Lesson video

Hello and welcome to our final lesson "Looking at Animal Farm".

You guys have done some incredible work over the last 23 lessons.

So let's see if we can keep it up for just one more, where we get to find out what happens to Napoleon, to Squealer and most importantly, what happens to the animals on the farm.

In this lesson, you will notice that the title is "Animals or Men".

And we begin to look at how Orwell has sent a message about the leaders of the world becoming tyrants again and again and again.

History repeating itself and the same thing's happening no matter who is in power.

When you're ready make sure you've got a quiet space to work or somewhere you can concentrate as well as something to write on, something to write with, and then let's get cracking with our final lesson on "Animal Farm".

As always, this is your second opportunity to get yourself settled and make sure you have everything you need.

If you've already got everything you need then you don't need to press pause and we can just keep going and start the lesson together.

So we'll begin the lesson with a recap of what we know so far, before moving on to look at something called a cyclical structure.

If you've never heard of that before, don't worry.

That's what I'm here for.

We will talk about it together very shortly.

And then we'll read an extract towards the end of the story and the end of the story itself before discussing Orwell's intention.

So what was Orwell when he wrote "Animal Farm" hoping to achieve? And that will lead you into your final "Animal Farm" exit quiz which will allow you to reflect on what you've learned.

A recap for today then.

What do the pigs start doing to make them seem more like humans than animals? Be very careful with this.

The question's very, very specific.

What do the pigs do to make them seem more like humans? Is it option one? The pigs start trading.

Is it option two? The pigs start walking on two legs.

Is it option three? The pigs change the commandment.

Or is it option four? The pigs use propaganda.

Pause the video here, select the correct answer and then press play when you're ready.

And the correct answer was option two; the pigs start walking on two legs.

The pigs do do all of the other options; they start trading, they change the commandment, they use propaganda.

However, the thing that makes them seem like humans is that they start walking on two legs.

All of the other things are some kind of betrayal or breaking an agreement, yes.

But it does not make them seem human.

Walking on two legs, definitely does make them seem human.

Now we'll talk about cyclical structure.

A cyclical structure is when the beginning and the end of a story mirror each other.

And when I say mirror, think about what a mirror does.

It shows the same thing, okay? So a cyclical structure is when the beginning of a story and the end of the story are the same.

The writer makes the situation at the end the same as it was at the start.

Usually with stories with a non-cyclical structure you'll have a beginning that will lead and there'll be tension built into a big event.

And then the end will be some kind of solution or a problem will be solved or a situation will be changed.

Something will be different to how it was in the beginning.

In a cyclical structure, you start off somewhere, things happen in between and then your ending, you're in the same situation as you were in the beginning.

For example, if I were to write a story with a cyclical structure, maybe I'd start off with a person sat in a chair looking out of the window at the beginning of the story.

And then lots of things will happen.

The person will get up, they'll walk around, they get a cup of tea and have something to eat.

They'll argue with a friend, they'll make up with their friend and then at the very end, the same character is sat in the same chair, looking out at the same window.

Pause the video here and make sure you make a note of this so you really fully understand it.

I also want you to see if you can think of any examples in books that you've read or films that you've seen.

Can you think of any where the beginning on the situation for the main character is the same as it is at the end? When you've thought about this a lot and you feel like you understand it, press play and we'll keep moving on.

So cyclical structure.

I have given you some writing on the screen with gaps.

You need to complete the gaps with the correct vocabulary.

If you need to, you can rewind or you can use the notes that you've just made but for your first go, trust yourself, have confidence and have a go from your memory for the first one.

Pause the video and then press play when you're finished.

Here are the answers.

A cyclical structure is when the beginning and end of the story mirror each other.

The writer makes the situation at the end of the story the same as it was at the start of the story.

If you got all of those correct, big thumbs up, big smiles all around, brilliant well done.

If you didn't quite get them all, rather than rewinding now, wait 'til we get to the end of this lesson and see if you understand it.

If you still don't at the end of this lesson, definitely rewind and watch again.

But I think that this lesson and what we find out about "Animal Farm" will really help you to understand what I mean.

So in the extract that we are reading now we need to ask the question how does Orwell describe the pigs as human-like? So how are the pigs described as human-like? I'll read the extract for you.

As you're listening, if you have the print out you can grab a highlighter or a pencil and start to think about how the pigs are like humans.

"After that it did not seem strange when next day the pigs who were supervising the work of the farm all carried whips in their trotters.

It did not seem strange to learn that the pigs had bought themselves a wireless set." That's a radio.

"Were arranging to instal a telephone, and had taken out subscriptions to 'John Bond', 'Tit-Bits' and the 'Daily Mirror'.

It did not seem strange when Napoleon was seeing strolling in the farmhouse garden with a pipe in his mouth--no, not even when the pigs took Mr. Jones's clothes out of the wardrobes and put them on.

Napoleon himself, appearing in a black coat, ratcatcher breeches, and leather leggings, while his favourite sow appeared in the watered silk dress which Mrs. Jones had been used to wearing on Sundays." So what is there in this extract that makes the pigs seem more like humans? There's quite a few bits that we can pick up on.

I've highlighted the following parts of the extract to support you if you need it.

So pause the video here and either copy down the highlighted parts or highlight them on your extract.

And then I want you to explain how each of those bits show that the pigs are becoming like humans.

So pause the video, have a go and then press play when you're ready for feedback.

So I've chosen to focus on some key quotations from what we've just done.

And the first one is, 'Napoleon himself appearing in a black coat, ratcatcher breaches, and leather leggings.

' And I've chosen this because it shows us that Napoleon is wearing Farmer Jones' clothes.

That's really important.

Napoleon wearing the farmers' clothes is Orwell trying to show us that Napoleon has become exactly like Farmer Jones.

They are both tyrants.

They've both become the same kind of people.

Napoleon in Farmer Jones' clothes is Orwell showing us that Napoleon is now a tyrant, just like Farmer Jones was.

So add that information to your extract or to your notepad.

Press pause if you need to.

But if not, let's keep going.

Next.

"Napoleon has invited local farmers to 'Animal Farm' for dinner." So he's been wondering around the farm in his human clothes on two legs, smoking a pipe, reading, listening to the radio, all of these things that humans do pigs don't do.

All of these things the old major warned animals to never do.

And Napoleon's doing them anyway.

And now he's invited local farmers to dinner.

"A farmer lifts his glass and praises Animal Farm's success and says, 'Let's toast to 'Animal Farm'.

They are a brilliant farm, so we can see really positive relationships between them.

' There was the same hearty cheering as before, and the mugs were emptied to the dregs.

But as the animals outside gazed at the scene, it seemed to them that some strange thing was happening.

What was it that had altered in the faces of the pigs? Clover's old dim eyes flitted from one to another.

Some of them had five chins, some had four, some had three.

But what was it that seemed to be melting and changing? An uproar of voices was coming from the farmhouse.

Yes, a violent quarrel was in progress.

There were shoutings, bangings on the table, sharp suspicious glances, furious denials.

The source of the trouble appeared to be that Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington had each played an ace of spades simultaneously." This extract is talking about the dinner party.

The animals are looking into the farmhouse kitchen and Clover thinks, "Hold on who.

What's happening to the faces of the pigs? Wait.

Who are they? Humans? Are they pigs?" She's confused.

And they start arguing because Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington had each played the same card in a game.

And so they start furiously arguing with one another.

True or false? Shouting nice and loud at the screen for me.

Clover noticed something had changed in the pig's faces.

True or false? Nice and loud.

Excellent.

That is true.

Clover is looking through the window and she notices that the pig's faces aren't quite the same.

This is the very last chunk of the story.

So if you've read "Animal Farm", the actual book; the whole book, not just extracts, this is the last paragraph.

"Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike.

No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs.

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." How does this extract then reflect a cyclical structure? How does this extract show that the situation at the beginning of the story is the same as the situation at the end of the story? If you feel completely confident and you want to have a go at this, pause the video here and annotate your extract with the answer.

Which parts of the extract reflect a cyclical structure? If you need more support keep watching.

I've underlined the key parts of the extract that will help you answer the question.

How does the extract reflect a cyclical structure? I've given you some blue highlighted chunks of the extract to help you.

If you now feel more confident to have a go, pause the video here and have a go at annotating the bits I've highlighted.

If you're still not sure, keep watching.

And here are the annotations.

So when Orwell writes that the 12 voices we're all alike, that's telling us that the pigs have become humans.

The pigs and the humans are the same.

They are all alike.

There's no difference.

And the final part, "But already, it was impossible to say which was which." Is showing that the pigs now seem like men.

And therefore, if the pigs are now like men the farm is being controlled by men, by humans just like it was at the beginning of the story.

At the beginning of the story the animals are unhappy because man is controlling them and taking everything from them.

And now we're at the end of the story and even though it's pigs in charge, the pigs are now like man and therefore the animals are still being controlled.

Having things taken off them by man because the pigs have become exactly like man.

Make sure you pause the video, rewind it, whatever you need to do to make sure you have all of those notes down and that you fully understand how the story has a cyclical structure.

If you're happy, you're confident and you think, "Yeah, I've got this.

I know what she's talking about." Then let's move forward.

So this is a reminder of why Orwell wrote "Animal Farm".

Orwell wrote "Animal Farm" as an allegory for the Russian Revolution.

He wanted to draw attention to the way cruel leaders treated ordinary people.

And he wanted to warn the readers about the future.

So he was drawing attention to the fact that cruel leaders will keep coming again and again.

If we don't do anything about it and we sit back and let it happen, there will always be cruel leaders treating ordinary people badly.

So your question, "Why do you think George Orwell has used a cyclical structure when writing 'Animal Farm'?" If you feel completely comfortable with answering this, pause the video, write your answer including that vocabulary in the blue box.

However, if you think you'd need more help, have a look at the hint.

What was Orwell suggesting about leaders who abused their political power? Orwell was suggesting that anyone who becomes too powerful will always abuse their power.

And that every leader out there is going to become a tyrant.

He's warning that history will repeat itself.

And as ordinary people, we need to make sure that no one person ever has too much power.

That's what Orwell is writing about.

That's his message to us.

So pause the video, try your absolute best at answering this question and then press play when you'd like to check your answer for some feedback.

Good luck.

Here is an idea of an answer you might have written.

George Orwell might have used a cyclical structure to warn readers that history repeats itself.

He might have been suggesting that all leaders will become tyrants because they enjoy power too much.

That's a really standard answer.

So I would expect everyone to have all of those ideas.

Some of you might have written a loads more than that which is absolutely brilliant.

As long as your answer includes something about history repeating itself and about leaders constantly becoming tyrants because they have too much power.

You should be really, really pleased with the work you've done because that's an excellent answer.

And that is our final lesson of "Animal Farm" come to an end.

It's been absolutely brilliant to work with you.

You should be so proud of everything you've learned and you should definitely go around and tell everyone how much you know about George Orwell and "Animal Farm".

Never be embarrassed about learning.

You should definitely show off all of this stuff that you've now got in your head.

So massive well done from me.

Please make sure to ask your parent or carer to share your work on Twitter if they would like to.

Our Twitter handle is @OakNational #LearnwithOak and I for one would love to see the work that you've done on this.

And I'm sure teachers, friends, and family would as well.

So be really, really proud of yourselves, go and finish off the exit quiz for that final bit of work and then you can relax.

Well done and hopefully I will see you very, very soon.

Thank you.