To read about Walter Tull's career in the army

Key Stage 2

English

Walter Tull's Scrapbook by Michaela Morgan

﻿Hello, everyone. It's Ms. Henman here. In our last lesson, we read and learnt a little bit about Walter Tull's football career. And in today's lesson, we are going to continue reading. But this time it is about his career in the military, specifically in the army. I hope you've got everything you need for the lesson, and I hope you enjoy it. Let's get going! We have got a very busy lesson today, so let's go through the agenda. First, we are going to reflect upon our previous lesson. Then we are going to read about Walter signing up to the war, to serve in the war. After that, we are going to answer some retrieval questions. We are then going to have a quick vocabulary check, focusing on subject-specific vocabulary to do with the war. And finally, we will answer some inference questions. In this lesson, you will need a exercise book or a piece of paper to write on, a pencil or a pen to write with, and you will need a quiet space so that your brain can do its best learning. If you don't have those things now, you can pause the video and go and collect them. Okay, let's get reading. My first question is, which is reflecting on our previous lesson is, if you could ask Walter Tull one question about his time playing football, what would you ask him? So can you pause the video, think back to our previous lesson. He wrote a letter asking to join a club, Clapton. They accepted him, but he was an amateur football player. He then became professional football player for Tottenham Hotspurs and we read about some of his matches. So, pause the video, have some thinking time, write down the one question you would like to ask him. Do that now please. I think you have come up with some amazing questions and I really wish I could see them. So I'm going to share my question with you. I would like to ask him, what else would you have liked to achieve in your football career? So he achieved loads from what we read in our previous lesson, but was there anything else that he wished he had achieved? That's what I would like to ask him if I could. Okay. Next question for you is if you could go back in time and tell Walter Tull anything, what would you like to tell him? So thinking about what he experienced during his career in football and some of the prejudice that he faced. Is there anything that you would like to tell him about football today, or about life today? Pause the video and write down that statement. Off you go. I wonder what you would like to tell him. This is what I would like to tell him. That he paved the way for more diversity in sport. That's what I would really, wish he had known. We're now going to read about Walter's time signing up to the war. So to serve in the war. That means joining. This is a new page that you haven't seen from the book yet. I would like you to examine and study the page. You can pause the video as you do that. And I would like you to think about the question on the screen. Can you read it out loud, please? How does this page look like a scrapbook? So study the page, consider how it looks like a scrapbook and then say your answer out loud. Do that now. And don't forget to pause the video. I wonder what you came up with. I came up with four things that made me really certain that it was trying to emulate or look like a scrapbook. My first one is the circle saying we are at war. That's the sort of thing that someone might do in a diary or a scrapbook. My second thing I thought is the illustrations of the soldiers. I'm not sure if the author wanted us to think that Walter Tull had illustrated and drawn these or whether he had found them and stuck, cut them out and stuck them into his scrapbook. But that made me think this page looked like a scrapbook. Another way I thought this looked like a scrapbook is... The illustration of the soldier. It looks like it's been cut out and stuck onto the page, which is exactly what a person would do if they were making a scrapbook. And then finally are all of the extra things that been stuck on it, they've been led on top of each other. So the arrow is pointing to a poster that was very famous to encourage people to join the army. And you can see on the top left hand corner there, it looks like there's some sellotape, which has stuck that on. Behind it, there are some extracts, some things out from the newspaper, and they have been laid on as well. And that's exactly what people would do if they were creating a scrapbook, especially with something, an event such as war, they would definitely cut out what the newspapers were saying and stick those into their scrapbook. Can you now please read the top paragraph? Before you do that, we're going to do my turn your turn with a new word that you may not have heard before. Battalion. A battalion is a military unit. So please, can you pause the video now, and read the top right hand paragraph. Off you go. Fantastic reading. Well done. Can you read the question on the screen please? I didn't think twice. What does this mean? And why did Walter not think twice? So I'm going to read the whole sentence. It says in the text, when I saw the posters, I didn't think twice. I have to stand up for my country. What does this mean, and why did Walter not think twice? Can you pause the video and have some thinking time please? So I think I didn't think twice means that Walter made a decision the first time he thought about it. So he saw the posters and he thought, I'm going to join the army. And the reason I think that is because the expression didn't think twice makes me think there was only one thought. But also when I carried on reading, I read the sentence, I have to stand up for my country. So that is his decision that he made very quickly. Now we're going to answer some retrieval questions. Retrieval questions are questions that we answer that's in the text. It is your turn to read first. Pause the video and read everything on the screen, please. Off you go. Fantastic reading. Now it's my turn. The title is "Marching Off to War: December, 1914." We're going to read that top paragraph first. I've joined up. I'm now Private Walter Tull, of the 17th Middlesex Regiment, the Footballers Battalion, ready to fight for King and country. Everyone in the Football Battalion is either a player, a supporter, or has worked for a club. We are training and parading and marching. I have a very different sort of kit now. In khaki. All of the soldiers in my unit are good men. And I'm sure we will do well. And then I can see an illustration of his uniform and there are arrows pointing to different elements of the uniform. And then there's a bit of an explanation about that part of the uniform. Your first retrieval question. What date is this page focusing on? Pause the video and say it out loud. Correct. December, 1914. What is his title? So what is Walter Tull's new title? You can find his name and have a look in the text. Pause the video if you need to. So it's not Mr. Walter Tull. Another title might be doctor, or professor. His title here is Private. And the clue there is that there's a capital letter for the word Private, which makes me know it's part of a proper noun. It's part of his name. Finally, who is in his battalion? Pause the video, and reread the text, and find the answers. I found the answers. The people in his battalion are either players, and then there's a comma, to list the next person, supporters... Or they have worked for a club. So there are three different types of people in his battalion, but they are all connected to football. Can you pause the video and look really carefully at all of the equipment? And all of the words describing... The uniform. Okay. Are you ready for your retrieval question based on the uniform? Excellent. The first one is khaki is a colour. What colour is it? Yeah, it's green. Well done. That sludgy green. And it's a bit like the colour of grass, or a hedge, or a tree. You ready for the next one? What do they call the huge heavy coat that they carry? Pause the video and have a look. I reckon you find that one really quickly. They call it a great coat. And it's in inverted commas, which is how we know it's what people refer to it as, but it's not its real name. Can you read the question? Okay, now it's my turn. What are putties? I've never heard of that word before. So you're going to have to scan across the page and see if you can find a word beginning with P. A word beginning with P-U, and then you can read around the sentence. Pause the video as you do that. I found them, there at the bottom left hand side of the page, putties to stop your legs getting caught on wire. And they look like the almost bandages or something to tighten your trousers, so that they're not being caught on the wire that was found in the floor, on the floor, and along the grass, in the war. What did they eat their food in? And I think this is a bit of a tricky retrieval question. Pause the video and see if you can find the answer. I found the word eat in brackets. It's under the subheading plus kit bag. If you need to reread that, please pause the video and do it now. If not, can you say your answer out loud? Excellent. It's called a mess tin. Okay. I'm just going to talk a little bit about some subject-specific vocabulary to make sure you know what the words mean. The first one is bayonet. My turn your turn. Excellent. It is similar to a knife or a sword and was used during World War I. Rifle? It's a long gun and it's usually held and fired from the shoulder. Sniper. A sniper is a person, it's a word used to describe a person that shoots from a hiding place. And it's usually from a long distance. And finally, trenches. Trenches are long narrow ditches dug into the ground where soldiers sleep. And I'm just going to show you some photos of those to help you visualise what the trenches look like in your mind. So you can see that the ground is really high above them, and they have dug down this ditch. You can see that there are lots of people in this trench, and behind the people, you can see that they've got some bags and that's to help reinforce the trench so that it doesn't collapse; all the mud doesn't come into the ditch. To me, it looks very wet and muddy, and not particularly enjoyable. Here's another one. I can see, one man is eating from his mess tin. I can see that this trench is maybe a little bit narrower. And with that, it's a little bit more cramped. Now we are going to answer some inference questions. This one requires you to apply your background knowledge. The British Army used the colour red for their uniforms, but then changed it to khaki. And you can see that there is an illustration of a soldier in a red uniform, and then next to it is the much larger illustration of the new khaki uniform. Why do you think they use khaki for their uniforms now? Do you think it was a good choice to change from using red? Pause the video and have some thinking time. Okay. So this is thinking about what we know about colours, what we know about the purpose of the army and what they're trying to achieve. So I think they changed their uniforms to khaki because they were trying to camouflage and blend in. And I think that was probably a good idea because I think I would spot someone wearing red from quite a long distance away. Whereas if someone was wearing khaki, they would be able to camouflage more successfully. Now this question requires you to make some connections. Can you read the question on the screen, please? Can you think of one thing that is similar to Walter's football career and his time in the army? Have a little think. What are we looking at on this page? Looking at his... Uniform. Both careers require a uniform of sorts. So here, this is his military uniform. We would call what, his uniform football a football kit. But it seems that both of his careers require him to dress a certain way. I don't want you to read the text. I want you to study the pictures and look at what you can see. What does this make you think? And what inferences can you make? Pause the video as you do that. So I can see an illustration of a trench. I can see a lot of barbed wire. I can see what looks like a footprint. I can see what looks like it could be part of a map. And then I can see some red stains. I think those red stains are meant to make me think of blood, and that maybe some people were injured during the war. I'm going to read this to you. You can track with your eyes, please. Notes From the Trenches. Morning. Get up very early after a night of snatched sleep, often woken by the cold, by scuttling rats, or by the sound of shells or shots. Try to straighten up and get moving. Stand to. The bayonets drum, watching the opposite trenches. Fire a few rounds at the enemy. Usually you can't see them. Some of the men call this the Morning Hate. And you can tell this is written in note form, which is exactly what the title tells us. I think this is a standard or stereotypical day that Walter Tull experienced during his time in the trenches. So it's not a specific day. It's just what he usually does. And it started in the morning, which makes me think it's in chronological order. It says how his day is going to progress. Okay. Put your eye on the words stand down. Excellent, I'm going to read from there. Stand down, get some breakfast, and keep warm. Try to find time to write home and clean my rifle. Keep my head down and take care not to get shot by a sniper. Look for a spot of sunshine and stand there for a short moment of hope and prayer. Repair a trench wall, clean the mud off my face. Often no water to wash in. Hungry for my dinner, tinned bully beef. Hard biscuits and tea. It's not much, but I'm desperate for it. Always a tinge of fear. If the shell has your name on it, you are done for. You never know when it's coming. Tired. The men try to joke with each other and pass the time chasing the rats away. We try to keep our chins up. I pray to God I can do my duty, and then go home to peace. Evening stand to. Hope for a bit of warmth and sleep without too many fleas or explosions to disturb us. Dream of dry socks. I would like you to put these events in chronological order, using the text to help you. I've done the first event for you. And there are five events in total. You need to reread the text to help you to do this. And you need to pause the video as you do this. Off you go, please. How did you get on? I find putting things in chronological order quite tricky. So what I usually do is look at the first one or two events and then try and look at the last event and then meet in the middle. So the first thing Walter does is Walter got up very early. Then they had the morning Hate. Then they repaired the trench hole, and cleaned mud off his face. Then, he had dinner. Tinned bully beef, hard biscuits, and tea. And finally, he had dreams of dry socks. That sounds like quite a miserable... Day, or... Days. Can you read the question on the screen please? Excellent. What two questions would you like to ask Walter Tull about his time in the war? Pause the video and write down your two questions. Off you go. Okay. These are mine. It all sounds really difficult. Was there anything good about serving in the war? That's my first question. This is my second question. I've only seen white men in the photographs with you. Were there any people of colour, or Black people except for you? That's my second question that I would like to ask him. Well done. You have had another fabulous lesson. I am really looking forward to the next lesson and I hope you have a fantastic day.

To read about Walter Tull's career in the army

To read about Walter Tull's career in the army

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UnitEnglish / Walter Tull's Scrapbook by Michaela Morgan

English