Lesson video

Hi everyone.

I'm Ms. Chu and I'm super excited to be guiding you on your learning journey today.

If you are here to learn about English, then you have come to the right place.

Let's get started.

Our lesson outcome for today is, I can identify and explain linguistic features of a non-chronological report.

The key words that we're going to use in this lesson are, my turn, your turn, non-chronological report, language, fronted adverbial.

Good job.

Now let's look at what they mean.

A non-chronological report is a non-fiction text that informs about a subject or event and that is written out of time order.

Language is a way of communicating using words for expressing ideas, thoughts, and information.

A fronted adverbial is a sentence starter followed by a comma.

Our lesson outline today looks like this.

We're going to start off with looking at subject-specific vocabulary.

Then we'll move on to fronted adverbials of cause.

And finally, we will be learning about viewpoint fronted adverbials.

So let's get started.

Subject-specific vocabulary.

Non-chronological reports use subject-specific vocabulary.

It is related to the topic of the report.

It is factual, and it is often found in non-fiction texts.

Factual vocabulary about the Anglo-Saxons include words like these, my turn to say, and then your turn.

Settlement.

Brilliant.

Thatched.

And finally, tunic.

Amazing.

You said those words excellently.

These are words that are related to the topic of the Anglo-Saxons and will come up in a non-chronological report frequently.

Let's do a quick check for understanding.

What is subject-specific vocabulary? Is it A, words that describe a noun, or B, words related to a specific topic or subject, or C, a general word used in the English language? Pause the video and have a go.

Did you get it right? Did you guess B, words related to a specific topic or subject? If you did, well done.

Now we are on to the first task of the lesson.

Circle the words that are specific to the topic of Anglo-Saxons.

Tunics, settlement, thatched, house, food, tree, invasion.

Which of these words are specific to the topic of Anglo-Saxons? Pause the video and have a go.

Shall we see if we circled the same words? The first word that I circled was "tunics".

A tunic is a type of clothing that was worn by the Anglo-Saxons.

Second word I thought would be "settlement".

Settlement is a place where a group of people have set up permanent homes.

The third word would be "thatched" because thatched means or describes a type of material used in roofs using straw, grass, and other natural materials.

And then finally, I circled the word "invasion" because the Anglo-Saxons were involved in a series of invasions and migrations leading to their establishment on the British Isles.

The words house, food, and tree are not subject-specific because they are universal words used in a range of contexts, not limited or specific to a topic.

Fantastic.

We have now moved on to the second part of our lesson.

The second part of our lesson is fronted adverbials of cause.

What is a fronted adverbial? A fronted adverbial is a sentence starter followed by a comma.

There are many different types of fronted adverbials.

What are they? We have fronted adverbials of time, fronted adverbials of place, fronted adverbials of manner, fronted adverbials of cause, and viewpoint fronted adverbials.

In this second part of our lesson, we will be focusing on fronted adverbials of cause.

A fronted adverbial of cause is a sentence starter that tells the reader the cause and effect of something.

A cause is an event or action that brings about another event or action.

It is what leads to something else happening.

An effect is the result that occurs as a result of a cause.

It is what happens because of the cause.

So the effect is dependent on the cause.

Quick check for understanding.

True or false? An effect always follows a cause.

An effect always comes after a cause.

I'd like you to decide whether that is true or false and then you've got to tell me why as well.

Off you go.

Should we see if you've got that right? So the answer is.

True.

Well done! And the reason is because a cause comes before an effect, always comes first.

An effect is dependent on a cause.

And then the other justification is not true because a cause and effect are always linked.

So that's why I've given that one a tick.

Let's now look at how fronted adverbials of cause are used in a sentence.

The first sentence I'm going to read out to you is this.

The Anglo-Saxons had innovative farming practises.

And let's just focus on the word "innovative".

Can you say innovative? It's quite tricky.

Let's give it a go.

Innovative.

Your turn.

Brilliant.

So this tells us that the Anglo-Saxons had really new, had really exciting, had really different ways of farming.

So that is the cause.

And what effect did that have then? That meant that they were able to preserve meat for winter months and they were able to harvest crops more effectively.

We're just gonna focus on one effect for now.

The Anglo-Saxons had innovative farming practises is the cause.

If we use the fronted adverbial of cause "as a result", this helps us to link the cause sentence to the effect sentence.

The Anglo-Saxons had innovative farming practises.

As a result, they were able to preserve meat for the winter months.

You can see clearly here that "as a result" is directly linked to the sentence that comes before it.

Let's put those two sentences together now.

The Anglo-Saxons had innovative farming practises.

As a result, they were able to preserve meat for the winter months.

So to summarise, "as a result" links the first sentence to the second sentence.

The first sentence is the cause and the second sentence is the effect.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

True or false? "As a result" links an effect to a cause.

I'm going to give you a few seconds to just have a good think about whether this is true or false and have a think about why.

Do you think you've got it? Shall we have a look? "As a result" links an effect to a cause, true or false? Well, the answer is.

True.

Well done! You got that right.

And the reason, an effect is always linked to a cause.

Remember I had said that before.

You have the effect because of the cause.

And then the wrong answer is, an effect has no link to a cause.

So that's why we tick A.

Let's have a look at another fronted adverbial of cause.

We're going to take the first same sentence, the Anglo-Saxons had innovative farming practises because that is our cause sentence, but this time, we're going to have a look at the second effect.

They were able to harvest crops more effectively.

This time, we're going to use the fronted adverbial of cause "as a consequence".

Can you have a go at saying "as a consequence"? My turn, as a consequence.

Your turn.

Beautifully said.

"As a consequence" means the same as "as a result".

Let's put it together.

As a consequence, they were able to harvest crops more effectively.

What does that look like when we put it together? The Anglo-Saxons had innovative farming practises.

As a consequence, they were able to harvest crops more effectively.

To summarise, once again, "as a consequence" links the first sentence to the second sentence.

The first sentence is the cause.

The second sentence is the effect.

Quick check again.

Which of these are true for a fronted adverbial of cause? It links a cause to its effect.

It lists two adjectives to describe a noun.

It links one sentence to the next sentence.

Let's have a look.

Did you get it right? The answer is, it links a cause to its effect.

We've seen that it is a linking fronted adverbial.

And actually, it also links the first sentence to the next sentence.

You are now onto the second task of your lesson.

You are going to have a go at writing your own sentences.

Let's have a look.

Use the fronted adverbial of cause to link the two sentences.

Remember to use a comma after the fronted adverbial.

Let's have a look at the first sentence, the cause sentence.

Anglo-Saxons use a variety of effective farming practises.

Can you see here that this sentence is similar to the one that we had previously? We've just changed "innovative" to a "variety" of effective farming practises.

And then the effect is that they had a continuous supply of food throughout the year.

So as a result of that, they had a continuous supply of food throughout the year.

I would like you now to pause the video and have a go at writing those two sentences using the fronted adverbial "as a result" to start the second sentence.

Off you go.

Let's have a look at how you all got on.

In the task, we had to use the fronted adverbial of cause to link the two sentences.

And remember to use a comma after the fronted adverbial.

Before I read out my example, I'm going to use this sound (whooshing sound) to signal my comma.

Anglo-Saxons used a variety of effective farming practises.

Full stop.

As a result, (whooshing sound) comma, they had a continuous supply of food throughout the year.

Perfect! Well done.

We are onto the final and third part of the lesson, viewpoint fronted adverbials.

Let's do a quick recap first.

Non-chronological reports are written out of time order.

Each section is about a theme related to the subject.

Viewpoint fronted adverbials introduce facts within a section.

They emphasise the writer's opinion.

An opinion is what someone thinks or believes.

Do you have any opinions? For example, I love lemon cake, but I don't like coffee cake.

Using viewpoint fronted adverbials gives the writer a tool to share their opinion.

The writer tells the reader their opinion by choosing the viewpoint fronted adverbial carefully.

There are three different viewpoint fronted adverbials to explore in this unit.

The first one is "impressively".

My turn, impressively.

Your turn.

Great! This is used when there's a fact that makes you think, wow! The second fronted adverbial is "intriguingly".

My turn, intriguingly.

Your turn.

This viewpoint fronted adverbial is used before a fact that is very curious.

And finally, significantly, my turn.

Your turn.

This is used before a fact that is very important.

Let's do a quick check now.

I would like you to match the viewpoint fronted adverbial to its meaning.

We have impressively, intriguingly, significantly.

Match the three fronted adverbials to their meanings.

So on this side, we have this fact is curious, and this fact is very important, and this fact makes you think, wow! I'm going to give you a bit of time to do that.

Should we have a look to see if got that right? So with impressively, this fact makes you think, wow! Well done.

What about intriguingly? Yes, this is a fact that is curious.

And the final one, significantly, this fact is very important.

Good job.

Let's now look at how viewpoint fronted adverbials are used within a sentence.

Starting with impressively.

Remember, this is when we want the reader to think that the fact makes you think, wow! Impressively, the Anglo-Saxons fought thousands of battles with swords and shields to protect themselves.

That is a wow fact.

Let's look at how "intriguingly" is used within a sentence.

Intriguingly, they told stories about warriors that battled fierce dragons and magical creatures.

That is very intriguing.

And finally, let's look at how "significantly" is used.

Remember, this is a very important fact we are about to introduce.

Significantly, the Anglo-Saxons played a major role in shaping the early history and culture of England.

That is a very significant fact.

Now I wonder if you know which one of these are viewpoint fronted adverbials.

Have a quick think about how it may be used at the beginning of a sentence.

To start off a fact, would "quickly" be appropriate? Interestingly? Significantly, or suddenly? Which one of those would be appropriate to use in a non-chronological report? Did you get it right? Shall we have a look? I had interestingly, because I want to start off my sentence like that.

I want to tell the reader an interesting fact and then the other one was significantly because I want to tell the reader a very important fact.

Quickly and suddenly are not viewpoint fronted adverbials.

They are fronted adverbials of manner.

Now we're going to have a go at an I Do, We Do.

I'm going to start.

Say a sentence using the viewpoint fronted adverbial "impressively".

I'm going to say whether comma comes after the fronted adverbial.

When I go (whooshing sound), that is me saying and indicating when the comma comes in.

Let me have a go at my sentence.

Impressively (whooshing sound) the young inventor built a robot from spare parts in the garage.

Now it's your turn to practise saying a sentence using the viewpoint fronted adverbial "intriguingly" this time.

So not our wow word, but our curious fronted adverbial.

Remember to go (whooshing sound) to indicate where the comma comes after the fronted adverbial.

Let me have a go first, then it could be your turn, and then I'll have a go again.

Intriguingly (whooshing sound) the mysterious treasure map led us to a cave filled with ancient artefacts.

Are you ready to have a go at saying your sentence? Remember to say (whooshing sound) where comma comes after the fronted adverbial.

Have a go at using the word "intriguingly" to start your sentence.

Well done.

That was such a great sentence.

I'm going to finish by saying another one.

Intriguingly (whooshing sound) the magical book revealed a world of spells to the wizard.

Now we're onto our third task of the lesson.

Let's have a look to see what we need to do.

Write a sentence using the viewpoint fronted adverbial, "significantly".

Remember "significantly" is used before we want to introduce a fact that's really important.

And we need to always remember to use a comma after the fronted adverbial.

Use this writing frame to help you just structure your sentence.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

I hope you had a really good go at writing your own sentence using the viewpoint fronted adverbial "significantly".

Let's have a look at a couple of examples that I have come up with.

And I've remembered to use the comma, check if I have.

Significantly (whooshing sound) the talented artist painted a masterpiece.

Significantly (whooshing sound) the clever inventor's creation amazed everyone.

Well done.

We are now at the end of our lesson.

Let's have a look at what we've learned today.

We have learned that a non-chronological report uses subject-specific vocabulary.

These are the words that are specific to the topic of the report.

We have also learned that fronted adverbials of cause link an effect to a cause.

Viewpoint fronted adverbials introduce facts within a section and are used to emphasise a writer's opinion.

I hope you've enjoyed this lesson.

Now have a go at deepening your knowledge further by giving the Exit Quiz a go.