Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

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

Today we're in the unit, Fiction: books that changed my world.

Now "1984" is our focus today by George Orwell, that is a book that changed my world certainly.

I remember reading it for the first time, being completely captivated by the dystopia that was created.

And our focus today is going to be, well, how does George Orwell create his dystopia? We're going to look at the opening and we're gonna think, what details could we copy from George Orwell? I cannot wait to read some of your work today where you are copying, emulating the style of George Orwell.

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

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you are going to have emulated Orwell's dystopian opening to "1984".

We're gonna remind ourselves of this fantastic opening to you, this novel.

We're going to consider the methods that Orwell uses to create his dystopia, and then we are going to use that consideration to inspire our own writing.

There are some key words which can help us unlock our learning today, they're gonna help us achieve our objective.

If you'd like to pause the video and spend a bit of time with them, then please do.

I'm just gonna draw your attention to one of them.

It's the final word on the board, dystopian.

Now, this is relating to or denoting an imagined state or society, whether it's great suffering or injustice.

So dystopia is an imagined place.

It is society, and there is great suffering or injustice.

Often these are set in the future.

So dystopias are often books that are set in the future and we've got this imagined state or society.

So today we're going to be using our imagination to create our own dystopian setting.

As I say, if you'd like to pause the video and spend a bit more time with these keywords, then please do.

Otherwise we will go through them when they come up in the lesson.

Our lesson outlined for today.

So the first thing we're gonna do is create a toolkit.

So we're gonna have a writing toolkit, things that we can rely on when we create our own dystopian setting.

Then we are gonna do a bit of planning in the middle of the lesson, we are gonna plan what we are going to write, and then in the final learning cycle, we are going to write our opening.

So let's get started, let's create our toolkit.

So Orwell crafts an effective dystopian opening to "1984" that hints at the authoritarian government.

So dystopian setting, a society where there is suffering, where there is injustice, and where does that suffering and justice stem from? Well, in "1984", it comes from the government that is authoritative, so they are in complete control of their citizens' lives.

Now we might summarise the examples from Orwell's opening as the following.

We've got striking thirteen, so we start reading the novel, in the very first sentence we hear clock striking thirteen.

We've got vile, cold, and gritty to describe the weather.

We've got coarse soap and blunt razors, which describe some of the objects in this society.

We've got eyes follow to every moment scrutinised, so every moment carefully looked at.

So we've got some idea of the way in which the citizens live their lives in this society.

We've got lack of details about the government.

So we know that there is a government, we know that Big Brother is watching Winston, who is the first character who's introduced, but we don't have many details about the government yet.

Now we're going to turn these details into a toolkit for your own dystopian opening.

So we're not just gonna think of them as a sequence of words or quotations from the text, but we're gonna think of them as methods that Orwell is using to create his dystopian opening, and then we're gonna use those same methods to create our own dystopian opening.

So let's do the first one together.

So the book opens and we find out that the clock is striking thirteen.

Now I'd like you to discuss how would you summarise what Orwell has done here so that you can apply it to your own dystopian opening.

Pause the video and think why has he included this detail? What does this detail do? What has Orwell done here so that we can apply this to our own dystopian opening? We're not gonna use the same quotation, but we might be able to use the same method.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Well done.

A really nice discussion starting to explore some of Orwell's methods.

You might have said there's a small detail that doesn't fit in with our perception of reality or time.

So as soon as the book opens, we get the sense that this society is not quite like ours and it doesn't fit in with not only our perceptions of our own society, but actually of reality at all.

So this idea of the clock striking thirteen is a really, really powerful opening to a novel because it starts us thinking, well, in this novel reality can't be quite what we think it is.

I wonder what the society is like and why a clock in this society can strike thirteen.

So it's immediately quite unsettling and it starts to hint at the idea that what we are reading about is a dystopia.

So a check for understanding before we look at some of the other methods that Orwell uses to create his dystopian opening.

Which of the following are examples from the opening of Orwell's "1984"? Read through the three examples and then select which response you think is correct.

Pause the video and complete this check now.

Welcome back.

Well done if you selected c, every moment scrutinised.

So we know that Winston, who is the central character that we are introduced to at the beginning of the novel, we know that every movement of his is scrutinised, watched really, really carefully.

Okay, our first practise task where we are building our toolkit so that we can create our own dystopian opening.

I'd like you to use the examples from Orwell's dystopian opening to create a toolkit for your own writing.

You might use the questions to guide you.

So now on the left hand side of the table, we've got Orwell's craft.

Now we've got these descriptions of the weather, vile, cold, gritty.

We've got coarse soap and blunt razor.

This is described the objects in his society.

We've got eyes followed to every moment scrutinised.

We've got the idea of the citizens' lives in this society and we've got a lack of details about the government.

Now we've got some questions on the side to help you create your toolkit.

What does the semantic field about the weather suggest? What does a physical description of the objects tell us about that society? What is happening from the idea of eyes following to every moment scrutinised? What is the journey there? Does it increase or decrease in tension? And then this lack of details about the government, what effect does this have on the reader? So I'd like you to pause the video and using the examples from Orwell's dystopian opening, create a toolkit for your own writing and the questions might help guide you.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back.

Well done for spending a really nice amount of time creating your toolkit.

You're gonna be able to rely on this for the rest of the lesson.

Let's do a bit of feedback, so we're really secure that we've got a great toolkit and that we can move on to our second learning cycle where we are planning our dystopian opening.

So let's start off with this description of the weather, vile, cold, and gritty.

There's a semantic field here of unpleasantness and I really love the range of ways in which Orwell describes the weather.

Vile, cold, and gritty.

Cold, we might recognise as quite a simple word, but I think it is really qualified well by this word vile, which often is used to describe people.

If someone is vile, they are not nice, so it slightly personifies the weather.

And then this idea of grittiness, the idea, this always seems to be particularly unpleasant, the idea that you can like taste the wind in your mouth in some ways, that there's grit in it, in some way.

And then course soap and blunt razor, we've got here the idea of discomfort for the readers.

So the citizens who are using these materials, course soap and blunt raiser, that would not be nice, that would be extremely unpleasant.

So this idea that in your toolkit for your dystopian opening, you want to build some details where you've got some unpleasant experiences for the citizens in your society.

Then eyes follow to every movement scrutinised.

It was really nice to hear your discussions about this and why that's important for your toolkit.

Because this progress and build ideas to build discomfort.

So the idea that eyes are following you is not nice, but it is slightly different to the phrase every movement, sorry, scrutinised.

So there's a build here for, people are watching you do every minute detail, every little movement that you make is scrutinised.

So it's looked at incredibly, incredibly carefully.

So this creates the idea of a fearful society where people know they are being watched.

And then finally, lack of details about government, not sharing all the details right away, but rather giving hints to the reader, to unsettle them, and certainly the opening of "1984" is very unsettling.

We get this feeling of discomfort, of worry, of anxiety.

It doesn't seem like a society that we recognise or want want to be a part of.

And all has purposefully done that, given that lack of detail, so that one, we continue reading, we think we need to find out more details of this government, but it also creates this really unsettling atmosphere.

Well done for creating your toolkit.

We've got some really nice ideas about how to create a dystopian setting.

We're gonna move on to our second learning cycle.

So in our second learning cycle, we're gonna do some planning.

We're gonna plan to write our own opening.

We have looked at Orwell's opening as a bit of inspiration and how we're gonna plan our own.

So we're now gonna use our toolkit to plan our dystopian opening.

And I'd like you to discuss what small details might you be able to add in that don't fit with our perception of reality.

So you are gonna create your own dystopia.

We know that there need to be some small details included in the opening of this description that don't quite fit in with our perception of reality.

So we know we've got the clocks in "1984" striking thirteen, which clocks can't do.

And so we need some small details ourselves for our own creation of our own dystopia that are not gonna fit quite in, not quite fit in with our perception of reality.

So pause the video, give this discussion the time that it deserves.

'cause it's really gonna help you when you come to writing your dystopian opening in learning cycle three.

So pause the video and discuss what small details might you be able to add in that don't fit in with our perception of reality.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, what a lovely discussion.

I cannot wait to read the openings of your dystopian settings.

You've got some really interesting creative ideas about the small details that you could include.

So some ideas I had, repetition of an odd sound in the background.

I think there will be a really, really nice idea that this odd sound would keep coming up and we wouldn't quite be sure what it is.

Wind's blowing, but leaves not moving.

So I liked how people thought about the idea of the weather just as Orwell has done in his opening, but changed it slightly and said there is going to be wind, but the leaves won't move at all.

Repetition e.

g.

, passing the same shop sign twice.

That would be pretty unsettling, and show us that there's something a little bit strange about this society.

And then foliage, so leaves not matching the season.

So maybe the season could be winter, but all the flowers are in full bloom, that would be quite unsettling.

So a few ideas here, and you had so many more that you could include in the opening of your dystopia.

Now dystopian worlds are unsettling worlds.

They make us feel nervous, give us a bit of anxiety, because they don't fit in quite to our perception of what society is like.

Now I'd like you to discuss what words might describe the weather to create an unsettling atmosphere.

We saw the examples from "1984" before, we had vile, cold, and gritty.

What words might you use to describe the weather to create unsettling atmosphere? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Wow, what fantastic vocabulary we have got in this classroom.

Just a few ideas that you might have heard, if you see any ideas that you think, oh, I'd really like to include that word, then you can note them down as we go through our feedback.

So you might have said foul, harsh, tempestuous, so really stormy, bitter, bleak, blustery, so the leaves all moving around, that's what that word blustery means.

So there's a bit of wind but kind of buffets you in some ways.

Sweltering, stifling, so the idea of extreme heat, howling, spitting, frigid, so very cold, raw, tumultuous.

So a real range of words that I can see some people noting them down, wanting to use them in their opening.

Now we might also want to describe our character in a way that shows their discomfort, and I'd like you to consider one example from Orwell.

We talked about this earlier in learning cycle one, his skin roughened by coarse soap and blunt razors.

So this is Winston, his skin is rough because he's been using coarse soap and it's also, he's also been using blunt razors to shave.

Now I'd like you to discuss what do you think is effective about this description for a dystopian opening? Why is it good that we don't just have a description of the poor weather, but we also have a description of some of the objects that some of the characters in the society use? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

A really lovely discussion, starting to understand or relying on the tools from our toolkit that we created earlier in the lesson.

And the idea that it is really important that we get an idea of what the citizen's lives are like in this dystopia, and this small detail here, course soap and blunt razors, is one way that Orwell does it.

So Sofia says it's just as comfort from the coarse and blunt tools used on the skin but doesn't show pain.

So it's a bit of discomfort, but it's not extreme pain.

And I think Orwell is actually a master of this in the opening of "1984" because we have this idea of these objects which cause a bit of discomfort but not extreme pain for one of the citizens.

So we get the idea that the day-to-day life of Winston is pretty unpleasant.

We also get this description of his sore leg that he has a varicose vein on his leg and it's throbs and it hurts him as he's walking into Victory Mansions at the beginning.

So just this idea of like slight discomfort with the character can make us feel a bit sorry for them as well as giving us an understanding of the society in which they live.

So we start to get an idea of connecting with this character in this dystopian setting.

Now I'd like you to discuss why do you think we wouldn't want a character to be too obviously in pain? So we've got discomfort here, but not extreme pain.

Why do you think Orwell hasn't started with his character experiencing extreme pain, but just a bit of discomfort.

Pause video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look at what Sofia said and see if that aligned with some of your discussion.

So Sofia says perhaps that would make it too obvious that the world was a dystopia and not the discomfort to build slowly.

So really like Sofia's answer, heres we've got this tentative language perhaps and that question mark, so she's proffering an idea, giving an idea about the opening of Orwell's novel, so using that tentative language can be a really nice way to explore and extract.

And I do agree with Sofia that it can't start off in the extreme.

Instead we get this slow build to discomfort.

And if you read the rest of "1984", which I really would encourage you to do, you can see how that occurs over a whole novel rather than just an extract.

So Orwell's opening is effective because he builds ideas and progresses the level of discomfort, so it takes us on a bit of a journey in this opening.

It might be useful to start with your final idea and work your way backwards and decrease the severity each time.

So if you want to include this idea of discomfort, then start with the most extreme level of discomfort that you want to present in your opening and then work backwards and decrease the severity each time.

So for example, Orwell ultimately wants us to understand that everything Winston does or says is monitored or controlled.

And we've got this quotation here, "They could plug into your wire whenever they wanted to." So this mysterious they, we realise that it is the government and this is the most extreme example that we have in this opening.

The idea that everything Winston does or says is monitored or controlled.

But if we work backwards, one step back from that is someone trying to find out what you're doing at all times.

So snooping into people's windows.

So that's not as extreme as someone plugging into your wire and hearing everything that you do, everything that you say, it's slightly less extreme.

So this idea of snooping into people's windows is slightly less extreme than the ultimate final example of the idea that everything Winston is doing is controlled or monitored.

And one step before that is someone observing you.

So we have this phrase watching you, Big Brother is watching you.

And that is the sort of at least extreme thing that we hear about in the opening of "1984".

So it progresses from watching you, to snooping into people's windows, to they could plug into your wire whenever they wanted to.

But in order to plan that, you could start from the most extreme idea and then work backwards so that you can increase at the level of severity each time.

A check for understanding before we move into our planning.

True or false, you should show that it's a dystopia by having the character feel extreme pain from the beginning.

Do you think this is true or false? Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected false.

Now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Why is this false? Pause the video and consider why is this answer, why is this statement sorry, false? Pause the video and consider now.

Welcome back.

Well done if you said having extreme pain at the beginning leaves the reader nowhere to go emotionally.

You want to introduce discomfort to build the tension and build the awareness of the dystopia.

So not starting straight away with the most extreme idea, but slowly building to more extreme ideas, as your opening progresses.

So I would like you to use the template to create a plan for your dystopian opening.

And you'll see that in many ways it matches the toolkit that you created earlier on.

So first thing I'd like you to think is what idea do you have for the small unexpected detail that you will include? What words will you use to create a semantic field of discomfort? What physical description might you include? This could be of character or the way in which they need to live their lives.

How are you gonna progress? Create a progression of ideas to create discomfort, so in Orwell, we've got the idea of someone watching you that progresses to someone plugging into your wire and scrutinising every movement that you make.

And then lack of details about the government.

Now this, you'll have to think how, what am I gonna hint at in terms of the government and what will I leave out to leave my reader questioning and thinking I need to find out more about this government.

So I'd like you to pause the video and use this template to create your plan for your dystopian opening.

Give this task the time that it deserves, so you've got a really nice plan to rely on in learning cycle three when we write this opening.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back, well done for giving that task the time that it deserves.

Let's do a bit of feedback just so that we can make sure that our ideas are really gonna help us, ideas that we can rely on when we get to learning cycle three.

So I'd like you to consider Izzy's plan and consider what mistake she has made.

So you can see that she's got a small unexpected detail.

She has created a semantic field of discomfort.

She's got a physical description, she's focused on the character and she wants to use this very sharp stab of fiery agony.

We've got a progression of ideas to create discomfort.

So she starts off with, builds subtle ideas that they're being fed sights rather than seeing them through their own eyes, and then we've got a lack of details and I really like this idea from Izzy, the subtle mentions of a company and branding, but we won't find out more details about that.

So some really, really nice ideas here, but there is a mistake that Izzy has made that she might want to correct in her plan.

Pause the video, see if you can work out what mistake Izzy should correct.

Pause the video now.

Welcome back.

Well done for really carefully considering Izzy's plan and evaluating its successes, but also identifying an area that she could improve.

So you can see for the physical description, she started off with sharp stab of fiery agony, and this is real extreme pain rather than discomfort.

So we don't have the discomfort of the coarse soap and the blunt razors, that's the example from "1984".

But instead we've got real extreme pain and we need to reduce that a little bit, we need to start with an idea of discomfort so that it can build over the story.

So how could we alter Izzy's plan to make it show discomfort rather than pain? Pause the video and discuss how would you alter Izzy's plan? What do you think she could do to show discomfort rather than pain? Pause the video, discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Really nice discussion there, showing your fantastic creativity.

I can see that in your plans, but it's nice that you've been able to offer some support to Izzy as well.

So one idea that we had that I thought was really nice is the idea of the character fidgeting and twitching.

So this is a very small idea, but it does hint at the idea that they are uncomfortable in some way because they're not saying still, they're not feeling calm, they're not feeling relaxed, but instead we have this fidgeting and twitching.

So just one idea that Izzy could use in order to make sure that she's got a physical description that shows discomfort rather than extreme pain.

Now I'd like you to check your own plan to ensure that you are introducing discomfort subtly and slowly.

You can check any other examples from your plan as well.

You might have seen Izzy's and thought, ah, that's a really nice idea, maybe I would want to use that.

But I'd like you to check and focus specifically on the idea that you are introducing discomfort subtly and slowly.

Pause the video and complete this review now.

Welcome back, well done for completing that review.

We are now more than ready to start learning cycle three and do some of our writing.

So in learning cycle three, we are going to write our own opening.

We have used learning cycle one and two to prepare for this really thoroughly, so I cannot wait to see some of the work that you produce.

So before we begin writing, let's remind ourselves why the examples from Orwell were effective.

So just a quick reminder, we've got striking thirteen, a small unexpected detail that doesn't fit in with our perception of reality or time.

We've got vile, cold, gritty, a semantic field of unpleasant weather.

Got coarse soap and blunt razors, suggestions of physical discomfort rather than pain.

Eyes watching to every moment scrutinised, a progression of ideas to build an unsettling sensation.

So this is reminding us of our toolkit.

And then finally, lack of details about the government further adds to the unsettling sensation.

So we're really looking at this toolkit that we created in learning cycle one, and you've got different examples that you created in your own planning in learning cycle two.

So true or false, before we get going with our own writing, progressing from eyes watching to every moment scrutinised is effective writing.

Is this true or false.

Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected true, and I would like you to explain why, justify why.

Pause the video and justify why the statement is true now.

Welcome back.

Well done if you talked about ideas or the progression of unsettling ideas allows a sense of discomfort to build in the reader and continually has them questioning what is happening.

So this idea of this slow build is really, really good in terms of creating this idea of discomfort, which is central to a dystopian setting.

Alright, I would like you to use your toolkit and your plan to write your own dystopian opening that emulates Orwell's opening to "1984".

So mimics it in some way, uses it as inspiration.

And I'd like you to remember to add in a small detail that doesn't fit in with our perception of reality or time.

Use a semantic field of unpleasantness.

Suggest feelings of discomfort to the reader, progress and build ideas to build discomfort.

And don't share all details right away about the government, but rather give them hints to the reader to unsettle them.

So we've got this fantastic toolkit.

We've got "1984" to really support our writing and your brilliant ideas that you planned over the course of the lesson.

Give this task the time that it deserves.

I cannot wait to see at the writing that you produce.

Pause a video and complete this task now.

Welcome back.

Oh, so lovely to see you writing your dystopian openings, really relying on the toolkit and the plan that you have produced.

I hope you feel really, really proud of your work.

We're gonna ask ourselves some reflection questions and then celebrate the work that we have done.

So I'd like you to share your writing with a peer.

If someone is nearby, then you can share the writing with them.

If not, then you can ask yourself these questions yourself.

And I'd like you to consider these questions.

Did they notice your small detail at the start that doesn't fit in with our perception of reality? How did it make them feel? Can they highlight where your semantic field is? Did they feel a sense of physical discomfort from your character? How did they see a progression in ideas? Did they understand what was happening in your dystopia straight away or did the details build over the opening? So some really careful questions here, but you'll see that they match really, really closely to the toolkit that you created.

So either you are going to share your work with a peer and ask these questions, or you can ask these questions to yourself.

Pause the video, complete this review task now.

Welcome back.

It was lovely to see people sharing their work or looking at their work themselves really, really carefully and lovely to hear the reflective discussions going on, showing that you are able to be a critical friend to your peers and really support their writing and celebrate their writing, but also have a consideration of various bits where you think, ah, maybe you could improve at this detail slightly, or maybe you could do this so that you are emulating Orwell even further.

Really lovely celebration of the work that you have produced.

In summary, in order to emulate the opening of Orwell's "1984", you might start with a small detail that doesn't fit with reality.

Using a semantic field of unpleasantness can create an unsettling atmosphere.

You might create the sensation of physical discomfort.

You might progress ideas, so the level of discomfort builds in the reader.

Releasing details about dystopia slowly can build an unsettling sensation.

It has been such a pleasure to see you writing today and emulating Orwell so well, and I look forward to seeing you next time.