Lesson video

Hello everyone.

My name is Mr. Brown and I am here with your English lesson for today and we're going to be writing, writing the first argument of a persuasive letter.

This is a persuasive letter to the prime minister asking them to be able to make school uniform compulsory and we are writing the first argument.

So let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can write the first argument of a persuasive letter about school uniform.

The key words we will use are argument, PEPS, formal fronted adverbial, fronted adverbial of cause.

Let's say those together.

My turn and then your turn.

Argument.

PEPS.

Formal fronted adverbial.

Fronted adverbial of cause.

Fabulous.

Well done.

Let's look at the definitions.

So a written argument tries to convince the reader of something using strong reasoning to support.

PEPS is the acronym for the structure used when making an argument and stands for point, explanation, proof, summary.

A formal fronted adverbial is a sentence starter followed by a comma that is formal in tone and often found in nonfiction texts.

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

We will start our lesson by preparing to write and then move on to writing the first argument.

We are writing a persuasive letter to the prime minister to persuade them to make school uniform compulsory across the United Kingdom.

In this lesson we will be writing the first argument of our persuasive letter.

Our letter will contain two arguments, both supporting the purpose of the letter, which is to make school uniform compulsory.

Each argument will be a paragraph long.

Today we will write the first one.

So let's have a look at the structure of our persuasive letter.

We know we start with an introduction.

We then have the first argument and that's today.

Then the second argument and the conclusion.

The introduction is the first paragraph and the sender introduces themselves and shares the purpose for writing.

Then we have the first and second arguments and they are fundamentally the same, but they will be two different arguments, two different points.

These paragraphs contain separate persuasive arguments following the PEPS structure that support the purpose of the letter.

Finally, we have the conclusion and the conclusion is the last paragraph that summarises the key information of the letter.

And our introduction, well, that's done, which means the first argument is what we are focusing on today.

When we are writing a persuasive argument, we will follow this structure, point, explanation, proof, summary.

And we know the acronym acronym PEPS can help us to remember this structure and its order.

P-E-P-S, point, explanation, proof, summary.

Say it with me.

Point explanation, proof, summary.

We're going to follow that today to make our argument.

For example, here is the point.

I believe that having a school uniform would help children to feel included because they would all be wearing the same thing.

One sentence long, uses the word because to say one reason why someone feels a certain way, one reason to justify their opinion.

Then after the point we move on to the explanation.

I'm sure you will agree that feeling included creates a sense of positivity.

Having a uniform for all children will ensure they are judged based on their character rather than their clothes.

Therefore, an environment is formed where nobody is left out.

Point, explanation, proof is the next thing.

So this is our evidence.

I always found non-uniform days very stressful as I would worry about what to wear and if I would look different to my friends.

Ah, so this person has used themselves as their proof.

They've told an anecdote and finally point, explanation, proof, summary.

Having a uniform will increase a sense of inclusion in schools, which can only be a positive thing and will lead to happier pupils.

Point, explanation, proof, summary.

PEPS.

Persuasive letters contain a variety of linguistic techniques to persuade the reader.

A linguistic technique is a language device used to have a desired impact on the reader.

In our case, to persuade them.

In a persuasive letter, these may include a topic sentence, fronted adverbials and that's what we're focusing on today.

Rhetorical questions, relative clauses, conditional clauses, presumption, flattery, evidence and proof, and veiled threats.

A useful linguistic technique for a persuasive letter is a fronted adverbial.

Now there are different types of fronted adverbial.

I'm sure you are starting to think of some now because you will have used them before.

We have formal fronted adverbials.

We have viewpoint fronted adverbials and fronted adverbials of cause.

Now, they all follow the same rule.

They start a sentence and a comma follows them.

So you have your fronted adverbial, then your comma and then your sentence.

In a persuasive letter, a writer would most likely use formal fronted adverbials and fronted adverbials of cause, and these will be the ones that we'll be focusing on in today's lesson.

Let's check our understanding.

True or false.

A fronted adverbial goes at the end of a sentence? Is that true or is that false? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Let's see if you were right.

A fronted adverbial goes at the end of a sentence.

Is that right? Well, it's absolutely not right.

A fronted adverbial does not go at the end of a sentence.

It's false.

Well done if you said false.

Let's justify our answers.

A fronted adverbial goes at the start of a sentence, that's A, B is a fronted adverbial goes at the start of a sentence and it is followed by a comma.

How would you justify your answer A or B? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Let's see if you justified correctly.

Well, well done if you said B, a fronted adverbial does go at the start of a sentence and it's followed by a comma.

That little detail saying it's followed by a comma is why B is the correct way to justify your answer.

A formal fronted adverbial starts a sentence and is followed by a comma.

It is formal in tone and it links one sentence to the previous sentence.

Formal fronted adverbials can be grouped into two categories.

We have the and group and the but group and sometimes we remember them as the and hand and the but hand and it helps us to know that we have two separate groups, like we have two separate hands of formal fronted adverbials.

An and formal fronted adverbial, well, that builds on a point from the previous sentence.

For example, I am sure you can imagine how stressful this would be with two or three children to get ready.

Furthermore, children find it difficult to make decisions and may have favourite clothes they would want to wear, which all takes more time.

Can you spot the formal fronted adverbial? It links the second sentence to the first sentence.

Well, well done if you spotted furthermore.

Furthermore is a formal fronted adverbial and it is an and formal fronted adverbial alongside in addition to this, as well as this, also, furthermore, that's the one we used.

Moreover, and building onto this, all of these link the two sentences together when you are talking about the same topic, you are building on something, you are adding more detail about the same thing.

You are not taking the second sentence in a different direction.

It is continuing along same path.

All of those would work in place of furthermore.

Now a but formal fronted adverbial introduces a contrasting idea to the previous sentence.

It changes direction.

For example, schools arrange non-uniform days as a treat for the pupils.

However, they can be very stressful for some children who are often anxious about what to wear for fear of being singled out by their peers.

So schools arranging a non-uniform day for a treat for pupils, well, that seems really positive.

We're moving in a positive direction, but then we've changed.

We are now talking about how stressful non-uniform days can be, which is why we need a but formal fronted adverbial to show that we are changing direction and however does that perfectly.

There are other ones you can use.

We have however, despite this, on the contrary, and in contrast to this.

Let's check your understanding.

Which formal fronted adverbial fills the gap best? I'll read the two sentences.

And your job is to decide which formal fronted adverbial fills that gap the best.

The morning routine can be a rushed experience for parents and carers.

This is where our formal fronted adverbial goes, start of the second sentence.

So something, this time can place further stress on children getting ready for school.

Okay, you have two options.

You have on the contrary and additionally.

Can you remember which one was the but hand and which one was the and hand? I suggest you say each one out loud.

So you read the two sentences saying it out loud to listen as well to see which one sounds right.

Okay.

Pause the video and have a go at this task now.

Welcome back.

Let's see if you were right.

The morning routine can be a rushed experience for parents and carers.

On the contrary, this time can place further stress on children getting ready for school.

I'm not sure that sounded right and I noticed in the second sentence the word further tells me that we are probably talking about the same thing as we were in the first sentence.

Let's try the second one, additionally, because I know additionally is when you are adding, hence add-itionally the root word, you are adding more information about the same topic.

So let's see.

The morning routine can be a rushed experience for parents and carers.

Additionally, this time can place further stress on children getting ready for school.

That sounds pretty good to me.

Well done if you said B, additionally.

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

So we have the cause and the effect.

The effect happens because of the cause.

The cause causes the effect.

It follows the same rules as the formal fronted adverbial.

So it's formal in tone.

It's something that we use when we're writing formally.

It links one sentence to the previous sentence.

It starts a sentence and is followed by a comma.

Exactly the same as all other fronted adverbials.

Now a cause brings about another event or action.

An effect is the event or action that happens because of the cause.

So the cause makes the effect happen.

The effect is the thing that happens because of the cause.

The fronted adverbial of cause links the cause sentence to the effect sentence.

Here's an example.

I was often late for school on non-uniform days.

Well, that's the cause.

Consequently, that's my fronted adverbial of cause, the day was filled with anxiety and additional stress.

So the day would not be filled with anxiety and additional stress if it weren't for the cause.

The cause causes that effect to happen.

We have the cause, I was often late for school on non-uniform days.

And the effect, the effect would not happen without the cause.

Let's check our understanding.

Match the words to the definitions.

We have effect and we have cause.

Which one brings about another event or action and which one happens because of another event or action? Pause the video and match the words to the definitions now.

Welcome back.

Let's see how you got on.

So the effect happens because of another event or action.

The effect would not happen if the cause wasn't there.

The cause brings about another event or action.

The cause could be that it starts raining and the effect would be that you take out your umbrella.

I took out my umbrella because it started to rain.

That would be the effect first and then the cause.

If we were going to go cause and then effect, it started to rain, full stop.

Consequently, I took out my umbrella.

You would not have taken your umbrella out if it hadn't started to rain.

Now there are different fronted adverbials of cause to use.

We have as a result, consequently, and that's the one we've seen used so far.

Therefore, and due to this.

I was often late for school on non-uniform days.

So that's one we saw before and we used consequently, didn't we? But now I've switched it for therefore, and it sounds exactly the same.

I was often late for school on non-uniform days.

Therefore, the day was filled with anxiety and additional stress.

Let's check our understanding.

Which fronted adverbial fits the gap best? Children have every right to express themselves through their clothing.

Something, this shouldn't be to the detriment of their school experience.

Is it a fronted adverbial of cause due to this? Is it a formal fronted adverbial on the but hand, however? Or is it a formal fronted adverbial on the and hand, furthermore? So now you've got to work out which one are you going to use.

A fronted adverbial of course, or a formal fronted adverbial.

Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

I hope that you said these out loud as well to check how they sound 'cause that can be a important way of being able to work out which one sounds right.

Okay, let's check.

Children have every right to express themselves through their clothing.

Okay, so we're talking about children expressing themselves with their clothing.

The second sentence says this shouldn't be to the detriment of their school experience.

So it feels like we're going in a different direction.

We're saying they should express themselves with clothing and that makes it sound like they shouldn't have a uniform.

But the second sentence says this should not be to the detriment of their school experience.

So they shouldn't be losing something from their school experience because of that first sentence.

So I think we are looking at a formal fronted adverbial that changes direction.

Let's see how however sounds, 'cause I know that's a but formal fronted adverbial.

Children have every right to express themselves through their clothing.

However, this shouldn't be to the detriment of their school experience.

Sounds pretty good to me.

Well done if you said B, however.

Time for a task.

Write a second sentence for each of these sentences, starting with a fronted adverbial.

So your job is to take the first sentence and add a second sentence starting with a fronted adverbial.

Now for A, I want you to add a formal fronted adverbial, for example, also, furthermore or however.

In contrast to this, depending on if you're going to add an and formal fronted adverbial or a but formal fronted adverbial, are you going to keep moving in the same direction or are you going to change direction? The sentence is, many children arrive at school wearing the latest football kits.

What could be the second sentence? That's A, and B, I would like you to add a fronted adverbial of cause at the start of your second sentence.

For example, consequently, therefore, due to this.

The first sentence is, I am sure that you understand how important it is for a child to feel included when at school.

That's the cause.

What's the effect going to be? That's your job to add.

Pause the video and have a go at this task now.

Welcome back.

Let's see how you got on.

Okay, so the first one we had was many children arrive at school wearing the latest football kits.

Now, I have gone in a different direction.

So I've chosen a but formal fronted adverbial, and I've picked however.

However, the children of families unable to afford to buy these are left feeling dejected.

So I've said many children arrive at school wearing the latest football kits.

However, the children of families unable to afford to buy these are left feeling dejected, are left feeling left out, left feeling upset.

So however worked perfectly for this instance because I changed direction.

And B, a fronted adverbial of course, I am sure that you understand how important it is for a child to feel included when at school.

Therefore, I urge you to make this essential change to the education policy across the UK, which stands for United Kingdom.

I have used a effect sentence there.

I've said, I urge you to make this essential change to the education policy.

I would not be saying that if I didn't know the importance for a child to feel included when at school.

I know how important that is.

And I'm saying I am sure that you understand how important that is.

So I'm using a bit of presumption there and then I'm using therefore to say, well, because of this sentence, this thing needs to happen.

We have to make this change because we know how important it is for children to feel included at school.

Well done.

Let's move on to writing the first argument.

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

Plan and say each sentence before we write it.

Use punctuation, but only where we know the rules.

Showcase each sentence type we know.

Write letters neatly on the line in joined handwriting.

Use spelling strategies to spell words accurately and check and improve our writing when we think we've finished.

Now, here is the success criteria for you to use to guide your writing today.

I would like you to ensure that you have used your PEPS plan to write your first argument and we'll have a look at a plan in a second.

I have included a formal fronted adverbial, whether it's an and hand or a but hand.

I don't mind.

I want to see that you can include formal fronted adverbial.

To show your teacher that you can really master this area of writing, you should do both, an and formal fronted adverbial and a but formal fronted adverbial.

Then we've got, I have included a fronted adverbial of cause.

So that would be things like consequently or therefore.

So make sure you are using that in your writing too.

And finally, I have included a variety of linguistic techniques to persuade the reader, whether that be rhetorical questions, presumption, veiled threats.

That's for you to decide.

Now, here is an example of a plan that you might want to use.

You may have your own plan from a previous lesson.

If you do, fantastic.

If you don't, feel free to be able to use these.

This plan.

You can always pause the video right now to be able to copy this plan down if you should wish to.

Now you can see our plan is split into four parts, point, explanation, proof, and summary.

It's the PEPS structure.

And I've written in note form things like speed up morning routine because no need for a decision over what to wear.

So that's my point.

I'm focusing on that morning routine and how having a uniform will help to speed that morning routine up.

Which of the following should I use when writing my persuasive letter? Is it A, a success criteria, B, a plan or C, felt tips? Which of the following should I use when writing my persuasive letter? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Now, there are two correct answers.

If you only have one, you can pause the video to find the other one as well.

But if you are ready, let's find out.

Well done if you said A and B, a success criteria and a plan.

We do not need felt tips when we are writing a persuasive letter.

Now, here is a model of the point and explanation parts of the argument.

And we will check using the success criteria to see if it's included all the things that we need to.

And you can help me with this.

I'll read you the model now.

Firstly, I believe that having a uniform will save families a substantial amount of time each morning because they will not need to decide what to wear.

Have you ever felt rushed in the morning? I am sure you have and can imagine how stressful this would be with two or three children to also get ready.

Furthermore, children find it difficult to make decisions and may have favourite clothes which they would want to wear, which all takes more precious time.

Okay, let's have a look using my success criteria to see how I'm getting on.

First it says I have used my PEPS plan to write my first argument.

Well, I absolutely have.

I was consulting my plan to ensure that I used the point from my plan.

I have used the wording, but of course it's note forms, so I've turned into full sentences so I can give that a tick.

Formal fronted adverbials, do I have any? Ah yes I have furthermore.

Furthermore, I've used, that's an and formal fronted adverbial, so I can give that a tick fronted adverbial of cause, that would be therefore, consequently.

What do you think? Can you see it? No, not yet.

I haven't used that yet.

But that's okay.

I can move on to the last piece of my success criteria 'cause remember, we've only written the points and explanation parts of this argument.

We still have the proof and summary to write.

The last part of my success criteria says I have included a variety of linguistic techniques to persuade the reader.

Well, are there any linguistic techniques there? Oh yeah, I can see a, have you ever felt rushed in the morning? That's an example of a, tell me? A rhetorical question.

Yes, a rhetorical question.

And this is followed by, I am sure you have and can imagine how stressful this would be with two or three children to also get ready.

Well, that's presumption.

I'm presuming this person has felt rushed in the morning.

So I've got presumption and I've got a rhetorical question.

I can definitely tick off that last piece of my success criteria.

Okay, now let's move on to the proof and summary parts of the argument.

When I was a child, okay, so already I'm thinking this person is using an anecdote as their proof.

They're using themselves as their proof.

When I was a child, I was always late for school on non-uniform days because I found it hard to decide what to wear.

Consequently, okay, straight away my brain is telling me something.

What is your brain telling you at seeing and hearing that word, consequently? We'll wait till we go to the success criteria and we'll keep going, but just remember that, consequently, this had an impact on my day at school because I felt embarrassed and often couldn't concentrate on my learning.

If you make this simple change, you will be responsible for making a huge difference to the morning routine of thousands of families.

I am sure you will make the right decision on this matter.

Okay, so again, I've used my plan, formal fronted adverbials.

Ooh, have I got any on this one? I did on the previous page, but I don't think here.

Can you see any? No, that's okay.

We can move on.

Fronted adverbial of cause, this was the thing I hadn't done previously, and I have here.

Which word told us that we had used a fronted adverbial of cause? Exactly.

It was consequently.

Consequently, that's the effect.

This had an impact on my day at school and I felt embarrassed because I couldn't concentrate on my learning.

So this person felt embarrassed.

They couldn't concentrate on their learning.

That's the effect.

What's the effect of? Well, it's the effect of a non-uniform day and not being able to decide what to wear.

And the final part of my success criteria, I have included a variety of linguistic techniques, and I did already include a variety of linguistic techniques in the first part of my argument, the point and the explanation.

But I can see I've got a conditional clause here.

If you make this simple change, you will be responsible for making a huge difference to the morning routine of thousands of families.

That's a conditional clause.

If you make this change, then this will happen.

So I can add that to my list.

Okay, it's over to you now.

I would like you to write the first argument of your persuasive letter using your plan and success criteria to help you.

And here is your success criteria.

And remember, when you finished, I want you to read back your work and check for errors, and then mark your work against the success criteria.

Okay, it's over to you.

You are writing the first argument of your persuasive letter to the prime minister.

Pause the video and have a go now.

Welcome back.

How did you get on? How did you find it? That PEPS structure followed really carefully using your plan? Success criteria all complete? Well, if you need a little bit longer, you can always go back and add a bit more to it, but we are going to move on and have a look at my example in a bit more detail.

So in terms of using the PEPS plan to write my first argument, well, I did.

I followed the PEPS plan really carefully.

I can see that first sentence is from my plan.

It's my point.

I've used the word because to be able to explain that so I can tick off that already.

A formal fronted adverbial.

Have I got any on this page? Ah, yes.

Furthermore, good.

I can tick that.

Fronted adverbial of cause, not in this first part.

So I know, and this is why it's good to check your success criteria as you write, because you might be halfway through your argument and you know you haven't ticked this off yet.

So you know I have to do that in the second half.

And a variety of linguistic techniques.

Let's have a look.

Oh yeah, we've got a rhetorical question and we've got presumption, so we can tick that off there.

Now can we get that fronted adverbial of cause ticked off? Let's have a look.

Ah, there it it, consequently.

So we finally can.

That's everything ticked off in our success criteria and a successful piece of writing.

Let's summarise our work today.

A written argument tries to convince the reader of something using strong reasoning to support.

The PEPS structure stands for point, explanation, proof, and summary.

Formal fronted adverbials are formal in tone and link one sentence to the previous sentence.

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

Brilliant work today.

That first argument is done, onto the second argument now.

Well done, I will see you again very soon.