The only way is badger by Stella J Jones and Carmen Saldana

Year 6 No Outsiders lesson plan 

Text: The only way is badger by Stella J Jones and Carmen Saldana lesson plan by Andrew Moffat equalitiesprimary.com

Learning intention: To consider use of language and freedom of speech.

Success criteria: I know what Freedom of speech means / I know how language can be used to persuade people / I know how important pupil voice is

Starter: What does Freedom of speech mean? Explain it is the freedom to say what you think. Can words hurt people? What if someone says a group of people should be hurt – is it always ok for people to say what they think?

Main: Read “We are all Badger” stop at points in the story to discuss following questions: -       How does Badger make other animals listen to him? -       Discuss the language Badger uses such as “I’m only trying to help you” – why is this effective? -       When Badger starts chanting “No deer here” what is the impact on a) deer b) other animals? -       Why does Badger interrupt Moose when he says, “I really think..” -       Why do the smaller animals skip in to the small badger burrows, how are they feeling? -       When Badger instructs the animals to bark, why does rabbit say, “I don’t like where this is going?” what is rabbit realising? -       Why does Badger end up alone? -       What does Badger learn at the end of the story

Role play: By the end of the story the forest is empty; Badger has made everyone an outsider. At the end of the story he changes his mind and hopefully he has learned it’s ok to be different, but many animals had to leave their homes during this story. How will these events affect the animals in the forest? When would have been the best time to stop this happening? Look at the very start of the story – how does it all begin? Give children the lines that Badger says on the first two or three pages; in the story the animals comply, but what other options are there when we hear people saying these lines? Ask children to consider responses and reply to Badger; speak up, use pupil voice and change the outcome of the story.

Activity: The ending is very quick. Does Badger really understand or is he only changing his behaviour because all his friends have left? What happens next? Do you think the animals accept Badger? Continue the story to show what happens next and show how the animals make sure this never happens again, or devise a lesson plan for young animals in the forest school to teach about diversity and difference so that this never happens again.

Plenary: Consider freedom of speech- what is it? Should Badger have freedom of speech? Do you think if we had a discussion with Badger at the start, we could have changed his mind or maybe stopped animals having to leave? If Badger believed all deers should be killed, should he be allowed to say that? Would Badger just change his mind by himself? How do people change their minds? How do we get people to hear and think about different ideas?

Afl questions: What is freedom of speech? Should everyone have freedom of speech? Is there a time when someone should be denied freedom of speech? Why is this story about No Outsiders?

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