To explore Bradley further

Key Stage 2

English

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

﻿Hi there. My name is Mr. Burns Smith and today we're going to be doing some reading together. Now in today's lesson we are going to be exploring Bradley a bit further. So you're going to be thinking about him as a character in a bit more detail. It's going to be lots and lots of fun. So let's make a start. Here's the agenda for today's lesson, first we're going to have a quick introduction. Then we'll do a text analysis. After that, we'll summarise what we've learned today. In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil and of course your brain. If you need to go and get any of these things, pause the video now. Okay, let's introduce the lesson and we're going to do this by learning a new piece of vocabulary. The word we're learning is misunderstood. My turn, your turn, misunderstood, misunderstood. Now, before I reveal the definition of this word, I'd like you to have a think about what it might mean. Now, I think the best approach for this is to look for a word in a word, or maybe it might be worth looking for a word that sounds or looks very similar to this word, misunderstood. So have a think, I can give you a few seconds and then we'll reveal. Okay, so misunderstood is an adjective and it's used to describe something or someone that people don't fully understand. Let's see if we can use it in a sentence. "The misunderstood child was actually very kind". "The misunderstood child is actually very kind". In this instance it seems as though people have the wrong impression of this child, perhaps they don't realise the child is kind, perhaps they think the child is unkind. In reality, the child is very kind. So the child has been misunderstood. People haven't fully understood the nature of the child. This word is going to be really useful in today's lesson. Okay, as part of our introduction, I have a few questions for you. First of all, who is the new kid at school? Now these questions are based on the text. So you need to cast your mind back and see if you can remember, who was the new kid at school? Is it Bradley, Jeff or Mrs. Ebbel, point for me to the correct answer, is Jeff. What does Bradley threatened to do to Jeff? Be his friend, spit on him or hurt him? Point to the answer for me, it's spit on him. Which of these word best describes Bradley, friendly, quiet or unpopular. What's do you reckon, friendly quiet or unpopular, point for me, unpopular, I agree. I don't think you could describe Bradley as friendly. Certainly not on the basis of what we've heard so far, as for quiet, well, I suppose he's quite quiet some of the time, but I don't know that I'd use that as a word to describe him over unpopular. We're going to think about emotions now. Have you ever felt any of these things at the same time, we have six emotions, lonely, happy, sad, nervous, angry, excited. These are adjectives describing how you might feel at a particular moment. Have you ever felt any of them at the same time? If so, which ones have a think, okay. Now you might have chosen these two, nervous and excited. You can feel nervous and excited at the same time. Maybe you're about to get on a roller coaster, maybe you're about to play in an important sports match, in which case you would have nerves, but it also would probably be very excited. This is interesting. So it seems as though emotions are complicated and you can feel more than one at the same time. How about these, lonely and sad? Have you ever felt sad and lonely at the same time? Well, yes, I'm sure you have. Everybody has, lots of people feel sad when they're lonely. If you're all by yourself and you don't want to be, that's something that makes most people feel quite sad. same goes to lonely and angry. Maybe you're angry because you're lonely or maybe you're lonely because you're angry, either way these two things often go hand in hand. So it seems as though it's possible to feel a variety of emotions at the same time. Now at this point in the story, based on what we've heard so far, how do you feel about Bradley? You don't need to spend long on this question. I want you to think for five seconds. How do you feel about Bradley? five, four, three, two one. Okay, I'm going to share what I feel about Bradley. At the moment, I'm not sure about Bradley. I'm not a huge fan of the way he treats other people. I'm sure there's possibly probably a reason for the way he treats some people. But I think he's often unkind. So, I'm not overly fond of Bradley at the moment. I think we need to dig a bit deeper into his personality. Okay, we're going to do that with some text analysis. Now this is part of the text that we've looked at before. We looked at this text and discovered that Bradley is not very popular and that he knows it. I'm going to read it again and think again about how this text proves that Bradley is not popular and that he knows it. 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". Okay, so we looked at this passage in a previous lesson and we picked out a few key sentences. "No one sat at the desk next to him or at the one in front of him. He was an Island". So he was isolated and separated from the rest of his class. And therefore, quite unpopular by the looks of things. People don't want to sit next to him. Further down the passage, "all in all, he thought everyone would be much happier if he sat in the closet". So from this you can tell that he knows that he's not very popular. He knows that people would be probably be happier if he weren't there. Now, if you had come to realise that you were unpopular, how would you feel about it? Pause the video and have a think. If you had come to realise that you were unpopular, you'd probably feel lonely, worried and sad. It's not nice to consider that people don't like you, you might have a feeling or an understanding of why they didn't like you, maybe it's due the way you treat them. Either way, it's not nice. It would make you feel lonely, worried and sad. Now at first glance, does it seem as though Bradley feels this way? Does it seem as though he feels lonely, worried and sad? Have a think? Well, no he doesn't. He's not behaving as though he's lonely or worried or sad. I'm not getting the impression that he's any of these things. Let's have a look at some evidence. "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 the one in front of him. He was an Island. If he could have, he would have sat in the closet". So here he's suggesting that, if he had the choice, he would sit elsewhere as well. Which definitely suggest that he doesn't seem to mind that he's his own and he's quite isolated. Later on in the passage, we have this phrase, "All in all, he thought everyone would be much happier if he sat in the closet, but, unfortunately, his desk didn't fit". The use of the word unfortunately suggests that he wants to be on his own, he wants to be isolated, but he can't be. So it really seems as though Bradley doesn't feel these things. I don't get the impression that he's lonely or worried or sad, which is strange, because that's certainly how I would feel. I think that's how most people would feel. Now, I have a question for you. What if he's pretending? What if he's pretending not to mind, what if he's pretending not to feel these things? Now, if I were to ask you that, I'm sure you'd say to me, Mr. Burns Smith, why on earth would he pretend? Well, I'm going to give you a few options. Why would he pretend not to mind? Maybe he wants to seem cool. Maybe he's scared to admit that he's sad and lonely. Maybe he doesn't want to have any friends. Maybe he's fine with having no friends. And actually it's not an issue for him. I'd like you think carefully about which of these you think is most likely to be true. Pause the video now. Okay, now I don't think he wants to seem cool. I don't get the impression that Bradley is that bothered about being cool. Most of his behaviour is not that of somebody trying to seem cool. Chewing up rubbers, sticking them in your desk, that's not the kind of behaviour that somebody who's trying to be cool would do. So I don't think he wants to seem cool. This second one though, this is interesting. He's scared to admit that he's sad and lonely. So maybe he is being sad and lonely. Maybe he's just pretending to himself that he's not because he's scared to admit it. But why can you be scared to admit that you're sad and lonely? Well, if you're sad and lonely, there's probably a reason for it. Or maybe he doesn't want to look inside himself and consider what those reasons are. That's an interesting one. We're going to hold onto that thought. He's scared to admit that he's sad and lonely. So, let's see, you can help me complete this sentence, "after taking a closer look, we can see that perhaps Bradley is not only..." We're going to fill that in a second. "Perhaps he is also..." And we're going to fill that in a second as well. You're going to choose from three adjectives for each of these blanks. At the first three, so, after taking a closer look we can see that perhaps Bradley is not only, one of the three adjectives. Perhaps he is also one of these three adjectives. Okay, I'd like your help completing this sentence. Pause the video now. Okay, so after taking a closer look, we can see that perhaps Bradley is not only unfriendly, perhaps he is also lonely. So maybe he has a bit of loneliness in that, cause remember he is on his own and he is completely isolated and it's natural to feel lonely about that, he's pretending he's not but I think he possibly is. Okay. Let's do some more investigation. "Mrs. Ebbel handed back a language test. "Most of you did very well," she said. "I was very pleased, "There were 14 A's and the rest B's. 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". How does it seem Bradley feels about his test result? And why? I'm going to give you three options, upset. Does it seem as though he's upset? Does it seem as though he's confused or does it seem as though he's proud and why do you feel that way? Pause the video and have a think. Okay. Now I think it seems as though Bradley is proud. As for how I know, well, there's this sentence here, "Bradley held up his test every one to see and smiled". So he's holding up as though he's proud, that's what you do when you're proud. You hold something up to show people what you've done and he's smiled about it. Now, it wasn't strange to same distorted smile, but it still was a smile. It's a bit strange. If you had done much worse than the other children in the class, how would you feel? Pause the video and have a think. Okay, now if you had done a lot worse you'd probably feel embarrassed, maybe ashamed, maybe worried, you might be embarrassed that you hadn't done as well. You might be ashamed about the fact that you're not very good in that subject or at least that you haven't done very well in that subject. You might feel worried about what happens next. Maybe I'm never going to get good. Maybe I'll never get improved. Maybe I'm never going to be competent at this particular subject. Now at first glance, does it seem as though Bradley feels this way? Does it seem as though he's embarrassed or ashamed or worried? What do you think? Now, what if he's pretending? Because it definitely doesn't feel as though he's embarrassed, ashamed or worried. He's not behaving at all, as though he's embarrassed, ashamed or worried. But that's not a natural way to behave. I think almost everyone would be embarrassed, ashamed or worried. So what if Bradley is feeling these things and he's just pretending not to? Well, I'm sure you're going to ask me the same thing again. Why would he pretend? Why would he pretend to be proud, what's the point in that? Well, I have three options. He wants to seem cool. He wants to seem as though he did badly on purpose. He wants to upset his teacher. There are three options. Have it careful think about those. Okay. So he wants to seem cool, again, I don't think seeming cool is something Bradley is that worried about. As for he wants to upset his teacher. Well, I don't think he minds upsetting her but I don't think he's setting out to, I don't think that's his aim. I don't think he's trying to every opportunity to upset her. Which leaves the middle one. He wants to seem as though he did badly on purpose. Well, if I wasn't very good at something and I knew I wasn't going to do well, I could always pretend like I didn't care. Maybe I could do badly and if I was worried about that, I just pretend that I didn't care and I had done that on purpose. And that way people wouldn't know that actually I wasn't very good. Or perhaps that I wasn't very confident, that makes sense. That's something I can understand actually now that I think about it. I think he wants it to seem as though he did badly on purpose. So we're learning something more about him. After taking a closer look, we can see that perhaps Bradley is not totally silly, perhaps he is also funny, ashamed or embarrassed. Help me out. How am I going to complete this sentence? You can choose from one of those three, more than one if you want, maybe more than one applies. Pause the video and have a go. Okay. After taking a closer look, we can see that perhaps Bradley is not only silly, perhaps he is also ashamed or embarrassed. I think either of those work, ashamed about how much he struggles in school, or embarrassed maybe about how he's done in the test. Those two both work. And actually that's quite understandable. Now I think about it. "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". So he looked away, that's strange, somebody smiling at him and he's choosing to look away. Why do you think Bradley looked away? I'd like you to have a careful think. Why do you think Bradley looked away? Okay. Now I'm going to give you some options. Do you think he's bored of Jeff? Do you think he's not used to people being nice to him and he doesn't know what to do? Or do you think he wants to be mean to Jeff? So of those three options, which would you choose? Pause the video and have a think. Now you might look away from somebody if you're bored of them. I don't think he is bored of Jeff. Jeff's only just arrived, he'd actually probably quite intrigued by Jeff. Jeff's a new kid in the class. So I definitely wouldn't say he's bored of Jeff. As for he wants to be mean, Bradley does seem quite mean, but the way he's mean is often quite obvious and loud. And by looking away from Jeff, that's not very obvious and loud. So that doesn't really seem like a Bradley way of being mean. How about this one in the middle? He's not used to people being nice to him and he doesn't know what to do. Well, would that make sense? Do you think it's true that he's not used to people being nice to him? Well, I do. He's always unkind to other people, so they're unlikely to be nice to him. We've seen already that people at suggesting Jeff does not sit next to Bradley. So they're not being very nice to him there. Even Mrs. Ebbel isn't very nice to him. So I think it's definitely possible that he's not used to people being nice to him. If you're not used to people behaving to you in a certain way, when they do behave like that, perhaps you'd be confused about what to do and about how to treat them. Jeff's smiling at Bradley in a way that maybe nobody ever has. And maybe that's confused him or surprised him. We're going to see if that happens at any other point in the chapter. If Jeff treats Bradley in a way that he's not used to, and if Bradley reacts in a way that suggests he's confused by this. "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". Okay, is there anything in this extract which suggests Bradley is not used to people being nice to him. I'd like you to pause the video and have a think. Okay. I had a look and I found a few examples. He startled when he hears a voice calling out to him. And if you were used to it, if he were used to people asking him to wait so they can spend time with him, he probably wouldn't be. Bradley stared at him in amazement when he spoke to him, he's just saying, hi. Bradley is amazed by this and perhaps he's not used to it. Bradley didn't know what to say. Just from Jeff saying, I don't mind sitting next to you, he just doesn't even know how to react. So I've got a feeling he's not used to hearing people speak to him at all, certainly not like this. Now my opinion of Bradley is changing. In fact, it's changed quite a lot. So I'd like you to have a think about how you feel about Bradley. I'd like you to do this by using one of these three adjectives as a jump off point. We're going to use one of these adjectives to complete a sentence that starts a bit like this, after analysing Bradley in more detail, I have discovered that... And the three adjectives I'm giving you for inspiration are, lonely, confused, misunderstood. And you can use any combination of those, it's completely up to you. After analysing Bradley in more detail, I have discovered that... Okay, pause the video and have a go. Right, time for us to summarise what we've learned today. So the first thing we're going to ask is what would you do? How would you treat Bradley if he was in your class at school? And why? Now I've got a feeling that your answer is going to be a bit different to what your answer might have been at the beginning of this lesson. How would you treat Bradley if he was in your class at school? And why? Pause the video and have a go. Okay. Now, if you'd ask me this at the beginning of the lesson, I probably would have said, I think I'd avoid him. I Maybe wouldn't, I don't think, I wouldn't be unkind to him, but I'd probably just stay out of his way, I'd stay clear. But having thought about him in more detail, I've started to feel a bit more sorry for him. I feel a bit more compassion for him. So I think maybe I'll try a bit harder than that. I think I'll try a bit harder to be his friend, to be kind to him. Maybe he's not used to that. Maybe he just needs a bit of practise, so I could help him practise perhaps. I wonder what you said. Remember we've witnessed quite a big transformation. We're understanding Bradley on a deeper level. So your opinion is likely to have changed and that's fine. In fact, that's great. Okay, well done. That's the end of the lesson, today we've done some pre-vocabulary, we've done a text analysis and we've summarised what we've learned. Well done for your hard work! You've completed the lesson!

To explore Bradley further

To explore Bradley further

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

English