Lesson video

Hi there, my name's Mr. Byrne-Smith.

I'm very, very excited to be teaching you some spelling today.

Today, we're going to focus on a suffix.

The suffix we're going to look at is the -al suffix.

It's going to be a really nice lesson, so let's make a start.

Here's the agenda for today's lesson.

First, we're going to look at some key vocabulary, then we're going to investigate and generate some rules before finally setting our spelling words for this unit.

In this lesson, you're going to need an exercise book or paper, a pencil, and then obviously your brain.

If you need to run up and get these things, pause the video now.

Okay, let's look at some key vocabulary.

My turn your turn.

Suffix Suffix is a group of letters at the end of a word that changes meaning and sometimes class.

Adjective.

An adjective is a word that describes a noun.

It tells you what it's like.

Noun.

A noun is a person, place or thing.

Root word.

A root word is the most basic version of a word, before any prefixes or suffixes have been attached.

Let's make star with our investigation.

Today we're going to be looking at this suffix, the -al suffix.

Now, when looking at a suffix, the first thing to do is figure out exactly what it does.

When you add this suffix to a root word, what does it do to that root word? We know that suffixes can change the meaning, and sometimes the class of a word.

Let's see if that happens with the -al suffix.

Here we have four words.

In a second.

We're going to apply the -al suffix to each of these words.

Firstly, let's see if we can figure out, what their current work class is.

Our four words are, nation.

This is another word for country.

Medic.

This is somebody who helps people in medical need Person and season.

There are four seasons in the year, winter, spring, summer, autumn.

I'd like you to think carefully about each of these words and see if you can figure out which word class they are.

We have three options.

Adjective.

These are words that describe nouns.

Nouns.

That's a person, place or thing.

And verb.

Verb is a doing or a being word.

My top tip for figuring out world-class, is trying to put the word in a sentence.

If you can put it in a sentence that makes sense, then all we have to do, is figure out what your word is doing, in that sentence.

I'm going to give you an example.

Nation.

My best friend comes from a different nation.

I know that nation is another word for country so I think that works as a sentence.

Comes from a different nation, well my options are adjective, noun and verb.

The word nation in that sentence is definitely not a doing or a being word.

It's also not describing anything.

So I think it must be a noun, which is a person, place or thing.

Is a nation a person, place or thing? Yes, it's a thing.

In some instances you could say it's a place.

I'd like you to have a go at the others.

Pause the video now and have a go.

Okay.

So what did we figure out? Let's have a look at each of these.

Look at that, they're all nouns, all four of them.

Interesting.

Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to apply the -al suffix.

See if you can help me.

What do you think nation will become, when I apply the -al suffix? What do you think medic will become, when I apply the -al suffix? What about person and season? Pause the video now, and have a go.

Nation becomes national.

Medic becomes medical.

Person becomes personal.

Season becomes seasonal.

So I know that these four nouns, have now had the -al suffix added to them.

Then the next step is to see if we can figure out what our new words are in terms of their word class.

So we're now thinking about the words national, medical, personal and seasonal.

Let's see if we can work out what kind of words these are.

What is their role in a sentence? Remember, to do this, I like trying to put each of these words into a sentence.

Then see if you can figure out exactly what it's doing in that sentence.

Pause the video now and have a go.

Okay.

Look at that.

They're all adjectives.

So, so far it seems as though we're starting off with root words, which are nouns, adding the -al suffix, and being left with adjectives.

And this has happened in all four of the examples we've seen.

Since we've looked at these examples in some detail, I think we can think about creating a rule.

I've started the rule off, but I'm going to need your help finishing it.

The -al suffix often turns something into something.

The -al suffix often turns something into something.

Pause the video now and have a go.

Okay.

The -al suffix often turns nouns into adjectives.

I've used the word often there, which is really important.

Many of the rules that we encounter in spelling don't work in every example.

So it's important that we use words like often and usually, to explain that, while this rule does work in this instance, it might not work in every example we come across.

National, medical, personal, seasonal.

These words all have an obvious root.

In fact, we looked at their roots earlier.

I wonder if you can remind me what they are.

I'd like you to pause the video and have a go.

Okay.

These four words did have obvious roots.

You looked at them a second ago and they are nation, medic, person and season.

Sometimes the root word is not obvious.

Normally, this is because it comes from a different language and therefore is not instantly recognisable in English.

Here's a really good example.

Here, we have the word capital.

Here the -al suffix has been applied to the root word.

Capit.

Now capit is the Latin word for head.

At first this seems a bit confusing, but actually when you think about it, it makes loads and loads of sense.

Capital means the first or the most important thing.

An example like these, capital letter, the first or most important letter or capital city, the first or most important city, Your head is arguably the most important part of your body.

Therefore, by applying that suffix -al to the Latin word, capit or head, you're suggesting that things are of superior importance.

Just like your head is.

Here, we have four words, all of which have had the -al suffix applied.

We have nation, which has become national.

We have exception, which has become exceptional.

We have sensation, which has become sensational.

And finally, we have globe, which has become global.

I'd like you to have a careful think about which root words have had to change before the -al suffix has been added.

Some of them have had to change.

Some of them have not.

Have a very careful think.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, Let's look at which of these root words have had to change, when we add the -al suffix.

That's the only one! Globe has become global.

Let's have a think about which part of our root word globe has had to change when adding the -al suffix.

If I look really carefully, I can see that globe ends in an E.

Before the -al suffix has been added, the E has been removed.

Let's have a look and see if this happens with all root words ending in E, or at least with other root words ending in E.

So here we had globe and nature.

Globe is the word we looked at just now and we know that when we added the -al suffix, the E was removed before the -al was added.

I'd like you to pause the video, and have a think about what's going to happen to our root word nature, when we add the -al suffix.

What word is going to be created, and how is the spelling going to be altered? Pause the video now and have a go.

Okay.

When we add the -al suffix to the word nature, it becomes natural.

It's necessary to first remove the E before adding -al.

Okay.

This is becoming a bit of a pattern.

I think we can probably extract a rule from what we've seen here.

If the root word ends in E, what should we do before we add -al? If the root word ends in E, and add -al.

Pause the video there, and have a little think.

Okay, If the root word ends in E, remove the E and add -al.

There's our rule.

Earlier we discussed how in the majority of cases, the -al suffix turns the nouns into adjectives.

This is not always true.

In some instances, our root word is a verb.

Here, I have two examples, refuse and arrive.

To refuse something, is to say that you don't want it.

To arrive somewhere is to get there.

These are both verbs.

Let's see what happens to them, when we add the -al suffix.

Refuse becomes refusal.

And I don't know if you notice, but we're also using the, remove the E and add -al rule here, which is interesting.

Arrived becomes arrival.

Refusal and arrival are both nouns.

So in some instances, the -al suffix can also turn a verb into a noun.

That's interesting.

While this does happen sometimes, this is not the most common usage of the -al suffix.

Normally, it's used to turn nouns into adjectives.

Let's go through some spelling words for this suffix.

The first word is global.

My turn your turn.

Global.

Global comes from the root word globe, which is another way of saying earth, therefore things that are global, relate to the whole world.

The whole earth.

Global issues affect us all.

Word number two is natural.

Natural.

The word natural comes from the root word nature.

Things that are natural relate to or come from nature.

This cream is a natural product.

The third word is arrival.

Arrival.

His late arrival meant we missed the start of the game.

The fourth word is capital.

Proper nouns use a capital letter.

The fifth word is vocal.

The word vocal comes from a root word, which is not recognisable in English.

The word vocal is used to describe things that relate to the voice.

An example I might give is, his vocal talents are extraordinary.

When I refer to somebody's vocal talents, I'm talking about the talents they have, relates to their voice.

Things like singing.

The sixth word is tropical.

Tropical.

The word tropical comes from the root word tropic.

The tropics are parts of the globe, where the weather is very wet and hot.

These are the areas that rainforests grow in.

In fact, here's my sentence.

Rainforests, only grow in tropical areas.

Number seven, personal.

Personal.

The root word for personal is person and therefore it's used to describe things which relate to a or d person.

Her personal items were spread all around the room.

Number eight, accidental.

Accidental.

He was hurt when his brother tripped him, but he knew it was accidental.

This word is linked very closely to its root word accident.

Therefore it is used to describe things which are an accident.

Number nine, seasonal.

Seasonal.

Seasonal has the root word season.

Therefore it is used to describe things which are related to the seasons.

Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn.

Their seasonal clothes meant they were the perfect temperature.

If you're wearing seasonal clothes, you're wearing the right clothes for the season you're in.

Number ten, autumnal.

Autumnal.

The word autumnal comes from the root word, autumn, which is one of the seasons.

If you use the word autumnal, you're generally describing something which is related to or comes from autumn.

I might say the autumnal leaves, were a fiery orange colour.

Okay.

Fantastic job.

That's the end of the lesson.

Today we have covered key vocabulary, we've investigated in generating rules, and we've set spelling words.

When it comes to practising your spelling words, I always say, "Little and often is the best strategy." That way you have a consistent practise running throughout the week.

And you're more likely to remember what you're learning, which is really important.

So well done for all of your hard work.

You've completed the lesson.

Bye!.