Lesson video

Hello everyone.

My name is Mrs. Riley, and I'm here today to do some English learning with you.

Today we will be focusing on learning some new vocabulary, and we're going to be focusing today on learning some different ways to describe small, or thin things.

I really hope you enjoy today's lesson.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is to use the words shrivelled, squat, and willowy effectively in multiple contexts.

Here are keywords for today's lesson.

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

Are you ready? Here we go.

Noun, adjective, synonym, word pair, etymology.

Well done.

Now, don't worry if any of that vocabulary is unfamiliar because I'm going to go through the definitions now, and we will keep coming back to these words throughout the lesson.

A noun is a naming word for people, places, or things.

An adjective is a word that describes a noun.

So today, because we are focusing on learning some new words, which mean the same thing as small, or thin, they will be adjectives.

A synonym is a word that has the same, or similar meaning to another word.

Word pairs are words that often appear together.

And etymology is the study of the origin of words, and the ways their meanings have changed over time.

We're gonna come back to that later on, so don't worry if you are still not quite sure on what that means.

Today we have three learning cycles, and they will each be teaching you a new word to describe small or thin things.

So let's start with our first new small or thin word.

What is happening in this picture? This is the character, Brick.

Can you tell your partner, or have a think about what's happening here? How would you describe Brick, and why? Pause the video and have a think about that now.

Okay, well done.

Brick in this picture has had a bubble bath.

I can see he's got his little yellow rubber duck, and he seems to be quite shocked by his appearance as he's come out of the bath because his skin has gone all wrinkled.

Have you ever had that where you've been in the bath, or perhaps a swimming pool for too long, and your skin goes wrinkled? I think that's what maybe has happened to Brick here.

This word is shrivelled.

I say, you say.

Shrivelled.

Shrivelled.

Well done.

Shrivelled is an adjective.

It means wrinkled or shrunken like hippo skin that has been in the bathtub too long, like what's happened to Brick here.

The etymology of the word shrivelled.

Etymology, to recap, is the study of the origin of words, and the ways their meanings have changed over time.

Shrivelled comes from the old Swedish word for wrinkle.

So we can see how wrinkle is a very similar word to shrivelled.

That is where this word has come from.

It is the origin of this word.

These words are synonyms of shrivelled.

Wrinkled, withered and shrunken.

Brick's shrivelled skin gave him a fright after he had been in the bath for hours.

So we could also say Brick's wrinkled skin, Brick's withered skin.

Brick's shrunken skin doesn't work quite so well here.

So we can see that whilst these words are synonyms, and have a similar meaning, they're not always, they can't always be used in exactly the same sentences.

These are word pairs of shrivelled.

Let me read them to you.

Shrivelled skin, a shrivelled leaf.

Perhaps if it had fallen off a tree, and in the autumn it might have gone all crinkly, and shrivelled.

A shrivelled flower.

Flowers often become shrivelled when they are dying.

A shrivelled figure.

Picture what that might look like.

A shrivelled hand.

So perhaps if it was somebody who is elderly, their hand could be described as shrivelled.

Could you now please read those word pairs out loud? It's really important that we say these new words, rather than just listening or looking at them because that's how we're going to commit them to memory.

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

Excellent, well done.

Here are some more word pairs for shrivelled.

A shrivelled apple.

Ooh, imagine if an apple has gone rotten.

If it's been in the fruit bowl for too long, it might become shrivelled.

A shrivelled grape, shrivelled fruit, and a shrivelled face.

Could you now pause the video, and read those word pairs aloud? Well done.

It's time for a check for understanding.

Which of these words is a synonym for shrivelled? Is it A, wrinkled? Is it B, colossal? Or is it C, dazzling? Pause the video and answer now.

The correct answer is A.

Wrinkled is a synonym for shrivelled.

Now it's time for a task.

You have got a word map with the word shrivelled in the middle, and a lot of words around the edge.

Some of these words are synonyms. I would like you to circle the word if it is a synonym of shrivelled.

If it is a word pair, I'd like you to draw a line from the word shrivelled to the word pair.

Here's a sentence to help you.

Brick's shrivelled skin gave him a fright after he had been in the bath for hours.

If the word is a synonym, you should be able to take out the word shrivelled, and replace it in that sentence.

That's a little trick that will help you to circle the synonyms. Could you please now pause the video and complete this task? Well done.

Let's go through the answers.

The synonyms are wrinkled, shrunken, and withered.

The rest of the words are word pairs.

Shrivelled leaf, shrivelled apple, shrivelled grape, shrivelled fruit, shrivelled skin, shrivelled flower, shrivelled figure, shrivelled face, shrivelled hand.

Now it's time for you to write a sentence using the word shrivelled.

Here are the word pairs to help you.

You could pick a word pair, for example, shrivelled grape, and then you can build your sentence around the word pair.

Remember to try and be really ambitious in your sentence, and think about all the different things that you've learned in your grammar and English lessons to make this sentence as good as it possibly can be.

The most important thing though is to include the word shrivelled.

Pause the video and have a go at writing a sentence now.

Excellent.

Well done.

Let's have a look at some example sentences.

After a long bath, Brick's skin made him look like a shrivelled raisin.

So there's a simile there because I'm comparing Brick's skin using the word, like.

It looked like a shrivelled raisin.

The girl wasn't very impressed with Armie's gift of dead, shrivelled flowers.

Oh dear poor Armie.

He obviously was trying to impress her, but the flowers were shrivelled, so it did not work.

"Put that old shrivelled apple in the bin at once!" The teacher exclaimed.

You can see there that I've used some speech.

The speech, the thing that the person is saying is surrounded by speech marks, and we have to have a piece of punctuation inside the closing speech mark.

So I've used an exclamation mark because I'm imagining that the teacher maybe might have shouted that, and I can see that the word that has been used to describe how the teacher said it was exclaimed.

Let's have a look at our second small or thin word.

What is happening in this picture? This is Plato the platypus.

How would you describe him? Pause the video and have a think about that now.

Plato the platypus here is eating a donut, and he has got a cup of tea in one hand.

Now he's standing next to a very tall, long window, and a very tall, long lamp, and a very tall, high filing cabinet.

And because he's standing next to those things, he looks very small in comparison.

I wonder what this word could be.

This word is squat.

My turn, your turn.

Squat.

Squat.

Well done.

Squat is an adjective and it means short, and stubby like a body that looks as it as if it has been squashed down.

So imagine you made a, perhaps you might make a snowman out of some Play-Doh, and it's a nice tall snowman, and then if you put your hand on the top, and you squished it down, it would become a squat snowman.

These words are synonyms of squat.

That means they have a similar or the same meaning.

Short, stubby, small.

Here's the word in a sentence.

Plato's squat figure looked tiny next to the tall furniture that towered over him.

These words are word pairs of squat.

A squat tower.

Hmm, now that's interesting because we always think of a tower as being something that's very, very tall.

So try to imagine what a squat tower might look like.

Perhaps it might look squat because it's next to lots of towers that are much taller than it.

A squat building.

A squat figure.

Plato is a squat figure in this picture.

Squat appearance.

How you look.

Okay, great.

Can you now read these word pairs out loud? Pause the video.

Off you go.

Well done.

Here are some more word pairs of squat.

A squat man.

A squat position.

Now a squat is actually an action that you could maybe do if often if you were doing a fitness class or something.

You might do a squat, which is when you lower yourself down, and you kind of stick your bottom out, and lower down to the ground.

So that might be described as a squat or a squat position.

A squat sumo wrestler.

Now sumo wrestling is a Japanese sport, and it's known for people who often do it are quite large, and robust, but they're not very tall.

They're often, they could be described as squat.

A squat sumo wrestler.

And a squat house.

So just as before, could you pause the video, and read these word pairs out loud? Off you go.

Excellent.

Now it's time for a check for understanding.

Which of these words is a synonym for squat? Is it A, colossal? B, house? Or C, stubby? Pause the video while you answer the question.

The correct answer is C.

Stubby is a synonym for squat.

It's time for another task.

In this task, you need to circle the synonyms for squat, and draw lines to the word pairs, just as you did before.

Here's a sentence to help you.

Plato's squat figure looked tiny next to the tall furniture that towered over him.

Remember, if the word is a synonym, you should be able to replace it with squat in that sentence.

Could you please pause the video, and complete this task now? Let's go through the answers.

The synonyms are short, stubby, and small.

The rest of the words are word pairs.

A squat man, squat position, squat house, squat sumo wrestler, squat appearance, squat figure, squat tower, and squat building.

Now, I would like you for your next task to write your own sentence using the word squat.

Here are the word pairs to help you.

If you like, you could pick one of those word pairs, and then build your sentence around it.

The word pairs help us to use this new vocabulary effectively and appropriately.

So could you now pause the video and have a go at writing your own sentence using the word squat? Well done.

Before we move on, perhaps you could just take a second to go back and read your sentence out loud.

I always find it really helpful going back to read my sentences because often I find that I might have missed out a word, or missed out a capital letter or a piece of punctuation, and all of those things are just as important as using our brilliant, ambitious vocabulary.

So perhaps you could quickly pause the video, and just read, and check your sentence now.

Oh well done, that was some excellent checking.

Here are some examples of some sentences using squat.

"Look how tiny the squat building looks among the skyscrapers," the architect observed.

An architect is a type of profession.

An architect designs buildings.

So they're looking at some buildings, and you can see again I've got some speech marks, and just as I mentioned before, I've got a comma this time.

So a piece of punctuation before the closing speech marks.

The squat man was so short that he couldn't reach the door.

The children laughed as they watched the squat sumo wrestler perform a surprisingly graceful dance during the cultural festival.

Mm that sounds interesting.

Okay, let's move on to our final word.

What is happening in this picture? This is Oz, the ostrich.

How would you describe her? Can you recognise the leaves of the tree which are above her? Perhaps you might recognise it.

It's quite tricky that.

Pause the video, and describe this picture now.

Well done.

I can see Oz the ostrich here is standing tall.

She looks like she's almost on her tiptoes, and she's very tall and elegant.

She has long arms, and long legs, and a long neck.

Now behind her there are the leaves of a willow tree.

Willow trees have these lovely branches that almost cascade to the floor with lovely green leaves on.

Hmm.

I wonder what this word could be? This word is willowy.

I say, you say.

Willowy.

Willowy.

Willowy is an adjective and it means tall, slender, and graceful like the branches of a drooping willow tree.

Hmm, okay.

So the willow tree actually gave us a big clue as to what this word is.

Willowy.

These words are synonyms of willowy.

Graceful, slender, and tall.

I can see Oz is definitely graceful, slender, and tall in this illustration.

Oz's willowy limbs were so long that her sleeves were always too short.

These words are word pairs of willowy.

Willowy limbs.

Your limbs are your arms and your legs.

Willowy grace.

Now grace is when you move or do things that make people feel happy and peaceful.

So imagine if you could describe that as willowy.

Willowy grace, willowy figure, willowy branches.

Could you now pause the video, and read these word pairs aloud? Excellent, well done.

Here are some more word pairs of willowy.

A willowy actor, a willowy dancer, a willowy ballet dancer, and willowy arms. Just as before, could you pause the video, and read those word pairs out loud? Well done.

Here's a check for understanding.

Which of these words is a word pair of willowy? Is it A, arms? B, house? Or C, pig? Could you pause the video while you answer the question? Well done.

The correct answer is willowy arms. A house was something we looked at earlier, and we said we could describe a house as squat, but a pig is definitely not willowy.

In fact, I'd say that's about, that's the opposite of something we might describe as willowy, because remember, willowy means tall and slender, and graceful.

It's now time for another task.

You have got another word map with willowy in the middle.

Please could you first circle the synonyms, and then draw lines to the word pairs? Here's a sentence to help you.

Oz's willowy limbs were so long that her sleeves were always too short.

If the word is a synonym, you should be able to take out the word willowy in this sentence, and replace it with the synonym.

Can you please pause the video now while you complete this task? Well done.

Let's go through the answers.

The synonyms are, graceful, slender and tall.

The word pairs are, a willowy actor, a willowy dancer, a willowy arms, not a sorry, some willowy arms, or a willowy arm.

Willowy ballet dancer, willowy dancer, willowy limbs, willowy figure, willowy branches, and willowy grace.

Now we can see here when we look at these word pairs, that this seems to be a word that has positive connotations.

That's because the word pairs are all things that we might think of as being nice things.

Not all of them, but most of them are like a dancer, a ballet dancer, an actor.

Grace is a nice thing.

So we can see that this word is quite a positive word, whereas squat perhaps is less positive.

I would now like you to write a sentence using the word willowy.

Here are the word pairs to help you.

Remember to try to be really ambitious with your sentence.

And also like before, once you finish writing your sentence, perhaps you could go back and read it through carefully.

Check all of those important things like capital letters, and punctuation, and your spelling.

Pause the video while you complete that task now.

Well done.

Let's look at some examples.

Oz's long, flowing dress showed off her willowy figure.

Now you can see here I've got an apostrophe after Oz.

That's because the long flowing dress belongs to her, so I'm using the apostrophe to show possession in this sentence.

As the squat squirrel scampered over to the acorns comma, the willowy branches creaked under the weight of it.

Ooh, I've used two of our new words in that sentence.

I've described the squirrel as squat, and the branches as willowy.

This is an adverbial complex sentence.

It starts with a subordinate clause, which is, as the squat squirrels scampered over to the acorns.

That doesn't make sense by itself.

It is a subordinate clause.

After the comma comes the main clause, the willowy branches creaked under the weight of it.

Now that can make sense by itself.

So adverbial complex sentence, if the subordinate clause comes first as it does in this sentence, we have to have a comma after it.

And finally, "tax swayed to the music, and waved his willowy arms gracefully to the beat.

Imagine the kind of music that would make you sway, and gracefully move with willowy arms. Perhaps it might be some nice relaxing, tranquil music, that might make you want to move in that way.

It's time for our final task of today's learning.

I would like you to fill the gaps, with either the word shrivelled, squat, or willowy.

I'll read the words of the sentences to you now.

The graceful mm ballet dancer gave a flawless performance.

How on earth am I supposed to stand up in this mm house when the ceilings are so low? The apple had been lying on the ground for months, and the skin had become brown and mm.

And pause the video now, and see if you can work out which word fits in which sentence.

Off you go.

Let's go through the answers.

The graceful, willowy ballet dancer gave a flawless performance.

How on earth am I supposed to stand up in this squat house when the ceilings are so low? That's a question.

So I have a question mark at the end of it.

The apple had been lying on the ground for months, and the skin had become brown and shrivelled.

I wonder how you got on with that activity.

Well done for giving it a go.

Here's a summary of what we have learned in today's lesson.

We have learn more rich vocabulary associated with small or thin words.

We've learnt shrivelled.

An adjective meaning wrinkled, or shrunken like hippo skin that has been in the bathtub too long.

We learnt the word squat.

An adjective meaning short and stubby like a body that looks as if it has been squashed down.

We learnt the word willowy.

An adjective meaning tall, slender, and graceful, like the branches of a drooping willow tree.

We have learned these words today because they all can describe small or thin things.

However, we have also seen that they can be applied in lots of different contexts.

For example, you could describe old fruit as shrivelled.

You could describe short buildings as squat, or you could describe the branches of a tree as willowy.

And therefore, it's really important to remember that these words, whilst they can be used to describe small, or thin things, they can be used to describe lots of other things as well.

And so I hope they're really useful to you, and that you'll remember them, and use them as much as possible.

Thank you so much for all your hard work today.

You've worked really hard, and you should be very proud of yourselves.