To analyse the author's use of language

Key Stage 2

English

Holes by Louis Sachar

﻿Hello, my name is Ms. Johnson, and I'm going to be teaching you reading today. In today's lesson, we're going to analyse the language in "Holes" by Louis Sachar. If you haven't watched lesson one to four, then you should pause this video and go back and watch those lessons. The story also focuses on a boy who was sent to a juvenile correctional centre. So if this is something that might make you feel uncomfortable, I suggest you pause the video now and go and ask an adult to watch it with you. If you're ready then, let's get started. I'm going to start today's lesson by recapping the text. So we're going to recap "Holes" by Louis Sachar. And we're going to be checking in to see what key things you know. So do you know about the plot? Do you know about the characters? Then we're going to do a vocabulary check. And this is going to help you if you come across unfamiliar words in your reading. And then we're going to spend some time analysing the text. Today we're going to focus on the language that Louis Sachar uses in "Holes". And then we will summarise everything we've done in the lesson. In the lesson today, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pen or a pencil, and your brain. I really want you to be thinking throughout this lesson. If you have any distractions near you right now, for instance, if the window is open and it's really noisy outside, or if you have your phone in front of you, now is a good time to pause the video and remove those distractions. And then press play when you're ready to get started today. Ready? Let's go. We're going to start by recapping what we already know about "Holes." In a minute, I'm going to ask you to pause the video and answer these questions. These are the questions: Who is the author of "Holes"? And this is really important today 'cause we're looking at the author's use of language. My second question is why is Stanley, the main character, unlucky? And then finally, who is sent to Camp Green Lake? So pause the video now and have a go at answering the questions and press play when you're ready to resume. Well done. Shall we check together? Who is author of "Holes"? It's Louis Sachar, say it, Louis Sachar. Why is Stanley unlucky? Stanley is unlucky because he was convicted of a crime he was innocent of. So he's been kind of told off about a crime that he didn't actually do. He says he never did anything. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. So he is innocent. So he is really unlucky because he's been sent to Camp Green Lake to become a good boy, but he didn't need to be sent. He was already innocent. And then this leads me to our question, who is sent to Camp Green Lake? Now, we know that bad boys are sent to Camp Green Lake or boys that have be naughty. And they're sent there in order to become good boys, because it was thought that if you dig a hole hour on hour, then you eventually become a good boy. Your behaviour will be corrected. Well done. We're now going to do a vocabulary check. Now, this is really important for both your reading today and your independent reading. I'm going to show you what to do if you come across a word that you don't know the meaning of in your reading. You shouldn't carry on and skip it out, because it's really important that you try to have a go. If you just keep skipping out words you're not sure of, you'll eventually lose the sense of what you're reading. So this is a strategy to help you. So this happened to me in my reading. I came across the word dazed. I'll read you where it came from. Stanley felt somewhat dazed as the guard unlocked his handcuffs and led him off the bus. He'd been on the bus for over eight hours. So the first thing I'm going to do to work out what this word means is trying to skip it out. Stanley felt somewhat, hmm, as the guard unlocked his handcuffs. Now, I know it's something he's feeling. So it's telling me that this is a verb. So it's a feeling he has. Something he's feeling right now. Then I'm going to try and replace the word. In order to do that, I also have to read around the word in order to help me with that. So first I'm going to look for clues to help me replace this word. It tells me he's just come off the bus. Now, I already know he spent eight hours on that bus because it's told me here as well, he'd been on the bus for eight hours. Now, if I'd been on a bus for eight hours, I think I'd be feeling really tired. Shall we try that now? Stanley felt somewhat tired as the guard unlocked his handcuffs and led him off the bus. Hmm, I think that would work. So now when I look again, I can see that actually dazed means unable to think or react properly. So he's almost kind of when your eyes are a bit kind of blurred over, you can't really... You don't really react to things, someone's talking to you and you don't respond. He doesn't really know where he is. A bit disorientated as well. And then that would make sense. And so by doing that strategy, I've come to a very close understanding of what dazed means. And I've understood then the text. We're now going to analyse the text. And today we're going to be looking at the author's use of language. So Louis Sachar, and here is an image of him for you, he could pick any word he wants to use in the book "Holes." So the words he's used he's chosen for a reason. It shows his author intent. He's made a decision over the words he's picked. And that decision is the image that they create in your mind, the impression they create on you as you read the text. So language is actually really important. And today we're going to look at how the meaning of the words can change the overall meaning of the text or the overall impression you get off the text. To answer these questions, it's often really good to underline the key word, then you skim and scan in the text to find out where it is, and then read around the word to find clues about its meaning if you're not sure. So sometimes you might not know what the word means. Often clues are in the text itself. And I'm going to be showing you that today. In a minute, I'm going to ask you to pause the video. But before we do that, I'm going to read the extract to you and the question I'd like you to have a go at today. So question number one. There used to be a town of Green Lake as well. The town shrivelled and dried up along with the lake and the people who lived there. So which words, so I want two, are closest in meaning to shrivelled in this sentence? Is it wrinkled? Is it disappeared? Is it shrunk, or is it grew? Now, I want you to think of a shrivelled orange. What would it look like if an orange has shrivelled up? What would it look like? What size is it? What's happened to it? And have a go at answering this question. There are clues in the text as well. So maybe read around the word and you'll find a clue that might help you. So pause the video now and have a go at answering this question. Well done. So as I was looking around the word in the text, I also saw that it says the town dried up. And dried out means it just completely almost disappears. So the town, like the lake, has almost disappeared. It's dried up, it's gone. So the lake has vanished because of the heat. And so we're also told that the town has done the same. So I think my answer then is disappeared. I think it also means it's kind of shrunk in size and then it's disappeared. So I think you could have either shrunk or disappeared. Now, to answer that question, I had to read around the word in the extract. And that was how I managed to solve it. Question number two. In a minute, again, I'll ask you to pause the video to have a go at answering these questions. But first of all, just listen. I'm going to read the extract to you. The land was barren and desolate. He could see a few run-down buildings and some tents. Farther away, there was a cabin beneath two tall trees. Those two trees were the only plant life he could see. There weren't even weeds. What image or what picture does the phrase barren and desolate create in the reader's mind? Hmm, I'm a bit stuck on this because I actually don't really know what barren and desolate mean. So I can't really have a clue at working out what image they create in the reader's mind, 'cause I don't even know what those two words mean. So what can I do here? What could I do? Can you shout out what I might be able to do to help me? Yeah, I'm going to read around the word in the text to see if there's any clues that might tell me what these words mean. So it's telling me the land was barren and desolate. And that Stanley could see a few run-down buildings, that means buildings that have just been abandoned, and a few tents. But only a few tents. It also tells me that farther away, there was a cabin beneath two tall trees. Hmm, so only two tall trees. And those two trees were the only plant life. So there's no other plant life around and there weren't even weeds. But now I've highlighted these key pieces of information. I can see that a lot of the determinants are quite vague. So I've only got two trees, I've got a cabin, and I've got some tents. So I don't really like really see that I've got lots of anything. There's not even any weeds. Now, weeds grow everywhere. But this land is so almost perhaps dry that the weeds don't even grow. So I wonder if I was to think about the buildings and the tent, I would say perhaps this means it's barren. There's not much of it there. And perhaps desolate, well, actually desolate would mean there's not many buildings there. And perhaps barren would mean that the land is no good. Nothing can grow on the land. So I have said, it shows there is little life at Camp Green Lake. Nothing can even grow there. So barren means something can not grow there and desolate means that somewhere is kind of empty. No one lives there. Now, to answer that question, I really had to read around a text to help me. So don't worry if you don't know the words in the question, the meaning of them. By reading around the text and using that strategy, you can often deduce the meaning to find out what it means. Question three. Again, I'm going to read the question first and then I want you to have a go at answering. Then he led Stanley outside into the blazing heat. What does the word blazing tell you about the heat? Hmm, so it's an adjective describing heat. Now, if I was to picture heat, I already have an image of what heat is in my mind. So I can probably have a go at working out what blazing mean. Now, I've heard that word before when I've talked about fire blazing. So perhaps it's similar to a fire burning. So can you have a go answering the question? The best way to do it is to say what blazing means, and then you can tell me what the heat was. So blazing means... So this tells us the heat was... So pause the video now and then press play when you're ready to resume. Well done. Let's check your answer together. So blazing means to burn intensely or powerfully. If something is blazing, we often talk about a roaring fire. It's a strong fire. So it tells us then that the heat was intense, like the heat when a fire blazes. If you shut your eyes and you picture a fire blazing, it's often really hot. And so the heat outside in Camp Green Lake is similar to that intense heat. It's almost suffocating, the heat. And question four. Stanley could see some kids dressed in orange and carrying shovels dragging themselves towards the tents. What does the word dragging tell you about how the kids are feeling? So, I'm asking about an action word. Whenever I come across an action word, the best thing is to act it out. So before you do anything, before you even have a go at answering the question, I want you to pause the video, stand up, and imagine you're dragging yourself across the floor. Off you go. Well done, so dragging means you're really struggling to move. You don't want to move. So what does this tell me about how they're feeling? Now, I know that all day long, they've been digging holes 'cause they're carrying their shovels. So if they're dragging themselves along, it might suggest to me that they're exhausted. They're really tired. So dragging does mean to move reluctantly or without energy. If you're dragging something along, you haven't quite got the energy to move. So this shows the kids are exhausted from their day of digging holes. Now, check again how I answered this question. I said what the meaning of dragging was, and then I applied it to this example in the text. So I always start by working out what the meaning of the word is that I'm being asked to do, and then I have a go at applying it to the question and the text. And that's often how I answer language questions. Okay, so this is our last lesson in our series of lessons on "Holes" by Louis Sachar. And I thought it would be a really good idea to do some reflecting on the text overall. Before we do that, I just wanted to remind you that every word Louis Sachar has picked, he's picked for a reason in "Holes." And hopefully by exploring some of the words today, you have seen the choices that he's made and how much of an image that creates in your mind as a reader. And so I want you to ask, does Louis Sachar effectively create an impression of Camp Green Lake in your mind? Can you picture it? Can you imagine it? So can you pause the video and answer the question and press play when you're ready to resume? Well done. Finally, this is our last lesson on "Holes" by Louis Sachar. So I'd like you to write down three questions you want to ask about what happens next. So unfortunately, I can't read you the whole book. So if you're interested in the book and if I've inspired you to read this book, then you're going to have to pick up and finish it yourself. I really hope that you do that because it's such an excellent story. But what three questions do you want to ask? I've got three questions ready that I want to ask, but I want to know what is it that you want to find out about the story? So pause the video and write down three questions that you want to ask, and press when you're ready to resume. Well done. So these are the three questions I really wanted to find out. I want to know what is the warden like? We've been told about the warden. We know that they own the shade. We know that they forbid the campers to go anywhere near the shade. So they sound like a really strict character. But I haven't yet met the warden. So I can't wait to meet the warden. What are the campers like? So we've heard about the other boys, we've heard about the other kids, but I want to know what their experience of Camp Green Lake is like. Do you think Stanley and them will become friends or not? Or are they going to give him a tough time? We're not sure yet at the beginning of the story. And then I've got a big question. So we're told that the boys dig the holes because it's a laborious task, and if you have to do something hard over and over again, eventually you'll turn into a good boy. But I don't really believe that. So I want to know, why are the boys forced to dig holes? Why are they really digging holes? What is in the ground perhaps that the warden and the guard and Mr. Sir wants to be dug up? What's in the ground that's special? And that's a big hint about the rest of the story. So I really hope, like I said, that you're ready to read on and enjoy the rest of this story. And congratulations, you have completed your lesson today. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope that you enjoy the rest of your lessons today as well.

To analyse the author's use of language

To analyse the author's use of language

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UnitEnglish / Holes by Louis Sachar

English