Lesson video

Hello everyone, my name is Mr. Johnston.

It's good to meet you.

Today, I'm going to be teaching you about "Oliver Twist" an amazing novel written by Charles Dickens.

This story follows a young orphan called Oliver Twist through his adventures in Victorian England.

It is a tale full of adventure, full of danger and full of crazy characters.

It's very exciting and at times, very scary.

I hope you learn to love this novel just as much as I do.

So, let's begin.

In today's lesson I'm going to introduce you to the novel's author, Charles Dickens and the novel's main character, Oliver Twist.

For today's lesson, you will need your exercise book or paper and a pen.

If you do not have these items, you can pause the video here and go and collect them.

Let me now describe our plan for today's lesson.

We will firstly learn about the novels context.

We'll introduce you to the Victorian Era and Charles Dickens.

After that, we will read our extract from chapter one of Oliver Twist, and then we will analyse our extract.

So let's begin by looking at the context of Oliver Twist.

Now, it's very important that we know about the context of a novel.

The context is the relationship between the text and the time in which it was written.

When we learn about the context of a novel, we are learning about the author and the period in which they lived.

Knowing about the context can help us understand our novel and the ideas that the writer might be exploring.

This novel was written during the Victorian era.

This period was named after Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria was the queen of Britain throughout this era.

Now the Victorian era lasted between 1837 and 1901.

Okay, let's now test your memory on these ideas.

True or false, a, the Victorian era lasted between 1942 and 2007, b, Queen Victoria was the queen of Britain during this era and c, the Victorian era lasted between 1837 and 1901.

If you would like more time to work these answers out, you can click pause on this video now.

Okay, let's see our answers.

False, the Victorian era does not last between 1942 and 2007.

True, Queen Victoria was the queen of Britain during this era and it's true the Victorian era lasted between 1837 and 1901.

Well done, if you got all of those marks correct.

You have got a great memory.

Let's now take a look at the author of Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens.

To understand Charles Dickens, we must look at an event that took place in his childhood.

When Charles was 12 years old, his father, John Dickens was imprisoned for failing to pay his debts.

So John Dickens owed lots of money to people, but he was unable to pay them back.

In Victorian times, if you could not pay your debts, you could be sent to prison as a punishment.

As you can imagine, Charles Dickens family became very poor without their father's support.

So, to support his family, Charles was sent to work at a shoe polish factory.

Charles could no longer go to school and instead had to work at this awful job.

He worked in terrible conditions with long hours and poor pay.

This terrible experience had a profound effect on the rest of the Dickens life.

Dickens went on to become a very famous writer, but he never forgot this memory of his childhood.

Dickens' experience of poverty inspired his writing.

Dickens wrote his novels to educate his readers about the sufferings of poor people.

Even though his books were very entertaining, he wrote them with a serious aim.

Dickens wanted society to recognise just how tough life could be for the poor.

Let's now test your memory on Charles Dickens.

Which fact about Charles Dickens is correct? Option one, Dickens liked poor people, but had never been poor himself.

Option two, Dickens' novels were inspired by his experience of being poor in his childhood.

Option three, Charles Dickens was sent to prison for his debts and option four, Dickens was a rich writer who did not like the poor.

If you would like some more time to choose your answer, please click pause on this video.

Okay, let's now see our answer.

Option two is of course correct.

Dickens novels were inspired by his experience of being poor in his childhood.

Well done, if you got that correct.

Let's now begin our preparation for reading the extract from chapter one.

I am now going to explain some things to you that will help you understand this extract.

This extract is set in a workhouse.

Now the workhouse was a very unpleasant place that was found in most Victorian towns and cities.

In Victorian times, people were sent to the workhouse if they could not support themselves.

The workhouse provided shelter and employment to these people.

So, if you were very poor and you could not afford your food or a place to sleep, you could be sent to the workhouse.

Now, there was great worry that people would deliberately avoid working in order to be sent to the workhouse and receive shelter and food.

So conditions in workhouses were deliberately kept miserable to deter people from seeking their support.

People in the workhouse had to live in horrible conditions, eat terrible food and endure a backbreaking work.

The workhouse was such a terrible place that you would only go there if you had no other option.

I'll now tell you what happens in our extract.

This extract is from chapter one of our novel, Oliver Twist.

In our extract, Oliver has just been born in a workhouse.

There are four people in the room, number one, baby Oliver, number two, Oliver's mother, number three, a parish surgeon that is a doctor.

And number four, an old lady from the workhouse.

As you read the extract, think about the following questions.

Why does Oliver nearly die after he is born? What happens to Oliver's mother after she gives birth? And what do we learn about Oliver's mother in this extract? Okay, it's now time to settle back and read our extract.

But before we begin, I've got one warning for you, this extract is very sad.

So you might want to go and get some tissues in preparation for crying, let's begin.

For a long time after Oliver was ushered into this world of sorrow and trouble by the parish surgeon, it remained a matter of considerable doubt whether the child would survive to bear any name at all.

There was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office of breathing, a troublesome practise, but one in which custom has rendered necessary to our easy existence.

And for some time he lay gasping on a little flock mattress, rather on equally poised between this world and the next, the balance being decidedly in favour of the latter.

Oliver and Nature fought out the point between them.

The result was that after a few struggle, Oliver breathed, sneezed and let out as loud a cry as could reasonably have been expected from a male infant who has not been possessed a voice for a much longer space of time than three minutes and a quarter.

As Oliver gave this first proof of the free and proper action of his lungs.

The pale face of a young woman was raised feebly from the pillow and the faint voice imperfectly articulated the words, "let me see if a child and die." The surgeon had been sitting with his face turned towards the fire, giving the palms of his hands a warm and a rub alternately.

As the young woman spoke, he rose, and advancing to the bed's head, said, with more kindness than might've have been expected of him, "Oh, you must not talk about dying yet" "Lor bless her heart her dear heart, no!" interposed the nurse.

"Lor bless her dear heart, think what it is to be a mother, there is a day young lamb do." The patient shook her head and stretched out her hands towards the child.

The surgeon passed it to her arms. She imprinted her cold white lips passionately on it's forehead, passed hands over her face, gazed wildly round, shuddered fell back and died.

They chafed her breasts, hands and temples, but the blood had stopped forever.

"It's all over, Mrs. Thingummy!" said the surgeon at last.

"She was a good looking girl too, where did she come from?" "She was brought here last night," replied the old woman, "by the overseer's order, she was found lying in the street she had walked some distance for her shoes were worn to pieces, but where she came from, or where she was going to, nobody knows." The surgeon leaned over the body and raise the left hand.

"The old story," he said, shaking his head, "no wedding ring, I see, ah! goodnight!" Oliver fell into his place at once a parish child, the orphan of a workhouse, the humble half-starved drudge, to be cuffed and buffeted through the world, despised by all and pitied by none, Oliver cried lustily.

If he could have known that he was an orphan, left to the tender mercies of church-wardens and overseers, perhaps he would have cried the louder.

Oh, sorry, I was just cutting some onions there.

Okay, let's now test your understanding of the extract.

Right, I have three questions based upon your reading.

Number one, why does Oliver nearly die after he is born? Number two, what happens to Oliver's mother after she gives birth? And number three, what do we learn about Oliver's mother in this extract? Feel free to press the pause button on this video and tell the screen the right answers to these questions.

Why does Oliver nearly die after he is born? Well, Oliver nearly dies because he cannot breathe.

Number two, what happens to Oliver's mother after she gives birth? Oliver's mother dies after she gives birth, it's very sad.

Number three, what do we learn about Oliver's mother in this extract? Well, the nurse explains that Oliver's mother was an unmarried woman who was found on the street and taken into the workhouse.

Give yourself a pat on the back if you got full marks there.

Okay, Let's now go onto our or false round.

A, Oliver was born in a hospital, true or false? B, It is clear that Oliver is going to have a close relationship with his mother.

C, Oliver nearly dies after he is born, and d, we do not know the name of Oliver's mother.

Feel free to press the pause button on this video and tell the screen whether each of these options are true or false.

Okay, let's go through the answers.

It's false, Oliver was not born in a hospital, Oliver was born in a workhouse.

B is false as well, it is clear that Oliver is not going to have a close relationship with his mother because his mother dies.

C, Oliver nearly dies after he is born, you're absolutely right about that if you said true.

Oliver nearly dies because he cannot breathe right after he is born.

And d, we do not know the name of Oliver's mother, that is true.

Well done again, if you got full marks there.

Right, let's now move on to our extract analysis.

In this extract, Dickens demonstrates that Oliver's background is a mystery.

This is the idea that we will be focusing upon for the rest of this lesson.

Now I would suggest that Oliver's background is a mystery for three main reasons.

Number one, Oliver's mother is unnamed.

Dickens does not reveal who this lady is.

This lady, Oliver's mother, could be anyone.

Secondly, Dickens does not reveal who Oliver's father is.

This man is not mentioned at all throughout this extract.

It makes us wonder what sort of relationship Oliver's father may have had with Oliver's mother.

This man was not there for Oliver's birth.

And thirdly, Dickens does not reveal how Oliver's mother ended up on the street.

Something truly terrible must have happened to this lady to make her end up in the street, helpless and alone.

Dickens does not reveal what this might be.

All three of these facts point towards this idea, Oliver's background is a mystery.

Dickens raises lots of questions for the reader about Oliver's family, but gives very few answers.

Right, let's now test how well you have been listening, which ended up on the streets.

Option two, Oliver's mother is unnamed.

Dickens does not reveal how she ended up on the streets.

Option three, Oliver's mother ended up on the streets because she was thrown out of the house by her husband.

Option four, Dickens does not reveal who Oliver's father is.

Feel free to press the pause button on this video and tell the screen the two right options.

Okay, let's now look at the right answers.

Option two is of course correct.

Oliver's mother unnamed, Dickens does not reveal how she ended up on the streets.

And option four is correct.

Dickens does not reveal who Oliver's father is.

Well done again if you got full marks.

To summarise these ideas one last time, Oliver's mother is unnamed.

Dickens does not reveal who Oliver's father is.

And Dickens also does not reveal how Oliver's mother ended up on the street.

All of these things demonstrate that Oliver's background is a mystery.

Okay, let's now go onto the main task of this lesson.

In a minute, I want you to write a paragraph answering this question.

How does Dickens demonstrate that Oliver has a mysterious background? Now I've got some really useful advice to help you write an amazing answer to this question.

The key focus of this question, is Oliver's mysterious background.

That's why I've highlighted those words in pink.

That is the focus of the question.

Make sure you keep your writing focused on answering the question by discussing Oliver's, mysterious background.

That is the focus of your paragraph.

Make sure you answer the question.

Let's read the question again.

How does Dickens demonstrate that Oliver has a mysterious background? Answer this question in a short paragraph on your page or in your book.

Now here's an opening sentence that will help you begin.

Dickens demonstrates that Oliver has a mysterious background through not revealing.

You will then finish that sentence and go on and write the rest of the paragraph after that.

Here are some key words that you can use to help you write your answer, mother, name, streets and father.

Okay, you can now pause this video to complete your task and resume once you are finished.

Good luck, I'm sure you're going to write an amazing paragraph, off you go.

Well done for writing your paragraph.

To finish this lesson, I now want to show you a really good example of a paragraph answering this question.

This paragraph would win everything in the paragraph is focused on the question's main idea, Oliver's mysterious background.

As you can see, every time I have used the word mysterious or mystery in this paragraph, I have highlighted this in pink.

I want to demonstrate that this paragraph has always focused on answering the question.

Let's now read.

Dickens demonstrates that Oliver has a mysterious background through not revealing the name of Oliver's mother.

The identity of this pitiful young woman thus remains a complete mystery to the reader.

Indeed, Dickens does not reveal why Oliver's mother ended up on the streets at all.

In addition, the reader does not learn anything about Oliver's father.

This man was absent for Oliver's birth and isn't even mentioned by the characters in the extract.

Dickens thus reveals no information about Oliver's family.

Such mystery is likely to make the reader curious to discover the truth about this orphans identity.

As you can see, this paragraph would win good marks because it's focused on answering the question.

It's focused on the questions main idea, Oliver's mysterious background.

If you would like to, you can now take a look back at your work, read through it again and make such some improvements.

Well done for all the work that you've done today.

Give yourself a pat on the back.

In fact, you can share your work with Oak National.

If you'd like to, please ask your parents or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #learnwithOak.

It's been really good fun teaching you.

Well done for all of your hard work today.

Join us in our next lesson, when we found out what happens to Oliver Twist, as he grows up in the workhouse.

It's been good fun teaching you, I'll see you next time.

All the best.

You have learnt a huge amount today.

Don't forget to test your memory by completing our quiz.

I'll see you next time, good luck.