Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

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

We're in the unit: Myths, legends and stories that inspire.

Today, we are going to write a compelling character profile.

So we're going to look at a master of characterization, Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote a poem called "The Canterbury Tales" in about 1387 to 1400.

We're gonna look at why his characters are so compelling, what is great about them, what does he tell us about them, and what can we learn from him.

And then we're gonna apply all those skills and knowledge to writing our own character description.

I cannot wait to hear all of your fantastic ideas.

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 this lesson, you will have written a description of a character who is convincing and intriguing.

So a character that we believe in and a character that we want to know more about.

There are some keywords which are gonna help unlock our learning today.

They're gonna help us achieve our adjective.

They are on the board now.

If you'd like to spend some more time with these keywords, if you'd like to note them down, we'll read through their definitions, then pause the video now.

Otherwise, they will come up in today's lesson and we'll go through them as and when.

I'd like to draw your attention to two of the words just now.

The first is the second word on the board: invariably.

That's how you pronounce that word: invariably.

And it means always or almost always.

So you might say, "I invariably have my lunch at one o'clock." The second word I want to draw your attention to is the penultimate one, so the one just before the bottom: vacuous.

That is how you pronounce that word: vacuous.

And it means empty or shallow.

So you might say, "I thought that film was really entertaining, but its message was pretty vacuous," pretty empty or shallow.

The rest of these words, we will come across in today's lesson and we will go through them.

But as I say, if you'd like to pause the video now and go through them, then you can.

Our lesson outline for today: We're going to first we'll consider how writers create convincing characters, and we're gonna focus on the methods that Geoffrey Chaucer uses in his poem "The Canterbury Tales." And in the second part of this lesson, we are going to have a go at writing a convincing character.

So let's start off with thinking about how writers create convincing characters.

Now today, you're going to write a description of a character that you have created.

As inspiration, we will look at a master of characterization, Geoffrey Chaucer.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a poem called "The Canterbury Tales" in 1387 to 1400.

It's a really long poem, fantastic poem, with lots of different characters in it and lots of different stories.

In the opening section of his poem, this is the opening section we generally call this the general prologue, he, Chaucer, introduces 30 convincing characters.

So we know he's a master of characterization.

His poem has stood the test of time, and he's had to introduce so many different characters in the opening of his poem.

So to create convincing characters, Chaucer describes one, what they look like, two, how they speak, three, how they behave, and four, how other characters respond to them.

So sometimes he relies on one more than the other, but these are the tools that really help him create a convincing character.

The next thing he does is he withholds some information, withholds some information about the characters, so we are intrigued by his characters.

So our interest is piqued, we want to know a bit more, we are curious about them.

This is why readers continue to find them interesting and have discussions about how they are presented.

Because he withholds some information, we can't be quite sure of their characterization, and this yields lots and lots of rich discussions about what the characters might be like.

So we've got those four methods there and then the idea that he withholds some information so we are intrigued, we are curious about his characters.

So let's look at an example.

One of his most famous characters is the Miller.

And here are the details which develop him as a character.

A miller is a person who works in a mill, grinding grain to make flour.

So what does the Miller look like? Well, we are told that he's stout and strong, he has a thick neck, a red beard that looks like a spade, a hairy wart on his nose, and he carries a sword.

How does the Miller speak? His mouth is large, like a furnace, so like a big fire, and he tells rude jokes.

How does the Miller behave? He wrestles; he pulls doors off hinges or breaks them down with his head.

He plays the bagpipes and he steals.

And how others respond to the Miller.

Well, two accuse him of being drunk and tell him not to tell a rude story; he tells his story anyway.

And it is quite rude.

So here's our character of the Miller.

We can see all of the aspects that Chaucer has included to develop him as a character.

Now I'd like you to discuss: What kind of character is the Miller? So what impression do we get of him? And what do we know about him, and what might intrigue us about him? So what questions might we have? What might we be curious about in terms of the Miller? So pause the video and discuss these questions about the Miller.

What kind of character is he? What do we know about him? And what might intrigue us about him? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, fantastic discussion about the Miller, as I say, one of Chaucer's most famous characters.

So people had a general consensus that the Miller, in some ways, was quite a scary character because of his physicality and the fact that we know he does like fighting.

He seems to have quite a strong temper, because he's breaking things down with his head or pulling does off his hinges.

Or perhaps some people said maybe this is just him showing off.

He wants to show off his strength.

After all, we find out that he wrestles, but that means that he must tell people about that, because there's no wrestling in "The Canterbury Tales." What might intrigue us about him? Well, lots of people zoomed in on the idea that he carries a sword.

Now, we know that a miller works in a mill, grinding grain to make flour.

So why does the Miller, why does this character, need this weapon? Why does he carry a sword with him? So a nice little intriguing detail that Chaucer has left there for us in order to question this character of the Miller.

Let's have a look at another example.

So one of his most famous characters is a Knight.

The Knight tells the first story in "The Canterbury Tales." It's a long poem filled with lots and lots of different stories, told by the characters that Chaucer creates.

And the Knight, because he's the most important character, with the highest status in the group, he gets to tell his story first.

Now, here are the details which develop him as a character.

So what does the Knight look like? Well, his clothes are stained and of poor quality; his armour is rusty.

How does the Knight speak? Politely, using no rude words.

How the Knight behaves.

Well, he's brave and violent in battle, but gentle off the battlefield.

And how others respond to the Knight.

Everyone praises his story and says they will always remember it.

So I'd like you to discuss: What kind of character is the Knight? What do we know about him, and what might intrigue us about him? What might we be curious about? What details has Chaucer included or not included that might make us question this character? Pause the video and discuss these questions now.

Welcome back, another lovely discussion about one of Chaucer's famous characters.

So what kind of character is the Knight? Well, he's quite different from the Miller, people said.

Even though his job is to fight, he seems a much calmer character than the Miller.

He uses polite words.

We are told explicitly that he doesn't use any rude words and that he's very gentle off the battlefield.

So even though he is a knight, even though it's his job to go into battle, he is very gentle off the battlefield.

But what might intrigue us about him is his clothes.

So his clothes are stained.

They're of poor quality.

His armour is rusty.

We might question why the Knight is in such an impoverished position, given that he has a high status within society because he is a knight, he's a brave warrior.

But actually, this is not reflected in his outfits.

So we don't know why his clothes are stained, why they are of poor quality, why his armour is rusted.

Has he not been fighting for a long time? Does he not have someone to look after him? What is going on with this knight and the state of his clothes? So again, another detail where we've got a little bit of intrigue, a little bit of curiosity about this character.

Now, the Miller and the Knight are just two of many characters described in "The Canterbury Tales." There's a big group of characters described at the beginning of "The Canterbury Tales," and they are all together.

They're going on pilgrimage.

They are going on a religious journey.

They're gonna end up at Canterbury Cathedral.

They're all in a group.

They all travel together on this pilgrimage.

And as I say, they tell stories along the way.

Now, the Miller and the Knight are just two of the many characters described in "The Canterbury Tales," and other characters include: the knight's squire, his servant, a university student, a merchant, a lawyer, a doctor, a seamstress, a nun, a monk, a farmer, a sailor, and a priest.

These are just some of the characters that join the Miller and the Knight.

Now I'd like you to discuss.

You know that in today's lesson, we are going to create a character description.

We're gonna be inspired by Chaucer.

And we're gonna select one of these characters to create a character description of.

So I'd like you to discuss: Who would you most like to create a description of and why? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back, so lovely to hear the range of characters that we are going to have.

We're gonna create our own band of pilgrims within this classroom, within this lesson.

Some people saying, "I want to focus on the university student.

I think it would be interesting to see someone at the very beginning of their sort of academic career, when they've just left school, when they've just left home.

I think that will be a really interesting character to explore." Others say, "No, I want to focus on the sailor.

He'll have gone on many, many adventures, and I think that will be a great person to describe, really add detail to my character description." Others saying, "I'd like to focus on a lawyer.

It's an area that I'm really interested in, and I'd like to make a description of a lawyer and see the kind of power and might that they have when they're dispensing justice throughout the land.

What kind of character would a lawyer be? Do I want to make them a good character, or do I want to make them a villainous character?" So lots and lots of different ideas coming up.

You will have your own character that you want to write your description of.

Hold onto that.

We're gonna do some planning as we go through the rest of this lesson and work towards writing our description.

So I'd like you to discuss the first stage of your planning.

What initial ideas do you have for each characterization method for your character? So remember, we're gonna focus on what they look like, how they speak, how they behave, how other characters respond to them, and a detail that might intrigue us about them.

So spend some time on this discussion.

It's going to really, really help you as we move through the rest of this lesson.

So pause the video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back, beautiful discussion there, really bringing these characters alive with some great details about what they look like, how others respond to them, how they speak, and really interesting to hear the different ideas in terms of what's going to intrigue us about your character.

I'm already excited to see these character descriptions.

Now, a check for understanding before we really finalise our planning, just so we know each characterization method, we've got really firm idea of what each characterization is meant to do.

Here is another one of Chaucer's characters.

This is the university student.

And I'd like you to match the characterization method with the correct example.

So our characterization methods, you'll know, are how they look, how they speak, how they act, how others respond to them, and what intrigues us about them.

So I'd like you match each characterization method with the correct example, and this is Chaucer's character of the university student.

Pause the video and complete this check now.

Welcome back.

Well done for showing off a fantastic understanding of each of these characterization methods.

Let's go through each one.

So how they look: well done if you said extremely thin, threadbare clothes.

We've got an idea of physical description of this character.

How they speak: his words are respectful, lively and clever.

That's what we learn about how this university student speaks.

How they act: well, he spends all his money on books, which means that he's probably quite a good university student, 'cause he's spending all of his money on books.

How others respond to them: we are told that the others tell him to cheer up and to tell a funny story.

So he must be quite a serious character.

And finally, what intrigues us about him is that he's almost entirely silent.

So we know that this character is very learned.

We know that he knows a lot, and when he does speak, he can speak respectfully and in a lively manner, in a clever manner.

But actually, he chooses not to, so we've got a little insight into his interior life there, thinking, "Well, he doesn't speak that much.

I wonder why." So you are now ready to complete your table developing the characterization of your chosen character.

So just noting down which character you have chosen, and then making your really detailed notes about what they look like, how they speak, how they behave, how others respond to them, and what intrigues us.

You've seen some examples with the Miller, with the Knight, and with the university student.

So we've got our good examples, so you know what to aim for.

And you've got your fantastic discussions that you had earlier when you were developing your character.

Give this activity the time that it deserves, so you've got a fantastic plan you can rely on in learning cycle two.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back.

It is lovely to see these beautifully completed tables in front of me with all of these characters, all of these details really starting to come alive.

And I can see how you were inspired by Chaucer's methods.

You've got really excellent details about what they look like, how they speak, behave, how others respond to them, and crucially, that detail that intrigues us about them.

So we'll do some feedback.

Now, Andeep, he chose the sailor.

So here's Andeep's tailor, table, sorry.

You can see that his chosen character is the sailor.

And he's said: What do they look like? Very young, ill-fitting, grubby clothes.

How they speak: interrupts people, tells jokes with no punchline.

How they behave: wants to spend time with the Knight and the Miller.

Really nice to use the other characters to interact with.

You don't necessarily need to have done that, but it's a nice detail from Andeep.

How others respond: they get frustrated with him, gently make fun of him.

And what intrigues us: he can't answer any questions about his time at sea.

So Andeep completed his table there really, really carefully.

Now, Andeep says, "My character is unsure of himself, and so tries to show off.

He attaches himself to dominant characters for reassurance." So Andeep has explained a little bit further what his character is like using those details from his table.

Now, I'd like you to discuss: Looking at your table, what is your character like? So just like Andeep told us what his character is like, I'd like you to discuss: What is your character like? Relying on those details that you have just created.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, lovely to hear all of these character descriptions.

We've got a real range in the room and some very villainous characters, some much kinder characters, some very violent characters, a bit like the Miller, and some gentler characters, a bit like the Knight, some silent characters, a little bit like the Oxford, like the university student, and some characters who are completely different, showing off the depth of your imagination.

Well done.

Let's move on to learning cycle two.

We're gonna do our writing of our character.

So we are now going to use this table that you have just created, and we're gonna think, "Well, what does it mean to write a convincing character?" So in "The Canterbury Tales," Chaucer introduces each of his characters by stating their occupation and then describing an aspect of them.

For example: "A Knyght ther was, and that a worthy man." So he introduces the Knight, and he describes the Knight's personality, says he's very worthy.

Now remember, we are in Middle English.

Chaucer is writing in Middle English, so a little bit different from the modern English that we now use.

But this was just the language that he was using.

Don't worry, you do not need to write in Middle English when you are doing your character description.

Now let's look at this next introduction.

We've got the Miller, the introduction of the Miller.

"The Millere was a stout carl, man, for the nones, occasion; Ful byg he was of brawn, and eek of bones." So he's describing the Miller physically.

We know he's a very strong, very large man.

And finally, we've got the university student, and we've got a description of him physically.

So "A clerk ther was," that means a university student, "Of Oxenford also.

As lene was his hors as is a rake." He had a very thin horse.

"And he nas nat right fat, I undertake." He was also very, very thin.

So we can see that Chaucer always introduces with occupation and then describes an aspect of them, sometimes an aspect of their personality, and sometimes it is what they look like.

Now, Andeep draughts the first section of his description.

Now, he's got his table by his side, and he also knows how Chaucer introduces his characters.

So he's gonna use that as inspiration.

And he writes: "There was a sailor, a very young boy, whose clothes seemed to swamp him.

Volumes of grubby material encased his frame.

He was always tucking his shirt in to his trousers, and his trousers into his socks, but they would invariably," so almost always, "Come untucked and he fell over himself a few times.

He would leap up immediately and looked furtively," so very carefully, "Around in case anyone had seen.

He could often be heard telling jokes, but with little response.

Or, sometimes, he would gain a slow clap from someone cruel.

If the Knight or the Miller smiled at him, his face lit up and he would strut like an audacious peacock." So a very proud peacock, arrogant peacock.

"He interrupted everyone, loudly and brashly, only to start mumbling moments after.

His stories and jokes were unstructured and vacuous," empty, shallow, "But that didn't stop him from telling them." So a really nice character description from Andeep.

You can see how much he has relied on his table.

We've got the occupation, so a sailor, and that is how Andeep introduces his character.

Then we've got that physical description about his clothes.

We've got his behaviour, so that he would fall over, he would leap up immediately.

If the Miller and the Knight looked at him, his face would light up.

We've got how he speaks.

So he interrupts everyone and he tells these bad jokes.

And finally, we've got how others respond to him.

"He could often be heard telling jokes," but no one responded, or sometimes, there was a cruel, slow clap.

So there's lots and lots in there that Andeep has done in order to create a convincing, compelling character.

I'd like you to discuss, though: What has Andeep not included? You might want to look at your own table and think about all the details you've included.

Match them to Andeep's.

What has he missed out? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

You are right that what Andeep has not included is a detail that is going to intrigue us about this character.

So let's see how Andeep rectifies this aspect of his writing.

So Andeep adds a line so that we are intrigued by this character.

You can see the line is just at the end: "For all his talk, he had no stories to tell of his time at sea." So this is a nice intriguing detail.

We're gonna think, "Well, if he has spent so much time at sea, why does he have no stories about it? And given that he talks all the time, why is he not telling us these stories of his time at sea?" So a nice, short detail there, which is going to intrigue us.

Now, a check before you move on to writing your own character description.

Now, Laura writes about a character who is a seamstress, so who sews clothes.

What aspect of her character has she developed so far? Let's read through.

"There was a seamstress." So again, introducing, as Chaucer introduces his characters.

"She seemed ageless.

In certain lights, she looked like a girl of 21, and in others as old as time itself.

But her thumb was coarse and red, hardened after years of craft and graft.

When people shook her hands, the rough texture would surprise them, haunting them for days." So a nice description there from Laura.

You can see it's very different from the sailor description, but lots and lots of fantastic details in there.

So what aspects of Laura's character has she developed so far? a: how they look, b:how they act, c: how they speak, d: how others respond, or e: what intrigues us.

Pause the video and select your responses now.

Welcome back.

Well done if you selected a: how they look, and d: how others respond.

So Laura still has got a little bit of work to do in order to develop her character description.

We need to know how they act, how they speak, and something that intrigues us about them.

So I would like you to write a paragraph describing the character you created in learning cycle one.

Include each aspect of their characterization.

A reminder of what those aspects are, you can see on the table on the board.

Like Andeep and Laura, and of course, Chaucer, you could start with, "There was a," and put in their occupation and then move into the aspect of the description that you want to start with.

Remember you don't have to go in this particular order, so what they look like, how they speak, how they behave, how they respond, what intrigues us.

You don't need to go in that order.

You can go in any order, but you do need to include all of those different aspects.

I'm so looking forward to seeing these characters come alive in your writing.

Give this activity the time that it deserves, and I will see you back here shortly.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back.

Well done for giving that activity such energy and drive.

It was really nice to see people relying on their tables and creating such fantastic, lively characters.

We've got a whole bunch of different characters in the room now, all competing to tell their stories, just like the characters in "The Canterbury Tales" want to speak and speak and speak.

Let's do a bit of feedback, just so we know that we have created fantastic characters.

So I'd like you to read through your paragraph.

And if it were me, I would read the paragraph aloud.

I always find it much, much easier to note anything that I've done really, really well when I read aloud or things that I would like to change, and not just words and phrases, but sometimes aspects of grammar, like full stops, et cetera.

So read through your paragraph.

If appropriate, you can read it aloud.

And ensure you have included each aspect of characterization.

And as a reminder, they are there on the board.

Pause the video and complete the self-assessment now.

Welcome back.

Well done for completing that editing task with the same focus as you did with that writing.

So important to go back and read through what you have written.

It can be so, so helpful in every single different type of writing that you do, just to go back and think, "Am I completely happy with what I have written? Have I met, if there's a checklist, a checklist? And have I got appropriate spelling, punctuation, and grammar?" In summary, Chaucer creates 30 convincing characters in the opening section of his poem, "The Canterbury Tales." To create each convincing character, Chaucer describes what they look like, how they speak, how they behave, and how other characters respond to them.

Chaucer also includes intriguing details so we are curious to know more about each character.

These methods of characterization are employed by many writers and can be used in your own writing.

It has been such a pleasure to see you bring your characters alive in today's lesson, and I look forward to seeing you next time.