Lesson video

Hello everybody, and a really warm welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Halliday, and I will be teaching you today.

I'm really looking forward to getting started with today's learning, because in today's lesson, we are going to be exploring one of my favourite forms of functional writing, which is opinion article writing.

So I'm really looking forward to delving deeper into this form and exploring with you what makes a really engaging and fantastic piece of writing.

So let's get started.

So today's lesson is called Opinion Articles, and by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to identify how a model opinion article meets a success criteria.

Here are some keywords that you will need to unlock today's learning.

First of all, we've got form.

Now form is the type of text you are writing.

And in today's lesson, we are going to be looking at opinion articles.

Now, opinion articles have a really strong sense of voice, and voice is basically the identity of the writer that comes through the text.

So it's how you convey who the writer of the text is, and you do this partly through using tone.

And tone is the attitude that your words imply.

So the way in which you say something.

Now, a lot of opinion articles make really good use of puns and wit, and a pun is a small joke that is usually some kind of play on words that is made to create wit, which is basically where you use words in quite a quick and inventive and creative way to create humour.

So if you'd like to jot any of these keywords down, then please feel free to pause the video and do just that now.

Here's today's lesson outline.

We're going to begin by taking a closer look at the form, which is obviously, opinion articles, before we go on in the second part of the lesson to reading a model opinion article.

But let's start first of all by looking at and understanding the form that we are examining.

So let's begin with a discussion, and I'd like you to think, well, what is the form of a piece of writing and why does understanding the form really matter? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you discuss that question, either with the people around you or considering it independently if you're working on your own.

So pause the video, and off you go to have your discussions.

I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Fantastic discussions, and many of you really hitting the nail on the head there.

That form is actually the type of text that you are writing.

Now, some examples of forms are articles or letters or leaflets.

And it's really important that you understand the form that you're writing, because this really influences the purpose and the audience of your piece, which therefore influences the tone that you decide to use.

So it is actually really important to have a thorough and deep understanding of the kind of text that you're expected to write, because that influences many of the creative decisions that you'll be making as you're writing.

So well done if you got that in your discussions.

Brilliant starts in the lesson.

So as I said, the form that we're gonna be looking to at today is opinion articles.

Now I'd like you to discuss again, well, what do we mean when we talk about somebody's opinion, and what is an article? So we're going to kind of unpick the form, just by thinking about those two words individually.

So what's an opinion and what is an article? Pause the video while you discuss that, again, either with the people around you or just thinking about it independently if you would prefer.

Off you go.

Fantastic and really insightful discussions there and let's share some of the ideas that I heard.

So Alex summarises the contents of your discussions really nicely here by saying that, "An article is a written piece published to spread news, share research results, or participate in some kind of debate.

Now articles can be published in magazines or newspapers and they're often written to share an opinion, which is a person or a group's ideas or beliefs." So thank you so much there to Alex for listening to your conversations and summarising the contents of them so succinctly and concisely.

Brilliant work.

Thank you.

So an opinion article is basically just an article that reflects the author's opinion about a specific subject.

Now, opinion articles need to have a really strong sense of voice and I'd like you to cast your minds all the way back to the beginning of the lesson when we talked about this word voice.

And I'd like you to try and remember, well, what do you think a strong sense of voice means? So what is voice, and therefore, what is a strong sense of voice? What do we mean by that? So I'm gonna invite you now to pause the video while you again discuss that with the people around you or consider it independently, whatever you would prefer.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

I was really impressed by your recall as many of you were able to remember what voice is from the beginning of the lesson, and were therefore able to think about what a strong sense of voice might mean.

And you were absolutely spot on, and that many of you were saying that a strong sense of voice means basically giving your reader a really clear idea of who you are, what your personality is like, and what your ideas and opinions are.

Okay, so the voice is the sense of identity that comes through your work that indicates who the writer of that article is.

Now a strong sense of voice requires a really clear tone.

Now again, I'm going to invite you to cast your minds back to the beginning of the lesson while you try to remember what tone is and see whether you can give any examples of different tones that you might read in writing or you might create in writing.

So again, pause the video and have a go at that discussion task now.

Wow, well done.

You guys are on an absolute role today.

I'm so impressed by how many of these questions you are absolutely smashing out the park.

So really well done for remembering that tone is the attitude that your words convey.

And as Alex says, "It's actually how you express your opinions." So for example, if you were to say the phrase, "because we all support Manchester United," this can actually be said in different tones.

So here's an example.

So the first one, we might say like this, "because we all support Manchester United." And the second one we might say, "because we all support Manchester United.

." So what I'd like you to think about now is based on the way that I've just read out those two sentences.

I'd like you to think, well, how does the use of punctuation here change the tone and the way that you would read that out loud and the tone of voice that you would use? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you discuss that question, again, either with the people around you or thinking about it independently.

And if you need to read both examples out loud again in order to establish the tone, then please feel free to do just that.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

And I was so impressed to see so many of you identifying that in the first example, we see a much more kind of serious and genuine tone, whereas in the second example, we get this quite sarcastic and almost condemning or scathing tone in some way.

So well done if you identify that actually the way that's created is through the use of ellipses.

So the ellipses, which is the dot, dot, dot, used in the second example, creates this really sarcastic and condemning tone.

And it sounds as if the person who's written the second example really doesn't support or even like the football team, Manchester United.

So well done if you managed to identify that, and even better if you were able to explain how that tone was created through the use of ellipses.

So let's check for understanding.

We asked two of our Oak pupils about voice versus tone.

So what I'd like you to do now is read both pupils explanations and decide whose is more accurate.

So pause the video and off you go.

And a massive well done if you correctly identified that in fact, it is Alex, who gives the most accurate explanation because Alex says, "Well, voice and tone are similar, but they are actually different.

Voice is the identity of the writer and the beliefs that they convey, whereas tone is the way in which the beliefs are conveyed." So really well done if you chose Alex, you're absolutely right, because voice and tone are absolutely not the same thing as Sam suggests.

As Alex suggests they are similar, but they do have differences.

So well done if you were able to identify that.

So onto our first task of the lesson.

I've given you two extracts, and I'd like you to decide which you think comes from an opinion article.

So basically, only one of these is an example of opinion article.

And what I'd like you to do is justify which one you think is the opinion article by discussing what we have just learned about the form of opinion articles.

So thinking about what we understand about them, what kinda things make a good opinion article.

So you're looking for those features within these two extracts in order to determine which one you think is the example of the opinion article.

So here they are.

We've got extract a, which is this, "The club's longest-standing midfielder cross the ball into the box for their star striker Lucian Allan to pick up and nimbly tap into the open goal.

The opposition's goalkeeper was just too late." And the second example you've got is, "What is it about Lucian Allan that makes him such a threat? Is it that sneaky left-foot, is it the diligent calculations he makes as he approaches the net, is it the cheeky wink he gives the opposition's defence as he slides the ball around them, leaving them fumbling and flabbergasted at the edge of the box? Maybe it's all three.

He's a triple threat." So again, remember, think carefully about with what we've just learned about what makes a good opinion article and what the features of an opinion article are and use your knowledge to make a decision about which of these two extracts you think is an example of an opinion article.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you make your selection and justify it.

Off you go.

Fantastic work, and really well done, because everybody identified that actually, B, is the opinion article.

And the reason for that is because, if we look at the checklist, and this is a collection of things that would make a successful opinion article, in fact, features of an opinion article, this extract hits each of these criteria on the head.

So for example, first of all, we have this really strong sense of voice.

Okay, the fact that the writers has such a threat, sneaky, left-foot, cheeky, we can tell this is somebody who's really passionate about football and who follows football.

So here we've got this really strong sense of voice and actually we get the impression that this is quite a young person, because of the words that they've chosen, like cheeky, sneaky.

So we do get the impression that this is a young person who's really interested in football that's written this article.

So there's a clear and strong sense of voice here.

We also get this really persuasive tone, and we can tell that this is somebody who supports Lucian Allan and thinks that he's fantastic.

And that's kinda conveyed through this phrase, "Maybe it's all three, he's a triple threat." And that he's a triple threat is actually an opinion, but it's stated as a fact.

So here we have this really persuasive tone coming through.

We also have wit and humour used to engage the reader and it's kind of brought in with a sneaky left-foot, and the cheeky winky gives the opposition's defence as he slides the ball around them.

Again, there's a real sense of enjoyment here.

This writer really appreciates the talents of Lucian Allan and they're using wit and humour to convey their enthusiasm and engage the reader in their writing.

We also see really clear and strong use of linguistic devices used for effect.

So we've got this alliteration here, fumbling, flabbergasted.

Okay, and it kinda shows the energy that Lucian Allan brings to the game.

So here we are using linguistic devices.

Again, we've got rhetorical questions here.

Is it this question mark? Well, yes it is that, okay, so that question then not even requiring an answer.

So here we see these devices really used effectively to engage the reader and to also persuade them to adopt the same viewpoint as the writer.

And finally, we see punctuation used to create tone and voice here.

Okay, we see that, "Maybe it's all three," pause created by the dash, "He's a triple threat." So it's like that, "Maybe it's all three." And in that time, that we've got that pause, you're considering, "Is it all three," you know? And then the writer just slides in with, "Yep, he's a triple threat." So again, we've really used punctuation here to create that kind of really engaging and young tone.

So this example here was a really good example of how to create a really engaging opinion article.

Well done if you identified that this was the opinion article.

Great work.

So onto the second part of the lesson now where we're going to have a look at reading a longer model of an opinion article.

So as I said, we are going to look at a model opinion article, and I'd like you to consider, well, what features are we expecting to see? And I'd like you to think back to what we've just picked out of our example from our opinion article in the last task of the lesson.

So what was it that made that a really good opinion article? And therefore, what are we expecting to see in the one that we're about to read? So I'd like you now to pause the video while you discuss that with the people around you or make a list if you are working independently.

Off you go, Fantastic discussions.

And again, some really good recall there.

Many of you seem to really grasp what it takes to make a good opinion article.

So well done if you identified that a strong sense of voice is absolutely key.

We've got to have that persuasive tone, because, yes, it's an opinion article, but the whole purpose of an opinion article is to persuade somebody to adopt the same opinion as you.

You're trying to show them that your opinion is right and therefore we do need that persuasive tone.

That wit and humour used where appropriate to engage the reader, and also those linguistic devices are used for effects.

So things like rhetorical questions, triples, repetitions, anaphora, all those kind of rhetorical devices used really effectively.

We also need to see that punctuation used to create tone and voice.

And I can't emphasise enough how important punctuation use is, especially in persuasive writing.

It is the absolute key to unlocking that persuasive tone.

So really well done if you remembered that.

Let's have a look at the model.

So we're going to read the model together.

Now here's the title of our article, 'cause remember, if it's an article, it's got to have a title.

So the title is, "The age-old debate on the appropriate age for chills and thrills." And you can find this article in your additional materials.

So make sure that you have got this in front of you and that you are ready to follow along.

I will read it, you guys follow along.

"In a world where debates rage on about the appropriate age for children to partake in various potentially-health-jeopardising activities that adults rather hypocritically undertake all the time, one topic remains highly contested, horror films. It seems that adults just can't agree on what to do about our consumption of them.

'What does this mean,' I hear you ask.

Well, what it means, is that it's time for us children to get involved, and shed some light on this dark debate." So what I'd like you to discuss now, is, well, what tone of voice do we see here? And who do you think has written this article? Do we get that strong sense of voice that we need from an opinion article? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you discuss those questions with the people around you or consider them independently, it's up to you.

Off you go.

Again, some fantastic discussions there.

Let's come back together to share some ideas.

So in this article, we get the sarcastic tone of a teenager.

This is quite clearly a young person who loves horror films that has written this article.

A strong sense of voice has been created through the use of phrases like, "well" and "us children." So we do get that really strong sense of voice here.

Let's check for understanding before we move up.

What do you notice about the title, "The age-old debate on the appropriate age for chills and thrills?" Is it a, that it makes use of simile? Is it b, that it makes use of a pun? Is it c, that it makes use of a rhyme, or is it d, that it makes use of onomatopoeia? I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you make your answer selection.

Fantastic work, and well done if you selected b and c.

We actually have two devices used here.

So first of all, we see that pun, and the fact that it says, "The age-old debate," okay? And that's quite ironic and amusing 'cause actually what we're debating in this article is how old you need to be, what age you need to be in order to watch a horror film? So that is a bit of a pun, because we're saying that, "The debates age-old," but also we're debating the age that you have to be to watch a horror film.

Now using a pun in the title of your article makes the title much more snappy and appealing to potential readers.

And secondly, the rhyme that we've got here, the "chills and thrills" again, makes the title more snappy, makes it appealing again, but also it sets the tone on what kind of opinion article this is going to be.

And it's that it's going to be an entertaining one with this quite witty and chatty tone.

So the title sets up the very tone and kind of what we're going to expect from the article.

So this is a really effective title, and it's really well-executed in terms of its devices.

So well done if you identified that it does make use of a pun, and it does make use of a rhyme.

Let's carry on reading.

"Let's begin by debunking one of the greatest myths of all time, 'We children are not angels, we are not delicate little flowers who need shielding from harsh weather or amateur gardeners with all the gear and no idea.

' We're rebels.

Isn't that the whole point of being a teenager? Something about that 'teen' suffix just stirs the rebel in us.

It's an awakening, a rite of passage through a terrifying tunnel of answering back questionable decision-making, and worst of all, disregarded curfews." So what I'd like you to discuss here is well, what language device has been used here and what is its effect? So I've highlighted a section of the text I'd like you to focus on in green to answer that question.

And secondly, I'd like you to find one example of wit from this section and explain how it's been used.

So pause the video and discuss those questions with the people around you now.

Fantastic work, and well done to those of you that identified that actually in this green example here, repetition has been used to emphasise the writer's point, but also to create wit, because they're saying, "We're not angels, but we're also not delicate little flowers who need sheltering from all of these potential threats." And one of those threats is obviously amateur gardeners, which kind of, is a bit of a joke about people who, you know, buy all this equipment, go out to the garden and absolutely destroy all their flowers.

So that here the writer is using a metaphor to kind of liken their situation to shielding children from horror films. You know, "We're not delicate, we don't need protecting, it's fine.

Okay, let the harsh weather hit us, let the amateur gardeners rip out our roots.

We don't need that kind of protection." And here that metaphor and the repetition is what really creates that wit.

And secondly, the wit contributes to the sense of voice and the tone of your writing.

The article is so much more engaging to read, because it's witty, okay? It's not laugh out loud, we're not sitting here bellowing with laughter, but there's the odd smirk, you know, it's like a, "Huh, that's funny." Okay, it's a more subtle kind of humour, but it really creates engagement and actually it makes your reader really like you as a writer.

And if they like you, they're more likely to adopt your opinion.

So it's all kind of well-thought through and very clever.

So well done if you got those ideas and were able to explain those examples.

So what I'd like you to do now is I'd like you to first of all, finish reading the model that you've been given.

There's much more to it than the paragraphs that we've just read.

Then, I would like you to complete the table underneath, where you evaluate how the model has met the success criteria.

So here's the table, and on the left-hand side, you'll notice that we've got our success criteria for what makes a really engaging and convincing opinion piece.

On the right-hand side, you'll notice that I've asked you to find a quotation that best exemplifies this part of the success criteria.

Now I've used the word "best," because I don't just want you to pick the first quotation that you find.

I want you to pick a few and then narrow it down to which you think is the best one that best exemplifies that part of the success criteria.

So basically, which is the best example of a strong sense of voice, which is the best example of that really persuasive tone? So as an example, I've done the first one for you.

So we were looking for the best example of that really strong sense of voice.

So I've chosen this example here, "What does this mean," I hear you ask.

Well, what it means, and even kind of the punctuation here and the well, creates that really strong sense of voice.

This is a very sassy, this is a very witty, this is a very kind of charismatic young writer, and that really comes through in the model.

So we do have that really strong sense of voice here.

So there's an example of what kind of quotation.

So there's an example of how to choose your quotations.

So what I'm going to invite you to do now is pause the video while you find the best examples of how this article meets the success criteria.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the quotations that you choose.

So pause the video, and off you go.

Fantastic work, really well done.

And it was great to see so many of you taking longer to choose your quotations, because you were really trying to evaluate which ones best exemplified the success criteria.

So that was really lovely to see all of your incredible evaluation skills.

So we've already talked through the first example together, so let's look at the second criteria now, which is that persuasive tone.

Now you might have chosen this quotation here, "We read Gothic literature in English lessons.

Is seeing it really all that different from reading it?" And here, we've got that rhetorical question that really creates that persuasive tone.

Okay, and that word really, is it really all that different? Okay, we're being very much persuaded to agree that it's actually not different at all.

So well done if you got that example.

I'm sure there were other examples you could have chosen.

Doesn't mean that you're wrong, this is just one of the examples you might have picked.

So also that wit and humour, really important part of an opinion article.

And you might have chosen this quotation here, "We are not delicate little flowers who need shielding from harsh weather or amateur gardeners with all the gear and no idea." Again, I just love this because here the writer is using a metaphor to kind of make the point that actually, "You can't shield your children from everything," and that actually, "It's okay for them to be exposed to kind of difficult things or, you know, the world's ugliness because that's just life." But I like the way that the writer has used this metaphor of them not being delicate flowers and this idea of kind of a useless gardener just destroying the flowers in order to make that point.

I think it's really cleverly done there.

So well done if you chose that quotation, and well done, if you chose a different one.

As long as you thought carefully about which quotation to choose, you have picked the right one for you.

In terms of those linguistic devices, you might have chosen this, "Punishing the parents will just add fuel to the fire of teen rebellion." And again, here we've got so many methods.

This sentence here is saturated with linguistic devices.

We've got that alliteration, punishing the parents, and fuel to the fire.

We've also got that metaphor, "Will add fuel to the fire of teen rebellion." Teen rebellion is not a fire, and therefore, this is a metaphor that has been used to illustrate this idea that actually, if parents stop their children from watching horror films, they're more likely to watch them because they're in that kinda element and the state of rebellion.

So well done if you chose that quote, and equally well done if you chose a different one, as long as you thought carefully about it, that's fine.

And lastly, punctuation used to create tone of voice.

You might have picked this, "I'm sure he was a totally normal person, writing about murder and dismemberment for us to quite literally dismember in our English lessons." And here I really like that use of ellipses, because what it does is creates that pause in which the reader can consider the fact that actually English teachers and English students are literally dismembering texts in their lessons and they're dismembering a text about dismembering.

So there's a real irony and quite a lot of humour in that there.

And again, that kind of ellipses in the first line, "Well, I'm sure he was a totally normal person.

." Again, the ellipses just shapes the whole line and it creates this kinda sarcastic and scathing tone that the student is using to discuss Edgar Allan Poe here.

So really well done for selecting those quotations.

Those were just some examples that you might have chosen.

As I say, any of your examples are the right ones, as long as you took time to evaluate different quotations and choose which one you think best exemplified the criteria.

So a massive well done in completing that task.

Really, really great work.

So to summarise the learning from today, well, first of all, the form of a piece is the kind or type of writing that it is.

The form of a piece informs the tone that you use.

So as we've said, it's really important to have that strong understanding of what form you are writing, because it influences the decisions that you will make.

Opinion writing requires a really strong sense of voice and a persuasive tone, because you're trying to convince somebody to adopt to the same position or the same opinion that you have.

Furthermore, puns can be used in opinion writing to create wit, and wit engages the reader, which therefore makes your piece of writing much more persuasive.

Because if your reader likes you and thinks that you are funny and thinks that you are amusing, they're much more likely to take on your opinion.

Thank you so much for coming to today's lesson and engaging so actively in that learning.

I feel like we've all got a really good understanding of what makes a fantastic opinion article, and I really look forward in due course to seeing some of the work around opinion articles that you will produce.

So well done and thank you for today's contributions.

I hope you have a lovely rest of your day and I will see you later.

Bye.