Lesson video

Hello again, and welcome to lesson six of "Animal Farm".

So if you've been with us on the journey so far you will know that we have looked at George Orwell, the writer and we've also looked at the background of ""Animal Farm"" and the Russian Revolution and then last lesson, we started to actually do some reading.

Now in this lesson, we are going to look at Old Major's speech.

So Old Major is the pig who starts the rebellion.

He's the pig that had a dream about a future for the farm, a farm that will be run by animals instead of humans.

And in this lesson we'll look at the speech that starts the animals thinking about and getting excited about rebellion.

When you are ready, please make sure you found a quiet space or somewhere you can concentrate and grab everything you need.

So that might be an exercise book or it might be a piece of paper.

There is a downloadable resource, so you can print off a worksheet to work on at the same time everything you need, get settled and then when you're ready, we can get started.

Excellent.

So this is another opportunity for you to make sure that you've got everything you need for the lesson.

So if you need to pause the video to grab a pen and paper then please feel free to do so, but if you're already ready, then let's read Old Major's speech together.

We'll start off this lesson with a recap as always to just remind ourselves of what was going on in the previous lesson before moving on to looking at new vocabulary and then reading the extract together, and finally having a summary of Old Major's speech.

Just so we know what he is saying and we've got that in our heads before we can explore the rest of the story.

And finally, your exit quiz, which will allow you to reflect on everything that you've learned in today's lesson.

So our recap for today is asking you how "Animal Farm" is an allegory? How is "Animal Farm" an allegory? Is it A, "Animal Farm" is an allegory because they events and characters represent the events and characters from the 1917 Russian Revolution? Is it B, "Animal Farm" is an allegory because the events represent inequality and abuse of power>? Or is it C, "Animal Farm" is an allegory because we get to see everything from more than one character's point of view? So take your time, pause the video, select the correct option, and then press play when you're ready to find out if you're right.

How did you do? A, "Animal Farm" is an allegory because the events and characters represent the events and characters from the 1917 Russian Revolution.

So I'm sure most of you, if not all of you got that correct, so give yourself a big pat on the back or if you're working with someone else, give them a pat on the back.

If you selected B, I understand why you selected that and I can see where your thinking is with that because "Animal Farm" does represent inequality and abuse of power.

But if you remember in an allegory has that hidden meaning and the hidden meaning that we're discovering as we read it is that the events and characters represent the Russian Revolution, so it's a very specific meaning.

And then finally for C, if you selected C, you might be getting a little confused with an omniscient narrator.

So an omniscient narrator is where we see everything from more than one character's point of view and "Animal Farm" is indeed written with an omniscient narrator, but that is separate to the allegory.

So the correct answer would be A.

So new vocabulary alert.

What word will we be learning today? Today, we are learning the word rhetoric.

I'll say that again for you, rhetoric.

Okay, repeat that one after me, rhetoric.

That was pretty good, okay.

So rhetoric is the art of speaking or writing effectively and or persuasively.

So rhetoric is basically using language to have maximum impact.

So thinking very, very carefully about how you put words together and which words you choose to use to have the maximum impact on the people reading or the people listening to you.

And the word rhetoric actually originated in ancient Greece, so rhetoric originally is a very, very, very old concept.

It's nothing new.

People have been using language to persuade people or to have an impact on people for thousands of years.

So some examples here, politicians use rhetoric regularly.

Politicians often want to have an impact on the people listening to them, so they will need to use rhetoric.

They will need to use language carefully and persuasively.

Studying rhetoric can help us be more persuasive when necessary.

So the more we understand rhetoric and the more we know how to use it, as well as when it's being used means that we can be a lot more persuasive.

We can also spot when people are persuading us, which is always very helpful.

And another example, the audience was impressed with the rhetoric used in the young girls speech.

So, which of the following are correct definitions of rhetoric.

We have four options.

The abuse of language, using language for maximum impact, the art of speaking or writing effectively, and using language to persuade.

There is more than one correct answer here, so you are looking for more than one correct answer.

Pause the video, select the options that you think are correct definitions of rhetoric, and then press play when you're ready to find out the answer.

Good luck.

So we have three correct answers this time.

There's only one incorrect and that is option one.

So the abuse of language.

Rhetoric is not about abusing language.

It's not using it badly, in fact, it's the opposite.

Rhetoric is using language well and knowing how to make the language work to what you need it to do.

So you can change the word you use, you can move them around for maximum impact as option two says.

Option three, speaking or writing effectively, so very similar having an effect on the people reading or listening to your work.

And then option four was correct as well because rhetoric is often used to persuade people to do something or to think something.

So if you've got all three, amazing, well done, really really good work.

If you got one or two of them correct, again, brilliant, brilliant work.

If you're still unsure on rhetoric, you can rewind the video to listen to the examples again or there is a unit of work on Oak National by Ms. Howard called Rhetoric, which is excellent and well worth the watch, if you would like to learn more about it.

So, let's just have a look at the background of rhetoric in ancient Greece.

So there was a philosopher called Aristotle, and he said that rhetoric should have the three main components.

So rhetoric should include three major things.

Number one is ethos.

An ethos is the speaker having to prove why they can be trusted.

So when someone is delivering a speech they have to include a reason for why they are the person giving the speech.

Why does that person know more than any other person? Number two is logos, and this is using logic and facts.

So this is the kind of the common sense part of rhetoric.

You would say things in your speech or in your writing that makes sense to the people listening or reading and they think, oh yeah, of course, that makes complete sense and they agree with you.

So logic and facts.

And then number three is pathos and pathos is all about appealing to the emotions of the audience.

So pathos requires you to use very emotive language, words or phrases that make your audience feel something really, really strongly.

They can be negative emotions or positive emotions, but they have to feel the emotion strongly based on the language you are using.

Now, what I would like you to do next is to fill in the gaps on the screen that you can see before you.

So it's all of the information that we have just spoken about, but now it's your turn to fill in the gaps.

Pause the video here, complete all of the gaps, either on your downloadable resource or in your exercise books or on your paper, and then press play when you're ready to find out how many you get correct.

Let's see how you've all done.

First of all, we have a Greek philosopher, Aristotle who said, "Rhetoric should have three main components." I reckon everyone got this one right.

I'm pretty confident.

If not pop back and have a look at what we said, but I'm pretty sure you did.

Here are the tough ones.

Number one, ethos.

Speaker has to prove why they can be trusted.

So ethos is all about the trust that has to be built.

Number two, logos is all about logic and facts.

And number three is pathos and this one is all about appealing to the emotions of the audience.

So positive or negative, but there have to be very strong emotions that you cause the audience to have.

So now we've got another new piece of vocabulary.

You're doing really, really well so far, so we've just spoken about rhetoric.

We understand that rhetoric has those three main components and now we're going to make some space in our heads for an another piece of vocabulary and the new word is comrade.

Some of you may have had this before, especially those of you who have learned or enjoy history, you may have come across this in history.

So comrade is a fellow member of the same organisation and comrade is very often used to speak to fellow communists.

So it doesn't have to be used within communists, but it is usually associated with the communist movement and the communist party.

It's very similar to words like mate or colleague or ally, so someone who is on your side, someone who has the same beliefs that you do, comrade.

Now, you need to know comrade for us to understand Old Major's speech.

So we're going to read the speech together.

If you have the downloadable resource you will have the extracts on a piece of paper in front of you.

If you do not have the downloadable resource the extract will appear on the screen, so keep your eyes on the screen and I will read it out for you as well.

Here, the animals have all gathered in the barn to hear Old Major speak.

So we have all of the animals gathered together, waiting for him to start speaking.

And Old Major begins his speech.

Comrades, you have heard already about the strange dream that I had last night, but I will come to the dream later.

I have something else to say first.

I do not think comrades that I shall be with you for many months longer, and before I die I feel it my duty to pass on to you, such wisdom as I have acquired.

I have had a long life.

I've had much time for thought as I lay alone in my store and I think I may say that I understand the nature of life on this earth, as well as any animal now living.

It is about this, that I wish the speak to you.

So, we are going to have a look at the extract and figure out how Old Major is using rhetoric in this extract.

Comrades at the beginning of the extract is very, very important.

You can see on the screen that I've highlighted the word and then I've annotated it with repetition.

He has repeated the word comrades.

The reason for doing this is because he wants all of the animals to feel like they are in this together.

He wants to create unity and he wants to create a community.

He wants them to feel like they are all in the same position, they are all friends, they all have the same beliefs, so he repeats the word comrades.

And then we can also see Old Major using ethos.

Ethos, if you remember is making the audience know why you should be trusted and Old Major explains why he can be trusted when he says I've had a long life I've had much time for thoughts.

I understand life on this earth as well as any animal.

So he's saying that because he's so old and because he spent so much time thinking that he can be trusted, he has the answers because he's had such a long life and that's his ethos.

So if you would like too on your worksheets you've got this printed out.

I'd like you to highlight and then annotate in the same way that I have done on the screen.

Pause the video here, if you're going to do that because that will give you time to just double-check everything and make sure you've got the correct things down.

If you're not pausing here, then we will move on together.

Here are some true and false questions to see how well you understood the first extract.

Old Major use is his old age as a reason for why the animals should trust his judgement.

True or false? You can shout your answer at the screen for me.

Okay, let's see if you're right.

Old MAjor uses his old age as a reason for why the animals should trust his judgement is true.

Well done.

And we spoke about that in the extract that his ethos, his reason to be trusted is his old age.

Old Major repeats comrades because he's a communist.

So does Old Major repeat comrades because he's a communist? Think careful about this one.

If you need to pause the video to discuss it with anyone around you, you can.

Or if you just need to pause it to think before you give an answer, that's fine.

And if you're ready to give an answer right away, shout it the screen for me now.

Okay, let's see who is right.

Old Major repeats comrades because he is a communist.

Is that true or false? It's false.

Why is that false do we think? So Old Major does repeat comrades, yes, but as we discussed, the reason he does that is because he wants to create that sense of community.

He wants the animals to all feel like they are joined together and that they have the same beliefs as one another and so that no one disagrees.

He repeats comrades to create that community.

He wants the animals to feel like they are his friends and that they've got a close relationship.

If they feel like they're his friends they're much more likely to be on his side and follow and believe everything that he says.

Now, here's the next extract.

I'll read it out for you, first of all.

If you would like to challenge yourself I would recommend starting to think about how you can see rhetoric being used while I'm reading.

So is there anything that Old Major says that makes you think, hmm, he's doing that to persuade the animals>? Listen carefully.

Now comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it.

Our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.

We are born, we are given just so much food as we will keep the breath in our bodies and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty.

No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old.

No animal in England is free.

The life of an animal is misery and slavery that is the plain truth.

If you'd like to pause the video here to start annotating independently, please feel free to do so or we can move on together if you'd like some more support.

So here are the things that I have taken out of this extract.

First of all, we have a rhetorical question.

So it's a question that you send out into the crowd, but that you don't require an answer to.

All the rhetorical question does is invite your audience to think about what you're saying, but it doesn't require an answer.

So here Old Major is using a rhetorical question to invite the animals to begin thinking about their life.

For many of them, they'll never have done this, so Old Major is encouraging them to start thinking about what their life is.

There are then lots of examples of pathos.

So everything else that you can see that I've highlighted miserable, laborious, and short, the last atom of our strength, hideous cruelty, misery, slavery is very, very emotive language.

Those are words and adjectives that are going to make the animals feel really strong emotions, so this is Old Major using pathos.

Please make sure that you have annotated your copies of this.

Again, pause the video if you want to, to make sure that you get everything down.

True or false again.

So forced to work to the last atom of our strength is emotive language.

True or false? Shout your answer at the screen for me.

Okay, let's see who was correct.

It is true, forced to work to the last atom of our strength is emotive language.

It's very, very true.

We have the verb forced, which is very powerful and then the last atom of our strength, making it sound as if they work to the bone, that they are exhausted the very last atom of their strength.

So very emotive language.

Now let's move on to the final extract that we will look at today.

And again, if you want to challenge yourself, please have a go at annotating this as you're listening.

But is this simply part of the order of nature? Is it because this land of ours is so poor that it cannot afford a decent life to those who dwell upon it? No comrades, a thousand times no.

The soil of England is fertile, it's climate is good, it is capable of affording food in abundance to an enormously greater number of animals than now inhabited.

This single farm of ours would support half a dozen horses, 20 cows, hundreds of sheep, and all of them living in a comfort and the dignity that are now almost beyond our imagining.

Why then do we continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us by human beings.

Their comrades is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word, man.

Man is the only real enemy we have.

Remove man from the scene and the root cause of hunger and overwork is a polished forever.

So, let's have a look at what Old Major was saying here.

Old Major is using logos here.

He's saying that the soil of England is fertile.

It's climate is good.

So the land is very capable of creating and giving food to lots and lots of animals.

He saying there's no reason for animals to go hungry.

Logically, and looking at the facts there is no reason that animals should have a bad life because the land is good.

England is a great place to grow food, so they should never ever go hungry.

So in this final part of the extract this is where Old Major summarises what his argument is.

He is arguing that actually all of the problems for animals, they're miserable lives, how hard they have to work all comes from man and that if they get rid of man then they won't have to work really hard, they won't be hungry.

So man is the real enemy, according to Old Major.

So let's have a look at some more true or false to just make sure we truly understand what Old Major is saying.

Old Major thinks the animals go hungry because the land in England cannot make enough food.

So these ones you might need to think about, so if you need to pause and have a think, that's fine.

If you're ready to answer as always shout your answer at the screen for me now.

Okay, and let's see if you are right.

Old Major does not think the animals go hungry because the land England could not make enough food.

So it's false.

He does not think it's because of the land in England.

He doesn't blame it on the land in England.

Instead, Old Major tells the animals that the land is fertile and capable of providing for everyone.

So this one is definitely false.

Old Major says that man is the problem and that man is the reason animals do not lead comfortable lives.

Shout your answer to the screen for me and I think you will have all got this right.

It's true, Old Major does indeed say that man is the problem and he blames man for the reason that animals do not have comfortable lives.

So, to finish off everything that you've learned in today's lesson, we are going to answer a couple of questions and what I would like you to do is use some of the quotations from the speech.

So if you had them printed out, you'll find this really, really easy.

If you did not have the worksheet printed out, I would recommend rewinding the video and just taking down some of the key quotations that we highlighted and annotated together.

So number one, what does Old Major say the problem is? So we spoke about that and we said that Old Major says the problem is that animals are worked too hard and that they are not given enough food.

So go back and have a look for a quotation.

And then secondly, who does Old Major blame for the problem? Again, who does he blame, okay? So who in particular is the problem? Head back through the video, if you need to or if you have the worksheet printed out.

You can have a look at your worksheet and see what we've already highlighted.

So pause the video, have a go at answering the questions, using those quotations, and then press play when you're ready for some feedback.

So, what does Old Major say the problem is? We're going to split these questions down even further.

So we need to think about what Old Major says the problem is, but we also need to think about who he blames for the problem.

Now, if you are very comfortable writing paragraphs and using quotations in your paragraphs, I would like you to have a go at these two questions independently using the quotations that we've already selected together.

If you would like more support don't press pause here and we're going to move on to give you some more support to complete an answer.

So if we're looking at what does Old Major say the problem is, I think a really good quotation for us to use is the one on the screen.

The life of an animal is misery and slavery.

And then I've given you three sentence starters.

You can use those three sentence starters to form an entire paragraph.

So complete each sentence.

The second bullet point, you can use the quotation that I've already selected or if you would prefer, you can use one of your own quotations.

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

So, let's see how well you with that.

Old Major says the problem animals have is that they are forced to live unhappy lives.

So you may have put something slightly different, but as long as you have recognised that Old Major says the problem animals have is that their lives are miserable or they have to work too hard or they don't get enough food, anything along those lines is great.

In his speech he says, "The life of an animal is misery in slavery." You may have chosen another quotation there.

The use of pathos might make the animals focus more on their unhappy feelings.

So if you chose the quotation that I gave you, Old Major's using pathos there because it's emotive language, misery and slavery.

And using that emotive language is going to make the animals think harder about how unhappy they are and that's what Old Major was trying to achieve.

He wants them to really agree with how unhappy they are.

Now here's some support for the second part of the question.

Who does Old Major blame for the problem? And the quotation I've selected is a nice short one, man is the only real enemy we have.

And then I've given you three sentence starters, so have a go at writing an answer using those sentence starters.

Press pause, take your time, and then press play when you're ready for feedback on this question.

Okay, so we have Old Major blamed human beings for the problem.

You might have just chosen man here.

If you put farmers you're not wrong however, Old Major does refer to man in general.

He doesn't specify farmers, so he seems to be arguing that it's all humans, So make sure you're not being too specific Old Major blames human beings for the problem.

In he's speech he says, man is the only real enemy we have.

He uses the noun enemy because he wants to persuade the animals that man is dangerous or scary.

Now, the word enemy straight away makes us have negative emotions.

If you think of an enemy, you think of someone who's trying to hurt you or has treated you badly.

So Old Major is very clever in choosing the noun, enemy to make the animals think that man is someone dangerous or someone who's treating them badly.

And that is our lesson complete for today.

You've done loads of work on Old Major's speech.

You've learned two new words, rhetoric and comrade and then you've even completed a couple of paragraphs at the end.

So be really proud of yourself and get ready for our next lesson where we get to explore some of the speech, even further.

If your parent or carer would like to share any of the work on social media as always the Twitter handle and the hashtag is on the screen now and I look forward to working with you in lesson seven soon.

Have a great day or a great evening.

Well done.