Lesson video

Hello and welcome to lesson 15 of "Animal Farm," Snowball's Expulsion.

So, in this lesson we are going to discover how Snowball is expelled from the farm.

How Snowball is sent away from the farm.

Some of you may remember in our last lesson we spoke about Napoleon being representative of Joseph Stalin in the Russian Revolution.

And Stalin was a dictator and a tyrant who disliked anyone around him who was a threat to his power.

So there were a few clues for what happens to Snowball on "Animal Farm." But this lesson we will find out exactly how it happens.

So find yourself a quiet space and somewhere you can work, grab yourself a pen or a pencil and a piece of paper or anything you have to write on and then get ready to learn all about Snowball being expelled from the farm.

So here is your second opportunity to make sure you're settled and ready for today's lesson.

If you still need a few more minutes, pause the video here and get yourself ready.

If you're ready to go, then let's get started.

So we'll start off with a recap as always just to make sure that we are all on the same page before we start learning something new.

And then we'll move on to look at the new piece of vocabulary for today's lesson.

And then we'll read about the Great Purge.

The Great Purge is something that happened during the Russian Revolution and something that is directly applicable to "Animal Farm." So we need to know all about it to understand what Orwell's message was when he wrote "Animal Farm." And then finally we will read an extract from "Animal Farm" together before you guys get to do some writing to show everything you've learned on paper.

And as always, you have your exit quiz which is an opportunity for you to reflect on everything you've learned today.

So for our recap activity today, you will be answering what did Snowball and Napoleon disagree on? Did they disagree on the building of the windmill, on the defence of the farm, on the time and place of meetings or on the Seven Commandments? There may be more than one correct answer here.

So take your time, read through the answers and press play again when you're ready to see how you've done.

How did you do? Option one and option two are correct, Snowball and Napoleon disagreed on the building of the windmill and on the defence of the farm.

They didn't disagree about the time and place of the meetings and they did not disagree on the Seven Commandments.

The areas that they did disagree on where whether the windmill should be built and how they should defend the farm from incoming attacks.

So let's have a look at the new vocabulary for today's lesson.

The new word for today is dissent.

Dissent, it sounds quite similar to deceit.

So just make sure that you know the difference between them, this new word is dissent.

Okay, dissent is having or expressing opinions which are different to the official or the widely held opinion.

So dissent is if your opinion or if someone's opinion is different to that which most people think already.

Let's have a look at some examples.

The class voted for a non-uniform day without dissent.

So the entire class voted for a non-uniform day and there was no one who disagreed.

When the dictator took over, he punished any dissenting citizens.

So when the dictator took over and was in control, he punished anyone in the country who was dissenting, who disagreed with the ideas and the things that the dictator had put in place in that country.

So which of the following is a correct definition of dissent? There may be more than one correct answer.

So have a look at the four options.

I dissented him because I was angry.

The dissent was a long one.

There was dissent amongst the animals.

And the descent led to Civil War.

So which of those sentences makes sense? Pause the video, choose the correct options and then press play when you're ready.

So option three and option four are both excellent uses of the word dissent.

There was dissent amongst the animals, meaning there were some disagreement, they weren't all in agreement and the descent led to Civil War.

So the disagreements in the country led to Civil War.

Option one is incorrect, because it's used as a verb incorrectly.

I descended him because I was angry.

Doesn't quite make sense.

Similarly option two, the descent was a long one.

You can't really measure the dissent, okay? Because it's something abstract.

It's a disagreement or not agreeing with the normal state of things.

So option one or two don't make sense.

So now let's move on to the Great Purge.

I would recommend taking notes as you're listening to me read out what is on the screen.

If you struggle to take notes, you can always pause and read through what's on the screen and take notes that way.

If you have a print out of this, then you might just want to highlight the things that you think are really important.

"The Great Purge also known as the Great Terror "was a brutal political campaign led "by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, "to get rid of dissenting members of the Communist Party "and anyone else he considered a threat.

"It is believed that at least 750,000 people "were executed during the Great Purge.

"More than a million other people "were sent to forced labour camps known as Gulags.

"Upon Stalin's rise to power, "some members of the former Bolshevik Party "began to question his authority.

"Stalin believed anyone with ties "to the original Communist government "was a threat to his leadership and needed to go." So let's just discuss this very quickly to make sure we all understand.

The Great Purge was something that Joseph Stalin who was the dictator of Russia decided to do to get rid of anyone in the Communist Party.

And in fact, anyone that he thought was a threat to him to get rid of them.

So he used the Great Purge to get rid of anyone at all that he thought would be a threat to him.

Some people were executed, so they were killed, they were murdered and more than a million other people were sent to forced labour camps.

More commonly a lot of people have heard of places like Auschwitz, Nazi Germany used labour camps as well.

But the gulags were a similar experience and Stalin sent anyone who was dissenting from his beliefs and his plans to the labour camps or they were executed.

When Stalin rose to power, there were some members of the original group of people that did the revolution who started to question him.

And that meant that Stalin believed anybody who had anything to do with the original revolution was a threat to his leadership and he got rid of them.

So the Great Purge was all about Stalin killing or getting rid of anyone that he thought might threaten his leadership or take it away.

So, let's see what we remember.

If you need to use your notes, that's absolutely fine.

The Great Purge was led by Joseph Stalin.

Is this true or false? You can pause the video to write down your answer or you can shout it at the screen nice and loud.

The Great Purge was indeed led by Joseph Stalin, the dictator of Soviet Russia, and that's Russia after the revolution.

Stalin wanted to get rid of anyone who was not a Communist.

So think about this one carefully.

Stalin wanted to get rid of anyone who was not a Communist.

Is that who he got rid of in the Great Purge? Is that true or is that false? This one is false.

The aim of the Great Purge was to eliminate dissenting members of the Communist Party and anyone else he considered a threat.

So to be honest, he wasn't really that bothered about whether they were a Communist or not.

What he was more concerned about was whether they were threatening him.

So was there a possibility that they were going to stop him being a leader or that they were going to oppose his ideas or disagree with him in any way, and anyone who he thought might do that he got rid of.

Stalin was particularly concerned about anyone from the original Communist Party.

So although yes, he wanted to get rid of anyone who could disagree with him, was he particularly concerned about anyone from the original Communist Party? Is that true or false? Let's have a look what you chose.

That one is true.

Stalin saw anyone from the original party, so the first Communist who started and carried out the revolution, he saw any of those people as a threat and this included Trotsky.

And if you remember Trotsky is represented by Snowball in "Animal Farm" and Stalin actually expelled Trotsky from Russia.

He sent Trotsky away from Russia.

So we can already see how this is connecting to our story of "Animal Farm" and Napoleon expelling Snowball from the farm.

So here's a reminder of what has been happening in the story.

Snowball and Napoleon have been disagreeing about everything on the farm, particularly the windmill though.

And while Snowball has been trying to educate all of the animals on the farm, Napoleon has taken nine puppies and kept them secluded from the rest of the animals.

So that's the situation that we know about before we read this next extract.

"Until now, the animals had been "about equally divided in their sympathies, "but in a moment, Snowball's eloquence "had carried them away.

"In glowing sentences he painted a picture of Animal Farm "as it might be when sordid labour was lifted "from the animal's backs.

"His imagination had now run far "beyond chaff-cutters and turnip slicers.

"Electricity, he said, could operate threshing machines, "ploughs, harrows, rollers and reapers and binders, "besides supplying every store with its own electric lights, "hot and cold water and an electric heater.

"By the time he had finished speaking, "there was no doubt as to which way the vote would go." So at this point in the animals are in the barn and Snowball has given a speech about why they should go ahead with the windmill.

And Snowball's eloquence, so that means how persuasively and how beautifully he speaks has really captured the animals.

He's telling the animals that if you vote for me, there will be electricity, we can have heat, we can have hot and cold water, we can have light.

So he's really tempting the animals.

And by the end of his speech, as it says in the extract, there was no doubt as to which way the vote was going to go.

How do you think Napoleon's going to feel about this? How might Napoleon be feeling after this speech? So I've given you a quotation from the extract just to help you out.

By the time he had finished speaking, there was no doubt as to which way the vote would go.

And I want you to fill in the gap of the sentence on the screen.

Napoleon might be feeling blank.

And then I also want you to finish off the sentence.

So Napoleon might be feeling blank because, and tell me why he might be feeling that.

So pause the video here, spend some time thinking about this or discussing it, and then have a go at writing your answer before pressing play to see how you've done.

How did you do? I've given you a few possible answers here.

So you might've said that Napoleon was feeling angry or worried or annoyed.

Any of those adjectives are great.

If you have something different, as long as it's something similar about him being unhappy in some way, then that will be fine.

And then how have you finished your sentence? Napoleon might be feeling angry or worried or annoyed because it is obvious that the animals will support Snowball instead of Napoleon.

That's why he's going to be feeling some kind of unhappiness, because it's really clear by the end of Snowball speech that the animals are going to vote for Snowball and for the windmill and not for Napoleon.

So this is what happens next.

"But just at this moment Napoleon stood up "and casting a peculiar sidelong look at Snowball, "uttered a high-pitched whimper of a kind "no one had ever heard him utter before.

"At this, there was a terrible baying sound outside "and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars "came pounding into the barn.

"They dashed straight for Snowball, "who only sprang from his place just in time "to escape their snapping jaws.

"In a moment he was out of the door and they were after him.

"Snowball was racing across the long pasture "that led to the road.

"Suddenly he slipped and it seemed certain "that they had him.

"Then he was up again, running faster than ever, "then the dogs were gaining on him again.

"Then you put on an extra spurt "and with a few inches to spare, "slipped through a hole in the hedge and was seen no more." So this extract really, really interesting part of the story.

Snowball is chased away from the farm by dogs, nine enormous dogs and the nine enormous dogs seem to be called, Napoleon utters a high-pitched whimper that no one had heard him utter before.

So, with that in mind, I want you to have a go answering these three questions.

Who called the dogs? What did the dogs do? And why do you think Snowball was chased from the farm? So, if you have the extract in front of you, you can use that to help you answer these questions.

If you don't have the extract printed out, I would write down these questions and then rewind the video to get the extract on the screen again.

If you want to challenge yourself when you're thinking, this is easy peasy, no problem.

Have a go in number three at including some kind of comment about the Great Purge.

That's all I'm going to say for now but have a go at doing that if you want to challenge yourself.

So press pause, have a go at these questions and then press play when you're ready for some feedback, good luck.

Okay, let's have a look at some answers here.

So number one, Napoleon called the dogs.

I'm pretty confident everyone has got this correct.

Napoleon called the dogs.

Number two, the dogs chased Snowball from the farm.

Some of you may have written here the dogs chased Snowball.

So you're half right but it's really important that we recognise and we include the fact that Snowball is chased away from the farm.

He was never seen again.

So not only did they chase him but they specifically chase him away off the farm.

And then number three, Snowball was chased from the farm because he was getting the most support from the animals and Napoleon sees Snowball as a threat.

So the reason Snowball has been changed from the farm is because Napoleon is scared that Snowball's going to take his power away.

Now I did challenge some of you to think about how the Great Purge is connected.

So if you did manage to add an extra comment there, about how Napoleon represents Stalin and the Great Purge, then give yourself a huge bonus point and a massive round of applause because that's a really challenging thing to do, so well done.

If you didn't have a go at the challenge but you still managed to answer all three questions, that's really impressive and you should be really proud of yourselves.

So let's see what happens after Snowball is chased away.

"Silent and terrified, "the animals crept back into the barn.

"In a moment the dogs came bounding back.

"At first, no one had been able to imagine "where these creatures came from, "but the problem was soon solved.

"They were the puppies whom Napoleon had taken away "from their mothers and reared privately.

"Though not yet full grown, they were huge dogs, "and as fierce-looking as wolves.

"They kept close to Napoleon.

"It was noticed that they wagged their tails "to him in the same way as the other dogs "had been used to do to Mr. Jones." So this is the reaction of the animals and they've never seen these dogs before.

And then they realised that they're the puppies that Napoleon has been keeping secluded.

So where have the dogs come from? I've given you a part of the extract to help you.

So use this quotation to help you answer the question, pause the video, and then press play when you think you've got the answer.

So, some answers that you may have written down.

They are used to Napoleon and he's their leader or their master.

So they kept close to Napoleon, we're told.

If they're keeping close to him, we know that that means they must be used to him, familiar with him, he's their leader.

He tells them what to do.

And then finally, the last half of this quotation talks about the fact that the dogs react to Napoleon in the same way that dogs are used to react to Mr. Jones, to farmer Jones.

And what I think that suggests is that Napoleon has replaced Mr. Jones as the tyrant, he's becoming a tyrant himself.

If the dogs are reacting in the exact same way, that suggests that Napoleon is very, very similar to Mr. Jones, to farmer Jones.

If you've got your extract printed, please add these annotations.

If you haven't, you can pause the video and copy down the quotation as well as the arrows with the annotations attached.

And then when you're ready, we'll move on together.

So, we need to think about the big question now, we've spoken about the Great Purge and the Russian Revolution.

And then we've spoken about what happens when Snowball is chased away from the farm.

And we need to bring these two things together to talk about the allegory.

So how do these extracts that we've just read reflect the Great Purge? In order to help you answer this question, I've broken the question down.

So the first thing you need to think about is what happens in "Animal Farm" that is similar to the Great Purge.

So I've given you some little phrases that you can use to turn into a sentence.

Similarities between Napoleon and Stalin, and then the idea of of dissenters, anyone who dissents being killed or expelled.

So those phrases should help you come up with a few sentences to answer that first question.

Next you will need to find a quotation from the extract that we've read today which proves that something similar happens in "Animal Farm" to the Great Purge.

So if you have the extracts printed, you can take your time to read through them and find one.

If you don't, I've given you a quotation that you can use here, they dashed straight for Snowball.

So you can steal my quotation if you haven't got them printed off.

And then finally, you need to choose the part of your quotation which specifically explains your answer to the question and I'll show you what I mean by that.

So the dogs had been told what to do as they dashed straight to their target.

This suggests Napoleon had given them clear instructions.

So my explanation, my final part of my answer is explaining why the quotation I have chosen proofs that the Great Purge and the extracts we've just read reflect one another.

Because if the dogs dashed straight to Snowball, it's very clear that they knew who their target was.

And if they knew who their target was Napoleon must have told them who to go for.

And that then links back to our original idea that Napoleon is representative of Stalin.

Napoleon and Stalin, both want to get rid of anyone who is a threat to their power.

And so that quotation helps us to understand that the Great Purge and Snowball's expulsion are reflecting one another in the allegory.

I'm going to leave this slide up while you have a go at answering this question by yourself.

So if you write down your question, how do these extracts reflect the Great Purge? And then to answer your question, use the three bullet points to guide your answer and the blue writing as a kind of model for what your answer might include.

So I would imagine if you're using my quotation, it should maybe take you about six or seven minutes.

If you're finding your own quotation, it will take you longer, so maybe 10 or 12 minutes.

So take your time there's no rush.

Pause the video, use all of the support on the slide in front of you and then press play when you would like to have a look at a model answer, good luck.

So here is an answer that I have written.

Now this answer is not the only possible answer, this is an example.

So we'll read it together first of all.

In Orwell's allegory of the Russian Revolution, Napoleon represents Stalin.

Snowball being chased off the farm represents the dissenters being killed or expelled from Russia.

Orwell describes the dogs as dashing straight to for Snowball which suggests they have been given clear instructions about who to target.

Therefore, this shows us that Napoleon is threatened by Snowball and has made plans to get rid of him just as Stalin did with anyone who threatened his power.

So you'll see that in my example, I've answered the question straight away by explaining that Napoleon represents Stalin and Snowball being chased away represents the Great Purge.

What I've then done is included a quotation which supports my point.

And I've explained how my quotation supports my point.

So have a read through your answer and you could always rewind to the previous slide and just tick if you've achieved each bullet point of guidance.

You've done some really incredible work today.

And I think that's the first time we've written a whole paragraph together.

So that's something that if your parent or carer would like to share on social media, please encourage them to do so, our #LearnwithOak and our Twitter handle is @OakNational.

And I look forward to moving on with this story of "Animal Farm" together next lesson.

Well done and see you soon.