To read a recount and answer retrieval and inference based questions

Key Stage 2

English

The Blitz Survivor Stories

﻿Hi, my name is Ms. Henman and I'm going to be teaching you today. Please make sure that you have watched and done the activities from the previous lesson. Otherwise today's lesson won't really make much sense. Okay, let's get learning. Let's start by going through our agenda for today. First, we're going to revise and recap what we know about the historical context of the Blitz and World War II. Then we're going to learn some subject specific vocabulary. And finally, we're going to read a recount by Len Phillips and answer some questions about the text. In this lesson, you will need something to write with, like a pen or a pencil. You will need something to write on, like a piece of paper or your exercise book and you will also need to help your brain, by being somewhere quiet. If you don't have those things, where you need to turn off the television or put your phone away, please do that now. Okay, looks like you're ready, so let's go. Let's revise the historical context. We looked at this in a little bit of detail last lesson, but I think we need to activate our prior knowledge. When was World War II? Pause the video and say out loud. Correct, it was in the past but when in the past? Lots of things happened in the past I was born in the past, you were born in the past, but when exactly? I thought this timeline might help you. On the left hand side, we have got 1912, which is the year the Titanic sank. Then in the middle, we've got 1948, which is the year the NHS, the National Health Service was established and founded. And then on the right hand side, we've got 1966, which is still quite a long time ago, but it was the last time England won the football world cup. You can see this timeline, is a chronological order. Let's practising saying that word. Chronological, chronological, good job much louder. Okay, so that means it's in time order. Now, I've added four more events to this timeline, but they are not in chronological order. They are in mixed-up order. I am hoping you can redraw this timeline with the correct three events at the top and then reorder so that the bottom four events are in chronological order. Pause the video and have a go at doing that now. I bet you did really well. I'm going to show you mine now. So, in the beginning of the 20th century is when we've got George V becoming King. And that was in what year? Well done, 1910. Then the Titanic ship sank. And then in 1914, the beginning of World War I started. And how many years did that last? Yeah, four years, well done. Now that was World War I and a few years later, World War II happened. Can you say out loud the dates of World War II? Well done, okay, so that is what we're focusing on today. The texts we're looking at are recount of people's experiences in London during World War II. Can you read out loud what it says at the top of the screen? Hmm, what was the name of this continuous bombing for eight months? What was the name, can you remember from our previous lesson? I'ma give you some options, was it Winston Churchill or was it the Blitz or was it the Bang or what, was it Adolf Hitler? What do you think, do you know? Shout it out, correct, it was the Blitz. Winston Churchill was the name of the prime minister in the UK at the time during World War II and Adolf Hitler was the chancellor in Germany, who were the British people's enemy in World War II. The word Blitz is derived from a German word. So, its atmology, its own history comes from a German term and it describes a sudden and unexpected attack, which is exactly what these bombings were. Now we're going to learn some subject specific vocabulary. We've already recapped one of those terms and that is the Blitz. Subject specific means that it's vocabulary or a phrase, which is linked to that subject. So the Blitz is linked to the name of the bombings that happened in the UK. My turn, your turn, siren. What do you think a siren is? Might have the word before, don't worry if you haven't 'cause I'm going to tell you what it means. A siren is a very loud alarm noise, which was sounded just before the bombs were dropped. It was sounded to warn people to shelter. So in big cities, there were the sirens and when the British people realised that German bomber planes were about to fly over, they made this noise, which we call a siren. And in our previous lesson, we actually listened to that noise. Tram, you might have already heard this word, don't worry if you haven't. A tram is a synonym for train, what's a tram, other. Evacuated, evacuated. This is a verb, which means it's a doing or a bailing word. It's a verb, which means to remove someone from a place. So, in modern parlance, so in modern sentences, we might hear it as, there was a fire alarm and so the children evacuated the building. They removed themselves from the building. However, during the war, it had a different meaning. Can you find the word lots, put your finger on it. Okay, let's read together. Lots of children were evacuated from cities and taken to the countryside during the war. These people were called evacuees. Evacuees, evacuees, well done. Now, these children were taken from their family or sent away by their family to go and live with other families, which people believed was for their benefit, so that they didn't have the risk of being bombed. But I imagine that would have been quite a scary thing to do and would have been quite intimidating. Underground Station or Tube Station. You may have had these before, if you live in London or if you've visited. They are types of train stations, which are underground. The underground system is made up of tunnels, which allow people to get to the train tracks and the tracks pass through the tunnels. And those tunnels are all the way under London. Right, now we're going to read a recount by Len Phillips and answer some questions about the text. I would like you to pause the video and read this out loud to yourself, off you go. Well done, my question is, which Tube Station did Len shelter in? Before we answer that question though, I want us to think about, is this a retrieval question? Which means the answers in the text and I need to go find it and retrieve it, or is it an inference question? Which means I need to study the text and look for clues and make a conclusion or inference from the clues in the text. Do you think it's a retrieval or inference question? Shout out, it is a retrieve a question. That means the answer is in the text. So, what Tube Station did Len shelter in? Now, I know that it's probably going to be a proper noun. So, if I can really quickly scan the text, I might be able to find some capital letters because proper noun start with capital letters. Have you found any? I found two, Holborn Tube and Underground Station. Which one is it? Correct, it's Holborn Tube, so that is where he used to shelter in. Now, he doesn't use the word shelter in this extract. What phrase is it that tells us he sheltered there? Can you pause the video and find the phrase that tells us he sheltered there. Great, it is the bit in quotes, those inverted commas, "I used to sleep here at night." In sleeping there at night, he was sheltering from the bombs. Okay, I'm going to read this part of the interview to you. You can just enjoy it and listen. When the siren went, we used to go down and wait for a tram. We would stand at the tram stop and see the searchlights. Trams did make a lot of noise. You felt safe in the tram. I don't know why. It would rattle around and we'd go down to Holborn and get out and go to the Tube Station. It was cold and there was always the fear that if they burst a a water main, we might get flooded. How do you think Len may have felt? Hmm, he might have been a bit scared. We'll talk about that later on. My question is, why did Len go down and wait for a tram? So, if I go to the top line, I can see it uses those words exactly. It is a direct quote from the text. So, I'm going to reread that first sentence. When the sovereign went, we used to go down and wait for a tram. My question is why? So I think we might need to retrieve either the answer or the clues from the next sentences. Can you pause the video and read the next two sentences, off you go. Okay, I think you read up to the word noise. Have you found the answer yet? I don't think you have, can you read the next sentence please? Oh, how did he feel in the tram? He felt safe. I think that might be why Len went down to wait for a tram. In order to feel safe, so that the answer to that question. I would like you to pause the video and read this part of the interview to yourself, off you go. Great, now I'm going to show you the question we going to answer. What were people's attitudes towards the bombings in London, when they first began? Now a synonym for first might be primary or the first thing you do in the early morning or early part of the day or an early period. So, I can actually see that word early, in the first sentence. So, I would like you to reread that first sentence, off you go. Hmm, they were the early days. So, the spirit was quite good. The spirit is another way to refer to people's beliefs, that attitudes or their morale. So, at the beginning of the bombings, people's attitudes were quite positive. I'm going to read the next sentence. We've got on fairly well together and mucked in together. So, their attitudes were quite positive and people tried to get along and mucked in together. That means that they worked together. Do you think this is a retrieval or an inference question then, it's a bit of both. I think it's mainly a retrieval question, but you had to use some of your inference abilities to understand some of those pieces of language. Okay, I am now going to read you this part. You can follow with your finger, please. People did various things to keep themselves occupied. A synonym for occupied, is busy. I'll reread that sentence. People did various things to keep themselves occupied colon, and now it lists those things. The kids used to play, the adults sung, sometimes we would gather around listening to Churchill, who was Churchill? Well done, he is the prime minister, I told you that earlier. Sometimes we would gather around listening to Churchill or updates about the war. I still have a photo of me putting up Christmas decorations where we had the bunk. I think we had a little party at the end of the platform, that one year. It probably would have been Christmas day. It wasn't long after that, that I was, what was that last word? Evacuated, so it wasn't long after Christmas day, that Len was taken from London and went to the countryside. Can you read the question out loud please? So, what did they do to pass the time to keep themselves busy, to keep themselves, what was the word that was in the text? Come with O, occupied. I would like you to see if you can find the word occupied and keep your eyes on it. Then I would like you to reread that sentence. Do you know how they kept themselves occupied? I do, the kids used to play, the adults sung and sometimes they would gather around, listening to the radio or they used to call it the wireless back in the 1940s and 1950s, listening to Churchill or information about the war. So that's three ways that people kept themselves busy. Is this a retrieval or inference question? Shout it out, I think it's a retrieval question too. Those three pieces of evidence were in the text. I would like you to read this final extract by yourself. Pause the video and off you go. One word that I need to focus on, is the word fragile. Usually we think of glass as fragile or vases, flowers as fragile. What is fragile in this sentence? I was getting very fragile, who's I? I is Len Phillips, the man being interviewed. So, he was feeling fragile around the edges, what do you think that means? I think it means that usually he feels strong that he can't break, but after months of bombing, he felt that maybe his spirit could break or his morale could break or his positivity was starting to break. That's what I think. What did he keep thinking to himself? What question did he keep thinking to himself? Correct, is it ever going to end? He kept asking himself, imagine that feeling, will this ever end, off feels awful. Then he goes on to say, "Of course, it did, "but for years it was just one of those things "we had to put up with." My question is, did Len's spirits remain high throughout the course of the Blitz? Pause the video and have a think. Do you have an answer? Do you think this is a retriever question or an inference question? I think it's an inference question. We know that after months of bombing Len was getting very fragile, so we have to infer what that phrase means. And that the question, is it ever going to end, tells us that he was desperate for it end, that he was longing for its end. But I also think it's an inference question because we need to refer back to an earlier part within the interview. Earlier we read these sentences here. They were the early days, so the spirit was quite good. We got on fairly well together and mucked in together. I would like you to pause the video and say to the screen, how Len felt at the beginning of the Blitz, off you go. Okay, my turn, I think Len was feeling fairly positive because in the text it says, "His spirit was quite good "and he'd worked together with other people." Now, how was he feeling after months of bombing or throughout the course of the Blitz. Pause the video and say your sentence out loud. Now it's my time, I would say, "however, as the blitz continued "and after months of bombing, Len started to feel fragile "and was longing for the bombing to stop." I would like you to pause the video and use this sentence as starter to write your own answer to this question. Then you can use this sentence starter to make your second point, how his attitudes change. I have left a blank line for where you can use your quote as your evidence in the text. Pause the video and have go, off you go. Wow, I bet you did a fantastic job. And at the end of this lesson, I would really like you to show your answer to your parents and carers at home. If you could give Len three things to have while he slept in a shelter, what would they be? So, if you were able to give him these three things, what do you think you would most benefit from? What do you think would make him happier or make the situation easier? Pause the video and write down those three things. What did you write? Well, I'll show you what I wrote. I would give him a colouring book with pictures of his favourite things. Remembering when this interview was conducted, he was 80 years old, but during the Blitz, he could have been a child. So, I think colouring book could be really appropriate. I would give him music. So, it said that the adults sometimes sung, if I could give them anything from the future, from our modern day, I would give him maybe a phone to have music audience and headphones or some speakers, so that they could listen to the music together and maybe enjoy themselves a little a bit more. I often think that music cheers me up or makes me feel calm, when I'm a little bit anxious. Finally, I would give him a really big and pillow because I think sleeping on a train track or on the floor, wouldn't be very comfortable. Wow, congratulations, we've already finished a lesson. You have learnt a lot of information. Now, I'd like you to share your pack, your work with your parents and carers. And if you didn't do at the end of last lesson, you might want to ask your parents and carers, if they know anything about how their relation spent their time during World War II. I'll see you in the next lesson, have a lovely day.

To read a recount and answer retrieval and inference based questions

To read a recount and answer retrieval and inference based questions

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UnitEnglish / The Blitz Survivor Stories

English