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 gonna look at some sections of a fantastic poem written by a man called Jeffrey Chaucer.

It's called "The Canterbury Tales".

And there are so many wonderful characters that we are gonna meet today.

We're gonna meet some of those wonderful characters and we're gonna think, how does Chaucer create these characters that are really interesting, that are sometimes infuriating, that are very funny, that are very recognisable? 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 today's lesson, you are going to create a compelling character profile.

Now we're gonna start off by looking at the master of Characterization, Jeffrey Chaucer, we're gonna look at some of his great characters and we're gonna use that as inspiration to create our own character profile.

There are some key words which we are going to reference throughout today's lesson.

They're gonna help us achieve our objective.

I'm gonna draw attention to one of them, character profile because that's our objective for today.

We need to create a character profile.

Now this is a brief description of a character which establishes important ideas about them.

Now, Jeffrey Chaucer, we're going to look at a poem in which he creates many, many character profiles.

We're gonna use that as inspiration to create our own character profile.

The rest of these words are gonna be referenced throughout today's lesson.

So if you would like to pause and have a look at them now, make a note of them, then please do.

Otherwise I will go through them as we come across them.

So our lesson outline for today, we're gonna start off by looking at Chaucer's characterful descriptions, and then in the second learning cycle, we are gonna create a compelling character profile.

Let's start off with Chaucer's characterful descriptions.

Now today we're gonna look at selected sections of a poem in which hundreds of different characters are described and developed.

This poem is called "The Canterbury Tales".

It was written between 1387 and 1400 by Jeffrey Chaucer.

The premise of the poem, a group of pilgrims prepare to travel to Canterbury Cathedral together.

So pilgrims are people who go on a journey for religious reasons to a place of religious significance.

And Canterbury Cathedral is the focus for these particular pilgrims. They decide to tell stories along the way.

The pilgrim who tells the best story will win a free meal, and the narrator of the poem is one of the pilgrims. So he is with them.

It's sort of Chaucer, but also sort of not Chaucer, but we've got the first person where Chaucer or the narrator is describing the pilgrims for us.

Before the storytelling competition takes place, the narrator describes each pilgrim.

So there are hundreds of different characters, not only because there are many, many pilgrims, but also because each of the pilgrims tells stories.

And in the stories there are loads of characters as well.

So this is why we call him the master of characterization 'cause he had to develop so many different characters.

So here the narrator tells us why and how he will describe each pilgrim.

So this is what it says, "But nathelees while I have tyme and space, er that I ferther in this tale pace, me thynketh it accordunt to resoun to telle yow al the condicioun of each of hiem, so as it semed me, and whiche they weren and of what degree and eek in what array that they were inne." Now the first thing you'll immediately notice is that the language doesn't look like the English we use today.

And as I was reading it, you might have thought some of those words sound familiar, but some of them sound very different.

Now, Chaucer was using middle English and this is an older form of the English that we use today.

So you will recognise some of it, but it is called middle English.

It was used between about 1100 and 1500.

And that is why the words of the poem looks slightly different to maybe some of the poems that you have read more recently.

So I'd like you to read this section aloud just like I did.

You should enjoy it.

Don't worry too much about the pronunciation.

And I'd like you to discuss what words do you recognise or understand and what do you think the narrator is telling us? So enjoy the reading out.

No pressure here.

Just enjoy reading it out.

You heard me reading it out and stumbling over a few words.

That's perfectly okay.

What words do you recognise and understand and what do you think the narrator is telling us? Pause the video and complete these two tasks now.

Welcome back, lovely to hear you reading out the middle English.

Well done for grappling with the language and the pronunciation.

And I hope that you notice when you read it aloud, there are lots of words that you might recognise or understand or may be able to make links to.

For example, if we take the first line, But natheless, while I have time and space and space.

So, but nonetheless, while I have time and space, so the spellings might be a little bit different, but there are some words there that we definitely recognise and well done for working out that what the narrator is telling us is I've got time and space here to tell you about the pilgrims. So that's what I'm gonna do.

So this is what he's saying.

Before I take the story any further, I think it makes sense to speak of the condition of each of the pilgrims. I'll tell you what they do and their status and what they are wearing.

So that's what he tells us he's gonna give us in terms of a character profile.

Now I'd like you to discuss how will this information help us understand each character, so the condition of them, what they do, their status, what they're wearing, and is there anything else the narrator could add so we could understand their characterization? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back a really lovely discussion there showing your understanding of what it means to develop characters in a story, the type of information that a reader might need.

So yes, these things are all quite useful.

What condition they are in, are they feeling happy? Are they feeling sad? Are they excited about the pilgrimage? Do they maybe look older? Do they maybe look younger? What is their current state? What they do? It can be a good insight if you know someone's job, you can insight into sort of their day-to-day life.

What might, what that might look like, their status and what they're wearing.

Now, their status, particularly in Chaucer's world, would be very, very important.

Status was incredibly important to Chaucer's pilgrims. So the idea of who is the most important and who is the least important.

So for example, there is a knight.

He is one of the pilgrims and he gets to tell his story first.

And everyone says, "Oh, what a wonderful story." And that is right and proper because he has the highest status of all the pilgrims. So status particularly important to this band of characters.

And what they're wearing, certainly what someone is wearing a can in certain conditions, it can alert us to something about their character.

But others saying, no, we need a little bit more than this.

So I'd like to know something about their personality and that might come across in the ways that, in the ways that they behave or how others behave to them.

Some other people saying, well, I know that they're going to tell lots of stories.

So maybe knowing something about their story, the type of story that they want to tell, how they tell it, what people, how people react to it.

Maybe that might tell us something about their character as well.

So lots and lots of different facets all work together in order to help us understand a particular character.

Now one of the pilgrims is a cook and we are gonna read about the cook to begin with.

He is how the narrator describes him.

He says, a cook they hadde with hem for the nones, for the occasion, to boile the chickens with the marybones, with the bones And poudre-marchant tart, and galyngale, spices.

Wel koude he knowe, judge, a draughte of Londoun ale.

He koude rooste, and sethe, and broille, and frye, Maken mortreux, which is stews, and wel bake a pye, But greet harm was it, as it thoughte me, That on his shyne, a mommal, an open wound, hadde he, For blankmanger, white sausages, that made he with the beste.

So remember we've got this middle English, there'll be lots of words that you recognise.

A few words are glossed there as well in order to help you understand the character of the cook.

So I'd like you to read the section aloud now you've heard me do it.

Have a go yourself, enjoy that reading and then discuss what is the narrator telling us about the cook.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back again, lovely to hear people reading through that middle English, enjoying grappling with that language.

Now what are we learning about the cook? Well, we know his job, he's a cook.

We know that he's pretty good at it.

So he's good at boiling chickens with different spices.

He knows about drink though some people said maybe if he's a good judge of London ale, then maybe that means that he drinks maybe a little bit too much.

We get lots of different things that he can make really well.

So for example, stews and pies and white sausages.

But then this quite a gross description of the idea that he has an open wound on his leg.

So that might make us question where did this wound come from and how does it affect him as a cook? So a little bit of information, quite distinctive information.

Certainly I have always remembered the cook after I first read the description of him because of this line "that on his shyne a mormal hadde he." So a little insight there into maybe Chaucer's methods of characterization, and also maybe part of his humour.

So even though this is just a snapshot, a very brief description of the cook, it's not even 10 lines, this is a very compelling description.

So it's a persuasive description, convincing description, a description that we will remember.

So first of all, it's convincing, it's compelling, a compelling snapshot because we know his role in society and we might be able to make some inferences about his day-to-day life.

So we know his job.

We also know what he's good at.

So we get some detail about his good cooking skills.

And then we get a small but memorable detail about his physical description.

So even though it's a snapshot, it is still a memorable character profile of the cook himself.

So let's do a check run, you've got loads of information about "The Canterbury Tales", about the premise.

We've read some middle English.

So let's just pause and think about which of these statements about "The Canterbury Tales" is correct.

Is it A, the poem sees characters tell stories to each other.

B, the characters in the poem are pilgrims. C, each pilgrim's described by the narrator.

D, the poem is written in old English.

Pause the video and select your responses now.

Well done if you selected A, B and C.

The only one that's incorrect is D.

The poem is not written in old English.

It is written in middle English.

So middle English, the language used between around 1100 and 1500.

And the poem was written in 1387 to 1400.

So we are in middle English.

All right, another one of the pilgrims is a Miller.

So we've had the cook.

Now we've got a Miller, Miller, one of our key words.

So it's a person who works in a mill grinding grain into flour.

Now here are just some of the things we find out about him.

In the middle English it says, at wrastlynge he wolde have alwey the ram, which means he wins wrestling matches.

Ther was no dore that he nolde heve of harre.

So he pulls doors off hinges.

His mouth as greet was as a greet forneys.

Which means he has a big mouth that's being described as a furnace, a big fire.

A baggepipe wel koude he blowe and sowne.

He plays the bagpipes.

So this is a traditional instrument.

It's a sort of bag with pipes coming out to the top and it makes an incredibly loud sound.

And finally, wel koude he stelen corn and tollen thries.

Which means he steals corn and he triples payments.

So we know he is a miller, he works in a mill.

He grinds corn into flour.

He charges three times as much as he should for that, and he also steals some of the corn.

So a very distinctive character.

In terms of the Miller, he is one of Chaucer's most famous characters.

I'd like you to discuss.

What kind of character is the miller? What is he like? Given that you've got some of these details about him, pause video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back a really nice analysis and exploration of the character of the Miller.

So quite a scary character in some ways.

He's very powerful.

He seems very physically strong given his ability to win wrestling matches and create huge damage to doors.

But he's not just physically very strong.

He's also a very loud person.

You can't imagine avoiding him on the pilgrimage because not only is he described as having a really big mouth, he also plays the bagpipes, which incredibly loud instrument.

And finally, he's not a very trustworthy character because he steals and he overcharges.

So he's physically quite intimidating, but he's also a clever enough to steal from people.

So not a very trustworthy character at all.

Really nice exploration there of, as I say, one of Chaucer's most famous characters.

Now let's have a check before we read the full description of the miller.

What does, wel koude he stelen corn and tollen thries? Tell us about the miller.

A, he grinds the grain he's given three times.

B, he steals grain.

C, he stolen grain three times, or D, he charges three times for the flour he produces.

Pause a video and select your responses now.

Welcome back, well done for showing your excellent knowledge of middle English.

The correct answers are B and D, steals grain.

Wel koude he stelen in corn and D, he charges three times for the flour he produces and tollen thries.

Okay, we are gonna read the full description of the miller.

Now you'll find this in the additional materials.

Just like with the cook, there are some words which are gonna help you understand the middle English.

Really enjoy reading it and I would advise reading out aloud if you can, so that you can really hear the language and hear some of the words that you will recognise.

And then create a spider diagram of what you learn about him.

So one example has already been done for you.

He is very strong.

You will recognise some of the lines because we looked at them already in this learning cycle.

So enjoy reading the rest of the description.

Pause a video and completely these two tasks now.

Welcome back.

So lovely to hear people reading out in middle English, well done for grappling with that language and a really, really nice spider diagram.

All the things that we are learning about this very distinctive character, that's very memorable character, the Miller.

Let's do some feedback.

So here is Laura's spider diagram about the miller.

It only has four ideas on it so far.

So he's very strong.

He breaks down doors with his head.

He's very loud and he carries a sword.

So all of these are accurate.

So not only does he pull doors off their hinges, he also breaks them down with his head.

And he does carry a sword.

He indeed carries a sword.

But I would like you to add to Laura's spider diagram.

So discuss what ideas would you give Laura to help her develop her understanding of the Miller.

Pause the video and complete this discussion task now.

Welcome back.

Well done for giving Laura so many additional ideas that she can add to her spider diagram.

Just gonna pull out a couple.

So he has a a beard, it's a red beard.

It's described as looking like a spade.

He has a sword, but he also has a shield.

So quite well armoured.

He is wearing a blue jacket and lots of people noted down the details that we discussed earlier in this learning cycle.

So playing the bagpipes and pulling doors off their hinges.

Winning the wrestling matches.

A nice detail at the end that some people notice was that he's leading apparently all the pilgrims out of town.

So he's leading them with his bagpipes.

So he seems to be quite a dominant figure in some ways.

Now Laura uses her spider diagram to kind of explore the miller a little bit more, even though this is just a snapshot.

She says, "I really feel like I understand who the miller is.

For example, knowing he breaks doors down with his head perhaps as tells us about his uncontrollable levels of anger." Now I'd like you to select one detail from your spider diagram and discuss what does it help you understand about the Miller.

Pause the video and complete this discussion task now.

Welcome back.

Really nice discussion there.

Some people starting with the bagpipes, the discussion which we were talking about just earlier, the idea that he might be quite dominant because he seems to be leading the pilgrims on their journey and playing them out of town.

So he certainly likes having attention on himself.

Others talking about, well if his mouth is described as a furnace, which is a fire, it's very big mouth and he's got this red beard that maybe he's connected in some way with evilness 'cause it's quite a distinctive description and certainly the idea of his physical strength really comes through.

And if we learn that he's really good at wrestling matches, well how did we find that out? Either he has had some wrestling matches in front of the narrator or he has been boasting about it.

So we're getting a little insight into his character there as well.

Really lovely discussion of the Miller, the character of the Miller.

Okay, so we've seen how Chaucer creates character full descriptions with Cook and the Miller, and now you are gonna create your own compelling character profile.

So the Cook and the Miller are just two of many pilgrims described in "The Canterbury Tales".

Other pilgrims include a knight.

We talked about him at the beginning of the lesson.

He is the pilgrim with the highest status and we've got the Knight Squire, his servant, a university student, a merchant, a lawyer, a doctor, a seamstress, a nun, a monk, a farmer, a sailor, priest.

These are just some of the pilgrims that we are introduced to.

Now Laura says, "I think I would most like to create a character profile of the seamstress.

I feel like mending other people's clothes could tell you a lot about them, so she's probably full of secrets." So really nice reason for wanting to create a character profile of the seamstress.

Now I would like you to discuss who would you most like to create a description of and why? And you can select from any of the pilgrims, any of the characters that we've got bullet pointed below.

So pause the video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back, such a range of different descriptions we are going to get.

This is great, you can be like Chaucer.

We can create our own Canterbury tales by creating these characterful descriptions of a range of all of these different pilgrims. So we're gonna move on to the next step where we start doing some planning to flesh out our characters.

So Laura creates a spider diagram answering some key questions.

So she creates a compelling character profile, so establishes some really important details about them, compelling makes it a persuasive portrait, someone that we might realistically think that we might meet.

So what's her role in society? We know she's a seamstress.

What physical features will I draw attention to? Laura says her hands.

That seems a good idea given that she will be working with her hands as a skilled seamstress.

What she good at? Laura's decided singing.

And what's her personality like? Ah, Laura has decided sneaky.

So a little bit like the miller.

That is what Laura wants for her character as well.

I'd like you to discuss, how would you answer these questions for your own chosen pilgrim? So whichever character you decided to focus on, what is their role, what are they good at, what's their personality and what physical features are you going to draw attention to? Pause the video and discuss these questions now.

Welcome back.

Really, really nice discussion.

Starting to flesh out these character profiles.

And we've got a real range of characters.

So some who I would definitely like to meet, seem very kind, seem very caring.

And then others who seem slightly crueller, slightly more scary, a little bit like the miller, some really nice physical description so I can start to imagine them in my mind's eye with some distinctive details.

A bit like we had with the cook.

So he had an open wound on his leg, pretty memorable, but the other choices to make there as well in terms of what they want to look like so that you would recognise them if they were walking down at the street.

Now Laura develops her character profile with compelling details.

She does have her initial ideas, which are great, but she is going to develop them.

So for example, what's her role in society? Seamstress.

Well, she has been a seamstress for 20 years.

Laura has decided, and her mother is going to have taught her.

What physical features will I draw attention to? Well, I'm gonna draw attention to her core thumb.

She's been pricked many times by a needle, but she's gonna have really delicate fingers.

So just developing that description there.

What's she good at? Singing.

Well, Laura's gonna say that she has a loud, a powerful singing voice unexpectedly loud, a little bit like the miller.

And what's her personality? Well, we know it's sneaky.

How is Laura gonna develop that? Well, she overcharges cruel customers.

So this is a nice detail here because it's not good to overcharge people, but she does seem to focus on cruel customers.

So nice detail there from Laura.

Now a check for understanding before you develop your descriptions of your characters in further detail.

So what is true of the character profile? You will create A, it should be about the miller.

B, it should be written in middle English.

C, it should include compelling details, or D should be in the form of a poem.

Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected C, it should include compelling details.

So details which are gonna make us believe that this character exists, that you are adding enough detail just like we have with the cook, at the Miller, Laura's seamstress.

So that we really think, yes, this character does exist.

It does not need to be written in middle English.

You are going to use modern English.

Of course, it doesn't need to be about the Miller.

You are focusing on a different pilgrim.

And at the moment we are just making notes.

So it does not need to be in the form of the poem, of a poem like "The Canterbury Tales." All right, let's move on to our practise task, our final practise task.

You are gonna create a character profile about your selected pilgrim from "The Canterbury Tales." You could reread the the description of the Miller to inspire you.

And I'd like you to develop the character profile with compelling details just like we watched Laura do earlier in this learning cycle.

So you've got some great ideas already.

This is just the time to develop those ideas.

Pause the video, and complete these two tasks now.

Welcome back.

So lovely to walk around and see all of these characters being created before my eyes.

All very realistic, all unique with some really interesting details to set them apart from other characters.

Well done for using that description of the Miller to inspire you in terms of the level of detail you need and the kind of interesting details that you might want to include.

Let's do some feedback.

So Sofia selected to create a character profile of the knight.

So the character with the highest status.

And she wrote, what's their role in society? Well, he's a knight.

He's a soldier at warrior.

He's just returned from battle.

That is Sofia's idea that he's just come back from battle and now he's going on pilgrimage.

What physical features will I draw attention to? She wants to draw attention to his scar from his left ear down to his chin, and really gnarled hands.

So from being a warrior.

What are they good at? Riding his horse and also dancing.

So two things that they are good at and what is their personality? Well, Sofia has said he actually bores people with war stories.

So he's a brave warrior.

He does have this high status, but his stories are pretty boring.

So a really nice developed character profile there from Sofia.

I'd like you to discuss how does your character profile compare to Sofia? So you might have done a different character or you might have done the night, but you will have created him in a different way.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Really lovely discussion there.

Loads of different characters being created.

It is like being in "The Canterbury Tales" itself, just to hear all these different pilgrims being described as we've got the cook, the Miller, but now we've got the seamstress the knight, and all of your pilgrims that you have created as well.

In summary, "The Canterbury Tales" is a poem written in middle English by Jeffrey Chaucer in the late 14th century.

Chaucer creates a group of characters who are going on a pilgrimage and they tell each other's stories on the way.

In the first section of the poem, Chaucer creates compelling descriptions of each pilgrim.

Creating a compelling character could include describing their role in society as well as how they look, speak, and act.

It has been such a pleasure to look at "The Canterbury tales" with you today and to see some of the brilliant characters you have created, and I look forward to seeing you next time.