Understanding The Whale Rider for IGCSE

Welcome to this free video lesson for taughtlead.co.uk and this is actually my first video lesson that I am making for Edexcel IGCSE Literature looking at the Whale Rider. Now I know lots of you guys are doing Cambridge, my apologies, but my own students are doing Edexcel right now so I thought I would make this lesson for them and hopefully for some of you out there too it might be useful for you. If you do find it useful please do like and share with your classmates. And a heads up that I am going to be doing tutoring that's one-to-one and group classes starting in September 2024. So if you are interested and I've already had a lot of people register their interest then you should join my waitlist ASAP. The link is down in the description to be first in line for when that starts. Really hope to see some of you guys there for some one-to-one tutoring and group classes. Really looking forward to getting started with that. Let's dive into it then. So in this video lesson we are looking at a grade 9 essay for The Whale Rider and actually the inspiration for this video lesson was many of my students told me that of all of the past paper questions this question was the hardest so I thought I would show you guys how I would answer this essay question. Now let's start with some information that you need to know for Edexcel IGCSE English Literature. Let's begin by having a look at our assessment objectives. So The Whale Rider will appear on Edexcel English Literature IGCSE Paper 1. It is your modern prose text which means your modern novel. It's quite interesting because your modern prose text, the Whale Rider, is closed book which means that you won't have a copy of the book in front of you and therefore our assessment objectives are just AO1 and AO4. So AO1 is your knowledge and understanding of the text, writing in an academic and critical manner and having an informed personal argument or opinion on the text. AO4 is understanding how the text relates to its context. Do notice that AO2 is not tested for. AO2 is analysis of language form and structure. Therefore, Edexcel aren't expecting you to have lots of quotations or even any quotations at all. They're not expecting you to pick out techniques. They're not expecting you to analyze words. So it's not the same as your paper two on your dramas, you know, if you're doing Romeo and Juliet or something like that. they're not expecting you to say, oh, this is an extended metaphor and this word has got connotations of blah, blah, blah, because you haven't got the book in front of you, right? Now, if you are doing an exam board that isn't Edexcel person IGCSE English literature, just double check, right? Because your exam board might require you to analyze language form and structure, but for Edexcel, it doesn't. Even if you're not doing Edexcel, even if you do need to analyze language form and structure. This essay should still be useful to you in terms of crafting an argument, having the best quotes, moments and ideas and writing in a critical style but you might need to put in some more terminology and analysis of very specific techniques. Here is our question then. So this is the question that my Year 11s told me was very very difficult and they wouldn't know how to answer. It comes from November 2023 so it's quite a recent question. It says travelling to different places is experienced by some of the characters and the whales. Explore the significance of traveling in The Whale Rider. You must consider the context of the novel in your answer and it is worth 40 marks. Edexcel I think are great because unlike Cambridge they tell you how long you should spend on each question so that really helps you with your timing and with your pacing so they recommend that you spend 45 minutes on this question. Now remember this will be the final question in your paper one. Before that, you will have unseen poetry, which is worth 20 marks, and you will have your anthology poetry, where you have to compare two poems and that is worth 30 marks. And then finally, this question, which is worth 40 marks. Now, I do recommend that you stick very strictly to the timings, but it might even be a good idea if you start with this question because it's worth the most amount of marks. Therefore, like if you spend too long on poetry, and don't have enough time for the whale rider, that would be a lot more disastrous than if you started with the whale rider and didn't leave quite enough time for your unseen poetry, right? It's 40 marks versus 20 marks. So I do recommend that you start with your modern prose text first. So now we need to unpick what is the question actually asking us. So we've got this word here, travelling. Travelling to different places. So we could think about who does travel and who doesn't. Right, so who doesn't travel? Well, Nanny Flowers doesn't often travel and Koro Apirana often doesn't travel. Who does travel? The most obvious one to me is Rawiri when he goes to Australia and Papua New Guinea. We've also got the ancient bull whale who spends most of the novel travelling across different sites. He goes to places that he visited in his youth with Pekia. And we've also got Kahu, she travels. She travels when she moves back to Wangara. and she also travels at the end when she gets on the bull whale's back and when she comes back to Wangara at the very very end of the novel. Now we could take this in a couple of different ways, so we could take it as literal traveling or you know traveling is also a journey, so could it be a metaphorical journey, traveling that people go on of growth and learning, so you could say although Koro Apirana doesn't travel he does undergo a journey of growth and self-reflection. right? So you can kind of twist the question a little bit to talk about what you want. And if you think that I'm going too far, because when I wrote this model essay, I wrote it without looking at the mark scheme. I wanted to see what I would come up with and then compare. And I thought I pushed it too far by talking about Kaurapirana's metaphorical journey. That was on the mark scheme. So it was absolutely fine. So it is okay if you want to stretch the question a little bit, as long as you keep linking it back at the end and showing how your analysis is relevant to the question. You can't just make up your own question, but you can interpret the question. Notice then that the question is also asking you about the significance of travelling. So you need to answer not just who travels, but why is it important? What lesson can we learn through the travels lesson? So you need to go a little bit further than just retelling the plot, you need to say what does it symbolise, what is its significance? And Edexcel are also being quite kind, they're giving you a hint. you know, think about the characters and think about the whales. So I do think that Edexcel are quite a kind exam board, they are giving you lots and lots of help here, but I do understand that travelling is probably not a common theme that's taught in English class. I don't think that I explicitly taught travelling to my class, but if you stop and think about it, you know, the theme of travelling does thread the whole way through the novel. So there is our question unpicked, let's move on. Now before we have a look at the model essay, When I was writing the model essay I tried very hard not to over complicate it because I I enjoy writing essays right so I didn't want to take it too far or take it too deep but I did I couldn't help myself from including some words which are probably going to be a little bit difficult to your average IGCSE student however they are words that I think that will be really useful in most whale rider essays that you could probably use in your essay. So let's have a look at five of the most difficult words or phrases that I used in my essay before we read the essay itself. How many of these words do you know and how do you think they relate to the novel? So the first one is Maori diaspora, then we've got coming of age narrative, magic realism, post-colonial and paradox. How many do you know and how do they relate to the novel? Let's look at the answers then. So, Maori diaspora. So, a diaspora is an overseas community. So, say for example, if you are Chinese and you go to live in Manchester in the UK, Manchester has got a really, really big Chinese diaspora. So, this overseas community of Chinese people who live together or, you know, interact with each other quite a lot within a foreign country. So, it's almost like, you know, a little China within Manchester or a little Singapore. um, Maori community within Australia. So diaspora is a really, really useful word. How does that relate to the novel? Well, remember when Rewiri goes to Australia, um, and he sees all of his Maori cousins. Is cousins a quote in the book? Let me just double check. I think that might be a reading that we did in class. I think, I think the actual quote is cousins. But I think he does say hi cuz, right? So the Maori cousins that Rawiri meets in Australia and that kind of community that he finds, remember he says it doesn't matter if he knows them or not when he's walking down the street and he sees a Maori cuz, he will always say like hi cousin to them. So that is showing that Maori diaspora, the overseas community of Maori people. The next one I think you might know, a coming of age narrative is a story about growing up and maturing. So that links most obviously to Kahu, because she starts the novel as a baby, and then by the end we see that she's matured quite a lot, to the point where, you know, she's accepted, and other people have accepted, that she will become the future tribal leader. So coming-of-age narrative is typically about teenagers growing up. So although Koro, Koro Apirana does learn a lot, I wouldn't call his a coming-of-age narrative, because... I don't think it ever explicitly says his age, he must be at least 70 though, so I don't really think he can come of age in his 70s. Next up we've got magic realism. So magic realism is the genre of The Whale Rider and you often get context points for this, so you'll get an AO4 point if you mention magic realism. The genre of magic realism is a type of book or text that combines magic and fantasy with everyday realism. So think about the magic in the novel, right? The fact that Cahu can talk to whales, right? And that the dolphins all come and help her and all that kind of thing. Those are things that don't really happen in real life, like people can't speak to whales. But it's also mixed with everyday realism. The bit that really comes to my mind is when Rowiri goes to Australia, particularly when he goes to Bondi Beach, to bawdy, brassy Australia. So very much set in our present day world, something that we can recognise. as, you know, the real world around us, but at the same time we've got this little girl who can talk to whales, right? So we've got magic realism. Next then we have got post-colonial. So colonial related to colonialism or empire or imperialism. So basically post-colonial, post means after, so it is a period of time after colonial rule. So basically after the British Empire left New Zealand then we are in a post-colonial era. So The Whale Rider is written in a post-colonial era and after the devastation of imperialism and colonisation, you know, lots of indigenous cultures were wiped out, almost extinct, much like the whales, and it seemed like there wasn't really this chance of recovery, of getting back what was lost. Even things like, you know, whole languages wiped out because the British Empire insisted that people spoke English. But Ihimeira, was part of this Maori renaissance, this resurgence, this new hope and this new wave of Maori writers and artists pushing forward that was showing this more optimistic view of the world and of this optimism that actually, you know, Maori culture could still thrive and flourish in the post-colonial era, that the damage isn't necessarily irreversible. It's still there and we still have to recognise it, but that doesn't mean that all of these traditions and cultures and legends are gone forever. And then finally, one of the most important words in The Whale Rider is paradox. If something is paradoxical, it is a paradox, it is a situation that seems contradictory, you know, they seem to contradict themselves. So the key paradox in The Whale Rider is of tradition and modernity. How can tradition and modernity coexist, right? It seems paradoxical, it seems contradictory that both could exist at the same time. Surely they would cancel each other out, surely one must have to win. but actually the whole novel is resolving that paradox. By the end of the novel we see that tradition can survive but that we can modernise at the same time as shown by Kahu becoming the tribal leader. So she's going to carry on the traditions, she's learnt the Maori language, she's going to lead the tribe but at the same time as a girl there is that modernisation and by doing that Himera resolves the paradox of tradition versus modernity in the novel. Okay now that we've had a look at our keywords it's time to look at the example essay. Okay, let's read. So a reminder then, our essay question is, Travelling to different places is experienced by some of the characters and the whales. Explore the significance of travelling in The Whale Rider. You must consider the context of the novel in your answer. Travelling in The Whale Rider symbolises the emotional journeys and changes the characters undergo, as Witte Ihimeira aims to make the reader understand that traditional cultures should modernise whilst holding on to their history and cultural identities. Travelling is a metaphor for maturing and progress, particularly with Rawiri's trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea, Kahu's coming of age narrative, and the parallel journey that the ancient bull whale and Koro make in the novel. Writing during the Maori Renaissance, Ihimeira offers a voice for hope that tradition and modernity can coexist while preserving culture in a post-colonial world. Throughout the novel, the reader sees Kahu mature from a precocious and chatty child who happily monologues at Rawiri to becoming a wiser person, ready to take her rightful place. This is shown through Kahu's returning journey to her tribe on the back of the ancient bull whale. As a result, the partnership between land and sea, whales and all humankind is restored. This journey is both literal and metaphorical. Kahu's return from sea to land signals a new age and hope for her Maori tribe, but also resolves many of the troubles facing humanity as a result of their loss of oneness or disconnection from the natural world. This idea can also be shown structurally, as this novel is written in the genre of magical realism and is narrated in two distinct voices the everyday realism of Rawiri's perspective and the magical and lyrical perspective of the whales. However, by the end of the novel, as Kahu makes her journey and restores oneness, these two voices are no longer separated into different chapters, as they were previously, but now interspersed and complement each other as the story reaches its denouement. Kahu's journey has made this oneness possible and granted the prayer of haumi i, hei i, taki i, let it be done, restoring the connection of the Maori people to their ancient land. Nevertheless, Kahu's journey to restoring oneness and saving her Maori tribe is not an easy one. The novel wrestles with a paradox at the heart of the text. How can tradition and modernity coexist? Koro Apirana represents an unwillingness to modernise and fiercely protects tradition, as shown through setting up Maori language schools to preserve the Maori tongue. It is significant then that he is one character in the novel who never travels beyond Maori lands, perhaps suggesting his reluctance to face the modern world beyond. Though Koro can often be hurtful in his rejection of Kahu as the tribe's future leader, due to his patriarchal attitudes, Ihimeira does show the good that tradition can bring. Koro's involvement in his community is commendable, such as fighting for the Māori people in court and land disputes, an issue which still affects Māori people today. He is a role model for many of the Māori children, Kahu included. By the end of the novel, this paradox is resolved, as Ihimeira suggests that tradition and modernity both have their place in the future of the Māori people, with both coming together in oneness. just as the whales and humans learn to live in harmony. In fact, structuring the novel into four seasons implies that the passing of time is inevitable, just as progress and journeying onto the future are also unalterable features of life. This message of resolving two seemingly incompatible elements is made all the more pressing by Rewiri's trip overseas, as Ihimeira uses this journey to represent the alternative of giving up and losing Maori identity altogether. Rewiri realises the importance of his Maori community when overseas. Initially in big, bold, brassy, bawdy Australia, he finds community in his Maori cousins, showing the special connection and family that can be found in traditional communities. Ihimera then juxtaposes the relative acceptance Rewiri finds in the Australian-Mauri diaspora with the discrimination he faces from the expats in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea was briefly a protectorate of Australia with a lot of white people who came to exploit its natural resources. When confronted by such white expats like Jeff and his family, Rawiri realises for the first time that he is considered too dark, implying that prior to this moment his racial identity had not been something he considered deeply or that challenged him in his everyday life. Jeff's mother treats Rawiri cruelly, referring to him as a dog and stray, thereby dehumanising him. After saying this, her laughter glitters like knives, a simile which suggests the enjoyment she got from causing pain and shows how deeply her words caught Rawiri. The moment in which Rawiri recognises he needed to return home was when Jeff's friends run over and subsequently kill a native, facing no consequences. Following this, Rawiri understands his vulnerability as a racial minority and thus develops an understanding of himself as a Maori. This journey was vital for both Rewiri and the reader to understand the safety and understanding that tradition can provide. As the sea whispers to Rewiri to come home, we too see that being Māori is not just an identity but a home, a place of belonging. Koro's attempts to preserve this safe space therefore become more empathetic, whilst Kahu's journey to become tribal leader similarly becomes all the more urgent. The Ancient Bullwhale parallels Koro because both characters long for the past. The Bullwhale's nostalgia is so great that he spends most of the novel travelling to sites of his youth. Ihimeria warns, however, that being too narrowly focused on the past can be dangerous, when the whale tribe becomes stranded on the beach and almost die as a result of the paralyzing pessimism caused by being too fixated on what came before you and not on where you will go next. The parallel between not just Koro and the bull whale but between the Maori tribe and the whale herd is made explicit when Koro says, if the whale lives, we live. Through this phrase it can be understood that humanity's fate is inextricably linked with the health of our natural environment as Ihimera urges the reader to preserve not just culture but the world around us. Indeed, this novel was written just as the ban on whaling came into effect in New Zealand and Ihimeira strongly believed in conservation. Whaling is one such tradition that must come to an end and must be modernised if the Māori are to survive. Longing for the past cannot cloud our judgment on what needs to be done to secure our future. Therefore, the progress society makes on the issue of whaling and environmental issues can be read as a journey Koro and the bull whale make towards accepting that they must stop lingering in the past and proceed with the present day. Writing during the Maori renaissance, Ihimera was part of a wave of Maori writers providing hope for preserving Maori traditions. After colonisation destroyed many indigenous cultures in New Zealand and beyond, this optimism for the future was a refreshing message of hope that Maori traditions could live on in the modern world. Ihimera offers a world in which there is space for both the old and the new, for men and for women. for nature and humanity, for magic and realism. In other words, for oneness. Yet to achieve this, we must progress onward from the past and therefore journey onto the future, both literally and metaphorically. Okay, so first off, a disclaimer that I know that that essay was longer than you would probably be able to write in an exam, but I wanted to show you guys a fully developed essay, so it would be absolutely fine if yours was shorter than that. I know that some students are going to be typing up their exam. my students included so really good luck with that. Probably you will be writing in the realm of 600 to 800 words whereas that was 1,200 words so just a heads up I know that's too long but I did want to give you as many ideas as I possibly could for how you could answer that question. All right so now let's have a think about how that essay is meeting the assessment criteria and we're going to have a look at AO1 first. AO1 is one assessment objective but it's kind of got three different things in it. right so we've got knowledge critical style and informed personal engagement starting off then we're looking at the first part which is demonstrate a close knowledge and understanding of the texts so how are we showing this close knowledge and understanding so as i said before it's closed book you will not have the text in front of you don't be scared you don't need to have quotations to get full marks it's not necessary there are some quotations that you could include which are like spare birth cord etc. I'll put a link to my blog down below in the description, I've got a list of very very short quotations that might be useful to you if you are interested in that but in theory you don't need any quotations at all to get full marks. Moments from the novel are enough, so when I say that I mean you could say when Nanny Flowers buries Cahu's birth cord, when the whales become stranded on the beach, when Cahu returns on the back of the bull whale, when Nanny Flowers rides Rowiri's motorbike. right? Those are all examples and moments that show knowledge. But the thing that gets you high marks is not just being able to pick out random moments, but picking out the best moment to prove your point, right? So for example, on the traveling essay, I guess you could talk about Nanny Flowers riding the motorbike, but is that the best moment? Is she really traveling? Is it related to the rest of your argument that you're making? Probably not. So you get credited for knowledge of the text, but not for having like this close and detailed and assured understanding of the text. If you picked out a moment that wasn't the best one to answer the question. Now these are the moments that Edexcel think were the best moments and I'm very happy that I stumbled on these myself too. I thought I was perhaps pushing it a little bit far with some of them. So Edexcel say in their mark scheme, the journey that Rawiri makes to Australia and Papua New Guinea, perhaps the most obvious one, Kahu's journeys to Wangara and when she rides the bull whale and the journeys that the whales make both past and future. and present. So those are the moments that Edexcel would expect you to pick out for this question. You also need to link back to your question, right? Your question is saying, explore the significance of travelling in the novel. So it's not just pick out the best moments and summarise them and retell the story, right? Edexcel aren't looking for a summary, they're looking for analysis. They're looking for you to say why it is significant. So you could simply say travelling is a symbol for change or journeys or growth, right? So that could be one reason. And I'd excel also say perhaps something along the lines of travelling demonstrates how Koro is reluctant to change and how he prefers to remain insulated from outside influences. Whereas characters that are more open to change, like Kahu, like Rewiri, do travel, do see the world, right? So it's this idea of reluctance to change, which is kind of at the heart of this question. So you need to make that connection between traveling and change, traveling and modernization to get high marks here. The next part of AO1 is talking about a critical style. So style of writing, writing in an academic way. So you should be writing academically and formally. You shouldn't be using slang, you shouldn't be using very, very casual language. You should also be structuring your essay clearly with well-organized paragraphs. I generally recommend introduction, maybe about three analysis paragraphs in the middle depending on how much you can write, and a conclusion, right? So that would be the best way to structure your essay. You don't get any marks for spelling, punctuation, and grammar, so my students are often surprised by that. If you're doing English language, that's where you will be assessed for your accuracy, but not in English literature, at least not for Edexcel. However, Having said that, you don't get any marks for spelling, but if you spell Ihimeira's name wrong, which many of my students do, it doesn't look good. If you spell Pururangi wrong, if you spell Kuruapirana wrong, if you spell Murawai wrong, doesn't look good, doesn't make it look like you've got very good knowledge. Don't think the examiner would move you down necessarily, but they would, you know, squint at your paper and be like, mm-hmm, assured knowledge, can't spell the author's name correctly, so just be careful, like... I think especially just make sure that you can spell the author's name correctly, really doesn't look good. Similarly if you are doing any Shakespeare texts, oh my god the number of times that I see this, oh I'm already spelling it wrong myself, I see that so often, wrong, Shakespeare. So just make sure you're spelling the author's name right because it doesn't look good. And then finally the last bit of A01 is about having an informed personal engagement. So what does that mean? It means that you have your own opinion or perspective or argument about what the text means. You're not just repeating and parroting back what your English teacher has said with no thought or engagement of your own. I say this with a caveat. If you are someone that doesn't often score very highly on English literature, maybe you're around, you know, if you're scoring six or below, just copy what your teacher said because you don't want to say something that's wrong. But if you are aiming for 7, 8, 9, which is basically A to A star star, then you really need to be showing that you have engaged with the text, that you've got some thoughts about the text, that you're examining the text yourself and not just repeating what others have told you. But yeah, if you're scoring six or below, maybe just repeat. It could also be this idea that one quotation or one moment could have multiple meanings. So saying this could be seen as a symbol for this. All this shows that you've really thought about the different meanings of a text and different interpretations of a text, showing your personal engagement. Do you notice it says informed personal engagement? So like, your opinion has to make sense, there has to be evidence for it, it has to be justifiable. You know, you can't just have a random opinion about the text, you know, Koro Apirana is a symbol for God. There's no evidence for it. So your opinion. has to make sense with the text as well. Just another disclaimer there. So one way that you can show this informed personal engagement is by having a thesis statement. A thesis means your argument in answer to the question. So it's basically what do you think the significance of travelling is? What is your argument? What does travelling symbolise, represent? So a good way of doing this and of crafting a thesis statement in IGCSE English Literature is simply to begin by saying x is symbolic of y. By doing this you're showing that you understand that the question has got an interpretation, it could represent something else. So this is a really good structure for getting that thesis statement in. Here's some examples. Travelling is symbolic of the inevitability of progress. X symbolic of Y. Travelling, inevitability of progress. Koro Apirana is symbolic of both traditionalism and the capability of even the most stubbornly old-fashioned members of our communities to embrace change. This one's a little bit more complex because I'm saying X is symbolic of Y and Z, right? He symbolises traditionalism but also that you can change. even if you're a stubborn old man. So that's quite a nice thesis statement and one that you would do well to remember because I feel like lots of questions, even if you don't get a Koro question, lots of the questions kind of come back to this dynamic of Koro, Nani Flowers, Kahu, like they're the main focus for most of the questions. And finally, women in novels symbolise the challenges faced by Maori cultures to embrace modernity whilst preserving important traditions. So women symbolize challenges and this idea of modernity and tradition, right? So they represent this paradox at the heart of the text. How can we have modernity and tradition? Okay, and women symbolize that because we can have both in the form of Cahoon. So really good to begin with a thesis statement in your introduction showing that personal engagement for AO1, but also to think about the writer's central message too. So this is another way that you show your personal engagement and analysis of the text. So you need to consider what Ihimaera's central message is. In other words, what are his intentions? Why did he write this book? What lesson does he want the reader to learn? Here are some from my essay, which would probably be useful in most essays on The Whale Rider. Ihimaera offers a voice for hope that tradition and modernity can coexist while preserving culture in a post-colonial world. So tradition and modernity can coexist, that's a very common central message that I feel like you could fit into basically any whale rider essay. Ihimaira warns however that being too narrowly focused on the past can be dangerous when the whale tribe becomes stranded on the beach and almost die as a result of the paralyzing pessimism caused by being too fixed on what came before you and not on where you will go next. So basically this warning about being too focused on the past, being too focused. And then finally Ihimaru offers a world where there is space for both old and the new, for men and for women, for nature and humanity, for magic and realism, in other words, oneness. Again, I feel like this is a point that you could make in pretty much all Whale Rider essays. So this idea of paradoxes being resolved, the space for everything, old and new, men and women, nature and humanity, magic and realism, oneness. That is something that I would recommend, you know, commit to your brain because I really can't see very many essay questions where you couldn't fit. this idea in. Finally then on to context which is AO4. So AO4 says show understanding of the relationships between texts and the context in which they were written. So when we say context we mean some historical information or background information about the text. So that might be the history of what was going on at the time in 1987 when Ihimaira was writing and publishing this book or what was going on in Ihimaira's life. One common context point is He wrote this book for his two daughters who complained that lots of texts didn't have female heroes so he wanted to give them a female role model to look up to. The fact that the the book is magic realism, the fact it was written during the Maori renaissance, these are all common context points that I feel like you can include in most essays and once again I've got a list of common context points in my blog post which I'll link below if you're interested. Just note though that the context that you include should be relevant so I don't know. Like this text, this essay that I wrote was all about traveling. So it wasn't really focused too much on the theme of gender. So I didn't include the point about Ehimeira's daughters because it didn't seem relevant. So don't just shove in context for the point of it. It should be relevant to the question and the argument that you're making. So it should always be related back to the text, your question, and the writer's central message. Don't just randomly stick in any point. I will say though, like from going through... the context mark scheme, the stuff that you get awarded context points for, the bar is low. It's like, even stuff like, oh, Nanny Flowers buries Kahu's birth chord, which is a Maori tradition. That's classed as context, just by saying the birth chord is a Maori tradition. Saying that Maori society is patriarchal is also classed as context. Even one thing that I found really strange in the mark scheme for this question, um, The point about the novel being divided into four seasons was classed as context. I think that that's structural analysis. I don't think that's got anything to do with context, but okay. You will get AO4 points for mentioning novel divided into seasons. So yeah, the context bar is low, but you must have context. It even says in the question, you must include context in your response. So you must, must, must include that context. And don't forget to revise it, links in my blog, if you want to have a look there. So for this question, here are the context points that Edexcel suggest in their mark scheme. There's only four. So these are the points that they suggest that you could include for this essay question. Whale Rider was published in 1987 when there was much concern for nuclear testing. The bull whale changes the herd's route to New Zealand after some of the calves were killed by a nuclear test site near the island of Mururoa. So this idea of like herds were killed, Mururoa, and nuclear testing. Rawiri witnesses racism typical of the time when he's in Papua New Guinea and observes Jeff's family's poor treatment of a labourer. So just saying. Rewiri witnesses racism which was common at the time. Gets you a context point. So just fit in which was common at the time, which was typical of the time, which was a Māori legend and you get your AO4 points. It makes him even closer to his Māori heritage. Again, to me not super contextual but edXL are kind. The novel structure in Four Seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter supports the cyclical journeys of life. Structural analysis to me but sure. Um, Maori customs, legends and traditions are central to the novel, such as the legend of Kahutia Tarangi, the original whale rider and Kahu being symbolic of the last spear of Pai Kea. So just simply saying, you know, they're very important to the novel, um, this is a typical Maori custom or legend or tradition gets you some context points. If you like this video lesson and you want more like this, firstly do subscribe to my YouTube channel, but if you go over to my website, that's tortly.co.uk, then you can find more free video lessons and quizzes for IGCSE Literature, for IGCSE First Language English and for IB English. I've got lots of free teaching resources in there for teachers if you happen to be a teacher and yeah, just lots of stuff over there, go check it out. As I said at the start of the video, don't forget that coming soon I will be doing online tutoring, so that can be one-to-one, like just me and you, although I'm only going to be offering maybe six to eight. one-to-one sessions per week and I've got quite a few of those full up. So if you want one-to-one sessions, get yourself on the waitlist ASAP because it is filling up fast. I'm also going to be offering group lessons. So that could be, you could get a group of your classmates together, a few of your friends, or if you can't, not if you haven't got friends, if you can't find people that want to do the group classes with you, sign up anyway because I've got a list where I'm trying to match people up together, people who are in similar time zones studying the same exam. For both one-to-one and group classes you'll have live sessions with me, I'll do lots of different lessons with you, you can really guide what you want to learn and I can support you, we can do some essay practice, I'll give you lots and lots of feedback, all of that kind of thing. So sign up for my tutoring waitlist if you are interested and I really hope to meet some of you online soon. I hope that this video lesson was useful to you, so sorry if you're studying Cambridge, I feel like I'm going to get lots of comments of people being really mad at me that I've chosen to do Edexcel instead of Cambridge Literature for this. first video lesson but my students are doing Edexcel so I really wanted to give them something to revise with so don't be don't be mad at me I am going to get round to Cambridge I promise I'm working on poetry right now right now okay anyway thank you so much for joining me for this video lesson hope to see you again soon bye

And a heads up that I am going to be doing tutoring that's one-to-one and group classes starting in September 2024. So if you are interested and I've already had a lot of people register their interest then you should join my waitlist ASAP. The link is down in the description to be first in line for when that starts. Really hope to see some of you guys there for some one-to-one tutoring and group classes. Really looking forward to getting started with that.

Let's dive into it then. So in this video lesson we are looking at a grade 9 essay for The Whale Rider and actually the inspiration for this video lesson was many of my students told me that of all of the past paper questions this question was the hardest so I thought I would show you guys how I would answer this essay question. Now let's start with some information that you need to know for Edexcel IGCSE English Literature. Let's begin by having a look at our assessment objectives.

So The Whale Rider will appear on Edexcel English Literature IGCSE Paper 1. It is your modern prose text which means your modern novel. It's quite interesting because your modern prose text, the Whale Rider, is closed book which means that you won't have a copy of the book in front of you and therefore our assessment objectives are just AO1 and AO4. So AO1 is your knowledge and understanding of the text, writing in an academic and critical manner and having an informed personal argument or opinion on the text. AO4 is understanding how the text relates to its context. Do notice that AO2 is not tested for.

AO2 is analysis of language form and structure. Therefore, Edexcel aren't expecting you to have lots of quotations or even any quotations at all. They're not expecting you to pick out techniques. They're not expecting you to analyze words. So it's not the same as your paper two on your dramas, you know, if you're doing Romeo and Juliet or something like that.

they're not expecting you to say, oh, this is an extended metaphor and this word has got connotations of blah, blah, blah, because you haven't got the book in front of you, right? Now, if you are doing an exam board that isn't Edexcel person IGCSE English literature, just double check, right? Because your exam board might require you to analyze language form and structure, but for Edexcel, it doesn't. Even if you're not doing Edexcel, even if you do need to analyze language form and structure.

This essay should still be useful to you in terms of crafting an argument, having the best quotes, moments and ideas and writing in a critical style but you might need to put in some more terminology and analysis of very specific techniques. Here is our question then. So this is the question that my Year 11s told me was very very difficult and they wouldn't know how to answer.

It comes from November 2023 so it's quite a recent question. It says travelling to different places is experienced by some of the characters and the whales. Explore the significance of traveling in The Whale Rider.

You must consider the context of the novel in your answer and it is worth 40 marks. Edexcel I think are great because unlike Cambridge they tell you how long you should spend on each question so that really helps you with your timing and with your pacing so they recommend that you spend 45 minutes on this question. Now remember this will be the final question in your paper one. Before that, you will have unseen poetry, which is worth 20 marks, and you will have your anthology poetry, where you have to compare two poems and that is worth 30 marks.

And then finally, this question, which is worth 40 marks. Now, I do recommend that you stick very strictly to the timings, but it might even be a good idea if you start with this question because it's worth the most amount of marks. Therefore, like if you spend too long on poetry, and don't have enough time for the whale rider, that would be a lot more disastrous than if you started with the whale rider and didn't leave quite enough time for your unseen poetry, right?

It's 40 marks versus 20 marks. So I do recommend that you start with your modern prose text first. So now we need to unpick what is the question actually asking us.

So we've got this word here, travelling. Travelling to different places. So we could think about who does travel and who doesn't. Right, so who doesn't travel? Well, Nanny Flowers doesn't often travel and Koro Apirana often doesn't travel.

Who does travel? The most obvious one to me is Rawiri when he goes to Australia and Papua New Guinea. We've also got the ancient bull whale who spends most of the novel travelling across different sites. He goes to places that he visited in his youth with Pekia.

And we've also got Kahu, she travels. She travels when she moves back to Wangara. and she also travels at the end when she gets on the bull whale's back and when she comes back to Wangara at the very very end of the novel.

Now we could take this in a couple of different ways, so we could take it as literal traveling or you know traveling is also a journey, so could it be a metaphorical journey, traveling that people go on of growth and learning, so you could say although Koro Apirana doesn't travel he does undergo a journey of growth and self-reflection. right? So you can kind of twist the question a little bit to talk about what you want.

And if you think that I'm going too far, because when I wrote this model essay, I wrote it without looking at the mark scheme. I wanted to see what I would come up with and then compare. And I thought I pushed it too far by talking about Kaurapirana's metaphorical journey.

That was on the mark scheme. So it was absolutely fine. So it is okay if you want to stretch the question a little bit, as long as you keep linking it back at the end and showing how your analysis is relevant to the question. You can't just make up your own question, but you can interpret the question. Notice then that the question is also asking you about the significance of travelling.

So you need to answer not just who travels, but why is it important? What lesson can we learn through the travels lesson? So you need to go a little bit further than just retelling the plot, you need to say what does it symbolise, what is its significance? And Edexcel are also being quite kind, they're giving you a hint.

you know, think about the characters and think about the whales. So I do think that Edexcel are quite a kind exam board, they are giving you lots and lots of help here, but I do understand that travelling is probably not a common theme that's taught in English class. I don't think that I explicitly taught travelling to my class, but if you stop and think about it, you know, the theme of travelling does thread the whole way through the novel.

So there is our question unpicked, let's move on. Now before we have a look at the model essay, When I was writing the model essay I tried very hard not to over complicate it because I I enjoy writing essays right so I didn't want to take it too far or take it too deep but I did I couldn't help myself from including some words which are probably going to be a little bit difficult to your average IGCSE student however they are words that I think that will be really useful in most whale rider essays that you could probably use in your essay. So let's have a look at five of the most difficult words or phrases that I used in my essay before we read the essay itself.

How many of these words do you know and how do you think they relate to the novel? So the first one is Maori diaspora, then we've got coming of age narrative, magic realism, post-colonial and paradox. How many do you know and how do they relate to the novel? Let's look at the answers then. So, Maori diaspora.

So, a diaspora is an overseas community. So, say for example, if you are Chinese and you go to live in Manchester in the UK, Manchester has got a really, really big Chinese diaspora. So, this overseas community of Chinese people who live together or, you know, interact with each other quite a lot within a foreign country. So, it's almost like, you know, a little China within Manchester or a little Singapore.

um, Maori community within Australia. So diaspora is a really, really useful word. How does that relate to the novel?

Well, remember when Rewiri goes to Australia, um, and he sees all of his Maori cousins. Is cousins a quote in the book? Let me just double check.

I think that might be a reading that we did in class. I think, I think the actual quote is cousins. But I think he does say hi cuz, right?

So the Maori cousins that Rawiri meets in Australia and that kind of community that he finds, remember he says it doesn't matter if he knows them or not when he's walking down the street and he sees a Maori cuz, he will always say like hi cousin to them. So that is showing that Maori diaspora, the overseas community of Maori people. The next one I think you might know, a coming of age narrative is a story about growing up and maturing. So that links most obviously to Kahu, because she starts the novel as a baby, and then by the end we see that she's matured quite a lot, to the point where, you know, she's accepted, and other people have accepted, that she will become the future tribal leader. So coming-of-age narrative is typically about teenagers growing up.

So although Koro, Koro Apirana does learn a lot, I wouldn't call his a coming-of-age narrative, because... I don't think it ever explicitly says his age, he must be at least 70 though, so I don't really think he can come of age in his 70s. Next up we've got magic realism. So magic realism is the genre of The Whale Rider and you often get context points for this, so you'll get an AO4 point if you mention magic realism. The genre of magic realism is a type of book or text that combines magic and fantasy with everyday realism.

So think about the magic in the novel, right? The fact that Cahu can talk to whales, right? And that the dolphins all come and help her and all that kind of thing. Those are things that don't really happen in real life, like people can't speak to whales. But it's also mixed with everyday realism.

The bit that really comes to my mind is when Rowiri goes to Australia, particularly when he goes to Bondi Beach, to bawdy, brassy Australia. So very much set in our present day world, something that we can recognise. as, you know, the real world around us, but at the same time we've got this little girl who can talk to whales, right?

So we've got magic realism. Next then we have got post-colonial. So colonial related to colonialism or empire or imperialism.

So basically post-colonial, post means after, so it is a period of time after colonial rule. So basically after the British Empire left New Zealand then we are in a post-colonial era. So The Whale Rider is written in a post-colonial era and after the devastation of imperialism and colonisation, you know, lots of indigenous cultures were wiped out, almost extinct, much like the whales, and it seemed like there wasn't really this chance of recovery, of getting back what was lost.

Even things like, you know, whole languages wiped out because the British Empire insisted that people spoke English. But Ihimeira, was part of this Maori renaissance, this resurgence, this new hope and this new wave of Maori writers and artists pushing forward that was showing this more optimistic view of the world and of this optimism that actually, you know, Maori culture could still thrive and flourish in the post-colonial era, that the damage isn't necessarily irreversible. It's still there and we still have to recognise it, but that doesn't mean that all of these traditions and cultures and legends are gone forever. And then finally, one of the most important words in The Whale Rider is paradox. If something is paradoxical, it is a paradox, it is a situation that seems contradictory, you know, they seem to contradict themselves.

So the key paradox in The Whale Rider is of tradition and modernity. How can tradition and modernity coexist, right? It seems paradoxical, it seems contradictory that both could exist at the same time.

Surely they would cancel each other out, surely one must have to win. but actually the whole novel is resolving that paradox. By the end of the novel we see that tradition can survive but that we can modernise at the same time as shown by Kahu becoming the tribal leader. So she's going to carry on the traditions, she's learnt the Maori language, she's going to lead the tribe but at the same time as a girl there is that modernisation and by doing that Himera resolves the paradox of tradition versus modernity in the novel. Okay now that we've had a look at our keywords it's time to look at the example essay.

Okay, let's read. So a reminder then, our essay question is, Travelling to different places is experienced by some of the characters and the whales. Explore the significance of travelling in The Whale Rider. You must consider the context of the novel in your answer. Travelling in The Whale Rider symbolises the emotional journeys and changes the characters undergo, as Witte Ihimeira aims to make the reader understand that traditional cultures should modernise whilst holding on to their history and cultural identities.

Travelling is a metaphor for maturing and progress, particularly with Rawiri's trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea, Kahu's coming of age narrative, and the parallel journey that the ancient bull whale and Koro make in the novel. Writing during the Maori Renaissance, Ihimeira offers a voice for hope that tradition and modernity can coexist while preserving culture in a post-colonial world. Throughout the novel, the reader sees Kahu mature from a precocious and chatty child who happily monologues at Rawiri to becoming a wiser person, ready to take her rightful place.

This is shown through Kahu's returning journey to her tribe on the back of the ancient bull whale. As a result, the partnership between land and sea, whales and all humankind is restored. This journey is both literal and metaphorical. Kahu's return from sea to land signals a new age and hope for her Maori tribe, but also resolves many of the troubles facing humanity as a result of their loss of oneness or disconnection from the natural world. This idea can also be shown structurally, as this novel is written in the genre of magical realism and is narrated in two distinct voices the everyday realism of Rawiri's perspective and the magical and lyrical perspective of the whales.

However, by the end of the novel, as Kahu makes her journey and restores oneness, these two voices are no longer separated into different chapters, as they were previously, but now interspersed and complement each other as the story reaches its denouement. Kahu's journey has made this oneness possible and granted the prayer of haumi i, hei i, taki i, let it be done, restoring the connection of the Maori people to their ancient land. Nevertheless, Kahu's journey to restoring oneness and saving her Maori tribe is not an easy one. The novel wrestles with a paradox at the heart of the text.

How can tradition and modernity coexist? Koro Apirana represents an unwillingness to modernise and fiercely protects tradition, as shown through setting up Maori language schools to preserve the Maori tongue. It is significant then that he is one character in the novel who never travels beyond Maori lands, perhaps suggesting his reluctance to face the modern world beyond. Though Koro can often be hurtful in his rejection of Kahu as the tribe's future leader, due to his patriarchal attitudes, Ihimeira does show the good that tradition can bring.

Koro's involvement in his community is commendable, such as fighting for the Māori people in court and land disputes, an issue which still affects Māori people today. He is a role model for many of the Māori children, Kahu included. By the end of the novel, this paradox is resolved, as Ihimeira suggests that tradition and modernity both have their place in the future of the Māori people, with both coming together in oneness.

just as the whales and humans learn to live in harmony. In fact, structuring the novel into four seasons implies that the passing of time is inevitable, just as progress and journeying onto the future are also unalterable features of life. This message of resolving two seemingly incompatible elements is made all the more pressing by Rewiri's trip overseas, as Ihimeira uses this journey to represent the alternative of giving up and losing Maori identity altogether.

Rewiri realises the importance of his Maori community when overseas. Initially in big, bold, brassy, bawdy Australia, he finds community in his Maori cousins, showing the special connection and family that can be found in traditional communities. Ihimera then juxtaposes the relative acceptance Rewiri finds in the Australian-Mauri diaspora with the discrimination he faces from the expats in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea was briefly a protectorate of Australia with a lot of white people who came to exploit its natural resources. When confronted by such white expats like Jeff and his family, Rawiri realises for the first time that he is considered too dark, implying that prior to this moment his racial identity had not been something he considered deeply or that challenged him in his everyday life. Jeff's mother treats Rawiri cruelly, referring to him as a dog and stray, thereby dehumanising him. After saying this, her laughter glitters like knives, a simile which suggests the enjoyment she got from causing pain and shows how deeply her words caught Rawiri.

The moment in which Rawiri recognises he needed to return home was when Jeff's friends run over and subsequently kill a native, facing no consequences. Following this, Rawiri understands his vulnerability as a racial minority and thus develops an understanding of himself as a Maori. This journey was vital for both Rewiri and the reader to understand the safety and understanding that tradition can provide. As the sea whispers to Rewiri to come home, we too see that being Māori is not just an identity but a home, a place of belonging.

Koro's attempts to preserve this safe space therefore become more empathetic, whilst Kahu's journey to become tribal leader similarly becomes all the more urgent. The Ancient Bullwhale parallels Koro because both characters long for the past. The Bullwhale's nostalgia is so great that he spends most of the novel travelling to sites of his youth. Ihimeria warns, however, that being too narrowly focused on the past can be dangerous, when the whale tribe becomes stranded on the beach and almost die as a result of the paralyzing pessimism caused by being too fixated on what came before you and not on where you will go next. The parallel between not just Koro and the bull whale but between the Maori tribe and the whale herd is made explicit when Koro says, if the whale lives, we live.

Through this phrase it can be understood that humanity's fate is inextricably linked with the health of our natural environment as Ihimera urges the reader to preserve not just culture but the world around us. Indeed, this novel was written just as the ban on whaling came into effect in New Zealand and Ihimeira strongly believed in conservation. Whaling is one such tradition that must come to an end and must be modernised if the Māori are to survive. Longing for the past cannot cloud our judgment on what needs to be done to secure our future. Therefore, the progress society makes on the issue of whaling and environmental issues can be read as a journey Koro and the bull whale make towards accepting that they must stop lingering in the past and proceed with the present day.

Writing during the Maori renaissance, Ihimera was part of a wave of Maori writers providing hope for preserving Maori traditions. After colonisation destroyed many indigenous cultures in New Zealand and beyond, this optimism for the future was a refreshing message of hope that Maori traditions could live on in the modern world. Ihimera offers a world in which there is space for both the old and the new, for men and for women.

for nature and humanity, for magic and realism. In other words, for oneness. Yet to achieve this, we must progress onward from the past and therefore journey onto the future, both literally and metaphorically. Okay, so first off, a disclaimer that I know that that essay was longer than you would probably be able to write in an exam, but I wanted to show you guys a fully developed essay, so it would be absolutely fine if yours was shorter than that. I know that some students are going to be typing up their exam.

my students included so really good luck with that. Probably you will be writing in the realm of 600 to 800 words whereas that was 1,200 words so just a heads up I know that's too long but I did want to give you as many ideas as I possibly could for how you could answer that question. All right so now let's have a think about how that essay is meeting the assessment criteria and we're going to have a look at AO1 first.

AO1 is one assessment objective but it's kind of got three different things in it. right so we've got knowledge critical style and informed personal engagement starting off then we're looking at the first part which is demonstrate a close knowledge and understanding of the texts so how are we showing this close knowledge and understanding so as i said before it's closed book you will not have the text in front of you don't be scared you don't need to have quotations to get full marks it's not necessary there are some quotations that you could include which are like spare birth cord etc. I'll put a link to my blog down below in the description, I've got a list of very very short quotations that might be useful to you if you are interested in that but in theory you don't need any quotations at all to get full marks. Moments from the novel are enough, so when I say that I mean you could say when Nanny Flowers buries Cahu's birth cord, when the whales become stranded on the beach, when Cahu returns on the back of the bull whale, when Nanny Flowers rides Rowiri's motorbike.

right? Those are all examples and moments that show knowledge. But the thing that gets you high marks is not just being able to pick out random moments, but picking out the best moment to prove your point, right?

So for example, on the traveling essay, I guess you could talk about Nanny Flowers riding the motorbike, but is that the best moment? Is she really traveling? Is it related to the rest of your argument that you're making?

Probably not. So you get credited for knowledge of the text, but not for having like this close and detailed and assured understanding of the text. If you picked out a moment that wasn't the best one to answer the question.

Now these are the moments that Edexcel think were the best moments and I'm very happy that I stumbled on these myself too. I thought I was perhaps pushing it a little bit far with some of them. So Edexcel say in their mark scheme, the journey that Rawiri makes to Australia and Papua New Guinea, perhaps the most obvious one, Kahu's journeys to Wangara and when she rides the bull whale and the journeys that the whales make both past and future. and present. So those are the moments that Edexcel would expect you to pick out for this question.

You also need to link back to your question, right? Your question is saying, explore the significance of travelling in the novel. So it's not just pick out the best moments and summarise them and retell the story, right? Edexcel aren't looking for a summary, they're looking for analysis.

They're looking for you to say why it is significant. So you could simply say travelling is a symbol for change or journeys or growth, right? So that could be one reason. And I'd excel also say perhaps something along the lines of travelling demonstrates how Koro is reluctant to change and how he prefers to remain insulated from outside influences.

Whereas characters that are more open to change, like Kahu, like Rewiri, do travel, do see the world, right? So it's this idea of reluctance to change, which is kind of at the heart of this question. So you need to make that connection between traveling and change, traveling and modernization to get high marks here. The next part of AO1 is talking about a critical style.

So style of writing, writing in an academic way. So you should be writing academically and formally. You shouldn't be using slang, you shouldn't be using very, very casual language.

You should also be structuring your essay clearly with well-organized paragraphs. I generally recommend introduction, maybe about three analysis paragraphs in the middle depending on how much you can write, and a conclusion, right? So that would be the best way to structure your essay. You don't get any marks for spelling, punctuation, and grammar, so my students are often surprised by that. If you're doing English language, that's where you will be assessed for your accuracy, but not in English literature, at least not for Edexcel.

However, Having said that, you don't get any marks for spelling, but if you spell Ihimeira's name wrong, which many of my students do, it doesn't look good. If you spell Pururangi wrong, if you spell Kuruapirana wrong, if you spell Murawai wrong, doesn't look good, doesn't make it look like you've got very good knowledge. Don't think the examiner would move you down necessarily, but they would, you know, squint at your paper and be like, mm-hmm, assured knowledge, can't spell the author's name correctly, so just be careful, like... I think especially just make sure that you can spell the author's name correctly, really doesn't look good.

Similarly if you are doing any Shakespeare texts, oh my god the number of times that I see this, oh I'm already spelling it wrong myself, I see that so often, wrong, Shakespeare. So just make sure you're spelling the author's name right because it doesn't look good. And then finally the last bit of A01 is about having an informed personal engagement.

So what does that mean? It means that you have your own opinion or perspective or argument about what the text means. You're not just repeating and parroting back what your English teacher has said with no thought or engagement of your own. I say this with a caveat.

If you are someone that doesn't often score very highly on English literature, maybe you're around, you know, if you're scoring six or below, just copy what your teacher said because you don't want to say something that's wrong. But if you are aiming for 7, 8, 9, which is basically A to A star star, then you really need to be showing that you have engaged with the text, that you've got some thoughts about the text, that you're examining the text yourself and not just repeating what others have told you. But yeah, if you're scoring six or below, maybe just repeat.

It could also be this idea that one quotation or one moment could have multiple meanings. So saying this could be seen as a symbol for this. All this shows that you've really thought about the different meanings of a text and different interpretations of a text, showing your personal engagement.

Do you notice it says informed personal engagement? So like, your opinion has to make sense, there has to be evidence for it, it has to be justifiable. You know, you can't just have a random opinion about the text, you know, Koro Apirana is a symbol for God.

There's no evidence for it. So your opinion. has to make sense with the text as well.

Just another disclaimer there. So one way that you can show this informed personal engagement is by having a thesis statement. A thesis means your argument in answer to the question.

So it's basically what do you think the significance of travelling is? What is your argument? What does travelling symbolise, represent?

So a good way of doing this and of crafting a thesis statement in IGCSE English Literature is simply to begin by saying x is symbolic of y. By doing this you're showing that you understand that the question has got an interpretation, it could represent something else. So this is a really good structure for getting that thesis statement in. Here's some examples.

Travelling is symbolic of the inevitability of progress. X symbolic of Y. Travelling, inevitability of progress. Koro Apirana is symbolic of both traditionalism and the capability of even the most stubbornly old-fashioned members of our communities to embrace change.

This one's a little bit more complex because I'm saying X is symbolic of Y and Z, right? He symbolises traditionalism but also that you can change. even if you're a stubborn old man.

So that's quite a nice thesis statement and one that you would do well to remember because I feel like lots of questions, even if you don't get a Koro question, lots of the questions kind of come back to this dynamic of Koro, Nani Flowers, Kahu, like they're the main focus for most of the questions. And finally, women in novels symbolise the challenges faced by Maori cultures to embrace modernity whilst preserving important traditions. So women symbolize challenges and this idea of modernity and tradition, right?

So they represent this paradox at the heart of the text. How can we have modernity and tradition? Okay, and women symbolize that because we can have both in the form of Cahoon. So really good to begin with a thesis statement in your introduction showing that personal engagement for AO1, but also to think about the writer's central message too.

So this is another way that you show your personal engagement and analysis of the text. So you need to consider what Ihimaera's central message is. In other words, what are his intentions?

Why did he write this book? What lesson does he want the reader to learn? Here are some from my essay, which would probably be useful in most essays on The Whale Rider.

Ihimaera offers a voice for hope that tradition and modernity can coexist while preserving culture in a post-colonial world. So tradition and modernity can coexist, that's a very common central message that I feel like you could fit into basically any whale rider essay. Ihimaira warns however that being too narrowly focused on the past can be dangerous when the whale tribe becomes stranded on the beach and almost die as a result of the paralyzing pessimism caused by being too fixed on what came before you and not on where you will go next.

So basically this warning about being too focused on the past, being too focused. And then finally Ihimaru offers a world where there is space for both old and the new, for men and for women, for nature and humanity, for magic and realism, in other words, oneness. Again, I feel like this is a point that you could make in pretty much all Whale Rider essays.

So this idea of paradoxes being resolved, the space for everything, old and new, men and women, nature and humanity, magic and realism, oneness. That is something that I would recommend, you know, commit to your brain because I really can't see very many essay questions where you couldn't fit. this idea in. Finally then on to context which is AO4. So AO4 says show understanding of the relationships between texts and the context in which they were written.

So when we say context we mean some historical information or background information about the text. So that might be the history of what was going on at the time in 1987 when Ihimaira was writing and publishing this book or what was going on in Ihimaira's life. One common context point is He wrote this book for his two daughters who complained that lots of texts didn't have female heroes so he wanted to give them a female role model to look up to. The fact that the the book is magic realism, the fact it was written during the Maori renaissance, these are all common context points that I feel like you can include in most essays and once again I've got a list of common context points in my blog post which I'll link below if you're interested.

Just note though that the context that you include should be relevant so I don't know. Like this text, this essay that I wrote was all about traveling. So it wasn't really focused too much on the theme of gender.

So I didn't include the point about Ehimeira's daughters because it didn't seem relevant. So don't just shove in context for the point of it. It should be relevant to the question and the argument that you're making. So it should always be related back to the text, your question, and the writer's central message. Don't just randomly stick in any point.

I will say though, like from going through... the context mark scheme, the stuff that you get awarded context points for, the bar is low. It's like, even stuff like, oh, Nanny Flowers buries Kahu's birth chord, which is a Maori tradition.

That's classed as context, just by saying the birth chord is a Maori tradition. Saying that Maori society is patriarchal is also classed as context. Even one thing that I found really strange in the mark scheme for this question, um, The point about the novel being divided into four seasons was classed as context.

I think that that's structural analysis. I don't think that's got anything to do with context, but okay. You will get AO4 points for mentioning novel divided into seasons. So yeah, the context bar is low, but you must have context.

It even says in the question, you must include context in your response. So you must, must, must include that context. And don't forget to revise it, links in my blog, if you want to have a look there. So for this question, here are the context points that Edexcel suggest in their mark scheme.

There's only four. So these are the points that they suggest that you could include for this essay question. Whale Rider was published in 1987 when there was much concern for nuclear testing.

The bull whale changes the herd's route to New Zealand after some of the calves were killed by a nuclear test site near the island of Mururoa. So this idea of like herds were killed, Mururoa, and nuclear testing. Rawiri witnesses racism typical of the time when he's in Papua New Guinea and observes Jeff's family's poor treatment of a labourer.

So just saying. Rewiri witnesses racism which was common at the time. Gets you a context point.

So just fit in which was common at the time, which was typical of the time, which was a Māori legend and you get your AO4 points. It makes him even closer to his Māori heritage. Again, to me not super contextual but edXL are kind. The novel structure in Four Seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter supports the cyclical journeys of life.

Structural analysis to me but sure. Um, Maori customs, legends and traditions are central to the novel, such as the legend of Kahutia Tarangi, the original whale rider and Kahu being symbolic of the last spear of Pai Kea. So just simply saying, you know, they're very important to the novel, um, this is a typical Maori custom or legend or tradition gets you some context points. If you like this video lesson and you want more like this, firstly do subscribe to my YouTube channel, but if you go over to my website, that's tortly.co.uk, then you can find more free video lessons and quizzes for IGCSE Literature, for IGCSE First Language English and for IB English. I've got lots of free teaching resources in there for teachers if you happen to be a teacher and yeah, just lots of stuff over there, go check it out.

As I said at the start of the video, don't forget that coming soon I will be doing online tutoring, so that can be one-to-one, like just me and you, although I'm only going to be offering maybe six to eight. one-to-one sessions per week and I've got quite a few of those full up. So if you want one-to-one sessions, get yourself on the waitlist ASAP because it is filling up fast.

I'm also going to be offering group lessons. So that could be, you could get a group of your classmates together, a few of your friends, or if you can't, not if you haven't got friends, if you can't find people that want to do the group classes with you, sign up anyway because I've got a list where I'm trying to match people up together, people who are in similar time zones studying the same exam. For both one-to-one and group classes you'll have live sessions with me, I'll do lots of different lessons with you, you can really guide what you want to learn and I can support you, we can do some essay practice, I'll give you lots and lots of feedback, all of that kind of thing.

So sign up for my tutoring waitlist if you are interested and I really hope to meet some of you online soon. I hope that this video lesson was useful to you, so sorry if you're studying Cambridge, I feel like I'm going to get lots of comments of people being really mad at me that I've chosen to do Edexcel instead of Cambridge Literature for this. first video lesson but my students are doing Edexcel so I really wanted to give them something to revise with so don't be don't be mad at me I am going to get round to Cambridge I promise I'm working on poetry right now right now okay anyway thank you so much for joining me for this video lesson hope to see you again soon bye

Transcript for:Understanding The Whale Rider for IGCSE

Transcript for:
Understanding The Whale Rider for IGCSE