Hello, everyone.

It's lovely to see you here today for this lesson analysing character in an unseen extract from "Asha and the Spirit Bird." My name's Dr.

Clayton, and I'm gonna be guiding you through learning journey today.

Now, you will need a copy of the Chicken House Books edition of "Asha and the Spirit Bird" by Jasbinder Bilan for this lesson, so make sure you have that with you.

So if you're ready, grab your pen, laptop, whatever you're using for this lesson, and let's get started.

So by the end of this lesson, you'll be able to make precise inferences about characters and explain quotations in detail.

So we have five words today we're going to focus on as our keywords.

They're identified in bold throughout the learning material, and I'll try to point them out to you as well so you can see them being used in context.

Our first keyword is predict, and that means to say what you think will happen in the future.

And then making predictions about a text based on image or the title is a really useful exercise because it helps to see how certain words or images influence our perceptions.

Our second keyword is character, and that means a person in a novel, play, or film.

Today we're specifically going to make inferences about characters based on the language that Bilan has used to describe them.

Our third keyword is extract, and that means a short passage taken from a text, film, or piece of music.

And today you're gonna be reading extracts from "Asha and the Spirit Bird." Our fourth keyword is quotation, and that means a phrase or a short piece of writing taken from a longer work of literature.

We analyse quotations in order to make specific inferences about certain words and images.

And finally, our fifth keyword is inference, which is a guess that you make or an opinion that you form based on the information you have.

So today we're going to be taking the information we have been given about a character.

We're gonna try and form an opinion about them based on that.

So I'll just give you a moment to write down those keywords and their definitions.

So pause the video and write them down now.

Fantastic.

Let's get started with the lesson.

So we have three learning cycles in our lesson today.

For our first learning cycle, we're going to think about the genre of "Asha and the Spirit Bird," and think about what predictions we can make about the story based on its genre.

For our second learning cycle, we're going to read through an extract from the beginning of the novel, answer some comprehension questions, and then consider how we feel the main character, Asha, is feeling after the events in the extract.

For our third learning cycle, we're gonna zoom in on some quotations about a couple of the characters and consider what inferences we can make based on those quotations.

So as I said, we're going to consider the genre of the text first and then think about what predictions we can make about the nature of the story based on the genre.

Now, the genre of the text means the type of story it is.

So for example, we might think about stories being an action adventure story, a comedy story, or romance, and knowing what type of story it is helps to make predictions about what will happen in the story.

And then we can think about why the writer might have chosen that particular genre for their story.

So "Asha and the Spirit Bird" is a magical-realist story where Asha and her best friend, Jeevan, travel across the Himalayas in order to find her father and save her home.

So what I'll like you to do is think about whether you make a guess at what a magical-realist story might be.

What sort of elements do you think it might contain? Now, if you're working through this with someone else, you might talk about your ideas with them.

If you're working through this by yourself, you might just think about your ideas.

So pause video and think about what sort of story a magical-realist story might be.

Some great discussions, everyone.

Some fantastic ideas about the concepts of magic and what's real seem to be two different things.

There might be an element of contradiction in the story.

Now, the magical part of magical-realism obviously refers to magic, so we know that fantastical magical events will happen in the story.

And the genre of realism refers to a story where everyday events are depicted in a way that's true to normal life.

So a magical-realism story is one that's set in the real world where ordinary everyday events happen, but at the same time, there are magical and fantastical events that also happen.

So many of you might be familiar with J.

K.

Rowling's "Harry Potter," which is arguably magical-realism because we have the everyday world of the Muggles with the magical events happening at the same time.

Now for a quick check for understanding about the genre.

So what I'd like you to tell me is whether it's true or false that magical-realist stories contain magic and fantastical elements.

So pause the video, and select whether that's true or false.

The correct answer is true.

Now I'd like to justify that answer.

So is it that a, the magic happens in a far away unfamiliar place, or b, the magic happens in a real world setting? So pause the video and take a few moments to select your answer.

The correct answer is b.

This is the realism part of the genre.

A fantasy genre, on the other hand, is where magic happens in a far away unfamiliar place, but in a magical-realism story, the magic happens in a real world setting.

So very well done if you got that right.

Great work, everyone.

We're now at the first task of the lesson where we're going bring these ideas of magical-realism together to make a prediction about the story of "Asha and the Spirit Bird." So based on the title "Asha and the Spirit Bird" and the information we know about magical-realist stories, I'd like you to make a prediction about the role you think the bird will play in the text.

Now, prediction is one of our key keywords.

It means to say what you think will happen in the future.

So you're using the information we have about the genre to say what you think will happen in the story.

I'd like you to consider can you make any guesses about the nature of the bird? So think about it being called a spirit bird.

What do you think the relationship between Asha and the bird will be? So think about the fact the title is "Asha and the Spirit Bird." And number three, do you think the bird will be important to the story? Now, if you're working through this with someone else, you might talk about your predictions together.

If you're working through this by yourself, you might just think about your ideas.

So pause the video and think about what predictions for "Asha and the Spirit Bird" you can make based on the magical-realism genre.

Fantastic work, everyone.

Now let's consider the nature of the bird first.

So like Laura, you have created a connection between the magical-realism genre and the word spirit.

Thought that the bird is more likely to be a magical creature than an ordinary bird, since one meaning of the word spirit is a supernatural being, and the magical part of magical-realism refers to fantastical magical events.

Then when thinking about whether the bird will be important to the story, like Sam, you might have noticed the bird appears in the title, so therefore we can make the assumption the bird will have a prominent place in the story.

Finally, if we think about the nature of the relationship between Asha and the bird, then like Alex, you might have remembered the short summary I gave you earlier that the story involves Asha and her best friend, Jeevan, travelling across the Himalayas in order to find Asha's father and save her home.

You might have taken this information and thought that the bird might provide some sort of magical assistance to Asha on her journey.

Great work, everyone.

We're now onto the second learning cycle.

We're going to read through an extract from the text.

Now we're going to read an extract from Jasbinder Bilan's "Asha and the Spirit Bird." Now remember that extract is one of our keywords.

It means a short passage taken from a text, so we're going to look at a short passage from the text.

The extract is taken from the start of the novel and details the moment that the debt collectors arrive at Asha's house.

It starts on page four.

So read the paragraph where the narrator talks about feeling sick to where the man goes inside.

Now, during this readthrough, we're going to consider what we learn about the plot and the characters.

So character is also one of our keywords.

It means a person in a novel, play, or film.

So looking at some of the people in the story and thinking about what we learn about them.

Now, when you're thinking about characters, it's essential to remember these are not real people.

They're fictional people created by the writer to serve a specific purpose in the story.

So when we're analysing them, make sure you talk about them as constructions of the writer rather than real people.

So pause the video now and read from the paragraph on page four where the narrator talks about feeling sick to where the man goes inside.

Amazing work, everyone.

It was great to see people reading with such focus.

Now we're going to answer some questions about the extract to make sure we've understood what happens.

So the questions I'd like you to answer about the extract are, number one, who told Asha about the strangers? Number two, what are the strangers doing to Asha's mother? Number three, what is Asha's mother asking for? And number four, what does the stranger want? Now, this is not a test, so feel free to look back through your copy of the book to find the answers if you're not sure.

This is an exercise designed to help make sure you understand what's happening in the extract and is not a test of your memory.

So pause the video and answer the questions now.

Fantastic work, everyone.

Now let's check through your answers.

So question one, who told Asha about the strangers? And the correct answer is that Jeevan told Asha about the strangers.

So perhaps from this we might already be thinking about how Jeevan is shown as the good and helpful friend to Asha right from the start of the story.

Question two, what are the strangers doing to Asha's mother? They're threatening her.

One of the men is holding a metal weapon at her, so we might already be thinking about these characters in a negative way.

We might see them as intimidating.

Question three, what is Asha's mother asking for? She's asking for more time.

Just another month.

So we'll already be thinking that Asha's mother is feeling quite desperate, and this makes the action of the men seem even more negative.

Question four, what does the stranger want? The stranger wants money.

She's going to look for it in the house to try and find things she can sell if Asha's mother doesn't have the money to give her up front.

So very well done if you got those right.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

So which one of the following statements is true of the extract? Is it a, that Asha's mother tries to block the strangers from entering the house, b, the strangers are after money, or c, the neighbours try to help Asha and her mother? So pause the video and make your selection now.

Now, we're reading the extract that Asha's mum pleads with the strangers, but she doesn't try to stop from entering the house, which perhaps means she feels threatened and intimidated by them.

We also know the neighbour stood by and did nothing, which again perhaps suggests the strangers are particularly threatening people.

So the correct answer is that the strangers are after money.

So very well done if you got that right.

So we might summarise the extract like this.

Jeevan comes to find Asha to tell her there are strangers at her home who are threatening her mother.

Asha's mother is pleading with the strangers to give her more time to find the money.

The strangers don't respond to Asha's mother and instead force their way into the house to try and find the money or items to sell to collect the money.

Asha and Jeevan attempt to stop the men from taking items from the house.

So now let's think about consolidating our understanding of the plot and the characters.

So what I'd like to think about is which characters do you have a negative perception of and which characters do you have a positive perception of based on the extract? Why is that? There also might be some characters you're undecided about, and which characters might they be? So pause the video and think about how you respond to the characters based on the extract.

Now, we might say that we have a negative perception of Meena and her henchmen.

Now, Meena and her henchmen are physically intimidating Asha and her family, and therefore we're likely to see them in a negative light.

For positive, you might have said Asha and Jeevan.

Now, Asha and Jeevan are the ones trying to save Asha's family and their home, therefore we see them in a positive light because they're being brave and standing up to Meena and her henchmen even though they don't really understand what's happening.

For undecided, potentially might have said Asha's mother and the neighbours.

Now, these are the characters who don't try to stand up to Meena and her henchmen.

So perhaps we might say we're undecided because we don't necessarily see them in a negative light because arguably they're scared of Meena and her henchmen and that's why they don't do anything, but we can't really see them in a positive light either because they don't do anything.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

So what I'd like to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or false.

So is it true or false? Our first impression of Asha is a negative one.

So pause the video and make a selection now.

Correct answer is false.

Our first impression is a positive one.

So and now I'd like you to justify that answer.

So is it positive because a, Asha and Jeevan tried to defend Asha's family and home, or b, Asha and her father tried to defend Asha's family and home? So pause the video and make your selection now.

Correct answer is a, Asha and Jeevan tried to defend Asha's family and home, therefore we have a positive impression because think of Asha as being a brave character.

Now we're going to think about what the initial inferences we can make about the main character of Asha based on what we've read in the extract.

So when you read an extract for the first time, it's important to think about what emotion you get from the extract.

This will help guide your understanding of the text and the writer's intentions.

So what I'd like you to think about is how do you think Asha is feeling at the start of the extract? So you might think about the words used and the way that Asha acts in the extract.

How do you think she's feeling, and why do you think Bilan has made her character feel this way? How does that make us as a reader feel towards her? Now, if you're working with someone else, you might just talk about your ideas together.

If you're working by yourself, you might just think about your ideas.

So pause the video and consider how you think Asha's feeling at the start of the extract and why do you think Bilan might have made her feel that way? Amazing work, everyone.

Now what I'd like to do is compare your ideas to the Oak pupils and think about which one do you agree with more? So Sam said, "I think she's feeling frightened.

The word sick is used.

I think it refers to that awful feeling of dread in your stomach." So we have a physical description of how Asha's feeling that might make us as the reader understand that she's feeling fear because we might have experienced that feeling of nausea in the pit of your stomach and how this signals fear.

Alex said, "Part of her fear is that she doesn't know what's happening and neither do we.

So that makes us share her fear." As humans, we generally fear the unknown because it's something we don't know or understand.

So the idea of not knowing what's happening makes us afraid because we don't know how to rationalise it or respond to it.

So pause the video and think about who you agree with more.

Fantastic ideas, everyone.

It's always good to share ideas, consider which ones resonate with you more because it's how we expand our understanding of the text and how we expand our understanding of the world around us in general.

You also might have said, "In the extract, Asha is trying to defend her family and her home even though she's scared.

So perhaps Bilan is trying to make us see her as a courageous character." So potentially we're more likely to root for her as she goes on her journey to rescue her father because we see her as someone who's willing to fight for their family and their home despite the fact they feel afraid.

Amazing works so far, everyone.

We're now onto the third learning cycle.

We're going to look at some of the specific language around the characters and consider what inferences we can make based on the language.

So as I said, we're now gonna consider how Bilan might have wanted us to respond to these unknown characters by looking at certain quotations.

Now, quotation is one of our keywords.

Means a phrase or short piece of writing taken from a longer work of literature.

So we're going to look at specific words or phrases from the text in order to think about what that tells us about the characters.

Some of these characters have been constructed by Bilan, so every word used about them and every action they take is intentional.

It's designed to make the reader feel a certain way.

Now, in order to create an effect on a reader, writers use certain techniques and make specific word choices.

Now, while we all might have slightly different connotations to words because they're based on our experiences and memories, we do generally have a shared concept of what creates a negative or positive connotation because it's something that's widely accepted as a cultural or social reference.

So for example, we generally associate smiles with friendliness, and we all generally associate a frown with negative emotions.

So when thinking about the characters, their body language generally gives a fairly universal idea about how we should perceive them.

So first we're gonna consider word choice and what that might tell us about the characters.

Now, always remember the writer has chosen specific words for a reason.

They're designed to create a specific effect on the reader.

So Asha says the men tower over her mother.

What does that suggest about the situation? So pause the video and think about what the men towering over Asha's mother suggests.

Now as ever, if you're working through this with someone else, you might talk about your ideas with them.

If you're working through this by yourself, you might just think about your ideas.

So pause the video, and think about what the men towering over Asha's mother suggests.

Fantastic work, everyone.

It was great to see people looking up the definition of tower if they weren't sure what it means.

Now, if you looked up the definition, you'll know that a tower is a tall structure, but it can also mean to reach great heights.

So like Lucas, you might have thought that if you're describing the men as towering over Asha's mother, then that suggests they're much taller than her, and that creates a physically intimidating impression because it suggests they are looming over her in a potentially menacing way.

Like Jacob, you also might have thought about the fact that we generally associate a tower with buildings and structures, and therefore to describe the men in this way, it suggests that perhaps they aren't human in some way and they aren't particularly friendly.

They're just emotionless like a structure.

Now we're going to consider a character's speech and behaviour and infer what that tells us about them.

So what conclusions can we reach about a character based on how they behave and how they speak? So one of the characters is called Meena, and she orders the two men to look for the money and to be on guard so nobody stops them.

The character uses imperative language.

Now, imperative language means using commands.

So what inferences can we make about her character based on this? And inference is one of our key words.

It means to reach a conclusion based on the evidence you have.

So think about the fact she's commanding the two men in the extract.

What does that tell us about her character? So pause the video, take a few most to think about what inferences we can make about her character based on that information.

Now, generally when we see a character using imperative language, it means they're in control or in a position of power because they're giving commands to others and expecting others to obey them, so it shows us that she's in charge.

And you might remember she's urging the other men to hurry.

That also might suggest that she knows what she's doing is wrong.

She wants to do it quickly and leave.

So she's aware that what she's doing is morally wrong, but she's doing it anyway because she wants the money, which could suggest to us there's an element of greed about her character.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

So what I'd like you to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or false.

So is it true or false that the word tower suggests the characters are intimidating? So pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is true.

It does suggest they're intimidating.

Now I'd like to justify that answer.

So are they intimidating because it's just the characters are physically imposing, or b, is it intimidating because it's just the characters are in control and giving commands to others? So pause the video and make your selection now.

Now, tower means a tall building, so to tower over someone implies you're taller than them, and that suggests the characters are physically imposing.

So very well done if you've got that right.

Fantastic work, everyone.

We're now onto the final task of the lesson where we're going to consider some more of the specific word choices for the characters and consider what inferences we can make.

So I'd like to look at the following word choice.

Bilan says that one of the men bares his teeth.

She also says his teeth are red from the nut he's been chewing.

So what might the word bares suggest about why we should be scared of this character? I'd like you to write a short answer explaining your reasoning.

So you might consider what do we normally think of as baring its teeth? Why might that be frightening? And what are the scary associations of the colour red? So pause the video and consider why bares creates a terrifying connotation and how the colour red might feed into that.

Amazing work, everyone.

Now you might have said that we normally think of an animal, such as a dog, as baring its teeth.

Specifically we associate it with an aggressive response and therefore we might be scared of the character.

Giving a human character animal characteristics is a specific technique called zoomorphism, and writers generally use this to suggest there's something unsettling or scary about a character because it suggests they're more like an animal than a human and therefore we can't expect them to act in a moral way.

And it makes them unpredictable because if they're more animal-like than human, we don't know how they might react in certain situations, so it makes us feel scared towards the character.

We might associate the colour red with blood, therefore we might be scared of the character.

So it's a connection with ideas of blood and violence.

Specifically the idea of the colour red being the character's mouth creates a particularly negative connotation because it suggests that perhaps they might have bitten someone, which not only adds to the animalistic idea of the word bares, but also suggests this character is someone who's not afraid to use violence.

Therefore, these words create a negative impression of the character, and Bilan specifically chose the words that make us think they are physically imposing and intimidating as well as potentially aggressive.

Fantastic work today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

Magical-realist texts have a real-world setting in which magic happens.

Use the first read of an unseen extract to establish key information about plot, character, and setting.

Next, read more closely to consider the specific meaning of words and phrases and their effects.

Imperative language means giving commands.

I really hope you enjoyed the lesson, everyone, and hope that this perhaps not only inspired you to go and seek out more magical-realism stories, but also it's inspired you to read more of "Asha and the Spirit Bird" to find out what happens next.

Hope to see you for another lesson soon.

Goodbye.