Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

My name's Ms Butt and today I'm going to be teaching you some vocabulary for you to use in your persuasive letter writing.

Now I know that in the unit you're working on at the moment, you're writing a persuasive letter to Sherlock Holmes in the character of somebody who has had their horse stolen.

And it's not any horse, it's a very special horse, Blue Knight.

So today we're going to be learning some words that mean sad or angry, because these are the two main emotions that you would be feeling if you horse had been stolen.

I hope you enjoy today's lesson.

Here's what we're going to do today.

First of all I'm going to introduce the new vocabulary, one word at a time, and we're going to be looking at Mrs Wordsmith illustrations to help us to understand what these words mean.

Then we're going to identify word pairs and synonyms. We're going to talk a little bit about, more about those in a second.

And finally we're going to apply these words in sentences.

And we're going to try to apply the words in sentences that will be useful for your writing.

Now right towards the end of the lesson you're going to have a go at writing you own sentence.

So you will need something to write on and something to write with.

Can you perhaps pause the video now and make sure you've got the things that you need and make sure that you're focused and ready to start your learning? Excellent, let's get started.

So here's some key vocabulary that we're going to be using today.

I'm going to say each word, and then I'd like you to repeat it back to me.

Synonym, word pair, adjective, noun.

Well done.

A synonym is a word that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, like merry and happy.

So today we're going to be learning a synonym for sad, and two synonyms for the word angry.

Because we want to try and be really ambitious with our vocabulary.

So we don't want to write in our persuasive letters, "I feel sad or I feel angry." So that's why today we're going to be learning this new vocabulary.

Word pairs are word that often appear together, so if you took the word bright, the word pairs for that word would be a sun, a moon, or a light.

An adjective is a describing word.

So today we will be learning three adjectives.

And a noun is a person, a place, or a thing.

So I'm going to start off with a sort of deep and philosophical question.

Of course, there's, well for this question, there's not really a right or wrong answer.

But I'm just interested for you to have a think about this.

Do you think that bad feelings, like sadness or anger, can ever lead to something good? Can you pause the video and have a think about that? I wonder what you thought? I think that sometimes bad feelings can lead to positive outcomes.

For example, if you're feeling really sad about something, or really angry about something, it can make you want to do something about it, and quite often that can be, in order to make yourself better, it can be turning it into a positive thing.

So for example, in this example you've been learning about, if your, something had been stolen, you might then set up a charity to help people who have had things stolen like you.

So often positive things can come from negative emotions.

But you may agree or disagree with that.

So let's take a look at our first sad or angry word.

Before I show you the word, I'm going to first of all show you the illustration, so I'd like you to focus on this picture and what's happening, and how you think this character is feeling, and how you would describe this character.

Can you pause the video and either have a think or describe it out loud? Okay.

Well I think we can all agree that this character looks sad.

They're slumped on a log.

They look like they're dressed in rags.

They look like they've not got many possessions or things to eat.

Can see an empty can and, sort of, a fish bone on the floor.

But I wonder what this word could be, 'cause it's not going to be sad.

Desolate.

Desolate.

Desolate is an adjective describing someone who is miserable or depressed and lonely, how you feel when you lose everything and are all alone.

So I think we can definitely see that this character feels miserable, depressed, and lonely.

The root sol-, which we can see in the word desolate, in the middle of the word, means lonely in Latin.

So we can see it being used in words like sole, so if you said that he was the sole survivor, it means he'd be the only one.

Solitude, solitaire, which is a card game, again that you play alone.

So why do you think this root sol- is in this word desolate? What do you think? So, the reason that this root word is in desolate is because desolate can describe people and how they're feeling, but it can also describe a place that is completely empty.

And, so we can see the link there with sol- meaning lonely.

So if there was a desolate place, it would be a very empty place.

Now, I'm going to read a set of words to you and as I read them I'd like you to see if you can identify the synonyms of desolate.

Remember, a synonym is a word that means exactly or nearly the same thing.

The words which aren't synonyms will be word pairs.

Now there should be three synonyms, so as I read see if you can spot them.

Mood, wilderness, wasteland, lonely, landscape, miserable.

Depressed, ruin, mountainside, country, plain.

To help you, here's the word in a sentence.

There has been a desolate mood in our house ever since Blue Knight went missing.

Can you pause the video and see if you can tell me which three words are synonyms of desolate? So, the synonyms are lonely, miserable, and depressed.

Which means the other words are word pairs, which I'm going to read to you now.

A desolate mood, desolate wilderness.

Desolate wasteland, desolate landscape.

Desolate ruin, a desolate mountainside.

A desolate country, or a desolate plain, which is a bit like an empty land, a vast area of land with not many trees in it.

So you can see how many contexts we can use, or how many of these word pairs describe places, so we can really see that meaning of, that root word sol- meaning lonely, that these can describe places that are very empty.

So it's very important when we learn new vocabulary to actually say the words out loud.

We don't learn them or they don't stick in our memory just from reading them or hearing them.

So I'd like you to pause the video now and to read these word pairs out loud just like I did.

Excellent.

So, before we move on, can you remind me what does desolate mean? Excellent.

It means miserable, depressed, and lonely.

Now, in our persuasive letter, if we want to persuade Sherlock Holmes to help us, we're going to have to try to really make him empathise or sympathise with us.

And one of the ways we can do that is by exaggerating, or maybe not even exaggerating, but saying how we feel, and in saying that there's been a very desolate mood in the house, or that his children are feeling very desolate, that's going to really, hopefully, tug on Sherlock Holmes' heartstrings and really want and persuade him to come and help, which is, of course, what we're trying to achieve in this letter.

Okay, let's take a look at our second illustration.

Think we might be moving on to the anger now.

What do you think? So what's happening here? What story is this picture telling? And how do you think this character's feeling? Can you pause the video and either have a think or describe what you see now? Okay, so this word is livid.

Livid.

Livid is an adjective meaning extremely angry or furious, how you feel when you lose a video game.

Sure that, perhaps some of you can relate to this, if it suddenly says game over and it makes you so livid.

So livid actually used to mean blue or plum-colored.

So often the meaning of words changes over time.

So can you think how does this link to how, now it means angry, how is that links, blue or plum-colored, and now it means angry? Have a think about that for a second.

Perhaps some of you guessed.

When you, if you're feeling furious or livid, sometimes we describe that as being blue with rage, or, so being like, almost blue in the face 'cause you're so angry.

So that's how the meaning has changed from meaning blue or plum-colored into an emotion feeling very angry.

So just as before, I'm going to read some words and I'd like you to see if you can spot the synonyms of this word livid.

Expression, tyrant.

A tyrant is a cruel or oppressive leader.

Fury, extremely angry, rage, face.

Scar, furious, cheeks, spot, or enraged.

To help you, here's the word in a sentence.

Ever since it happened, I have been in a livid rage that will only subside when the unknown perpetrator is found.

The unknown perpetrator, being the person who's committed the crime.

So could you pause the video and tell me which three words do you think are synonyms of the word livid? Let's see how you got on.

The synonyms are extremely angry, furious, and enraged.

Which means the rest of these words are word pairs that I'm going to read to you now.

A livid expression, can you all show me a livid expression? Very, ooh I can see lots of angry faces.

A livid tyrant, remember a tyrant is a cruel or oppressive leader.

A livid fury, a livid rage, a livid face.

A livid scar, a livid cheek cheeks, or a livid spot.

Now if you described a scar or a spot or an injury as being livid, it's almost as if the actual injury itself is very angry.

That might happen if it's, if it's gone very red or swollen, or if it's, if it's got, got very hot or something like that.

So we can also use it to describe things like a livid scar or a livid spot.

So just as before, could you now read these word pairs out loud so that this word livid sticks in your memories.

Off you go.

Well done.

So just before we move on to our last picture, can you very quickly tell me what does livid mean? It means extremely angry or furious.

Let's take a look at our final illustration.

What's happening in this picture? What can you see? How is this character feeling? Why do you think they're feeling that way? How would you describe this character? Can you pause the video and have a think about that now? Okay, this word is furious.

Furious.

Furious is an adjective that means very angry or enraged, how you would feel if all the tickets to your favourite band were sold.

Looks like that's what might be happening in this picture.

Because I can see that there's a ticket stand and it says sold out, and this looks like a serious fan all dressed up and ready for this concert or whatever it was that they were going to see.

They look extremely angry.

So just as before, can you please identify the synonyms of furious as I read these words to you? Fuming, customer, debate, reaction, very angry.

Passion, row, attack, enraged, storm.

Here's the word in a sentence to help you.

I'm sure you can understand our furious reaction at this colossal injustice.

A colossal injustice is an enormous injustice.

Could you pause the video and see if you can tell me the three synonyms of furious? So the synonyms are fuming, very angry, or enraged.

Which means the rest of the words are word pairs that I'm going to read now.

A furious customer, a furious debate.

A furious reaction, a furious row.

A furious attack, a furious storm.

Imagine what a furious storm would be like? And furious passion.

So could you now pause the video and read these word pairs out loud.

Perhaps you can do a little bit of acting as you do it, and you can act out as if you're furious as you're reading them.

Well done.

So now we've learnt all three words, and I'd like you to pause the video now and tell me what each word is.

See if you can remember.

Well done.

So the first one was desolate.

The second one was livid, and the third one was furious.

It's real important when we learn new words, or when we learn anything in fact, to always try to explain things ourselves, or put it in our own words.

So I'd like you now to come up with your own definition for each word.

Imagine you were explaining to a younger child what these words meant, and they couldn't look at these pictures to help them.

If you want you can do a little bit of acting, and a little bit of describing.

Pause the video and have a go at that now.

Excellent.

So here are, here are the definitions so you can see how close you were.

Desolate means miserable, depressed, and lonely.

Livid means extremely angry or furious.

And furious means very angry or enraged.

Now we can see the fact that the, part of the definition of livid is furious.

Livid means furious.

Those words are very closely connected.

So they're synonyms of each other.

Here's a sentence, or two sentences.

I'm going to read this to you, and I'd like you now to think about which of these adjectives best fits in this sentence.

Our children are in a mood at the prospect of never seeing their beloved horse again.

Meanwhile, some heartless criminal out there has no idea of the pain they have caused.

Could you pause the video and tell me which word you think fits best in this sentence? Well done.

I think desolate works well here.

Because it seems like this sentence again, we're really trying to tug at Sherlock Holmes' heartstrings, that they're, we're using quite emotive language.

Their beloved horse, some heartless criminals out there, and they have no idea of the pain they have caused.

So we could describe that there is a desolate mood in the house since the horse has been taken.

Here's the second sentence.

I am that this thieving scoundrel has abducted our prize, leaving us on the brink of financial ruin.

So we've gone from the sadness, to now the anger.

So which word do you think would fit in this sentence? Now you may have discovered that actually there are two words that fit well in this sentence.

We could say "I am livid," but we also could say, "I am furious that this thieving scoundrel has abducted our prize." And we spoke earlier about how, that's because those two words are very close in meaning.

Okay.

I'd now like you to have a go at writing your own sentence, and I'd like you to include either the word desolate, livid, or furious in your sentence.

Try to write a sentence that you think would be really useful in your persuasive letters.

If you want, you could use one of these sentence scaffolds.

The theft of Blue Knight has.

I am sure you can understand how.

My children, who da da da, are.

So in this last sentence I'm just going to explain it a little bit.

This has got an embedded relative clause in it.

We're adding relative information about my children, so my children, comma, who and then you would add in some extra information.

So perhaps my children, comma, who have loved that horse for many years, comma, are livid, and then you would finish it off.

When we put an embedded relative clause in, we take the main clause, which might be my children are livid, and then we embed, it's almost like we tuck into it some relative information, and it's very important it has commas either side of it.

So you should always be able to remove an embedded relative clause from the sentence, and the main clause that, the rest of the sentence should still make sense without it.

So, you could use any of those sentence scaffolds, or sentence starters if you'd like.

You don't have to.

Remember to try and use emotive language.

Remember we're trying to persuade someone.

So the more we can express how sad and angry we are, the better, more chance we're going to have at persuading them.

So could you pause the video now and have a go at writing one sentence, or if you wanted to you could even have a go writing three sentences using each word.

Excellent.

Well done.

I really hope that those sentences, and the learning these words, will help you when you come to your persuasive letter writing.

If you want you can even keep that piece of paper that you've written on, so that when you do write you letter you can put that sentence straight into your letter.

If you'd like us to see the sentences that you wrote today, you can ask a parent or carer to take a photo, and you can upload it on Twitter.

So thank you so much for watching this lesson, for working so hard.

I hope that you enjoyed learning those new adjectives, and I hope I'll see you soon.

Bye everyone.