Lesson video

Hi everybody, I'm Miss Gardner, and welcome to today's vocabulary lesson.

I'm really looking forward to today's lesson because we're going to be learning six new words that we can use to describe how we feel when we're trying really hard.

You'll notice in the lesson that although each word is associated with trying hard, they are all used in slightly different contexts and with slightly different meaning.

So let's get started with today's lesson.

Your learning outcome for today's lesson is to effectively use the words tenacious, persevere, and other rich vocabulary associated with trying hard.

So let's start with looking at the keywords.

I'll do my turn, your turn.

Verb, that is a doing, being or having word, adjective, that is a word that describes a noun, synonym, that is a word that has the same or similar meaning to another word, and word pair, these are words that often appear together.

So there are three learning cycles in our lesson today.

In the first, we'll be learning our first new trying hard word.

Then in the second, we'll be learning the second new trying hard word.

And then in the third learning cycle, we'll be learning four new trying hard words.

So let's start with our first new trying hard word.

So before I reveal what the word is, I want you to look really closely at this picture and discuss with your partner, your class, or just have a think by yourself, what is happening in this picture? What can you see? What's are Grit and Plato doing? Pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, so what can you see in this picture? I can see Plato has got a really tight grip on that donut.

He does not want to let go of the donut.

Grit has also got a tight grip in his mouth.

He's biting onto that donut, desperate to have a bite.

Is he going to be able to have a bite though, or will Plato be holding onto it too tightly, that Grit has no chance? Genius, so here's the word.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Tenacious, tenacious, tenacious is an adjective and it means determined or strong-willed like refusing to let go of something.

So who's being really tenacious in this picture? Well, both of them really, aren't they? They're both really trying to have a bite of that donut.

But it's Plato who's got a really tenacious hold on the donut, he will not let go and share it with Grit.

Other forms you can use it in is as an adverb, tenaciously, "He held tenaciously onto the donut." So it describes the verb there.

Here are some synonyms of tenacious.

Remember a synonym is the word which has a similar meaning.

It might not be exactly the same but similar.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Determined, strong-willed, stubborn.

I wonder if you've heard any of those words before? Let's have a look at the word tenacious in a sentence.

"Plato kept such a tenacious hold on his donut that Grit had no chance of having a bite." Here are some word pairs of tenacious.

I'm going to say them out loud first together and then you are going to have a go at saying them.

Because we know that saying things out loud is a really good way to help us remember them.

Tenacious grasp, so that's another word for holding onto something.

Plato had a tenacious grasp on the donut.

Tenacious hold, tenacious grip, again, another word for hold and grasp, a tenacious attitude.

You have a tenacious attitude, your attitude is that you are really determined.

You're not going to give up even when things are getting hard.

A tenacious player, maybe your favourite tennis player you can describe as tenacious because they never give up.

They're always determined to win even if they're losing.

And tenacious perseverance, again, that's if you show tenacious perseverance, you keep going until the very end, even when it's really hard.

So now pause the video and off you go saying these word pairs aloud.

Okay, let's just check for understanding.

Which of these words is a synonym of tenacious, A, determined, B, attitude, C, grip? Pause the video now.

So our synonym for tenacious is A, determined, well done.

It's time for task A.

Here is a word map and you can see in the middle of the word map is the word tenacious.

In a moment you'll pause the video and you'll read all the words around the word tenacious.

Then the first thing you'll do is circle the synonyms. Then you need to draw lines to the word pairs.

There's a couple of tricks that you can do to help you decide whether a word is a word pair or a synonym.

So if it's a word pair, the words should work, should sound right next to each other.

So have a go at saying the word next to tenacious and if it makes sense, it sounds right, that's then it's probably a word pair.

To find out if it's a synonym, you can use the sentence to help you.

So, "Plato kept such a tenacious hold on his donut that Grit had no chance of having a bite." If you cover up the word tenacious and replace it with the other word that you're trying to see, if the sentence still makes sense, then it's most likely a synonym.

Remember that if even if it doesn't quite make sense, it doesn't mean it's definitely not a synonym because synonyms don't have the exact same meaning.

They have similar meanings, but they can be quite nuanced.

So it doesn't mean it's not a synonym, but that could be a good trick to help you.

So now pause video and off you go completing the tenacious word map.

Well done, everybody, great job, let's go through these.

So our synonyms of tenacious are stubborn, strong-willed, determined, and our word pairs are tenacious grasp, tenacious hold, tenacious grip, tenacious attitude, tenacious player and tenacious perseverance, well done.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson where we are learning our second new trying hard word.

Again, before I tell you what the word is, I want you to have a look really closely at this picture.

What can you see happening? What has Stax just done, what's Stax doing? How do you think Stax seems? Pause the video now and discuss this with your partner, whoever you are with, or just have a think about yourself.

Okay, well done, so what did you see? I can see that Stax has just crossed the finish line.

He looks like he's been running, you can see on his T-shirt, here's a number.

So it looks like he's been part of a running race.

He's crossed the finish line, but he does look exhausted, doesn't he? His tongues hanging out, he's got sweat, his eyes look very tired, it looks like it's been really difficult, but he has made it to the finish line.

He's finished the race, he's completed the task.

So your word today is persevere.

My turn, your turn, persevere.

This time your word is a verb, so a doing word, and it means to keep going or carry on like running all the way to the end of the marathon.

So you can see in this picture that Stax persevered, he kept going till the end.

Another form you can use the word in is as a noun, perseverance.

Stax showed excellent perseverance in this running race.

So it's there, you can see it's a noun.

These words are synonyms of persevere, so they will all be a noun, the verb too, because synonyms have to be the same word class.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Keep going, persist, carry on.

Let's have a look at persevere in a sentence.

"Despite the relentless heat, Stax persevered until he finished the marathon." Because the sentence is in the past tense, I've changed persevere to persevered, so the verb and the tense form has changed.

These words are the word pairs of persevere.

I'm going to read them out loud first and then we'll pause video and you'll have a go at restating them aloud as well.

Steadily persevere, so you can see the word pair now, is an adverb, how did he persevere? Steadily, slowly, he just kept on going.

Patiently persevere, somehow persevere, even though it was really difficult, he somehow persevered.

Resolutely persevered, did not give up all the way to the end.

Quietly persevere, maybe in an exam you can quietly persevere.

Even though it's quite difficult, but you just keep going, get your head down and try and get through the exam, you quietly persevere.

And sweatily persevere, I think we can say that Stax sweatily persevered in that picture because you could see the sweat dripping off his face.

So now pause the video and off you go saying these word pairs aloud.

Well done, let's just check for understanding.

Which of these words is a synonym of persevere, A, give up, B, persist, or C, steadily? Pause the video now.

That's right, it is B, persist.

It can't be A, give up, because give up is actually an antonym, an opposite meaning of persevere, and steadily is a word pair, well done.

So it's time for task B.

Again, you have another word map with the word persevere.

Just like in task A, you need to circle the synonyms and draw lines to the word pairs.

Remember trying to, you can use a sentence to help you.

"Despite the relentless heat, Stax persevered until he finished the marathon." To find the synonyms, cover up the word persevered and replace it with one of the words from the word map.

If the sentence still makes sense, then it probably is a synonym.

So pause the video now and off you go completing task B.

Well done, everybody, let's go through these.

So our synonyms of persevere, persist, keep going, keep going and carry on.

Our word pairs, sweatily persevere, resolutely persevere, steadily persevere, patiently persevere, quietly persevere, and somehow persevere, well done.

Now it's the next part of task B.

And this time we're going to write a sentence.

You need to write a sentence using either the word tenacious or persevere.

Make sure you use the words pairs to help you.

So the first thing you need to do is choose whether you are going to use tenacious or persevere.

Then choose your word pair and then you can build your sentence around it.

I really want you to try and be as ambitious as possible with this.

So you could just say, "Plato had a tenacious hold on the donut," but can you add on that, can you build on it? Can you try and add a fronted adverbial, maybe some adverbs, maybe a subordinate clause to make it a complex sentence.

I want you to try and do whatever you can to make this as an ambitious a sentence as possible.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Great job, everybody, well done.

I hope you enjoyed writing your sentence.

Does this sentence used the word tenacious correctly? Bogart showed a tenacious attitude in the exam by never giving up.

So I've used the word pair attitude here, a tenacious attitude.

So yes, it does make sense in this sentence.

However, I think we can improve it.

"Despite the challenging questions, Bogart showed a tenacious attitude in the exam and, as a result, he made himself proud." So why is this a sentence more effective? I've explained why he had to show a tenacious attitude because the questions were really challenging and I've also explained that by what happened from showing this tenacious attitude, well, he made himself really proud.

So I've built on the previous sentence and I've added lots of extra detail.

Now pause the video and read back through your sentence, and have a think about how effective it is.

What could you add to make it a more effective sentence? Pause the video now.

Great job, everybody, well done with task B.

It's now time to learn the four new trying hard words.

So have a look at these pictures.

Can you predict what each word may be? Before we reveal the words, I'm going to talk through the pictures and as I'm talking it through, you can be having a think about what the word might be.

So in the first picture, we have Bogart running on a treadmill.

Have a look at his face, what does he look like he wants? He wants that burger, doesn't he? He looks like he's gonna keep on running until he can get that burger.

So in the second picture, we have Oz walking and it looks like she's explaining something, and then you have Grit at her toes, writing things down.

Looks like he's listening to every word that she is saying.

Then the third picture, we have Bearnice, she's strapped herself to a tree and you can see she's holding up a sign which says, "Stop." She is protesting against this machine.

Looks like it's about to cut down the tree and she is refusing and she's going to such extreme, she's tied herself to the tree in order to fight her cause.

So have a think about what the word might be there to describe Bearnice.

In the final picture, you can see Armie looking up at this big smart building.

He's in a suit, he's got a briefcase.

You can see at the top of the building there's a dollar sign for money.

Looks like maybe it's his first day of work.

How do you think he might be feeling right now? How can we describe Armie in this moment? So pause the video now and discuss with your partner, your class, or just have a think about what you think might be the words in all these pictures.

Okay, so let's go through these.

I wonder if you got them right.

The first word, we'll do my turn, your turn, determined, determined, that is an adjective which means driven or completely set on, like working extra hard to get what you want.

You can see Plato looks determined to get that burger and he's gonna keep on running until he gets it.

Then in the second picture, dedicated, dedicated, that is an adjective, which means committed or devoted.

When you can care so much about something so much that nothing can stop you.

Grit is dedicated to Oz, maybe he's her assistant in this picture, he's taking down notes of everything she says, and I've just noticed that it looks like he's about to fall off the cliff.

He's so dedicated to his job that he keeps writing and listening to Oz without looking at where he's going.

Then the third picture, committed, committed.

That means you are completely loyal and dedicated, like a protestor fighting for a cause they believe in.

Bearnice is clearly committed to the cause of protecting that tree.

That's why she's strapped herself to it.

She will not move until the machine goes away.

So she's committed to this cause.

And then finally, ambitious, ambitious.

That means determined to achieve big things like someone who has plans to rule the world.

Armie looks very ambitious, doesn't he, in this picture? He's looking up at that sign, he's thinking, I want to get this amazing job and make all the money that I can.

And he's really ambitious, he's being ambitious.

So now let's check for understanding.

Can you match the adjective to the correct image? Pause the video now, off you go.

Okay, so our first word, ambitious was the picture on the right, wasn't it? For Armie come up at his new job at the tower.

Determined, Plato running on the treadmill until he can get his burger.

Dedicated, Grit, so dedicated to his job as Oz's assistant that he almost walks off a cliff.

And then committed, Bearnice is committed to the cause of protecting that tree, well done.

So it's time for the first part of task C.

We are going to complete the word map for the word committed.

Now because you've completed word maps already in this lesson, I'm not going to go through the instructions in as much detail as before, but you still need to circle the synonyms and draw lines to the word pairs.

Now, unlike in task A and task B, we haven't been through the word pairs and the synonyms before completing the word map.

So you are going to have to use the picture, the definition, and the sentence to help you.

Here's the sentence to committed.

"Bearnice was a committed supporter of the campaign to stop trees being cut down." So now can you complete the word map by circling the synonyms and drawing lines to the word pairs? Pause the video now.

Well done, so let's go through these.

What are the synonyms of committed? Devoted, loyal and dedicated.

And then the word pairs, a committed couple, if you are a committed couple, you're committed to each other, you've been together, you're committing to be together for a really long time.

Relationship, again, if you're in a committed relationship, you are very loyal to each other.

Committed fan, a fan who goes to their football team every single week, even if it's pouring with rain or they're really busy, they still go.

A committed team, the team is committed.

They go to training every day, they never miss a training.

They are committed to doing really well in the tournament.

Committed supporter, Bearnice is the committed supporter of the campaign to stop trees being cut down.

And committed believer, again, quite similar to supporter, committed believer in that you're really true to your beliefs, well done.

Now we are going to fill in the word map for the word dedicated.

Again, use the picture, the definition and the sentence to help you.

Remembering the trick of replacing the word with one of the word map's to see if it might be a synonym.

If the sentence still makes sense, it's quite likely it's going to be a synonym.

So here's your sentence for this word.

"The dedicated volunteer didn't mind working every Saturday without being paid." So pause the video now and circle the synonyms and draw lines to the word pair, off you go.

Well done, okay, so our synonyms are loyal, devoted, committed, and then our word pairs, the dedicated staff, so the people who work in the school are the dedicated staff, that really care about educating the children.

The dedicated teacher works every day, really, really late, marking the work 'cause she's dedicated.

The dedicated employee, so someone who works for someone who's a dedicated employee.

The dedicated service, the dedicated team, the team are dedicated to their responsibility, their job or their teammates.

And then the dedicated volunteer, someone who works somewhere without being paid 'cause they're dedicated and they really care.

If you need to, you can pause the video and make any edits to your word map if needed, otherwise really well done.

Now we are going to complete the word map for the word determined.

Here is the sentence to help you.

"With a determined expression on his face, Plato carried on running for as long as he could." Pause the video now, circling the synonyms and drawing lines to the word pairs, off you go.

Okay, so our synonyms are purposeful, driven, completely set on, and then our word pairs, determined expression, so the expression on your face is determined, maybe you'd have a furrowed brow, a determined look in your eye.

Determined effort, you can see in the picture there that Plato's giving a determined effort or making a determined effort to run as long as he can.

A determined voice, a determined opponent, so the person you're playing against is determined to beat you.

The determined enemy, again, the person you are against is determined to overtake you or defeat you.

And then determined step, you take a determined step onto where you want to go, well done.

Okay, now we need to complete the word map for the word ambitious.

Here's the picture, the definition, and the sentence to help you.

"The ambitious student arranged to start a job as soon as he finished college." So pause the video now and circle the synonyms and draw lines to the word, off you go.

Well done, here are our synonyms, determined, aspiring, and driven.

And then the word pairs, an ambitious plan, if you have an ambitious plan, you want to do really big things.

Similarly, an ambitious dream.

Again, you're dreaming for really big, exciting things in the future.

An ambitious project, maybe you and your colleagues create a really ambitious project to build a new playground.

And that's, if it's ambitious, it's really exciting, but you're gonna have to work really hard to make it.

An ambitious goal, again similar, if you have ambitious goals, you want to do it really, really well, aim really high.

An ambitious attempt, that could be an ambitious attempt to beat the world record at something.

It's going to be really difficult.

It's very ambitious and you want to do it.

And then the ambitious student, a student who wants to do really well has really high expectations for themself, you can describe them as ambitious.

Well done, everybody.

So it's our final task for today's lesson.

And we need to fill the gaps with either the words tenacious, persevere, dedicated, committed, determined, or ambitious.

I'm going to read the sentence for that loud now, but as I'm reading them, you can be thinking about which word could fit in the blanks.

Because these are all quite similar in meaning these words, you might find it a little bit difficult to know which word goes in each sentence.

So my advice to you is to, if you're not sure, leave that sentence and come back to it at the end when there are a few less options and it might be a little bit more obvious then.

So firstly, Plato's hmm project was to one day upgrade his food truck to a restaurant.

The hmm couple promised to spend every moment together.

The teacher was hmm to her job and worked hard every day.

With a hmm voice, Stax told the interviewer why he should get the job.

Bearnice hmm resolutely in her quest to find the treasure, no matter what happened.

And finally, the dog kept a hmm hold on its favourite bone and refused to let go.

If you'd like to, you can absolutely use the completed word maps from earlier in the lesson to help you with this as well because you can look at the synonyms and the word pairs particularly to help you.

So pause the video now and off you go, completing the final vocabulary task.

Great job, everybody, well done, let's go through these.

Plato's ambitious project was to one day upgrade his food truck to a restaurant.

The committed couple promised to spend every moment together.

The teacher was dedicated to her job and worked hard every day.

With a determined voice, Stax told the interviewer why he should get the job.

Bearnice persevered resolutely in her quest to find the treasure, no matter what happened.

And finally, the dog kept a tenacious hold on its favourite bone and refused to let go.

Really well done and I hope you enjoyed that final task.

Great job today, everybody, you've all worked so hard.

Here is a summary of everything we've learned.

Tenacious is an adjective which means determined or strong-willed, like refusing to let go of something.

Persevere is a verb, which means to keep going or carry on, like running all the way to the end of a marathon.

Determined is an adjective which means driven or completely set on like working extra hard to get what you want.

Dedicated is an adjective which means committed or devoted, when you care about something so much, nothing can stop you.

Committed is also an adjective which means completely loyal and dedicated, like a protestor fighting for a cause.

And ambitious is an adjective which means determined to achieve big things, like someone who plans to rule the world.

Great job today, everybody, well done.