Hello and welcome to the lesson.

I'm Mrs. Butterworth and I'm here to guide you through today's lesson.

Now, today's lesson, we are going to be focusing on the writer Andrea Levy, who wrote the original novel for Small Island.

Now, Andrea Levy writes a lot of non-fiction as well.

So she writes a lot of stuff based on her personal experiences.

Now today's lesson is called "A migrant's story" and this actually refers to Levy's story or more specifically her parents' story and what they experienced in migrating from the Caribbean to England.

And we're going to look at this and think about how these ideas link to Levy's writing of Small Island.

So shall we get started? So by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to understand Levy's intentions for writing Small Island through the reading of her essay Back to My Own Country.

Now, before we delve into the lesson, let's look at our keywords that will help with our understanding.

These are empire, disparity, assimilate, colonial, and ancestry.

Now empire refers to a group of states or countries ruled over by one leader.

So for example, a monarch.

So a king or a queen.

So if we're thinking about Small Island, we'd be thinking about the idea of the British Empire.

We have this idea, disparity.

So disparity is a lack of equality or devoid of similarities.

So if we're looking at the disparity between two things, we'll be looking at how they are very different.

So disparity is about those differences between two things.

What about the word assimilate? Now this means to become part of a group country, society or culture.

So when we look at Levy's essay, she talks about how she needs, she felt like she needed to assimilate to become part of British culture.

So she did a lot of typically British things in order to assimilate 'cause she felt like that's what she had to do.

So when we look at Andrea Levy's essay, really think about that idea of assimilation.

And colonial, so this refers to colonialism.

So this is where a country establishes control over another country.

So again, if we're thinking about Small Island, we'll be thinking about the colonial power, which is Britain.

So those characters that are in Jamaica will also be part of Britain's colonies.

And then we get this idea of ancestry.

Ancestry refers to the origins of your family.

So think about the word ancestor.

So ancestor is the idea of like the origins of your family, where your family is from, your family's experiences.

Okay, so the outline of our lesson looks like this.

We're going to start by exploring Windrush experiences in reference to Andrea Levy's essay.

And then we're gonna think about this idea of Britain's forgotten history.

And Andrea Levy has lots to say about this, so it's really interesting.

So let's start with Windrush experiences.

So what was Windrush? So some of you may be familiar with this term and some of you may have never heard it before.

So let's just familiarise ourself with what Windrush actually means.

So the Windrush generations are those who arrived in Britain from the Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1973.

So Small Island is actually set before and after 1948.

So it covers the idea of the Windrush migration and generations.

The term Windrush comes from the name of the first ship so the Empire Windrush, which sailed from Jamaica to Essex in 1948.

So you may have seen images of this huge boat, which was the Empire Windrush.

The voyage has become a symbol of the migration movement from the West Indies to Britain after World War II.

And it's significant that it is post World War II because the Windrush generation took up jobs in important sectors like the NHS and transport, which were affected by post-war labour shortages.

So after the war, you know, Britain really needed some help to get back on its feet and this is why migration was actively encouraged.

And the 1948 British Nationality Act gave people from the commonwealth the rights to live and work in Britain as British citizens.

Okay, so we're going to look at Andrea Levy's essay back to Her own Country.

And in this essay, she describes her parents' experience as first generation migrants.

So let's read it through together first and then I'm going to ask you to discuss some points but we'll read together first.

So my parents had come to this country from Jamaica and in the area of London where we lived that made my family very odd.

We were immigrants, outsiders.

My dad had been a passenger on the Empire Windrush ship when it famously sailed into Tilbury in June, 1948.

And according to many, changed the face of Britain forever.

My mom came to England on a Jamaica Banana producers boat.

It sailed into the West India dock on Guy Fawkes Night in the same year under a shower of fireworks that my mom believed were to welcome her.

So what I would like you to do is discuss what does Levy reveal about her parents' expectations compared to the reality of their immigration? Pause the video so you have time to discuss this.

Off you go.

Thanks everyone.

Some really interesting discussions there and I love that some of you have already started to see the disparity, that keyword there, the disparity between the expectations and the reality, which is a really key theme in Levy's work.

So let's share some of those ideas.

So this end section about her mum's experience.

So I always think this is a really interesting passage because like many migrants, Levy's mum believed that she was being welcomed home and coming to a prosperous country full of opportunities.

So this idea of like fireworks is really quite a powerful image.

And then, you know, despite the ideology of this unified empire, so all of these countries all part of the same empire and all part of a collective British identity, many migrants were isolated and marginalised.

And Levy explains this here, she uses the word odd and made to feel like outsiders so that you can see the difference here between the expectations and the reality.

And Levy really emphasises the importance of migration and its place in British history.

So she says it changed the face of Britain forever.

And that's a really important point when we come to think about Small Island, the impact of the Windrush generation and its importance in the building of British history.

So we'll need to remember that as we go through Levy's essay and as we consider Small Island.

Okay, let's read the next part together.

My dad was an accounting clerk in Jamaica for among other companies, Tate and Lyle.

My mum was a teacher, they were middle class, they grew up in large houses, they even had servants.

They came to Britain on British empire passports in order to find more opportunities for work and advancement.

But once here, they struggled to find good housing.

They had to live in one room for many years.

They had a period of being homeless and then living in half-way housing where my dad was not allowed to stay with his wife and his three children.

Eventually, they were housed in the council flat in Highbury where I was born and where I grew up.

Okay, so now it's your turn to discuss what does Levy reveal about the connection between class and race and also what did her parents experience when they arrived? So you're gonna need to pause the video to give yourself time to discuss your answers or you may wish to just quietly think about your answers to yourself.

Okay, off you go.

Excellent, thank you everyone.

Some really perceptive and really thoughtful answers happening there.

So let's just share some of those.

So it's interesting isn't it, that Levy describes her parents' life in Jamaica.

So they're educated, they're middle class, they have servants, big houses.

And what she reveals is that despite all of this, despite being educated and middle class, and most importantly they were British citizens, Levy's parents, like the experiences of many migrants meant they automatically fell to the bottom of the social hierarchy.

So they came from these rich lives or these middle class lives in Jamaica.

But then when they arrived in Britain, you know, there was a lack of housing.

Levy describes her parents even being homeless.

So we can see there was a real difference here, a disparity, between the expectations, their lives in Jamaica and what they came to Britain.

The reality of that.

And like I've just said, sharing her parents' experience, Levy shows that disparity between the expectations and the reality of immigration, and Levy's own parents faced a bleak reality with a lot of uncertainty.

And I think the way Levy shares this is really powerful because we can see, it's not overly emotional is it? She just gives these kind of descriptions of what is happening.

They were homeless, there was no housing, they were separated as a family despite thinking they were going to get opportunities and work advancement.

And I think that's really powerful on Levy's part.

And it's really important to remember this because in Small Islands, Levy explores this link between race and class and we see our characters finding this experience.

It's true or false time.

When Levy's parents arrived in Britain, they found many opportunities and excellent housing.

So is that true or false? Well done everyone that said false.

So now it's time to justify your answer.

So select A or B.

Excellent.

So yes, Levy's parents, like the experiences of many migrants, automatically fell to the bottom of the social hierarchy.

I want us to just look at the wrong answer here.

So it says here, Levy's parents did not have the required documentation to work in Britain.

Now this is wrong because actually they did, because they were commonwealth, they were British citizens, they had British empire passports.

So they actually had everything, and they were considered British citizens.

They were British citizens.

We're now gonna consider this word home.

And what I would like you to do is I would like you to think about the connotations of the word home.

So think about kind of positive connotations.

So I'd like you to pause the video to give yourself time to discuss what are the connotations of the word home.

Pause the video to discuss your ideas or you can just sit and think quietly to yourself.

Off you go.

Great, some really thoughtful words coming through there.

So let's just discuss some of those key connotations of the word home.

So for some, this is the idea of refuge.

Place is very important when we're considering home.

So there could be buildings or we could be thinking about a country and considering that home or a town or a house.

So place is really important when we're thinking about home, but it's inclusive that you feel included at home.

Comfort, welcoming, belonging, people.

So very often people associate the word home with specific people, so this might be family, friends, it could also be neighbours, which also links this idea of community.

So very often home and community are linked work, they get these connotations.

So the reason we're talking about hope is I want us to think about this idea of the mother country.

Now the mother country was used to describe Britain and was used by many of Britain's colonial countries.

So when you come to look at Small Island, you'll see that a lot of the characters referred to Britain as the mother country.

I'm going home to the mother country.

So for many citizens of the British Empire, Britain was their spiritual and emotional home.

Now for some of our characters, they've never been to Britain, but they still consider this place, this important mother country as their home where they belong.

So if we think about this in terms of expectations, mother country is a really powerful force when developing expectations of a place, isn't it? You know, mother country.

It's these ideas of family, mother feels really maternal and welcoming.

So you can see how the expectations of migrants were shaped by this term mother country.

So I want you now to consider the words we have just come up with in relation to this idea of the mother country.

And I'd like you to discuss what might the expectations of the mother country be of a person migrating from the Caribbean to Britain? So pause the video so you have time to discuss these ideas or you may just want to think to yourself, off you go.

Again, thank you.

Some really thoughtful answers.

So let's think about what the expectations of being these words and how they link those expectations.

So expectations might be you come to the mother country and you will feel safe.

So refuge is offered, you will feel safety and safe.

The expectations might be a place to live.

You know, if you consider the mother country as home, which you associate with a place, you might be expecting a place to live.

This idea of being accepting as well.

The mother country has connotations of acceptance and likewise opportunity.

So the mother country was presented as a place of opportunities, friendliness might be expected, collective identity.

So again, the mother country and colonial power suggested that those within those countries shared a collective identity.

You were all part of the British empire and therefore had a collective identity, a sense of unity, relationships.

And again this word unity.

So this idea of home becomes intrinsically linked to this idea of the mother country and in turn, really impacts the expectations of the migrants from the Caribbean to Britain in that Windrush generation.

We're now going to think about this idea of the mother country because Levy also writes about this in her essay.

So let's just read through this part of Levy's essay together.

In England, the fabled mother country that they had learned so much about at school in Jamaica, my parents were poor and working class.

They believed that in order to get on in this country, they should live quietly and not make a fuss.

They should assimilate and be as respectable as they possibly could.

Clean the front step every week, go to church on Sundays, keep their children well dressed and scrubbed behind the ears.

Okay, so in a moment you'll need to pause the video to discuss what word does Levy use to describe the mother country and what does this word and her parents' experience tell us about the disparity between expectations and reality? So in a moment, discuss these ideas or think to them, think your ideas to yourself.

Pause the video now.

Okay, great, lots of you picked up on that key word and there was some really lovely ideas coming through about this idea of expectation and reality.

So the key word here is fabled.

It's fabled, which is a really interesting word to use.

So fable means something is false, it's not true, it's fictional or it's made up.

And what she does is by using this word is that Levy really reveals the ideology behind this idea of the mother country.

And she shows the idea of the expectations that simply weren't true.

And Levy also shows how this was part of the legacy of her parents' colonial education.

So she says here this fabled mother country, so this not true mother country, that they had learned so much about school in Jamaica.

So in countries that were part of the British colony, they had educations that very much referenced, you know, British history, British ideas.

So for Levy's parents in Jamaica, they learnt about Britain, they learnt about the mother country.

So they had a lot of input in terms of their expectations.

And despite the concept of the mother country being linked to the idea of home, this description, so in this last part, shows there was pressure and perhaps even fear to conform and not emphasise any difference.

So there's that key word there, assimilate.

And this reveals there was this expectation to reject any aspect of a non-British cultural identity.

So this idea that her parents thought it was best just to assimilate and to act quintessentially British.

So to ensure that they didn't stand out or didn't appear different in any way despite promises of this unified collective identity of British identity, which actually wasn't particularly inclusive.

Okay, the mother country refers to A, B, or C.

Excellent, that's spiritual or emotional home.

And this is a really key idea in Small Island.

Levy used her parents' experiences as inspiration for the characters in Small Island.

So there's some real similarities between Levy's parents and the characters that she creates.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you two descriptions of two of our main characters from Small Island.

So as we read this together, start to think about some of those similarities that we have seen through Levy's own descriptions of her parents.

So first of all, we meet Hortense, and Hortense is a young Jamaican woman.

Her colonial education means she associates being British with superiority and assimilates its culture.

She dreams of being a teacher and returning to the mother country which she associates with opportunities and success.

Similar ideas there aren't they to what Levy described in her essay.

Now let's meet Gilbert.

So Gilbert is a young Jamaica man who is ambitious and feels he lacks opportunities in Jamaica.

He wants to become a lawyer and believes the mother country is where this will happen.

Gilbert Emigrates on the Empire Windrush and finds disparity between his expectations and the reality.

Okay, so what I would like you to do now is you will see there are some sentence starters there and I would like you to complete the sentences with evidence and quotes from Levy's essay.

So think about the similarities between Hortense and Gilbert and Levy's parents and also the similarities between these characters and the things that Levy describes.

Now you may wish to refer to the bridged essay that's in the additional materials or you may want to think about the quotes that we have already explored in this lesson to help you.

So in a moment you'll need to pause the video to complete the sentences.

This is similar to, and in her essay, Levy also describes using evidence and quotes from that essay.

So I really look forward to seeing what you come up with.

So pause the video so you have lots of time to complete the task.

Off you go.

Well done everyone, some really hard work happening and I love how some of you really started to notice those similarities between Levy's own experiences and the characters she creates.

It's really interesting isn't it, exploring that connection.

And also I really like thinking about what inspires writers to write.

So Andeep has very kindly given us his answer to have a look at.

So let's look at it and let's think about how we could help Andeep to make his answer even better.

So he's completed the sentence in this way.

It says in her essay, Levy also describes the experiences of her parents and how they found it difficult.

This is fine but I think Andeep, you could make it even better.

And this is how.

So I think it would be even better if Andeep made the comparisons more specific but also linked to Levy's essay using examples and quotes.

So Andeep is going to improve that for us and I'll show you the answer here.

So we can see he's added a lot to his initial response.

Thank you Andeep.

So now it reads, in her essay, Levy also describes her parents' belief in the fabled mother country.

So Andeep has now included a specific quote and a specific element of the similarities between Gilbert and her parents.

They too expected to find opportunities and advancement but instead found a life of uncertainty and even homelessness.

So again, we've got two lovely quotes there from Levy's essay.

Levy uses the character of Gilbert to explore this disparity.

So that's really good, isn't it? There's a much better response there because it's much more specific.

It goes into some detail and it uses some quotes from Levy's essay.

So make sure you just check through your own work now and check you've got those quotes, you've got those specific pieces of evidence to make your answers really, really fantastic.

Okay, we're onto the second part of our lesson and this is called Britain's Forgotten History.

So we're going to carry on exploring Levy's essay and her opinions on this idea of history and Britain's forgotten history.

So the first part of Small Island, both the novel and the play, is set between 1939 and 1948 in the midst of World War II.

Now this is a really important fact that around 10,000 people from Caribbean colonies left their families to join the British army.

They were actively deployed on the front line and behind the scenes in World War II so many soldiers from the Caribbean expressed their pride at being British soldiers and saw fighting in the war as their patriotic duty.

And I think this is a really interesting point.

So despite being an active part of the war and post-war efforts, the contributions and voices of Caribbean soldiers have mostly been absent for history.

And it might be worth just thinking about if you have looked at any other war stories or maybe you have looked at some war poetry before and think about the types of people we hear telling those stories.

It's interesting isn't it, to think about who we don't hear and who we do hear.

We are now going to read another part of Levy's essay and this is actually the final paragraph, so it's quite an impactful paragraph.

So in a moment I'm gonna get you to discuss, but let's just read it through together first.

And there are countless white Britons who are unaware of the histories that bind us together.

Britain made the Caribbean that my parents came from.

It provided to the people, black and white, who make up my ancestry.

In return, my ancestors, through their forced labour and their enterprise, contributed greatly to the development of modern Britain.

My heritage is Britain's story too.

It is time to put the Caribbean back where it belongs in the main narratives.

So I'd like you to discuss, can you try and summarise what Andrea Levy is saying about history? Pause a video so you can discuss this idea.

You may wish to just think quietly to yourself or some of you may even wish to jot down a few ideas, pause the video to complete the question.

Off you go.

Really well done everyone.

I love that you were really grappling with some of those ideas in there 'cause there's some quite complicated ideas, isn't there? So yeah, summarising it wasn't easy.

So well done everyone for having a go.

So let's just share some ideas.

So what Levy wants people to know is that Britain and the Caribbean share a history.

And I think this is a really key point that Britain and Caribbean's history are intertwined.

They are the same.

And Levy states that her ancestors worked hard to build modern Britain.

So actually in this essay, not only does she talk about the Windrush generation, but she also talks about slavery and other moments in history that are really significant.

And she thinks it's so important for everyone to recognise and talk about the Caribbean's role in Britain's story.

Because very often what Levy says is that we only hear one side of history and it is white and it is British and it is English.

But actually the Caribbean has as much part of that history as anything else.

And one of the central themes in Small Island is the importance of historical narratives.

And Levy really wants to foreground the voices of the marginalised and forgotten people of Britain's history, including the soldiers in World War II and the Windrush generation.

So like I said a moment ago, it's important to think about, you know, the dominant images or the dominant representation that we see in World War II or war narratives and the voices that are missing from those or the faces that are missing from those.

And this is a really key theme for Levy and it is really important in Small Island.

So true or false, part of Small Island takes place between 1939 and 1948 amidst World War II.

True or false? Yep, absolutely, that is true.

Now justify your answer A or B.

Excellent.

Yes, Levy wants to foreground the voices absent from historical narratives.

And this is a really important thing to remember as you come to study Small Island, that it's about foregrounding those voices that we very often don't hear in historical narratives.

Okay, so we've got some images here.

I'd like you to discuss why might Levy have chosen to chosen to call her novel Small Island? Pause the video so you've got time to discuss or just think about your ideas.

Ready to pause, go.

Okay, some interesting ideas there.

So absolutely.

So I think we can see from these images, it refers to the settings of Jamaica and Britain, which are both islands.

So Small Island could be talking about Jamaica, it could also be talking about Britain.

So it's really quite clever in that sense.

But also it also refers to the mindsets of people living on the islands.

And I think what this idea of Small Islands like small-mindedness, it kind of focuses on this lack of awareness of British colonial history.

And I think as you explore the play and explore Levy's ideas, we can really see this idea coming through.

Small Island suggests a closeness.

And I think Jamaica and Britain may be far apart geographically, but this idea of Small Island, so the singular, really connects their narratives, really connects 'em almost as one port place because it could have been called Small Islands, but she calls it Small Island.

So it's about the two places being connected.

And Levy really wants to show how the histories between the Caribbean and Britain are intertwined.

Together, they are, like I just said, Small Islands, they are not separate, they are the same.

So A, B or C, Andrea Levy called her novel Small Island because.

Absolutely, one of the many reasons is because it reveals the deep connection between Jamaica and Britain.

So we are onto our second practise task.

Well done everyone just a little bit more to go, let's keep going.

I want us to think about what was Levy's main purpose in writing Small Island.

Now we have some pupils here who have given their opinion.

So let's read those.

So Aisha says that it's to present the experiences of the Windrush generation and the disparity between expectations and reality.

Excellent Aisha, that's a great answer.

Sophia says that it is to explore the power of colonial ideologies like the concept of the mother country.

Excellent.

Yep, absolutely.

Jen has said it is to foreground the voices of marginalised people and those absent from historical narratives.

Again, another fantastic purpose.

And then finally Izzy has said it is to reveal the connection between Jamaica and Britain's history.

Some really fabulous answers to the question there.

So what you are going to need to do is I would like you to pick two students.

So two of our students' statements that you agree with and I would like you to annotate those statements, justifying your answers.

So pick two and annotate their statements justifying why you agree with them.

Pause the video so you have time to do this and I can't wait to see your arguments.

Off you go.

Okay, great.

I noticed some of you really struggling to pick two.

I know, I think they were all such fantastic answers.

You could have talked about all of them, couldn't you? But well done for actually managing to pick two.

So that was the first challenge, but now let's just share some ideas of annotation.

So you can just use this example here to check through your own work.

So I've picked Jen's answer here.

So Jen says that is to foreground the voices of marginalised people and those absent from historical narratives.

So let's look at the evidence used.

So Levy states that it is time to put the Caribbean back where it belongs in the main narrative.

So that really powerful last quote is definitely good evidence for this statement, isn't it? And Levy also explains that many people in Britain don't know much about the Caribbean history, which is why it's crucial to include these stories.

So again, that really links to Jen's statement there.

And she emphasises that the Caribbean history, including the experiences of its people, is integral.

So is absolutely important to understanding Britain's own story.

And then finally, the setting of World War II enables Levy to explore the experiences of soldiers from the Caribbean who fought for the British Army.

So you can use this idea to check your own answers or you might wish to add something to your annotations now.

So well done everyone, some really excellent work there.

There was lots of quite complex ideas and you really grappled with those in order to understand them.

So well done.

So let's just remind ourselves of everything that we have learned.

'cause there has been a lot.

So we know that Levy describes her parents' experience of migration and the disparity between expectations and reality.

The term mother country is a powerful concept.

Levy wants to foreground the voices of those absent from history like the Caribbean soldiers who fought in World War II.

Levy has pride in her ancestry and believes that the Caribbean should be recognised as part of Britain's history.

And the term Small Island refers not to the geographical space, but also to the mindset of people living there.

Again, well done everyone.

It's been really fun, hasn't it? Learning about Andrea Levy and her own experiences and also what has inspired her to write, I found that really quite fascinating.

So I hope to see you all again soon for another lesson.

See you then.

Bye-Bye.