Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Riley, and I'm here today to teach you some new vocabulary.

In today's lesson, we're focusing on words that are associated with anything calm and pleasant.

So we're going to be learning three really lovely words to use today.

Hopefully, these words will be really helpful in your speaking and in your writing.

Let's get started.

The outcome of today's lesson is to use the words, rustling, serene, and tranquil effectively in multiple contexts.

These are our keywords in today's lesson.

That means these words are really important to our learning today.

So before we think about what they mean, let's practise saying each one out loud.

Are you ready? My turn.

And then your turn.

Noun.

Adjective.

Etymology.

That one's quite tricky.

Let's say it again.

Etymology.

Well done.

Synonym.

Word pair.

Fantastic.

So let's find out what each of these words mean.

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

An adjective is a word that describes a noun.

Today, we're learning words associated with anything calm or pleasant.

So we're today going to probably be learning adjectives, describing words, and we'll probably be describing lovely calm things, for instance, a calm nap.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and the ways their meaning have changed over time.

The origin of something is where it started or where it came from.

So it's like taking a word and looking at the history of that word.

Where did that word come from? Has it changed over time? A synonym is a word that has the same or similar meaning to another word.

And word pairs are words that often appear together.

So with each of the words we're learning today, we're going to learn synonyms, so words that are similar to that word.

And then we're going to learn the word pairs, so the words that often appear alongside it.

In our lesson today, we have three learning cycles, and in each learning cycle, we'll be learning a new calm and pleasant word.

So let's start with our first calm and pleasant word.

Now, before I tell you what this word is, I would like you to look closely at this picture.

In this picture we have Yin and Yang, the tiger twins, and we have Armie, the armadillo.

Could you pause the video and either have a think about what's happening or if someone's close by, you could say out loud what you can see happening in this picture.

Off you go, pause the video now.

Well done.

In this picture, Yin and Yang look like they're up to mischief.

They've climbed up that tree and they are hiding on the branch.

And it looks like they are making their, they're throwing the leaves on top of Armie who seems to be sitting underneath.

And he looks a bit like he doesn't really know what's going on, like where are these leaves coming from? And it looks like autumn because the leaves are a kind of orangey-redy colour.

And in autumn the leaves go different colours, orange, gold, brown.

But they also go quite crunchy.

So let's find out what this word is.

Rustling.

My turn.

Your turn.

Rustling.

And you'll notice there that it's spelt like rustling, but we don't pronounce the T, rustling is how we say this word.

This is an adjective, which is a describing word and it describes something crackling or swishing.

The sound of autumn leaves being shaken from a tree.

If it was summer and the leaves were all lovely and fresh and green, they might not make such a loud rustling sound.

But as I said in autumn, the leaves go dry and crunchy.

These words are synonyms of rustling.

That means they have a similar meaning, crackling and swishing.

Here's the word in a sentence.

"Armie heard a rustling sound above his head as Yin and Yang caused mischief." These are word pairs of rustling.

If we were to look for the word rustling in a book, it would might be paired up with one of these words, A rustling breeze, rustling leaves, rustling branches, rustling papers, rustling fabric.

Now imagine the kind of fabric that might make a rustling sound.

If there was something very soft and silky, I don't think it would.

But if it was something perhaps like quite a stiff wedding dress, you might hear the rustling fabric as somebody was walking down the aisle and a rustling sound.

It's very important when we learn new words that we practise speaking them out loud, not just reading them or listening to them.

So could you now pause the video and read these word pairs out loud just as I did? Off you go.

Well done.

Let's check what we've just learned.

Which of these words is a synonym for rustling? Remember, synonym is a word that has the same or similar, meaning A, relaxing, B, swishing, or C, icy.

Pause the video while you think about your answer.

Well done.

The correct answer is B.

Swishing is a synonym for rustling.

It's time for your first task.

In this task, you have a word map with the word rustling in the middle, around the word rustling, there are either synonyms or word pairs.

First, I would like you to find those synonyms and when you find them, I'd like you to circle them.

And then I would like you to draw lines to the word pairs.

And perhaps as you do that, you could say them out loud just as we practised earlier.

If you're a bit unsure, here's the word in a sentence to help you.

The wind blew through the rustling treetops.

If the word is a synonym, you might, not always, but sometimes you can take the word out in a sentence and replace it with a synonym.

So that's quite a good little trick to help you if you are unsure, if a word is a synonym or a word pair.

Could you pause the video now while you complete the first part of your task? Okay, well done.

Let's go through the answers together.

Swishing, crackling, they're the two synonyms. The rest of the words are word pairs, rustling sound, a rustling breeze, rustling leaves, rustling branches, rustling fabric, and rustling papers.

I would now like you to try to use this word in a sentence.

You are going to write your own sentence using the word rustling.

And remember that tricky spelling.

It's got that T in there, so don't miss that out.

You could use the word pairs to help you.

And here they are, breeze, leaves, branches, papers, fabric, and sound.

That's a really good starting point for how to build your sentence.

For instance, you might pick the word pair papers, rustling papers, and then you can build your idea around that.

Perhaps you could try to write your sentence about a Mrs. Wordsmith character.

For example, in this picture we've got Yin and Yang and Armie, but there's lots others like Bearnice, and Stax, and Brick.

So once you've picked your word pair, you can then pick your character to form your sentence.

Good luck.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

Let's look at an example sentence together.

"'Stop rustling that paper,' screeched the teacher.

'I can't concentrate with that noise.

'" So let's think, does this sentence use rustling correctly and is it an effective sentence? Well, I can straightaway see the word paper there is my word pair.

It's not right next to the word rustling, but the word rustling is describing the sound the paper is making.

And I can also see that the teacher says it's making a noise.

I can't concentrate with that noise.

And I know that that is what this word rustling means.

So it means a kind of crackling noise.

So I think that this word has been used effectively in this sentence.

Perhaps you could just check, is your sentence effective? Does it make sense? Pause the video while you read it back and check.

Well done.

Hopefully, you can see how the word pairs really help us to use the word correctly or effectively.

Let's look at another example sentence.

"Plato loved the sound of rustling leaves being blown about in the wind." Again, we can see this sentence uses rustling correctly.

Because we've got the word pair leaves, we can see that the leaves are being blown about and that means that the leaves are making a noise.

We're now going to look at our second new calm and pleasant word.

Have a look at this picture.

What is happening here? This is Bearnice.

What's she doing? How do you think she feels? Pause the video now.

In this picture, Bearnice is doing some yoga.

You might know that she's actually doing a tree pose, which is when you lift your arms up, and stand on one leg, and try to balance.

It looks like she's standing on the top of a hill, the top of a mountain.

And I can see by her facial expression that she seems to be very relaxed.

Let's find out what this word is.

Serene.

My turn, your turn.

Serene.

Oh, I couldn't help sighing when I said that word, serene.

Serene is an adjective and it means peaceful or calm.

If something's peaceful, it's literally full of peace, like how you feel when you've done a long relaxing session of yoga.

I wonder if there's anything that makes you feel serene, makes you feel peaceful or calm, perhaps you could have a little think about that.

What makes you feel peaceful or calm? Maybe it's reading a book.

Maybe it's doing some mindfulness.

Maybe it is watching something? Something that makes me feel serene is when I listen to the bird singing.

You might even hear there's some birds singing outside my window right now.

And hearing the bird singing is something that makes me feel really peaceful or calm.

Now the etymology, which can you remember? That means the study of where words came from and how they've changed over time.

So this word serene comes from the Latin word.

So a very old word, Latin word called serenus.

I hope I'm saying that right.

My dad would be able to tell me because he's a Latin teacher.

And this means peaceful, calm, or clear, or unclouded.

So imagine of weather if something was peaceful, calm, clear, unclouded, or it can mean cheerful or glad.

So we can see that all of these words, that all of these words associated with this word serene are already lovely, positive things, peaceful, calm, clear, unclouded, cheerful or glad.

So this word serene is a really positive word.

These words are synonyms of serene, peaceful, calm, tranquil.

Bearnice enjoyed one last serene moment on the hilltop before heading home.

These are word pairs of serene, a serene moment, serene landscape.

So if you looked out over the landscape and it was described as serene, it's not going to be stormy or tempestuous or grey and rainy, it's going to look very calm and very pleasant.

Serene weather again, wouldn't be stormy.

Perhaps there might be a lovely gentle breeze.

Perhaps the sun might be shining, but it wouldn't be too hot.

A serene lake, a serene atmosphere.

If you said, oh, there was a lovely serene atmosphere at the yoga retreat, that means it's like the feeling that you would have when you were there.

A serene atmosphere.

And serene beauty.

Serene beauty.

Okay, so just like we did earlier, could you pause the video now and read these word pairs out loud? Well done.

Let's check what we've just learnt.

Which of these words is a synonym for serene? A, dull, B, calm, or C, pretty.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

The correct answer is B, calm is a synonym for serene.

Okay, it's time for another task.

You have a word map, but this time we have serene in the middle.

First, could you circle the synonyms and then can you draw lines to the word pairs? And as you do it, you could say them out loud.

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

Bearnice enjoyed one last serene moment on the hilltop before heading home.

And remember that trick, synonyms can often replace that word in the sentence.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

Let's go through the answers together.

The synonyms are peaceful, calm, and tranquil.

The word pairs are serene moment, serene lake, serene weather, serene atmosphere, serene beauty, serene landscape.

So it's time for you to write your own sentence now using the word serene, use the word pairs to help you.

And could you try in this sentence to create a lovely, positive, calm atmosphere for a reader? I want you to write a sentence that makes me feel really calm and positive.

Maybe it might make me sigh with happiness when I read your sentences.

Pause the video now.

Okay, well done.

Let's look at an example sentence together.

The serene lake was so still that its surface was like a mirror.

Let's just close our eyes and picture that.

Imagine that you are looking at a lake that's so still that its surface was like a mirror.

So if there was above the lake, lovely blue sky with a few white wispy clouds, that would be reflected on the lake surface because it's like a mirror.

I've actually seen some water before, not not a lake, a canal where it has been so still that it has reflected the sky and it's so beautiful.

Okay, you could open your eyes now.

So let's check.

Does this sentence use serene correctly? And is it an effective sentence? Well, straight away I can see a word pair, the serene lake.

So I know I've used this word correctly.

It was so still, that shows that it's calm and I've got a simile, which is when we use as or like to compare something, its surface was like a mirror.

I'm using a simile to describe the lake.

Perhaps you could check now how effective is your sentence and did you create a positive and calm atmosphere? Pause the video while you check your sentence now.

Well done.

Let's look at another example.

"The serene atmosphere on the bank of the peaceful river sent Brick to sleep." Again, I can see a word pair, atmosphere.

The serene atmosphere on the bank of the peaceful river.

That shows again that there's a calm atmosphere and the fact that it's so calm, it's sent Brick to sleep.

That just shows how relaxing this atmosphere was.

Okay, it's time to look at our final word.

The first word, can you remember, it was a sound that autumn leaves might make.

It was? Well done, rustling.

And the second word that we just learned, which means peaceful and calm was? Well done, serene.

Let's find out what this third word is.

You might want to have a little jiggle on your chair.

You might want to have a quick movement break before we start with our final word.

Here we go.

What is happening in this picture? This is Stax the giraffe, what's he doing and how do you think he's feeling? Pause the video now.

Well done, Stax the giraffe here is leaning back on a tree trunk and he's got his arms behind his neck, his very long neck, which always is a pose that is associated with feeling quite relaxed.

Stax looks like he is feeling to me, very calm, very peaceful, very happy, and content.

And it looks like there's not much going on around him.

It looks like quite a calm setting.

Let's find out what this word is.

Tranquil.

My turn, your turn.

Tranquil.

Well done.

We've actually already seen this word in this lesson because tranquil was a synonym for serene.

So tranquil and serene must be very similar in their meaning.

Tranquil is an adjective.

It means peaceful or blissfully quiet.

How you feel when you take a little nap in the shade.

So peaceful was also a synonym for the word serene.

So we can see that serene and tranquil are very similar words.

Again, this is a lovely positive word, but we've also got here in the definition, blissfully quiet.

So wee are thinking about if something is tranquil, blissfully.

If something is blissful, bliss is like happiness.

So it's full of happiness.

So imagine blissful quiet.

Quiet that makes you feel really happy.

These words are synonyms of tranquil, peaceful, calm, and serene.

"Stax sighed happily and took in the tranquil surroundings around him." These are word pairs of tranquil.

Tranquil setting, a setting is where something is happening.

So if you were going to write a story and you said, I want my story to be in a really tranquil setting, it would be where the story was taking place.

It wouldn't be on a stormy tempestuous sea, but perhaps it might be by a lovely serene lake.

Or perhaps it might be in a lovely, or sitting on the top of a hill on a bench, looking out over a lovely view.

Tranquil surroundings.

Imagine you are on that bench and you are looking at the tranquil surroundings.

A tranquil scene, tranquil sea.

So it wouldn't be wavy or choppy.

It would probably be lovely and calm.

Okay, could you pause the video now and read these word pairs out loud? Well done.

We've got some more word pairs now, a tranquil garden.

Ooh, that sounds nice.

Imagine a garden.

That would be quite a nice activity, wouldn't it? Maybe next time you've got some spare time, you could design a very tranquil garden.

Perhaps it might have a little water feature.

So that lovely sound of the water.

Perhaps it might have a hammock under a tree.

Oh, I would love to have a tranquil garden.

A tranquil atmosphere.

Again, we learnt earlier about a serene atmosphere.

So we could also describe an atmosphere as tranquil.

A tranquil expression.

So imagine somebody's facial expression, if it was tranquil, it would be very peaceful, blissfully quiet, very calm, and a tranquil mind.

It would be nice thing to have a tranquil mind, if you felt worried about something or stressed about something, that would be the opposite of if you had a tranquil mind and your mind felt very peaceful and calm.

So again, could you pause the video now and read these word pairs out loud? Well done.

Let's check what we've just learned.

This time, I'd like you to tell me which of these words are word pairs of tranquil, A, sea, B, mind, C, sprint, pause the video while you think about your answer.

Well done.

A tranquil sea and a tranquil mind are both correct.

You wouldn't really have a tranquil sprint.

You might go on a tranquil run if you were sort of running slowly and you were in a lovely calm setting.

But a sprint, which is a really fast run, couldn't be described as tranquil.

So it's our final word map of this lesson.

This time we have tranquil written in the middle.

And just as before, there's a sentence there to support you.

Could you circle the synonyms and draw lines to the word pairs? Pause the video now.

Excellent.

Let's go through these answers together.

The synonyms for tranquil are peaceful, serene, and calm.

The words that are word pairs are tranquil setting, tranquil scene, tranquil sea, tranquil mind, tranquil garden, tranquil atmosphere, tranquil expression, and tranquil surroundings.

Now I'd like you to write a sentence using the word tranquil.

Again, use the word pairs to help you.

Now, this time, because it's our last sentence we're writing today, there's a bit of a challenge.

Could you try and write a sentence using one of these subordinating conjunctions, when or as, here's a scaffold to help you.

You could start your sentence using when, which would be starting with a subordinate clause.

And then if you do that, you have to have a comma before the main clause.

For example, when Stax leaned against the tree, there's my subordinate clause, he felt extremely tranquil.

Or you could put your subordinate clause after the main clause.

Stax felt extremely tranquil, that's my main clause, when he leaned against the tree.

Now that time when the subordinate clause comes second, we don't need a comma.

We only need a comma if we start our sentence with when and exactly the same applies if we use as.

So you've got two things to think about.

First, trying to include the word tranquil in your sentence and the word pairs will help you.

And then also trying to think about whether or not you could use a subordinating conjunction to make adverbial complex sentence.

So good luck.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

Let's look at some examples together.

So here we go.

As Bearnice took in the tranquil atmosphere on the moonlit beach, she sighed happily.

Does this sentence use tranquil correctly? Well, I can see that I've got atmosphere, a word pair, tranquil atmosphere, a moonlit beach.

That sounds really lovely, doesn't it? And she sighed happily, which is something you would do if you were feeling, if you were in a tranquil atmosphere.

And we can see that I have also got a subordinating conjunction as Bearnice took in the tranquil atmosphere on the moonlit beach, she sighed happily.

In this sentence, my main clause is she sighed happily.

That would be okay without the subordinate clause.

That makes sense on its own because my subordinate clause comes first.

Starting with the conjunction as, I have my comma after it to separate it from my main clause.

Here's one more sentence.

"Grit knew that surfing was off the cards when he looked out of his window and saw the tranquil sea before him." To surf you need big waves.

If the sea is tranquil, it means it's going to be very calm.

So surfing would be off the cards, that's an expression to say it's not going to happen.

Did you use a subordinating conjunction? Here's one in my sentence.

When, this time the main clause comes first.

Grit knew that surfing was off the cards.

You could put a full stop there, but I've extended it using my conjunction, when he looked out of his window and saw a tranquil sea before him.

Well done, if you managed to include a subordinating conjunction in your sentence.

It's our last task for today.

I'd like you to fill the gaps with either rustling, serene, or tranquil.

Here are the sentences.

"Who's there?" Armie squeaked as he heard a sound in the bushes.

Brick dreamed of having his own garden to chill out in on sunny afternoons.

Oz thought the weather was perfect for a quiet, relaxing walk.

Now we know that serene and tranquil are very similar in meaning.

So you might find that those could fit in either sentence, but rustling.

There should definitely be one sentence that that fits in.

Pause the video now while you complete this task.

Well done.

So the first sentence, the word you should have put in that sentence was rustling.

"Who's there?" Armie squeaked as he heard a rustling sound in the bushes.

We know that means a kind of crackling or swishing sound.

Brick dreamed of having his own tranquil garden to chill out in on sunny afternoons.

Tranquil garden.

That was a word pair for the word tranquil.

You might have also said a serene garden, but I think tranquil is the one that fits best in this sentence.

And I know that because garden is a word pair of tranquil.

Oz thought the serene weather was perfect for a quiet, relaxing walk.

Well done for completing that task.

So let's summarise what we've learned today.

We have learned that rustling is an adjective, meaning crackling or swishing.

The sound of autumn leaves being shaken from a tree.

Serene means peaceful or calm, like how you feel when you've done a long relaxing session of yoga.

And tranquil means peaceful or blissfully quiet.

How you feel when you take a little nap in the shade.

Well done for working so hard this lesson.

You have completed lots of tasks and you've written three amazing sentences.

I hope these words are really useful in your speaking and in your writing.

And perhaps you might even come across one of these words when you are doing some reading in this week to come.

So thank you for learning with me today and hopefully I'll see you again another time.

Bye.