Video Script — Unit 4

What Do We Plant

Subject: English | Class: 4 | Series: Leeds (SNC 2020)

---

Hello, students! Welcome to Unit 4 of your Leeds English textbook. Today we are going to study a beautiful poem called "What Do We Plant" by a poet named Henry Abbey. This poem tells us about all the wonderful things we get when we plant a tree.

Let me read the poem for you.

"What do we plant when we plant the tree? We plant the ship, which will cross the sea. We plant the mast to carry the sails; We plant the planks to withstand the gales — The keel, the keelson, the beam, the knee; We plant the ship when we plant the tree."

In this first stanza, the poet says that when we plant a tree, we are also planting a ship. How? Because ships are made from wood! The mast is the tall straight post on a ship. The sails are the material that catches the wind. The planks are the flat pieces of wood that make the body of the ship. And gales means very strong winds.

"What do we plant when we plant the tree? We plant the houses for you and me. We plant the rafters, the shingles, the floors, We plant the studding, the lath, the doors, The beams and siding, all parts that be; We plant the house when we plant the tree."

In this second stanza, the poet says that when we plant a tree, we are planting houses. Many parts of a house are made from wood — the rafters that hold up the roof, the shingles on the roof, the wooden floors, the doors, the beams, and the siding.

"What do we plant when we plant the tree? A thousand things that we daily see; We plant the spire that out-towers the crag, We plant the staff for our country's flag, We plant the shade, from the hot sun free; We plant all these when we plant the tree."

In the last stanza, the poet tells us that we plant a thousand things. The spire is a tall conical object like a tower. The staff is the pole that holds our country's flag. And trees give us shade from the hot sun. The poet calls trees "kind" because they give us so many things.

The central idea of this poem is that trees are extremely valuable. When we plant a tree, we are planting everything that can be made from wood — ships, houses, flagpoles, and thousands of other daily things. Trees also give us shade and keep us cool.

Now let us learn some important vocabulary. "Mast" means a tall straight post in a ship. "Sails" means the material extended on a mast to catch the wind. "Gales" means a very strong wind. "Planks" means long thin flat pieces of timber used in building. And "spire" means a long conical object.

In this unit, we also learned about consonant clusters. A consonant cluster is a group of two or more consonant sounds together. There are initial consonant clusters that come at the beginning of words. The most common three-letter initial clusters are scr as in screen and screw, shr as in shrug and shred, spl as in split and splash, spr as in spring and spray, squ as in squid and squeeze, str as in street and strong, and thr as in three and throat.

There are also final consonant clusters that come at the end of words. The common ones are tch as in batch, latch, and catch; rth as in earth, worth, and birth; nch as in hunch, bunch, and branch; nts as in servants and patients; and dge as in ledge, ridge, and fridge.

We also learned how to express opinions. When you want to share your opinion, you can use phrases like "From my point of view...", "I believe...", "I feel...", and "I totally agree with you."

Let us do a quick recap. The poem "What Do We Plant" by Henry Abbey teaches us that trees give us wood for ships, houses, and a thousand other things. Trees give us shade and are very kind. We learned vocabulary like mast, sails, gales, planks, and spire. We practised consonant clusters at the beginning and end of words. And we learned how to express our opinions.

Remember, trees are our best friends. Plant a tree today and help our planet! Thank you for watching!