ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Language Arts Videos 84 videos
Whales are great, but when we asked them to tell us a little bit about themselves, all they said was, “Weeeeeeoooooooohhhhhhhh.” So we’re goi...
ELA Drills, Beginner: Meanings 1. Use context clues from the text to find the answer.
ELA Drills, Intermediate: Spelling 2. Which word is spelled wrong?
ELA 3: How To Write a How-To 4 Views
Share It!
Description:
We were going to write some instruction on how to watch this video but we think that'd be too many how-to's in a row. The universe might implode or something. So...hm. Well, you know what to do.
Transcript
- 00:03
[Coop and Dino singing]
- 00:12
There are plenty of people out there who can help you learn how to do new things: your
- 00:16
parents…
- 00:17
…your teachers…
- 00:18
…your cat…c'mon, if anyone knows how to take over the world, it's Mrs. Snugglesworth. [A cat sitting on top of a tank]
Full Transcript
- 00:22
But let's say you're not interested in world-domination, so Mrs. Snugglesworth can't help you…where
- 00:29
can you turn?
- 00:30
Easy!
- 00:31
Check out a how-to article.
- 00:33
The idea behind how-to articles is pretty simple: they explain how to do something as [Coop discussing how-to articles]
- 00:37
a series of steps.
- 00:38
You can think of them as a set of instructions for getting something done.
- 00:41
A good example would be a recipe! [Man wearing a chef outfit in a kitchen]
- 00:43
You start with a whole bunch of ingredients….
- 00:45
…then the recipe, aka the how-to article, tells you each step along the way, from how
- 00:49
much of each ingredient you have to measure out… [Dino talking about recipes]
- 00:51
…to the order in which you mix them…
- 00:53
…to how long you should let all those ingredients bake.
- 00:55
By the end, if you follow all the steps correctly and in the right order… [Chef holding a plate of food]
- 00:58
… you should end up with something delicious!
- 01:00
If you didn't follow the steps, you'll probably get a gross blob that took a few hours to
- 01:04
make.
- 01:05
How-to articles can teach about a lot more than just cooking, though. [Chef holding plate of food trips and plate falls to the floor]
- 01:07
They can teach you how to build a bookcase…
- 01:09
…or how to iron shirts…
- 01:10
…or even how to fish. [Man holding two fish]
- 01:12
Just try not to learn how to do all three at once.
- 01:14
Because even if you manage to finish the bookcase, it's really not the best place to store fish.
- 01:19
How-to articles are often written by experts on the subject. [Man on a boat with a fishing rod]
- 01:22
Y'know…the people who know how to do the stuff they're teaching you how to do!
- 01:25
So if there's something special you know how to do, you could write a how-to article of
- 01:29
your very own.
- 01:30
Just break down the activity into a series of ordered steps…like so…
- 01:33
…and write out the steps in clear, helpful language. [Coop discussing steps of installing a printer]
- 01:36
If someone else can follow your steps and successfully learn the skill, then congratulations!
- 01:40
You've written a great how-to article.
- 01:42
And if it's a how-to article about world domination, keep it away from Mrs. Snugglesworth…we [Mrs Snugglesworth wearing a crown in the President's office]
- 01:47
don't like the look in her eyes…
Related Videos
ELA Drills, Beginner: Point of View. Is the statement in the video true or false?
ELA Drills, Beginner: Textual Analysis 1. The purpose of the instruction manual was...what?
ELA Drills, Beginner: Point of View 3. Which sentence in the passage best shows the narrator's point of view on the topic of Chelsea Simpson?
We wanted to make a video about sedentary rocks, but we couldn't get lazy uncle Rocky off the couch. Oh well. We'll teach you about sedimentary roc...
Today we're bringing you the opposite of Jurassic Park—how living things become fossils. Okay okay, it might not be quite as fun...but hey, at le...