Lesson video

Hi everyone and welcome to our lesson today.

My name is Ms. Mullins.

I've been really impressed with the learning we've been doing so far around our non-chronological report.

Today, we're going to be planning the introduction of a non-chronological report, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what you achieve.

In our lesson today, you will be able to plan the introduction of a non-chronological report about tigers.

Here are some key words we will be using.

Introduction.

General information.

Purpose.

Linguistic features.

Well done.

An introduction is the first paragraph of a non-fiction text that encourages the reader to read on.

General information is the most basic and necessary information.

Purpose is the aim of the text.

Linguistic features are types of words and language that a writer chooses carefully.

In today's lesson, we will be planning the introduction of a non-chronological report about tigers.

Our lesson will be split into three parts.

Firstly, we will be learning about the purpose and structure of the introduction.

Then we will identify vocabulary to use in the introduction.

And finally, we will plan the introduction.

Non-chronological reports often follow the same structure.

They have a title, an introduction, sections, and a conclusion.

The introduction is the first paragraph that encourages the reader to read on.

The sections contain paragraphs of information related to a particular aspect of the subject.

And finally, the conclusion is the last paragraph that summarises the key information of the text.

The purpose is the aim of the text.

The purpose of the introduction is to do all of these: engage the reader, make them want to read on, and give them some general information.

Here, we've got a choice between using information that is general or specific.

In our introduction, we keep our facts general and we save the specific facts for later on in the report.

True or false? Information in the introduction should be general.

Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you spotted that this is true, the information in the introduction should be general.

Now pause the video again while you decide how to justify your answer.

Well done if you spotted that the correct justification was A, the writer should only include general facts in the introduction.

Specific facts will be explored later in the report.

The introduction is the first paragraph of a non-fiction text that encourages the reader to read on.

The introduction follows a clear structure.

Firstly, we have our subheading, then an introductory sentence, general information, and a linking sentence.

The introductory sentence introduces what the report will be about.

The general information gives the reader some necessary information about the topic.

And finally, our linking sentence links on to the next paragraph.

Match each section of an introduction to its function.

Pause the video while you do that.

Well done if you spotted that the introductory sentence introduces the reader to what the text will be about, general information gives the reader some necessary information about the topic, and the linking sentence links on to the next paragraph.

Now it's time for your task.

Sort the facts into general and specific in the table.

Let's read the facts through together.

Tigers are carnivores.

Tigers eat deer, birds, boar, and fish.

Tigers are found in India, Asia.

Tigers make dens in caves, crevices, hollow trees, and long grass.

Pause the video while you sort these facts into general and specific in the table.

Well done if you sorted the facts in the following way.

So our general fact is that tigers are carnivores, and the more specific fact here would be that tigers eat deer, birds, boar, and fish.

A general fact is that tigers are most commonly found in India, in Asia, whilst the more specific fact is that tigers make dens in caves, crevices, hollow trees, and long grass.

Great work, everyone.

Now this brings us on to the second part of our lesson where we are identifying vocabulary to use in our introduction.

There are a number of linguistic features in non-chronological reports.

Subject-specific vocabulary.

Well done.

Formal tone.

Fronted adverbials.

Great work, everyone.

These linguistic features are types of words and phrases or words and language that a writer chooses carefully.

Subject-specific vocabulary is vocabulary, or words and phrases, about the subject of the report.

These words and phrases are factual and specific.

They help to create a formal tone.

Which of these are subject-specific vocabulary associated with tigers? Now, this is my turn, so I'm going to identify that the words carnivore, stripes, adaptations, nocturnal, and rainforest, they're all words that I would use when writing about tigers specifically.

Now it's your turn.

Which of these are subject-specific vocabulary associated with tigers? Let's read them through together first.

Diet.

Mammal.

Felines.

Walks.

Eats.

Asia.

Wings.

Predator.

Well done, now pause the video while you decide which of these are subject-specific vocabulary associated with tigers.

Well done if you spotted that diet, mammal, felines, Asia, and predator are five words that we would count as subject-specific vocabulary associated with tigers.

The words walks, eats, and wings are not words that we would specifically associate with tigers, so we wouldn't call those subject-specific vocabulary.

Now it's time for your task.

Read the model introduction and circle three examples of subject-specific vocabulary.

There are more than three in this text, but your task is just to find three of them.

Let's begin by reading the text through together.

The tiger, Panthera tigris, is a large, nocturnal mammal, which belongs to the Felidae family.

This fascinating apex predator inhabits the tropical rainforests, mangrove swamps, savannas and grasslands of Asia and it is highly adapted to survive in its environment.

Of particular interest, these distinctive-looking, solitary creatures are the largest cat species in the world.

In this report, you will learn about the adaptations, diet, and habitat of this intriguing animal.

Pause the video now while you reread the model introduction and circle three examples of subject-specific vocabulary.

Well done, everyone.

Here are all of the subject-specific words in this introduction, and hopefully, you circled three of them.

So if you circled Panthera tigris, nocturnal mammal, Felidae, apex predator, tropical rainforests, mangrove swamps, savannas, grasslands, Asia, highly-adapted, environment, solitary, cat, species, adaptations, diet, or habitat, you are correct, well done.

And this now brings us onto our third and final section of this lesson where we are now going to plan our introduction.

The purpose of a plan is to prepare ourselves for writing.

If we give careful thought to the planning process, our writing outcomes will be much more successful.

We can build on our ideas from our plan during the writing process.

When we plan, we use notes.

Notes are concise and capture subject-specific vocabulary and information.

The purpose of notes is to help the writer to organise information easily for future use.

We use bullet points when note-taking.

They look like this.

What is in a plan? Pause the video while you decide.

Well done if you spotted that plans need to include bullet points for notes, subject-specific vocabulary.

They do not include full sentences with capital letters and full stops, the only capital letters we would see in a plan would be capital letters for proper nouns such as for India or Asia.

And we do not include unnecessary information in our plan.

Let's recap the structure of the introduction of a non-chronological report.

We start with a subheading.

The first sentence is the introductory sentence and it introduces what the whole report will be about for the reader.

Then we have some general information which gives our readers some necessary information about the topic.

And then finally, we have a linking sentence that links onto the next paragraph or section.

We're gonna use the same structure in our plan because then when we come to writing, our plans will follow an appropriate structure and therefore, so will our writing.

Here's my model again.

Let's reread the whole thing one more time.

The tiger, Panthera tigris, is a large, nocturnal mammal, which belongs to the Felidae family.

This fascinating apex predator inhabits the tropical rainforests, mangrove swamps, savannas and grasslands of Asia and it is highly-adapted to survive in its environment.

Of particular interest, these distinctive-looking, solitary creatures are the largest cat species in the world.

In this report, you will learn about the adaptations, diet, and habitat of this intriguing animal.

Let's just focus in on this first sentence.

This is my introductory sentence.

It introduces the reader to what the report will be about.

So from this very first sentence, my reader knows that this report is about tigers.

Now it's your turn.

Pause the video while you write down your subheading, which just has to be the word introduction.

Then write some bullet points for key words and phrases you will use in your introductory sentence.

The key point to note is your introductory sentence needs to tell your reader what the report is about.

And remember, we've also got this little prompt as a visual here to remember to keep our information general.

We do not include specific facts at this point.

Pause the video now while you do that.

Great work, everybody.

So looking at your plan, hopefully, you have got the word introduction as your subheading.

I jotted down some subject-specific vocabulary I would like to use in my introduction.

My ideas might be similar to yours or you might have something different.

So I would like to mention in my introductory sentence that tigers are nocturnal mammals, there's two subject-specific words straight away, that they are large and distinctive-looking, and that they belong to the Felidae family.

Let's go back to my model again, but we're not gonna reread the whole thing.

Instead, we're just going to look at this section.

Here is where I've got a couple of sentences that include general facts about tigers.

This fascinating apex predator inhabits the tropical rainforests, mangrove swamps, savannas and grasslands of Asia and it is highly adapted to survive in its environment.

Of particular interest, these distinctive-looking, solitary creatures are the largest cat species in the world.

Just to remind you before you go off and plan your own general facts, here are some of the interesting facts we learned about tigers in our last lesson.

So you might in this section want to mention that tigers are the largest cats in the world, and a fully grown tiger measures up to three metres long and weighs approximately 300 kilogrammes.

A different fact you might want to include is that they are very fast runners and they can reach speeds of up to 65 kilometres per hour when they're chasing prey.

Or you might like to mention that each individual tiger has over 100 stripes and each pattern of stripes is as unique as a human fingerprint, no two tigers have an identical coat.

Or a different fact that you might want to mention are that tigers have got fake eyes called ocelli.

These white spots of fur on the back of their ears scare other animals because they look like the tiger is watching them, even when its head is turned the other way.

Take a moment now to decide which of these general facts you are going to jot down and use in your plan.

Well done, everyone, now it's time for you to pause the video and write bullet points for key words and phrases you will use in your general information sentences.

So some pointers you might want to use might be where do they live and have you included an interesting, general fact, like one of the facts that we just looked at there now? Pause the video while you do that.

Great work, everyone.

Okay, so here are some ideas that I jotted down.

Again, they might be a little bit different to what you have got on your plan.

I've mentioned that they're most commonly found in India, in Asia, that they are highly-adapted to help them survive, and that I wanted to refer to them as apex predators to show, 'cause that's quite an interesting fact 'cause they're at the very top of their food chain, and that they can reach running speeds of up to 65 kilometres per hour.

And I think those two facts go nicely together because on one hand, I'm showing that they are apex predators and on the other, how quickly they can run, and that is also going to help them when hunting.

And now we're onto my model again, but this time looking at my linking sentence, let's read it together.

In this report, you will learn about the adaptations, diet, and habitat of this intriguing animal.

So this is where I sum up to my reader what they will be reading or what they will be learning about in the rest of the report.

Now pause the video while you write some bullet points for key words and phrases that you will use in your linking sentence.

Have you considered what your sentence opener will be? And what is your reader going to learn about in the rest of the report, bearing in mind that the next two sections are going to be about the diet and the adaptations of tigers? Pause the video while you do that.

Well done, everybody.

Here are my ideas.

Remember, they might not be the same as yours, and that's great if you've got something different.

I've decided to jot down two potential openers, and then I will decide on the day when I come to write this which one I'm going to use, but I have used in this report or I might also use throughout this report.

Again, I might choose to use the words that we will explore or that we will learn about.

And then the key things we're learning about are the tigers, adaptations, diet, and habitat.

And that now brings us to the end of our lesson today.

I hope you've come away from this lesson feeling really successful and really proud of the plan for your introduction.

In our lesson today, we've been planning the introduction of a non-chronological report.

The purpose of the introduction is to engage the reader and give them some general information about the topic.

Subject-specific vocabulary that is factual and formal is used in a non-chronological report.

The introduction of a non-chronological report includes an introductory sentence, general information, and a linking sentence to the next paragraph.

Plans should be written in note form, using bullet points.

Well done, everyone, I am being so impressed with the incredible ideas you've been coming up with and also the variation in different ideas as well, it was excellent work.