Lesson video

Hello, welcome to today's English lesson.

In this lesson, we're going to be applying all of the skills that we've developed so far in this unit to write the appearance paragraph of our non-chronological reports about tigers.

I cannot wait to see your outcomes because you have all been working so hard towards this piece of writing.

Let's get started.

In this lesson, you will need an exercise book, or some lined paper, a pen or pencil to write with, and your notes from our last lesson.

So you're going to need the research that we did about tigers' appearances to write the appearance paragraph today.

You haven't got any of those things with you right now.

Just pause the recording and go and get them in our lesson today, we're going to recap the features of non chronological reports.

We're then going to remind ourselves of the research that we did about tigers' appearance features.

We're then going to write an appearance paragraph together, and I'm going to model to you.

And then your task will be to write your own appearance paragraph.

What is a non chronological report? We've gone through this a few times already in this unit.

Can you pause the recording and write down anything that you can remember.

Non chronological report is a type of non fiction text.

And remember we said that our non chronological reports were going to be featured in this national geographic book about tigers.

They provide factual information about a subject person or event.

Of course, ours is about the animal tigers.

They include formal subject specific language that sounds quite scientific, and they are not written in time order.

So we have organised our non chronological reports into an opening paragraph, which we've already written, going to write the appearance paragraph today.

Then there will be a diets paragraph.

And lastly, a closing.

What's the purpose of the main paragraph? Then this is the first time we've written one of the main paragraphs of this report.

What do you think it might need to include? And what is its purpose? Pause the recording and write down your ideas now.

So the name paragraph needs to provide general information about the tiger and we're writing about the appearance.

It's going to provide general information about the tigers' appearance to start with.

So thinking about the tiger as a whole.

And then it's going to zoom in on more specific information.

So imagine you're going to write about the whole tiger to start with, and then it's going zoom in on particular areas of the tiger's body.

So you might write about the fur, or you might write about the clause.

You're going to expand on points and add details.

We don't want our paragraph to sound like a list of information.

We want to add more detail to each of our points and it will link to the next paragraph.

So our next paragraph that we're going to be writing is about diets.

So we need to make sure that our final sentence links on to our diet's paragraph.

Our success criteria today is as follows.

I selected the following features that I want you to try and include in our paragraph.

I have included an opening and a linking sentence.

I've included a relative clause and brackets to add extra information.

I have used formal conjunctions and subject specific vocabulary.

I have referred to nouns in different ways, and you have already done lots of these features already in your opening paragraph.

And you've practised lots of those skills in previous lessons.

One feature we haven't talked about that much yet is referring to nouns in different ways.

How could we refer to tigers in different ways? We want to avoid saying tiger, tiger, tiger repeatedly through our reports, because it would be a bit boring for our reader and we want to interest our reader and make sure they read our whole report.

So can you think of any other nouns that you could use to refer to the tiger.

Pause recording and write them down.

Okay, I have thought of a few different nouns.

Of course you can use pronouns as well, for example, they, but I want us to think of some nouns that we could use.

So of course we can refer to the tiger as tiger, because that's the name of the animal.

We could also call it an animal, a mammal, a feline.

And that's a word which we use to refer to a type of cats, which we know a tiger is, a creature and also a species.

We know tigers are a species of cats.

We also know that there are six subspecies of tigers.

Right, I just want to remind us about the research that we carried out, because we're going to need to use this information in our appearance paragraph today.

So hopefully you have got your notes in front of you.

And if you remember, I asked you to sketch a tiger and label or annotate around the outside.

Some of those specific appearance features that we found out about.

So you can see my example, I've written that male Siberian tigers, they're the biggest ones, can be up to four metres in length and 300 kilogrammes in weight.

They've got a bright reddish tan fur with dark vertical stripes, or you might call that fur a deep orange.

They have long hair on their cheeks for the older males in particular, they have large padded paws, white fur on their inner side and in their limbs and under parts and long curved claws, which are up to 10 centimetres in length.

You might have some extra details on your notes as well.

You should also have some notes of the information you summarised from the text that we read together.

And if you remember, we learned about the fact that there were six subspecies of tiger, and you can see three of them below that.

And although they all look very similar, they vary slightly in terms of their size, their weight and their colouring.

And if you remember, we learnt that tigers, he live in the North.

So for example, the Siberian tiger who lives in the North of Russia, they are very large.

And then if you come South down to for example, Sumatran the Indonesian Island where the Sumatran tiger lives, the tigers found in the South are much smaller, still very, very big, but smaller than tigers found in the North.

We also focused in on tigers fur and their colouring.

They have that really distinctive deep orange or reddish tan colouring.

With those vertical, dark or black stripes, they also have white patches of fur above their eyes, on the back of their ears, below their faces, their underbellies and the inner parts of their limbs or their legs.

We also learned about tiger's, paws and claws.

We learned about how they have very large padded paws so that they can't be heard when they're approaching some pray that they're going to attack and kill.

We also learned that they have very long, 10 centimetre, long claws that were curved and that help them to catch and kill prey and rip the flesh that they're going to eat.

But also it helps them to climb trees.

Okay, we are now ready to start writing.

Let's just remind ourselves of our success criteria.

One more time before we begin, I need to include an opening and a linking sentence.

So my opening sentence goes at the beginning of my paragraph and it's give general information about the tiger before I zoom in on some specific appearance details.

I need to include a relative clause and brackets to add extra information, formal conjunctions, and subject specific vocabulary to give my writing that formal scientific tone.

And I need to refer to nouns in different ways.

And not repeating tiger throughout.

It's really important when I'm writing.

It's I say my sentence out loud.

So I think it through, first of all, I then need to write it down, read it back and check it carefully.

This will help me to be sure I am 100% accurate.

So I'm going to start with my opening sentence, giving some general information about the tigers.

So I'm going to start with, tigers have adapted many features to help them to survive in their home.

Okay, so that tells me that the tigers have got lots of different features that helps them to survive in their different habitats.

But I've used the word home.

Maybe I could use a more scientific word.

I couldn't use habitats.

What was that other word that we talked about that meant where an animal lives in there.

Can you remember? Excellent.

Well done in their environment.

Okay.

So I'm going to say environments instead, because it sounds a bit more scientific and formal, and that's a tricky spelling en-vi-ron-ment.

I always remember that environments has got the word ron in the middle.

Now I've also got this word help here, which also doesn't sound very formal, but I use a different word.

That's means the same as help.

I'm going to use the word enable, right? Let's read that sentence back again.

Cause I've made a few changes.

Tigers have adapted many features to enable them to survive in their environment.

Excellent.

Now, maybe this could be an opportunity to include my relative clause with extra information about my tigers.

I'm going to put one in here, tigers, now which relative pronoun am I going to use? If I'm writing about an animal, I'm i going to use who or am I going to use which? Can you remember? Tell me.

Well done.

I'm going to use which.

Tigers which I want to talk about that they've got it, right? This think to their appearance that everyone very easily recognises a tiger.

So I'm going to say, which are recognised by their distinctive appearance.

Distinctive means that no other animal has gotten their appearance like a tiger.

I can't think of another animal that has deep orange colour with those dark vertical stripes.

Okay, let's read that back one more time to make sure it makes sense.

Tigers which are recognised by their distinctive of appearance have adapted many features to enable them to survive in their environment.

Excellent.

A really good first general sentence about the tigers' appearance.

Now remember, I want start off talking about the tiger as a whole.

So I'm now going to write about their size.

I'm going to say they are large.

I've said tigers, what other word could I use to refer to them? Tell me which one you want me to use.

Yeah.

Could use that one.

I'm going to use mammals.

They are large mammals and can grow to about four metres long and one metre high.

Full stop.

Let's read that back and check if makes sense.

They are large mammals and can grow to about four metres long and one metre high.

Now this word about that sounds a little bit informal.

Is there a more formal word I could use for about? I know I'm going to use approximately.

To approximately four metres long and one metre high.

That it means the same thing as about roughly four metres long and one metre high.

We know that tigers really vary in their size, but that's the largest they can be.

Now I want to add some more information about their size.

I've talked about how long they are and how high they are.

I now want to include how heavy they are.

So I'm still talking about their size.

So I'm going to use and conjunction and I'm going to choose the and conjunction.

Which one should I use? I can't use that one.

I'm going to use in addition.

In addition, they weigh between 75 and 300, I'm going to write the full word, kilogrammes.

Let's read that back and check It makes sense.

In addition, they weigh between 75 and 300 kilogrammes.

Have you spotted a mistake? Where I've I made an error? Surely not, tell me.

Well done.

Yeah, you're right.

I have forgotten a comma after my formal and conjunction.

Good spots.

Okay, I've now written my first three sentences.

I've got my opening sentence and I've given some general information about the tiger's size.

Let's have a quick look at my success criteria.

So I have got my opening sentence already and I have already included my relative clause.

I've already got an and formal conjunction and I've definitely be thinking about my subject specific vocabulary all the way through making sure I'm making really formal language choices.

Also, I have referred to nouns in different ways because I used the word mammals.

So I'm well on the way to ticking off some of the features on my success criteria.

I now want you to pause the recording and write your first three opening sentences.

So your opening sentence, and then a few more sentences with general information about the tiger.

Remember really good place to start is talking about the size of the tiger.

Right, we have written our first few sentences.

I'm now ready to zoom in on the specific feature of the tigers' appearance.

And of course, I'm going to start with that distinctive fur.

So I'm going to write, these Now, I've used the word mammals, I've used the word tigers.

What other words could I use to refer to tigers? That's a good idea.

I'm going to use felines.

Remember that was that word for cats.

These felines are covered in for now.

I could add more detail there.

What type of fur they covered? And I'm going to include an expanded noun phrase.

So I'm going to add more information to my noun, fur.

In thick, comma, Orange fur.

You are And let me add more detail with dark, comma, vertical stripes.

Full stop.

Let's read that back.

Oh, I can see, I spelt orange incorrectly there an extra G in there.

These felines are covered in thick, comma, orange fur, with dark, comma, vertical stripes.

Some good adjectives in there to describe the fur.

Now I want to describe or explain why they have this fur.

Why it's useful to them.

So I know that this fur, this colouring and these stripes are really helpful to the tiger because it means they can camouflage.

So that potential prey don't spot them if they're approaching ready to attack.

So I'm going to use a causal conjunction here because I'm showing that the colouring of their fur, the effect is that they can then camouflage in the different areas or environments that they live.

So I'm going to use as a result.

Then my comma after at this time.

As a result, they are camouflaged and they mainly they live in jungle areas and long grass.

How could I extend that a little bit more with another clause? Why is that useful? That they're camouflaged, I'm going to use so, they cannot be spotted.

Some are more formal word than spotted.

I'm going to use detected.

So they cannot be detected.

That means that they cannot be seen by potential prey and potential prey means they aren't actually the tigers' prey yet because they haven't been killed yet, but they're potentially going to be tigers' pray.

Okay, let's read that sentence back.

As a result, comma, they are camouflaged in jungle areas and long grass So they cannot be detected by a potential prey.

Great, I've got to throw words in that sentence.

I've actually managed to write a complex sentence with a main clause and subordinate clause using so to connect them, Right could I add something more about their colouring? I know that their colouring varies depending on where they live or the area in which they inhabit.

And that's a bit of a contrast, isn't it? Cause I've said that they've got this orange fur but actually the colouring of that fur varies slightly.

So I'm going to use a conjunction, however, comma, their colouring varies.

That means it can be different depending on the area in which they inhabits.

We know that there's those six subspecies of tiger.

They all live in slightly different areas in Asia and the colouring of each subspecies varies slightly.

Okay, let's read that back.

However, comma, their colouring varies depending on the area in which they inhabit.

Great, I've written three more sentences there.

Zooming in on the animals, fur and the colouring of the fur.

I would like you to now pause the recording and write your next three sentences.

Zooming in on one of the tigers' appearance features.

I really recommend writing about the third because it's something that's very distinctive and Iconic for this animal.

Pause the recording and have a go.

Right, hopefully you have now written your general information sentences about the tiger and you have zoomed in on the tigers fur colouring.

You will notice that I have zoomed ahead a little bit.

I've written my next few sentences about the tigers clause.

So I'm just going to read you those and you can follow along.

These creatures have long, sharp claws up to 10 centimetres.

I've used my brackets in there.

Therefore they can grip uneven terrain and climb trees.

So I've used another causal conjunction there I've used.

Therefore, moreover.

These retractable claws are used for grasping animals and ripping flesh.

So I've included another and conjunction there to add more information about the claws.

I'm now going to finish this paragraph with my closing sentence.

Remember this needs to link to my next sentence, which is going to be about diet.

So I'm going to write.

Many of these features allow the tiger to catch and consume it's prey because I know its prey, it's linked to diet and all of these features help animals to sneak up on their prey without being detected and actually catch that prey because they're so strong.

And they've got these really long claws that can rip flesh so that they can then eat it.

So let's have a look back at my success criteria and check I've got everything that I need.

I've got my opening and my linking sentence.

That was my first sentence.

And my last sentence, I included a relative clause to add extra information at the beginning.

And I also have my brackets to add how long the claws were.

I've used lots of formal conjunctions.

I think I included and, but, and causal and I've thought really carefully about my subject specific vocabulary.

They can show that I've made formal language choices and I've referred to nouns in different ways.

So I think I've used tigers, mammals, creatures, felines.

So now it is your chance to finish off your appearance paragraph.

Can you write your last few sentences about the tigers' claws.

If you haven't written about the claws already, and then remember to finish with your linking sentence.

Pause the recording and finish your paragraph, now It is now time for your task.

You may already have written your full appearance paragraph.

In which case well done, but this is your opportunity to read it all back.

If you haven't written it yet.

So you haven't finished it.

This is your chance to the end of the lesson to finish that off.

So your task is to write the appearance paragraph of the non chronological report about tigers.

Remember the main features is in the success criteria.

And you can see those below.

So in today's lesson, we recap the features of non chronological reports.

We remembered the research that we had done into tigers' appearance features.

We then wrote together.

So I modelled a little bit to you and you had to go as well.

And then now is your opportunity to write your full paragraph, If you haven't done already or read back through and make any changes.

If you have finished your full paragraph.

Well done, you have written a whole appearance paragraph for non chronological report.

That is a real achievement.

Congratulations.

If you would like to please share your work with your parents or carer, I'm sure they will be super impressed by all of your hard work.

I'll see you in your next lesson.

Goodbye.