Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to your English lesson today, where you're going to be taking everything that you've learned from your previous lessons and applying it to the page.

But, before we begin, please make sure that you've got something to write with, and something to write on.

If you don't, you can grab that now.

Please also make sure that all distractions are out of the way, so you can concentrate fully on creating the best piece of work you possibly can.

Let's get started.

So, let's look at the plan for today's lesson.

We're going to begin by considering what's the positives are and how we can use them in our writing.

Then we're going to have a brief review of "The Chimney Sweeper," by William Blake.

So that we can write about it later in the lesson.

Then I'm going to introduce you to some key vocabulary, specifically the word inequality, and then we're going to put together all that we've learned over the last few lessons and write a great paragraph about "The Chimney Sweeper," by William Blake.

So let's get on with it.

As promised, we're going to begin by considering how to use appositives in our writing.

So first of all, what is an appositive? Well, an appositive is a noun or a noun phrase that immediately follows another noun.

Remember, a noun is very simply a thing.

So it might be a table or a chair.

Or we might be looking at a proper noun, a noun with a capital letter, like my name, or the name of the city that you live in.

Now, why do we need to use appositives in our writing? Well, the appositive explains or defines the noun it follows.

It allows us to add extra information.

It provides us with further detail in a clear and concise manner and that's why I love using them in my writing.

It stops me from going on waffling and off the point.

Now I would like you to pause the screen, and to complete this definition of an appositive.

What is the missing word, you need to decide what that is and fill it in.

Then I want you to write a couple of bullet points to tell me why appositives are useful in our writing.

So pause the screen now and complete this task.

Great, let's check what you've got.

An appositive is a noun or a noun phrase that immediately follows another noun.

Why are they good? Well, the appositive explains or defines the noun it follows.

It provides the reader with further detail in a clear and concise manner.

It stops us from waffling.

Let's look at some examples of how we can include appositives in our writing.

We're going to start really basic before we look at how we can use them when writing about "The Chimney Sweeper." So here we have a basic sentence, Miss Baldry works for Oak Academy, correct, but I just want to make really sure my reader knows that Miss Baldry is a teacher.

So I'm going to add in an appositive, and it will look something like this, Miss Baldry, a teacher, works for Oak Academy.

We can see that we have added in the appositive noun phrase, a teacher, to provide the reader with more information.

The other thing that I hope you've noticed is the appositive has commas around it at the start of the phrase, and at the end of the phrase, that's super important.

If we were to take out the appositive with those commas around it, and to squeeze that sentence together, the sentence would make sense on its own.

So we need to add in that appositive with those commas on the start and the end to show that it is an addition to the sentence.

Let's look at another sentence.

John loves going to school.

Great, that's good to hear.

But I want to be really clear that John isn't a teacher, John is a student.

How could I add that in? What might my sentence look like? Well, it would look something like this.

John, a high school student, loves going to school.

Here, my positive is a high school student.

I've added a little bit of extra information.

So my reader knows that John is a student and even more than that, that he's actually a high school student.

Let's try one more time.

Bramble is a ball of fun.

Well, that's great, but who and what is Bramble? Bramble is my cat.

Ah, okay, well I need to add that to my sentence.

How can I do that? With an appositive.

So how might my sentence sound I want you to tell me how I can add an appositive to tell the reader, Bramble is my cat to this sentence.

After three, one, two, three.

Hopefully you said something like this, Bramble, my cat, is a ball of fun.

I have very simply added in an appositive noun phrase of my cat to let the reader know, Bramble is a cat.

So hopefully you can see from those three sentences how I have very simply added in a positive noun phrase to add a little bit more information to guide my reader.

So now, it's your go, I would like you to pause the video here.

And I would like you to have a go at writing three sentences that use an appositive.

It can be about whatever you want, they can all be about you.

They could be about you and members of your family, I really don't mind.

I've given you a possible starter on the screen.

Jenny, comma, space for an appositive, comma works at the local opticians.

So you would need to put a little bit more information in there in the form of the appositive as to what Jenny's role at the opticians is, but don't worry if you've already got three ideas of your own, that's great.

So I'd like you to pause the video here, and complete your task by writing three sentences, that use an appositive.

Great, I hope you didn't find that too difficult.

Let's move on.

We are as promised, going to review our knowledge of the poem, "The Chimney Sweeper," by William Blake, as that is what we are going to be writing about during this lesson.

So, I have provided you with a summary of the poem, "The Chimney Sweeper." I would like you, using the missing words that are in the green box, to fill in the gaps.

You're going to need to pause your screen here, and fill in the gaps and write the summary of, "The Chimney Sweeper," by William Blake, out in full of you go.

Great, now you've had some time to do that, let's see what your answer looks like.

The poem is told from the perspective, remember that means the viewpoint of a young chimney sweep.

He meets a new addition to the team, a terrified young boy named, Tom Dacre.

After the speaker tries to reassure Tom, remember, if you're reassuring someone you're trying to make them feel better about something.

He goes to sleep, and he dreams of an angel setting the chimney sweepers free.

Tom awakes, feeling happy that if he works hard, and he behaves, he will be taken care of.

Well done if you've got all of those gap fills correct.

And don't worry, if you missed a couple, you're welcome to pause the video here, and fill in any missing gaps.

So hopefully, the word injustice is a word that you're familiar with.

An unfair treatment of people where their rights are ignored.

So, I want you to consider the following.

How did the young chimney sweepers suffer in justice? How are they victims of unfair treatment? How are their rights ignored? I've given you an example on the screen.

I'd like you to pause the video here, and make some bullet pointed notes as to how, young chimney sweepers are suffering from injustice in the 19th century.

When you're done, resume the video.

Great, let's see whether your ideas match mine.

Young chimney sweepers were bought and sold into the role.

They worked long hours, often predawn to really late at night.

They were neglected, they weren't looked after and fed, and watered, and sheltered well.

They risk suffocation and illness.

Can you remember the main illness that they were at risk of? That's right, chimney sweep is cancer due to the soot that surrounded their bodies.

Young chimney sweepers were of course, a product of inequality.

And inequality is the word that we're going to look at today as part of our key vocabulary.

Inequality means, an unfair situation where money and opportunities are not shared equally between different groups in society.

Let's read that again, and this time you're going to read with me.

Inequality is an unfair situation, where money and opportunities are not shared equally between different groups in society.

Now, you're going to test your knowledge of this key term by filling in the missing gaps.

So pause the video here and try and fill in the missing gaps to define the word inequality, off you go.

Right, let's check your answers.

Inequality is an unfair situation where money and opportunities are not shared equally between different groups in society.

Did you get those correct? Well done, don't worry if you didn't, you can take a moment to pause the video, and add to your definition.

Now, let's consider how are the young chimney sweepers victims of inequality? How are they found to be in an unfair situation where their opportunities are not equal to other people in society? Well, young chimney sweepers are at the mercy of those in power, whether that be a mom or a dad that's prepared to sell them to a master chimney sweep.

Or whether they found themselves orphaned and homeless on the streets and brought to work as a chimney sweep by a master sweeper.

They have no say in the matter and they're not given the same opportunities that are afforded to different people of perhaps a higher class and a higher social standing.

So today, you're going to be answering the question, how does Blake present injustice in "The Chimney Sweeper," but don't worry, I'm going to talk you through it step by step.

So let's begin.

Today we've learned how we can use appositives in our writing.

So we're going to apply that to our writing today.

We're going to try and use an appositive in our writing.

What could we use in the sentence below? William Blake gap, presents the young chimney sweepers as victims of injustice.

Now there's a gap there with a comma on either side, perfect for an appositive.

So, what extra information might we want to add about William Blake? I want you to give me an idea, after three.

Consider what type of poet William Blake was, after three, one, two, three.

Ah, I like your thinking.

We could add in that William Blake was a Romantic poet.

So our sentence would now read, William Blake, a Romantic poet, presents the young chimney sweepers as victims of injustice.

Here we've up scaled our sentence really really quickly and really efficiently by adding that little piece of extra information that shows we know that William Blake was a Romantic poet.

Let's have another go.

The speaker blank, tries to reassure the young Tom Dacre.

Now what extra information can we add about the Speaker of the poem.

I want you to consider who the poem is from the perspective, the viewpoint of, what's your answer? After three, one, two, three.

Great, how can we add that to our sentence? The speaker, an unnamed chimney sweep, tries to reassure the young Tom Dacre.

Great, now we've let our reader know that the Speaker of the poem is an unnamed chimney sweep.

It is from the perspective of a chimney sweep.

Great, those are definitely both sentences that we can use in our writing at some point today.

Now, one more go, Tom Dacre, blank for an appositive is reassured by the unnamed speaker.

Now what do we know about Tom Dacre? What could we add to this sentence? I want your idea after three.

One, two, three.

Ah, let's see.

Tom Decker, a terrified young chimney sweep, is reassured by the unnamed speaker.

Great, we've added that little piece of extra information to tell our reader that Tom Dacre, is a young chimney sweep.

But even more than that, that he was a terrified young chimney sweep, which highlights how difficult their work was.

Great stuff, well done.

So, a reminder that the question we're going to answer today with one really great paragraph is, how does Blake present injustice in "The Chimney Sweeper?" How does Blake present in justice in "The Chimney Sweeper?" And we're going to structure our paragraph by using three important factors.

We're going to consider number one, what the writer does.

Number two, how the writer does it.

And number three, why the writer does it.

What is their purpose? What message, are they trying to tell you and me, the reader? Let's get going.

So, I'm going to model for you an analytical paragraph to answer this question.

I'm going to build it up using the what, the how, and the why, and talk you through my processes.

So let's begin with the what, the focus point of the sentence.

William Blake, a Romantic poet, presents the young chimney sweepers as victims of injustice in an unequal society.

Great, I've used an appositive there, a Romantic poet.

And I've linked back to the question by saying, that he presents the chimney sweepers as as victims of injustice in an unequal society.

We must make sure that we're linking back to the question in our opening sentence to show that we're really answering that specific question.

Now, I need to add to my paragraph.

So, I probably want to use a quotation from the text to show how he presents them as victims of injustice.

So, let me show you how I've done that.

This is reflected in the first stanza, when the speaker states he could scarcely cry, "weep! weep! weep! weep!" as he was sold at such a young age.

Ah, so my chosen quotation to show that the chimney sweepers were victims of injustice is the quotation scarcely cry, "weep! weep! weep! weep!" Great, those definitely link.

Now we need to explain and explore that quotation in a bit more detail.

This is the how, part two.

Let's have a look at how it might look.

Here, Blake's use of the repeated "ee" sound could echo the sadness felt by many young chimney sweepers who were not in control of their own lives.

Interestingly, sweep was shouted by the young boys to draw business.

Perhaps Blake's suggests the boys were so young, they could barely pronounce their words, let alone work in the dangerous role of a chimney sweeper.

So hopefully you can see that I've taken that quotation I've explored it in detail.

I said that the "ee" sound, echoes and reflects the sadness felt by the young chimney sweepers.

I've also linked it to a contextual point about the time that Blake was writing.

And indeed, chimney sweepers did used to shout, "sweep! sweep! sweep! sweep!" in order to attract business.

But this young boy is so young he can't even pronounce his "s" sounds, and so he just cries out, "weep! weep! weep! weep!" So if he's too young to even pronounce his "s" sounds, Blake's suggesting he's really too young, to be out at work as a chimney sweep.

He is definitely a victim of injustice.

Now, to make this paragraph tip top, I want to consider why Blake does this.

What message is he trying to get out there? Is he in favour of child labour? Or does he have a rather negative viewpoint of it? As we know from my last lesson, he has a really negative viewpoint of it.

So let's see how I've added my why, to this sentence.

Here, Blake criticises the injustices suffered by young, innocent children during the period of the Industrial Revolution.

Ah, I see, so he is criticising it.

He's saying that he is negative about it.

He has a negative viewpoint as to how young chimney sweepers were treated during this period of history.

And as a result of that, he's hoping to teach others and for others to think in a critical manner.

Great, so my paragraph uses the what, and it links back to the question that uses the key word in justice.

The how part one, I've chosen a key quotation to analyse the how, part two.

I've analysed it in detail.

And finally, the creme de la creme, the why.

What is Blake's purpose for writing "The Chimney Sweeper" to criticise the injustices.

Great.

So, now it's going to be your turn to write a what, how, why paragraph to answer how does Blake present injustice in "The Chimney Sweeper." Now I've given you a plan that you can use when you're writing.

Your what is going to be very similar to my own to really focus your ideas, so you can begin your paragraph.

William Blake, a Romantic poet, presents the young chimney sweepers as victims of injustice in an unequal society.

So you've got your what covered.

Your how, is going to be different from my paragraph, but it's going to focus on the use of simile and metaphor.

Do you remember we looked at those in lots of detail last lesson.

So you might want to use the quotations, "like lambs back" and "coffins of black." And analyse these using analytical words like, this suggests, or this shows, so that you're really looking at it in as much detail as possible.

Remember, you're welcome to use your notes from last lesson to help you.

And finally, you're going to consider why Blake does this.

What is his message? You might want to begin, here Blake criticises and you need to consider what is he criticising on this occasion? You're now going to pause the video and complete your task by writing an analytical paragraph to answer the given question.

I'm going to take you back now to the previous slide.

As I think you're going to want to pause the video here and use the plan that I have given you.

This plan is also available as a downloadable resource and worksheet if you would wish to have it in that manner.

I suggest that you try and spend around 10 minutes writing your analytical paragraph.

You want it to be really focused, and the best work that you can possibly do.

You want to show off all the learning that you've done over the past four lessons.

So pause the video here and answer this question in one analytical paragraph and resume when you're done.

Great, I hope that you produce something that you're really proud of.

In order to look at your paragraph and consider whether it's the best it possibly can be, I'm going to give you an example analytical paragraph, and I'm going to talk you through why and how it covers the what, the how, and the why.

So, here is my paragraph to answer, how does Blake present injustice in "The Chimney Sweeper." Let's consider the what, of this paragraph.

William Blake, a Romantic poet, presents the young chimney sweepers as victims of injustice in an unequal society.

Great, we have used an appositive, and we've used the key word from the question injustice.

Now, let's see how I've used my how, how I've used key quotations from the poem.

He uses contrasting images of a "lamb's back" and "coffins of black" to suggest the chimney sweep Tom Dacre's loss of innocence.

Great, so I've introduced here to quotations that I'm going to talk about in detail.

And I've introduced them by saying, that they contrast one another.

So now, let's look at my how part two, where I explored these quotations in detail.

Blake's use of the simile "like a lamb's back," associates Tom with the purity and innocence of youth.

So here I decided to zoom in on the key quote, "like a lambs back." And I've linked that to purity and innocence, I then go on to say, as a Romantic poet, Blake believed that children deserve to be pure and unaffected by the world around them.

I furthered my point even more by linking it to the key theme in romantic poetry of childhood.

Now I need to go on and explore the other quotation that I have introduced, "coffins of black." Let's look at how I do that.

Blake continues to suggest this is not the case through his use of the metaphor, "coffins of black," where the boys are locked up by those in power, the master chimney sweepers.

This image reflects the chimney sweep's entrapment and loss of freedom in the hands of those in power.

So I've gone on to talk about the contrasting quotation and the contrasting image of the "coffins of black." And I said how that is different to the simile, "like a lamb's back.

" Then, my why.

Why did Blake write the poem? Well, here Blake is criticising the injustices suffered by many young children as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution.

Great, I said that he's criticising it, that shows he has a negative viewpoint about it.

I've used the word in justices again, the key word for my question.

So there's my what, my how, and my why.

You're welcome to pause the video here and use my model example, if you want to make any edits to your own paragraph.

Well done for all your hard work during this lesson, I hope you've produced some writing that you're really proud of.

If you could take a moment to complete the end of lesson quiz, that would be great.

See you next time, bye.