Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

It's Mr. Brown here with your English lesson for today, and we are going to be writing, writing the introduction of our report on the Great Fire of London.

We know how important an introduction is, it needs to engage the reader and entice them to keep reading, so it's an important lesson, but one I know you are going to do extremely well at, so let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is, "I can write the introduction of a non-chronological report "about the Great Fire of London," and the keywords which will help us with our learning today are introduction, question, outline, command.

Let's have a go at those again, and I will say them, and you should repeat after me, so my turn, then your turn.

Introduction, question, outline, command.

Very good.

Okay, let's use those words in our learning today.

Well done.

The lesson outline for the lesson on writing, the introduction of a report on the Great Fire of London, we will start by writing an introduction.

We will then move our learning onto focusing on writing a command.

The sections of a non-chronological report are structured in this order.

Let's remind ourselves that the sections of a non-chronological report and how they're structured.

So, we know that a non chronological report starts with an introduction.

It then has section one and section two, and each of those sections will be sharing information about a separate topic.

Now, each section has a different purpose.

Today, we are focusing on the introduction.

We'll explore the purpose of an introduction a little bit, as well.

When we write, we always try and do these things.

We always try and plan and say each sentence before we write it.

Saying it out loud before you write it will help your writing so much.

Use punctuation where we know the rules, so when we know a punctuation rule, we should use that rule and use the punctuation.

If we don't know the rule, your best bet is to not use the punctuation.

So, if you are secure on the rule, use it, if not, hold back.

We don't want to be guessing how we use our punctuation or using it inaccurately.

Vary our sentence types.

This will help to keep our reader engaged, so that we are varying our sentence types when we're writing.

Write letters neatly on the line in joined handwriting, sound out words to spell them accurately, so using your phonics to help you, and read our sentences out loud to check they make sense, and edit to improve our writing, if necessary.

So, the last step is to read back through your writing, and check that everything makes sense, that you haven't missed any words out, and then edit and improve, if you can.

Let's check your understanding.

Which of these do we try and do every time we write? Is it A, make our handwriting very big, B, plan and say each sentence before we write it, or C, use words that are spelled incorrectly? Which of these do we try and do every time we write? Pause the video and decide whether it's A, B, or C now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Let's see if you were right.

So, A, make our handwriting very big? No, we do not want our handwriting to be very big.

We don't want it to be very small.

We want it to be just the right size, so it's not A.

Is it B, or is it C? C, use words that are spelled incorrectly? I don't think so.

We do not want to be using words that are spelled incorrectly.

We want to try our very best to spell every word correctly, so the correct answer is B, plan and say each sentence before we write it.

By saying a sentence out loud before you write it, you will be in a much better position to write that sentence accurately.

Well done, if you said B.

The purpose of an introduction is to give the reader the most basic information.

This is not the part of our report where we will be diving into details and giving lots and lots of information, it's just where we give the most basic information.

Tell the reader what they are going to read about.

We will tell the reader what is coming up in the report.

We'll give them an outline.

We will not go into detail, but we will tell them what's going to be in the report, what they're going to read about.

Make the reader want to read on.

We do not want them to read the instruction and think, "Hmm, this report isn't really for me, "I'm going to read something else." We want to entice them to keep reading.

The introduction should include the following features: a question to the reader which shares a general fact about the subject to open the report.

So, a question will hook the reader in, and if it's sharing a general fact, that's even better.

An outline of the reports, letting the reader know what it will be about, and a command to the reader to continue reading.

In an introduction, you will only use general facts.

Can you say that with me one time, 'cause it's so important.

In an introduction you will only use? General facts, exactly.

Here are some general facts that you might want to include in your report.

"The fire took place in 1666." That's a general fact, it's perfect for the introduction.

It should be in the report, 'cause it's important, but it should be placed in the introduction.

"The fire took place over 350 years ago." Another really good fact you could use in your introduction.

"The fire started in a bakery on Pudding Lane in London." I'm not saying how it started, I'm not saying who was involved, it's just a general fact.

"Thousands of homes were destroyed, "but only six people died." Again, this is not going into detail about how the homes were destroyed or how these six people died, this is just giving you a general fact, and it's an interesting fact.

It's a bit of a sad fact, because, obviously, six people died in the fire, but it's interesting that thousands of homes were destroyed, so you would think lots more than six people died, but only six people died.

So, it's quite an interesting fact that might engage your reader.

"The event is known as the Great Fire of London," a really simple, general fact that the audience, the reader, will want to know.

Let's check your understanding.

Which of these pieces of information are general facts? Is it A, Thomas Farriner forgot to put out the fire in his oven, B, the event is known as the Great Fire of London, C, The fire took place over 350 years ago, or D, London's Lord Mayor did not want to use fire breaks at first.

Which of these pieces of information are general facts? And I will give you a clue, there are two correct answers, can you find the two correct answers? Pause the video and see if you can find those two answers now.

Welcome back, everyone.

Did you find them? I bet you did.

Let's have a check.

So, A, "Thomas Farriner forgot to put out the fire "in his oven." is a very precise fact.

It's telling about the person who's involved and exactly what he did that might have started the Great Fire of London, so it's not A.

D, "London's Lord Mayor did not want "to use firebreaks at first." This is far too detailed for the introduction.

It is not an appropriate piece of information to share, it's not a general fact, which means B and C are the correct answers, "The event is known as the Great Fire of London," and, "The fire took place over 350 years ago." Congratulations to you if you said B and C.

Well done.

Let's have a look at an example of an introduction that I have written.

When I'm reading it, see if you can magpie, and that means to steal something shiny and exciting that you want to use in your own writing.

"Have you heard that over 350 years ago, "there was a huge fire in England's capital city of London? "The fire is now called the Great Fire of London "and it is a very interesting event in London's history.

"Shockingly, the vast, fast-moving fire "destroyed thousands of homes, "but it is thought that only six people died! "In this informative report, "you will learn about how the fire started "and how it spread and stopped.

"Read on to find out more about this fascinating event." I wonder if you saw anything in the introduction that I have just shared, that you want to steal and put into your writing, and remember, stealing in literacy, in English, is great.

If you see something that you like, take it.

That's what the best authors do.

They see something in someone else's work, and they use it in their own.

Let's analyse our introduction.

So, we had a question, and the question was, "Have you heard that over 300 years ago, "there was a huge fire in England's capital city of London?" There were general facts, "The fire is now called the Great Fire of London, "and it is a very interesting event in London's history.

"Shockingly, the vast, fast-moving fire "destroyed thousands of homes, "but it is thought that only six people died." That's a good example of some general facts.

An outline of the report, here it is, "In this informative report, "you will learn about how the fire started, "and how it spread and stopped," and then, a command, "Read on to find out more about this fascinating event." Let's check your understanding.

"Read on to find out more," is an example of which feature of an introduction? Is it A, a command, B, a question, or C, the outline? A, B, or C, pause the video and decide for yourself now.

Welcome back, everyone.

So, "Read on to find out more," is an example of, of course, the command.

It's a command that we use at the end of our introduction.

A question would start with a question word, like, "how," "when," "who," "where," and, "read," is not a question word, and the outline, well, that tells us about what the report will contain, and this does not say anything about what the report will contain.

It's a command.

Well done, if you said A.

Okay, let's have a look at the success criteria we will be using for our writing today.

The success criteria has three parts.

Number one, I have written a question to the reader which shares a general fact.

Two, I have written an outline of the report for the reader, and three, I have written a command to encourage the reader to continue reading.

If you can do these three things, you will have met everything in your success criteria, and will have produced a fantastic introduction.

If you want to go beyond your success criteria and really challenge yourself, you could try to add one or two sentences, sharing a general fact, so some more general facts.

These should come after the question and before the outline.

So, you will use a general fact in your question, but then before you get to the outline, you could add one or two sentences, sharing some more general facts.

Okay, it's time for us to have a go, and I'm going to have a go and check my success criteria.

So, I will write the first sentence of the introduction, and then I will look at my success criteria to see if I can tick anything off.

Before I start writing, I always like to have a glance at my success criteria one more time, so I know what I am trying to include.

So, the first thing it says in my success criteria is, "I have written a question to the reader "which shares a general fact." Now, I know the question comes first, so that's gonna be the sentence I'm focusing on.

So, again, to my success criteria, "I've written a question to the reader "which shares a general fact." Okay, that's what I need to do, a question to the reader which shares a general fact.

Okay, let's see if I can do it.

Here is an example of the first sentence of an introduction.

Let's read through and see if I can tick off that first part of my success criteria.

"Were you aware that a large part of England's capital city "was destroyed by a huge fire in 1666?" Question mark.

Okay, it looks like a question, because I've got a question mark at the end.

"Were you aware," is a great way to start a question, and it's a formal way to start a question.

"Were you aware," instead of, "did you know," "Were you aware that a large part of England's capital city "was destroyed by a huge fire?" I've even got an apostrophe for possession, because the capital city belongs to England.

I think that is looking pretty good.

Okay, let's go to my success criteria.

"I have written a question to the reader "which shares a general fact," yes, I have, I can now tick that off, and I have done the first part of my success criteria.

It's now over to you.

Your job is to use the success criteria to write the first two sentences of your introduction.

So, I have written a question to the reader which shares a general fact.

That's what you've just seen me do, so you should be very confident to do that now, and then, I have written an outline of the report for the reader.

That's what you will do after you've done the question.

We are not going to move on to the command, that will come later in this lesson.

So, remember, you have got question starters that you can use, things like, "Have you heard," and, "Were you aware," they are formal question starters that you can use, perfect for a formal, non-chronological report, like the one we're writing, and reminding you of the subheadings that will be in your report, which are, "How did the fire start," and, "How did the fire spread and stop?" If you're going to give an outline of your report, you'll need to tell them that these will be the things they will be learning about.

It is now over to you, and I am confident that you can do this.

Pause the video and write the first two sentences of your introduction now.

Welcome back.

I am so excited to see how you got on.

Let's have a look at an example.

"Were you aware that a large part of England's capital city "was destroyed by a huge fire in 1666?" Well, that shows that I can do my question, so I can tick that off.

There it is, that's my question done, and then the next part of my success criteria wanted me to include an outline of the report.

Let's see if my next sentence does that.

"In this informative and surprising report, "you will learn all about how the fire started "and how it spread and stopped." That seems to me to perfectly meet writing an outline for the report for the reader.

It tells the reader that, number one, this report is going to be informative and surprising, so that's brilliant, but then, it gives the outline.

It says, "You will learn all about how the fire started "and how it spread and stopped." That's everything that's going to be included in this report, so I definitely can tick off that part of my success criteria.

Well done, if you were able to tick off both the top and second parts of your success criteria, too.

Okay, let's move on to writing the introduction of a report of the Great Fire of London, but we're focusing now on writing a command.

The last thing a writer will do in their introduction is command the reader to keep reading.

Now, a command is a direct order or instruction telling someone to do something.

Should we have a practise? Okay, I'm going to command you to do a few things.

Ready? I command you to sit up straight, stand up, turn around, sit down, clap your hands.

Excellent, these were all commands, and you had to follow the commands that I gave.

You will be commanding the reader to keep reading.

The command should be short and clear, so the reader knows exactly what to do next.

The command is also another opportunity to entice the reader by using an adjective to describe the event itself, to describe the Great Fire of London.

Let's have a look at my example.

I'm going to write a command to encourage the reader to continue reading, and I can see the third part of my success criteria, that's what it says.

So, I've already ticked off the first two in the previous learning cycle, now, I'm focusing on that command.

Here is my command.

"Read on to find out more "about this devastating part of London's history." "Devastating," means it was something that had a very negative effect on the people that were involved, and it did.

It was devastating to all of the people in London, and I have ticked off the last part of my success criteria.

There is my command.

It bosses the reader, and that's what a command does, it's a bossy thing to do.

It tells the reader exactly what to do, "Read on to find out more." There's my imperative verb, "read," "Read on to find out more "about this devastating part of London's history." Okay, it's over to you, now.

I would like you to write a command to finish your introduction.

Remember to describe the event in a way that entices the reader to keep reading.

You've already ticked off the first two parts of your success criteria, just one more to go.

You can do it.

I am very, very sure.

So, over to you.

Pause the video and have a go at writing your command to finish your introduction now.

And welcome back, everyone.

Okay, let's see an example.

Here is my example.

"Read on to find out more "about this interesting part of London's history." Nice, good idea, "interesting," so that's a really good word to make the event sound well, interesting, to sound enticing to find more about, so well done.

That can definitely tick off the third part of my success criteria.

Excellent work today on writing the introduction of a report on the Great Fire of London.

Remember, introductions often contain questions to the reader.

An introduction may contain some general facts and information to gain the reader's interest.

An introduction may end with a command, which is a direct order or instruction, telling the reader to continue reading.

Brilliant introduction.

I know you are now ready to write the rest of your report on the great Fire of London.

I will see you soon.