Lesson video

Hello and welcome to today's spelling lesson.

I'm Mr. Moss.

I love spelling, and I'm really looking forward to teaching you.

With you for today's lesson, you need to bring your looking eyes, your listening ears, and your thinking brains.

As well as that, something to a write with and write on, and someone or something to talk to you would also be excellent.

Right, let's get right into today's spelling lesson then.

In today's spelling lesson, we're going to be spelling words with the suffix, -ent.

The outcome will be, "I can spell words using the suffix -ent." Here are the key words for today's learning.

My turn, your turn.

Root word.

Suffix.

Brilliant.

There's only two key words here, so please keep an eye and an ear out for them.

Let's talk about what these words mean then.

A root word is the base word from which other words are formed, often by adding prefixes or suffixes.

A suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning.

So today we are going to be adding that -ent suffix to the end of root words to create new words.

Here's the outline for today's lesson.

We're gonna begin by looking at words using that -ent suffix.

Then we're going to look at some strategies to practise these spellings, and we're gonna finish out the lesson by spelling some curriculum words.

Let's get on with using that -ent suffix then.

Read these words for me.

Brilliant.

Significant.

Hesitant.

Elegant.

Different.

Be careful with that one there.

You don't always hear that "E" in the middle.

Excellent.

Watch out for the double "L" there.

Convenient.

Present.

All of these words end in either the -ent or -ant suffix.

And you may have noticed from saying them with me there, that these endings can sound the same, but they're clearly spelled differently.

One is -ent and one is -ant.

Today, remember, we are going to be focusing on that -ent suffix.

The ending can be also pronounced "nt".

We don't very clearly say "ent" or "ant." It can often sound like an "nt." This is because it is not very stressed.

Choosing the right ending when spelling is not easy, as they can sound the same, and are often unstressed.

There are some clues to help us decide the correct spelling.

Really listen out carefully for these clues now.

Words ending in -ent, so that suffix that we are concentrating on today, are often found after a soft C, "ss", or a soft G, "juh".

Whilst words ending in -ant come after a hard C, "ck", or a hard G, "guh".

Let's look at some words that follow this pattern.

This word has a soft C.

My turn, your turn.

Magnificent.

So you can hear before our -ent, we have a ss ss, soft C.

Decent.

Again, soft C.

And diligent.

Someone who's diligent, really concentrate and works hard.

Diligent.

Again, juh juh.

Soft G there.

So, with our soft C and our soft G, we have our -ent suffix.

Let's look at some examples with our hard C and our hard G, and see which ending we have then.

Here we have the word "significant." Say that for me one more time.

Significant.

Ck ck.

Hard C.

So we have our -ant spelling.

Again, did you hear there, that it's not very clear that it's -ant.

It sounds more like an "nt", doesn't it? But it's our -ant spelling, because it's coming after a hard C.

Decant.

You might decant one liquid from one vessel into another.

Again, ck ck.

Hard C, so it's our -ant suffix.

And finally, elegant.

"He wore an elegant suit." Elegant.

Guh guh, hard G.

So it's our -ant spelling.

So our rule to take away from here is, if you have a soft C or a soft G, it's our -ent, that suffix that we are concentrating on today.

And if it's a hard C or a hard G, it's that -ant suffix.

What sound can you hear before either our -ant or -ent endings here? Can you hear a soft C, a hard C, a soft G, or a hard G? Listen carefully, say the words, and then match which sound you can hear.

Remember, this will also link to the spelling that it has.

Read this word for me.

Brilliant.

Our word is, my turn, your turn.

Intelligent.

Say that one more time.

Intelligent.

What sound can you hear before our suffix here? Point to the right one now.

Great.

Intelligent.

Juh juh, it's a soft G.

And so that means we have our -ent suffix.

Read this word for me.

My turn, your turn.

Applicant.

An applicant is a person who is applying for a position or job.

Applicant.

What sound can you hear there? Point to the correct sound.

Great.

Absolutely.

It is a hard C, hence why we have our -ant suffix.

So read this word for me.

My turn, your turn.

Urgent.

Urgent.

She made an urgent request.

Has that root word urge.

Urgent.

Juh juh.

It's a soft G.

Brilliant.

Hence why we have our -ent spelling, that suffix we're concentrating on today.

Read this word for me.

Brilliant.

Decent.

Decent.

Which sound does it have? Point to the correct one now.

Great.

It absolutely is that soft C.

We don't say dee-kent or di-kunt.

It's dee-sent.

So we have our -ent spelling, that one we're concentrating on today, because of that soft C.

The -ent spelling is also found often after a qu-, a QU.

Frequent.

Something that's frequent happens very often.

Subsequent.

Something that happened after something else.

This is true of the related words and their spellings as well.

The word frequency also has our E-N-C-Y there.

Subsequently, or subsequently, is also E-N-T-L-Y.

There's a link here between the spellings of these other words and the words that have our -ent suffix.

Words ending in -ent may have a related word in which you can hear that "e" or "ee" sound more clearly.

So the word torrent here, which is a strong flow of water.

Torrential.

"There was torrential rain yesterday." Nonstop rain that hammered down.

Torrent and torrential both have the E in them.

In torrential, you can clearly hear that eh eh, can't you? Torrential.

Confident.

Say that word for me.

Confident, with our -ent.

A linked word here is confidential.

D-eh-eh.

You can clearly hear that eh eh, can't you? Confidential.

So a linked word there, which has that clear E sound, helps us to know that in confident, which often doesn't sound like an -ent, does have that -ent spelling.

Resident.

A resident is a person who lives somewhere.

"The resident of that block of flats." A linked word is residential.

Again, we clearly hear, like in confidential, that eh, don't we? That E spelling.

Thinking of the related word can help you to choose the correct -ent or -ant spelling.

With that in mind, with the rules that we've carefully just looked at, could you choose the correct spelling of the words here? The words are potent, accident, frequently.

Think about the rules we've looked at.

Think about some linked words.

Pause the video and choose the correct spellings now.

Brilliant job, team! I could see some really great application of the rules we've looked at here.

It is difficult, isn't it? 'Cause we don't always clearly hear whether it's -ant or -ent, 'cause they're often unstressed and sound like "nt".

Try to remember the rules that we've looked at.

Sometimes, also seeing them written down can help.

Potent.

Something that's potent has great power, or strength or influence.

So, potent.

It's also linked to the word potency.

Hmm, pote-n-cy.

It's a tricky one, isn't it? But this is our correct spelling here.

Accident, as well.

Accident.

I don't say acci-dent.

Sounds like an "nt", doesn't it? So it's not always clear.

Let's think about why we know that these spellings are both -ent.

They're -ent because we can hear that eh, in potential, and accidental.

You can hear that eh or E spelling in those linked words.

Remember, those related words can help us to spell these other words.

Frequently was our other one.

And our rule here was our -ent spelling often comes after a QU spelling.

So this is our correct spelling here.

The root word here is frequent, and we've added our -ly suffix to turn it into an adverb as well.

Frequently.

Remember, our rule here was, the -ent spelling often comes after QU spelling.

When there is an obvious root word, some familiar spelling patterns are used when adding the suffix.

And I'm sure you know lots of spelling patterns already when adding certain suffixes.

Quite often, we can just add the suffix.

Different.

Be careful with this one, 'cause we don't always hear that E in the middle of the root word here, in differ.

Different.

Consist becomes consistent.

So you could see there, with different and consistent, we could just add our -ent.

In some other instances, we have to double the final consonant letter, and then add the suffix.

Here we have excel.

Excel.

If you excel at something, you're very good at it.

I can then turn that into an adjective and create the word excellent.

"What an excellent idea." Here we have repel, which means to push away.

I can have my -ent suffix by doubling my L to create the word repellent, like a bug repellent.

Something that keeps bugs away, repels them.

Brilliant.

Our rules here are often, if we can clearly see the root word, we can just add the suffix.

And other times, we must double the final consonant letter before adding our -ent suffix.

There is this pattern too.

We may have to remove the E from the root word and then add our suffix.

We've actually looked at some words already in this lesson that do this.

Preside, for instance, becomes president.

Reside becomes resident.

Urge becomes urgent.

Resident here is a noun, as is president.

Something that's urgent is something that needs to happen very, very quickly.

"I took an urgent phone call." It's an adjective.

Interestingly here, our -ent suffix can create nouns and adjectives.

Many suffix spelling rules apply to a wide range of suffixes.

So think about the knowledge of suffix rules that you already know, 'cause they may apply to adding our -ent suffix.

Make some links in your learning.

Think about the rules that we've just looked at for adding our -ent suffix.

Think carefully.

Choose the correct spelling of the word subsequent, torrent, and confident.

Pause the video and select the correct spellings now.

Great job, team.

Subsequent, it is our QU spelling, and then our -ent.

Remember, our rule here is the -ent spelling often follows or comes after a QU.

Torrent.

Think about the word torrential where you can hear that eh eh, very clearly there.

So torrent is -ent, and confident.

Think about the word confidential.

You can clearly hear that eh eh, can't you? For that E spelling.

So it's this one here.

Confident.

Remember, you can hear that eh or E in torrential and confidential.

Great job.

For our practise task now, what you are going to do for me is underline the correct spelling of these commonly used words.

Let's read them, first of all.

My turn, your turn.

Servant.

Frequent.

Arrogant.

Excellent.

Violent.

Restaurant.

Torrent.

Expectant.

Assistant.

Evident.

Innocent.

Magnificent.

Brilliant.

Urgent.

Remember, use the clues that we have covered to help you to decide whether it is our -ent or our -ant spelling.

Remember those clues are, does the word have a soft C or G? Does it follow a QU spelling? Is there a related word that you can say where you hear the vowel clearly? You may need to choose by what looks right.

So I want you to underline the correct spellings with the correct suffix, -ent or -ant, and use the rules that we've looked at so far in this lesson.

Off you go.

Brilliant job, team.

I'm so, so impressed.

I can really see you working hard there to apply those tricky rules that we've looked at in this lesson.

Remember, it can be really hard to decide whether it's our -ent or our -ant suffix, and there are a number of rules that we can use to help us.

Let's see how you've done then, and let's go through the answers.

So, servant.

That's an -ant spelling.

That's one that we just need to learn.

Frequent.

Remember our rule here, the QU spelling is often followed by our -ent suffix.

Arrogant.

That's a hard guh guh, isn't it? So it's our -ant spelling.

Excellent.

That's where that root word, excel, we double the L and add -ent.

Violent.

Again, one that we just need to learn, linked to our word here, violence.

Restaurant.

Again, one that we need to learn, -ant.

Torrent.

Torrential is a linked word here, where you can clearly hear that eh eh.

Torrential.

Torrent are linked.

Expectant, -ant spelling there.

Expectation is a linked word there, with that long A.

So you know it's an A spelling.

Assistant.

Assistance, -ance is a linked word there.

It's that -ant spelling.

Evident.

Evidence is a linked word here.

Innocent, with our soft C.

Innocent.

Innocence is also linked, 'cause it's a soft C, it's our -ent.

Magnificent.

Again, soft C.

Magnificent.

So -ent.

Brilliant.

Brilliance is a linked word here.

This is one that we just need to learn.

And urgent.

Urge is our root word here, with a soft G, so we need to add -ent.

We effectively remove the E from the end of the root word urge, and add -ent, to create our adjective, urgent.

How did you do that? Which spellings did you know, and which were more difficult? You'll have an opportunity to practise these in the next learning cycle.

So I want you to make some corrections now, but also consider the words that you found most difficult there, and hold onto them, 'cause you're going to use them in our next learning cycle.

Share your learning, share which ones you found more difficult, and make any corrections now.

Off you go.

Brilliant job.

So, onto our next learning cycle, which is strategies to practise.

We are going to practise spelling -ent words.

When practising spellings, it is helpful to focus on the words that you find difficult.

And this is specific and unique to you.

You could choose words with no clue, to help choose between -ant or -ent.

Words such as convenient, or consistent.

You could choose words with a difficult root word or stem, such as excellent, innocent, independent, and intelligent, which don't have clear roots or stems. Or you could choose words that you didn't know from practise A, words perhaps like violent, frequent, or evident.

So I want you now to choose the five words that you have found most difficult in this lesson.

Take some responsibility.

This will be unique to each of you.

Off you go.

Great job.

So first we need to choose those words, and I'm hoping you've done that by now.

Then we need to decide the strategy.

This is our next step that we're going to practise, and I'll give you some examples of strategies now.

It could be the look, cover, write, check strategy.

It could be colour blocking, where we block out certain parts of words and break them down.

It could be the big letter strategy.

It could be a word in a word strategy.

Or naughty letters.

The strategy may depend on the spellings you've chosen, and what makes them difficult.

Next, you'll need to practise your spellings.

Finally, don't forget to check that you've written them correctly, and to make any correction.

I'm gonna go through with you now some strategies that might be useful for the words that we've been looking at.

I will try to use a word and a word strategy to focus on the spelling independent.

You may spot the root word, but there could be other words that you could spot too.

You can copy out the spelling again, with the word in bigger letters, underlined or highlighted in colour.

Here is a word I have done this with.

Independent.

I found in, pen, and dent, in independent.

I also found depend, and I've copied out a number of times.

You try using word in a word to practise one of your chosen words now.

Off you go! Brilliant job! Show me.

Great! This helps us break down the word into smaller chunks, makes links between the words, and spots patterns.

I know there's an in, a pen, and a dent, in independent.

I know there's depend in independent as well.

Another strategy that you might use is the big letter strategy, and I'm going to use that to practise the spelling of frequent now, with that -ent suffix.

Remember to look carefully, then write the word out several times, getting larger each time.

It might look like this.

I've gotten larger each time.

This is a really nice visual strategy.

Try using the big letters to practise one of your chosen words now.

Off you go! Brilliant job, team.

Show me your favourite one.

Great! Using your cursive handwriting as you practise, if you can, really helps as well, as it makes great links between your muscle memory, your hand, and your brain.

Remember, we're trying to put these spellings into our long term memory, so we're confident with spelling them.

So I've shown you two strategies that you could use there.

Remember, you could use the strategy like look, cover, write, check as well.

Now I'd like you to practise your spellings using the strategy that you find most helpful.

This will be unique and independent to you.

Choose the five words that you want to practise, or have found most difficult from the lesson so far, and have a go at practising them.

Off you go.

Great job, team.

I'm so impressed.

Let's have a look at some examples.

I practised the word convenient.

I used the look, cover, write, check strategy, and I managed to spell it correctly.

I also used, with independent, my words in a word strategy.

I found an in, a pen, and a dent, and depend in independent.

And finally, I used my big letter strategy with frequent.

I also used my cursive handwriting to make really good links between my hand and my brain.

Did you spell your words correctly? And what strategies did you use? Share your favourite set of spellings that you've practised, your favourite strategy, and make any corrections now.

Off you go.

Brilliant job! I'm so impressed.

Remember to keep up the spelling practise independently as well.

Finally then, onto our final learning cycle, which is spelling curriculum words.

Curriculum words are those words which will appear a lot in our reading and writing, so it's important we are confident with spelling them.

They often have slightly tricky elements to them as well.

Let's read some words.

Contentment.

That sense of being completely happy and content.

Enjoyment.

I found enjoyment in the lesson.

Agreement.

We came to an agreement.

Movement.

What do you notice about these spellings? Pause the video and have a think.

Great! Well I've noticed, they all end in this -ment, which makes a "mnt" sound.

These words all ended in -ent, but it's part of the suffix -ment.

The suffix -ment is a noun suffix, as it creates nouns and abstract nouns.

You can hear the E more clearly than other words ending in -ent, like recent or violent.

Contentment.

Enjoyment.

You may or may not hear it, dependent on how you pronounce it, but remember, they're all -ment.

Now let's focus on the following curriculum words as well.

My turn, your turn.

Different.

We've looked at this word already in this lesson.

Excellent.

We've also looked at this word.

Experiment.

Equipment.

Great.

What do you notice? Do you think there's anything tricky about these words? Pause the video and have a think.

Great job, team.

Really good word consciousness and consideration of what might make these words tricky there.

There's the words differ and excel, in different and excellent.

We have to be really careful.

There's an -ment in experiment, and there's the word equip in equipment.

Different has the root word differ.

D-I-F-F-E-R.

It has a double F, and it can also be hard to hear that middle E, because the -er is not particularly stressed.

It's unstressed in different.

So watch out.

You hear it more clearly in differ, but it's not clear.

I don't say di-fur.

Differ.

Makes an "uh" sound, because it's unstressed.

So remember, it's D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T.

Different.

Excellent has the root word excel.

And the final L is doubled when we add our -ent suffix.

So remember that.

Experiment and equipment both have the noun suffix, -ment.

Some people think it is a T in the middle of equipment, but there isn't.

It's equip-ment.

We don't always clearly hear that P, so watch out.

Also, watch out for that I in the middle of experiment.

So, think about those words that we've just looked at, those curriculum words.

Which of these are spelled correctly? Quickfire round! Point to the correct spelling of different.

Great! Remember, it's that root word differ.

You can't clearly hear it, but it's the -er ending.

It's there.

And then our -ent suffix.

D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T.

Different.

Excellent.

Pause the video and point to it now.

Great! Our root word here is excel, which has a single L.

We double the L, and then add our -ent suffix.

Experiment.

Point to the correct spelling of experiment now.

Great! Experiment.

EX, and then P-E-R-I-M-E-N-T.

And it's that -ment suffix, because it's a noun.

And finally, equipment.

Point to the right one now.

Great job! Remember it's got that P in the middle, it has the word equip, and it's an -ment word as well.

Equipment.

Great job! So, because these words appear with such frequency in our reading and writing, it's important we know how to confidently spell them.

We're gonna use one of those spelling strategies that we may have used already earlier, the look, cover, write, check strategy, to practise writing out different, excellent, experiment, and equipment, a number of times.

This strategy works by looking carefully at the spelling and considering what's difficult about it.

I know different has a double F and then an ER, and then my -ent suffix.

I then cover it up and have a go writing it in my neatest handwriting, ideally my cursive script.

And then I check back.

Oh! I got it correct.

But just 'cause I got it correct once doesn't mean I give up there! I keep going.

So I do this a number of times, until I really have this spelling embedded in my long term memory.

I want you to do this now, for these four words, writing them out using the look, cover, write, check strategy a number of times.

Off you go team! Excellent job.

So I'm hoping you've got something that looks like this.

Different, excellent, experiment, and equipment, written out a number of times, and correctly.

If you've made any (indistinct) mistakes, share those mistakes and make the corrections now.

Off you go! I love this strategy, because it allows us to take responsibility and independence in learning our spellings.

So we've been looking at that suffix, -ent today.

Words that end with the suffixes -ant and -ent can sound like "nt" when we speak.

So it's a bit difficult and tricky to know which spelling to use.

The -ent spelling that we've looked at today may be found after a soft C, soft G, or a QU spelling.

Words ending in -ent sometimes have related words, where the eh or E vowel sound is clearer, like resident and residential.

Eh, -ential.

The letters -ent can also be found in the noun suffix, -ment.

We just need to learn how to spell many words ending in -ent, as there may not be a rule or pattern to help us.

And using spelling strategies can help us to learn these words off by heart.

Keep up the great spelling, keep up the great practise, and I'll see you again soon, team.