Lesson video

Hello, it's Mrs. Smart.

Welcome to today's English lesson.

In this lesson, we are going to be generating our own vocabulary to use in our own poem.

We are going to use everything we've learned about John Lyons' poetry and we're going to be writing poems about weather and nature based on "Carib Nightfall" and "Dancing in the Rain." I'm so excited to start creating our own poetry.

Right, if you're ready, let's get started.

In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or some lined paper, a pen or pencil to write with and some coloured pencils or felt tips if you've got them.

If you haven't got any of those items with you right now, just pause the recording and go and get them.

We're going to start today's lesson by reminding ourselves of the two poems that we're going to be basing our vocabulary on, so "Carib Nightfall" and "Dancing in the Rain." We're then going to start generating, that means thinking of sort of our own vocabulary, link some of the themes in John Lyons' poems. Lastly, we'll apply the vocabulary in sentences, before of course your independent task at the end of the lesson.

Now there were two key terms that we've learned so far in this poetry unit, so I just want to recap those first and then we're going to learn another key term.

Theme, theme.

Theme is the noun.

It means the subject, topic or main idea of a piece of art or literature.

In this case, we're talking about the theme of a poem.

Synonyms could be subjects, topic or idea and in a sentence we could use it like this.

Nature was the main theme of the poetry collection.

The next word we learned was tone, tone.

Tone is the noun and it means the general feel of a piece of writing, so it often means whether the writing is positive or whether it is negative.

Synonyms can be the mood or the style or the feeling.

In a sentence, we could use it like this.

The school report had a negative tone throughout.

We're going to learn a new term now, which is atmosphere, atmosphere.

You might have heard this word before in maybe a science lesson, but this is a different type of atmosphere.

This is an atmosphere linked to literature.

The definition is the main tone or mood of a place, situation or piece of creative work.

Synonyms could be tone, mood or feeling and in a sentence it could be the author created a spooky atmosphere in their description of the forest.

So you can probably tell from the definition and the synonyms that atmosphere is very similar to the theme and the tone.

It's the general mood or feeling of a piece of writing or a story or a poem, for example.

And often, poets or writers will create a certain atmosphere through the language that they choose.

We're going to start by recapping "Dancing in the Rain," by John Lyons, which is one of the poems from his collection also called "Dancing in the Rain." If you want to pause the recording and read it through again you can do.

I want you to think about these two questions.

What are the main themes of the poem and what is the tone? Think about what those two words mean.

You might want to rewind the recording to remind yourself if you're not quite sure.

Pause the recording and answer those two questions now.

The main theme of this poem is really the rain or the weather, that's what all of it is about.

And in terms of the tone, I would say it's got quite a positive tone, because the people react in quite a positive way to the rain.

You might expect people to act quite negatively towards the rain because often it stops you from doing things and you have to go inside.

Often it means it's very cold.

But actually in this poem, we know that the tone is positive because it talks about they love dancing in the rain and we talked previously about the fact that maybe that's because the rain in Trinidad and Tobago is quite different from the rain in colder countries because it's warm rain and it actually gives you that cooling feeling when the weather has been very, very warm.

I would say there's a very positive tone this time because we know that the author likes the rain and describes it as a good thing.

We're now going to recap "Carib Nightfall," by John Lyons, which is also from the collection "Dancing in the Rain." If you want to pause the recording and read it through to yourself again you can do.

I want you to think about these two main questions.

What are the main themes of this poem and what is the tone? Pause the recording and answer those two questions now.

The main theme of this poem again is to do with the weather and nature.

It's all about nightfall, so the sun setting.

It's all to do with nature and what happens at different points of the day and the weather associated with that.

In terms of the tone again I would say this has a very positive tone because John Lyons describes the nightfall in a very beautiful way, which makes me think that he probably really appreciates sunsets and really enjoys seeing it happen.

Now that we've reminded ourselves of those two poems, I now want us to compare them.

What is similar between those two poems? Think about their themes, think about the tone.

Think about what they're about, what they describe.

Pause the recording and write yourself some notes now.

In terms of the themes, they're both about nature, weather and the world and what happens at different points of the day.

I've summarised that as the themes being nature and weather.

The tone in both poems is very positive.

John Lyons describes the rain in a very positive way and he also describes sunsets in a very positive way using positive language and positive descriptions.

In terms of description, he uses a lot of description of the different colours, the sounds and also the feelings that people would have at those different events of the rain falling and the sun setting.

I wonder if you had anything similar or different from what I had.

We're now going to move on to think about generating our own vocabulary for our own poems. If we think about the different themes of the poems that we've just looked at, what might we want to describe? We said the themes were to do with nature and weather.

What aspects of nature and weather could we describe in our own poems? Pause the recording and write down your ideas now.

I've thought of a few things that I thought we could describe and we're going to write poems about nature and weather.

I thought we could describe things to do with, sort of to do with nature and weather or almost like space because it's to do with the sun and the moon and the stars.

I've got sun.

We could describe the moon.

We could describe stars, clouds in the sky and we could describe the sky.

We could describe animals.

We know that we've read previously some of John Lyons' poetry, which was about animals, which would link really well to nature.

We could describe parts of nature or aspects of the world, so the sea.

We could describe the land.

We might describe forests.

We could also describe the weather, so rain, wind and snow would be really effective aspects of weather to describe in poetry.

Before we move on to generating our own vocabulary, I want to teach you a few terms that poets often use in their poems. They're called figurative language or poetic devices.

They often use these to add description to their poems and really bring their poems alive.

The first one is simile, simile.

A simile is when you compare one thing with another thing of a different kind, usually using the word like or as.

Some examples you can see on the screen.

I've taken one straight from John Lyons' poem, "Carib Nightfall" where he writes steam clouds of red and orange shaped like monsters.

He's comparing the shape of those clouds to monsters.

Another common simile in poems would be as dark as night, so comparing something that's very dark to the darkness of night.

The next poetic device we're going to look at is metaphor, metaphor.

Now, a metaphor is quite similar to a simile.

It's a word or phrase that compares two things, usually by stating something is something else, so that's the slight difference.

In a simile, we say something is like or as something else, but in a metaphor we say something is something else.

We'll have a look at these examples.

The snow is a white blanket.

The wind was a howling wolf.

We know the snow isn't actually a white blanket, but the poet is comparing the snow to a white blanket by actually saying it is a white blanket.

We can see in the second example the wind wasn't actually a howling wolf, but the wind obviously sounded like a howling wolf, so the poet used the metaphor to add to the description.

Rather than using like or as, he said the wind was a howling wolf.

The next figurative language device is personification, personification.

This poetic device is actually also very similar to metaphor.

It's describing something nonhuman as having human characteristics.

We'll have a look at the examples.

We've got the snowflakes danced gracefully together.

We could describe the movement of snowflakes falling in the sky as if they're dancing.

They don't actually dance, because that's something a human would do, but describing them as dancing is really effective description.

In spring, the garden wakes.

We know that the gardens don't actually sleep or wake up, but it's a really effective way of describing all the flowers coming out to bloom in the spring, as if they've been asleep during the winter and then they wake up in the spring.

The crickets hummed a tune.

We know that crickets do make a sound by rubbing their legs against their bodies.

They're not actually humming.

That's something that a human would do.

You could see all of those examples are giving something that's not human, snowflakes, the garden, the crickets, a human quality or human characteristic, something that a human would do and they would not do.

We're now going to move on to thinking of some of our own descriptions and as you probably noticed from the image on the screen we are going to start by describing the sun.

In a moment, I'm going to ask you to pause the recording and write down any vocabulary that you can think of that would describe the sun.

It could be what the sun looks like.

It could be the effect the sun has.

It could be something that the sun does, so a verb or an adverb to describe what the sun is doing.

Pause the recording and write down any ideas now on your piece of paper.

Well, I'm sure you have got lots of ideas written down, some very descriptive, ambitious vocabulary.

I'm now going to go through a few examples for you, things that I've thought of and at the end if you want to pause the recording and write down any of them on your own piece of paper then you could do that.

The first word is fiery orb.

We know the sun is a ball of fire, a long, long way away in space and so fiery orb is a really appropriate way to describe it.

Orb is referring to something that is spherical, so a bit like a circle, but the 3D shape.

I then have oppressive heat and that's describing the effect of the sun and that's describing that really, really strong sun that you sometimes get when it's very, very hot and you almost feel like the heat is like pushing down on you, it's so oppressive.

Often if it's very humid and there's no breeze, you might feel the oppressive heat.

Glow softly again is a verb to describe what the sun does when it gives out light.

A ball of fire, so that's linked to the fiery orb idea.

We know that the sun is a ball of fire, but that could be a way that we refer to it.

Blazing bright, again, a verb to describe what it does.

Drops, you remember we looked at a poem where I think it was "Carib Nightfall" where John Lyons refers to the sun dropping suddenly, so that's a lowering or setting at the end of the day and drops would imply that it happens very quickly.

Disappears behind.

Sometimes the sun does disappear behind a cloud.

Golden light would describe that the light the sun gives out.

Scorch, that's a really good word to describe the effect it might have maybe on the ground.

It's almost like it's burning the ground it's so hot.

If you want to write down any of those ideas, you can do on your piece of paper now.

We're now going to try and describe the stars in the sky.

Imagine it's nighttime and the stars have all come out.

It's a really clear night.

How would you describe them? Have a look at the picture, pause the recording and write down some ideas now.

We're now going to go through the ideas that I had of descriptions for the stars.

Again, if you want to pause the recording at the end and write some of them down on your own piece of paper, then you are more than able to do that.

Diamonds, so this is a way that we could refer to them.

We might use a metaphor to say that the stars are or the stars were diamonds.

Diamonds are those really sparkly stones that often you find in jewellery.

Dotted across the night skies.

That describes their position and lots of little stars, so a good way to describe their position in the sky is that they're dotted.

Pierce the darkness.

You might have heard of the word pierce.

If you get something sharp and you push it through something, so you might pierce someone's ear, but the diamonds might pierce the darkness almost like these really sharp diamonds cutting through the blackness of the night.

White specks of dust.

If ever see little pieces of dust, sometimes you see it in the air, you can compare the stars to that.

Little, little fragments of white.

Sparkling would be a verb that you could use to describe what they do.

Glinting is another one and that implies that they're sort of releasing light on the north, if they're glinting very slightly.

Blinking again, very similar to glinting.

It's almost like personification isn't it? If you blink, when you blink it's your eyes opening and closing.

If you're describing the stars blinking it's the light almost going on and off very quickly.

Winking again, very similar to blinking.

Those could be some good verbs to use if you wanted to use some personification in your poem.

Silver, an excellent adjective to describe the colour of stars.

If you want to write down any of those ideas now on your piece of paper, please do so.

We're now going to describe the clouds.

You'll notice that the image I've chosen is very dark, grey, thick clouds, but you might also want to describe the sort of white fluffy clouds that you see in a blue sky as well.

You'll want to pause the recording, write down any words, any adjectives, any verbs, any similes, metaphors, personification, that you can think of to describe the clouds.

Right, so let's go through a few of my ideas and then you can write down any that you want to.

Hazy.

Hazy describes that sort of mist or almost like a very light fog, which makes it a little bit difficult to see.

Sometimes, if the clouds are very thin in the sky, they might create a little bit of a haze.

Wisps, those would describe those very thin clouds that you maybe get when it's mainly a clear day, but you just get those little tiny wisps of cloud in the sky.

Charcoal.

We looked at that word before.

That's a really good word to use to describe the dark, black greyness of a cloud, bit like the ones you can see on the screen.

Dense, again, that would be another good adjective to describe these clouds because they're very, very thick.

I can't see any sky through them.

It's completely covered up.

Fill the sky.

Sometimes clouds completely fill the sky and you can't see any blue.

Drift is a verb you could use to describe what clouds do in the sky.

If you've ever looked up and stared at the sky for a while, you'll notice it looks like the cloud's moving or drifting across the sky.

A blanket.

That's a really good way of describing clouds that are very thick.

It's almost like they create this blanket across the sky.

Swirl.

Now swirl could be a noun or it could be a verb to describe the sort of twisting pattern.

Billowing.

Billowing means filled with air, so you've got those big, light, fluffy clouds.

You might describe them as billowing.

Cover the sky, again, very similar to fill to sky when those clouds are completely covering it up.

Suffocate, that's quite a negative word, so suffocate means to stop something breathing, so it's almost like if you covered the sky with clouds, you're almost stopping the sky from being able to breathe.

We're now going to describe the rain.

Again, I want you to write down any adjectives or verbs that you can think of to describe the rain.

It might be a light rain or it might be a really heavy rain, it's up to you.

Pause the recording and write down your ideas now.

Right, let's go through my ideas and then you can pause the recording and write down any that you want to on your own sheets of paper.

I've got curtain.

That's a really good way to refer to a very thick or a very heavy layer of rain.

In the photograph, you can see it's very, very heavy rain.

It's almost like it creates this curtain.

Bulbous droplets.

Now bulbous means kind of like fat or almost bloated.

Sometimes you get those really, really big droplets of rain that you see if they fall on the glass, so you could describe them as bulbous droplets of rain.

Spatters the ground, that's one verb you could use to describe what the rain does when it hits the ground, it spatters the ground.

Rattle, again, is a verb to describe the effect of the rain.

In one of John Lyons' poems it talked about the rain rattling on the tin roof.

Stings the skin.

Again, John Lyons, I've stolen that from him.

He described the raindrops stinging someone's skin, so we get really heavy rain when it hits you and it almost hurts.

Torrential deluge.

Torrential rain is when you get really heavy rain or you get lots and lots of rain and a deluge is like a flood, when it's almost overflowing with water.

If it was really heavy rain, almost like a storm, you might describe it as a torrential deluge.

A light drizzle, so that's quite different from a torrential deluge.

That's when you just get a very light rain and it doesn't sting your skin.

It doesn't feel very heavy.

It doesn't get you very wet.

A pitter patter, that would be some description of the sounds that the rain makes, a little bit like the rattle on the tin roof.

If it's very light rain it might just pitter patter.

A shower, again, we could use to describe a very short burst of rain, it might be a shower.

A sheet, that's quite similar to the curtains.

We get that very heavy rain.

It's almost like this solid sheet.

We're now going to move on to describe the wind, so I would like you to pause the recording and write down any adjectives or verbs or the effects the wind might have on something.

Pause the recording now.

We're now going to go through my examples and again you can write down any of them that you would like.

A gentle breeze, so that's when the wind's very soft and it probably wouldn't have a huge amount of effect on the trees like the picture there.

A howl, that's a much stronger wind.

That would refer to the sound the wind might make as it's blowing through something.

Makes it sound a little bit like the sound a wolf might make.

Ruffles birds' feathers.

That would be the effect of the wind.

I think John Lyons talks about the birds of a hen or a chicken being ruffled by the wind, so kind of all the feathers moving as the wind blows it.

Leaves violently tremble.

That's a really good way of describing the movement of the leaves.

If it's a really strong wind, they might move a lot, so a tremble is something that you often do if you're a bit scared you might shake slightly to show you're scared, so it's violently trembling, it's moving a lot.

It shows me that the wind is really strong and the leaves are almost scared of the wind.

Leaves flutter, another effect on the leaves, but a slightly more gentle effect, so that might go with gentle breeze, whereas the leaves violently tremble might go better with a howling ferocious wind.

Trees sway in rhythm.

Again, another effect of the wind of the trees moving almost as if they're dancing or swaying, a bit like John Lyons' poem "Natural Dancing Partners" where he describes the wind and the willow as the dancing partners.

Strong, an adjective to describe a really fierce wind that's very powerful.

Moan, similar to howl, it's the sound the wind might make as it blows through something.

Sing, you could describe the wind as singing.

It's almost like a melody the sound the wind might make as it's blowing through something.

We're now going to try and apply some of your vocabulary in sentences.

I have got a picture on the screen and I would like you to try and write a sentence to describe this beautiful sunset.

You have a look at it.

You can see a beautiful sun.

I can see it's slowly setting or dropping down towards the horizon, which is where the sky and the sea meet.

I can see there's lots of clouds in the sky and lots of different colours.

How might you describe that image in a sentence trying to use some of the vocabulary that you've learned in today's lesson? I've started you off.

If you want to use this sentence starter you can or you can start in your own way.

I've written as the fiery orb slowly, what might it do? What was that verb we thought of to describe what the sun does as it sets? Okay, pause the recording and write your sentence now.

Well done.

Hopefully you have written a very, very descriptive sentence to describe this beautiful sunset.

I've written one that I'm going to show you an example, but yours will be completely different I'm sure.

As the fiery orb slowly drops behind the horizon, billowing clouds drift across the color-streaked sky.

Maybe you could read yours to someone who's with you.

Okay, I want you to try and write another sentence now.

This time, I've got an image I can see.

It's probably very windy because I can see the long grasses all blowing to one side and we could describe the colour of the sky and the sky is quite filled with clouds.

I've started my sentence with a blanket of dark clouds, but you could start in any way that you want.

Pause the recording and write your sentence now.

Okay, I'm going to show you my sentence, but I'm sure you have written something just as ambitious and descriptive.

I wrote a blanket of dark clouds filled the sky while the strong wind howled and the trees swayed in rhythm.

We are now at the end of your lesson today, so it is time for your independent task.

What I would like you to do is complete your word maps.

We described five different aspects of the weather and hopefully you wrote down lots of ideas as we were going through the lesson and you took lots of ideas from me as well.

If you want to add anything else to that, this is your chance to do that.

You might want to rewind through the recording and steal some of the ideas that I had.

That's absolutely fine to steal ideas.

I then want you to write three more sentences.

You should've already written two sentences, so I want you to write three more, so that you have a total of five using vocabulary from your mind maps.

As an example here, you can see my mind map or my word map and all my description of the stars and then next to it I've written a sentence using lots of the vocabulary.

I've written silver speaks dotted the sky like diamonds and winked down at the sleeping people below.

I've highlighted in pink the words that I've used from my mind map or my word map in my sentence, so hopefully you can do the same.

Congratulations, you've completed your lesson today.

If you would like to, please share your work with your parent or carer.

I will see you in your next lesson, goodbye.