Lesson video

Hello everyone.

My name is Mr. Brown and I'm your teacher for today's English lesson.

And today we are going to be generating vocabulary to describe a character and it's a character from a fabulous picture book called ""The Viewer"" by Gary Crew.

So for this lesson, you will need a copy of that book, pause the video and go and get your copy of ""The Viewer"" by Gary Crew now.

Fabulous, now you have your copy of the book, I think we're ready to start generating vocabulary to describe a character.

Let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can generate vocabulary to describe a character in ""The Viewer"".

The keywords we use are character, figurative language, simile, let's say this together, my turn, your turn.

Character, figurative language, simile.

Excellent.

Let's look at the definitions.

A character is a person, animal, or figure in a story.

Figurative language is the use of metaphor, simile and personification to paint vivid pictures for the reader.

A simile is a linguistic device that compares two things using like or as, highlighting similarities to create vivid imagery.

The lesson outlined, we will start by generating descriptive vocabulary and then move on to similes.

In today's lesson we'll be generating descriptive vocabulary to describe a character from "The Viewer".

A character is a person, animal or figure in a story.

The story of ""The Viewer"" revolves around one character and he is a boy named Tristan.

Which of these is the name for a person, animal, or figure in a story? Is it A setting, B, opening or C character? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's see if you found the right answer.

So the name for a person, animal or figure in a story is A character, C.

Well done if you said C.

Tristan doesn't appear on the front cover of "The Viewer" and there isn't a clear illustration of him inside.

The only detailed illustration of him was from when he was just a baby.

Now why do you think the writer and illustrator haven't included a clear illustration of him? And what effect will this have on the reader? Pause the video and discuss with your partner now.

Welcome back.

Okay, adding to that mysterious atmosphere that we don't have a clear picture of Tristan.

Tristan.

Now the atmosphere of a story is important and in "The Viewer", the writer and illustrator are trying to create an atmosphere that is mysterious, eerie, suspenseful and tense.

By not showing a detailed illustration of the main character, this adds to the mysterious atmosphere.

We are going to write a character description of Tristan, and in our writing we will use our imagination to describe Tristan as we do not have illustrations to be led by.

We will use the illustrations that we have, but because they aren't very detailed and there's not many of them, we'll have to use our imagination to fill in the gaps.

Not showing a detailed illustration of the main character will create more of which type of atmosphere, is it A, a mysterious atmosphere, B, a relaxed atmosphere, or C, a familiar atmosphere? By not showing a detailed illustration of the main character, which atmosphere are we going to be creating a bit more of? Mysterious, relaxed or familiar? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Okay, so by not showing a detailed image of Tristan, we are creating a more mysterious atmosphere.

And so our writing needs to keep that mysterious atmosphere going.

Well done if you said A.

When we are describing a character, we will use lots of expanded noun phrases.

Now, expanded noun phrases.

That's a group of words with no verb that add detail to a noun.

Here are some examples of expanded noun phrases used to describe a character.

Short, scruffy hair, the boy with bright eyes, lanky, tall boy, the baggy jumper on top.

These are all expanded noun phrases.

The clearest illustration we have of the main character Tristan in "The Viewer" is in a scene at the dump.

So I'd like you to look at page four.

This page contains an image of the dump and Tristan can be seen through the broken TV.

So you can see there is a picture of a broken TV and we can see Tristan in the background hunting for something it looks like on the floor through the television screen that's broken.

To begin describing him, we first need to decide, what are the most important nouns to describe? For example, describing a character's hair and face will help the reader to picture that character in their mind more than it will if we describe the character's knees or fingers.

The nouns that we are most likely to want to describe in your description of Tristan are his hair.

And we'll focus on the colour, the length, the style, his face, and we can talk about his eyes, his nose, his mouth, his body shape.

He's quite tall or is he short, bulky or slim? His clothes, the items that he's wearing, the colour and the condition of those clothes.

Now you will need to generate adjectives to describe each of those noun.

So remember, we want this character be curious and mysterious to keep in line with the atmosphere that we're trying to create.

So we need to come up with adjectives to describe his hair, eyes, body and clothes.

Now work with your partner to come up with at least two adjectives to describe each of these nouns, remembering that we are trying to come up with adjectives that create a mysterious and curious atmosphere.

Okay, pause the video and work with your partner to come up with at least two adjectives for each noun now.

Welcome back everyone.

Okay, so let's have a look at some examples.

His hair you may have described as short, scruffy, unbrushed, untidy, dark.

We wouldn't want to describe his hair as very well combed or neat or tidy because that doesn't match his character.

He goes off on his own to a rubbish dump to search for different items to perhaps bring home.

I think someone like that would not worry so much if their hair was unbrushed or untidy.

His eyes blue, wide, bright, curious, eager, mischievous.

So through his eyes, we're actually telling the reader about his character as well, because you can have curious eyes, eager eyes, mischievous eyes, his body, skinny, slim, slender, scrawny, lanky and tall, and clothes, uncleaned, stained, torn, ironed, unironed, sorry, creased, baggy and dirty.

So I don't think he would worry about his clothes being a bit dirty or perhaps even torn.

In a rubbish dump, maybe you know, how did he get in there? Perhaps he had to climb over a fence which had some sharp wire on and he caught some of his trousers on the wire and that's torn them.

These are all things that I'm trying to put together in my mind to fill in the gaps where we don't have those images.

To add further depth and detail to your description, you could describe the nouns within these nouns.

So we have the noun body and the noun clothes, and within those nouns you've got arms, hands and legs, and body and T-shirts, shorts and shoes and clothes.

For example, Tristan wore creased, baggy clothes.

So I could stop there, but I'm adding more detail, which included his stained, torn shorts and filthy shoes.

So that extra detail, I'm talking about the nouns within the noun.

Tristan had a tall, slender body.

I could stop there, with lanky legs.

Again, I'm adding a bit more detail.

Let's check our understanding.

Which of these nouns could be considered a noun within the noun face? Is it A, knees, B mouth, or C hands? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back everyone.

So within your face, do you have knees? Absolutely not.

Do you have hands? No, but you do have a mouth.

So well done if you said B.

Time for a practise task, I'd like you to complete the table to create your own list of important nouns related to the main character Tristan and then generate adjectives to describe each one.

So I've started you off with hair and eyes but you can add more nouns to this.

And the first adjective I've given you for hair is short.

Now to go deeper with this task, I would like you to write a list of nouns within each noun that you will also use in your descriptive writing.

Okay, it's over to you.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's see how you got on.

His hair can be described as short, scruffy, unbrushed, untidy, dark.

I wonder if you've come up with more of these or any of these adjectives in your description too.

Blue, wide, bright, curious, eager and mischievous are all adjectives to describe his eyes, his body, skinny, slim, slender, scrawny, lanky and tall.

And his clothes, unclean, stained, torn, unironed, crease, baggy, dirty.

And the nouns within the nouns, his body, within his body have his arms, hands and legs and his clothes, T-shirt, shorts and shoes could also be used to add further detail to those descriptions.

Let's move on to similes.

Throughout our setting and character description, we will use a range of figurative language to hook the reader in and build atmosphere.

Literary devices that create figurative language include metaphors, personification and similes.

We can also use literary devices such as alliteration and repetition to further create atmosphere in our writing.

Let's check our understanding.

Using figurative language helps to A, hook the reader in, B, limit the writer's creativity or C, build atmosphere, and there might be more than one correct answer.

Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Let's see if you were right.

Using figurative language helps to hook the reader in and build atmosphere.

Well done if you said A and C, limit the writer's creativity, absolutely not, figurative language would only help to give the writer opportunities to show off their creativity.

So well done if you said A and C.

A simile is a linguistic device that compares two things using like or as, highlighting similarities to create vivid imagery.

A simile is a useful way to describe something without using a long list of adjectives.

It can a vivid picture in the reader's mind helping to engage them.

For example, the girl ran as fast as lightning.

Straight away when I read that, I know the girl ran unbelievably fast.

We know from this simile just how fast the girl ran as we can make the comparison between her and the speed of lightning.

Another literary device that creates figurative language is the use of metaphors.

Now be careful not to confuse similes with metaphors.

Now metaphors say one thing is another thing, whereas, well let's use an example.

Tristan, the detective, looked around the dump.

Now he's not actually a detective, but here we are saying that he is a detective.

That's a metaphor.

Tristan, the detective, looked around the dump.

Now similes always use like or as.

Tristan, who is like a detective, looked around the dump, similes compare, whereas metaphors say something is something else.

Let's check your understanding on that.

Which of these is a metaphor and not a simile? Is it A, his smile was like sunshine.

B, his smile was sunshine.

Or C, his smile was as bright as sunshine.

Which of these is a metaphor and therefore not a simile? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back everyone.

Which of these is a metaphor and not a simile? Is it A, B, or C? Well done if you said B, his smile was at sunshine, that's a metaphor.

The other two use like and as and that makes them similes.

A simile describes something by comparing it to something else using like or as.

To prepare to write similes, we need to generate a list of things that we can compare Tristan to.

These should be things that he is similar to in terms of how he behaves, what he looks like and what sort of person he is.

For example, is Tristan more like a detective or a doctor? Well, he's more like a detective because he's always searching for things, which means we could compare him to a detective.

I would like you now to think about what Tristan is doing in the story and come up with some ideas of things Tristan is similar to.

So I've started you off.

He is searching, scavenging, examining and hunting.

Now if you're searching, you might be similar to a detective, a minor looking for diamonds or coal, a librarian looking for a book or an archaeologist hunting for dinosaurs' fossils.

I'd like you now to have a go with your partner and come up with some similar things for scavenging, examining and hunting.

Pause the video and have a go now.

Welcome back, okay, let's see if you managed to get any of these, so scavenging, you could compare him to a vulture, a seagull, a pigeon, a fox or a rat.

So animals there scavenging for food, examining, a scientist examines things, a police investigator and a doctor, and hunting a lion, wolf, hawk or treasure hunter.

I wonder if you had any of these.

Now the final step to creating your simile is to think of a creative way to compare the two things.

So we've got the searching section here.

We know that he's searching, he's similar to a detective, a minor, a librarian, or an archaeologist.

I'm gonna focus on archaeologist and use this example.

Tristan searched through the objects like, that makes it a simile, an archaeologist looking for fossils.

Perfect, that is a simile.

We're comparing Tristan to an archaeologist and saying they are similar.

Which of these similes does not include an accurate comparison? Tristan was scavenging like a fox going through someone's rubbish bin in the dead of night.

So we're comparing him to a fox.

Tristan was scavenging like a seagull, waiting to raid a family's picnic at the beach.

Okay, we're comparing him to a seagull.

Tristan was scavenging like a dolphin, gracefully gliding through the sea and there we're comparing him to a dolphin.

Okay, have a read through of these similes and tell me which one does not include an accurate comparison, pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back, okay, A, scavenging like a fox, going through someone's rubbish bin is an excellent comparison.

A really good comparison, particularly because a fox going through a rubbish bin.

A rubbish bin is full of discarded objects and things that people don't want and that's exactly the same as the rubbish dump.

So that simile works really well.

How about Tristan? Scavenging like a seagull waiting to raid a family's picnic at the beach.

Again, it works well.

Tristan is examining everything around him, looking like a seagull does at the beach, waiting for their opportunity to pounce.

Scavenging like a dolphin.

I don't think a dolphin scavenges for anything, but then I've said a dolphin gracefully gliding through the sea.

Well this is not even a simile that involves anything similar to what Tristan is doing.

So the correct answer is C.

That is not an accurate comparison.

Well done if you said C.

Time for a practise task.

So I'd like you to use the table to write two examples of similes that could be used in our writing when describing Tristan.

So you've got the examining section and the hunting section of our plan.

Tristan picked up an object and examined it like a, so you can finish that sentence.

And Tristan walked around hunting for something as if he were a, there you go, finish those and if you have any time you could even write your own too.

Pause the video and have a go at this practise task now.

Welcome back everyone, let's have a look at some examples.

Tristan picked up an object and examined it like a police investigator at a crime scene.

Lovely, good, the way that a police investigator would look at an object, look for clues, look for fingerprints.

That is the detail that he was looking in that scene, Tristan.

So it's a good similar to use.

Okay, how about number two, Tristan walked around, hunting for something like he were a lion prowling the savanna.

So a lion walking around, prowling, waiting for something they might be able to hunt and kill and eat.

And that's similar to Tristan, biding his time, walking around the rubbish dump, looking, searching for something that he might be able to take home.

Let's summarise the learning we've done today.

A character is a person, animal or figure in a story.

We can use expanded noun phrases to add detail and description to a noun.

Figurative language is the use of metaphor, simile and personification to paint vivid pictures for the reader.

A simile describes something by comparing it to something else using like or as.

Metaphors say one thing is another thing.

Brilliant work today, well done for generating vocabulary to describe a character in "The Viewer".

I will see you again very soon.