Lesson video

Hi everybody, it's Ms. Gardner, and welcome to today's vocabulary lesson.

In today's lesson, we're going to be continuing using words that we can use to describe settings, but this time we're going to be focusing on words we can use to describe the countryside.

Lots of words that we are going to learn today are really positive adjectives to use to describe the countryside, so I wonder if you'll be able to use it in any of your writing soon.

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

Off we go.

Your learning outcome for today's lesson is to effectively use the words idyllic, verdant, and other rich vocabulary associated with the countryside.

So let's start with looking at the key words.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Noun.

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

Adjective.

An adjective is a word that describes a noun.

Synonym.

A synonym is a word that has the same or similar meaning to another word.

Word pair.

These are words that often appear together.

So there are three sections of our lesson today.

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

Then we'll be learning our second new countryside word.

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

So let's start by learning our first new countryside word.

Before I tell you what the word is, I want you to have a look at this picture.

What is happening? What can you see? What does Bearnice look like? What's the setting look like? How could you describe the setting? In a moment, you can pause the video and have a think about this by yourself, or discuss it with your partner, your class, or whoever you're with, so pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, well done.

So what is happening in this picture? Bearnice looks very happy, doesn't she? She looks like she's in the mountains in the countryside.

There's a green hill, which is covered in beautiful white flowers.

There's a couple of clouds in the sky, but it looks like the most perfect setting, doesn't it? It looks like a very, very beautiful place.

You might recognise the clothes that Bearnice is in is Austrian clothes, so this is the Austrian Alps, the Austrian mountains, which is a very beautiful place to go.

So for the word to describe this picture is idyllic, idyllic.

Idyllic is an adjective and it means ideal or perfect, like a beautiful place where you can relax in the sun.

So we can describe the background of this picture, the mountains and the hills, the rolling hills as idyllic, it's perfect.

These words are synonyms of idyllic.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Ideal.

Perfect.

Blissful.

Let's have a look at the words in a sentence.

"Bearnice danced in the idyllic setting, which was as pretty as a picture." These words are word pairs of idyllic.

Idyllic is an adjective, so the word pairs we're going to use are all nouns, what can be described as idyllic.

I'll read them out loud first and then we'll pause video and you can have a go at saying the word pairs 'cause we know it's really important to not just listen and see the word pairs, but also to say them out loud so that we are really confident in remembering them.

Idyllic setting.

Idyllic location.

The mountains are an idyllic location for a summer holiday.

Idyllic countryside.

There are lots of places in England with rolling hills and green fields and beautiful meadows we can describe this as the idyllic countryside.

An idyllic scene.

You could say that the family having a picnic next to the lake, the sun was shining, the water was glistening, you could describe that as an idyllic scene.

The idyllic beach.

An idyllic beach has probably got white sand, blue waters.

Not many people on the beach.

It's crystal clear, sun shining, beautiful and idyllic beach.

And then a little bit different, because this isn't a setting or a place, but you can describe your childhood as idyllic.

An idyllic childhood is one maybe that is spent lots of time outside, very happy with lots of amazing memories.

You can look back on your childhood and say it was a pretty idyllic childhood.

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

Well done, let's check for understanding.

Which of these words is a synonym of idyllic.

A, blissful.

B, spot.

Or C, ugly.

Pause the video now.

Okay, so our synonym for idyllic was A, blissful.

B, spot is a word pair that's an idyllic spot for a picnic, and ugly is an antonym, an opposite meaning.

Great job.

It's time for task A.

You can see we have a word mat for the word idyllic.

In the middle of the word mat is the word idyllic, and then it is surrounded by other words.

Your job is to circle the synonyms, so the words which have a similar meaning.

We know that idyllic is an adjective, so the synonyms will also be adjectives.

And then you need to draw lines to the word pairs.

A way you can check if it's a word pair is by saying the word next to idyllic and does it sound like something that would be described as idyllic? For example, an idyllic scene.

That's a word pair.

To check if a word is a synonym, you can use the sentence to help you.

"Bearnice danced in the idyllic setting, which was as pretty as a picture." Cover up the word idyllic and replace it with another word, for example, ideal.

If the sentence still makes sense, then it's probably a synonym, let's just check.

"Bearnice danced in the ideal setting, which was as pretty as a picture." The sentence still makes sense.

It's not quite the exact same meaning and that's fine because synonyms don't have to mean the exact same thing.

It's a similar meaning, but it's an adjective, so the sentence still does make sense so we can know that that's the synonym.

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

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

Our synonyms for idyllic were blissful, perfect and ideal.

Our word pairs, idyllic, beach, idyllic setting, idyllic location, idyllic scene, idyllic countryside, and idyllic childhood.

Well done.

Now, we're going to learn our second new word to describe the countryside.

Before I reveal what the word is, have a look at this picture.

What is happening? What can you see? Where is the picture? You can use these sentences to help you.

I can see.

Mrs. Wordsmith is.

Or the setting is.

Pause video now and off you go.

Okay, so what can we see happening in this picture? Mrs. Wordsmith looks like she is a shepherd.

She's shepherding the sheep, herding the sheep.

Where is she? She's in some rolling hills, green fields.

It looks like a really luscious part of the countryside, doesn't it? There's lots of grass.

It's really green grass, so it's healthy.

It's not too dry or yellow.

And yes, you can see the beautiful rolling hills in the background.

So, how could we describe the setting in this picture? We can use the word verdant.

My turn, your turn.

Verdant.

Verdant is an adjective and it means green and leafy, like a lush valley where sheep graze on the grass, so you can see in this picture, this is a verdant valley.

It's really green and leafy and lush and looks like it's in really good condition, doesn't it? So we can describe it as verdant.

These words are synonyms of verdant.

They have a similar meaning.

We'll do my turn, your turn.

Green.

Leafy.

Lush.

Let's have a look at the word in a sentence.

"Mrs. Wordsmith walked through a verdant pasture full of green grass and sheep." Pasture is farmland, really.

These words are word pairs of verdant.

I'll say them aloud first, and then you can have a go at saying them aloud as well.

Verdant pasture.

So that's the green grass, the green farmland, verdant farmland.

Verdant valley.

That's the bottom of the hills.

The hills, when they go down to the bottom, roll down, up and down, they go into the valley.

A verdant meadow.

Again, a meadow is a bit like a field where plants and flowers grow.

It's part of the countryside.

Verdant jungle.

The jungle is verdant.

It's probably lots of leaves and trees and plants and it's full of leafy greens, so you can describe a jungle as verdant.

A verdant landscape.

If you're looking out on the view and it looks like it does in this picture, green, rolling hills, you could describe it as a verdant landscape, and the verdant countryside.

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

Great job.

Right, just check for understanding.

Which of these words is a word pair of verdant? A, barren.

B, landscape.

Or C, leafy.

Pause the video now.

Okay, so the word pair of verdant was B, landscape.

You could describe the landscape as verdant.

A, barren, it's almost the opposite meaning.

Barren means really bare and empty where no plants can grow.

And then C, leafy is a synonym.

Well done.

It's time to complete the word mat for verdant.

Just like last time, you'll need to circle the synonyms and draw lines to the word pairs.

Here's a sentence to help you.

"Mrs. Wordsmith walked through a verdant posture full of green grass and sheep." To check that if it's a synonym, cover up verdant, replace it with another word, and if the sentence still makes sense, then it's probably a synonym.

Let's try valley, for example.

"Mrs. Wordsmith walked through a valley pasture full of green grass and sheep." That doesn't make sense, does it? Because we can't use the word valley to describe posture, so we know that that cannot be a synonym.

It must be a word pair.

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

Well done, let's go through it.

Our synonyms for verdant are green, lush, and leafy.

And our word pairs, verdant pasture, verdant valley, verdant meadow, verdant jungle, verdant countryside, and verdant landscape.

Great job.

Now it's time to write a sentence and you are going to write a sentence using either the word idyllic or verdant, you can choose.

Use the word pairs to help you.

So here are the word pairs for idyllic.

Here are the word pairs for verdant.

First, you can choose which additive you're going to use, then choose your word pair, and then you can build your sentence around that.

I'd like you to be as ambitious with this as possible.

Maybe you could include a fronted adverbial, a relative clause, a non-finite clause, a subordinate clause of some kind to try and make it as ambitious and effective as possible.

So pause the video now and off you go.

Well done, everybody, great job.

Can you help me here? Does this sentence use idyllic correctly? Show me thumbs up or thumbs down.

"The quiet beach was the idyllic location to spend the day." Does that make sense if I used idyllic correctly? I have, haven't it? I've used the word pair location to describe the beach as an idyllic location, but I think we can improve this.

How could we use the word idyllic more effectively here? The quiet beach, with its white sand and sparkling blue water, was the idyllic location to spend the day.

So you can see I've added in some parenthesis here with extra detail to explain why the location is so idyllic because it has white sand and sparkling blue water.

So now you can pause the video, read back through your sentence, and think about how effective it is in using the word idyllic or verdant.

Pause the video now.

Great job.

Okay, it's time for the third part of our lesson where we are learning four new words to describe the countryside.

So let's have a look at these pictures.

I'm going to talk through them and as I'm doing that, you can be thinking about which word each picture might be.

So in our first picture, we have Yin, it might be Yang, and snacks driving along a road through what looks like a really beautiful rainforest or jungle or wood or something, and Yin is taking photographs 'cause it's a really photogenic place.

It's so beautiful that she wants to take photographs.

Then, in the next picture, this doesn't look like the countryside, but that's okay 'cause these words don't always just have to be describing the countryside.

Army is all alone reading books in what looks like maybe a planet really, really far away with no one else there.

So how can we describe this planet? Then, on the third picture, we have Army again, this time going, looks like he's rolling down a really green hill, going up and down, so how could we describe those hills.

And then in the final picture, Stax is a delivery man and he's arrived at someone's garden gate and the garden looks really beautiful, doesn't it? It's got lots of trees and bushes and flowers.

There's loads of plants.

How could we describe that green garden? So pause video now and off you go thinking about what each word might be.

Okay, we're going to do my turn, your turn for each word.

Our first word with Yin and Stax in the car is scenic.

Scenic.

Scenic is an adjective, which means beautiful and picturesque, like a postcard of the countryside.

So a scenic view or a scenic forest or landscape is one that's really beautiful and you want to take a picture of it.

Our second picture is secluded, secluded.

Secluded is an adjective which means quiet or remote, like a place where you can be completely alone.

So Army's chosen a really secluded spot on this planet, far, far away because he doesn't want to be disturbed by anybody, so it's a secluded spot.

Our third picture is rolling, rolling.

Rolling, actually in this context, is an adjective, not a verb so we can use it to describe the gentle hills that rise and fall like endless waves, so an adjective, which means rippling, wavy, or tumbling.

Then finally, our final picture is lush, lush.

Lush is an adjective, which means rich or flourishing or overgrown, like a garden full of big, healthy plants, so that's a really lush garden we can see in the picture.

There are lots of really healthy plants growing.

So now, checking for understanding, can you match the adjective to the correct image? Pause the video now.

Okay, so secluded is the picture of Army on the planet far away from anyone else.

Scenic is the picture of Yin and Stax driving through this beautiful forest taking photos, scenic journey they're on.

Lush is the garden that's really overgrown with beautiful plants and trees.

And then rolling, the rolling hills that Army is jumping up and down on.

Well done.

It's time to complete our first word mat for task C for rolling.

Now we've already completed two word mats this lesson, so I'm not going to talk through in detail for each time for what you have to do, but just remember, you are circling the synonyms and drawing lines to the word pairs.

Unlike in task A and task B, we haven't gone through the synonyms and the word pairs already, so you're going to have to use the picture, the definition, and the sentence to help you with this to complete it independently.

Also, you have to use your knowledge of what is a synonym and what is a word pair.

Here is the sentence though to help you.

"The rolling hills seem to go on forever into the distance, gently rising and falling." So pause the video now and off you go completing the word mat.

Well done, let's go through this.

So what are our synonyms for rolling, having words with similar meaning in this sentence in this context? Rippling.

Tumbling.

And wavy.

You could use those words in the sentence and the sentence will still make sense.

"The tumbling hills seemed to go on forever." Then the word pairs are, the rolling hills, the rolling fields, you can describe it as lots and lots of fields in the distance and they're just kind of rolling into each other, they go on forever.

The rolling waves.

So this is the countryside, but you can describe the waves in the sea, the rolling waves going up and down.

The rolling mist.

You wake up in the morning and there's mist covering the sky.

You could describe the rolling mist formed over the sea.

The rolling meadows, a bit like fields.

The rolling landscape.

You could describe the countryside as having a rolling landscape, so fields that roll into each other and go on forever.

And the rolling countryside.

Well done.

Now we're going to complete the word mat for the word scenic.

Remember, you can use this picture to help you, the definition, and this sentence.

"Stax and Yin took the scenic route so they could take in the beautiful view." So a scenic route is the more beautiful route.

So for example, if you're going on a car journey to visit somebody, you could just drive down the motorway, which is not very beautiful, not very scenic, but it gets you there quicker.

Or you could take the scenic route, which takes you along the beautiful coast, and it might be longer, but it's more beautiful, so more enjoyable, so you choose to do the more scenic route.

So now pause the video and off you go circling the synonyms or drawing lines to the word pairs.

Pause the video now.

Well done.

So our synonyms for scenic are beautiful, picturesque, and charming.

Picturesque is one of our other Mrs. Wordsmith's words.

It's when something is so beautiful, it's almost picture-perfect.

Then our word pairs are the scenic route, a scenic walk, maybe you might go on a scenic walk through the countryside or along by the beach.

A scenic spot, a scenic spot to have a picnic.

A scenic day, the scenic landscape, the scenic view.

You walk up a really hot, tough hill, steep hill to get to the top and then you have a scenic view out across the beautiful countryside, or the scenic countryside.

Scenic countryside is probably really green grass, green meadows filled with beautiful flowers and plants.

Well done.

Now we're going to complete the word mat for the word secluded.

Just like last time, you're circling the synonyms, so words which have a similar meaning, and drawing lines to the word pairs.

Here's a sentence to help you.

Army found a secluded spot to sit by himself and read, secluded spot away from everybody else.

So what words have a similar meaning to secluded? Those are your synonyms, and then the word pairs, what could you describe as secluded? Pause the video now and off you go.

Well done, let's go through it.

Our synonyms for secluded are remote, sheltered, and quiet.

Our word pairs, a secluded spot, a secluded place to be.

The secluded corner.

The secluded beach, a beach where no one else knows about so no one else goes there.

A secluded cabin.

You might go to a secluded cabin in the middle of the woods.

There's no electricity or wifi.

It's far away from everyone else.

A secluded retreat.

Maybe you'd go to a secluded yoga retreat, which is, again, far away from anywhere else.

It's really quiet and peaceful.

A secluded lake, and a secluded town.

Again, one that's far away, quiet, not very busy.

Well done.

Our final word mat is for the word lush.

Here's your sentence to help you.

"Stax waded through the lush greenery to get to the garden gate." So which words are synonyms? What have similar meaning to the word lush? And then which words are the word pair? Which words could lush describe? Pause video now and off you go.

Well done.

Okay, our synonyms for lush are thriving.

That means they're growing really well.

They're really healthy, lush plants, thriving plants.

Rich, they're rich in nutrients.

They're really healthy and green.

Abundant, there's lots of them.

There's lots of greenery.

There's lots of plants.

You can describe it as abundant.

Then our word pairs, lush greenery, just like in the picture there, the lush greenery in the garden.

The lush rainforest.

There's those plants and trees and flowers and they're really healthy and growing.

The lush garden, lush landscapes.

So when you look out and the view and the landscape is lush, it's beautiful, lots of flowers, lots of plant life.

Lush grass, really long and green.

And then lush oasis, a really peaceful, beautiful spot you could describe as a lush oasis.

Well done.

Okay, it's time for the final task of today's lesson.

You need to fill the gaps with either the word idyllic, verdant, secluded, rolling, scenic, or lush.

I'll read the sentence out loud now.

As I'm reading, you could be thinking about which word could go in each sentence.

"The mm valley was bursting with green grass.

Yin sat in a mm corner of a cafe where no one else could see her.

Brick went for a mm walk along the beautiful coastal path.

Oz reflected happily on her mm childhood, which had been so perfect.

Grit skipped through the green grass of the mm meadow, sniffing flowers as he went.

Plato walked up and down the mm fields for hours." If you want to, you can use the word mats from earlier in the lesson, particularly the word pairs will be really helpful for you completing these sentences.

So pause video now and off you go.

Okay, let's go through it.

So some of these words are very similar in meaning, so they could be used in more than one sentence, so don't worry if you've used one in another sentence and you think that works, that makes sense.

These are just the answers that I've got.

"The verdant valley was bursting with green grass.

Yin sat in a secluded corner of a cafe where no one else would see her.

Brick went for a scenic walk along the beautiful coastal path.

Oz reflected happily on her idyllic childhood, which had been so perfect.

Grit skipped through the green grass of the lush meadow, sniffing flowers as he went.

Plato walked up and down the rolling fields for hours." Really well done, everybody.

Here's the summary of everything we've learned today.

Idyllic is an adjective which means ideal or perfect, like a beautiful place where you can relax in the sun.

Verdant is an adjective, which means green and leafy, like a lush valley where sheep graze on the grass.

Scenic is an adjective which means beautiful and picturesque like a postcard of the countryside.

Rolling is an adjective which means rippling, wavy, or tumbling like gentle hills that rise and fall like endless waves.

Lush is an adjective which means rich, flourishing, or overgrown like a garden full of big, healthy plants.

Secluded is an adjective which means quiet or remote, like a place where you can be completely alone.

Great job today, everybody, well done.