To identify the features of an explanation text

Key Stage 2

English

Chocolate Making - Explanation writing

﻿Hello everybody, my name is Mrs. Hardisty and I am going to be teaching you for your English lessons. I am really excited about this unit because we are going to be learning all about chocolate. And I don't know about you, but I absolutely love chocolate. What's your favourite kind of chocolate? So we're going to be doing lots of learning about chocolate and we're going to be writing all about chocolate. When you are ready, let's start our lesson. This is what we are going to do in our lesson today. We're going to start with a warmup. And then we're going to look at the purpose of explanation texts. So what they're for, who might read them, why they're written. And then we're going to look at how they're organised, so their organisational features, how the information is laid out. And then finally, we're going to look at the language features. So the sorts of words we might expect to see in an explanation text. For this lesson, you will need paper and pencil. So please make sure you have both of those things before we carry on. We will start with some key vocabulary, some important words that we will be looking at today. My turn, your turn. Clause, so a clause is a group of words that contain a verb. Formal conjunction, so these are words which connect other words, phrases, clauses, or sentences together. And they nearly always start a sentence and we'll be using these in our writing. Sequencing conjunction, so these are conjunctions that are used to describe when something happens. And then finally, clausal conjunction. So this is a conjunction that links a cause and effect. So something happens which then leads to something else happening, so cause and effect, and a causal conjunction links these two actions together. Now let's do our warmup. So, we want to use lots of formal conjunctions in our writing, and there are two main types. There are those that mean but and there are those that mean and. And the reason why we have these two hands, is just to help us remember when we come to do our own writing. So we can think about the different words, the different conjunctions that mean but and the conjunctions that mean and. If they mean and, it means that they're joining to ideas that are similar to each other. If they mean but, they are joining two ideas that are contrasting, that are different to each other. So one might be positive, and one might be negative or the other way round. So one might be good, one might be bad or the other way round. So an example of a but conjunction is, however, let me put this into a sentence for you. Mrs. Hardisty enjoys chocolate, however, she must not eat too much. So I've got two contrasting different ideas and I've joined them with the word however. I've got it with a capital letter and a comma because it nearly always starts my sentence. And so if it starts my sentence, it needs to have a capital letter. An example of a formal conjunction that means and is the word also. Let me put that into a sentence to explain. Mrs. Hardisty enjoys chocolate, also, she really enjoys eating fruit. So here you can see two ideas that are similar to each other. I like chocolate, I also like fruit. And so I joined them with an and formal conjunction in this case, also. Now here I've got some more examples. Three of them mean and, two of them mean but, and in a moment, I'd like you to pause the video and see if you can work out which ones mean and and which ones mean but. Let me read them to you now. Furthermore, nevertheless, despite, in addition, moreover. So can you now pause the video and see if you can work out which ones mean which? Well done, let's see what I think. So my two formal conjunctions that meant but, where despite and nevertheless, not forgetting of course that we also have learnt the word however. My three words that meant and, were in addition, moreover and furthermore, of course not forgetting our word also. And you can see that in the three that you were looking at, all of them have a word inside that that means that you are adding something extra. So we've got the word addition, add, we've got the word more in both moreover and furthermore. So you're adding more information for your reader. We're going to use all of these formal conjunctions in our writing. So let's now think about explanation texts. What is an explanation text? Can you think, what is it for and who might read it? It's got almost the word explain in it hasn't it? So if it sounds like explain, I wonder what it might be used for and why you might read it. So an explanation text describes a process. So explains how something works. It describes how or why something happens. It's really easy to get them confused with instructions but instructions tell the reader how to do something themselves. Whereas an explanation text describes how something happens. It doesn't tell you how to do it. And the reason why we're looking at this is because you are going to write your own explanation text all about how chocolate is made. So let us just check, make sure that we know what our explanation text's for. Is it one, to tell you how to do something or is it two, to tell you how something works? Show me with your fingers, is it one or two? Well done, it is option two, to tell you how something works. Let's unpick that a little bit more. So here I've got two different sorts of texts. I've got a little bit of instructions and I've got a little bit from an explanation text. They're both about compost, which is a special sort of mud that gardeners make to put on the garden to help their plants grow. Can you spot the difference between my instructions about compost and my explanation text about compost? I'm going to read them both out. How to make compost, collect old vegetable peelings and put them in the compost bin, leave the compost for a few months. And now my explanation text, how compost is made. Vegetable peelings are collected together and put in a special bin. Additional plant material is added as an extra layer. So you might have spotted the difference between the two. I think that the most important difference is the tense of the verbs. So in our instructions, you might remembered this if you've written instructions before, they have these bossy imperative verbs. Collect, put, leave, and that's because you're telling someone what to do in your instructions. However in explanation texts, they're explaining how that happens. And so the tense is different. So in our example here, we've got, are collected or is added and that's a slightly strange way of writing the verbs that we're going to get really good at as we come to our explanation texts. So remember, they're not instructions, they're not telling you how to do something, they're explaining how it happens. So let's now look at the organisational features. You don't need to be able to read all of the words in this example. I just wanted to show you a whole explanation text so that you can have a look at how the information is organised. What do you notice about how it's laid out on the page? It's not one huge piece of writing. What do you notice about it? Have a think you might want to tell me, is there anything that you notice about the way it's organised? This is what I noticed. So it has a title at the top, which tells you what the whole text is about. And then it has an introduction that tells the reader some general information about what the whole explanation text is going to be explaining. And then there are subheadings and these are really useful for breaking the information up so that your reader knows what each section is going to be describing. The subheadings are like little mini titles. And then at the end, there is a conclusion. So the conclusion rounds the whole text up, it summarises, it explains what the whole thing was about and helps your reader think about everything that they have already read. So now we're going to look at the sort of language you might find in an explanation text. Now some of these things are very specific to explanation texts and some of them you might find in a range of different non-fiction texts, such as non chronological reports or information texts. And they're useful here too. So the example that we are looking at today is all about compost. And I'm going to read out some of it to you now. And as I do so, I would like you to try and spot some sequencing, ordering conjunctions. They tell you when something happens at each stage of the process. And at the end, I'd like you to tell me or think which words they were. Let me read now, how does it start? That was my subheading. First, any raw vegetable or plant material is collected, leaves, grass, vegetable peelings, and fruit cores. In addition, often some garden soil is mixed in to include helpful bacteria. Where is it put? Another subheading, next, the compost mixture is put into a special bin, which can be bought from a garden centre or made by hand. Then it is left for many months. Gardener's sometimes turn the compost over to ensure that air can reach it and to mix up all of the ingredients. Okay, did you spot those sequencing conjunctions that tell you when something happens? Can you tell me now, which words did you spot? That's right, so there's first, next, then. This is really important because explanation texts are always written in chronological order. They're always written in the order that the process happens. And so we need the sequencing conjunctions to help our reader know exactly when everything happens. So earlier, we thought about formal and conjunctions and formal but conjunctions, and that's because we use them to link lots of ideas in our explanation text. We've already read the first bit of this. So I'm just going to read the second part now. Gardeners sometimes turn a compost over to ensure that air can reach it and to mix up all of the ingredients. This helps the vegetable matter to rot more evenly, however, not all gardeners do this. So, did you spot the and formal conjunction? Which one was it, call it out? Well then it was the in addition, and then the but formal conjunction was however, well done. Let's just check what we have just learnt. True or false, show me with your thumbs. It does not matter what order you write an explanation text. Show me with your thumbs, do you agree or disagree, true or false? And that is false, explanation texts must be in chronological order, to explain the process in the correct order. And we use sequencing conjunctions to help us do that. Okay, so the next feature, the language feature we're looking at, are causal conjunctions. We thought about this when we looked at our key vocabulary. So we have a cause here, something that happens and an effect that leads onto it. And in this example, we have these two, the cause. Tiny animals known as microbes, such as bacteria and fungi, begin to rot, decompose is another word for rot, the vegetable material. And the effect is, natural warmth is produced in the compost, which helps to speed up the process. And our causal conjunctions help our reader link these two. So here is that same information, but in our explanation text and the cause and effect are linked by a causal conjunction. In this case, can you spot what it is? That's right, it's as a result. So as a result is an example of a causal conjunction Right, which is the odd one out? I've got four different options. One, in addition, two, moreover, three, however, four, furthermore. One of them means something different to all the other three, which one is it? Show me with your fingers and ready, which one is it, go. I agree, it is option three, however, because however is a but formal conjunction and all the others are and formal conjunctions. Okay, another odd one out. So one, finally, two, after that, three, two weeks later, four as a result. Which of these is the odd one out, which one is a different type of word or phrase? Well done, it is, as a result all the others were sequencing conjunctions. They tell you when something happens, as a result is a causal conjunction. So now we're going to look at things that are really particular to explanation texts. We've got that same paragraph that we've already read and there are three things that I would like you to notice in this paragraph. First of all, the present tense. Now we've already touched on this but it's slightly unusual in an explanation text. So we've got, is collected, is mixed. And I know that normally, when you see a verb with an ED at the end, you think it's in the past, in the past tense. But can you see that each of these verbs has is before it, is collected, is mixed. And that shows that it's a particular form of the present tense. I hope you noticed too that there is extra information in brackets. Can you tell me which words were in brackets? Can you call it out to me now? That's right, leaves, grass, vegetable peelings, and fruit cores. So if you want to give extra information, especially lists of different things, it's really good to put them in brackets in an explanation text. And then finally, we have subject specific language. That just means particular words, often scientific or technical, that are particular to what you're explaining. So in this case, particular words that are about compost. When we come to do our text, it will be particular words about chocolate. So in the example on here, we can see we've got bacteria, which is a subject specific word and plant material. We're going to have another check of what we have just learnt. So which of these is an example of a present tense? Is it the pink box or the purple box? So you might want to point to which one it is or tell me the colour. So is it, is collected, in the pink or collected in the purple? It is, is collected, because collected just by itself is in the past tense. Is collected, is in the present. So what are brackets for? Again, tell me the colour that you think or point to the box. Is it to add extra information? Is that why we have brackets or is it to make your sentences longer? What are brackets for, and it's to add extra information. Now it will often make your sentence longer but that's not why we use them. We don't use them just to make our sentences longer, we use them to add extra information but they might extend our sentence as a consequence. So the last thing I want to touch on that we often find in an explanation text, are what are called relative clauses. Now right at the start of the lesson, we thought about a clause being a group of words that contain a verb. Relative clauses are those that start with the word who or which. So I'm going to read through this little example from our compost explanation text and spot the relative clause as I read it. I'll give you a clue, it starts with a which or a who. Where is it put? Next, the compost mixture is put into a special bin which can be bought from a garden centre or made by hand. Then it just left for many months. So my relative clause was this bit that says, which can be bought from a garden centre or made by hand. Now we are going to look much more closely at relative clauses later on in this unit. So for now, all I want you to think about is the fact that that explanation texts often have these relative clauses and that they start with a who or a which. So let's just recap what we have learnt in today's lesson. We thought about formal conjunctions in our warm up, and then we looked at the purpose of explanation texts on why they're written, why you might read them so that you understand how something works. And then we looked to the organisational features. So how that information is broken up with subheadings and paragraphs and introductions and conclusions. And then we looked at some of their language features. So the sorts of conjunctions, time, sequencing conjunctions. The tense, the subject specific vocabulary, the relative clause that you will find in an explanation text. For your main task, I would like you to try and take all of those things that we've learnt and put them into a mind map. So you can see here that I have started my own example. So I've written explanation texts in the little cloud, little bubble in the middle of my page. And then I have added three features so far. I know that you'll be able to think of a lot more. So formal and conjunctions, the fact that it's in the present tense, although a slightly weird version of the present tense, sequencing conjunctions. And you can see on my example that I've given some examples of that as well. You may well want to do the same yourself. if you want to go further, you can then add in the purpose of these features. So why we have some of these different features. So can you now pause the video and create your mind map? Great work everybody, let's look at what we should have included in our mind map. So I've got a little checklist here of all the things I think you should have put in your mind map. If you don't have one of these, you can add it in afterwards. So a title and sub headings, the fact that it's in the present tense, sequencing conjunctions, causal conjunctions, formal and and but conjunctions, subject specific vocabulary, extra information in brackets and those relative clauses, which start with a who or which. Well done everyone, fantastic work. There were lots of things to learn there about explanation texts and you have done really well. We will use all of those features in our own writing, all about how chocolate is made.

To identify the features of an explanation text

To identify the features of an explanation text

Slide deck

Lesson details

Key learning points

Licence

Video

Lesson appears in

UnitEnglish / Chocolate Making - Explanation writing

English