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ELA 6: Use the Teacher Voice 38 Views


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Description:

Everybody loves a good transition word. Additionally, everybody can tell when you're just trying to throw in transition words to sound fancy.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:02

Sometimes, people get lost.

00:04

Like that one time we were hiking in the woods and got super lost for ages. By the time we [Footage of someone running through woodland]

00:09

were finally found, we were naked, eating bark, and leading a small colony of squirrels [Naked man in front of a colony of squirrels]

00:14

to greatness.

00:15

…It was a strange forty minutes.

00:17

But seriously, who made these trees look so similar, anyway? A few bright pink ones with

00:22

directional arrows wouldn't hurt… [Pink trees appear in a forest]

00:24

Anyway, people don't just get lost outside: they can get lost in a piece of writing, too. [Man falling into a book]

00:30

So how can we avoid that problem? Simple. Leave a trail of breadcrumbs throughout your [Boy studying with breadcrumbs all over his work]

00:34

paper.

00:35

…Or just use some transition words.

00:38

Transition words are words that signal the relationship between different parts of a

00:42

text, and help the reader make sense of how the different bits relate to each other.

00:46

We don't want the folks reading our work to feel like they're caught in an idea tornado. [Man looking confused as words fly around]

00:51

Though on the bright side, there are probably less cows inside of a idea tornado… [Man stuck in a tornado]

00:56

There are different transition words for different tasks. Some transition words show the order,

01:01

or sequence of thoughts.

01:03

These are words like "first," "second," "next," "finally," "previously," and "subsequently."

01:08

So let's say we wanted to tell someone how to make mud. Sure, we could say, "dirt, water, [Man writing on a blackboard]

01:15

mix."

01:16

Or, we could use some transition words to liven things up. [Woman dancing in a club]

01:20

Like…"first, grab some dirt. Next, get a pail of water. Finally, mix them together."

01:26

See? That sentence sparkles. [Sparkle appears on the writing]

01:28

The mud, not so much. We also use transition words to move between

01:32

similar thoughts or ideas.

01:34

These are words like "also," "similarly," "additionally," and "furthermore," which help

01:39

similar ideas get super cuddly.

01:41

Ugh…so obnoxious. [White rabbit]

01:43

So if we happened to have two sentences lying around that both touched on facts about nocturnal

01:48

animals…

01:49

…we could smoosh them even closer together with a transition word like "additionally."

01:52

Oh, but fair warning: these transition words won't help you see nocturnal animals. For [Spotlight on an owl]

01:58

that, we recommend a flashlight. There are also transition words that help

02:02

us move between contrasting thoughts or ideas.

02:06

Words like… "but," "however," "whereas," "in contrast," and "while," which all basically

02:11

say: "Hey, these things? These things are different." [An ugly blob and an otter]

02:15

So if you find yourself writing about two people who are very different, say….someone

02:19

loves birds, and someone who's terrified of 'em… [Woman holding a bird on her hand and a man looking scared]

02:23

…why not mark that difference with a transition word?

02:26

And why not, oh, we dunno….send them bird watching?

02:30

…What? We like watching people sob in the fetal position. [Man curled up terrified on the floor as a bird flies around]

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