you can see here.

Really well done (indistinct).

So let's do our final task for this session where we're going to hold a class debate to discuss your chosen philosophical question.

So you might want to sit in a circle so that you can see each other well when you do this.

And your teacher's not going to choose who speaks, you're going to jump in when you have something you want to say.

Try to build respectfully on other people's contributions in the way that we talked about and try to explain your reasons, giving examples from your life, your imagination, or from the play itself.

Your teacher also might jump in at different points to offer a counterargument or a new perspective that people might not have mentioned.

And you might want to pause at different times to have some partner talk, to discuss some points that have been raised in order to keep the discussion going.

So pause the video here and have a go at discussing this question with your class.

And if you're doing this at home, you could write down your own thoughts or you could say them out loud or you might be able to find someone at home that you can discuss your philosophical question with as well.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done, fantastic job.

So before we finish, let's just quickly reflect on how well we debated there.

I want you to think about these questions.

Did people build respectfully on others' ideas? Did people back up what they were saying with reasons? And did everyone who wanted to contribute share their ideas? Pause the video and just spend a few moments reflecting on those questions? Well done, great job.

So there are several different ways you can wrap up a debate.

If it's appropriate, you might want to finish with a yes or no vote that depends on the question that you've asked.

Alternatively, you might want to go round the circle and give everyone a chance to say yes or no or if it's more appropriate to share their final brief thoughts on the question.

So if you can pause the video now and wrap up your debate in one of those ways.

Well done, really good job.

Well done for taking part in that debate so respectfully of others.

So let's summarise our learning in this lesson.

After we've enjoyed a piece of art, like a play or a book, we can take some time to reflect on what it makes us think about, including any themes that stand out, and we can think about factual questions, discussion questions, and philosophical questions raised by the artwork.

While discussion questions link directly to the artwork, philosophical questions are big questions that are free from the context.

And when we debate a philosophical question, we can build respectfully on other people's ideas and support our ideas with reasons.

Really well done for your effort in this lesson and throughout this whole unit.

I hope you've really enjoyed exploring Romeo and Juliet with me.

Isn't it amazing that a play written 400 years ago is still so exciting for us to read and explore today? I'd love to see you again as well in a future lesson.

Goodbye.