Lesson video

Hello, everyone, it's lovely to see you here today.

My name's Dr.

Clayton, and I'm here to guide you through your learning journey today, so grab your pen, laptop, whatever you're using for this lesson and let's get started.

Well, welcome to today's lesson.

The lesson is called "Using precise evidence from 'The Secret Garden' to support an idea".

What we're gonna be doing is talking through an extract together, then we're gonna talk through how to respond to a question about the extract by first looking at topic sentences, and then looking at how to use quotations.

Now, being able to use topic sentences and quotations is the backbone to being able to respond to a text because they allow you to, firstly, set out your argument, and then use evidence from the text in order to support that argument.

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

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

So, our first keyword is topic sentence, which is a sentence that states the main idea of a paragraph, and it's essential in setting out clear argument for the reader to follow.

Our second keyword is embed, and that means to put a quotation inside your own sentence so that it forms a complete, grammatically correct sentence.

Our third keyword is evidence, and that means something that shows something else exists or something else is true.

In today's lesson, we're going to look at how you can use quotations as evidence to support your ideas about a text.

Our fourth keyword is present.

In this context, it means to describe or show someone or something in a particular way.

Our fifth keyword is quotation, and that means a phrase or short piece of writing taken from a longer work of literature.

So, I'll just give you a few moments now to write down those keywords and their definitions, so pause the video and write them down now.

Amazing, let's get started with the lesson.

So, we have three learning cycles in the lesson today.

For our first learning cycle, we're going to read through an extract from Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden" and consider how Burnett presents the garden by thinking about what effect the words and techniques have on us as the reader.

For our second learning cycle, we're gonna then consider the question, "How does Burnett present the garden," and think about how we can create a topic sentence to answer that question.

To do that, we're gonna talk through what a topic sentence is, talk through an example together, and then think about how we can improve a student example of a topic sentence.

For our third learning cycle, we're going to think about how we can use quotations to support ideas about an extract.

To do that, we're gonna think about what you should look for when choosing a quotation as well as think about embedding that quotation in the sentence, and then you are gonna have a go at choosing quotations that match a topic sentence.

So, today, we're gonna look at an extract from Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden".

Now, if you haven't read "The Secret Garden", it's a wonderful children's book, where an orphan is sent to live with her uncle in England, and she discovers a walled garden in his estate that's been locked up for 10 years, since her aunt died.

She finds a key to the garden and starts to explore it.

Now, once we've read the extract, we're going to answer the question, "How does Burnett present the secret garden?" We're just gonna spend a little bit of time deconstructing that question so you can have it in your mind as we read through the extract.

So, when a question is saying how, it's asking you to use evidence from the extract to answer the question.

So, it's asking you to think about how Burnett has used language and structure in order to have an effect on the reader.

When the question says Burnett, it's reminding you a writer has constructed the text.

It's an essential thing to remember when you're reading any text, the writer's purposely created it to have an effect on the reader.

Then, the question will always give you a focus for your argument.

In this case, the focal point is the garden, so remember to think about that and how it's shown rather than the characters when we read through the extract.

So, let's read through the extract together.

"It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine.

The high walls which shut it in were covered with leafless stems of climbing roses which were so thick that they were matted together.

Mary Lennox knew they were roses because she had seen a great many roses in India.

All the ground was covered with grass of a wintry brown and out of it grew clumps of bushes, which were surely rosebushes if they were alive.

There were numbers of standard roses which had so spread their branches that they were like little trees." Now let's start annotating the extract together and really thinking about what the words mean to us and what effect they have on us as the reader.

So, what I'd like you to do is think about what tone does the opening, "It was the sweetest," immediately create.

So, tone means the emotional feeling behind it, so what emotional feeling do we get from, "It was the sweetest," and why do you think Burnett might have opened with that particular phrase? So, pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great discussions there.

You might have said that it creates a wondrous, delighted tone since "sweetest" means something that's extraordinarily beautiful and pleasant.

You also might notice Burnett isn't just saying the garden is sweet, choosing a superlative by saying the garden is the sweetest, which shows that it's more beautiful and more pleasant than anything else.

Now, I'd like you to think about these three words.

What impression do the words "climbing", "matted" and "covered" suggest to you? So, pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great discussions there.

Now, to me, these words create the image of leaves and branches everywhere, and the only thing that I can see is this wild tangle of nature.

And you might have thought it suggests the garden has been left alone for a long time and the plants have grown wild in a chaotic way, so they've taken over the whole space.

Let's continue with the extract.

"There were other trees in the garden, and one of the things which made the place look strangest and loveliest was that climbing roses had run all over them and swung down long tendrils which made light swaying curtains, and here and there they had caught at each other or at a far-reaching branch and had crept from one tree to another and made lovely bridges of themselves." So, I'd like you first to zoom in on the two words "strangest" and "loveliest", and think what impression does the combination of those two words create? So, pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there, and you might have said it creates the impression of a place that's both unusual and beautiful, which suggests the garden's almost magical and otherworldly.

Again, you might notice that Burnett is not merely saying it's strange or lovely, she's saying they are the strangest and loveliest, and that implies there's something particularly unique and extraordinary about this particular garden.

Now, if we zoom in on the last part of this extract, here the garden is personified through the idea of the ivy purposely reaching for one another to create those little bridges.

What I'd like you to do is think about how this might add to the magical impression of the garden.

So, pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

Now, you might have said that by implying the garden has its own conscious thoughts and purpose through the personification, Burnett is creating a sense of magic in the garden because, again, it creates an otherworldly sensation, because we don't normally expect plants to be alive, and yet this garden is alive and it has purpose and conscious thought.

Now let's read the rest of the extract together.

"There were neither leaves nor roses on them now and Mary did not know whether they were dead or alive, but their thin grey or brown branches and sprays looked like a sort of hazy mantle spreading over everything, walls and trees, and even brown grass, where they had fallen from their fastenings and run along the ground.

It was this hazy tangle from tree to tree which made it all look so mysterious.

Mary had thought it must be different from other gardens which had not been left all by themselves so long; and indeed it was different from any other place she had ever seen in her life." Now, throughout the extract, there are a lot of references to grey and brown colours, and that creates a semantic field.

What I'd like you to do is think about what that semantic field of brown and grey suggests to you.

So, pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

You might have said that throughout the extract, there's a semantic field of brown and wintry colours, and that suggests the garden has been uncared for for some time and some of the plants have probably died.

It perhaps implies this beautiful place needs someone to bring it back to life.

Now, when the extract says the branches look "like a sort of hazy mantle", that's a simile because it's saying it's like something else.

Now, what I'd like you to do is think about what that simile suggests.

Now, a mantle is a cloak, so what might the idea of the branches looking like a cloak suggest to you? Pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

You might have thought that because a mantle is a cloak, it further suggests this wild and chaotic nature of the garden since it's grown over everything, but it also adds a sense of mystery to the garden because we can't see all of it, because it's covered by these branches that look like a cloak that's spread over everything.

Now for a quick check for understanding what we've just read.

So, what I'd like you to do is tell me which one of the following statements about the garden is true.

Is it A, the garden is presented as ordinary, B, the garden is presented as well-cared for, or C, the garden is presented as unusual and magical? So, pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is C, the garden is presented as unusual and magical, through the language that Burnett uses and the way she personifies the garden.

Amazing work, everyone.

We're now onto the first task of our lesson.

Now, what I'd like you to do is create a mind-map around the question with your initial ideas based on our annotations.

This will help us get an idea of how we might approach answering the question, and it'll help us when we're thinking about topic sentences and quotations in learning cycles two and three.

So, the question is, "How does Burnett present the secret garden," so how does Burnett describe the garden? Remember, we're focusing on the garden specifically, so look back over the extract and our annotations and think about how Burnett's describing or showing the garden to us.

So, pause the video and create your mind-map now.

Amazing, it was great to see people looking back over their notes to really consider their ideas about the question.

Now, you might have said, potentially, you might think the garden's mysterious.

You might have thought about the fact we can't see everything in the garden, and that makes it mysterious because it's so overgrown and wild, but also, you might have thought about the fact that no one's cared for it for a long time, and that makes it seem like an unknown entity.

We don't know anything about it and we don't know what's in the garden.

You might have thought it's beautiful.

When Burnett calls the garden the sweetest and loveliest, we think of it as a very beautiful and pleasant place.

Or you could have said uncared for.

The semantic field of brown suggests there are many dead plants in the garden, and that suggests that no one's been taking care of them for a long time.

You could have thought it's wild and chaotic.

The words that Burnett uses there, climbing and matted, suggests there are leaves and branches everywhere, and that suggests there's no order to the garden.

It's been enough to grow by itself for a long time and, therefore, it's become wild and chaotic.

You also could have said it's seemingly alive and magical.

Despite the semantic field of brown, there's also something alive about the garden through the way that Burnett personifies it, and that suggests there's a consciousness behind the garden and almost a magic behind it because we don't expect gardens to be alive and have that sense of purpose behind them.

Fantastic work so far, everyone.

We're now onto our second learning cycle, where we're going to focus on topic sentences.

We're going to think about what a topic sentence is, and then look at an example of a topic sentence so you can understand what the success criteria is and what one should look like.

So, before I tell you what a topic sentence is, what I'd like you to think about is have you ever come across the term "topic sentence" before? Do you know what it means? So, pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

Now, a topic sentence introduces the main idea of your paragraph.

It clearly tells the reader what your idea is.

It's essential to use topic sentences in your writing because they allow the reader to follow your train of thought.

It's really easy to fall into the trap of thinking that because something makes sense and is logical to us, it'll make sense to everybody else, but no one approaches the text in the same way.

So, it's really important to be clear about your ideas through the topic sentences to make sure the reader can follow your train of thought.

Now, a good topic sentence should explain the specific focus of the paragraph, be concise, and that means to be short and clear.

It should also reference the writer's name, if it's available to you.

So, let's look at an example of a topic sentence.

Now, our question is, "How does Burnett present the secret garden," and our topic sentence might be, "Burnett presents the secret garden as wild and chaotic." So, you've said the writer's name, and you've said the garden is wild and chaotic, and that's a really concise and clear idea.

It's only two words, but it tells the reader exactly what your idea about the garden is.

Now, it might be temping to include a quotation in your topic sentence or point to a linguistic device.

Remember, the purpose of a topic sentence is to present your idea, then the rest of the paragraph presents your evidence.

That's where you use quotations and reference specific devices or structures.

Just use the topic sentence to really clearly show your idea to the reader.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is tell me which one of the following success criteria does not belong in a topic sentence.

Is it A, include detailed language analysis, B, explain the main focus of the paragraph, C, reference the writer's name clearly, or D, be concise, explain the idea in a short and clear way? So, pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is A, you should not include detailed language analysis in your topic sentence.

As I said, the body of the paragraph is where you include your evidence through your quotations and your language analysis.

Your topic sentence is purely to explain the main focus of the paragraph.

Now we're going to have a look at a student's example of a topic sentence.

It's often really useful to look at other people's work before you start writing your own work because that really helps you to understand what makes sense to a reader, and then how you can achieve it in your own work.

So, for the second task in our lesson, what I'd like you to do is explain why this topic sentence below is not effective, and then rewrite it to improve it.

So, the topic sentence currently is, "I think the secret garden is presented as potentially dangerous because there are lots of verbs that relate to movement, such as "swaying" and "climbing", and that could mean Mary might trip over something or find herself tangled in the leaves." Now, remember, a topic sentence should explain the focus of the paragraph, be concise, meaning be short and clear, and clearly reference the writer's name.

So, pause the video, tell me why that sentence is not effective, and then rewrite it to improve it.

Amazing, it was great to see people looking back at the example topic sentence we looked at earlier as a frame of reference.

Now, you might have said the topic sentence is not effective because it doesn't reference the writer's name.

It's important to reference the writer's name because it shows the reader you're aware the writing's a construct, the writer's created it, and the events aren't real, but they're, rather, designed to have specific effect on the reader.

You also might have said it doesn't express the idea of the paragraph in a short and clear way.

Instead, it starts using quotations and making inferences about how the character might feel in the garden based on those quotations.

Now, a rewritten version might be, "Burnett presents the secret garden as potentially dangerous." Here you've given the writer's name and you've explained in a very clear and concise way you think the garden is dangerous.

You can then use the rest of your paragraph to explain why you think it's dangerous and give evidence from the text.

Fantastic work, everyone.

We're now onto our third learning cycle, but we're going to consider how we can effectively use quotations as evidence in our writing.

So, I'd like you to start off by thinking about why you think it's important to use quotations when you answer a question about a text.

So, pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, you might have said that quotations act as evidence from the text, and they allow you to prove your ideas about the text to the reader.

Now, quotations should ideally be short.

Sometimes we are tempted to use a long quotation because we might think that using a larger section of the text, that we're more effectively proving our point, but actually, it's far more effective to choose a word or short phrase from a larger passage and then explain to the reader how that proves your point because it shows you've really read and understood the text and what the writer is trying to achieve.

You should also match the point being made in the topic sentence, and then you should embed the quotation in your sentence.

Now, embedding is one of our keywords, and it means to put a quotation inside your sentence to form a complete sentence.

We'll talk about that more in a moment.

So, let's spend a little bit of time now thinking about matching quotations to your point because this is essentially making sure your quotations are actually creating evidence for your ideas.

Now, what I'd like you to do is think about whether the following sentences have quotations that match the point being made.

So, sentence number one, "The garden seems mysterious when it's described as having "numbers of standard roses" in it." Sentence two, "The garden seems mysterious when it's described as having a "hazy mantle spreading over everything"." So, pause the video and consider whether those quotations match the point of the sentence.

Amazing, some great ideas there.

Now, sentence one, as I said, the sentence is, "The garden seems mysterious when it's described as having "numbers of standard roses" in it." Now, by saying the roses are "standard", that implies they're ordinary and, therefore, not mysterious, so the quotation doesn't match the point of the sentence and, therefore, doesn't act as evidence for your point about the garden being mysterious.

Now, sentence two was, "The garden seems mysterious when it's described as having a "hazy mantle spreading over everything"." Now, here, the image of a "hazy mantle" suggests you can't clearly see the garden, which does add a sense of mystery to it.

Therefore, the quotation does match the point of the sentence, and it does act as evidence to prove your idea to the reader.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is tell me which one of the following quotations matches the idea that the garden has dead plants in it.

Is it A, "climbing roses", B, "brown grass", or C, "long tendrils which made light swaying curtains"? So, pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is B, "brown grass", because we expect plants to be green and luscious when they're healthy, and brown grass suggests the opposite of that.

So, therefore, it suggests they are dead plants.

Now let's look at embedding quotations.

A quotation should be embedded in your sentence rather than being separate.

The quotations should form part of your sentence and make a complete, grammatically correct sentence.

This is important because it creates a seamless flow to your writing.

It also makes it really clear for the reader to understand which quotations are acting as evidence for which points.

So, rather than saying, "had crept from one tree to another," this is an example of personification and makes the garden seem magical.

In this example, the quotation is separate from the sentence as it's added onto the beginning, and there's a full stop separating the quotation from the sentence.

This makes your writing sound bitty and disconnected, and that means the reader can't follow your train of thought clearly and the argument itself.

So, instead, you should say, "The garden seems magical since it's personified when the tendrils are said to have "crept from one tree to another"." Here, the quotation is part of your sentence, and it makes grammatical sense within that sentence.

It makes your writing seem seamless, and it also makes it clear to the reader your evidence for the garden seeming magical is through the quotation, "crept from one tree to another".

Now a quick, quick check for understanding.

What I'd like you to do is tell me which one of the following sentences has an embedded quotation.

So, is it A, Burnett implies the grass is dead, the evidence for this is when she says "brown", B, "Wintry brown", here, Burnett implies the grass is dead, or C, Burnett presents the grass as dead when she describes it as "brown"? So, pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answer is C, Burnett presents the grass as dead when she describes it as "brown".

Here, the quotation, "brown", is included in the sentence, and it makes grammatical sense within that sentence.

Amazing, everyone.

We're onto of the final task of the lesson.

What we're gonna do is practise selecting quotations from the extract and then explaining why they're effective evidence for your answer.

So, a student wrote, "Burnett presents the secret garden as beautiful." What I'd like you to do for your final task is find three quotations from the extract that could act as evidence for this topic sentence and explain why for each of them.

So, why do each of those quotations match the point of the topic sentence, how do they explain it to the reader, and prove your idea to them.

In your explanation, remember to embed the quotations and say how they match the point of the topic sentence and the idea of the garden being "beautiful".

So, pause the video and find your quotations now.

Amazing, everyone, it was great to see people looking back at our examples of embedded sentences to check you've understood how to do it correctly.

So, what I would like you to do now is self-assess your answers.

So, did you choose quotations that present the garden as "beautiful" and did you embed the quotations within your answer? So, pause the video, look back, and self-assess your answer now.

Amazing work, everyone.

Now, let's have a look through a model answer for our final point of the lesson.

So, the model reads, "The tendrils of the garden are described as making "light swaying curtains".

This contributes to the idea of the garden being beautiful since "light" and "swaying" convey gracefulness to the tendrils that almost implies they are dancing." So, let's just take a moment to talk through this model answer.

The opening sentence embeds the quotation within the sentence because the quotation forms part of that sentence.

It makes complete grammatical sense.

It then proceeds to explain exactly why the quotation acts as evidence for the idea of the garden being "beautiful", because it zooms in on the words "light" and "swaying", and it tells the reader that those words form the idea of a gracefulness about the garden and suggests their movement is one of dance, and we associate grace and dance with ideas of beauty.

So, therefore, it's matching the point of the topic sentence and really clearly telling the reader how they act as evidence for their point.

Amazing work today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered: an analytical question asks you to use evidence from the text to present your ideas; a topic sentence should concisely explain the main idea of the paragraph; quotations should match the point being made by the topic sentence; and quotations should be embedded in your sentences.

I really hope you enjoyed the lesson, everyone.

Goodbye.