Upper level narration

Jemimah's written narration topic for today:

Compare and contrast the enforcement of common law in Anglo-Saxon England and Europe that you read about in What Happened to Justice with the system in the ancient Polylerites of Persia described by Master Raphael Hythloday in yesterday's reading of Thomas More's Utopia.

And some people say that CM narration is easy. Bwahaha.

 

Written narration

Okay, I'll admit it. I was a bit frightened of written narration. As you know, we have had a lot of trouble with Jemimah's spelling and willingness to write, and I was frankly terrified of what she would produce. She was doing really well with oral narration, and ... well, why change something that's working?

Ambleside Online's Scope and Sequence recommends commencing written narration about now, at 10 or 11 years of age, beginning with one written narration a week. The idea is to allow the child to create a composition on paper, to write an 'essay', as it were. It was the realisation that the process was not intended to teach spelling or handwriting that spurred me on, I guess. These scary subjects are covered in copywork and dictation, not narration.

I can't remember where I read that it was helpful if the child read her composition aloud rather than handing in a written paper to be marked, but it helped me a lot. I had had visions of red marks on every word. I knew I would focus on the bad bits rather than allowing Jemimah to show me what she could do. Allowing her to read her work would allow me to hear her words, and not her spelling. It would allow her to shine.

And so on Friday we gave it a whirl.

Here below, is 9, almost 10 year old Princess Jemimah's very first written narration. I am so incredibly excited. I think it is fantastic. She does too.

Now, before you read, the spelling and the grammar are all mine. I want you to focus on the story as well. I had only two rules, in fact, when she began. One, that she capitalise the beginning of sentences and proper nouns, and finish the sentence with a full stop or other punctuation mark. Two, I expected her to spell the proper nouns correctly, since she had them written in front of her. She did manage to do both of these, but these are about the only correctly spelled words in the whole essay. We have a l-o-n-g way to go with spelling.

Still, here we have a wonderful introduction to the life of Isaac Newton. It is a full page long. It is accurate. It is interesting. It flows.

I think my young lady had done particularly well, and I am really, really proud of her. I hope you enjoy her very first composition as much as her Daddy and I do.

Isaac Newton by Jemimah

The two set out for the long cold dangerous walk to the Baroness’s house to get the medicine for the newborn son of Hannah Newton. Isaac Newton they called him, after his father. He had died a few months before Isaac had been born.

The two reached the manor in just 35 minutes and woke not just the servants with their banging; but the whole house woke to the sound of the two midwives. The lady of the house opened the door and welcomed them in. The elder of the two said how there was a baby who was too sick even to cry. As the medicine was being made, the young one said, “I tell you that the babe will not be alive when we return.

They hurried home with the medicine to save the baby. When they got home, the door was opened by Hannah’s brother. They asked, “Is he still living?” He nodded. They hurried up stairs to give the baby they medicine. The girl helper stood in awe. “He could fit in a money* jar!” she said. They gave the boy the medicine.

By and by, the boy grew a bit stronger. Now he was three. One day, there was a knock on the door. Hannah opened the door to a strange man. He stuttered out the words, “T-t-the f-f-friar w-w-wants to marry you!” “But why did he not come and see me himself?” she said. “He is shy,” he said. “I will consider it,” she said. From now on, it was all for Isaac. In the end, she said yes.

At first Isaac did not understand. He cried and wept. It felt like ages before he could see his mum.

One day, his mum did not come to see him. “Why?” he asked. “She has had a baby,” she said.

At first, Isaac did not like his step-dad, but he grew to like him. Now he had a brother and a sister. He made toys for them. He was growing very smart. His uncle came to see his work and said it was marvellous. He said he should go to a school very far away. Hannah finally agreed to let him go.

For now, anyway.

*The text said that Isaac would fit into a quart jar. My metrically educated daughter thought this referred to a unit of American money, 'a quarter', not a unit of capacity. Cute, I think!

Meet Jacques and Claire

One final examination narration - this time in French. It's not too bad at all for a seven year old, I reckon. Wadda ya think?

1. Listen to the story of Jacques et Claire à la Maison and narrate in French.


Voilà Jacques.
Voilà Claire.
Claire est la soeur de Jacques.
Jacques est la frère de Claire.

Jacques et Claire habitent à Paris en France.

Jacques et Claire ont un chat qui s’appelle Mimi et un chien qui s’appelle Toto.
Voilà Mimi.
Voilà Toto.

Mimi est enorme!!
Mimi court? Non! Mimi est trop gros!!

Toto court et grimp et sort.

Jemimah's Progress

Jemimah's narration from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress:

What happened to Pilgrim at the Palace Beautiful?

Christian hears about two very fierce lions and people that are all very discouraged, and he gets very nervous, but he doesn’t turn back – after double thinking, and he keeps on going.

Then he sees the lions, but they are invisibly chained, but he can’t see this, and he is just about to turn and run away, and then a king man comes up to him and says, “No, no, do not go – they are chained, can’t you see?” Christian turned his head and then the man showed him. Now he could see that they were chained. “Oh! So they are,” Christian said. “May I come into your Palace?” “I don’t know, I shall ask the women who own it,” said the guard. And so he said, “Stay here,” and he went in and got two women.

They questioned him and he faithfully answered, “Yes, Yes, No.”

“Where do you come from?”

“The City of Destruction.”

“What is your name?”

“Christian,” he replied.

“Why did you not take your wife?”

“I asked them to come, but they did not believe me. They just mourned for me to come back.”

“Did you try and tell them what danger they were in if they stayed?”

“Yes, yes, I told them all of that,” Christian replied, a little impatiently.

Finally after all of those questions, Christian was allowed in.

He came in with a “Phew!” kind of sound. They offered him wine and many other rich tasting things. ‘Yum,” thought Christian, “These are nice couples.” They gave him meat, salad, wine and many other things, and they also gave them a place to stay.

The ladies were very kind, and in the morning they decided to show him the armour prepared for anyone who comes. It was for any case of emergency like…when the very unkind king came and tried to kill them. He was just about to leave when they begged him to stay just one more night, then they begged him to stay just another night.

One day they said to Christian, “Dear Christian, Darling, please stay just a few more nights, and if you stay till tomorrow, we can show you the lovely valleys of the hill.” Now this got Christian excited. “Okay, then,” he said, “but just three more nights.” They thanked him and then they went to bed “Ah, though Christian, “I shall see the beautiful valley. Ah, what a relief.” And he fell into a deep sleep.

Next morning he was woken up very early by two of the very fidgety women who said, “Come on, hurry up, please come on - don’t you want to see the lovely valley?”

“Oh, yes, yes I do.”

“Well then, please don’t stay in bed. Get up, get a crack on.”

And he got up and got dressed. Then they showed him the lovely valley.

“Wow,” said Christian. “That is pretty.”

“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” said the women.

So that night Christian went to bed dreaming of the lovely valley. The next morning Christian was about to leave when they begged him to stay for just about half an hour.

They insisted on him coming to see the armour just once more, and as he looked they picked some armour and gave him some of that beautiful shining armour. “Oh oh,” said Christian, “thank you.”

Finally the hour was gone and they said goodbye to Christian and Christian thanked them for all of their kindness. They said that that was okay and then he left.

Bible Narration

An exam narration from today:

In your own words, tell as much as you can remember about Moses and the Exodus from Egypt.

When Moses was born, Pharaoh had made a terrible request. Pharaoh had said to drown the Israelites’ baby boys in the river. But at this time, baby Moses was born. His parents did not want their baby to die and so they weaved a basket that was strong and tight and then they set the basket in the river for the king’s daughter to find. Moses’ mother was allowed to keep him until he was old enough to live in the palace, but Moses did not want to live in the castle or have special goblets to drink out of. He wanted to free his people and to bring them to Canaan but he had no way of doing this.

One day he killed an Egyptian because he did not like the way that very man was beating his Israelite slave. But after that he had to flee to Midian because the king was very angry and would have killed him.

One day when Moses was taking a walk, he saw a burning tree. It seemed like it wasn’t burning so he decided to go and look at this strange sight. Then a voice came from the bush. “Moses, Moses.” This puzzled him, but he said,” Yes, I am here,” and then he said, “Who are you?” Then the voice came again, “I am God. Take off your shoes for you are standing on holy ground.”

So he took his shoes off. Then God said to Moses, “I have heard my people in trouble and I have remembered my promise. Therefore, go to Egypt and free the Israelites. But Moses said, “I am not good at making speeches and I do not feel comfortable making them.” “Well, get your brother Aaron, and I am sure that he will do all of the speech for you.” By this time Moses was pretty amazed that the tree hadn’t burned and so he agreed.

And so Moses went back to Egypt and he went before the Lord and God said, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him the King of the Jews says, ‘Let my people go.’ But I shall harden his heart and he will refuse to do it and he will get very angry.”

So Moses went to Pharaoh and said, “The King of the Jews says, ‘Let my people go.’” But Pharaoh said, “I do not know the king of the Jews. Leave. Go out of my sight.” And so Pharaoh made the Israelites work even harder by stopping giving them any straw to make the bricks from and still made them work just as much as they had to in the days when they had straw so that they would not be distracted by this strange man. And so it became even tougher for the Israelites as they worked.

So Moses went again and again and God made ten terrible plagues and the last one was an awful one because all of the firstborn babies of the Egyptians died, but the Israelites did not. The only way they could stop their babies from dying was put lamb’s blood on their doors, which many refused.

And so there was much mourning in that very country because most of the people’s babies had died and so finally Pharaoh made them leave. He said, “Be gone. You make my people cry.”

So Moses left with all of his cattle and his people.

The Story of Edmund Ironside

This is the story of Edmund Ironside narrated by Jemimah:

After the Queen had died, her brother who was the Ruler of the Danes was so angry that he thought, “I’ll pay these people back for killing my sister.” He gathered many men to fight with him. Then he went on his ships and travelled over to England. He had purple sails! He had many men. He tried burning the English country but the men fled to get away from the King. King Ethelred the Unready fled too. He ran to France because his wife’s dad lived there. He had a very good time there and soon had forgotten about his poor country.

Meanwhile, the country was in a lot of trouble. They had picked a new king. One was the son of the Danish King. He was called Canute, and the other was an English one – Edmund Ironside. He was the son of Ethelred.

One day the Danes came to fight again. It made Edmund, the English King very sad. He did not like to see his country fight and he wept for every person who died, though he kept winning.

Then he told his reporter something very strange: “Go and tell our other king we shall have a fight and the one who dies shall be honoured like a king but the one who lives shall be ruler of England.” So off went the reporter with this very strange report to tell the other king.

He thought and then said, “Yes! We shall do this! I shall fight with him. The one who lives shall be king, and the one who dies shall be dead.”

So, they fought. Just as the Danish king thought he was going to die he said, “Can not we just quit this and be brothers?” Down dropped his spear. “Yes, brother we can. We shall both be king.”
And so it was and the Danish king ruled over the north side and the English king ruled over the south side.

One day the English king died in a battle. He had only ruled for seven months.