Lesson video

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

We're going to be learning some fascinating information about an incredible animal today, and I'm really looking forward to it.

So let's make a start.

Today's lesson is called "Identifying Features of a Model Non-Chronological Report About a Shark" from our unit called "Pandas or antic animals non-chronological report".

Now you'll have noticed I mentioned two animals there, pandas and antarctic animals.

If you're doing this lesson, you are working towards writing a non-chronological report about pandas.

By the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to identify the features of a non-chronological report about a shark.

So we're going to be looking closely at an example of a non-chronological report today to try and identify the features it contains.

And to help you complete this lesson, you might want to download a copy of the text called "Basking Sharks" from the Additional Materials for this lesson.

But don't worry if you're not able to do that, I will be reading the text to you in today's lesson.

Let's get to work.

Here are keywords for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn, non-chronological report, subheading, paragraph, theme and chronological order.

Well done, now, a non-chronological report, as many of you'll know already, is a nonfiction text that informs the reader about a subject and that is written out of time order.

It's non-chronological, out of time order.

A subheading is a word, phrase, or sentence used to introduce parts of a text, and a paragraph is a section of a piece of writing that's shown by a new line and an indentation a little space at the start.

I'll show you one soon.

The theme of a paragraph is the central idea.

The writer wants the audience, the person reading it, to engage deeply with, and if we write in chronological order, we are following the order in which a series of events happened.

Here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to start off by understanding and reading a non-chronological report, and we'll move on to looking at a structure in the second part of our lesson.

So have a look at this incredible creature on this screen, we've got a creature which has its mouth wide open, a vast gaping mouth there, and look how huge this is compared to the humans diving next to it.

So what might we want to find out about this incredible looking creature? We might want to know what's it called, how big is it? Where does it live, what does it eat? Is it common or rare? All of those questions could be answered in a non-chronological report about this creature.

So this is a nonfiction text that informs the reader about a subject, and in this case, the subject could be this creature, which is the basking shark.

That's the second largest fish in the world.

Now we often think of our animals in the UK as being quite small, but it's possible to see basking sharks in the waters around the UK.

So our country is home to the second largest fish in the world.

So what we're going to start off by doing is talking about a few of the language features we might see in a non-chronological report, and we're going to read one about basking sharks in pieces as we go.

So non-chronological reports often use lots of subject specific vocabulary about the subject of the report.

This is vocabulary which is specific to animals or specific to sea creatures in this case.

So for instance, in a non-chronological report about basking sharks, we might find the following pieces are subject specific vocabulary we might find adaptations.

Those are features that help animals survive in its environment.

We might find a dorsal fin, that's that pointed fin on the fish's back.

We might find this word zooplankton, well done, which are tiny sea creatures, and we might find the word buoyant.

Now look at that word.

It's got a very unusual way of spelling the uoy sound.

OY is a normal spelling for uoy, but here we've got UOY as our uoy spelling.

So that word means if something is buoyant, it floats.

Solitary creatures are ones that live alone.

We've got that subject specific vocabulary there.

Solitary, and an endangered species are groups of animals that are at risk of extinction, as I'm sure you know.

So let's now read the introduction of a non-chronological report about basking sharks.

Now, if we were in class, I'd ask you to go and read and read this now, but I'm going to read it to you now.

If you'd like to follow along using the text, then you can do that.

So here's what the introduction said.

"The basking shark is a species of fish known for being the second largest in the world.

This little known creature which is found in the waters of the United Kingdom, is one member of a group of sharks called Mackerel sharks.

Because it is often called accidentally by fishermen, the basking shark is now much less common than in the past.

As a result, it is now considered an endangered species and hunting the fish is banned in many countries.

In this report, the basking shark's physical appearance, adaptations, diet and habitat will be explored before considering the threats it faces from climate change in the present day." So let's have a think about what we just read in that introduction.

Based on the facts I've read or that you've read to yourself, which of these are true and which are false? Pause the video and decide.

Okay, let's take a look.

First one, the basking shark is never seen in the UK.

That is, well done, false.

It is seen in the waters of the UK.

B, the basking shark is less common now than in the past.

That is true unfortunately.

For C, hunting a basking shark is banned in many countries.

Yes, that's true, because its numbers have fallen, the hunting has now been banned in many places.

And D says, this report will only look at the shark's appearance, that is false.

In fact, we said that we'll look at the appearance, the adaptations, the diet, the habitat and the threats to the basking shark in the future.

Really good job forgetting those.

Now, another feature of non-chronological reports is that they often contain lots of different expanded noun phrases that refer to the subject of the report.

In this case, basking sharks.

For instance, we could say the basking shark in these fish, but we might want to use more detailed expanded noun for instance, to refer to the basking shark.

We could say this little known creature, we could say the second largest fish in the world.

Some sharks we could say, or many sharks.

These creatures, these vast creatures, these enormous beasts, these impressive beasts.

All of these expanded noun phrases are ways of talking about the basking shark.

So now let's have a read of the next section of our non-chronological report.

So we get an idea of how this sounds.

We are going to read the section titled "Physical Appearance and Adaptations".

So this is actually two paragraphs.

Again, you might want to go and read this by yourself, but I'm going to read it aloud as well.

It says this, "The basking shark is known for being the second largest fish in the world after the whale shark, measuring the same length as two double decker buses.

Incredibly, these vast creatures can grow up to 12 metres in length and they can weigh up to six tonnes.

Basking sharks have a light grey body which is lighter on top and a dorsal fin on their backs.

Of particular interest, the sharks have around 1,500 tiny teeth arranged into many rows.

However, despite their threatening appearance, these enormous beasts are in fact completely harmless and they pose no real threat to humans." Then we've got our next paragraph about the adaptations of the basking shark, and it says this, "Basking sharks are very well adapted to their habitat and diet.

These sharks mostly eat tiny creatures called zooplankton.

As a result, they leave their metre wide mouths open as they swim through the ocean at speeds of around two miles per hour.

While the water passes out through the shark's guilds untouched, the zooplankton are trapped in gill rakers so that they can be eaten.

Amazingly, the shark's teeth, which are extremely sharp and not used for feeding at all.

Incredibly, the basking shark's liver makes up a quarter of its entire weight.

And because it is filled with oil, it helps the shark stay buoyant." Wow, some really fascinating facts there about basking sharks.

So based on that section about appearance and adaptations, can you match each question to its answer here, pause the video and have a think and you can refer back to the text if you've got it in front of you, have a go.

Well done, great effort.

Let's take a look, in metres, how long can a basking shark grow? Well done, up to 12 metres.

So B, how many teeth does it have, around 1,500.

But did you notice it doesn't use them for feeding at all? And C, how many miles an hour does a basking shark swim? What speed, around two miles an hour, well done.

And for D, how much of its weight is taken up by its liver? A quarter, fantastic job, well done.

Good understanding of that text.

So you might have noticed that sentences in our report often start with a noun or noun phrase that refers to the subject of the report, in our case, to basking sharks.

For instance, a sentence might start, the basking shark is a species of fish known for, the basking shark is known for being, basking sharks have a light grey body.

Basking sharks are very well adapted to or this level known creature is.

I've highlighted in purple there the expanded noun phrase or noun phrase that is referring to the subject.

And notice how they're often coming at the start of sentences.

And doing this helps the reader to understand that we're talking about something that all basking sharks have in common.

So this is a really useful feature of our non-chronological reports.

So now let's move on to reading the section which is titled, "Where Are Basking Sharks Found?" If you like, you can follow along with the text as I read.

It says this, "Basking sharks are found mostly in coastal waters in the North Atlantic Ocean, although they often bask at the surface of the water to obtain heat from the sun, these impressive beasts can dive to depth of over 1000 metres.

During the winter, basking sharks are very seldom seen, but in summer they can be spotted in waters around the United Kingdom.

Interestingly, some sharks migrate thousands of Mars every year while others stay in the same area throughout the year.

Although basking sharks are usually solitary, they have been known to gather in groups of over 1000 individuals in locations rich in zooplankton." So true or false, all basking sharks behave similarly.

Pause the video and decide.

Well done, that is false.

Now have a look at these options to justify your answer.

Which of these explains why that is false? Pause the video and decide.

Well done, you're right, it is B.

Some basking sharks migrate thousands of miles and others stay in the same area all year.

A is talking about a difference in behaviour that each basking shark does.

Sometimes they stay at the surface and sometimes they dive.

But that's not a difference between basking sharks.

Really well done if you spotted that.

Now, you'll have noticed as well that other sentences in non-chronological report have started with fronted adverbials.

And remember, a front adverbial is a sentence starter followed by a comma.

Here are some examples.

As a result, it's now considered an endangered species in this report, incredibly.

However, while the water passes out through the shark gills untouched, all of these are fronted adverbials and the fronted adverbial can be a word of phrase or a clause.

So remember, a word is a single word.

A phrase is a group of words that doesn't contain a verb.

And a clause is a group of words that contains a verb.

So that last example, while the water passes out through the shark's gills untouched, is a frontad verb clause.

It contains that verb passes, but in each case, what comes after the comma will be a complete sentence on its own.

So I bet you can spot some of those as we read the next section.

We're now going to read the section called, "What do basking sharks eat?" Are you ready? Let's go, it says, as noted above, the basking shark's diet is largely made up of zooplankton.

Incredibly, these creatures are typically less than two millimetres in length, 6,000 times smaller than a shark itself.

Because these creatures are so small, the sharks must consume them in vast numbers in order to obtain enough energy.

Consequently, using its vast mouth, the basking shark filters 2000 tonnes of water per hour.

However, the sharks do not suck water into their mouths.

Instead, they feed passively, moving through the water open mouthed and allowing it to pass through their gills.

Even though basking sharks rely heavily on zooplankton for their nutrition, they also sometimes eat very small fish.

Wow, isn't it incredible that such a huge creature eats such tiny organisms in order to stay alive? So which of the following are true? Pause the video and decide.

Okay, let's take a look together.

A says, basking sharks have a very varied diet.

That's not true is it? Most of them eat zooplankton and it says, for B, they must consume huge numbers of zooplankton.

That's true because the zooplankton is so tiny and they need to eat loads of them.

C says, basing sharks suck water into their mouths to filter it.

Is that right? No, it's not, they don't suck it in.

Instead they just swim open mouths and the water enters.

And D says, zooplankton are very small creatures.

Yes, of course that's true.

We heard that they're 6,000 times smaller from the shark itself, amazing.

Really well done is you got those.

So you might have also spotted some hyphens used to create compound adjectives in our text so far, here's what that might look like.

Can you see the words second and largest are joined by a hyphen? It looks like a dash, but there's no spaces on either side of it and it's connecting those two words, second and largest to describe that noun fish.

So we call that a compound adjective.

Two words that together or sometimes more than two, create an adjective to describe a noun.

So we've got the second-largest fish, this little-known creature, very well-adapted, double-decker buses, meter-wide mouths, moving open-mouthed, very well-protected.

And we can tell these words need to be joined by a hyphen because using a comma between them wouldn't work in the same way.

If we had two adjectives describing one noun, we'd separate them with a comma, wouldn't we? If we said huge, fierce creatures, we'd put huge comma fierce creatures.

But we couldn't do that for meter-wide mouths.

We couldn't say metre, comma wide mouth, that doesn't work.

So those words become an adjective when we join them with a hyphen.

And that's a compound adjective.

Right, we are ready to read the final section of our non-chronological report.

It's titled, "What Does the Future Hold for Basking Sharks?" Let's read it.

It says, "Whilst sightings are basking sharks are considered exciting events in the UK, these sharks are an endangered species, meaning they're at serious risk of extinction.

In the last century, they were hunted for their liver oil, a substance that was used in lamps and perfumes, resulting in as many as 100,000 deaths.

As a result in the 1990s, many countries banned the hunting of basking sharks.

Despite this, many sharks are still caught accidentally by fishermen or are struck by boats and killed.

In addition, climate change poses a threat to basking sharks.

As the temperature of the water increases, the zooplankton population is affected.

Consequently, basking sharks may find that their major food source moves to different locations or is harder to find.

Although basking sharks are very well protected by the law, they are very much at risk in the years to come." So we can see that the future might be challenging for basking sharks.

So let's check our understanding.

Which of the following here gives the best summary of that final paragraph? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, let's take a look together.

A says, Baskin sharks were hunted in the past, but they're now protected and their situation is now positive.

Well, some of that is true, but their situation isn't that positive yet, is it? So B is the correct one.

It says they're now protected having been hunted in the past, but they're still at risk of extinction.

Remember, they're still an endangered species.

And C isn't true because actually we think it's likely that basking sharks will be affected by climate change.

'cause that's going to affect where zooplankton live.

So it's going to have an impact on basking sharks as well.

Really good job if you spotted that.

Okay, let's do our first task for this lesson.

I'd like you to write a one sentence summary of each paragraph of the report, and we've already done that last one for you.

So pause the video and see if you can write a one sentence summary of each of the other four paragraphs of our non-chronological report about basking sharks.

Have a go.

Well done, fantastic effort.

Let's take a look at some possible answers.

For the introduction I could have said, basking sharks are very large and very rare.

You will have something different, but hopefully you've managed to get one sentence that really summarises the key point of that introduction.

For the physical appearance and adaptations, I've said, basking sharks are enormous and they're specially designed for feeding on zooplankton.

For where basking sharks are found I've put, they live in the Atlantic, usually alone, although some migrate.

And for what they eat, I've put they eat huge numbers of tiny zooplankton by filtering water through their huge mouths.

Hopefully you've managed to get something similar.

Really well done if you have, great job.

Okay, we've now read and understood a non-chronological report.

We're now going to move to looking at the structure of that report.

So you might want to keep the text with you as well as we do this part of the lesson.

So now you can see our non-chronological report about basking sharks on the screen in front of you, we're going to look at how it's structured and non-chronological reports often follow a similar structure.

In this case, we've started with a title.

It tells us the subject of the report.

Here we've just used basking sharks.

Then we have our introduction, which you can see here with a subheading called introduction.

Then we have some more subheadings.

And remember, a subheading is a title that introduces a section of text.

For instance, physical appearance and adaptations.

And then we have a paragraph that focuses on the theme that the subheading tells us about.

And you can see one here.

And then we also have in this case a conclusion and in our text, the conclusion is looking towards the future, talking about those threats to basking sharks.

Of course, not all conclusions will look towards the future.

Some might summarise the text that comes before, but in our case, our conclusion is forward-looking.

So why is a non-core report structured like this? Why do we have a title, an introduction, subheadings, paragraphs, and a conclusion? Let's talk about it.

So a title, why do we have one? Well, we need to tell the reader the subject of the whole report so they can tell straight away whether it's something they're interested in reading or not.

Why have an introduction? Well, that gives some general information about the subject and encourages the reader to read on.

So by the end of the introduction, the reader should know, am I interested in this? Do I want to read? And then hopefully they will.

The subheadings tell the reader the subject of each paragraph.

So let's suppose the reader wants to find out specifically about where batting sharks live.

They can immediately find that section by looking for the right subheading.

And the paragraphs are sections of writing shown by a new line and that indent, which we saw, organised around one theme.

So that allows the reader to engage really deeply with one aspect of the creature in this case, at a time without being distracted by other information.

So that whole paragraph about diet is really focusing in on that one theme and why have a conclusion? Well, in this case, the conclusion looks to the future and it considers the subject in general again.

It's not giving us specific information about one aspect of the subject.

It's looking to the future for the subject in general.

So this structure, all of these features help the report to meet its purpose, which is of course to inform the reader about the subject of the report.

So how is the title different from a subheading? I want you to tick all the correct answers here, which explain how the two are different.

Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, let's have a look.

A says that the subheading introduces the whole text while a title introduces the paragraph organised around a particular theme.

That's the wrong way around, isn't it? B has it the right way around.

The title introduces the whole text and the subheadings introduce the paragraphs organised around the theme.

But there's another difference, which is that there's only one title, but several subheadings, which might be questions about the subject.

Really good job if you've got those two.

Now let's think about the purpose, the audience, and the layout of a non-chronological report.

Can you match each question to its answer? Pause the video and have a careful think about this one.

Okay, let's take a look.

A says what's the purpose of a non-chronological report? That means why are we doing it? Well, it's to inform the reader about the subject.

So who's the intended audience of the report? Well, that's going to be someone who's interested in that subject.

And how does the layout help meet the purpose of the report? Well, it helps the reader to find the information that they want to read.

So we can see here that we are structuring our report in such a way that it helps the audience to understand the information.

Now you probably know that events are written in chronological order if they're shown in the order that they happened.

In a non-chronological report, there's no time order to events, that prefix none before the hyphen tells us it's the opposite of in time order.

There's no time order to the events.

Instead, a non-chronological report is structured around general and specific information.

Let me show you what I mean.

Here's a little diagram.

Got general, so we've got a broad view, then specific and then general again.

So this is how we structure our report.

We start off with the introduction, which gives us general information about the subject.

Then we go specific, we zoom in and the sections with their subheadings give us specific information about the theme of each paragraph.

For instance, appearance or adaptations or diet or habitat.

And then we zoom back out for a general view in the conclusion.

And the conclusion talks about the future in our case of the subject in general.

So we start general with a broad view of the subject.

We zoom in on specific features and then we zoom back out for a general view at the end.

Now specific information is in sections organised by a specific theme.

So we are now zoomed in on a particular theme in one of our paragraphs.

So this one says, where are basking sharks found? So the subheading tells us the theme of that section.

In this case, the theme is, where do basking sharks live? Their habitat, and there's a new line and an indent.

So look at that, underneath the subheading we've missed the line and then we have that indent.

Can you see that the word basking is set a little bit further into the line? That's the indent or indentation at the start of the new paragraph.

And the information in the paragraph gets more and more specific.

We start off fairly general at the start of the paragraph, talking about where they live in the North Atlantic Ocean.

And then we talk about more and more about their behaviour, where they move, where they go in the ocean from the top to the bottom, and their migration patterns.

So we're getting more specific as we go through the paragraph in relation to that theme of where the basking sharks live.

Now remember that subheading tells the reader that this section is where they'll find all the specific key information about that theme in the report.

So the reader knows straight away everything to do with where basking sharks are found is going to be in this section.

And the subheading is what tells them that.

So can you see here in the image we've got two different sections.

We've got the introduction and the paragraph, which starts physical appearance and adaptations.

So can you explain the difference between the two sections shown in this image in terms of their purpose and their content, what information they contain? Pause the video and think carefully about this one.

Well done, fantastic effort.

So we could say that the introduction gives us general information about basking sharks and is designed to encourage the reader to continue reading.

Whereas the second paragraph gives us that specific zoomed in information about the shark's appearance.

And that subheading tells the reader that this is where they'll find all the information about this theme, about the physical appearance of the basking sharks.

Really well done if you notice those differences between these two paragraphs.

Now let's do our final task for this lesson.

You'll have noticed that each section of our report has a subheading, and some of these are questions and some are not.

Remember, the purpose of the subheading is to make the theme of the paragraph that follows it clear to the reader.

So I'd like you to look at each section of the report again and think of an alternative title, first of all, for the whole report.

At the minute it just says "Basking Sharks", what could it be instead? Then I'd like you to think of an alternative subheading.

For each section that reflects the theme of the paragraph, you'll have to keep that one introduction the same.

So pause the video and have a think what could your new title be and what could your new subheading for each section be instead? Have a go.

Well done, great job.

Here are some examples of what you might have come up with.

Let's look at them in detail.

For the first one, I changed the title from just Basking Sharks to "Basking Sharks, The UK's Biggest Fish", the introduction, we'd said, we keep that subheading the same.

Then I've made this one.

What do basking sharks look like and how are their bodies well adapted? It's become a question.

And then I've got the basking sharks' habitats and the basking sharks' diet.

And finally, from my conclusion, I've gone for, the future of the basking shark.

Hopefully you've come up with some similar ideas.

You might have kept questions the same but changed the wording of the question, and that is totally fine.

But hopefully you've managed to make sure each subheading reflects the theme of the paragraph that follows it.

Really well done if you've managed to do that, good job.

Okay, let's summarise our learning in today's lesson.

We said that a non-chronological report is a nonfiction text that informs the reader about a subject and that is written outta time order.

We learned that the information is organised into paragraphs by theme with subheadings to help the reader locate or find information.

We learned that general information about the subject is included in the introduction and the conclusion, and the sections give specific information about the theme of each paragraph.

Really well done in today's lesson.

I hope you've enjoyed learning as much as I have all about basking sharks today.

I'd love to see you again in a future lesson, goodbye.