Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

I'm so glad you decided to learn with me today.

We're in the modern text first study unit and our modern text is "Leave Taking".

Today we're going to read Scene Seven and we're gonna look at a conflict between Brod and Del.

We know that Del has a lot of conflict with Enid, with herself, with Viv, with Mai, with all of the characters indeed in "Leave Taking", and today we're gonna look at the argument she has with Brod and what that helps her learn about her mother and about herself.

I can't wait to hear all of your fantastic ideas.

I'm gonna be your support and guide as we work through this lesson together.

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you're going to be able to explain what happens in Scene Seven of "Leave Taking".

We're gonna read through the scene and have some really careful discussion showing our understanding.

And then we're gonna think, "What is Scene Seven all about?" And this is gonna be your chance to say, "This is what I think Scene Seven is all about." You're gonna evaluate what you think are its most important ideas.

We've got some keywords which are gonna help us unlock our learning today.

They are vulnerable.

So if you're vulnerable, you're in a position where people can hurt you emotionally or physically.

Nanny of the Maroons was an 18th century leader of the Jamaican Maroons, led formerly enslaved Africans against British colonialists.

Domestic abuse, behaviour by a person in a family unit that is threatening, controlling, violent, degrading, or manipulative.

Migrate, when you relocate from one country to another.

Discrimination, unjust treatment of people based on certain characteristics.

For example, race, gender, age.

So all of these words are gonna be really important in today's lesson.

We're gonna reference 'em throughout and they're gonna help us achieve our objective.

Our lesson outline for today, we're gonna read Scene Seven really carefully and then we're going to explore Scene Seven.

And you're going to get to say, "This is what I think Scene Seven is all about.

Here are the big ideas that I think Pinnock is exploring." So let's start off with reading Scene Seven.

Now, before we start reading Scene Seven, I'd just like you to discuss what do we know about Del and Viv's father so far? We haven't been given many details, but he has been referenced in the play.

Cast your mind back to scenes one, two, three, four, five, six.

What do we already know about Del and Viv's father? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Well done for casting your mind back through the play.

Also really nice to see people thumbing through their play scripts.

The play script is the most important resource you could possibly have in order to understand, enjoy, and explore "Leave Taking".

So certainly returning to it, rereading sections is gonna be incredibly important.

So what do we know about Del and Viv's father? Some ideas you might have had.

We know that, "He left Del and Viv when they were very little.

Viv says she has no memories of him." "He migrated from Jamaica before Enid, saving for a year to buy her a ticket so that she could join him." "He and Enid planned their future in England together." "Enid didn't want to have more than two children and this caused conflict between them." And, "Del believes Enid is to blame for his leaving the family." And we see this in Scene Two where Del and Enid have one of their most violent fights, which ends with Enid slapping her daughter, because her daughter accuses her of being the cause of the breakdown of the family unit and of her father leaving.

Now in Scene Seven, Brod tells Del more about her father.

So Brod comes to see Del or he arrives at Mai's house, he's in Mai's house in Scene Seven, and we see Brod and Del speaking and he tells her more about her father.

He tells her that her father's behaviour towards her mother changed from loving to abusive when he got a new job and he endured daily racial discrimination.

Del says, "I don't wanna know." Now, Jacob says, "I'm not at all surprised by Del's response." So when Brod says, "This is what happened to your mother, your your father was abusive after enduring daily racial discrimination," Del says, "I don't wanna know." And Jacob says, "I'm not surprised by this reaction." I'd like you to discuss why might Jacob think this? And I'd like you to consider Del's relationship with her mother, Enid's privacy, and the emotional weight of what Brod is telling Del.

So pause the video and discuss why you think Jacob is saying he's not surprised by Del's response.

Considering those three bullet points to help support your discussion.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Well done for having such an evaluative discussion and thinking, "Well, why, Why is Jacob not described by Del's response?" And those evaluation skills are gonna be really important later in the lesson when you evaluate the whole of Scene Seven and you decide what you think it's about.

Now here are some ideas you might have had.

So Jacob says, "I'm not at all surprised by Del's response saying, 'I don't wanna know,'" about the abuse that her mother endured.

While Pinnock has presented Del as someone trying to escape her mother, not understand her, she doesn't try and listen to Enid.

She doesn't want to understand her.

So this knowledge will not be helpful to her, because she doesn't want an insight into her mother's past.

She wants to escape her.

Enid herself has never actually tried to explain anything about her personal history to her daughters.

So she's quite private.

She does not speak about the past, not just her relationship with her husband, but also her upbringing in Jamaica.

So this is a bit of a shock for Del.

It's not something she's experienced so far.

Brod is telling Del something incredibly difficult, something that reveals that the pain her mother and father experienced, a pain she can do nothing about.

So she can't prevent her mother from being abused by her father, nor can she help her father who endured daily racial discrimination.

So it's a very, very difficult thing for her to face.

And it is easier for Del to believe Brod is lying rather than face her mother's past.

And in response, this is why Jacob is not at all surprised by Del's response, 'cause actually easier for Del to think, "I'm just gonna think that he's lying, because I cannot cope with what he is telling me." So a very human response from Del.

Now Brod and Del's dialogue continues.

So he's told her about the domestic abuse her mother endured.

Del has said, "I don't wanna know," and their dialogue continues in Scene Seven.

Brod says, "You don't wanna hear? Why not? Why don't you want to hear about how your mother got a beating? Because you want to think of her as a monster? You'll soon be a mother yourself." Del says, "You've come here to tell me this rubbish?" Brod, "She never want you and Viv to see anything bad in the house.

That's why she left him when you was a baby." Del says, "I'll never be a victim." Brod says, "She's not Nanny of the Maroons." And Del says, "Who's Nanny of the Maroons?" I'd like you to discuss how is Brod's argument with Del similar to his previous arguments with Enid? So we know that Brod and Enid are very close, but we have also seen them argue or bicker in Scene Two, in Scene Three.

So how is this argument between Brod and Del, how it similar to his previous arguments with Enid? You might want to look at your play script again, this is a challenging question, but I do want you to be able to draw the parallels between Brod and Del and Brod and Enid.

So pause the video, discuss this question looking at your play script if you need to.

Beautiful discussions there, relying on your play script to help support your discussion and help you think, "Okay, I've seen this type of argument between Brod and Enid before and here is an example of it.

And now I can see how it's similar to the argument between Brod and Del." So Brod wants the past out in the open and Enid and Del both want to hide it or hide from it.

So whenever Brod tries to bring up Jamaica or anything about her past, Enid shuts him down.

And Del is doing exactly the same thing here.

So neither mother nor daughter want to confront their past, but in addition, and some people notice this really subtle moment when Enid calls her children wild in Scene Three before the pastor comes and Brod actually protests.

He says, "Your children aren't wild.

You aren't seeing seeing them in the way that they should be seen." And here he's telling Del that her mother isn't a monster.

So this kind of intergenerational conflict, this familial conflict, this mother-daughter conflict, we've got Brod trying to help each side see the point of view or explain what the other person is like.

So to try and kind of calm some of these wild accusations about the idea of being monstrous or being incredibly wild, Brod is there to try and have Del and Enid try and understand each other.

And it hasn't at this point yet worked, but he is there as that trying to be a bit of a peacemaker.

Now Brod says, not only does he say, you know, "You can't think of your mother as a monster." Not only does he tell her about the abuse that her mother endured, but he also says this, "She's not Nanny of the Maroons." Now we know Nanny of the Maroons is one of our key terms for today's lesson.

She was an 18th century warrior leader.

She led formerly enslaved Africans against British colonialists.

So why, what might Brod mean by this statement when he says this to Del in Scene Seven.

Pause the video, think about our key word, think about its definition, our key phrase, our key person, our key historical figure.

And think what does Brod mean by saying Enid is not Nanny of the Maroons? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Some really lovely thoughtful discussions there, thinking about what Brod might be saying about the character of Enid.

Now Nanny of the Maroons was a powerful leader and warrior.

Lots of people said this, so noting that, good understanding of our key term for today's lesson or one of them.

And perhaps Brod is exposing Enid's vulnerability and need for support from Del.

So saying, "Your mother is not a warrior, she needs some support from you and you're not giving her that support." Now let's look at Del who repeats this phrase in a way, but she is slight different.

She says, "Who's Nanny of the Maroons?" So not, "She's not Nanny of the Maroons," but, "Who's Nanny of the Maroons?" I'd like you to discuss, what does Del's answer suggest about the possible causes of her and Enid's difficult relationship? So really think about this.

Brod is saying, "She's not Nanny of the Maroons," and Del responds, "Who is that?" So what does Del's answer suggest about the possible causes of her and Enid's difficult relationship? Pause the video, discuss this question now.

Really nice to see people thinking hard there and saying, "Perhaps it means this, possibly it means this," or being tentative in their approach, but also incredibly exploratory.

So lots of people said Del has no knowledge of history that is important to her own mother and her own cultural identity.

Both Brod and Enid know who Nanny of the Maroons is as part of their cultural history, part of their background.

But Del does not know who Nanny of the Maroons is.

And Nanny of the Maroons has come up before.

Lots of people reference, well, Viv also says she doesn't know who Nanny of the Maroons is.

And so this disconnection between one generation and another, what one generation knows and the other doesn't could be part of the potential conflict between Del and Enid.

Really nice discussion.

There's some hard questions thinking about this moment between Brod and Del, but some really exploratory discussions about how this can help us understand a bit of vulnerability on Enid's part and also the disconnection between Del and Enid, between mother and daughter.

Let's have a check for understanding so that we can tie that learning about what Brod is telling Del in Scene Seven, why it's so important.

So what does Brod tell Del in Scene Seven? Is it A, that her father migrated back to Jamaica, B, that Enid is an ancestor of Nanny of the Maroons, C, that her father abused Enid, D, that her father faced racial discrimination at work? Pause the video and select your responses now.

Well done if you selected C and D, these two facts that Brod tells her and then there's a bit more of an exploration of what this might mean for Del.

Even though at this point in the play, Del is rejecting the information that Brod gives her.

Now I'd like you to read Scene Seven of "Leave Taking".

And as you read, I'd like you to pause and discuss these seven questions.

One, what did Enid do to Brod and Viv? What reason did she give for this? Two, what does Brod say when Del asks if he loves Enid? Three, what does Brod say about Enid's behaviour since Del left? Four, what do we learn about Brod's wife and children? Five, what does Brod tell Del about her parents' relationship? Six, give one reason Brod thinks Del's father was able to act in the way he did.

Seven, how does Del respond to Brod's news about her mother and father? So read through all of Scene Seven, a difficult scene exploring difficult ideas and themes and Del has a very strong reaction to the information that Brod is giving.

So read through the scene and as you're reading, discuss these seven questions.

Pause the video and read the scene now.

A beautiful, very sensitive reading of Scene Seven and seeing two characters who haven't had a prolonged discussion.

We know that Viv and Brod have talked before.

In Scene One, Viv says that Uncle Brod told her that she should visit the West Indies so that she could understand who she is.

And here we've got this longer discussion between Brod and Del.

Arguably Brod is here also trying to help Del understand who she is.

You've got to face your past if you can understand, in order to understand your present.

That's what Brod believes.

And so we're thinking about the purpose of the character of Brod and helping characters understand themselves.

So let's have a look at these seven questions and some of the answers that you might have had.

So what did Enid do to Brod and Viv? What reason did she give for this? "Brod says Enid threw them both out of the house.

She tells them she 'carried too many people for too long.

'" This might be quite a shocking moment.

I remember being surprised the first time I read "Leave Taking", because Enid has been so careful with Brod and Viv, so loving and supporting to them.

And so this moment really shows, well, there are a number of interpretations of what Enid might be feeling or why she reacts in this way.

But certainly thinking about the impact of her mother's death and also the impact of Del leaving home, it seems to have had a strong, strong impact on Enid herself.

Two, what does Brod say when Del asks if he loves Enid? "Brod says that he's not in love with her in a romantic way and that, 'After everything we've been through, it hard to find you have any love left.

'" So a really sad moment here, in some ways beautiful, because Brod is expressing his feelings for Enid and they're not romantic love, but they are definitely love.

And Pinnock in her introduction to the play says that Brod and Enid would not have survived without each other, but also here is Brod, here Brod is saying, "Look, it's hard to find you have any love left after everything we've been through," speaking to their very traumatic past, the traumas of migrating which have been quite difficult and establishing their life in the UK as well as Enid's past trauma with her husband.

Three, what does Brod say about Enid's behaviour since Del left? "Brod says Enid hasn't been right and that she's not cooking or cleaning." Four, what do we learn about Brod's wife and children? "We learn that Brod's wife and children live in Jamaica and that Brod is unhappy about this.

He feels his wife responded unfairly to his being wild for a time." I had lots of heated discussions about this question about what we might think of Brod's reaction to his wife's behaviour, his wife moving back to Jamaica and his not seeing his children.

Del is certainly very judgmental of his relationship with his children, but we also see that love Brod has for his children.

He says he yearns for them every day.

Five, what does Brod tell Del about her parents' relationship? "Brod tells Del how her father abused her mother, taking out his anger, the racial discrimination he faced at work on Enid.

He abused her physically, but also emotionally, complaining about anything in the house that wasn't to his liking.

Brod thinks he wanted to be treated like a king, because he felt so belittled and inferior at work." So lots of people using work earlier in the learning cycle that we completed looking at this moment in Scene Seven to help them understand this question, and looking at that longer speech from Brod in more detail and saying, "Well, we can see that Del's father abused her mother, but also that he endured this daily discrimination." So a complex understanding of pain here, pain and anger.

Six, give one reason Brod thinks Del's father was able to act in the way he did.

"Brod believes Del's father was able to be abusive, because no one care what he want to do to a black woman." So here we're hearing not just about the abuse that Enid had to endure, but also the racial discrimination that she has to face daily where it seems no one cares about her, because she is a black woman.

So no one cared that she was facing domestic abuse, but this also means that every single interaction, every moment of her daily life is impacted by this idea that no one cares about what happens to a black woman.

Seven, how does Del respond to Brod's news about her mother and father? Well, "Del refuses to believe what Brod is telling her, although her kicking a wall and her anger at Brod suggests she knows it's the truth.

She seems to want to believe her mother is tougher than she looks, not wanting to accept Enid's vulnerability." So we discussed this earlier in the learning cycle, that it is quite a human reaction and perhaps a reaction that a child might have for their parent.

The idea of your parent experiencing pain is a difficult one to think about.

And here we're seeing that human reaction at the end of Scene Seven, where Del lets out her frustration by kicking a wall and Mai seems to understand what Del needs, saying, "Let it out, let it out," in the same way that she said to Enid, "Let it out," and she howled in pain in Scene Six in response to the grief of her mother's death.

Well done for reading that scene really carefully.

A difficult scene to read and thinking about the questions and reflecting on what we are learning about the characters and what their reactions can tell us about them.

So we've now read Scene Seven really, really carefully, and now we're gonna explore Scene Seven.

That's gonna allow you to say, "Well, this is what I think Scene Seven is all about." So Jun and Laura evaluate Scene Seven.

And Jun says, "I think Scene Seven is all about independence.

More specifically, we learn more about Enid's strength in the face of hardship, not just the difficulties of migrating, but also her ability to leave an abusive husband.

In addition, the scene begins with Brod explaining that Enid threw him and Viv out.

She doesn't want to carry them anymore.

Unlike Del, Brod and Viv rely on Enid.

Perhaps Pinnock is using this moment to expose a strength in Enid, who Del thinks of as passive, and how love isn't always expressed in caring ways.

Just like when Del threw Viv out to force her to sit her exams." And I really, really like this idea.

There's a clear idea, the idea that it's about independence and then Jun really supports that with lots of different moments from the text.

He says, more specifically, in addition, unlike Del.

So we can see all these different moments tied together so that we can say, "Yep, I can really see the idea that Scene Seven is all about independence is a really valid idea." I also really, really like the way that he's connected ideas from Scene Seven to earlier moments in the play, particularly that moment at the end.

"Del through Viv out to force her to sit her exam." So love isn't always expressed in caring ways.

I think it's just a really perceptive reading of the text.

But Laura says, "I think Scene Seven is all about vulnerability." So using one of our keywords from today's lesson.

"More specifically, we see the vulnerabilities of Enid and Del's father.

Brod reveals his history so Del can come to understand her mother isn't a monster, nor is she Nanny of the Maroons.

In addition, Pinnock draws attention to Brod's vulnerability.

He alone, Mai thinks he's a tramp initially and he drinks to excess.

Perhaps Pinnock is exploring ideas of isolation, particularly important to a play in which essential characters have migrated to establish life in a country which is often hostile to them.

'No one care what he do to a black woman.

' Brod is called an alien by the government." So Laura has a very different idea to Jun.

She thinks it's about vulnerability rather than independence.

But just like Jun, she has used lots and lots of evidence from the text to support her ideas.

She has quotations from Scene Seven itself, but is also thinking about Pinnock's intentions and linking that to earlier ideas in the play, for example, when she thinks about Brod being called an alien in Scene Two.

So vulnerability and isolation are Laura's main ideas.

Really nice exploration by both students, relying on lots and lots of evidence from the text in order to support their ideas.

Now I'd like you to discuss who do you agree with more and why? Do you think Scene Seven is all about independence or do you think Scene Seven is more about vulnerability? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Really lovely discussion here.

A heated debate about whether Scene Seven is all about independence or whether it's more about vulnerability and some people looking at the character of Brod in a lot more detail.

He is one of the central characters in this scene and talking about the idea of his dependency on Enid.

We don't actually know that much about the character of Brod in terms of his day-to-day life.

We just see him emerge into the Matthews home when Enid summons him to be there when the pastor comes around.

We know that he drinks to excess.

We learn in the scene that his family are no longer with him.

They have migrated to Jamaica.

So some people looking at Jun's idea about independence, balancing it with dependence and Brod's dependence on Enid.

And others saying no, the vulnerability really comes through and actually looking at Del's toughness at the end of the scene where she rejects ideas of her mother's vulnerability and kicking the wall, that actually that exposes a vulnerability in Del herself.

That Brod has kind of cut her to the core by helping her understand some of her mother's past.

And this access to her mother's vulnerability is quite destabilising for Del herself.

Really, really nice discussions there and developing the ideas that Laura and Jun put through so powerfully.

Now, Sam disagrees with both Yon and Laura.

They say, "I think Scene Seven is all about pain and the different ways we respond to it." So not about independence, not about vulnerability, but instead about pain.

Now all these students have really valid ideas and now I want to hear about your valid ideas and interpretations of this scene.

So what do you think Scene Seven is all about? We know that Jun thinks it's about independence.

Laura thinks it's about vulnerability.

Sam thinks it's about pain.

What do you think Scene Seven is all about? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Some lovely discussions there, really exploring what you thought Scene Seven was all about.

Evaluating it, it was lovely to see people flicking back and forth in their play script saying, "Well, we can see this idea explored in another moment in the play and another moment in the play, and another moment in the play." So just like Jun and Laura, finding lots and lots of evidence to support your idea.

A common idea that lots of people came up with was the idea that this scene is all about the past.

So confronting things from your past in order to understand your present and your future.

And Brod helps Del to understand something of her mother's past, but we can still see that there are gaps there.

For example, she doesn't know who Nanny the Maroons is, so there's still this big gap about her mother's past in Jamaica, but she has filled in some of her past about her relationship with her father.

And we don't know exactly what Del's reaction is going to be to this yet, but we see her immediate reaction is one of real anger and pain and rejection.

So the idea that confronting your past is also a very difficult thing to do.

So I really like to hear that idea being explored, the idea that Scene Seven might be all about the past.

A check for understanding before we move on to and developing our evaluation of Scene Seven.

So true or false, Brod is independent.

We've looked at the character Brod and the idea that Scene Seven is all about independence.

So let's just check that we've got a thorough understanding of Brod's relationship with the idea of independence.

So true or false, Brod is independent.

Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected false.

Now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it A, whilst Enid clearly relies on Brod for emotional support, it is Enid who supports him day-to-day, or B, Brod relies on Mai to support him now that his wife and children have migrated back to Jamaica.

Pause the video and select your justification now.

Well done if you selected A, Brod does not rely on Mai.

This is the first time that Mai and Brod have met.

Mai mistakes him for a tramp to begin with, is quite angry that he is at her house.

It is Enid, Enid who supports Brod from day-to-day.

Now, I'd like you to use the three sentence starters below to write an answer to this question.

What is Scene Seven all about? You can use the student sentence starters if you wish.

We've got Jun, independence, Laura, vulnerability, and Sam, pain.

After you've decided what you think Scene Seven is all about, make sure that you use that sentence starter more specifically in order to direct your answer to the text itself and bringing in all your ideas from the text to support your claim.

And finally, I would like you to think about Pinnock's intentions.

Perhaps Pinnock is, what is she pushing us to explore or think about? So using all the learning we've done from learning cycle one, that careful reading of Scene Seven, and our evaluation, looking at these different student ideas at the beginning of this learning cycle.

And now I'd like you to pause the video and write an answer to this question.

What is Scene Seven all about? Pause the video now.

Beautiful to see people writing and evaluating at Scene Seven and flicking back and forth through their play script, something we'll be doing throughout this lesson in order to make sure that their ideas are justified by lots and lots of references to the text.

Before we celebrate your responses, I'd like you to self-assess using the questions below to guide you.

Have you come up with a main idea that you believe is explored in Scene Seven? Have you selected textual evidence which supports your idea? Have you explained what Pinnock might be trying to explore? Pause the video, read through your response, and use these guiding questions to self-assess.

Pause the video now.

Lovely to see people self-assessing their work and also just checking for any spelling, punctuation and grammar, which could lift their response even further.

Editing is an integral part of the writing process, so always a pleasure to see people doing that along with their extended writing itself.

In summary, Brod wakes up at Mai's house after a night of excessive drinking.

Enid has thrown Brod and Viv out of the house.

Brod tells Del that her father's attitude towards her mother changed after facing daily racial discrimination at work.

Brod tells Del that her father used to abuse her mother.

Brod tells Del that her father left her, that her mother left her father to protect her and Viv.

It has been such a pleasure to explore Scene Seven with you and hear all of your fantastic ideas about what Scene Seven is all about.

I look forward to seeing you next time.