Lesson video

Hi everyone, it's Mr. Brown here with your English lesson for today.

And it's a really good one.

We're going to be generating vocabulary, language, words and that's going to help us with our writing so much.

Let's get started, shall we? Okay, so our learning objective for today is to generate vocabulary to describe the setting.

And it's our fourth lesson.

And our agenda, we're going to be choosing key nouns, so we work out what we need to describe, we're going to be generating adjectives, and we're going to be adding verbs and adverbs.

Okay, in this lesson, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil, and as always, your brain.

Let's start with our key vocabulary and again, it is our word classes.

So important that we know these inside out, backwards, forwards, we have to know them really really well.

Start with nouns.

A noun is a PPT, a person, place or thing.

Give me an example of three nouns, shout them out, go.

Three nouns, a person, place or thing.

Table, chair, Mr. Brown, England, window, TV, oven, they are all nouns.

Adjectives.

An adjective is a describing word.

It can tell you what something is like.

So, if I say, "oh, I have got a ball," than that's not that helpful for you, you can't really picture that ball, can you? But if I say, "I've got a blue ball", that's good.

I've got a blue rubber ball, that's really good.

I've got a blue rubber bouncy ball.

Now, you're starting to get the picture of it, aren't you? Verbs.

A verb is a doing or a being word.

It is something that you do.

But not just you, it could be a character in a story, it could also be an object, and we'll look at that in future lessons.

I think right now, you are doing some verbs.

What are the verbs you're doing right now? Shout them out to me.

Sitting, watching, listening, learning, reading, good job.

Adverbs.

An adverb describes a verb.

Adverbs are brilliant because they can tell the reader how your characters are doing the things that they're doing.

If your character is walking in a story, they can be walking in so many different ways.

They can be walking anxiously, they can be walking quickly.

They can be walking hurriedly, they could be walking energetically, they could be walking sadly.

Adverbs control the verbs.

I have a question for you.

Was the atmosphere of the opening positive or negative? When we watch clips from A Christmas Carol, do we think that the atmosphere of the opening was positive, or negative? It was a resounding negative, wasn't it? We analysed the atmosphere, and we felt it was negative.

Now, by doing that, it will help us to create really intelligent and purposeful language choices.

It will make sure that every word we put down on the page, is carefully considered to have an effect on our reader.

To make them feel how negative and uncomfortable and frosty the start of A Christmas Carol actually is.

Okay, choosing key nouns.

A good opening needs to do three things.

It needs to describe the setting, so the reader can picture it.

Describe any characters so the reader can picture them.

And set the atmosphere for the story.

We, when describing a setting, need to be really careful about what nouns we choose to describe.

You cannot describe everything.

You need to make sure that you are choosing carefully the nouns to describe.

For example, in my kitchen right now, I wouldn't be able to describe everything.

I'd have to pick the key, most important nouns in this room to describe.

What I want you to do is watch the clip of the opening of A Christmas Carol and make observations of all the nouns that you can see.

Okay, so, you watched the clip, and you should have written down in front of you now a list of nouns that you can see.

If you haven't, don't worry, you can pause the lesson, go back, and do it again.

Remember nouns are PPTs.

Person, place or thing.

But if you have, you're ready to move on.

Okay, here is a list of nouns that I came up with.

If you've got any of these on your list, give them a tick.

Candle, keys, the keys were on the table.

Coins, I know there were coins on the table, or the desk, I should say, not a table.

The desk itself.

The coal box that the man looked at.

And longingly, when he was desperate for that coal to be put on the fire to warm up the room.

And on that coal box, there was a padlock.

So, the coal box is a noun, and the padlock is a noun.

Because the padlock is a separate thing even though it's on the coal box.

So, those were the six nouns that I chose.

Now, I could have come up with more.

And I'm sure that your list has more nouns on it.

The reason I didn't is because these are the key nouns.

These are the ones that I feel are going to be important to describe when I'm writing the opening.

Can you go through your list and circle all the nouns that you think are important to describe when you're writing the opening? They might be the same as mine, or you might have some different ideas.

Go for it.

Circle those nouns that you think are going to be important when you are writing the opening.

Okay, let's start generating adjectives.

Because if these is one thing that I want you take away from today, it's that nouns need adjectives.

Nouns and adjectives are like best friends.

They are two peas in the pod.

They stay together, they work really well together.

When you are writing a noun, you should hopefully have an adjective before it, because that will add to description.

I have got my six nouns here.

And I have taken the noun candle, and written three adjectives that I could use to describe it.

I've gone for flickering, withering and fading.

And I've chosen these three because they suit that negative atmosphere that I'm trying to create at the start of A Christmas Carol.

I could have gone for glowing, a glowing candle.

Golden candle, shining candle, bright candle.

But they're all too positive.

They don't create that cold, awkward, unwelcoming atmosphere that Charles Dickens wanted at the start of A Christmas Carol.

So, I've chosen these three instead.

Your job is going to be to try and come up with adjectives, just two, for desk, coins and for the coal box.

I've done candle for you, I want you to come up with two adjectives for each of those that fit with the atmosphere of the opening of A Christmas Carol.

So, for desk, you wouldn't go for magnificent or beautiful, not going to work, okay? Pause the lesson and write on your piece of paper, two adjectives for desk, two for coins and two for coal box.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's see what I came up with.

If you got any of these, you can give yourself a tick.

If you didn't, that's even better.

Because you've probably been more original than even I could be.

Well done.

Okay.

So, the desk, I went for bulky.

When something is bulky, it's big and chunky, and wide and heavy and you can't move it easily.

Fits for that big desk in Scrooge's office, doesn't it? Wooden.

Sometimes, an adjective can actually be the material that something is made of.

Glass table.

Plastic chair.

Metal car.

Coins.

I went for cold.

Now, I thought cold worked really well.

Because I knew that the temperature in Scrooge's office was very very low, because the man's warming his hands over the candle and metal, when it is cold, it's a good conductor of heat.

So, it would get very cold.

Hence, cold.

Also, very negative as well, isn't it? Cold and round, I went for coins.

And then coal box, I went for soot-stained.

It is stained in soot and soot is the thing that comes from fire.

So, if there was a fire in that room, and lots, of, back in the Victorian times.

Lots of rooms had lots of soot all over the walls.

That's why they're all very dark when you watch movies set in the Victorian times.

That's one of the reasons why Scrooge's office is very dark.

Because there would have been soots on the walls, and there was soot on the coal box.

And then tin, the material is made from, it's a type of metal.

Tin.

Now, there you can see.

You've got your noun, you've got your adjective, withering and your adjective, fading.

Noun, adjective, adjective.

This is how you would write it.

Adjective, adjective, noun.

Withering, fading candle.

But there's something you have to know about adjectives.

I teach this as, the way that it helps me to remember it, I picture adjectives are like naughty children.

They want to start fighting with each other and messing around and the only way to stop it is to separate them, to keep them apart with a comma.

With a comma.

Adjectives must be kept apart with a comma.

An adjective can be next to a noun but it can't be next to another adjective without a comma to separate them.

And that's where it goes.

Adjective, comma, adjective noun.

Say that with me.

Adjective, comma, adjective noun.

And again.

Adjective, comma, adjective noun.

Now, whisper it.

Adjective, comma, adjective noun.

And shout it loud.

Adjective, comma, adjective noun.

That has to be in your head.

Adjective, comma, adjective noun.

It will help you when you are writing.

Because it's great, 'cause it shows you can use a comma between your adjectives, and it shows that you cam use adjectives to describe your noun.

Okay, what I want you to do is have a go at writing these.

Adjective, comma, adjective, noun.

So, I went for withering, comma, fading candle.

Can you have a go at describing the desk, the coins and the coal box? While writing adjective, comma, adjective, noun for each of those.

Pause the lesson, off you go.

Okay, let's move on to adding verbs and adverbs.

You are always doing something.

That's a key thing to understand with verbs.

You're always doing something.

And remember, a verb is a doing or a being word, so if you're always doing something, then you're always doing a verb, if that makes sense.

Right now, you are sitting, looking, thinking, waiting, sleeping, these are all verbs.

You are doing verbs right now.

But are objects ever doing anything? We know certainly our characters are going to have lots of verbs.

But do objects ever do anything? Interesting question.

What verbs were these objects doing during the opening? Let's use the candle, for example.

What was the candle doing during that scene in the opening? Was it doing anything? Was it walking? Was it talking? Was it looking? Was it thinking? I don't think so.

But was it withering? Was it fading? They were the adjectives I've chosen, actually, they are also verbs.

They are verbs, they are things that the candle was doing.

It was withering, it was fading, it was flickering, we also used, didn't we? It was burning, they are all verbs.

Can you have a go for desk and coins and coal box? Much much harder.

But what do you think verbs you could use for those? Have a pause and have a try.

Very tricky one, that.

Let's have a look.

The desk, I went for looming.

It was looming over the room.

Now, looming is a lovely word for when something is very very tall and has negative connotation to looming.

It's quite a scary word, when something is tall and imposing.

Makes you feel a bit uncomfortable.

And of course, it was standing.

The desk was standing, wasn't it? It wasn't lying on the floor, it was standing.

So, that's two verbs, two things that the desk was doing.

The coins, they were stacked.

They were, that's a verb.

It's past tense verb.

But the coins were stacked on the table.

It was what they were doing.

And piled, same thing.

Stacked and piled mean similar.

Coal box.

The coal box, I thought was waiting.

Now, obviously, the coal box isn't actually waiting, 'cause it doesn't have human feelings, but you can add that into your writing, to give that impression and to be really really descriptive.

The coal box is waiting for someone to use it.

Because it hadn't been used in a long time because Scrooge was so mean, that he wouldn't use any coal to heat the room, 'cause it cost him money.

And sitting, it was waiting and it was sitting.

Remember, verbs are doing or being words.

Now, an adverb describes a verb.

So, if we know that these two are linked.

Nouns and adjectives, verbs and adverbs are also linked, Key Learning.

Verbs and adverbs.

Now, adverbs, I've given you a hint on the end.

It often ends with "-ly", ly.

An adverb often ends with '-ly'.

Do you know any adverbs? I'll give you one happily.

Can you think of any more? Pause the lesson and try to write down as many adverbs as you can think of.

Happily is one.

Do you know any more? Okay, let's see what I came up with.

I have got happily, I'm happily sitting right now.

Joyfully is even happier.

So happy, so full of joy.

Sadly, I'm sadly sitting right now.

Nervously, I'm nervously sitting right now.

I'm worried about what might happen next.

Proudly.

I'm proudly sitting right now.

I feel very proud about myself and about what's happening.

I'm proudly sitting.

Patiently.

Can you try these with me? Patiently sitting.

I'm just waiting, I know I might have to wait for a little while but I'm being very patient.

Patiently sitting.

You try this one.

Eagerly sitting.

If you're eager, it means you want something to happen.

So, if you're eagerly sitting, you're desperate for that thing to happen that you want.

Ominously sitting.

Ominous is one of my favourite words.

Ominous is when something bad might be about to happen.

There's a feeling that something bad could be about to happen.

If you're ominously sitting, it might be you've sat down next to someone, because you're about to tell them off or you're about to, you know, have something bad happen.

Ominously.

And the last one, is it continuously? If you're continuously sitting, it means you're just sitting there for a long, long time and you're continuing to sit.

I really love those adverbs and if you want to play a game at home with your family, or friends, you can always play a quick game of adverb robots, which is where you give someone a verb and you say, you know, I want you to walk, and then you say happily walk.

Now sadly walk, now quickly walk.

And they have to react to your adverbs.

It's a really fun game and it helps you to understand adverbs really easily.

Okay, so I've got my noun, the desk.

I've got my verb, stood.

And I've got my adverb, ominously.

The desk stood ominously.

Can you have a go at the same thing for candle? What did the candle do? Verb.

And how did it do it? Adverb.

Have a go.

You can say this out loud to me if you want to.

The candle, what do you think? What could be a good verb? What would it do? It's flickered, is nice.

Adverb, how did it flicker? Well, it kept flickering, could use continuously, couldn't you? It's up to you, you can try these things.

Okay, we're now going to work on putting it all together.

Nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.

Let's look at this sentence.

A bulky, wooden desk stood ominously in front of the fragile, snow-covered windows.

Beautiful.

Really nice, descriptive, detailed, I can picture that in my head.

And I did it through adjectives.

Bulky, wooden desk, fragile, snow-covered windows.

I did it through nouns, desk, windows.

I did it through verbs, stood, ominously, adverbs.

All of this has to come together when I'm writing.

Okay, your turn.

I want you to write out this sentence by filling in the gaps.

On a large desk, and that's going to be an adjective, a comma candle, so two adjectives there, with a comma in between.

Verb, adverb.

What did that candle do? Can you make up your own descriptive sentence for the opening using nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs once you've finished that? That's your extension.

Good luck, everyone.

Okay, we've gone through our key nouns, we've found adjectives and we've added verbs and adverbs.

We are getting much, much closer to being ready for writing the opening.

Congratulations, you've completed your lesson.

We're in a great position moving forward to be able to write our opening.

We've got a good knowledge of nouns and their relationship to adjectives.

And verbs and how important adverbs are with those, to make sure that we are ready to write a beautifully descriptive opening.

See you soon.