Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

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

Today we are in the World at war: short stories unit.

Today we are going to draught a letter.

We're going to imagine that we are someone on the home front of World War I and we are writing to a loved one in the trenches.

We're gonna play close attention to tone, audience and purpose today.

Now, of course this is applicable to our letter, but in fact, thinking carefully about tone, audience and purpose is important to any text you are writing.

So you're gonna be able to use all the skills you've used today in lots and lots of different areas of your English lessons.

I'm gonna be your support and guide as we work through today's lesson together.

I cannot wait to hear all of your fantastic ideas.

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you will have drafted a letter showing deep understanding of tone, audience, and purpose.

We're gonna divide this into three sections.

We're gonna do the introduction, the main body of our letter, and then our conclusion.

And in each learning cycle, we're really going to think, how can I convey tone? What tone do I want to convey? How will I do that? How can I make sure that I'm speaking to an audience in a realistic way? And what is the purpose? How can I show off that I understand the purpose of this letter? Let's get started and have a look at some of our keywords.

So our keywords today are establish, tone, purpose, memoir, and methods.

Let's have a look at their definitions.

Establish.

This means to begin or create or set up.

So at the beginning of your letter, you will establish a particular type of tone.

What tone do you want to create? How will I establish that? Tone, this is the attitude and emotion of your voice, written or verbal.

So in the letter that you write today, you will think, what tone do I want to convey? And how? Again, what methods, what word choices am I gonna make in order to convey that tone? Purpose, the reason something is done, the motivation behind doing it.

Now, you know, we're going to pretend that we're in the home front and we're writing to a loved one in the trenches.

So our purpose, well, it's multipurpose really, but we're trying to convey a relationship, a connection, and to try and convey some of our experiences on the home front.

But we will develop what our purpose is and people will have a range of different purposes for their own letter.

Memoir.

A nonfiction account of something written from a person's memories.

Now, Vera Brittain wrote "Testament of Youth" a memoir that was published in 1933, and we are going to use that as inspiration for our own letter.

Vera Brittain experienced World War I on the home front.

And her memoir provides insight into what it was like to live on the home front.

Her experiences provide some insight into that.

And we're going to use her memoir today to inspire us for our own writing.

And finally, methods.

The tools are writer uses to create their work, structure and language choices are the most obvious examples.

And methods we're gonna have to think about them very carefully today 'cause they're going to help us establish the tone that we want in our letter.

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

Our lesson outline for today, as I said, we're going to approach this letter in three parts.

We're gonna start off by establishing tone, audience, and purpose.

Then we are gonna develop tone in learning cycle two.

And finally, in learning cycle three, we will conclude our letter.

Let's start off with establishing tone, audience, and purpose.

So today you're going to write a letter.

You will imagine you're a civilian on the British home front during World War I and you're writing to a loved one.

You'll use Vera Brittain's "Testament of Youth" as inspiration.

This is the structure your letter will follow.

So paragraph one, you're gonna establish who you are, who you're writing to, and your relationship.

So you are on the home front, you're writing someone in the trenches and need to know who you are, who you are writing to, and what your relationship is like.

Paragraph two, you're gonna present one aspect of your life on the home front.

And this is where Vera Brittain's testament of youth is gonna be really helpful.

But also your contextual knowledge of life on the home front during World War I.

Paragraph three, you're going to present another aspect of your life on the home front.

And again, that context and Vera Brittain's assessment of youth is really gonna help us.

And finally, paragraph four, you're gonna come to a conclusion and sign off.

So by the end of this lesson, you're going to have drafted a four-paragraph letter following this structure.

Now I'd like us to focus our attention on paragraph one.

And can you please discuss who are you and who are you writing to? Pause a video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Really nice to hear all these imaginative ideas about who you are, who you are on the home front, and who you were writing to.

Lots of people embodying the character, the persona of women, because often women were on the home front and men were on the front line.

So lots of people saying, I'm the sister, I'm the partner, I'm the wife, I'm the child of a soldier who's writing on the front line.

Now crafting a convincing opening, however, relies on more than just answers to these questions.

A convincing opening shows a deep understanding of tone, of audience and of purpose.

And let's look at an example to you understand really what this deep understanding looks like.

So as a comparison, consider the tone, audience, and purpose of Vera Brittain's memoir.

So tone, angry, anxious, despairing, formal, reflective.

These are all the tones or some of the tones that are encapsulated in her memoir.

Audience.

Well, it's the wider public because a memoir, it was published and she knew that a wide audience would read it.

And purpose, to present the experiences of those on the home front, particularly her own experiences.

But she's trying to capture sort of mood of a nation on the home front.

Now, Brittain's tone is impacted by her own experiences of war.

So she lived through World War I, she left university to become a nurse.

Two wounded soldiers.

She lost her brother, she lost her fiance, she lost two close friends.

So her tone in her memoir is definitely, definitely impacted by her own experiences of war.

This is why we see that anger, that anxiety, that despair, that reflectiveness.

But her audience and purpose are impacted by the fact she's writing a memoir.

So she knows that she's writing to a wider audience.

So she does rely in testament of youth on diary entries.

She does reference letters that she wrote to her fiance.

So we get a more personal kind of intimate insight into how she was feeling.

But it is a memoir she knows the wider public will read it.

And that definitely impacts the way in which you are writing something.

Consider if you are writing a diary, how different it would be if you knew that you were writing something that a huge audience would read rather than just an audience of one.

Now remember your prompt.

Imagine you're a civilian on the British home front during World War I, and you're writing to a loved one.

I would like you to discuss the questions about tone, audience, and purpose.

So what tone do you want to establish? How will your audience impact what you say and how you say it? Consider the purpose of your letter.

What are your motivations for writing it? So pause the video and discuss these questions.

Give them the time they deserve.

'cause this is really gonna help us write a convincing letter.

Pause the video and discuss the questions now.

Welcome back, a lovely deep discussion there, showing off your fantastic understanding of tone, audience, and purpose, and how important it is in crafting any text, not just this particular letter.

So lots of people saying that they did want to establish a tone, quite a loving tone, given that they're writing a letter to someone in the trenches who's having a particularly difficult and brutal time, but others saying, no, I do want to convey my anger.

So like Brittain, I want to express some anger in my letter about the war itself and others saying, well, I want to focus on women's experiences of liberation during World War I.

So actually I want quite a chatty tone and excited tone in some ways I convey this particularly new experience for me.

Now audience, lots of people say, well, the thing about a letter is it has an audience of one, and that really does impact the way in which you can express yourself.

So this relationship, the person you are writing to, you have quite a close relationship.

So there might be private jokes.

You definitely want to show that there is a loving relationship there.

So it definitely will impact the way in which you write and your purpose, your motivation.

Now we know that thousands, millions of letters were centering World War I, back and forth between the trenches and people on the home front.

And it was because people were desperate for news.

They wanted to hear from each other and because they missed each other.

So the motivation here is not to convey lots and lots and lots and lots of information.

It is not to convey something short, something like this is what I need, et cetera.

It's actually to develop a relationship between two people to maintain a relationship between two people who are very far apart for long periods of time.

So that motivation for writing is really grounded in that relationship that you have.

And lots of people said, well, my motivation for writing is that I'm adopting the persona of someone who loves someone who's very, very far away from them.

So all of these questions really help us to understand, well, how am I going to be crafting my letter and what kind of methods do I need to rely on to establish at this tone and to show off the purpose that I've got for this letter.

Now I'd like you to consider Lucas's first draught of his opening.

He writes, "4th September, 1915, New Road, Birmingham.

Dearest Sid, thank you for your last letter.

I'm so grateful that the post office keeps us in contact.

Did you know that the post office handles millions and millions of letters per week? I know you will want to know something of my life here on the home front.

Now I'd like you to discuss has Lucas convincingly established audience tone and purpose and what feedback might you give him? Pause video and discuss these two questions now.

Welcome back, lovely precise feedback.

Therefore, Lucas praising the things that he's done really well, but offering some excellent feedback as well.

So lots of people said, well, we've got some good purpose there.

We can see that he's established his purpose.

We've got a date, it's the correct date for World War I.

We can see he's got a address.

We see he's got a greeting and it's accurately punctuated, dearest comma.

And he does have some sort of sense of purpose as well in the main body of his first paragraph where he's saying, I want to tell you something about life on the home front.

But what most people said that Lucas needs to work on is his tone.

It doesn't feel like he's creating a relationship here.

It feels more like some factual information about the post office, which the person he's writing to probably already knows.

"Did you know that the post office handles millions and millions of letters per week?" Not only might they know this because they are experiencing World War I, but is it very important for this letter? So perhaps the tone is not quite appropriate for someone who's writing to a loved one in the trenches.

It feels a little bit too light I guess the tone is not quite the deep, profound relationship that we are looking for, given that writing to someone in the trenches is something that a lot of people they, wanted to do.

And not that they look forward to writing to someone in the trenches, but they looked forward to that communication between two people and and Lucas needs to work on that a little bit.

So I'd like you to consider his second draught.

So again, we've got "4th September, 1915, New Road, Birmingham.

Dearest Sid, I've read, reread, and almost memorised your last letter.

I imagine you saying it, stumbling over your words as you rushed through the sentences.

I'm glad that you are in good spirits, but I do question how when I here at home can barely manage a smile." Now I'd like you to discuss how has Lucas convincingly established audience tone and purpose? He's returned to his first draught.

He took on that feedback you gave him.

How has he convincingly established tone, audience tone and purpose.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

A lovely discussion there, able to pinpoint some of the things that Lucas has done really well.

So he's maintained that date, that address, and that greeting.

But we now have a much more established relationship.

I've read, reread, and almost memorised.

Your last letter tells us the connection that this particular persona, this character has with the person they're writing to Sid.

They have read, reread, and almost memorised.

So nice use of triple there.

And then lots of people notice this second sentence.

I imagine you saying it's stumbling over your words as you rush through these sentences.

That's a particularly powerful sentence because it shows that connection.

It shows that this person knows how a Sid might be reading the letter, were he reading it out loud.

So it shows that deep connection there just by that little insight into a particular character.

And then we again understand that this person is on the home front, but it's not saying it.

I want you to know something, my life here on the home front, but saying I am here at home.

I can barely manage a smile.

So just that little insight into the fact that they are on the home front and they're not very happy, rather than explicitly saying, I am here on the home front.

So it's a really, really good second draught where Lucas is much more convincingly established audience, tone and purpose.

Now check for understanding before we focused our attention on our first part of our letter doing some writing ourselves.

So here's how our pupil began their letter.

Dear G.

, it feels like an age since your last letter.

I know, I know it's only been a week, but such a wretched one, G.

All I've done is stare at the clock aimlessly.

Please don't be disappointed in me for that.

Really, I have so little to do and far too much time to think.

Now I'd like you to tell me which words best describe the tone.

You've got four options, loving, despairing, impotent and reflective.

Pause a video and select what you think best describes the tone.

Pause the video now.

Well done if you selected B and C.

So despairing and impotent.

So not feeling in any way filled with hope and also feeling a little bit powerless.

Really, I have so little to do and far too much time to think.

So we've got this particular student, this particular pupil has decided that that's the tone they want to.

That's not the correct tone, you can decide any tone that you wish, but it's just got to be maintained and it's got to be convincing given the purpose of this particular letter.

So imagine you are civilian on British home front in World War I, and you're writing to a loved one.

I'd like you to write the opening section of your letter, include each of the key features that you can see on the board.

And remember that your first paragraph is to establish who you are writing to and your relationship.

Grab your pen, your laptop, whatever it is you are writing on.

Give this opening the time it deserves so that you establish a fantastic convincing persona in this opening.

And that will help you.

For the rest of your letter, pause video and complete the task now.

Welcome back, lovely to see such focused attention on the opening of your letters.

I can see that we could set up for a brilliant first draught by the end of this lesson.

Lots of key features I can see leaping out to me so I can see date, address, greeting accurately punctuated, and then a range of tones.

Some people focusing on the idea of impotence that powerlessness.

Some people focusing on the idea of kind of bubbling excitement from working on the home front.

Something that for some of your characters they've never experienced before, others really focusing on that loving tone, that relationship that they want to establish.

So let's do some feedback.

So peoples discuss how their opening section establishes tone, audience, and purpose.

So we've got, I established the depth of my feelings for the person on the front line.

I made sure I included the features of a letter like the date and greeting.

And if I were writing to a loved one, we would know things about each other's daily life and have shared experiences.

I referred to them in my opening.

So lovely discussion there, really specifically saying how they established tone, audience, and purpose.

Now I'd like you to discuss how did you establish audience tone and purpose.

There might be some things on the board that resonated with you, but you might have also done other things in order to establish that audience, tone, and purpose.

Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back.

A lovely discussion there showing your deep understanding of audience, tone, and purpose.

It was also really nice to see that during that discussion people picked up their pen and said, ah, that's a really, really good idea.

I'm going to incorporate that into my own opening.

Or ah, I forgot to put in the address, or I didn't actually punctuate my greeting correctly.

Let me just do that Now as we're having this discussion.

So in front of you, you have a fantastic opening that's got those slight edits to make it even better, we're gonna move on to learning cycle two and the main body of our letter.

So we are going to think about creating tone now.

So we've got that established tone from paragraph one from the opening of your letter.

And we're gonna think, well how can we develop, how can we deepen that tone? So the next focus is the main body of the letter.

Remember paragraph two, present one aspect of your life on the home front.

And paragraph three, present another aspect of your life on the home front.

Now in Vera Brittain's memoir, her two foci are: collecting money for the war effort and experiences in the home.

So those are her two foci.

They don't need to be yours, but these are just her two that she has presented in her memoir and the extract.

Now let's consider Brittain's first focus collecting money for the war effort, she writes, "I had little patience to spare for my mother's middle age acquaintances who patronised me as they bought my primroses and congratulated me on putting aside my studies to do my bit in this terrible war.

I took their pennies with scant little ceremony and one by one thrust them in a noisy clatter in my tin." Now I'd like you to discuss what tone has Brittain established and what methods has she used to create this tone? Pause a video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back, a lovely discussion there, really close analysis of this section from Vera Brittain's memoir.

And most people identifying she seems pretty angry in this section of her memoir, she's established an angry tone.

And what methods has she used to create this tone? Well, we've got phrases like little patience.

She seems to make a little dig at her mother's friends by calling them middle-aged.

That verb patronise, she's being talked down to a feel she's being talked down to definitely conveys some of her anger.

And then this bit at the end where she takes their pennies, the money for the war effort thrust them, this is a very powerful verb with a noisy clutter into my tin.

So that action itself seems to express some of her anger.

Now I'd like you to consider Brittain's second focus experiences in the homes as later in the extract.

And she writes, "Ordinary household sounds became torment.

The clock marking off each hour dread struck into the immobility of tension with a shattering effect of a thunder clap.

Every ring at the door suggested telegram.

Every telephone call a long-distance message giving bad news." Now I'd like you to discuss what tone has Brittain established and what methods has she used to create this tone? Pause the video and discuss these questions now.

Welcome back.

So a very different tone established here.

Not so much one of anger, but more one of despair.

So Vera Brittain saying every ring at the doorbell suggests telegram, every telephone call.

So that repetition there showing that every single noise suggested to her that something bad was going to happen.

So she's living in a state of intense anxiety and intense tension.

And then the clock marking off each hour of dread, that phrase there to describe the passage of time really expressing her hopelessness and her feelings of powerlessness.

What can she do? Nothing but watch the clock.

So there's two focuses there.

Collecting money for the war, effort experiencing the home.

Two very different tones established through those careful crafting of methods.

Now I'd like you to discuss what do you want each paragraph to focus on? So have a clear focus for each paragraph.

And then what tone do you want to create and what methods will you use? So quite a big discussion here.

Give it the time that it deserves.

So when you come to write your paragraphs, you've got a clear plan in your mind, pause the video and discuss these two questions now.

Welcome back.

A really nice lively discussion there and lots of people saying, well, I established a particular tone, a particular mood, a particular relationship in my opening, and I do need to maintain that.

So looking back at what you wrote in the first bit of your letter absolutely will help you in that second bit of your letter.

Some people saying like Brittain, yes, I want to express despair, I want to express anxiety, I want to express that impotence, that powerlessness.

But others saying, well my persona, my particular character is going to be experiencing some liberation because they're working and I want to be able to convey that in my letter 'cause that was an important part in many women's lives during their life on the home front.

So a check for understanding before we move on to writing our own main body paragraphs.

Here's a section of a pupil's letter.

"I'm busier than ever in truth, I rise at 5:00 AM.

Don't laugh, Alf, I can get up early when I need to.

I like many other women on the street, travel to the factory together.

We'll laugh, gossip and drink tea together.

Then when we arrive at work, ha, a phrase I thought I'd never use, our talk ends and the machines begin to batter and clutter." What best describes the tone? Pause a video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected a elated.

So this feeling of excitement and this particular pupil has decided to focus on the idea of work and the idea of feeling a bit more liberated.

Obviously sad about the war effort, but excited about her part to play.

And it's quite an informal section of a letter.

So all the spelling, punctuation, grammar is correct, but there is that informality there.

That don't laugh, Alf, I can get up early when I need to, ha, a phrase I thought I'd never need to use.

So that relationship is really established here because this person is writing a letter to one other person and feels comfortable to fully express themselves.

So don't be afraid to express some of that informality in your letter.

Now I would like you to return to the opening of your letter and just a reminder of the prompt you're imagining you're a civilian on the British home front during World War I and you're writing to a loved one.

I'd like you to write paragraphs two and three of your letter.

Here you will focus on two different aspects of your life.

Like Brittain I'd like you to employ methods which create a specific tone and the two extracts that we looked at are on the board to support you if you would like it.

So return to your letter.

Give these paragraphs the time that they deserve the main body of your letter.

Pause the video and complete the task now.

Welcome back.

I'm looking at so many lovely letters, two thirds of those letters now complete with that really deep understanding of tone, audience and purpose, meaning they are convincing examples in response to the prompt.

Okay, let's consider some of the methods used by Brittain to create an angry tone.

We're gonna do this so that we can do some feedback so that we can assess accurately our own main body paragraphs two and three.

So some of the methods that we talked about, precise adjectives, little patience, middle-aged acquaintances, scant ceremony, noisy clutter, but also some powerful verbs.

So the idea of being patronised and the idea of Brittain thrusting the pennies into her tin.

Now I'd like you to annotate your own paragraphs noting the methods that you have employed and the tone that they create.

We've got precise adjectives and powerful verbs.

That's what Brittain relied on in to create her tone.

But what have you relied on in order to create your particular tone? Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back, lovely to see those letters, but also to see those short, quick annotations at the side so you know exactly what methods you have relied on and what tone that they are creating.

Really nice to see some people employing some fantastically precise verbs in order to make sure that they're conveying their particular tone.

For some people that was anger just like Brittain, but others saying, oh no, it's despair, it's elation, it's love.

So we're gonna move on to our third learning cycle now, and we are going to think about how to conclude these fantastic letters that you've been writing for lesson.

So this is the focus for the final section of your letter.

Paragraph four, come to a conclusion and sign off.

Now I'd like you to consider these three different examples.

So chin up.

It'll be over soon.

I know it.

We shall be together once more.

All my love and hope, Becca, please don't try and be a hero.

Be safe, be sensible.

Come back to me.

Thinking of you always, Jules.

The factory bell alerts me.

I must return to my post.

I feel I've somehow spent my lunch hour with you, my dearest, S.

I'd like you to discuss what tone is created in each and how and what tone do you want to create? How will you create this tone? Pause a video and discuss these two questions now.

Welcome back a really careful discussion there of these three examples and people noting that even though they're very short, they have all used methods to create a completely different type of tone.

So this first one from Becca, we've got chin up, it'll be over soon, I know it, quite a hopeful tone.

We've got those commands there and those exclamation marks really showing that she feels confident that the war will be over soon.

She even uses that word hope in her sign off.

The second one, slightly more despairing, more anxiety, more fear.

Please don't try and be a hero.

It's like kind of pleading there.

Be safe, be sensible.

Come back to me.

So there's commands used there, but with a completely different tone.

She's expressing her anxiety and fear for her loved one.

And then finally the factory bell alerts me I must return to my post.

So we've got this kind of idea that we are in the middle of someone's day, little bit of informality there, and I feel I've somehow spent my lunch hour with you.

So that loving tone established and that quick sign off.

So three different examples there.

Some people saying that one or more of those examples gave them some inspiration for their own ending of their letter, which I'm looking forward to seeing you write at the end of this learning cycle.

So check for understanding before we move on to signing off our own letter.

Here's how one people finish their letter.

"As I stare up at the sky this late winter night, I know you are looking at the same moon.

I believe it's pale gleam offers you as much hope as it does me.

See you soonest, your very own, George X.

What best describes the tone, pause video and select your response now.

Well done if you selected a optimistic so we can see that the person feels that they are connected to their loved one because they're both looking at the same moon.

That that word soonest, see you soonest.

So the idea that they are going to be together in the very, very near future.

So not feeling powerless, not quite as confident or as happy as joyful, but certainly not despairing 'cause they do feel in some way connected to their loved one.

Now let's conclude our letter, our final practise task in today's lesson.

So a reminder of the prompt.

You're imagining you're a civilian on the British home front during World War I and you're writing to a loved one.

You're going to write the final letter of your paragraph, come to a conclusion and sign off.

I want you to consider the tone you want to create and how and create a convincing sign off just like the examples that we've looked at in this learning cycle.

Pause the video, return to your letter.

Give this last section the energy that it deserves so you've got a really powerful letter in front of you at the end of this lesson.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back.

Such a pleasure to look at all of these letters in front of you all using, employing different methods, but all united in the idea that they've got an intense understanding of tone, audience, and purpose.

We're gonna do some feedback.

Now let's consider how this people created an optimistic tone.

This was our example from our check for understanding, so they've got a clear, clear connection to a loved one.

I know you were looking at the same moon and we got verbs, which express hope, confidence, and positivity.

I know.

I believe.

See you soonest.

Now, I'd like you to self-assess your own conclusion.

What tone have you created and what methods have you used to create this tone? Pause the video and self-assess your own conclusion now.

Welcome back.

Really, really nice to see people pointing at various different bits of the letter and saying, well, here I established this tone of love by my sign off.

Or here I really wanted to establish the idea, like the example we looked at, that I was in the middle of something creating this kind of energy to the end of my letter, but all of them really convincing terms ending your letters where you have adopted the persona that you are a civilian writing to a loved one.

Well done.

You should be really, really proud of the letter that you're looking at in front of you.

In summary, to write convincingly, you must have a secure understanding of tone, audience, and purpose.

Tone is created through carefully crafted methods.

It's been such a pleasure to watch you draught this letter today, and I look forward to seeing you next time.