Hello there, Mr. Barnsley here.

Great to see you today.

Thank you so much for joining me as we continue to look at myths, legends, and stories that inspire.

And I'm really excited today, 'cause we are going to be inspired by "Skin of the Sea," a text by Natasha Bowen.

So you are gonna want to make sure you have access to the opening of this story, 'cause we're gonna be looking at the first four paragraphs of the first chapter.

So that is "Skin of the Sea" by Natasha Bowen, published in 2021 by Penguin Random House.

Now in today's lesson, we are gonna be doing some creative writing of our own.

We're gonna be looking at the work of Bowen, and we are gonna be inspired to write some creative writing that uses flashback.

I am really, really excited.

This is gonna be a great lesson, so make sure you have access to the text, and then I think it's time for us to get started, let's go.

So let's have a look at the outcome of today's lesson.

So by the end of today's lesson, you are gonna be able to include a flashback in a piece of your own creative writing.

So some words that I want us to look out for, some keywords that we are gonna come across in today's lesson.

So that second word you can see is flashback.

We saw that in the outcome.

And a flashback is a transition in a story to an earlier time in life of one or more of the characters.

So we transition, the story will switch from the present to a character remembering, or the reader being invited to see a moment from the past.

Now, Mami Wata is a water spirit, or a deity, a god, sacred to the West, Central and Southern Africa.

We're gonna keep an eye out for this, because this is a really important feature, a character in the story that we are gonna be inspired by today.

Two other things to look out for then, a present participant verbs, this is verbs that are in the ing form, so for example, giggling, laughing, running.

And vivid is something that is clear, deep, and strong.

So let's keep an eye for all of our keywords today, and see if you can use them in your own discussions in the lesson.

So we are going to be looking at the use of flashback in an extract from the novel, "Skin of the Sea." And we're gonna be using this to inspire us in our own creative writing.

So there are two learning cycles today.

We're gonna start by looking at how Bowen, the author of "Skin of the Sea" uses flashback in her writing.

And then we are gonna take that as inspiration and use that in our own creative writing.

We're gonna use flashback in our own creative writing, but let's start by looking at the novel and thinking about how Natasha Bowen includes flashback in her own work.

So I'm gonna build on that description, that definition in our keywords, and tell you a little bit more about a flashback.

So a flashback is a transition in a story to an earlier time.

So it, we might see a character, the life of one or more characters, and see what their life was like before the events of the novel that we're reading.

It's a really good way of connecting the present to the past, to what's happening now, to what happened before.

And often these flashbacks are really vivid.

They're very clear.

They give us a really strong picture of what life was like for the character, and they allow us to learn further information about a character, maybe some things that we didn't already know.

So I want you to think then, have you ever read any stories or perhaps watched any films that have used a flashback? And try and tell me why were these flashbacks so important to the story? All right, I'm gonna hand over to you for this one.

If you've got a partner, you can discuss this with them.

If you're working by yourself, don't worry, you can just think through these questions independently.

All right, can you think of any stories or films that have used flashback, and why were those flashbacks so important? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas, over to you.

Welcome back, it was great to hear such lively discussions, and lots of you wracking your brains thinking, "Oh, this reminds me of a story that I've read," Or, oh, this happened in a film or a TV show that I've been watching.

So it's really great to see some of those examples of flashbacks that you might have already come across.

Now in "Skin of the Sea," the novel that we're gonna be looking at today.

Natasha Bowen, the writer, the author uses flashbacks throughout the novel.

So Simidele, who is our main character, is a Mami Wata, remember, that's a deity that's really important in West, Central, Southern areas of Africa.

It's a mermaid, okay? And she has flashbacks to a time before, Simidele has flashbacks to a time when she was human before she was this Mami Wata, before she was a mermaid.

Now, the first flashback we see is found on page one of the novel.

Now, I said at the beginning of the lesson that you're gonna need to have access to the opening of the novel.

And now I want you to make sure you've definitely got it in front of you, because you're gonna reread the first four paragraphs of chapter one, that are on page one of "Skin of the Sea," that starts with the first word, I, and it will end with the word, waves.

The last word in that fourth paragraph is waves.

And that's what I want you to read, and as you are reading, I want you to be thinking about the following questions.

How does Bowen introduce the flashback, and how does she make the flashback vivid? So two steps to this task.

One, reread the extract, and then two, when you've done, if you've got a partner, you can discuss these questions together.

If not, you can work through these, think about these independently.

How does Bowen introduce the flashback, and how does she make the flashback vivid? Okay, pause the video time for some reading, thinking, and discussing, and press play when you're ready to continue, over to you.

Welcome back, some fantastic independent reading there.

It was really great to see you thinking about flashbacks in a little bit more detail.

Now, I want to draw your attention to some of the things that you may have noticed as you were reading the opening of "Skin on the Sea." You might have realised that Bowen relies on the following methods to create her flashback.

Firstly, she has the narrator close her eyes, and state that she's remembering something.

Then she uses the present participant, the form of, the ing form of the verb to present a vivid memory as if that memory is happening right then and there.

And then she uses really vivid, strong, and clear imagery so we the reader can really picture the narrator's memory.

Now Aisha has had a go at writing her own flashback using the same methods as Natasha Bowen inspired by her character, Simidele.

Let's have a look at Aisha's work, and see how she meets these three criteria.

Aisha writes, "I keep my eyes focused on the ship.

The flap of its sails trigger something in my memory.

I come close, I close my eyes, and I'm transported back.

I'm securing clothes onto a straining washing line.

The hot warmth of the sun caressing me.

The ship groans as it lurches through the water, and I am jolted out of my past." I wonder, when I was reading that to you, did you start to see any of those three techniques that Bowen uses? Maybe you identified this line here, "I close my eyes and I am transported back." This was Aisha replicating that moment when the narrator closes their eyes, and shows that they are remembering something.

In Aisha's work, she says, I am transported back.

She's almost like she's gone on a journey back in time to this memory from her past.

Then, as the flashback starts, she uses the present participle, "Securing the clothes," "The straining washing line," "The sun caressing me." This choice of using the verb and the present participant of the verb makes it feel like the flashback is happening now.

She doesn't write in the past tense.

No, we, as the reader, feel like this moment is happening now in the present, but we know it is a memory, but it makes that that flashback feel really vivid and clear to us.

I wonder if you picked out also some of this really vivid imagery that makes it really clear in our minds.

We can imagine that washing line straining under the heavy clothes, we can feel the heat of the warm, warm sun.

All of this for a reader makes us be able to put ourselves in the shoes of the narrator, we can picture ourselves in that moment.

And that's particularly impressive, because this isn't a moment in the text, This is a memory of our narrator.

Really well done If you've spotted how Aisha used Bowen's techniques there to create her own flashback.

Really, really excellent reading and noticing.

Well done.

All right, I want us to pause for a moment.

We've done plenty of discussion and thinking so far, and I want to check that we all know what's going on, and we're all understanding.

So I've got a question for you.

What is a flashback? Is it a, when a writer uses italics to present a character's thoughts? Is it B, when a writer uses vivid imagery to describe a particular scene? Is it C when there is a transition to an earlier time in a character's life? Or is it D, when a writer suggests something bad is gonna happen in the future? pause the video, have a think, A, B, C, or D and press play when you think you've selected the right answer, over to you.

Welcome back, really well done if you said C, a flashback is when we transition to an earlier time in the character's life.

A moment in a character's past, well done if you've got that correct.

Okay, over to our first task then in today's lesson, Laura, one of our Oak pupils, has written her own paragraph, inspired by the character of Simidele in "Skin of the Sea." There are two parts to this task.

Firstly, I want you to identify, maybe you could put square brackets round where she has included the flashback.

And then within that flashback, can you identify, maybe highlight or underline where present participLE verbs have been used and where vivid imagery has been used.

Let's read through Laura's response together before we set off to do this task.

Laura writes, "The sharks cut through the water like knives.

Their ink black eyes focus on the ship ahead, oblivious to my presence.

They are the closest thing to company I've had in the last long lonely weeks.

My brain starts to tumble with memories.

I'm surrounded by a gaggle of my friends, chattering, chirping voices, filling the air, giggling mouths and bright eyes.

My mouth smiles as I try to hold on to their sparkling faces.

But the sights and sounds dissolve, and I am back in the silent sea with the ink black eyes of sharks." All right, over to you now.

Pause the video, identify where the flashback is in this extract, and then see if you can also highlight any present participle verbs and vivid imagery.

All right, pause the video, and give this a go, and press play when you think you have the answers.

Welcome back.

Really great to see you throwing yourself into that task, excellent work.

All right, let's have a look at some of the annotations that you may have made.

Really well done if you identified this section highlighted in purple as being the flashback, "I'm surrounded by a gaggle of my friends, chattering, chirping voices, filling the air, giggling mouths and bright eyes." You might have noticed that the flashback was introduced by that sentence just before it, "My brain starts to tumble with memories." We're giving a hint there, we're moving back in time.

Those memories, we're gonna think about the character's memories, moments from the past.

But the actual flashback is the bit there in purple.

So well done if you spotted that.

Really well done if you either underlined or highlighted words like chattering, chirping, filling, giggling, and sparkling, all of these are present participle verbs and they really suggest that even though we're thinking of a moment in the past, we are, as a reader, being immersed in it in the present, so well done if you identified these, and some of the vivid imagery that you might have highlighted, or underlined the chirping voices filling the air.

We could really hear her friends' voices.

the giggling mouths and bright eyes.

We can start to imagine what it was like to be friends with Simidele's friends and their sparkling faces.

So lots of vivid imagery so we can really picture Simidele's memories there.

Really well done if you identified all of those, all those elements of flashback in Laura's work.

Great job.

All right, now we've looked at "Skin of the Sea." We've been inspired by Natasha Bowen's use of flashback.

Now it's time for us to build this into our own creative writing.

So in this learning cycle, we are gonna write our own paragraphs inspired by the character of Simidele.

And of course your paragraph is going to include a flashback.

So Lucas considers his paragraph, and he says this, "I'm gonna focus on Simidele swimming towards a body in the water, and then I'm gonna flashback to her being transformed into a Mami Wata by the goddess, Yemoja." So actually the memory that Lucas wants to capture is the moment that Simidele was transformed from human into a Mami Wata.

So I want us to think about the knowledge that we have about Simidele.

I've mapped it out on a timeline, and I want us to think, what do you want to focus your paragraph on? And what moment in Simidele's past do you think you are gonna flashback to? So Lucas's answer may really help inspire you.

Let's look at this timeline that we know about Simidele's life.

So she was once a human, we know she misses her human life.

She was transformed into a Mami Wata by the Goddess, Yemoja.

And we now know she collects the souls of enslaved people who die at sea.

So that's what we know as a summary of Simidele's life, I want you now to think about what is gonna be the focus of your paragraph and then what's gonna be the focus of your flashback.

If you've got a partner, you can think through these ideas together, but don't review working by yourself.

You can just take a moment of quiet reflection to think through what your plan might be independently.

All right, pause the video, over to you to do some thinking and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

Great to just spend a few moments getting our ideas and our thoughts in line before we start writing.

All right, I want to do one more thing before we start, and that is have a look at how we can use the structure that Bowen used in her own writing.

So remember that structure was stating that the character was remembering something.

In this case, the character is gonna be Simidele, using present participle to present a vivid memory, and then using vivid imagery.

All right, let's have a look at Lucas's writing, and see if we can match up Bowen's techniques with Lucas's writing.

He wrote, "I push my way towards the body in the water.

It spins and turns and I see it is a woman.

Her eyes are open, but unseeing.

I feel like I'm looking into a mirror of my past.

My eyes see my own body.

Oh, so many years ago.

Yemoja is greeting me, chanting gently.

Her soft hands are encircling my wounded head." So we've got that moment where Simidele states she's remembering something.

"My eyes see my own body oh so many years ago." Look at the present participle verbs, greeting, chanting, encircling, making a really vivid memory that's happening in the moment, and other vivid imagery, soft hands, wounded head.

We as the reader are sharing in Simidele's memory.

All right, quick check for understanding before we move on to our creative writing, what is missing from our flashback criteria? So we start with alerting the reader that you are transitioning into a memory.

We then use present participle verbs to present a vivid memory.

What is missing? Pause the video, see if you can remember, and press play when you want to find out if you were right.

Yes, really well done if you said using vivid imagery, we want to paint a really, really clear memory for our reader.

We want them to really see this flashback vividly.

Well done if you said use vivid imagery.

Okay, I'm handing over to you then to do some creative writing.

Your task is to write a paragraph as the character of Simidele from Bowen's "Skin on the Sea." And of course you are gonna include a flashback in your paragraph.

There is a checklist on the screen to remind you that you need to alert the reader that you are transitioning into a memory.

You need to use the present participle to present a vivid memory, and you need to use vivid imagery.

On the right hand side of the screen, you can see an example of Lucas's writing to give you some inspiration if you need it.

All right, pause the video, give this a go, I'm really excited to see what you are going to write and remember to press play when you think you are done, over to you.

Welcome back, it was fantastic to see you writing so creatively there.

And I loved, love, love, love how carefully you thought about those moments, and created those really vivid, clear flashbacks, that was fantastic to see, and I am gonna say a huge bonus well done to anyone who checked their spelling, punctuation, and grammar before they put their pen down.

We always, always check our work before we finish.

So fantastic work if that was you.

So you'll remember we went through Lucas's paragraph, and checked that it met the checklist you can see on screen.

I want you now to take a moment to do the same for your own writing.

So you're gonna pause the video, reread your work, and check it against the checklist and you can tick off anything that you have done.

However, if you find that you haven't checked off one of those three parts of my checklist, then now is the time to make some improvements to your work.

It's not too late to make your work even better.

All right, pause the video, take a moment to reflect on your own work, reread your own work and see how you've done in comparison to this checklist.

All right, pause the video, over to you, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, that's it.

We've reached the end of today's lesson.

You have been fantastic today, we've done some great analysis of a text, and we've used that to inspire our own writing, and you should be so proud of yourself.

On the screen, you can see a summary of all the key learning that we have covered in today's lesson.

We're gonna quickly go through that together so you can feel really confident before you move on to your next lesson.

So we've learned that a flashback is a transition in a story to an earlier time in the life of one or more characters.

We learned that flashbacks are often vivid and give us information about a character.

Natasha Bowen makes use of a flashback in the opening chapter to hint at Simidele's life before she became a Mami Wata and Bowen relies on the present participle verb and imagery to make the flashback vivid.

Great work today.

It's been a pleasure learning alongside you.

I do hope to see you in one of our lessons again in the future.

All right, bye for now.

Have a great day, however you are choosing to spend it.

Bye-Bye.