Lesson video

Hi there, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and it's so good to see you here for today's lesson.

Now this is an exciting one, because we're going to be starting to write our own journalistic reports today.

So this is a chance for us to show off our brilliant writing skills, and to show our readers how important and exciting this climate protest was.

Let's get to work.

Today's lesson is called writing the first part of a journalistic report about a climate protest, and it comes from our unit called Climate Emergency: Journalistic Report Writing.

By the end of today's session, we'll be able to write the introduction and the first main paragraph of a journalistic report about a fictional climate protest.

So this lesson built on the plans and quotations that we wrote in previous lessons.

So if you have those, please gather them with you now.

If you don't have them, please don't worry.

There's lots of support available in this lesson, and you'll still be able to do some beautiful writing.

You'll also want to have access to the cohesive devices bank you'll find in the additional materials for this lesson.

So if you're ready to go, let's make a start.

Here are a key words for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Formal tone.

Subject-specific vocabulary.

Direct speech.

Reported speech.

And cohesive devices.

Well done.

So a formal tone is the effect created by using serious, factual language.

And subject-specific vocabulary is vocabulary we use when writing about a particular subject.

Direct speech is when we write the exact words spoken by someone, enclosed in inverted commas to indicate speech.

Reported speech is when we write what someone said without using the exact words they spoke, and without using inverted commas.

And cohesive devices are language structures that contribute to text cohesion.

So, here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to write two paragraphs today.

We're gonna start off by writing the introduction, and then we'll write the first main paragraph of our journalistic report about a climate protest.

So as we write our journalistic reports about this protest, we'll use a formal tone, and we'll use a range of subject-specific vocabulary.

So we won't give our own opinion as a journalist, we are just going to report what the facts are and what other people's perspectives are.

We're going to avoid using contractions like shouldn't and won't, and we're going to use serious language, that's going to build towards that formal tone.

We're going to avoid using chatty or imaginative language, and we'll make clear what is fact, and what is someone's perspective.

And we'll use some subject-specific vocabulary like these words, we've got demonstration, activist, direct action, chants, slogans, advocate for, greenhouse gas emissions, contribute to, and sustainable.

All of these are subject-specific to the idea of climate change and of protest.

So these will help us to build a really clear picture for our reader of what is going on.

So can you change each of these sentences so that it uses a formal tone and some subject-specific vocabulary? Pause the video and have a go.

Well done, good job, so maybe for the first one, you went for something much more formal, like: "Local residents held a protest yesterday "in Great Oak Wood." For B, maybe you went for something like "Activist shouted slogans, "and advocated for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions." And for C, maybe you decided on, "The council argues that the road will reduce congestion, "but activists disagree." So these are much more formal, and they've used subject-specific vocabulary as well.

So this is what we're aiming for.

Our journalistic report is going to follow this structure, which you already know from your plan.

We're going to have an introduction that summarises the key details and the arguments.

We're going to have main paragraphs that give different perspectives and extra details.

We'll have a main paragraph about the protester, which we'll write today.

Then a main paragraph about the police spokesperson, another one about the climate expert, and finally, a conclusion that tells us the newest information, gives that official position from the council spokesperson, and looks towards the future.

And we'll begin by writing the introduction.

So your plan for the introduction might look something like this.

We've got notes for the summary of the event, who, what, where, when, and why.

We've got a summary of the arguments on both sides, and a description of what was seen by us, the journalist.

So our introduction is going to summarise the event and the arguments, and it's gonna give a description of the protest.

If you've got your own notes and your own plan, you can use those, but I'm going to show you how to do it with this plan.

So how can we combine all the information in the summary of the event into one sentence? And I'd like you to use your own plan if possible, but if you don't have it, you can use mine.

How can we put all of this information, who, what, why, where and when, into one sentence.

And there might be different orders you could put it in.

Pause the video and have a think Well done, really good job.

So, here are two examples, maybe you said: "A large group of residents of Oakville "held a demonstration against the planned new bypass "in Great Oak Wood yesterday morning.

So I've got a large group of residents, that's my who, held a demonstration is my what, against the planned new bypass is the why, and then in Great Oak Wood is the where, and then yesterday morning is the when.

But I could flip it around and I could start with the when.

I've said: "Yesterday morning "a demonstration was held in Great Oak Wood "by a group of Oakville residents "opposing the planned new bypass.

So I've mixed up the order.

Both of those are great.

We've got all those details in one sentence, I'm sure you did just as well, good job.

And we want to use a range of cohesive devices to connect our ideas in our report together.

So here are two notes from our plan, this is the argument on both sides.

Council says road needed to reduce congestion, protestors say will worsen climate change.

We need to connect those two ideas together, and show our reader that they are opposing ideas.

There are lots of different cohesive devices we could use to do this.

So we're going to connect them together.

So we could do a compound sentence, we could do an adverbial complex sentence, we could use a semicolon.

In a compound sentence we're sharing contrast, so we'll need to use, well done, but as our coordinated conjunction.

"The council says that the road is needed "to reduce congestion, but protestors argue "it'll worsen the effects of climate change.

For the adverbial complex sentence, I'm going to need a subordinated conjunction to start my adverbial clause that shows contrast, so I could say: "Although the council claimed "that the road is needed to reduce congestion, "protesters say it will be harmful to the climate," we've shown the contrast in a different way, and we could use a semicolon, for instance: "The council argues that the road is necessary "to reduce congestion in Oakville," semicolon, "Protestors strongly disagree." I've taken the same two ideas, and I've connected them together in different ways, using different cohesive devices.

None of these is better than the other.

They are just different ways, it's up to you to choose which you think is most appropriate each time.

So which cohesive devices can you see used in this example introduction? And you might want to look at the cohesive devices bank from the additional materials in this lesson for some ideas.

Pause the video and see what you can spot.

Well done, really good job.

So maybe you spotted this word but, which is a coordinated conjunction that creates a compound sentence.

Maybe you spotted this semicolon, which is used to connect two complete sentences together.

And they have to be closely related sentences for us to use a semicolon to join them.

Maybe you notice this word, although, which again, is a subordinated conjunction, which creates our adverbial complex sentence.

So three cohesive devices used there in that paragraph, we'll be aiming for something similar.

Good job if you spotted them.

So how can we connect these ideas from our plan using cohesive devices? I've got protestors holding placards, and one chained to tree.

We can connect these two pieces of information in many different ways.

So have a look at the cohesive devices bank and see if you can think of some sentences where these are connected in different ways with different cohesive devices.

Point the video and have a think.

Well done, good thinking, so, here are some examples, we could do an adverbial complex sentence.

I could say: "While most protestors held placards and chanted slogans, "one chained herself to a tree to prevent it being felled." And then I could do two in one sentence, two cohesive devices, I've got a compound sentence, a then a non-finite complex sentence.

So, let me show you.

"The protest was largely a scene of vociferous chants "and brightly-colored banners.

"But one woman took matters further." Now that would be, on its own, just a compound sentence using but, but I've added a non finite ING clause starting with a verb in its ING form, chaining, at the end there, to create a complex sentence.

"Chaining herself to a tree to prevent it being felled.

So we can use two cohesive devices in one sentence if we're really trying to push ourselves further.

Really well done for your ideas there.

So, let's start off by orally rehearsing our introduction using our notes.

So you need to have your plan in front of you, and that bank of cohesive devices from the additional materials as well.

So I want you to use your plan, or the one I showed you on an earlier slide.

And I want you to say out loud the sentences you want to write, trying to connect your ideas together using cohesive devices where appropriate.

And you're trying to use also that formal tone, and that subject-specific vocabulary.

So pause the video here, and take some time to orally rehearse out loud the sentences you want to write using your plan or mine from a previous slide.

Pause the video and have a try.

Fantastic job, well done.

That's gonna really help you when you come to write in a moment.

So here's an example of how you might have said the introduction out loud.

So, I started off with a summary of events, I've said: "A small group of Oakville residents "held a protest at Great Oak Wood yesterday "against the planned new bypass." Then I've done the summary of the arguments on both sides.

"Council leaders say "the road is needed to reduce congestion, "but the protestors disagree, "arguing that it will have negative impacts on the climate." And I finished with a description of the protest.

"While most protestors held placards and chanted slogans, "one woman chained herself to a tree "to prevent it being felled." Semicolon.

"Oakville Police were in attendance." So, I've just got three sentences, but we've covered all of those points that we're trying to include in our introduction.

I bet you did a similar job.

Don't panic if yours doesn't quite sound as fluent yet.

You've already rehearsed it, you've got some ideas going by speaking aloud.

When you come to write you have much more time to get those ideas solidified.

So if you're not confident yet, don't panic, when you write, you'll be able to go much slower, and get it really right.

Well done.

So now, we're ready to write the introduction.

So this is a success criteria.

So now we're ready to write the introduction, and this is the success criteria we're going to use today, let's check it through.

It says: "I have written an introduction "that includes a summary of events and arguments "and a description of the protest." Well, we've seen that happen.

We're going to use a formal tone and subject-specific vocabulary.

It says: "I have used a range of cohesive devices, "and I have used direct and reported speech." Now in the introduction, that last one isn't going to be so important.

So don't worry too much about that last success criteria for now.

We can focus on the first three in the introduction, and we'll focus on that direct and reported speech when we do our first main paragraph in the second half of this lesson.

And don't forget, you can tick off your success criteria as you write.

So now you're going to write the introduction using your own notes, or mine if you need to.

So say or think each sentence before you write it, trying to use those cohesive devices where appropriate, and referring to that cohesive devices bank if you can.

And then write your sentence, taking care with your spelling, and read it back to check it, until you've completed your introduction, and remember, mine was only three sentences, but it covered all of those points.

So pause the video and have a go at writing your introduction.

Fantastic job, well done.

So here's an example of how you might have written it.

I've written: "Yesterday morning "a demonstration was held in Great Oak Wood "by a group of Oakville residents "opposing the planned new bypass.

"While the local council argues that the road is essential "for tackling Oakville's congestion problems, "protestors disagree.

"They say the road will do nothing "but worsen climate change.

"The protest was largely a scene of vociferous chants "and brightly-colored banners, "but one woman took matters further, "chaining herself to a tree.

"The police were in attendance, "and they made a handful of arrests." So I've definitely got an introduction and a summary of the situation in that first sentence.

I've got my formal tone and my subject-specific vocabulary, words like demonstration, vociferous chants, I've got were in attendance as a formal way of saying we're there.

So this is all building that formal tone.

Then I've got a range of cohesive devices, for instance, I've got while to make an adverbial complex sentence.

I have a semicolon, I've got and and but to make compound sentences, and chaining to make that non-finite ING complex sentence, so loads of cohesive devices there, and I'm sure you have lots too.

Now I'm not going to tick direct and reported speech just yet, because we're not really focusing on that in the introduction, but we have actually said the local council argues that, so that's a piece of reported speech.

But I'm gonna leave that one unticked just for now.

Really well done for your effort there on the introduction, let's keep going.

So we're now going to write the first main paragraph of our journalistic report.

So we're ready to write that first main paragraph, we've done the introduction that summarises the key details, and we're onto one of these main paragraphs that gives a different perspective, and adds some extra details.

So we're gonna write first of all the protester's perspective, and we need to do the following.

We need to introduce that person, and explain their connection to the events.

We're going to give a quotation using direct speech that's in inverted commas.

Then we're going to explain some of their view using reported speech without inverted commas.

And we're gonna continue all the way through to use that formal tone, that subject-specific vocabulary, and our cohesive devices.

So can you find each of these features in this example main paragraph? Pause the video to see if you can find all six, have a go.

Good job, well done.

So, you probably spotted, we introduced the person here, Jordan Adebayo.

We've got some direct speech from him here inside the inverted commas, and some reported speech using arguing that.

We've got a formal tone as well, things like provide and without consideration.

So that's instead of saying without thinking about, it's much more formal, isn't it? We've got some subject-specific vocabulary like advocate and environmental impacts.

And finally, some cohesive devices like who led the protest as a relative complex sentence, and a colon there to introduce an explanation.

There's lots going on, but we can do all of this in our own paragraphs too.

So another cohesive device we might want to use which we saw in that paragraph is a colon to introduce an explanation.

For example: "These trees are more than just plants," colon, "they are the heart of the area." Two complete sentences, the second one explains the first one, and they've joined together with that colon.

We also might want to use a relative complex sentence as a cohesive device, for instance: "Local environmental advocate Jordan Adebayo, "who led the protest, voiced his concerns." Who led the protest is a relative clause starting with that relative pronoun, who.

We could remove it from the sentence and the sentence would still make sense.

And we could also use parenthesis as a cohesive device.

For example, "Jordan Adebayo," brackets, "a local environmental advocate led the protest." Here, again, that piece of parenthesis could be removed, and it's surrounded by brackets on either side.

We could put commas on either side of that too, and it would still be a piece of parenthesis, because it's adding extra clarifying information about that noun phrase, Jordan Adebayo.

So we can try and use all three of these to add some extra cohesion to our writing.

So how could you connect these pairs of ideas using a colon, a relative complex sentence, or a piece of parenthesis? You choose for each pair how you'd like to combine them.

Pause the video and have a try.

Well done, good job, so for A, you might combine them by saying: "This protest is vital," colon, "we cannot let this road be built." And for B, maybe you use some parenthesis, and you could use brackets here instead, but I've said, "Anna Samsonova, "an advocate for climate action "was present at the demonstration." Can you see how much better our cohesion is by connecting those ideas together in these different ways? So it's time to orally rehearse our first main paragraph.

And we're going to use your plan for this paragraph, or mine if you need to, which you can see here, to orally rehearse what we want to write using our cohesive devices.

When you do that, remember that direct speech has to follow the rules for using inverted commas, and reported speech instead uses words like explained that, said that, or argued that.

So we're going to have a sentence introducing the person, we're going to have maybe some direct speech, and then maybe some reported speech.

You can put those in any order that you like, it doesn't have to be direct speech first, then reported speech, you can mix it up.

So pause the video, and see if you can already rehearse what you'd like to write for this first main paragraph.

Have a go.

Well done, great job, so here's an example of what you might have said for this paragraph.

First of all, I've introduced the person.

Anna Samsonova, an advocate for climate action, was present at the protest, leading chants and carrying a banner." Then I've done my direct speech.

"This protest was vital, we cannot let this road be built," she commented.

Ms. Samsonova explained that the aim of the demonstration was not just to make people aware of the issues, but to get the road building stopped using direct action if needed.

"It was a great atmosphere, "everyone was chanting and cheering," she added.

So notice that we don't need to do all the direct speech in one go.

We can break it up like this.

So I had some direct speech, then there's some reported speech and then some direct speech again.

You can do the same, you can mix it up in the opposite direction, it's fine.

But we need to introduce the person near the start, so that it's clear to our reader who's speaking.

So now I'm going to show you how to write this paragraph.

Okay, I've written my success criteria here, but I've left out the one about the introduction 'cause we've already written that.

So these are the three which are relevant to my main paragraph, which is about the protestor and her perspective.

So in my plan, I've called her Anna Samsonova.

So I'm gonna start with her name and I'm gonna leave an indent here.

So I'm going to say Anna Samsonova.

And then I'm going to explain her connection to the event, well, she was present at the event, wasn't she? And I'm going to say that she was leading the chants and all that kinda thing.

So I'm gonna say, Anna Samsonova was present, I could say was there, but we're trying to be formal, so present is much better.

Was present at the, now I could say protest, but I could use that slightly more subject-specific word, which would be, well, demonstration.

Okay.

And then I want to say what she did.

So I could say, and she led, what? Yeah, well done.

And she led many of the chants.

I could even say many of the chants and slogans, couldn't I? Okay.

So, I've already used a cohesive device, I've used and to make a compound sentence here.

But I wonder if I could do something else.

Anna Samsonova was present at the demonstration and she led many of the chants and slogans.

I wonder if I could add some parentheses here, to say a bit more about Anna.

So I could say, with some brackets.

Hmm, what is Anna, well in mine, I've said she's an advocate for something.

What could she be an advocate for? Yeah, not for climate change, that'd be the opposite, wouldn't it, I could say for climate action.

Okay, and then I'm going to close off that bracket.

And then that works really well, let's read it back.

"Anna Samsonova, an advocate for climate action, "was present at the demonstration, "and she led many of the chants and slogans." Okay, I really like that.

Now I'm going to try and get in my direct speech.

So I'm gonna say something that she said.

Now you can change it from your plan if you like, but in my plan, I explained that she was saying the protest was vital.

So I think I'm gonna do a speech second sentence, which means my reporting clause where I say who said it comes first.

So I'm going to say, I could say Anna said, I could say she said, or I could be slightly more formal and say Ms. Samsonova.

And then I could say said, stated, argued.

I think I'll go for stated, 'cause I don't think said's quite formal enough for this.

So Ms. Samsonova stated, and I know at the end of my reporting clause I need a comma, before I open my inverted commas.

And what comes at the start of any piece of direct speech? Good, capital letter.

So she's gonna say, "This protest is vital." Okay, and again, lock that in with a full stop.

Now wait, does she explain why it's vital, what's so important about this protest? Yeah, she's saying, we need to stop the road being built, that's why the protest is vital.

So actually, I think, I might change this into a colon, and then we can use a colon to explain.

So I could say, "We must stop this road being built." So she's explaining in the second part of the sentence why the protest is vital.

Now, I could have said something really formal.

I could have said: "It is essential that we stop this road being built." But this is the direct speech, so here, we're not being so formal because this is someone's actual words.

And I think I'm gonna use an exclamation mark to show her strength of feeling.

And then I've got to put the closing inverted commas there.

Okay, so I've done my direct speech.

Let's try and do some reported speech now.

Hmm.

So she maybe needs to explain what the aim of the protest is.

So, I've already said Ms. Samsonova, so I think I'm gonna say, she explained that.

And that word that is really helpful, isn't it, for introducing that reported speech.

Now I'm not going to use inverted commas now, 'cause it's reported speech, so I might say: she explained that.

Now I could say the protest aimed.

But I wonder if I could be more formal than that.

She said that the protest aimed.

Ah, what if I said that, she said that the aim of the protest.

Can you see how I've just flipped that 'round, and it's now slightly more formal? So what was the aim of the protest? The aim of the protest was to, hmm, again, here's an idea.

I could say, she said that the aim of the protest was to make people aware.

Or I could say it was to raise, what? Yeah, well done, to raise awareness.

So you've gone from make people aware, to raise awareness, which is much more formal.

But I think there's another reason, isn't there? They're not just protesting to make people aware and to raise awareness.

They also want it stopped.

So I could say, she explained that the aim of the protest was to raise awareness, and to get the development.

I could say the development stopped.

Again, what would be slightly more formal? Yeah, I like that, we could say halted, couldn't we? So to get the development halted.

Okay, and I'm gonna finish, I think, with another piece of direct speech.

So what else did she say about the protest, well, I remember her saying that it was a great atmosphere.

So let's do that.

So I'm going to start off with my inverted commas, and this time, I'm going to use speech first, so the reporting clause will come second.

So I'm going to say, "The atmosphere was fantastic." Now, I could just put a full stop here, but actually, what I'm planning to do, is to say what was happening that made it fantastic, so, I think I'm gonna do a semicolon here to show, I'm gonna do a closely related second sentence.

And I'm gonna say everyone, was what? Yeah, well done, I could say everyone was chanting.

And what else were they doing? Yeah, I could say cheering, couldn't I, that would be good.

Okay.

And let's lock that in.

Oh, hang on.

I've just realised I don't have a reporting clause here.

So instead of a full stop here, I'm gonna change this to a comma.

And then after my inverted commas, I could put she said.

oh, it's like her last comment, isn't it? So I think I should put, yeah, she added would be really nice, wouldn't it? And then comes my full stop, 'cause now I've got to the end of the sentence.

Okay, let's read this back to check it makes sense, and that we've met our success criteria.

So we've written, you can read aloud with me.

"Anna Samsonova, an advocate for climate action, "was present at the demonstration, "and she led many of the chants and slogans.

"Ms. Samsonova stated, 'this protest is vital,'" colon.

"'We must stop this road being built.

' "She explained that the aim of the protest "was to raise awareness, and to get the development halted.

"The atmosphere was fantastic," semicolon.

"'Everyone was chanting and cheering', she added." I've just had a thought, I have used and twice here.

Now this one isn't really a compound sentence, because, I'm just listing things really here.

But instead of and up here, I could actually use a slightly different cohesive device.

I could use a non-finite ING clause, so I could make a comma here.

And then instead of led, she led, I could make it the ING form, which would be leading.

And now I've used a slightly wider variety of cohesive devices.

So we've definitely used a formal tone, haven't we, we've made lots of choices to make things more formal, like we said with raise awareness and the aim of the protest.

And we've got some subject-specific vocabulary, like demonstration and advocate here.

So we can definitely tick that one off.

We've also got a range of cohesive devices, we've got parenthesis and non-finite ING clause, and a colon and a semicolon as well, so lots going on there.

And we've got direct speech in inverted commas, twice.

We had a speech second and a speech first sentence.

And we've got our reported speech using explained that.

So we've definitely met our success criteria.

Okay, you've seen me do it.

Now it's your turn to write this paragraph.

Remember, use our success criteria and your plan while you're writing, and refer to that bank of cohesive devices as well, for ideas about how to connect your ideas together.

And don't forget to tick off your success criteria as you go.

Pause the video and have a go at writing that paragraph now.

Fantastic effort, well done.

So here's an example of how you might have written this paragraph.

I've said: "Anna Samsonova a local climate action advocate, "was present at the demonstration.

"She led chants and bought a homemade placard.

'This protest was absolutely essential, 'we just can't let this road be built," she explained.

Ms. Samsonova said that the protest, which aimed to raise awareness of the issue, was the first step in getting the development stopped.

She added, "We will use direct action if necessary.

"The atmosphere today was electric.

"People were chanting and cheering.

"I'm certain we will succeed.

'" So I'm not going to take the first success criteria this time, because we did that in the introduction.

But I've still got a formal tone and subject-specific vocabulary.

For instance, advocate and direct action are both subject specific.

I've got a wide range of cohesive devices, I've got semicolons, colons, a relative clause, and another colon there as well.

And I've got my directly reported speech this time, so I can tick that one off.

I've got my inverted commas around my direct speech, and I've used said that to introduce my reported speech.

I'm sure you've managed you the same.

Really fantastic job, well done.

So let's summarise our learning in this lesson.

We said that when we write a journalistic report, we use a formal tone and the third person, and we write in a mixture of tenses and we use subject-specific vocabulary.

We said that we use a range of cohesive devices throughout the report to connect ideas, including different sentence types and a range of punctuation.

And finally, we said that we use inverted commas to show direct speech, and we use words like stated that and explained that to show reported speech.

Fantastic effort so far.

Hope you're really proud with the start of your journalistic report.

I can't wait to see you again in a future lesson, goodbye.