Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham and I'm so glad you've chosen to do this lesson with me today.

We're going to be learning lots of interesting facts about pandas today, and also generating some really useful vocabulary.

I'm looking forward to it and I hope you are too.

Let's make a start.

Today's session is called researching information about threats to pandas from my unit called pandas, or Antarctic animals, non-chronological report.

And if you're doing this lesson, you're working towards writing reports about pandas.

By the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to write notes about threats that exist for pandas.

So today's lesson is going to be all about gathering information for our writing in the future.

Now, your teacher may have told you a special way they want you to record this information or you might want to use the worksheet provided with this lesson.

But either way, we're going to keep all this information safe for use in our future writing.

Let's get to work.

Here are today's keywords, my turn, your turn.

Threat.

Statistics.

Bullet points.

Formal tone.

And subject-specific vocabulary.

Well done.

So a threat is a possibility that something harmful or unwanted will happen.

And statistics are numerical facts or measurements.

Bullet points are punctuation marks that lay out key information in a nonfiction text, but we'll also use them to make notes in this lesson.

And a formal tone is created using serious factual language.

Subject-specific vocabulary is vocabulary we use when writing about a particular topic.

So here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to start off by researching the threats to pandas and we'll then move on to generating some vocabulary about pandas that we can use throughout our non-chronological report about pandas.

Now, I'm sure you know that statistics are numerical facts.

So facts that relate to numbers, and using statistics in a non-chronological report is a good way of helping our reader understand the subject more deeply.

So here are some statistics about pandas you might already know.

They weigh around 110 kilogrammes.

I can tell that's a statistic 'cause it contains that numerical fact.

They are around 120 to 190 centimetres in length.

They eat up to 38 kilogrammes of bamboo a day.

They defecate, that means poo, up to 50 times a day, and there are around 1,800 pandas left in the world.

So we could have just said pandas are quite large and they eat a lot of bamboo.

But using the statistics instead with the numerical facts makes our writing more authoritative.

It shows that we know important information about the subject of the report.

It tells the reader we know our stuff because we're able to give you this factual information that is based around statistics around numerical facts.

So true or false, all facts are statistics.

Pause the video and decide.

Well done, you're right.

That is false.

Now, can you justify why? Pause the video and think about these two options.

Which one explains why that is false? Well done, you're right.

It is A.

Statistics are numerical facts and lots of other facts are statements that are true, but they're not statistics.

For example, it's a true fact to say that pandas are large or that panda eat a lot of bamboo, but those are not statistics because they're not numerical facts.

Well done if you got that one.

So we're writing a non-chronological report about pandas and we know that it's gonna follow a certain structure.

We'll start off with an introduction that gives us some general information.

Then we'll have specific sections around a theme for each paragraph about pandas' appearance, their adaptations, their habitats, and their diet.

And we'll finish off with a general conclusion talking about the future of pandas in general.

So it's that conclusion we're focusing on today, and we're going to focus on the threats to pandas in the past and the present in that general conclusion.

So in the distant past, pandas were much more common, but by 1995, only around 1,000 were left.

So how did this happen? Well, you see a picture here of deforestation.

Deforestation means the cutting down of forests.

So bamboo forests in China were cut down to make room for farmland, for growing crops and for agriculture, and that reduced the number of panda habitats.

Less habitats means fewer pandas because we know pandas really rely on that bamboo to survive.

Another threat that pandas faced was poaching.

In the past, pandas were hunted for their fur.

And they also have a very low birth rate, and this is still the case.

Pandas don't have many babies, making it very hard for the population to grow.

So if you imagine the pandas' habitats being destroyed by deforestation, it's very hard for the population to recover because the pandas don't have many babies.

So it takes a long time for that population to grow.

So all of these factors made pandas at risk of extinction, and we see they got down to this very low number of only 1,000 pandas left in the wild.

So can you explain why each of the following factors led to pandas being at risk of extinction? Pause the video and see if you can explain.

Well done, good thinking.

So the low birth rate, well, because pandas have few babies, we've said their population can't recover easily when it's reduced.

Deforestation leads to pandas being at risk because pandas rely on those bamboo forests.

So less bamboo means fewer pandas.

And poaching obviously, if people want to sell panda furs for money, they have to kill the pandas in order to get the furs.

So that threatened the pandas as well.

So all of those three factors combined to really reduce the number of pandas and put them at real risk of extinction.

So there were other threats also caused by humans as well.

Human developments like roads had crisscrossed across the panda habitats, making it hard for them to find food and mates.

Now, this picture isn't from China, but you can see the idea here where a road has gone through a forest and it would be very hard for animals to cross that road to find more food and to find mates.

So in order to solve this problem, many panda reserves were created in China.

So those areas which gave pandas protections from humans and better access to bamboo forests and other pandas to mate with.

So that's helpful.

And because of those conservation efforts, conservation means looking after endangered species, panda numbers began to rise.

So pandas are now considered vulnerable instead of endangered.

So it's like one step up towards being back where you should be.

And this means they're still at risk of extinction, but their chances are improving.

So some conservation efforts were made and panda numbers have risen, but they're still at risk.

So true or false? Thanks to conservation efforts, panda numbers are no longer in any danger.

Pause the video and decide? Well done, you're right, that is false.

Now can you explain why? Pause the video and choose the right justification.

Well done.

You're right, it's B.

So panda numbers have risen, as we said, thanks to those conservation efforts and those panda reserves, but they're still considered vulnerable, which means they're still at risk of extinction, but no longer an endangered species at serious risk of extinction.

So things are improving, but they're not yet back to normal.

They're not yet good enough.

So as part of the conservation efforts in 2020, the Giant Panda National Park was established in China and it linked together 70 existing nature reserves.

However, those reserves don't protect pandas completely and they still face some ongoing threats now.

For instance, roads and railways.

So bamboo naturally dies off over time over many years.

So roads and railways through these panda reserves make it hard for the pandas to travel to find new bamboo so that bamboo in their area they're in might die off over time as it does naturally.

But because of roads and railways crisscrossing the reserves, they can't easily go and find that new bamboo.

You can see how that would be a problem.

Tourism is also a problem.

Obviously, people want to come to the forest to see pandas because they're such a well-loved creature all around the world and especially in China.

But when new buildings are constructed for tourists, it disturbs those panda habitats, which obviously threatens their existence as well.

And finally, hunting is still an issue.

Now, people aren't hunting pandas intentionally, but pandas can get accidentally killed by traps that are set for other animals.

So these are three threats that pandas still face in the present day, even though they have these reserves and this huge Giant Panda National Park to help them.

Now, we said that panda numbers had fallen to 1,000 in 1995.

There are now 1,800 wild pandas or possibly even more, so that shows us these conservation efforts are working, but there's still a long way to go.

So can you decide if the statements are positive or negative for pandas? Pause the video and sort the statements into the two categories.

Well done.

Let's take a look.

So the positive statements would be the huge national parks and the reserves that give pandas access to mates.

And the negative statements would be that those roads stop pandas from finding new bamboo, and the tourist development can threaten those habitats as well.

Really well done.

So are the statements below true or false? Pause the video and decide.

Well done, good effort.

So A, the situation of pandas has improved.

Yes, it has.

Panda reserves give pandas complete safety.

No, not complete safety.

We said there's still those threats they face.

Pandas are still intentionally killed in China.

No, that's false.

Not intentionally, but they can get accidentally killed in those hunters' traps.

And D, roads make it hard for pandas to find new bamboo.

Yes, that's true.

Really well done if you got those.

So now let's see if we can match the statements about pandas on the left to the most appropriate label on the right.

So the labels on the right talk about the current status of pandas, the past problems, the conservation efforts, the things that have been done to help them, and the current problems for pandas.

So you're going to have to sort out these statements into the one that matches best with each label.

Pause the video and see if you can match them up.

Well done, good effort.

So A says deforestation, poaching and a low birth rate made numbers fall.

Well, those were the past problems, weren't they? And then it says, for B, pandas are still considered vulnerable to extinction.

That's their current status.

Roads, railways and tourist development make life harder.

That's the current problems they face.

And many panda reserves and a huge national park created are those conservation efforts for pandas.

So we said the numbers had fallen off, they're now starting to rise again thanks to those conservation efforts, but they're still a vulnerable species at risk of extinction, even if they're no longer endangered.

Really well done if you managed to match those up correctly.

Good job.

So for our first task this lesson, we need to create our bullet point notes about the threats to pandas and the efforts to help them for our conclusion.

Now we again, need to keep these safe for our writing in the future.

So here are some example notes about threats to basking sharks.

And I've categorised them in the same way we just did in that check for understanding we just tried.

So I've said the current status of the basking shark is it's an endangered species at serious risk of extinction.

Its past problems were that it was hunted for its liver oil, leading to 100,000 deaths.

The conservation efforts were that many countries banned hunting basking sharks.

And the current problems it faces are accidental deaths and the climate change threatening zooplankton numbers.

So you can see I've categorised those threats and the conservation efforts talking about the past and the present and about the status of the animal.

So I'd like you to try and do the same thing for pandas.

So you want to make a note about the current status, the past problems, the conservation efforts, and the current problems that they face.

Pause the video and see if you can have a go at generating those bullet point notes for our conclusion.

Have a go.

Really good job.

Well done.

So here's an example of the notes you might have made and perhaps you've managed to do some extra research of your own as well, in which case, fantastic work.

So the current status is there are 1,800 in the world.

They're considered vulnerable to extinction, but not endangered.

The past problems are deforestation, which led to fewer habitats, poaching, which led to pandas being killed for their fur and a low birth rate, which meant fewer babies were being born.

And we know that all of those things led to the number of pandas falling to 1,000 by 1995.

The conservation efforts were many panda reserves being created, which led to pandas being able to find bamboo and mates more easily.

And then in 2020, that huge new national park leading to numbers rising.

So the current problems are roads and railways stop them finding new bamboo, tourism disturbs their habitats and hunting can lead to the accidental deaths of pandas.

Really well done if you've managed to generate some notes there for our conclusion.

Great job.

So we've now thoroughly researched those threats to pandas, and that means we've got notes now to fill up our whole non-chronological report about pandas.

So now we're going to turn to think about some vocabulary we might want to use throughout our report.

So let's turn now to the second part of our lesson.

So we know that we want to use some rich subject-specific vocabulary in our report.

Because a non-chronological report is a nonfiction text, we want to use a formal tone instead of the imaginative narrative language we'd use if we're writing a story or a poem.

So we can think of language like a spectrum like this with a formal serious factual tone over here and an informal chatty, fun tone over here.

So here's an example of a paragraph about pandas written in that informal, chatty, fun, narrative, imaginative way we might do if we were writing a story.

I've said, "Pandas are beautiful, cuddly creatures that live in the lush emerald-green forests of China, feasting greedily on mountains of crunchy bamboo." Look at those words I've highlighted there, beautiful, cuddly creatures, lush, emerald-green forest, feasting greedily, crunchy.

All of these give an idea of informal chatty, imaginative language.

Now, we are writing a non-chronological report, which is serious and factual and formal in tone.

So ours might sound more like this.

"Pandas are large, black and white furred creatures that inhabit the bamboo forests of China, relying almost exclusively on bamboo for their nutrition." Can you see how the language I've used shifted that paragraph way down towards the formal end of our spectrum there by using that subject-specific vocabulary and that formal tone? So we can use nouns and adjectives to create expanded noun phrases to refer to pandas using that formal tone.

Let me show you.

I could use these nouns to describe pandas.

I could call them animals or bears or creatures or mammals or beasts.

And I could use these adjectives to describe them as well.

Well-known, distinctive, much loved, world-renowned, instantly recognisable, black and white fur, substantial, that means big, robust, solitary, vulnerable, and retiring.

That means they're quite shy.

So we can pair these together to create some expanded noun phrases that have a formal tone.

For instance, I could say these distinctive solitary animals.

I could call them the instantly recognisable black and white furred creatures.

Can you see that those are descriptive? They tell us something about pandas, but they're not informal.

They're not narrative or imaginative.

They're describing how they really are in an interesting way.

I could also say these much-loved vulnerable mammals or these substantial bears.

All of these are expanded noun phrases that keep that formal tone alive in our non-chronological report.

So we're definitely here towards the formal end of our spectrum when we use these expanded noun phrases.

So I wonder if you can do the same now.

Using these nouns and adjectives or your own ideas, can you create an expanded noun phrase that could be used to refer to pandas in the same way I just did? Pause the video and have a try.

Well done, great effort.

Maybe you came up with something like this.

You could have said, these rare, much-loved mammals or these shy but substantial creatures, or maybe these distinctive black and white furred bears.

All of those keep a formal tone while giving us description using those adjectives and nouns.

Really well done if you've managed to come up with something similar.

Good job.

Now, we've come up with ideas for describing pandas, but we might also want some subject-specific expanded noun phrases to describe their appearance and their adaptations.

For instance, we might describe their fur as being distinctive, black and white or thick and woolly.

We might describe those eye markings as distinctive, unique, or trademark.

We might describe their teeth as powerful and strong, wide and smooth, robust and hard wearing.

And we might describe those jaw muscles as powerful, tireless, or strong.

So we could write something like this.

Pandas have distinctive black and white fur, powerful teeth, unique eye markings, and strong, tireless jaw muscles.

So I've made expanded noun phrases about each of those appearance features and adaptations to create a description of pandas that has a formal tone.

So I wonder if you can do the same.

Use the adjectives and nouns below to say a sentence describing a panda's appearance.

You could start it off by saying, "Pandas have," and then you can describe each feature using those adjectives and expanded noun phrases that we just looked at.

Have a go.

Well done, good job.

Let's take a look at some ideas you might have come up with.

Maybe you've thought of something like this.

Pandas have thick, woolly fur.

So I've described the fur with an expanded noun phrase, robust teeth, trademark, black eye markings and powerful jaw muscles.

So you can see that's a list, isn't it, of expanded noun phrases to describe the different features of a panda's appearance.

Really well done if you managed to get something similar.

Good job.

So we've described the panda's appearance and adaptations in a formal way, but we'll also need some subject-specific vocabulary to describe bamboo and describe pandas' habitats.

So we could describe the bamboo plant like this.

Fast growing, vast, immense, all-important or leafy.

And the stems themselves could be thick, firm, woody, and almost indigestible because we know pandas have a really hard time digesting those bamboo stems. For the mountains the pandas live on, we could call them bamboo-covered, snow-covered, heavily forested.

All of those sound descriptive, but they're not imaginative and informal.

They keep that formality that we need.

So I could say something like this, "The panda lives in heavily forested mountains and its diet is largely composed of almost indigestible bamboo stems." So I wonder if you can use the nouns and adjectives to complete the sentence to describe bamboo.

I've said pandas eat almost exclusively bamboo, which is something.

So can you describe the bamboo to complete that sentence? Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Good effort.

Maybe you have something like this, which is a fast growing plant with thick, woody stems, or which is a vast, almost indigestible plant.

So we've created a formal expanded noun phrase to describe that bamboo.

Really good job.

So I'm now going to give you some extra subject-specific vocabulary that you might really want to include in your non-chronological report about pandas because these words are specific to animals and specific to what we're describing in our report.

For instance, you might wanna use the word colouring.

An animal's colouring is its body colour.

You might want to use the word vulnerable.

A vulnerable species is at risk of extinction.

You might want to use adaptations, their features that help an animal survive.

An animal's torso is its main body and molars are grinding teeth and canines are ripping teeth, as I'm sure you know.

If an animal is solitary, it lives alone most of the time.

An animal's food intake is its diet.

If something is indigestible, it can't be digested or digested easily.

And another word for pooing is defecating.

So all of those words are specific to a theme of animals and endangered animals.

So these will be useful words for us to use in a non-chronological report to really show our reader, our audience that we're knowledgeable about this subject because we have the correct subject-specific vocabulary.

So can you choose the correct words to complete each sentence using this list of subject-specific vocabulary? Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Good job.

So in the first one, I would say a panda's torso has white colouring.

For B, we could say, because pandas don't eat meat, they use their molars more than their canines.

For C, I would say pandas defecate 50 times a day because bamboo is mostly indigestible to them.

And for D, although pandas have many adaptations to their habitat, they're still a vulnerable species.

Really well done for matching those up correctly.

Good work.

Let's try another one.

I'd like you to match each vocabulary word on the left in green with a word from the list on the right to create a word pair.

So there's going to be a pair of words that link together that we could use in our report.

Pause the video and see if you can link these words up together.

Well done.

Good job.

So we could say bulky, white torso.

I could say indigestible bamboo.

I could say vulnerable mammals.

I could say solitary creatures.

I could say sharp canines.

I could say smooth, flat molars.

And finally, we could say black and white colouring.

So can you see how, although we're pairing adjectives and nouns together, these keep a formal tone by being subject-specific and serious.

We've not gone into imaginative language, language used in a story or a narrative, we have kept it formal.

Really well done if you've managed to match those up.

So let's do our final task of this lesson.

And here we're going to record all these great vocabulary words we've come up with in this part of the lesson.

So what I'd like to do is to create a word bank of vocabulary that you could use in your report, and we can group the words into different categories so we can find them easily when we're writing later on.

So I'd like to think of some ways we could refer to pandas, some descriptions of panda appearance, some ways we can describe bamboo.

And finally, some of those subject-specific words and word pairs that we just practised.

So you might want to rewind the video to look at some of these words and to gather your ideas into your word bank.

Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Good job.

So let's share some ideas together about what we could have put in each of these boxes.

For ways of referring to pandas, I could have said these world-renowned mammals, or these retiring, solitary creatures.

I bet you've got some really good ones too.

For panda appearance, I could say distinctive black and white fur, unique eye markings, powerful hard-wearing teeth, tireless jaw muscles.

For that bamboo, I could say an immense, fast-growing plant, I could describe those thick indigestible stems. And finally, for my subject-specific words and word pairs, I could use food intake, black and white colouring, white torso, vulnerable creatures, and indigestible bamboo, just to name a few.

Hopefully you got lots more ideas than I did down in your grid that we can use all the way through writing our non-chronological report.

Really good job.

So let's summarise our learning in this lesson.

We've said that the conclusion to our report is going to deal with the theme of threats to pandas looking towards the future.

We learned that when we write a report, we use subject-specific vocabulary that relates to the theme of each paragraph, and we can create expanded noun phrases that add to the formal tone of our report.

And we learned that using statistics makes our report more authoritative.

Really well done for your effort in this lesson.

Hopefully you've now generated a brilliant bank of vocabulary to use and you've got some fantastic notes about the threats to pandas and their future.

Really good job, and I hope to see you again in a future lesson.

Goodbye.