Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

I'm so glad you decided to learn with me today.

We're in the "World at War" short stories unit.

And today, we are going to be looking at "Propping Up The Line," a short story by Ian Beck.

Now first things first, we need to get a copy of this short story.

You'll find it in the 2014 edition of "Stories of World War I," edited by Tony Bradman.

So I'd like you to pause the video, go and find your copy of "Propping Up The Line" by Ian Beck, which you'll find in the 2014 edition of "Stories of World War I," edited by Tony Bradman.

Pause the video and go and get your copy now.

Fantastic.

Now, we've all got our copies of "Propping Up The Line." We are ready to start this lesson.

Let's go.

So by the end of today's lesson, you are going to be able to explain how Beck presents the gas attack.

Now, the gas attack in "Propping Up The Line," it comes quite near the beginning of the short story and it's particularly graphic, a particularly brutal moment of this short story.

And Beck has obviously spent a lot of time and craft and energy into thinking, how am I gonna present this gas attack? And we're gonna start to unpick some of the methods that he has used today in order to present, in order to convey the gas attack.

There are some keywords which are gonna help unlock our learning today, and they're gonna help us achieve our objective.

And they are methods, harrowing, perceptive, pervasive, and frenetic.

Let's go through their definitions.

So methods, these are tools a writer uses to create their work.

Setting, characterization, language choices, are all examples and we're gonna pay particular attention to Beck's language choices today and see if we can start to understand them and the effect that they have on the reader.

Harrowing, extremely disturbing.

And we would definitely describe the gas attack in "Propping up the Line" as harrowing.

Perceptive, this means thoughtful and we are gonna aim for perceptive language analysis today.

Pervasive, which is something that spreads everywhere and can't be stopped.

And absolutely the gas we could describe as pervasive in "Propping up the Line." And frenetic, which is fast-paced and uncontrolled.

So these words today, they're gonna be referenced throughout and they're gonna help us achieve our objective.

Our lesson outline for today, first of all, we're gonna reread Beck's description of the gas attack.

Always wonderful to return to powerful sections of a text and think how did the writer create such power here? So we're gonna reread that description of the gas attack in "Propping up the Line" and then we are going to move into some perceptive language analysis.

And of course our rereading in learning cycle one is really gonna ground us.

It's gonna help us with that perceptive, that thoughtful language analysis.

So let's start off with rereading Beck's description of the gas attack.

Now today, you are going to answer this question, how does Beck present the gas attack? And I'd like you to begin by just discussing, well, why is the gas attack so important to Beck's story? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, fantastic discussion there, showing off your brilliant knowledge of "Propping up the Line".

Now the gas attack, even though it's quite a short moment in this short story, it is central to everything that comes after.

So after the main character, the protagonist, Alfred, suffers this gas attack and sees one of his fellow soldiers die from this gas attack, he returns home.

So he can no longer fight in the war, he returns home.

And what we see in his home life, at home with his family, is the long-term effects that this gas attack has on him, both emotionally, psychologically, and of course physically.

So this gas attack is so important to Beck's story because what he's really interested in exploring is the damage that the gas attack inflicted on all the soldiers who experienced it in World War I, particularly his grandfather Alfred, who the story is based on.

Now before we write an answer to the question, how does Beck present the gas attack? That's our goal for today.

We're gonna do a close reading of the description of the gas attack and that's gonna allow us to answer the question, really perceptively, really thoughtfully.

So I'd like you to reread the first sentences which describe the gas attack in Beck's "Propping up the Line" and you'll find these in lines 130 to 135.

So I'm just asking you to read five lines of the story and it's page 47 to 48 in "Propping up the Line." So I'd like you to reread those first sentences.

Pause the video and reread those first sentences now.

Welcome back.

It was really nice to hear people rereading those and you're just able when you reread, rather than reading for the first time, to give the story or the methods that writers used a little bit more time.

When we first read a story, we think what's going to happen? That's our central focus.

But this time you're able to pause and you're able to consider those methods a little bit more.

Now, Laura argues, she like you reread those first five lines and she considered the methods and she said, I think that you said the verb fumbled is really powerful.

This means you're doing something clumsily.

So it evokes Alfred's panic.

So a really nice look there at this verb fumbling, which Laura's analysed really carefully so that we understand, well why did Beck choose this word above all other words? And I think Laura has got a really, really nice argument there.

Now I'd like you to discuss what methods would you select as particularly powerful? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back.

Some lovely discussion there of the methods just like Laura, looking closely at a particular word or a particular phrase which you think, ah, I can see that Beck has really used this to great effect.

So some people focusing on this word crouching because we know that Jonesy and Alfred are crouching and so they seem quite vulnerable in this state.

They are not ready to flee from the gas, but they're engaged in a different task.

And so they seem small in comparison to the gas, which then encircles them and others focusing on the the metaphor that Beck uses.

So he says there's a crack, and he compares this to the sound of a firework.

Now fireworks often have quite positive associations and used for celebration.

So there's a bit of contrast there between the noise and what it reminds Alfred of and what actually happens afterwards.

But there's also an idea of explosion, of suddenness and of scariness.

So a couple of methods there looked at really, really closely.

Keep all those ideas in your head because they will of course be incredibly useful when we move into our second learning cycle and start to analyse the presentation of the gas attack.

So a quick check for understanding before we complete a real close reading of the whole description of the gas attack.

Is this true or false? The gas attack is important but not the central focus of Beck's story.

Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected false.

Now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it A, the gas attack is described in horrifying detail and then Beck uses the rest of the story to describe its long-term damage, or B, the gas attack doesn't seem that bad when it's happening because Alfred escapes.

It is the long-term damage, which is horrifying.

Pause the video and select your justification now.

Well done if you selected A.

So if we have a look at B, if we just interrogate that a little bit, the gas attack doesn't seem that bad when it's happening because Alfred escape, Alfred does indeed escape, but he sees a fellow soldier, Jonesy, he sees him die in the mud and he is described in brutal and horrifying detail.

So it's the short term damage, which is horrifying, as well as the long-term damage.

Okay, we're gonna move into our practise task.

You are gonna reread lines 130 to 179 of "Propping up the Line" and they can be found on pages 47 to 49 of your short story.

Now, as you go through, as you reread, I would like you to annotate it, collecting evidence, which answers this question, how does Beck present the gas attack? Now I know you're gonna be really, really good at this because we've had such a lovely discussion about just the opening two lines of the presentation of the gas attack.

Just as before, I've got a model here from Laura to support your annotations.

So she's looked at line 130 on page 47, she's looked at this verb crouching, which a lot of you noted as well was particularly significant in the description of the gas attack.

And she's written the verb emphasises Jonesy's vulnerability.

Later, Beck says the gas drifted, drifted shows the gas is pervasive.

So using one of those key words from the beginning of our lessons.

So it gets everywhere, but it's also aimless.

Alfred and Jonesy are helpless victims. Now you can see the level of detail that Laura's got in her annotations, looking at a particular word, but also linking her exploration of this particular moment in the description of the gas attack to a later moment.

And that is incredibly perceptive, really, really thoughtful.

So I encourage you to reread those lines first and then go back into your annotation.

So you like Laura, can link various bits of the text to each other.

So pause the video, give this annotation the time it deserves 'cause it's really gonna help you in the second learning cycle.

Pause the video and complete these two tasks now.

Welcome back.

It is lovely to see some beautifully annotated copies of this text "Propping up the Line".

And I can see that you are gonna have really, really thoughtful answers to this question.

How does Beck present the gas attack? Let's do a little bit of feedback about these annotations.

So here is another of Laura's annotations.

She, like you, reread the text and then started annotating it.

And at this point, she's looking at lines 138 to 39, page 48 of "Propping up the Line" where Beck describes the smell of the gas.

Now she has noted Beck's use of sibilance, this S sound, which he uses in many of the words that he used to describe the gas.

And it creates the impression we can hear the gas moving.

Now, gas is not like a bomb.

It doesn't make a big loud sound as it's moving around.

And so he has kind of created the atmosphere rather than talking about the batter and chatter of gunfire, but instead using this S sound.

So we can sort of hear this gas moving around Jonesy and Alfred.

And then we've got this long sentence as well, which creates a sense of pace and panic.

So long sentences, not always, but they can often be used to create this sense of pace, this sense of frenetic activity of movement.

And Laura certainly thinks here that's what Beck is doing through that long sentence.

So really nice annotation there.

You can see that she's identified methods.

So we've got sibilance and this long sentence and then explores the effect.

So I would like you to self-assess your own annotations, ensuring they meet the checklist.

So pause the video, go through these annotations really carefully knowing that you're gonna have to rely on them in learning cycle two.

So give the self-assessment the time it deserves.

Pause the video and complete the self-assessment now.

Welcome back, lovely to see people just putting a method in here where they needed to identify or furthering that exploration where they needed to so that they've got beautiful set of annotations which are gonna help them when we move into learning cycle two.

So here we are at learning cycle two, we're gonna move into some perceptive language analysis.

Now, Laura considers this question, how does Beck present the gas attack? And I'd like you to discuss what ideas do you have in response to this question? So your initial ideas to this question, how does Beck present the gas attack? Pause the video and discuss your ideas now.

Welcome back.

A lovely discussion there about this short moment in the short story.

Well, what is Beck trying to convey? How is he presenting this gas attack? Lots of people relying on that key word from the beginning of the lesson, harrowing.

That's extremely disturbing.

It's extremely distressing.

Other people saying, well, he's actually foreshadowing the long-term damage that he's going to do to Alfred, our central character, through his language because it's such a graphic, 'cause it's such a brutal portrayal that we can see that this is going to haunt Alfred for the rest of his life and other people focusing on the graphic imagery that Beck employs in order to convey the horror of this particular gas attack.

So a range of ideas here, but all focusing on the idea that this is an extremely disturbing, life-changing event.

Now here's one of Laura's ideas.

She's used the key word from the beginning of the lesson.

She said harrowing and she forms this idea into a topic sentence.

She says, Beck presents the gas attack as harrowing experience, which will affect Alfred forever, both physically and mentally.

So really nice topic sentence there.

She's used the author's name, Beck.

She's used that verb, presents.

She's showing that she's focusing on the question by saying gas attack.

She's got a lovely use of vocabulary there, harrowing.

And then she develops that a little bit by saying this experience which is so harrowing, which is so distressing, will affect Alfred physically and mentally.

So she's got a lot to begin her paragraph with, and we can see how that paragraph would develop.

Now I'd like you to discuss how would you form your ideas into topic sentences? I'd like you to aim for two and rely on the structure of Laura's topic sentence in order to support you.

Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back.

It's lovely to see your, or hear your initial discussions about how the gas attack is presented being formed into these more academic topic sentences.

I can see that you're gonna have lovely developed paragraphs because these topic sentences, along with the annotations you did in learning cycle one, are gonna form some beautiful paragraphs.

So Laura's target is to explore language in a perceptive way, in a thoughtful way.

And to explore language in a perceptive way, you should select quotations that are rich in methods and make connections between quotations from across a text.

So two things to do.

So quotations that are rich in methods so we can really see the author's craft coming through.

And then make connections between quotations from across a text.

Now the second bullet point here was actually a bit of a light bulb moment for me when I was beginning my journey analysing as a student of English.

Obviously I'm still on that journey.

It's a lifelong journey.

We all are.

But this idea that I might make connections between quotations from across the text really helped me develop my paragraphs.

Before, I'd always just focus on one quotation per paragraph, but I remember my teacher saying no, make connections between quotations.

And that really opened up, helped me start to develop my analysis further.

So here's Laura's plan.

So she knows she wants to be perceptive.

She's made a plan, which is a sensible thing to do before she starts doing her analytical writing.

So Beck presents the gas attack as harrowing, an experience which will affect Alfred forever, both physically and mentally.

And then we've got her two bullet points plan where she's gone through the quotations that she would like to select, the methods, and the connections she wants to make.

Let's have a look at this plan in a little bit more detail.

So we can see at the beginning she's got really well selected quotations.

She's got the line numbers, so she wants to look at lines 157 to eight on page 58.

This is the graphic description of Jonesy's pain.

She's looked at this word abandoned.

She's noticed that it's repeated in the story.

And to her that seems really significant.

And then she also wants to reference the the moment when Jonesy's cricket ball is mentioned in the story after Alfred realises that Jonesy is dead.

So she's got some really well selected quotations.

She's gonna have three in her paragraph, but she's also gotta focus on methods.

So graphic description, that is a method that Beck has employed and repetition of this word abandon and another method.

And finally the cricket ball seems to be a symbol of Jonesy's potential and the fact that that potential, his life is now over.

So when Alfred looks at that cricket ball, it's a very poignant moment in the short story.

So she's got down, I know I need to talk about methods and she's actually noted the ones that she will talk about.

And finally, she's got perceptive.

So thoughtful links between quotations.

So you can see in her first bullet point, she wants to look at the graphic description of Jonesy's pain.

Then she wants to look at this word abandoned, but actually she wants to connect that to the cricket ball which Alfred sees.

So Alfred feels that he left Jonesy.

Even though Jonesy is dead, it's reinforced by the reference to Jonesy's belonging.

So Alfred sees it in the trench and thinks I have abandoned my friend.

Or that's how he interprets what happened because he feels perhaps guilty that he has survived and Jonesy has not.

So an incredibly detailed plan here so that when Laura comes to write her paragraph, it's actually pretty easy for her 'cause she can rely on this very well thought through plan.

So a check for understanding before we move into our own perceptive language analysis.

We've got two students here, Aisha and Jacob, and they have both written some paragraphs, written a paragraph indeed, about the gas attack.

Now, I would like you to read through both and then think which people has the most perceptive language analysis, thinking about what we've learned in learning cycle two about what perceptive language analysis looks like, linking quotations together and looking at methods in a perceptive way.

So pause the video, read through both of those models really carefully, and then select who do you think has the most perceptive language analysis.

Pause a video and complete this check now.

Welcome back, well done for reading through those paragraphs really carefully and evaluating, really putting yourself to the test.

Which one is the most perceptive? And it is indeed Aisha's paragraph.

She has the most perceptive language analysis.

Let's have a little look why.

So both Jacob and Aisha have looked at verb choice, and I think that's a really, really nice thing to do.

They've come to some really perceptive conclusions about, okay, we've got these verbs like shouted, wrenching, floundering, through, and flailed, shows frantic and frenetic movements.

That's really, really nice to gather all those verbs together.

A really good bit of close reading there.

What Aisha has done is she said, Beck contrasts these verbs with the gas, which drifted and billowed.

So we've got a contrast here, and she's referring to another moment in the story.

So connecting, making those connections between quotations in a text.

Whereas Jacob, he moves back into those verbs that he's initially mentioned and says what each of them means.

Now that is less perceptive than saying, okay, well I want to look at these verbs, this moment in the text in relation to another moment in the text.

So Aisha has the most perceptive language analysis out of these two examples.

Okay, our final practise task today, I would like you to plan and write a paragraph about the presentation of the gas attack.

You're gonna use Laura's model to guide you.

So first of all, you will create your own fantastic model just like Laura has with well-selected quotations, a focus on methods, and perceptive links between quotations.

And then you will write that paragraph.

And as you say, if you have a really solid plan, then writing that paragraph will feel very easy and very satisfying.

So pause the video, and I would like you to complete these two tasks now.

Welcome back, well done for giving the planning and the writing the time that it deserves.

I've got some, you can see in front of me some really, really interesting analytical paragraphs with those powerful topic sentences.

It was lovely to see people relying on the annotations that they had from learning cycle one in order to inform their writing.

Now, before we celebrate your work, I'd like you to do some self-assessment, and we are going to identify where you have well-selected quotations, a focus on methods, and finally, perceptive links between quotations.

So you're gonna pause the video, read through the work that you have just written, and identify where you have these three things from the checklist, your well-selected quotations, your methods, and perceptive links.

Pause the video and complete the self assessment now.

Welcome back, really nice to see you celebrating your paragraphs there, being able to identify exactly where you have met the checklist, just noting down those quotations that you've got, seeing the methods that you have wanted to explore, that you were really, really able to do that, really fruitfully in those paragraphs.

Well done.

In summary, the gas attack and its aftermath is a central focus of Beck's short story.

The effects of the gas attack are described in graphic detail.

Perceptive analysis can involve making thoughtful connections between different moments in the text.

It has been such a pleasure to work with you today and hear all of your perceptive ideas put down onto the page, and I look forward to seeing you next time.