Write like a geographer
The aim of this resource is to improve key stage 3 and key stage 4 students’ writing by using tier 2 words (general academic vocabulary) and tier 3 words (geographical vocabulary) and by providing more specific information.
It consists of 11 PowerPoint slides. The first slide provides an example of how to improve a sentence. It is followed by 10 slides each containing five sentences for students to improve. Each slide covers a variety of topics, but you could mix and match sentences from the slides to suit your classes using the topic-based list provided. The topics covered are:
- weather and climate
- ecosystems and biomes
- population
- physical landscapes
- economic development
- describing location, size and topography
- hazardous Earth
- environment and climate change.
Each slide could be used as a starter activity or a ‘do now’ task with your classes. The sets of sentences can easily be copied into your own PowerPoints or printed and given to students as worksheets.
There are no ‘right’ answers on how to improve the sentences, but examples have been included in the notes section of each slide.
Example of how to write like a geographer:
Before:
Car exhausts are very bad as they let out pollution.
Written like a geographer:
Emissions from car exhausts such as nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide have a negative impact on the environment. They contribute to air pollution, which reduces air quality and can cause respiratory issues.
