Lesson video

Hi there.

My name's Mr. Byrne-Smith, and today we're going to be doing some English together.

In today's lesson, we are going to be writing the closing of our non-chronological report.

After which we'll have every part of our report, which is very exciting.

So, let's make a start on our last anglerfish lesson.

Here's the agenda for today's lesson.

First, we'll remind ourselves of the features of a non-chronological report.

Then we'll recap our entire report so far.

After that, you're going to help me analyse the closing of a non-chron report, and then you're going to have a go at your own closing.

In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil, and as many of your notes as you can find.

Now, if you don't have any notes that's fine because there's going to be lots in today's lesson that we can use in order to write our closing.

If you need to go and get any of these things, pause the video now.

Okay.

Let's remind ourselves of the features of a non-chronological report.

So, what is a non-chronological report? Well, we know this by now.

It's a type of nonfiction text.

It provides factual information about a subject, person or event, and this is not written in time order.

This is the type of texts that our non-chronological report would appear in.

So we're imagining that our finished product is going to be put into a book, just like this, "Creatures of the Deep", all about the anglerfish.

Let's remind ourselves of the structure of a non-chron report.

It starts with an opening, which we have done.

We've written our opening.

You then have the three main paragraphs.

In our instance, we have appearance, diet and habitat.

All of which we have now done.

Then you have your closing.

It is our closing that we're writing today.

We need to ask ourselves, what is the purpose of the closing? It's always important to think about this.

Why are we writing? Well, I'll let you to have to think about this.

Pause the video now and have a go.

Okay, so the purpose of the closing.

We write the closing to summarise.

We're summarising all of the information that has gone so far.

We're not recapping it in detail, but we are touching on the broad themes that have been covered in the text.

We touch on appearance, diet and habitat.

We provide general information.

So at this point in the report, we can't be introducing specific facts because there's not enough time to go into any detail on them.

We can't introduce new facts because the report's almost over.

So this is a time when we recap what's gone before and we use nice broad terms and nice broad general facts.

It also gives us a chance to consider the future.

The future of the subject.

In this instance, we're discussing the anglerfish.

So we can consider the future of the anglerfish.

When talking about animals, this discussion often revolves around conservation.

So that means how the animal is going to be looked after in the future.

This is the success criteria that we are going to use for our closing.

I have included a concluding word or phrase and a closing sentence.

I have included brackets to add extra information.

I have included formal conjunctions and subject specific vocabulary.

I have used the future tense.

These are the things we're aiming to include in order to achieve what we want to achieve in this piece of writing.

Okay.

Now we have a really lovely opportunity to recap our report so far from beginning to, well, not quite end 'cause we need to do our closing, but from beginning all the way through the main paragraphs.

We're going to read that out loud now.

Feel free to follow along.

So we're reading four paragraphs worth, which is quite a lot.

"Anglerfish" "The anglerfish, lophiiformes, is a unique carnivorous creature that lives in the depths of some of the Earth's oceans, Atlantic and Antarctic.

This bizarre species has a variety of adaptations that allow it to survive in its harsh habitat.

However, did you know that the anglerfish is under significant threat due to human activity? Read on to find out more about this aquatic predator's strange appearance, varied diet and incredible habitat." "Appearance" "The anglerfish is known for its distinctive appearance and range of interesting features.

Fascinatingly, this deadly predator has a long, 10 centimetre, bioluminescent lure protruding from its head.

This peculiar feature enables it to attract unsuspecting prey into its waiting jaws.

Furthermore, this unique adaptation allows it to navigate the murky waters of the deep.

The anglerfish also has highly developed eyesight.

As a result, it is able to explore its territory and locate food." "Diet" "The anglerfish is a carnivorous creature with a varied diet.

Scientists have discovered that this bizarre species consumes almost anything that strays into its isolated, deep-sea territory.

However, they mainly eat fish, crustaceans and cephalopods.

The highly developed mouth of this powerful predator is very large.

As a result, it can swallow creatures almost as big as itself.

Furthermore, it uses its long translucent teeth, 10 centimetres, to pierce the flesh of its unsuspecting prey.

These adaptations allow the anglerfish to survive in its hostile habitat." "Habitat" "The anglerfish inhabits the murky depths of the Antarctic and Arctic oceans.

This hostile habitat is a long way beneath the surface, up to a mile, and is known as the midnight zone.

As the conditions this far down are harsh, very few creatures can survive.

Therefore, there is not much for this peculiar carnivore to eat.

The midnight zone is pitch black and the waters are ice cold.

Nevertheless, the anglerfish is able to survive thanks to its many adaptations." And that leads us to where we are now.

Wow.

What a piece of writing.

It flows beautifully.

It contains all the information we need it to, and it's very well structured, clearly divided into those three main sections.

I'm really impressed with what we've been able to produce.

Now we have a chance to look in detail at an example closing paragraph.

Now this is a closing paragraph that I have created.

We're going to look at it, and we're going to pick out the things we like about it.

Then you will have a go to create one of your own.

Reminder of the success criteria.

We're looking for a concluding word or phrase and a closing sentence, brackets for extra information, formal conjunctions and subject-specific vocabulary, and then future tense.

Let's have a look.

I'm going to read it aloud first, and then we'll analyse it in a bit more detail.

"As you have learnt in this report, the anglerfish is one of nature's most unique creatures.

It has developed a number of fascinating features, lure, teeth and eyes, to help it survive in its hostile habitat.

In addition, this carnivore's strange diet and peculiar appearance help it stand out as one of the deep sea's most intriguing species.

Despite this, anglerfish are under threat due to increased human activity in the ocean.

Hopefully, our efforts to help the environment will protect the anglerfish for years to come." So, you can see there that I haven't gone into too much detail about anything.

Now is not the time to start following ideas and facts into minute detail because actually we don't have time and space.

Fortunately, we have had the proceeding three paragraphs to do this.

So we have managed to go into lots of detail.

Now is not the time to start.

You can also see that I've included a variety of different features to make this writing flow and to make sure that it is structured correctly.

Let's look at a few of those now.

So I've highlighted something here.

"As you have learnt in this report." I'd like you to have a think about why I've highlighted it.

Now, there are a variety of reasons.

So, you might have thought of the one I'm thinking of, or perhaps you've thought of another reason.

I've highlighted it because it's doing something well.

But what? What is it doing well? Pause the video now.

Okay, so in the first instance, this is a subordinate clause that makes up a complex sentence, which is nice.

It's nice to have a variety of sentence type.

Also, this is kind of introducing our closing paragraph in a way that makes it very clear that it's concluding the report.

"As you have learnt in this report." That makes it very clear to the reader that this report is coming to an end because I'm referring to things you've learnt so far, which suggests that we're looking back.

We're reflecting on what we've learnt because it's about to finish.

So this is something that you could consider a concluding phrase.

In this instance, it's an entire clause.

There are other alternatives for concluding words or phrases or clauses.

You can say, "In conclusion", simply, or "To conclude." They both worked very, very well to let the reader know that this is the concluding paragraph.

They're your other options.

So there are a variety of ways that you can do this.

I've chosen one that I really like.

I like it 'cause I think it flows really nicely.

And for that reason, I think it enhances the paragraph.

That's why I've chosen it.

Whenever you choose or include a feature, it's up to you to justify why you've included it.

So long as you're happy with your choice, then that's fantastic.

Okay, let's look at the next thing I've highlighted.

Hmm, why have I highlighted these, I wonder? "Lure, teeth and eyes." Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, so here I've included extra information in brackets.

These are the features that we've discussed, and these are the fascinating features to which I'm referring.

This extra information is useful because it makes the information clearer without breaking the flow of the sentence.

This sentence still reads very nicely.

"It has developed a number of fascinating features, lure, teeth and eyes, to help it survive in its hostile habitat." That's one of the reasons brackets work so well.

So brackets on our success criteria, and we are trying in this paragraph to include them.

Okay, hostile habitat, strange diet, peculiar appearance.

Why do you think I've included those? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, so there are a few reasons here.

First of all, I've accompanied each of those with what I think is an appropriate adjective, which works well with announce a hostile habitat.

I think that's appropriate and clear.

Strange diet, peculiar appearance.

I'm also touching on each of the paragraphs.

So I'm summarising.

I'm saying this is what you've learnt about today.

You've learnt about the hostile habitat.

You've learnt about the strange diet and peculiar appearance.

And in a sense, I'm repeating myself here because obviously I've already referred to its hostile habitat, its strange diet and its peculiar appearance.

And that's kind of the point.

Kind of the point of a closing paragraph.

You're reminding and recapping what's been learnt and what's been touched on so far.

This is definitely worth doing in your closing paragraph.

You can even just say in this report you have learnt about the anglerfish's hostile habitat, strange diet, and peculiar appearance.

That works really well too.

That's simpler, but that's very clear.

Next thing.

Hmm.

What are these, and why have I highlighted them? In addition, followed by a comma.

Despite this, followed by a comma.

Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, so these are formal conjunctions.

I have a formal and conjunction, and I have a formal but conjunction.

I'll let you just shout out to me why these are useful and why I've included them.

Why do we use these in a non-chron report? Shout at me.

Okay, so there are two main reasons.

They help the writing flow.

They help join sentences together in a way that flows, and they also improve formality.

So they make a piece of writing sound more formal than it otherwise would.

This is a non-chronological report.

It's a scientific, formal piece of writing.

Therefore, we want it to sound formal.

And with the help of these conjunctions, it does.

Last one.

"Hopefully, our efforts to help the environment will protect the anglerfish for years to come." Now, this one is a double whammy.

In fact, it's a triple whammy.

Why is it a triple whammy? There are three things that I really like about this sentence.

Three things it does really well.

Consider our success criteria for this one.

That's my top tip.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, so there are three things here.

Firstly, we have this really nice sentence data, hopefully followed by a comma.

Then we have this reference to the future.

"Our efforts to help the environment will protect the anglerfish for years to come." For our last sentence, especially when we're talking about the environment and nature, it's really nice to kind of reference the future of the subject because you're making it clear that actually, while we've taught you a lot about the anglerfish in this report, you know, it's still a developing and involving process and therefore, things will change, and things will shift and alter in the future.

And we're kind of making that clear to the reader.

We also have in this last sentence a concluding sentence, a closing sentence.

We're rounding things off.

It's quite clear that this is the last sentence of the closing.

We don't really want to leave the report on a cliffhanger.

We don't want it feeling unresolved.

So a sentence like this rounds the report off nicely.

Hopefully, our efforts to help the environment will protect the anglerfish for years to come.

Let's quickly check that we've included each of our success criteria.

Concluding word or phrase and a closing sentence.

Tick.

Brackets for extra information.

Tick.

Formal conjunctions and subject-specific vocabulary.

Definitely, tick.

Future tense, yes.

We did it in that last sentence.

So, tick.

Okay.

Time now for you to have a go at your closing.

Now I'm going to show you the success criteria because I think it's very important you have this in front of you.

These are things we're focusing on and then there's reference there to say right read at the bottom.

So, make sure you are saying your sentence before you write it out loud.

You then write it down and then you read it back to yourself.

This technique is very good for checking for sense and for errors, checking for mistakes.

So I'd like you to pause the video and have a go.

Okay.

There is the last of our paragraphs, our closing paragraph.

Time now for a bonus task.

Now, feel free to have a go at this if you have time.

This task asks you to write up your report in best from beginning to end, just like I've done here.

If you think about it carefully, you can structure and lay out your report in a way that looks very, very professional.

I recommend using a few pictures to help do this.

You can draw the pictures yourself, or perhaps you can get ahold of some somehow.

Either works really well, and either looks very, very professional.

I haven't been able to write mine up by hand, so I've typed it up.

Typing up works nicely, but so does writing by hand.

So don't feel as though one is better than the other.

They both look really good as a finished product.

If you have a chance, I really recommend you have a go at this.

It's lots of fun.

I really enjoyed doing it.

Congratulations.

That's the end of the lesson and the end of the unit.

Today, we've looked at the features of a non-chronological report.

We've done a report recap.

We've done a modelled write where you've helped me analyse my closing paragraph, and you have had a go at your own closing paragraph.

Well done for your your hard work.

You've competed your lesson.