Propping Up The Line, Alice's experiences on the home front.

Hello and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Mr. Young and I'm so glad that you could join me on another lesson about Propping Up The Line.

So just as a reminder, you will need your copy of Propping Up the Line by Ian Beck, which can be found in Stories of World War I, published by Orchard Books.

So shall we get started? So today's lesson has a very clear learning outcome and that is I can rewrite a passage of Propping Up The Line from Alice's perspective.

And just as in any lesson, we have some very important words, words that are pivotal to our understanding of this lesson.

So I do always encourage you just to pause the video, jot down their definitions, particularly if these words are new to you, because we're gonna be using them quite a bit.

Let's take a look at what they are.

So telegram, a short written message, now outdated, used in World War I to inform family members of death or casualty on the frontline.

Usually if you received a telegram, it didn't usually have good news.

Proximity, being close to something.

Ignorance, lack of knowledge or understanding.

So we may say there is a certain level of ignorance from the home front about the conditions of World War I.

Perspective, point of view.

And finally, infer, to work out, to make an educated guess.

And we're gonna use some inference skills today.

So today's lesson has two very clear learning cycles.

So learning cycle one is going to be all about life on the home front and in particular, what we can infer about it.

And then lesson learning cycle two, which I'm really excited about, is going to be a really great opportunity for you to develop your creative writing and do a little bit of work on shifting perspectives.

So let's get started with learning cycle one.

So quick discussion question then to kick us off with this learning cycle straight away.

So you have three terms, three phrases on the board.

I would like you to tell me what you know about these things.

So firstly we've got the frontline, then we've got the Western front, and then we've got the home front.

So what do you know about each of these terms? Hit that pause button, have a quick discussion, jot down some ideas if you're working independently.

And then do push play when you'd like to proceed.

Fantastic work, what a brilliant start to today's lesson.

Let's keep that going as we go through this learning cycle today.

So I'm hearing lots of fantastic things about all of these different parts of World War I and well done for everybody who picked up on the idea that they are key parts of World War I, aren't they? So what we've got here are some examples of things that the Oak pupils said.

So about the front line we have, "The front line is the bit of the battlefield, which is closest to the enemy." So if you are on the front line, you are right at the heart of the action really.

The Western front.

"The western front is one of the settings in Propping Up The Line." So this is the part of the war that's taking place mainly in France.

And then finally we've got the home front.

"The home front means how civilians in Britain were affected by World War I in their day-to-day lives." So effectively, how the war had an impact on people that weren't directly involved in the war, but they were living at home and they still felt its impact in some way.

So my question for you then is can you add or develop these ideas? So once again, hit that pause button, have a go at the task and then do push play when you'd like to proceed.

Once again, fantastic work on that.

I'm hearing some really, really fantastic examples of how you can develop these ideas.

So let's proceed.

So World War I is sometimes considered a total war.

So what we mean by that is that civilians in Britain are considered participants and victims of World War I, just like the soldiers on the front line.

So it's a total war that is affecting everybody.

So civilians on the home front felt the impact of the war in a range of ways.

So let's take a look at them.

So firstly in anxiety and fear.

So people were scared for their loved ones on the front line, but also afraid of the threat of bombs dropped by German Zeppelins, which is a type of airship.

So they were really worried about their relatives, their friends that were fighting, but they were also worried about their own safety, because they could be harmed by the advent of war in the sky, in this way from these German Zeppelins.

We've also got the idea of proximity, being near to the war.

The war is taking place in France, which isn't hugely far away from England.

So much of the war takes place in France, a country that seemed very close to home.

In addition, the idea of Britain being invaded seemed possible.

It's only a very small strip of sea separating France from England.

So certain members of the home front would've been very scared of that prospect.

We've also got the idea of ignorance.

And what we mean by this is many who returned from the front line never spoke of their experiences.

And even if they did, it was hard to truly understand what trench warfare was like.

So they were not very understanding of the traumatic experiences people very close to them had gone through.

We also got the idea of shortage of food as well.

So production of food decreased and prices increased.

Queuing for food became common and rationing was introduced in 1917.

So people would've just had much fewer food and drink than they were typically used to, which also is a quite negative effect for the home front.

And finally, we've also got this idea of freedom.

So with so many men away fighting, women became less confined to the home and were employed.

For example, by 1918, about 700,000 women worked in munitions factories.

That means the places that make bombs.

This also made them targets for German bombs.

So another way that the home front is implicated in the war.

So my question for you then is a discussion question.

How does Beck explore some of these ideas in Propping Up The Line? Where are anxiety and fear, proximity, ignorance, shortage of food and freedom covered by Beck in Propping Up The Line? So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion, jot down some ideas and then push play when you'd like to see some feedback.

Once again, some fantastic discussions taking place and well done for linking all of your fantastic knowledge of the story to these key things that are pivotal for the home front.

So check for understanding for me then please.

So what aspects of the home front does Propping Up The Line explore? Is it a, the fear and anxiety of awaiting a loved one's return? Is it b, civilian ignorance of the realities of trench warfare? Is it c, the increased freedom women felt as a result of employment? Or is it d, bombing threats? So hit that pause button and then do push play when you'd like to see the correct answer.

Great job if you identified a and b.

These are certainly covered by Beck in Propping Up The Line.

So we have the father returning home.

There is a certain amount of ignorance about his experience.

His wife, his children do not really seem to understand what he's gone through and that is also tied to their just sheer apprehension and anxiety as they wait for him to return, isn't it? Really well done if you picked up on that.

So we have reached our first practise task of today.

So let's make it count.

So I would like you to reread lines 180 to 376 of Propping Up The Line.

And what I would like you to do after you've done that is to bullet point answers to this question.

What can we infer about life on the home front? Remember if we infer something, we make an educated guess about what we are reading.

So we're not told it explicitly, we're not told it definitely, but we're making a good guess based on what we can see.

So I've given you an example there from Jun.

So Jun's model can guide us and he has picked up on the word telegram, which is on line 191.

And he has inferred from that, "The telegrams brought bad news and people feared getting them." Alice knows that what is in the envelope can't be good.

So a really good inference there from a very, very small quotation.

Great work there from Jun.

So I would like you to replicate that then please, lines 180 to 376 and what can we infer about life on the home front? Very best of luck with this one.

Really excited to see how you get on and then do push play when you'd like to see some feedback.

Fantastic work on that task.

The skill of inference is such an important skill in English and it is lovely to see you applying it so effectively to Propping Up The Line.

So let's have a look at how we could have approached that task, let's have another look at one of Jun's examples.

So Jun has picked up a very simple word here on line 205, which is said.

He's just picked up the word said.

And what we can infer from this is that, "Alice gets her information secondhand.

Her relative ignorance is terrifying for her.

She doesn't know what to expect when Alfred returns or what he went through." So just by picking up the fact that she's learning about this secondhand, we can learn an awful lot about what Alice is likely to expect with Alfred's return.

I don't know if you picked up on anything similar.

So we've got close attention to detail, haven't we? Picking up on one word and we've also got a developed inference.

So we are developing a really educated guess on what we are reading.

So my task for you, my final task of learning cycle one is a quick self-assessment.

So can you self-assess your inferences, ensuring they meet the checklist? Do they show a close attention to detail? And do they show a developed inference? Pause the video, complete that task now and then do push play when you'd like to proceed.

Then we have reached learning cycle two.

My goodness, we are flying through our learning today, which is what I love to see.

So what we are going to be doing in this learning cycle is developing our creative writing a bit, but we're not just gonna do any old creative writing.

We're gonna add a little bit of challenge to it by shifting our perspectives, by changing the perspective of our writing.

And that will become clearer as we go through this.

So let's get started with learning cycle two.

So Beck writes his short story using a third person omniscient narrator.

So what do we mean by that? So a third person omniscient narrator, there are a few things we can pick up on here.

So it is written in the third person.

So the narrator uses she, he and they rather than I.

So it is not written from the writer's perspective directly.

We also got the idea that the person telling the story is not a character in the story.

So they are just almost like a invisible person observing what is happening, but they are not connected with the action.

Also got this word omniscient, which means all-knowing.

So the narrator is all-knowing and they know everything about the events and characters.

So for example, they are able to see into the character's thoughts and tell you what they are thinking and how they are acting.

We've also got this idea about the narrator part of it.

So a third person narrator might focus more on one character's experience.

So in this short story, the character is Alfred.

Alfred is very much the focus of the story, isn't he? So sometimes a third person omniscient narrator can seem limiting because we are not given access to every thought and feeling of every character.

For example, in Propping Up The Line, we hear very little of Alice's internal feelings.

It's much more of a focus on Alfred, isn't it? Instead we see how she acts and can make inferences based on the information we are given.

So for example, trembling.

We see this word trembling on line 191.

So how might Alice be feeling at this moment? What could this suggest to us about how Alice is feeling? So hit that pause button, complete the task, have a quick discussion, do push play when you'd like to proceed.

Really well done on that task and well done to everybody who inferred the idea that Alice is scared, nervous, apprehensive about what she's going to learn.

We are not told that directly.

We're not told exactly what Alice is thinking and feeling, because of the third person omniscient narrator.

However, we can make a really reasonable inference based on how she is described externally.

So well done for doing that.

So relying on his inferences, Jun rewrites lines 190 to 196 from Alice's perspective.

And he has written it in the following ways.

"I didn't want to acknowledge or answer Olive's question.

The very word telegram seemed to signal doom.

I sat very still in the kitchen listening to the canary singing in the sunshine.

It's blissful ignorance of the war, my pain, my fear, made each chirp a stabbing jab at my heart." So he's totally shifted the perspective there from what was originally in Propping Up The Line.

So my question for you then is to answer these questions about how Jun has done that.

So firstly, how has Jun made clear he's writing from Alice's perspective? And secondly, how has knowledge of the home front supported his writing? So hit that pause button, have a quick discussion and then do Push play when you'd like to continue.

Once again, fantastic effort on that.

Really well done to everybody who is using then existing knowledge of the text to answer that.

So well done for that first question.

It's quite clear, isn't it? He's writing using words like I, me and my, which clearly shows us that it is written in the first person perspective.

And again that knowledge of the home front where it really seems to suggest, doesn't it, that the telegram is bad news, which is a really, really important contextual knowledge.

As we said in the keywords, usually, getting a telegram is not a good thing.

It usually brings news of death or casualty and that is certainly shown in Jun's writing there from Alice's perspective.

And well done if you picked up on that yourselves.

Then check for understanding time for me then please.

I would like you to reread lines 231 to 234 from Propping Up The Line.

Alice and her daughters go and meet Alfred as he returns from the front line.

It's that really powerful part in the story where Alfred finally returns home.

So my task for you is to rewrite it from Alice's perspective.

So exactly what we looked at in that previous task.

And I've given you a sentence starter as well, which is, "I looked down at." So really excited to see how you go with this one and how that sentence starter becomes a really fantastic piece of creative writing.

So hit that pause button, complete the task and then do push play when you'd like to see some feedback.

Once again, fantastic effort on that task.

I really enjoy creative writing and I particularly like approaching it in different ways like this and I hope you enjoyed it, too.

So let's take a look at how we have approached this.

So Aisha has the following example.

Aisha has written, "I look down at my tiny daughter.

Her childish innocence gave me the strength to keep walking towards the sea front and Alfred.

Alfred, will he recognise Nell, so grown since he was last home and will we even recognise him? What will the gas have done to him?" So a really good example there from Alice's perspective.

So she has written it from Alice's perspective and there is clear knowledge of the home front, isn't there? This idea of what kind of gas attacks may have done on soldiers, which was a very unique thing to World War I.

We have reached our final practise task of today's lesson.

I'm super excited to see you put all of this hard work in today's lesson into practise by producing a really nice piece of written work.

So let's have a look at what we've gotta do.

So covering the plot points below, rewrite a section of Propping Up The Line from Alice's perspective and use ideas about the home front to inform your writing.

So use all that fantastic knowledge you have about the home front in your piece of creative writing.

So our plot points are as follows.

Number one, Alice receives the telegram.

Number two, Alfred returns home.

Number three, Alfred's lungs are clearly damaged.

And number four, Alfred occasionally shares something about trench warfare.

And remember those things we looked at at the very beginning of the lesson, things about the home front that could be relevant here.

So we've got the anxiety and fear, proximity, ignorance, shortage of food and freedom.

So like I say, I'm super excited to see how you approach this one.

So hit that pause button, complete the task and then do this play when you'd like to move on to some feedback.

Excellent work on that task.

It is absolutely wonderful to see you bringing all of these fantastic skills together and mixing your knowledge of perspective, mixing your knowledge of the home front to have produced a really, really first rate piece of work.

So really, really well done.

So let's take a look at how we could have approached this.

So let's consider Jun's paragraph from earlier.

Jun has written, "I didn't want to acknowledge or answer Olive's question.

The very word telegram seemed to signal doom.

I sat very still in the kitchen, listening to the canary singing in the sunshine.

It's blissful ignorance of the war, my pain, my fear made each chirp a stabbing jab at my heart." So we clearly got Alice's perspective and with words like I and my.

We've got knowledge of the home front, which is from the telegram.

And we've also got the inferences as well to create a believable response to this idea that the telegram will result in fear jabbing at Alice's heart, which is a really nice detail.

So my task for you then, my final task is to identify where you have met the checklist yourself in your own writing.

So where have you shown Alice's perspective? Where have you included knowledge of the home front? And finally, where have you used inferences? So for the very last time, hit that pause button, complete the task and then do push play when you'd like to bring today's lesson to a close.

We have reached the end of today's lesson.

My goodness, what a fantastic lesson it has been today.

It's been an absolute pleasure to teach you.

So let's just recap what we've learned.

So firstly, the home front refers to the idea that those in Britain felt the impact of World War I in their day-to-day lives.

Number two, food shortages, bombs and fear of invasion are some of the ways civilians in Britain were affected by World War I.

Number three, when loved ones returned home from the front line, there were often complex and conflicting emotions.

Number four, many women found employment during World War I, filling the labour shortage, because so many men were fighting.

And finally, telegrams were a common method of communication during World War I.

It's been an absolute pleasure to teach you today and I really look forward to teaching you on another lesson in this sequence.

Thank you very much and goodbye.