To engage with the text

Key Stage 2

English

There's A Boy In The Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar

﻿Hi there, my name's Mr. Byrne-Smith, and today we're going to be doing some reading together. This is the first of five lessons on the book, "There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom", and today we're going to be engaging with the text. So come along, let's make a start. Here's the agenda for today's lesson. First we're going to introduce the author and the book. Then we'll do some pre-vocabulary. After that, we'll read the text, before summarising what we've learned today. In this lesson, you'll need an exercise book or paper, a pencil, and of course, your brain. So if you need to go and get any of these things, pause the video now. Okay, let's introduce the author and the book. The book we'll be studying in this unit is by an author named Louis Sachar. My turn, your turn, Louis Sachar. Now, this is perhaps not the pronunciation you were expecting. I was careful to get the pronunciation right, so I looked online, and I discovered that it's pronounced Louis Sachar. Doesn't look like it is, but that's how it's pronounced. And it's really important to get the pronunciation of people's names right. So we're going to try our best to pronounce his name correctly, Louis Sachar. Now, Louis Sachar is an American author who is very popular amongst children. He's produced lots of children's books, some of which are really popular. He has written books such as "Holes", and "The Boy Who Lost His Face", and "Dogs Don't Tell Jokes". They're all by Louis Sachar. "Holes" was even made into a very successful film. And it's an excellent book, I really like it. It's one of my favourites. So I'm really excited that we're studying a book of his in this unit. Aren't we lucky? I wonder if there's anything else you know about Louis Sachar? If there is, I'd like you to pause the video now, and think carefully, then come back. Okay, and the text we're looking at in this unit is "There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom". So here's the front cover. There are a few versions of the front cover to this book. This is the one I've chosen to represent today. Now what do you think it tells us about the book? What clues does the front cover give you about the book? Pause the video and have a think. Okay, now it's amazing, 'cause the front cover can tell you so much. Already I can see that there'll be elements of humour in this book. Because of the name and because of the drawings on the front. So we have a toilet, and they have a little toy or teddy bear lying on the ground. Even the font of the writing, "There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom", I think it's meant to look a bit like toilet roll, which is a bit silly, and definitely funny. So I'm already getting the impression that perhaps this story is going to be funny. Now that doesn't mean it can't be other things as well. It doesn't mean it can't be serious, and touching, and sad. But I think funny is something this book will probably be. How about what the book's going to be about? Well, possibly a boy in a girls' bathroom? I wonder how I worked that one out? The name is a big giveaway. However, we can't assume it's going to be true, so let's wait and see. Okay, we're going to do some pre-vocabulary to help us in today's lesson. The first word we're looking at is closet. My turn, your turn, closet. Whenever we're looking at an unfamiliar word, it's really useful if we can work out the word class. That's whether or not the word is an adjective, a noun, a verb, or an adverb. An adjective describes a noun. A noun is a person, place, or thing. A verb is a doing or a being word. And an adverb describes a verb. So let's see this word in a sentence. She put her belongings in the closet. Okay, so she put her belongings in this thing. This peculiar thing, she put her belongings in it. So I think it's definitely a thing. If it's a thing, what's the word class? Is it an adjective, a noun, a verb, or an adverb? It's a noun. So we're dealing with a noun. She put her belonging in the closet. He couldn't find his coat, so he checked in the closet. Okay, so before we knew that this is something you put things in, and now we know that this is the kind of thing you might put coats in. What do you put coats in? You put them in cupboards and cloak rooms. Now, a closet is another word for a cupboard. So that's a word we might encounter today. And now we know what it is. Next we have distorted, distorted. Now the word distorted is an adjective. That means it describes a noun. And it means twisted out of shape. If something is twisted out of shape, it's distorted. Let's look at the word in a sentence. The plastic ruler became distorted after he twisted it. So imagine you twist a plastic ruler, and then you let go, and it doesn't go back to its original shape, it's all twisted and bent. It's been twisted out of shape, and therefore it's distorted. Okay, now we're going to read some of the text. Chapter One. Bradley Chalkers sat at his desk at the back of the room, last seat, last row. No one sat at the desk next to him or at the one in front of him. He was an island. If he could have, he would have sat in the closet. Then he could shut the door so he wouldn't have to listen to Mrs. Ebbel. He didn't think she'd mind. She'd probably like it better that way too. So would the rest of the class. All in all, he thought everyone would be much happier if he sat in the closet, but, unfortunately, his desk didn't fit. "Class," said Mrs. Ebbel. "I would like you all to meet Jeff Fishkin." "Jeff has just moved here from Washington D.C., "which as you know, is our nation's capital." Bradley looked up at the new kid who was standing at the front of the room next to Mrs. Ebbel. "Why don't you tell the class a little bit "about yourself, Jeff," urged Mrs. Ebbel. The new kid shrugged. "There's no reason to be shy," said Mrs. Ebbel. The new kid mumbled something, but Bradley couldn't hear what it was. "Have you ever been to the White House, Jeff?" Mrs. Ebbel asked. "I'm sure the class would be very interested "to hear about that." "No, I've never been there," the new kid said very quickly as he shook his head. Mrs. Ebbel smiled at him. "Well, I guess we'd better find you a place to sit." She looked around the room. "Hmm, I don't see anyplace except, "I suppose you can sit there, at the back." "No, not next to Bradley!" a girl in the front row exclaimed. "At least it's better than in front of Bradley," said the boy next to her. Mrs. Ebbel frowned. She turned to Jeff. "I'm sorry, but there are no other empty desks." "I don't mind where I sit." Jeff mumbled. "Well nobody likes sitting...there," said Mrs. Ebbel. "That's right," Bradley spoke up. "Nobody likes sitting next to me!" He smiled a strange smile. He stretched his mouth so wide, it was hard to tell whether it was a smile or a frown. He stared at Jeff with bulging eyes as Jeff awkwardly sat down next to him. Jeff smiled back at him, so he looked away. As Mrs. Ebbel began the lesson, Bradley took out a pencil and a piece of paper, and scribbled. He scribbled most of the morning, sometimes on paper and sometimes on his desk. Sometimes he scribbled so hard his pencil point broke. Every time that happened, he laughed. Then he'd tape the broken point to one of the gobs of junk in his desk, sharpen his pencil, and scribble again. His desk was full of little wads of torn paper, pencil points, chewed erasers, and other unrecognisable stuff, all taped together. Mrs. Ebbel handed back a language test. "Most of you did very well," she said. "I was very pleased." "There were 14 As and the rest Bs." "Of course, there was one F, but..." She shrugged her shoulders. Bradley held up his test for everyone to see and smiled that same distorted smile. As Mrs. Ebbel went over the correct answers with the class, Bradley took out a pair of scissors and very carefully cut his test paper into tiny squares. When the bell rang for recess, he put on his red jacket and walked outside, alone. "Hey, Bradley, wait up!" somebody called after him. Startled, he turned around. Jeff, the new kid, hurried alongside him. "Hi," said Jeff. Bradley stared at him in amazement. Jeff smiled. "I don't mind sitting next to you," he said. "Really." Bradley didn't know what to say. "I have been to the White House," Jeff admitted. "If you want, I'll tell you about it." Bradley thought for a moment, then said, "Give me a dollar or I'll spit on you." Okay, and that's the first chapter. And that's the chapter we're going to study in our next lesson. It's a fantastic book, and you can already tell it's filled with humour, so it's funny. It's really beautifully written, because it has a lovely flow to it, and it's very funny. We're going to dig a little deeper next lesson. First let's summarise what we've read today. So what do you think? I'd like you to write a sentence explaining what you think of the book so far, and what you would like to find out. I'd like you to use phrases such as, "I enjoyed the opening chapter because..." "I did not enjoy the opening chapter because..." "I would like to know..." So pause the video now, and have a go. Okay, let's have a quick game of "True or False?" I'm going to give you three statements, and I'd like you to tell me whether or not they're true or false. Bradley did well in his test. That's the first one. The new boy is from Washington D.C. Bradley kept his desk tidy. Have a think about those three. Are they true or false? Okay, Bradley did well in his test. False, he got an F, which is a bad mark, it's a bad score. The new boy is from Washington D.C., true, he is. Jeff, as we hear in the first chapter, is from Washington D.C. Bradley kept his desk tidy, false. It's where he kept his junk and all of his strange things that he'd cut up and chewed, and taped together. Okay, well done! That's the end of the lesson. Today we've introduced the author and the book. We've done some pre-vocabulary. We've read the text, and we've summarised. So well done! Well done for all of your hard work, and you've completed the lesson!

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UnitEnglish / There's A Boy In The Girls' Bathroom by Louis Sachar

English