Lesson video

- I am Mr. Sidat, and in this unit, I will be teaching you about eating and living well.

In today's lesson, we will be taking a look at images in the media, we will define what this term means, and explore how and why companies use tools to edit photos.

By the end of the lesson, we will write a postcard to someone, reminding them that they are perfect.

In this lesson you are going to need, paper or an exercise book, a pencil, some colours, this can either be felt tips or crayons, and finally you're going to need a nice quiet space, so you can get those creative juices flowing.

The sequence of the lesson is as follows, we'll start off by doing a very, very quick warmup, just to warm our bodies and our brains up.

Today's lesson is a very important lesson, and I hope by the end of it, we manage to learn quite a lot.

The learning objective for today is to understand, that images in the media do not reflect reality.

But, what does that even mean? The first thing that we are going to do, to really understand this learning objective, is to look at the term "images in the media", what could that possibly mean? Think about it, what are images? And what are media? And let's combine the two together.

So, images in this context can mean both pictures and videos.

So, images in the media refers to pictures and videos being seen online, on TV, or social media.

But what does the second half of our LO mean? Second half of the LO is telling us that, those images that we do see in the media are not real, and should not be expectations for us as humans.

Many people are duped with pictures from the media and believe they are real, when in fact they are not.

People do this for a number of reasons, and we'll find out a few later on into the lesson.

Take a look at these pictures.

Yes, they are both pictures of me, but they both look very different.

What is different about these two pictures? Well, the first difference is in the second picture, the skin looks a lot clearer and a lot brighter.

Another difference that we have, is the marks from my face in the first picture have disappeared.

Finally, my hair looks a lot shinier.

Believe it or not, the difference between these pictures was around five minutes, they were both taken on the same day.

However, one was edited and one was unedited.

Which one was the edited picture? So, how exactly do photos get edited? Well, I went to see a friend of mine, who happens to be a photographer, and he showed me how photos get edited.

As you can see, he has a picture of my face, which has marks on it.

The first thing he does, is remove them by using an editing app, or airbrushing them, something which companies also use.

This means he can remove any blemishes from my face.

The photographer then changes the lighting, and adjusts the brightness in the photo, which enhances all of my features, and results in the photo looking so much better.

Not only does he do this, he uses other tools which help him to enhance a photo.

This is very common in the media, editing and manipulating photos.

But why do companies feel the need to do this? - Why do companies want to edit pictures? Well, there's a number of reasons, but the main one is, wanting to sell the idea of perfection.

Companies and people want you to think that they have flawless skin, pearly white teeth, and almost look faultless.

By doing this, they can sell their products, and make their product look as amazing as possible.

Companies are basically trying to sell you the idea of perfection.

So, if you buy their product you will look perfect like the people of the advertisements, essentially.

- Perfection is being flawless.

- Perfection is being the best you can be.

- Okay, perfection is being flawless in everything that you do, whatever it may be.

- Perfection is impossible, to me it doesn't exist.

We're all perfect in our own little ways.

- There's different ideas of what perfection is, but the main theme is having no faults.

But who in this day and age has no fault? Well, let me tell you something, the truth to that is that each and every single one of you are perfect, and you have no fault whatsoever.

Even though you may not like something about yourself, or might not be particularly good at something, you are still perfect.

You are unique, you are faultless, and you don't need to change a single thing about yourself.

Sometimes people forget just how beautiful they are, so it's our job to remind them.

Just watch this video, and have a look at what a massive difference it can make to someone just by complimenting them.

- Oh, is that for me? Is that if you just come to say that to me? - Yeah.

- Thank you so much.

That is so lovely.

- Hello, sir.

I like your hair style.

- Really? Yeah, it looks like It's very styling.

- Thank you.

Thank you very much.

- Right.

Time to start today's task.

You need to create a 25 word postcard, but what does that mean? Well, you'll be writing an uplifting message to someone reminding them how amazing they are.

But you can only use 25 words.

Now, pause the video, think about who you will be writing this postcard to, and write down as many words or phrases as you can think of to help them feel amazing.

So, did you manage to come up with some words or phrases to help someone feel amazing? You did? Brilliant.

So, these are just a few that I came up with.

You are amazing.

You have a lovely smile.

What a wonderful person you are.

You inspire me.

You look lovely today.

I love how bubbly you are.

Thank you for being you.

Don't ever change.

You are perfect.

I know if I heard a few of these, I'd be very, very happy.

Okay.

So, this is a postcard that I've written to my mom.

The whole purpose of the postcard was to make sure she felt amazing after reading it.

So, these are the things that I've included, and I want you to include in your own postcard.

First one being personal pronouns.

Make sure you compliment the person you are writing to.

Include an uplifting message.

Affirmed command.

Include an exclamation mark.

And finally, remember to stay within the 25 word word limit.

Good luck.

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