Myat Kay Khaing English Classes 2024

IGCSE First Language English 0500

Revision Booklet
Contents:
1. Syllabus Outline:
a. Assessment Objectives
b. Examination Information

2. Comprehension and Summary Questions

3. Writer’s Effect

4. Extended writing genres and sample questions

a. letter
b. news report
c. formal report
d. journal
e. speech
f. interview
g. article

5. Composition Writing
a. Narrative Writing
b. Descriptive Writing

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1. IGCSE English Language 0500 – Syllabus Outline

ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES

Skill Assessment Objective

AO1: · R1 demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings
· R2 demonstrate understanding of implicit meanings and
Reading
attitudes
· R3 analyse, evaluate and develop facts, ideas and
opinions, using appropriate support from the text
· R4 demonstrate understanding of how writers achieve
effects and influence readers
· R5 select and use information for specific purposes.
AO2: · W1 articulate experience and express what is thought, felt
and imagined
Writing
· W2 organise and structure ideas and opinions for
deliberate effect
· W3 use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures
appropriate to context
· W4 use register appropriate to context
· W5 make accurate use of spelling, punctuation and
grammar.
AO3: · SL1 articulate experience and express what is thought, felt
and imagined
Speaking
· SL2 present facts, ideas and opinions in a cohesive order
and which sustains the audience’s interest
Listening · SL3 communicate clearly and purposefully using fluent
language
· SL4 use register appropriate to context
· SL5 listen and respond appropriately in conversation.

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Compone Time & Skills Details % of

nt Marks assessed final

Paper 1: 2hr exam Reading (65 Read 3 texts in 50%

Reading marks) the exam and
Passages 80 marks answer 3
Writing (15 questions.
marks)

Paper 2: 2hr exam Reading (15 Read 1 or 2 texts 50%

Directed marks) in the exam and
Writing a 80 marks answer 2
Writing (65 questions.
marks)

Componen Additional Speaking (30 Individual talk: +/- Separatel

t4 test 10-12 marks) 3–4 mins y
minutes total endorsed
Listening (10 on a single
40 marks marks) topic/theme. This
talk leads into a

conversation
about the chosen

topic/theme.

Examination Information

Paper 1: Reading

Question Exercise Description Marks

Type
1.
Comprehension Short answer Read Text A and complete a set of 15
and summary questions sub-questions on the content of the text.
task

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2.
Comprehension Summary task Read Text B and write a summary of up 15
and summary to 120 words of an informative or other
task non-fiction text.
3. Short answer
questions and Short answer Read Text C and complete a set of 10
language task questions sub-questions on the writer’s use of
language.
4. Short answer
questions and Writers’ effects Re-read Text C and write 200-300 words 15
language task task on the meaning and effects of three
selected phrases per paragraph.
5. Extended
response to Genre Re-read Text C and write 250-350 words 25
reading transformation in one of the following text types: letter,
task news report, formal report, journal,
speech, interview and article.

Paper 2: Writing

Section Type of Description Marks

Exercise

Section A Directed Writing Write 250-350 words on one or two texts, 40

using, developing and evaluating
information in the text(s) to create a
discursive/persuasive
speech/article/letter.

Section B Composition Answer one question from a choice of 40

four titles: two descriptive and two
narrative. Write 250 – 350 words.

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Comprehension and Summary Writing

This is the first question on the reading paper, Paper 1. It is based on two texts, Text A
and Text B, and the question is divided into two separate tasks:

1) Comprehension task (based on Text A)

You respond to a series of sub-questions. These sub-questions test your understanding

of both explicit and implicit meanings and your ability to select/use information from the
text.
15 marks are available for reading

2) Summary task (based on Text B)

You answer a selective summary task using your own words. Your summary must be
written as continuous writing of no more than 120 words.
10 marks are available for reading, 5 marks for writing.

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Comprehension and Summary Exam Practice

Question 1
a. Give two examples of enemies of real books according to the text. [1]

b. Using your own words, explain what the text means by:
i. ‘real books are fighting back’ (lines 2-3): [2]
ii. ‘more like co-existence than conquest’ (line 4): [2]

c. Re-read paragraph 3 (‘Publishers… plateau’)

Give two reasons why the rise in the number of paper books sold was significant. [2]

d. Re-read paragraphs 4 and 5 (‘Apparently, print books…media’).

iii. Identify two reasons why sellers of e-books might be worried about those categories
where print book sales have increased since 2012. [2]
iv. Explain why reading e-books may be less efficient than reading real books,
according to the text. [3]

e. Re-read paragraphs 6 and 7 (‘Some people… feel.’)

Using your own words, explain why people are unlikely to give up real books altogether in
favour of e-books.[3]
f. According to text B, how and why have bookshops had to change to attract customers?
You must use continuous writing form (not note writing) and use your own words as
far as possible.
Your summary should not be more than 120 words.
Up to 10 marks are available for the content of your answer and up to 5 marks for
the quality of your writing. [15 marks]

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Writer’s Effect

This is question 2 on the reading paper, Paper 1. It is based on Text C (in the exam) and
is divided into two separate parts:

1) Short-answer questions

You respond to a series of sub-questions which require answers of different lengths.

These sub-questions test your understanding of the meaning of words and phrases
used in Text C, as well as the effect they have on the reader.

10 marks are available for reading

2) Language task

You write 200–300 words in response to a question focused on certain paragraphs in

Text C. You must select three relevant examples of interesting use of language from
each of the paragraphs specified and analyse these examples to show how the writer
uses language to convey meaning and to create effect.

15 marks are available for reading

Writer’s Technique Checklist

Identify how and why these techniques have been used in the Writer’s Effect question
and use these techniques in your own narrative writing.

Adjectives

These are words that describe nouns e.g. ‘harsh’, ‘excruciating, ‘noble’. Writers use
them to create a specific picture in the readers mind.

Adverbs

These are words that describe verbs. e.g. ‘carefully’, ‘quietly’, ‘quickly’. These can be
used to add more detail to an action so that the reader can picture what is going on and
how.

Alliteration

Repetition of a sound at the beginning of words, e.g. ‘Cruel Catherine…’ It is used to

stress certain words or phrases or to make a point to the reader.

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Colour

Using colour words like ‘red’ , ‘blue’ or ‘yellow’. Colour creates images in the readers
mind and can affect atmosphere through connections the reader makes with that colour
e.g. red associates with ‘danger’ ‘anger’ or ‘love.’

Contrasts

Strong differences between two things. A writer might write a paragraph about a
beautiful place and follow it with a paragraph describing a run-down place to show the
differences between the ways in which two groups of people live.

Exclamations

Show anger, shock, horror, surprise and joy, e.g. ‘I won!’. They are used to portray
emotion and show how a character reacts or is feeling.

Humour

Making a character or situation appear in a funny way can be used to mock the
character or the place, or it could show that a character is humorous.

Imagery

(including similes, metaphors, colour and use of the 5 senses- sight, sound, touch, taste
and smell)

The words allow the reader to create an image in their and involve the reader in the
moment being described.

Juxtaposition

The positioning of two words, phrases or ideas next to, or near, each other. This
highlights a contrast between two words, phrases or ideas, e.g. ‘The two friends were
known as clever Carole and stupid Steven.’

Metaphor

A image created by referring to something as something else, e.g. ‘storm of

controversy.’ This shows meaning by directly comparing something to something else.

Negative diction

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Words that are negative, e.g. ‘cruel’, ‘evil’, ‘dark’. This gives a negative tone and can
portray negative feelings towards a character or situation.

Why has the writer created negative tone? What effect do these negative feelings have
on the representation of the character or the atmosphere?

Onomatopoeia

Words that sound like what the describe, e.g. ‘The clash of the symbols startled John.’
The reader can almost hear the sound for themselves.

Personification

Making an object/ animal sound like a person, giving it human characteristics, e.g. ‘the
fingers of the tree grabbed at my hair as I passed.’

Positive diction

Words that are positive, e.g. ‘happy’, ‘joyous’ They give a positive tone or portray
positive feelings towards a character or situation.

Sentence Length

Short sentences are just a few words long, without detail. ‘I wondered if he knew what
he was doing to me. It hurt. A lot.’ Short sentences affect the speed the piece is read
and grabs attention.

Simile

A comparison between two things that includes the words ‘as’ or ‘like’, e.g. ‘Her voice
cut through him like a knife.’ This shows meaning by comparing something to something
else

Verbs

Action words such as ‘scrambled’, ‘sprinted’, ‘leaped’. The writer uses these to add
action to the writing.

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Writer’s Effects Process (Paper 1, Question 2d)

1. Skim reading

(Read passage to get a sense of time, place, topic, genre, tone and atmosphere.)

2. Scanning and Selecting

After reading the question on writer’s effects (paper 2 question 2), and underlining the
key word in each part of the question, return to passage and highlight (possibly in two
colours for the two different aspects) the relevant material.

Identify and highlight only the key word or phrase which is particularly effective, not a
large ‘chunk’ of text. Aim to find approximately three to five choices for each part of the
question

3. Transfer to write in PETAL process

PETAL stands for:

· Point: I believe that…

· Evidence: This is shown by the quote…
· Technique: This is an example of _____ or This has connotations of…
· Analysis (Explain): This quote proves my point because…
· Link back to Q: Therefore, I believe that…

If you are trying to get a bottom set class to put in some form of structure to their
responses and not just re-tell the narrative, PETAL will do you fine. However, it
will not help anyone who is looking at a half decent grade.

E.g. [Satisfactory Answer but sound robotic]

I believed that the author shows Gru is evil. This is shown by the quote ‘black’’.
This has connotations of danger, darkness and horror. This quote proves that
aforementioned point because it shows that everything about Gru, including what
he wears suggests he is evil. This makes the reader feel concerned for the
character because they want him to care for the girls but are worried that he may
not be able to be nice. This is like stereotypical villain because villains look and
act evil.

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Let’s break it down:

· Point: I believe that…

· Evidence: This is shown by the quote…
· Technique: This is an example of… or This has connotations of…
· Analysis (Explain): This quote proves my point because…
· Evidence 2: This is also shown by the quote…
· Technique: Which is an example of…
· Analysis (Explain): and proves my point because…
· Evidence 3: Repeat
· Technique: Repeat
· Analysis: Repeat
· Analysis (Effect): These quotes could make the reader feel _____ because…
· Analysis (Effect 2): Also, these quotes could make the reader feel ____
because..
· Analysis (Context): These quotes link to ___(e.g. life in Dickensian times)___
because…
· Link back to Q: Therefore, I believe that…

But surely that is not enough for the highest marks?!

True. For the highest marks, you need evaluation, embedded quotes and for it to
sound less robotic.

Better Version (needs some improvement)

Firstly, i believe that the author expertly shows Gru could be seen to be. To
expand, the quote ‘powerful physique’’ expertly demonstrates evil because it
connotes a really intimidating and imposing build/size. The author skillfully further
reinforces this with Gru’s ‘black’’ clothes as black connotes danger, horror and
fear. It is common for evil villains to wear black so they are less easily spotted
whilst committing crimes. Combine his size and scary clothing with his ‘dodging’
ability, which means he is very agile and able to get away, and you have a very
scary and evil ‘baddie’’. Here, the author has effectively made the reader feel
intimidated and concerned for the other characters as , from his appearance
alone, it can be easily deduced that he is evil and could be a threat to them.
Moreover, the reader may be eager to keep reading to discover whether Gru
lives up to his evil image. These quotes suggest he is a stereotypical villain as he

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looks and moves like a successful criminal. Therefore it can be said that the
author has brilliantly shown hat Gru could be seen to be unkind.

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Sample Writer’s Effect Question

Writer’s Effects Task

Read Text A, and then answer Questions (a)–(d).

Text A: Big Brother Ruined My Life

This text is an extract from a longer narrative by a reality TV contestant, Lesley, about her
experience after appearing on the show Big Brother.

The first thing that hit me as I walked out of the Big Brother house was the noise: the deafening
sound of people booing. It's hard to describe what it feels like to experience hatred like that,
especially when you have been shielded from the public's reaction for three weeks. For me, it
was like being crushed, and I struggled to keep a smile on my face.

Presenter Davina McCall hugged me as I joined her on the stage, whispering: "Don't worry, it's
all a pantomime." But it felt very real to me. All I could think, as I walked with her to the studio,
was that the public hated me. If I'm honest, I feel that same lurching realisation in the pit of my
stomach now whenever I walk out of my house. For me, appearing on Big Brother has resulted
in nothing but cruel words, vicious criticism and heartache.

It's so strange to think that just over a year ago, when I applied to be on the show, I felt much
like any other teenager. I've always been an extrovert, but I didn't have any ambitions to be
famous. After completing a GNVQ in business studies and a National Diploma in dance, I'd just
started classes for my English A-level, which I was enjoying. But I have to admit my head was
turned when I saw an advert inviting applications for Big Brother. I'd grown up on a diet of reality
TV shows and it just seemed too good an opportunity to miss. As far as I was concerned, it was
a guaranteed ticket to fame and a fabulous life.

I was so determined to get noticed that I was putting on an act, making out I was extra loud and
super-confident. When anyone else tried to speak, I deliberately drowned them out. I'd
convinced myself this was my ticket to fame and I wasn't going to let anyone stand in my way.
Now, of course, I can see I was setting myself up for a spectacular fall by casting myself as a
brash loudmouth.

Then came the news I had been waiting for: "You have been picked to be a Big Brother
housemate." My stomach flipped and I stifled a scream, especially as she then warned me I was
forbidden from telling anyone. "Start thinking of excuses to tell your friends," I was told. "Say
you're going on holiday at the start of May." I couldn't believe it. My dream was about to come
true. Over the next few days I started packing, planning each outfit. I could kick myself now, but
my head was in the clouds. I kept daydreaming of superstardom, of paparazzi photographers
snapping away as I strode confidently down the street to meet my celebrity pals. I imagined
designer outfits, swanky parties, a new and exciting life.

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I should have smelled a rat the night I came out of the house, when the two executive producers
insisted I see Steve, the resident psychologist, before being reunited with my family. I'd met him
only once before, in the final stages of the audition process. Back then, we'd talked for 45
minutes about my life in Huddersfield, how I thought I'd cope with the Big Brother house and
whether I felt confident enough to deal with public interest in my life. I don't recall any warning
about the possibility of bad reactions. That night, though, he pulled out a bundle of Press
cuttings and laid them out in front of me. A shiver ran down my spine:"Lesley's 100 lovers"
glared back at me from the page. I felt sick that so-called acquaintances had been queueing up
to attack me while I was inside the BB house. I was then 19 and had slept with only two people
before entering the house. Tears welled up and I looked to Steve for comfort, but he said
nothing. Instead, he showed me some other headlines. "Lesley was a bitch at school," read one.
I felt sick.

At no point did Steve give me advice on how to cope with this. Instead, he told me to make an
appointment to see him again in six months. But over the next few days, the enormity of those
terrible headlines hit home. I'd become a national hate figure: I was an ugly, fat bully in the
British public's eyes. I turned to the agent Big Brother had supplied, hoping he could help me
turn around the tide of hatred or at least give me some advice on how to handle the abuse. But
he simply told me to lie low for a couple of weeks and said it would all blow over. I was
devastated when an invitation to a celebrity party arrived a few days later and I was advised not
to go because they were fearful of a further backlash against me.

Yet no one gave me any form of emotional support. Instead, I was taken out shopping for
clothes to try to distract me. Meanwhile, I was struggling to cope. The public's reaction had
made me feel so fearful and depressed. I was still a teenager and Big Brother just threw me to
the wolves.

Question

Read Text A, 'Big Brother Ruined My Life', in the insert and then answer Questions (a) – (d)
on the question paper.

a. Identify a word or phrase from the text which suggests the same idea as the words
underlined.
i. There was an extremely loud noise. [1]
ii. I had been protected. [1]
iii. It's all just a show. [1]
iv. I became aware abruptly . [1]

b. Using your own words, explain what the writer means by each of the words underlined:

But I have to admit my head was turned when I saw an advert inviting
applications for Big Brother. I'd grown up on a diet of reality TV shows and it just

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seemed too good an opportunity to miss. As far as I was concerned, it was a

guaranteed ticket to fame and a fabulous life.
i. diet [1]
ii. opportunity [1]
iii. guaranteed [1]

c. Use one example from the text below to explain how the writer suggests that she regrets
her behaviour. Use your own words in your explanation. [3]

I was so determined to get noticed that I was putting on an act, making out I was
extra loud and super-confident. When anyone else tried to speak, I deliberately
drowned them out. I'd convinced myself this was my ticket to fame and I wasn't
going to let anyone stand in my way. Now, of course, I can see I was setting myself
up for a spectacular fall by casting myself as a brash loudmouth.

Question (d)
d. Re-read paragraphs 5 and 6.
● Paragraph 5 begins ‘Then came the news’ and describes Lesley's joy at being chosen
for Big Brother.
● Paragraph 6 begins 'I should have smelled‘ and describes the meeting with the
psychologist as she left the Big Brother house.

Explain how the writer uses language to convey meaning and to create effect in these
paragraphs.

Choose three examples of words and phrases from each paragraph to support your answer.
Your choices should include the use of imagery.

Write about 200 to 300 words. Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer.

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Directed Writing Genres

a) Letter

Formal Letter Structure

1) Opening
(Address your letter to Dear + the name or job title of the person you have been
asked to write to, then start a new line for the opening paragraph. N.B. Although it
is good practice to teach and expect students to put dates and addresses on formal
letters, and to sign them appropriately, these are not required and not rewarded in
the exam.)

2) Paragraph 1: Introduction
(Why are you writing? Give the general aim and minimum information only, e.g. to
complain, apply, request, disagree, and an indication of what you are responding to
e.g. a recent holiday or a letter in last week’s newspaper.)

3) Paragraph 2: Details of situation

(Give previous history of event or your background or experience. Say what
happened exactly if you are making a complaint, or focus directly on the text you
are arguing with. This section should include specific data such as names, dates,
facts and details.)

4) Paragraph 3: Further development

(Give further support to your claim or request. Summarise the current situation and
why you should be given consideration e.g. other problems which occurred with
your holiday accommodation, how well you fulfil the job requirements)

5) Final paragraph: Future action

(Say what you wish to happen next e.g. that you look forward to being called for
interview or expect to receive some compensation as soon as possible. Suggest,
firmly but politely, what may happen if you do not receive a response to a
complaint.)

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Formal Letter Exam Practice

Read carefully the newspaper article below and then answer the question.

Question

Write a letter to the writer in which you respond to the ideas and arguments in the article. You may agree
or disagree with what the writer has written.

In your letter you should:

• identify and evaluate the writer’s views
• use your own ideas to support your comments on the writer’s views.

Base your letter on what you have read in the article, but be careful to use your own words. Address each
of the two bullet points.

Begin your letter, ‘Dear Sir or Madam …’

Write about 250 to 350 words. Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer, and up to
25 marks for the quality of your writing.

In this humorous newspaper article, the writer voices some of their concerns about what children

experience when they go to school.

All of us wrap up our children when it’s cold. We put them on booster seats in the car and make them
wear helmets when they’re on a bicycle. We strive constantly to keep them out of harm’s way, and then
we send them off to school so they can be tortured.

I suppose we all think, rather naively, that school today is exactly the same as school back in our day,
except that children are now allowed calculators. I’m afraid not. School today is completely different.
There’s very little bullying, and no smoking behind the bike sheds because there’s no time, not when you
need to be fluent in 17 languages by age four and you’ve got those pesky quadratic cosines to finish off
by break. I’m not kidding. I do not understand any of my son’s maths homework. And what’s more, I bet
he knows more about advanced mathematics now, at the age of 10, than most of the NASA scientists did
when they put Armstrong on the moon.

My daughter, who already knows Latin better than Julius Caesar, comes home from school at 18.00
every night, bleary eyed from the pressure. But before she can collapse into bed she has to do four
half-hour pieces of homework. Supper? Internet? A bit of light texting? Forget it. On the basis that a
parent can only be as happy as their least happy child, this makes me pretty miserable. She’s not alone,
either. I read the other day that a four-year-old child had been diagnosed with ‘stress’ and I’m not
surprised. Perhaps she’d been made to miss her playtime so she could finish her paper on how the gross
domestic product of Iceland was affected by EU fish quotas.

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A child I know was sent home from school recently with a note saying that by the age of 10 she really
should have a rudimentary grasp of quantum physics and that because she didn’t she must have some
extra tuition. Unfortunately, on the back of this hurriedly written note the teacher had been doing some
sums. There was a list of every child who was having extra lessons, how much each parent was paying
and at the end, under the total he’d written, ‘Yippee’.

When I was at school I remember being told that if I spelt my name properly on my examination paper I’d
be halfway there. Exams were a hiccup in the day, not the be-all and end-all of absolutely everything.
Based on those exams, we now have ‘league tables’, a handy guide to how well each school performs.
But publishing a list of ‘best schools’ purely on the grounds of academic achievement is idiotic. It tells you
nothing.

Recently, I made a decision on which secondary school my children will attend. I chose it because I know
several people who’ve been there, and they loved it. I chose it because the children I saw mooching from
lesson to lesson were mostly smiling. I chose it because it ‘felt’ right.

Of course, I want my children to leave school with a basic academic foundation. But more than that I
want them to learn social skills so they can interact properly with other human beings. I want them to
learn to play the guitar. I want them to enjoy school, to have fun. I can’t bear the thought of paying a small
fortune every year so they can be put on a treadmill. School is supposed to prepare a person for life, not
wear them out. This is what we all seem to have forgotten.

Yes, we must do everything we can to keep our children safe. But we should also do everything we can
to make them happy as well.

Informal Letter

Has a similar structure to the above but the language and tone is more relaxed as it is a
letter to someone that you know.

Informal Letter Exam Practice (Paper 1, Question 2)

Read carefully Adventure cruise and then answer the question.

Question

You are Willie, the trainee Inuit guide. After the Arctic cruise is over, you write a letter to your girlfriend,
Eska. Write the letter.

In your letter, you should explain:

• where you took the tourists and what activities were organised for them
• what you think the tourists expected and how far you think they were satisfied
• your thoughts and feelings about Adam as a tour guide.

Base your letter on what you have read in Passage A, but be careful to use your own words.

Address each of the three bullet points.

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Begin your letter: ‘Dear Eska, We have just come back from another tourist cruise around the Arctic …’

Write about 250 to 350 words. Up to 15 marks are available for reading, and up to 10 marks for
writing.

Adventure cruise

The narrator and her family booked to travel on a holiday cruise in the Canadian Arctic. Here she
describes their experiences.

Our small ship shuddered and sliced through an iceberg, causing our assembled group to lose our
balance during our first daily briefing from Adam, our tour guide. It hit home that this was to be an
expedition, not a relaxing holiday. Only Adam and his young Inuit trainee guide, Willie, looked
unconcerned as we ploughed through the ice floes of eastern Canada’s Lower Arctic. Our Inuit-run
company was not an exotic cruise line, and our old Russian ship was not going to win any beauty
pageants.

The adventure did not take long to get started. We received our first glimpse of a polar bear in Ungava
Bay, when an eerie ghost ship of an iceberg appeared. As it loomed closer, a hulking yellowy-white bear
came into view, lumbering heavily across the blinding ice. Then the iceberg slowly twisted and turned until
Akpatok Island was revealed, home of the world’s largest colony of thick-billed murres*. The boat took us
through vast flocks of them, billowing out in black, stormy clouds as they sought to avoid the huge gulls
that eyed them with cold-eyed disdain from the rocks.

We did most of our sailing at night. Some of us had hoped for daytime excursions on sleds pulled by
huskies, but it became clear that land expeditions were a good opportunity to stretch our legs. Adam, rifle
strapped to his back, was our intrepid polar bear monitor. We followed with some apprehension as he
painstakingly picked out our route, his head moving from left to right as regularly as a pendulum.
Sometimes a hand flicked behind him would command our silence and immediate cessation of
movement. Then he would cup his ear and lean in the direction where we presumed such a creature
lurked, his expression at once alert and apprehensive. At other times he would circle back to our group,
where he would stealthily pad around us as protective as a mother lion. Only once, to our perturbation,
did we catch him issuing a broad wink at Willie, who quickly turned away to suppress apparently
uncontrollable giggles.

At Diana Island Adam led us to a local man, perched on his canoe on the shingly shoreline. The local was
carefully shucking mussels with a hunting knife. He offered them to us as a meal with seal entrails and a
large brown seaweed called kelp. Alarmed at the prospect of what looked like raw food, we started to
decline until the local, grinning broadly, pulled a small portable stove and cooking utensils out of his large
rucksack. Willie giggled again. Adam, with a sharp look at Willie, distracted us from his trainee’s
merriment. ‘You should try the local dishes. Caribou is popular,’ he assured us.

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However, as the trip progressed, we noticed that Adam and Willie dined less frequently with us. While we
consumed hearty moose stews for our evening meal, they tucked themselves at the back of the ship,
where Adam munched, to our surprise, quinoa salad and Willie dined on microwaved chips, while flicking
rapidly through images on his phone. Once Willie showed us a picture of himself with his girlfriend, Eska,
in Nunavut. The photograph depicted them laughing, not in a dogsled pulled by energetic huskies, as I’d
expected, but in a shiny red four-wheel-drive vehicle. We also saw pictures of him and Adam, and of
Adam with the local we had met at Diana Island. ‘That’s his uncle,’ Willie said.

Sounding and smelling less appetising than our meals were the giant walruses that we spotted at the
well-named Walrus Island, in northern Hudson Bay. Hundreds of these leathery mammals grunted on the
ice-pocked island. Hauling themselves out of the water, they took on a rosy hue as their blood rushed to
cool them.

Polar bears remained high on everyone’s wish list, so the last two days of the voyage were dedicated to
finding more of the gracefully menacing creatures. We were thrilled when a large male joined us for the
last leg of our journey, paddling furiously between ice floes as we cruised past Frobisher Bay’s dark
mountains, wedged with glaciers and ice mirages that stood like skyscrapers on the horizon.

Back at the little airport at Iqaluit, Nanavut’s capital, we waited for our flight with Adam and Willie. Adam
started to tell me about his first solo caribou-hunting trip.

‘How do you track them?’ I asked, picturing him eyeing footprints in the snow.

He gave me an exasperated look: ‘Satnav.’

Willie giggled and looked away.

*murres: a breed of sea bird

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(b) News Report

News Report Structure

Headline

1) News Event
(What happened? When exactly did it happen? Where did it happen? Who was
involved?)

2) Background
(Why did it happen? Give history, lead-up to this event, and mention its supposed
causes)

3) Report of actual news event

(How did it happen? Give details of the actual event and saywhat happened and
what is still happening)

Sub-Heading (short phrase, quotation; optional)

4) Quotations
(in a mixture of direct and indirect speech, give the relevant statements of
participants, witnesses, police, hospital etc.)

5) Future/predictions
(What will happen next? Explain the likely consequences of the event, refer to
future investigations, and mention any procedures that will be put in place)

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Newspaper report practice question (Paper 1, Question 3)

Read carefully Thirst and answer the question.

Question

You are a journalist writing for the local weekly newspaper reporting on recent events and reactions to
them. Two days after the incident at Aljafar’s property, it is announced that the blockade has been lifted
and water rationing is no longer required. Meanwhile, Aljafar and his wife have complained to the
authorities.

Write the newspaper report.

In your newspaper report, you should:

• describe conditions during the blockade and the effect on the population of the island and its
economy

• outline how the incident at the Aljafars’ came about – what happened and why

• explain the nature of the Aljafars’ complaints and how far they are justified.

Base your newspaper report on what you have read in Passage A, but be careful to use your own words.
Address each of the three bullet points.

Begin your newspaper report, ‘Recent events …’

Write about 250 to 350 words. Up to 15 marks are available for reading, and up to 10 marks for
writing.

Thirst

A blockade stopping ships from entering the port has caused shortages of supplies on an island. Water

rationing is in place. Taps have been turned off and islanders have to make do with just one litre of

drinking water a day for the months until the autumn rain.

We lived by the sea, above abandoned huts we’d repaired and rented out to holiday-makers. I’d gone
down there as soon as my neighbour, Marchand, told me about the rationing to collect the pitchers of
freshwater I’d left by the rough-hewn plank beds. The visitors had left. I’d checked the toilet cisterns – the
rust-coloured water there would soon come in handy, I’d decided, and siphoned it out into another jug.
Washing and bathing would have to be done with salt water.

There was one family I recalled whose swimming pool was filled with freshwater. Don Aljafar had the
largest house, perched high on a steep hill, a vast stone mansion shaded by trees. I was joined by
Marchand and we climbed the hill. At the top, having wound up Aljafar’s considerable driveway and past
his parked cars, we bellied up to the gate and were astounded to see Aljafar afloat in his pool, a pair of

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goggles affixed to his face as he did a lazy, dignified, backstroke. We stood mesmerised, watching this
spectacle, unsure whether to disturb him. Finally, Marchand shouted hello.

Aljafar stopped swimming. Treading water, he looked around until he saw us.

‘Yes?’

‘Your pool’s freshwater, correct?’ I said.

Aljafar shrugged. ‘What’s it to you?’

‘Freshwater is rationed.’

Aljafar nodded. ‘So?’

‘You should conserve this water. We’re all in this together,’ Marchand tried to reason.

Aljafar ignored us and started swimming again. His wife emerged from the patio. ‘This is our water,’ she
snapped.

We retreated and stood on the driveway, conferring, until finally we went back down the hill. At that
moment, we weren’t thirsty enough to proceed further.

Days later, Marchand and I decided that we should pool our reserve petrol and take my motorbike inland
to the city. From the road descending the hills, everything still looked normal, donkeys pulling their
wagons, bicycles, admittedly fewer cars than before. It was only as we came closer that we noticed
differences. The city was quieter than usual, torpid, as if its unlubricated gears and belts had seized up.
People seemed to be crumbling, turning to dust and salt, a ghostly, powdery rabble, a strong wind could
scatter them into clouds of dead skin. Desiccated, dehydrated adults were too tired to toil or trade,
children too sluggish to learn.

On the road back, at the top of the hill by Aljafar’s, we stopped and gazed thirstily up the driveway, which
now had a chain strung across it and a sign warning to keep out.

‘We have to seize Aljafar’s water,’ Marchand declared, ‘for the good of the people!’

A group of us met after dark. Marchand began to lead us up the hill. The rest of the men wavered until I
shrugged and followed.

The gate was closed, but swung open easily. First – we had told ourselves – we would lie down on the
dead grass and push our lips against the cool water, drinking till we burst. Then we would find Aljafar and
explain to him that the water must be divided equally, among all the families of the urbanisation. But the
water was gone. The pool’s white cement bottom shined in the moonlight like exposed bone. We turned
toward the house where we saw lights hurriedly extinguished and heard whispers.

‘They siphoned it,’ Marchand said. ‘Put it in casks.’

We needed to drink water.

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We were surprised to find the house unlocked. Inside was silent. The tile-and-marble kitchen was dry,
every vessel empty.

‘The cellar!’ Someone suggested.

We found the door bolted and banged on it, calling Aljafar’s name.

‘Leave us alone,’ Aljafar called back.

‘We want the water,’ I shouted.

‘We don’t have it.’

‘Liar!’ Marchand pronounced, to murmurs of agreement all around.

‘We’ll break this down,’ I told Aljafar. ‘We’ll smash it up!’

The others gathered up whatever items looked like they might make a dent. Heavy candelabras, an old
olive press, each of them did little against the heavy door.

Then Marchand appeared with a rusting axe-head he’d found in the workshop. Several blows later, the
door began to split.

‘Stop!’ Aljafar shouted. ‘I’ll let you in.’

We heard him fumbling theatrically with the catch and prised open the door, shoving Aljafar aside. The
cavernous cellar was stocked ceiling-high with precious casks of water. Marchand took the axe-head to
one cask, releasing a translucent torrent of crystal-clear water that we attached ourselves to lips-first like
ticks to a sheep. Aljafar had enough water to keep us for weeks, and here he was hoarding.

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c) Formal report

Formal Report Structure

1. Explanation of situation/Context
(Give some indication of what you are reporting on and what the circumstances are: it
could be presenting findings to a committee after evaluation options, giving a witness
account of an event, giving evidence after monitoring a process e.g. a student on a
week’s work experience. The person receiving the report, as well as the writer of it, is
likely to be someone in authority in an official position, and the style must reflect this.)

2. First phase or aspect of report (bullet point 1)

(Reports of an event, such as a school trip, have a chronological structure; others look
in turn at several aspects of a proposition or several candidates for a job or award.
These phases should be treated in separate paragraphs to show the change in time or
topic. If evaluating people or venues, for instance, it would be logical to start with the
least recommended.)

3. Second phase or aspect of report (bullet point 2)

4. Third phase or aspect of report (bullet point 3)

(It would be logical to mention last the aspect which is most important or memorable, or
the thing/person which one has decided to give the decision in favour of or highest
recommendation for.)

5. Conclusion/recommendation
(The final paragraph of a report will make an overall evaluation of suitability or weigh up
the final balance of advantages and disadvantages of a proposition. e.g. ‘Despite
occasional lapses, the student overall showed great diligence in the workplace and
aptitude for the profession, and we were pleased with his general attitude and the
progress he made during the course of his week in our firm’; ‘Although there have been
many school trips over the last few years, it was unanimously agreed that this was the
best because of the attractiveness of the destination and the remarkable team spirit
amongst the group.’)

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Formal report Exam Practice (Paper 1, Question 3)

Read carefully My First Job and then answer the question.

Question

Imagine you are Dad from Passage A. The owner of the company wants to introduce holiday work
experience for more young people. You have been asked to present a report to the owner of the company
following your son’s experience.

Write the report.

In your report you should comment on:

• the challenges faced by Andrew and what you hoped he would gain from his six weeks at the
factory
• how different staff members treated Andrew
• what you have learned about the thoughts and feelings of the people who work at the company.

Base your report on what you have read in Passage A, but be careful to use your own words.

Address each of the three bullet points.

Begin your report, ‘Summer work experience for young people … ’

Write about 250 to 350 words. Up to 15 marks are available for reading, and up to 10 marks for
writing.

My First Job

The narrator is reflecting on his experiences as a 16-year-old student used to spending his school
holidays watching cricket on television. Instead, he is about to begin six weeks of work experience in
different sections of an electrical company.

Waking at 7:00 am was unpleasant. On the car journey, I was feeling too sorry for myself for
conversation.

The first few days I’d be working with the ‘grunts’ (officially called ‘apprentices’). Most were just months
older than me, but judged immediately I’d no skill of any use to them. It turned out the factory owner had
only agreed as a favour to Dad. Other guys who’d asked for their kids to work there during school
holidays had been refused.

Dad ensured I was kitted out in fetching, lightest-blue overalls. Escorting me, he skirted the factory floor
to avoid dirtying his suit, but chatted and seemed to get on with everyone from the grunts to the surliest
darkest-blue-overall-clad supervisor.

Initially, I’d be helping in the coil-winding department – by not getting in the way and fetching coffee from
the machine. I guessed they chatted more freely when I was on a coffee-fetching run, but I did learn there
was discontent amongst the workforce, even talk of strike action. The morning dragged by. Eventually,

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Dad turned up announcing lunchtime. Usually he took a packed lunch, but our respective lethargy and
stress that morning meant the sandwiches were still on the kitchen table at home.

At the canteen, workers, already packed in like sardines, formed an overall sea of blue. Dad navigated
our way to the brown foodstuffs on offer. What would be my ‘something’ to accompany my chips? Wittily, I
requested salad. Dad’s shoulders sank. The canteen staff chuckled. Baked beans were duly slopped onto
my plate.

As we ate, I gazed round, vowing silently never to work in industry. It wasn’t that I thought myself above
them, I just didn’t fit in yet.

After only 20 minutes, Dad said, ‘Andrew, we’d better get your card.’ Nodding dumbly, I trailed blindly
after him through a maze of corridors. Finally, we reached the holiest place in the entire company, the
Accounts Department, occupied by The One with Absolute Power (the clerk who put together the pay
packets). Sufficiently important in the company, Dad was granted an audience. I was told to not say
anything stupid as we entered the sanctum. The One issued my number, chiding me for not visiting her
immediately after I’d arrived and warning of perilous doom awaiting mortals who failed to clock in on time.

Dad took me to the clocking in machine to get my card stamped. Boards either side of the machine, for
‘in’ and for ‘out’, allowed the powers-that-be to tell which of their valued employees were not ‘in’ at any
time and calculate their pay accordingly. I asked Dad where his card was amongst the hundreds there: he
muttered almost inaudibly about not needing one.

Thankfully next day, despite differing opinions, it transpired we weren’t that late arriving. I even had my
sandwiches with me, I pointed out. Through gritted teeth, Dad said he’d a meeting to get to. I went to
clock in and looked on the ‘out’ board – my card wasn’t there. Great, I’d annoyed Dad; now I’d have to
face the unbridled wrath of The One for losing my card. I glanced forlornly at the ‘in’ board. Incredibly
there was my card, time-stamped at 8:28 that morning, along with all the others from my section. Each
said 8:28. These were punctual guys; all of them had checked in at 8:28 yesterday too.

I survived the morning. After lunch, I asked an older man about the time-stamp curiosity. He looked at me
quizzically, asking me to explain what I meant. I told him about the identical times on the cards, including
mine. He said not to worry, asking if I’d mind going to get the coffees. Off I went.

Seconds later, I heard the older man tearing into someone – peering round the coffee machine I saw it
was the tallest grunt. He was almost in tears, surrounded by others angry he’d messed up his turn,
petrified I’d tell Dad, sure their scheme for dodging lateness penalties had been discovered. Tallest Grunt
had picked up my card accidentally with the rest. I ambled back, giving them time to compose
themselves, and even got a ‘thanks’ as I delivered the coffee-brown sludge. Unease remained all
afternoon, intensifying as a junior clerk braved the factory floor and smugly invited me to follow him,
saying my help was needed.

My comrades panicked: I was a spy, they’d be sacked. Had they realised I was ‘needed’ to shift a delivery
of tinned baked beans – Dad’s revenge no doubt – they’d have relaxed sooner.

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d) Journa

an informative and entertaining journal entry contains a mixture of the elements below:

1) Narration
(Say what happened on the occasion you are recording in your journal and explain who
was involved)

2) Description

(Make the setting clear by giving details of time and place. Indicate the mood and
atmosphere, perhaps using imagery. Characters also need to be briefly described with a
few telling details of appearance and behaviour.)

3) Reflection
(say what thoughts the incident or scene provoked in your mind. Memories or
comparisons may be appropriate. Consider why the occasion was significant and worth
recording)

4) Emotion
(Say what your participation in the occasion made you and others feel. Which aspects
evoked an emotional response?)

5) Quotation
(Someone may have said something memorable or otherwise significant. You can
record it as direct speech for dramatic or humorous effect, or to establish character.)

Journal Practice Question (Paper 1, Question 3)

Read carefully The last zookeeper and then answer the question.

Question

Imagine you are the zookeeper. Later that day you write in your journal reflecting on your feelings about
life now and how things have changed.

Write your journal.

In your journal, you should:

• describe what you have to do each day, why you do it and how that makes you feel
• explain what you have noticed about the boy and his father and your feelings about each of
them
• consider how things have changed for you and the world around you since you first started
working at the zoo and suggest what you think the future may hold for you.

Base your journal on what you have read in Passage A, but be careful to use your own words.

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Address each of the three bullet points.

Begin your journal, ‘Today was …’

Write about 250 to 350 words. Up to 15 marks are available for reading, and up to 10 marks for
writing.

The last zookeeper

This story is set more than one hundred years in the future. It describes a boy and his father on one of
their regular visits to a zoo. The father remembers visiting the zoo 50 years earlier when he was a boy
and the zoo was busier. The zookeeper has worked there since the day the zoo first opened.

The boy stared at the zookeeper hobbling along. Occasionally, this aged man would stumble, emit a
pained grunt, then continue. The dented metal feed-bucket in his fist swung ponderously, banging against
his knee. The bones in his hand, the gnarled knuckles, ropy tendons and veins stood out from the effort of
carrying the heavy weight. The tissue-thin skin, mottled with age, was inhabited by ghosts of forgotten
injuries, secret stories of wounds the boy would never know. The boy wondered what it would feel like to
hold that hand, to touch the baggy covering and feel it slide over the brittle bones beneath the fingers, the
time-withered muscle.

His eyes slipped to his own hand, a smaller replica of his father’s – both puffy with flesh, skin devoid of
blemishes. Beneath their perfected surfaces, bright red serum circulated, delivering rich nourishment with
exquisite precision and dependability. Unlike the old man’s, their palms were dry, cool despite the
humidity of the day.

The zookeeper paused outside the cage and jangled his key ring, repeating the movement until the wisp
of a shape, a lighter shadow, suggested the presence of some hulking wild beast inside. Glassgrey eyes
glistened, briefly catching sunlight and seeming to peer out almost intelligently. The key turned in the lock.
The old man tugged the door open. The boy had witnessed the same wordless dialogue every day for the
past three years; he knew it all by heart.

The animal still did not emerge. It never did at this point.

The acrid tang of the lab-grown meat in the bucket stung the boy’s nose: the flesh had begun to spoil
immediately after it was removed from its sterile bath. The zookeeper extracted a pale slab of ‘meat’. It hit
the cement outside the cage with an unquestionably organic sound, attracting frenzied swarms of flies.
The boy could see and hear them buzzing, hovering. Even technological advances of recent decades had
not succeeded in eradicating these pests. Minds, augmented by artificial intelligence, could still not
calculate a solution to this problem. ‘Some species follow no mathematical formula,’ his father
commented.

Most did, the boy was told. Humans, for example, were very mathematical in their behaviour. There were
exceptions – occasionally individuals still defied being reduced to basic principles and programs.

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The old man extracted a filthy handkerchief from his overalls and dabbed his forehead. Even as he did so,
new beads of sweat erupted.

‘Jumbe?’ The man’s frail voice trembled and cracked. He waited. ‘Jumbe, come out and eat.’ The boy
could almost feel the keeper hoping ... but the shape behind the cage door still didn’t move.

At last the old man sighed. His shoulders fell. His back stooped more. He reached over and swiped at the
metal plate beside the gate. There was a soft whirr, almost too quiet to hear. Finally, with a tired groan,
the animal shuffled out.

The boy came daily to witness this feeding. Somehow, he always expected the outcome to be different.

‘Why does he bother?’ he asked his father every visit. ‘Why?’

‘Old habits are hard to break,’ his father told him again.

The boy felt something like disappointment, but accepted the usual answer. He supposed understanding
would come, once final electrical connections had been made and his father had fully imparted knowledge
into him.

The ancient beast’s pelt, bleached bone-white by unrelenting sun, was badly tattered. Bare spots
betrayed where fur rubbed painfully against metal. The animal turned, exposing old tears in its side.
Through these raggedly sutured gaps, the boy could see underlying musculature, atrophied meat and
churning gears. He wondered how many times the zookeeper had repaired the damage.

‘I don’t know,’ the father answered automatically. ‘That information isn’t available.’

The boy was tempted to question the old man, but the father gave the boy’s hand a warning squeeze.

The boy read again the faded plaque displayed outside the cage:

African Lion

Extinct.

This male, the last known individual of its kind, died of wasting disease in 2039.

It was reanimated at the Institute for the Preservation of Wholly-biological Artefacts and added to
the zoo’s collection.

It is the only remaining fully functioning cybernetised African lion on public display.

His father moved. ‘Come on – the monkey’s next.’

The boy didn’t care about the monkey whose cage was before the only empty one, near the zoo’s exit.
This zookeeper captivated him. In the whole entire menagerie, this ancient man’s dedication to a world
long-since dead remained an unsolved equation in the boy’s siliconised brain.

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e) Speech

Structure:

1) Opening: You have two options:

9. Safe option: welcome the important people and address your audience directly.
Briefly outline why/what you are speaking about.
10. Creative option: You can use something from TEAS
1. Tell a story or anecdote
2. Evidence/statistics
3. Ask a rhetorical question
4. Statement or quote

2) Body:
a. TOPIC SENTENCE per paragraph
b. EXPAND on each point in a separate paragraph
c. Use CONNECTORS or discourse markers to lead the audience, i.e.
Consequently, However, etc.
d. You need to give EVIDENCE to support each point you make.
3) Conclusion:
a. Reiterate your main points
b. Don’t add new information
c. Leave the audience with food for thought
d. Use a TEAS option

Style:
● Use patterns of three
● Repetition
● Rhetorical questions
● Figurative language
● Emotional language
● Personal and inclusive pronouns
● Facts and statistic

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Speech Exam Practice Question (Paper 2, Question 1)

Read Text A and Text B carefully and the answer the question.

Question 1

Imagine you are a pupil in a school which does not have a school council.

Write a speech to be given in a school assembly, giving your views on whether or not students should
participate in decisions made about the school.

In your speech you should:

• evaluate the views given in both texts about student participation

• give your own views, based on what you have read, about whether a school council would benefit
students and teachers.

Base your speech on what you have read in both texts, but be careful to use your own words. Address
both of the bullet points.

Begin your speech: ‘Thank you for coming to listen to me today …’.

Write about 250 to 350 words.

Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer, and up to 25 marks for the quality of
your writing.

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Sometimes Cambridge won’t refer to it as a speech; they will ask you to write ‘the words
of a public statement’ OR ‘a talk’.

Type 1: WORDS OF PUBLIC MEETING

· The question could ask for the presentation of two opposing views at a meeting.
Students need to present the side of each speaker

· Select incidents/ideas from the passage and develop own content for the
speeches at the public meeting, supporting what you write with details from the
passage, appropriate inferences about what the family does, their personalities and the
probable reactions of the family next door and the neighbours in general. Responses
should concentrate not only on what the new family does, but also infer ideas about
their personalities and probable reactions of the immediate family and the
neighbourhood.

· Contrast the differences in attitude between the newcomers and the rest of the
neighbourhood.

TALK/SPEECH

· You will be given 3 guiding points to tell you what to include in your talk/speech.

· Select ideas from the passage and develop your own, supporting what you write
with details from the passage. Give as many details as possible from the passage to
answer the question. Some of the ideas may be developed by you through inference
(that is taking the underlying meaning). Good responses demonstrate careful selection,
picking out the most significant details/ideas

· Address all three bullet points if these are given to you.

· FORMAT:
o Begin by addressing the audience as appropriate, e.g. Good morning
ladies and gentlemen/ Good morning my friends/ Good morning my fellow
travellers.
o Although it is a talk and therefore actually spoken, it must still be written in
correct, grammatical English.
o Paragraphs should be used, a separate paragraph for each bullet point.

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Talk Practice Question (Paper 1, Question 3)

Read Don’t run, whatever you do and then answer the question below:

Question

You are the Head Guide, Chris (Peter’s boss). You are responsible for training the safari guides. When a
group of new trainee guides arrives at the camp, you give a talk to prepare them for what

lies ahead.

Write the words of your talk.

In your talk, you should:

• describe the range of attractions Idube Camp and the area around it have to offer and how
these might appeal to guests
• explain what being a trainee guide is like – the kind of activities they will be asked to do and
what they should and should not do as trainees
• suggest what makes a good safari guide, the challenges of the job and the personal qualities
they will need to develop.

Base your talk on what you have read in the text, but be careful to use your own words. Address each of
the three bullet points.

Begin your talk, ‘Welcome to Idube Camp …’

Write about 250 to 350 words. Up to 15 marks are available for reading, and up to 10 marks for
writing.

Don’t run, whatever you do

Peter, the narrator, has left his city home and is training to be a safari guide. He has recently started work
at a camp in Africa called Idube. The camp organises safari drives and walks for guests to view animals in
the wild, and weekly dinner nights at the smaller Bush Camp, some way from the main camp.

The inventively named ‘Bush Camp’ was basically a clearing where a fire could be built, around which
delighted guests ate their meal. Firelight is romantic, making everything look beautiful. By day, Bush
Camp was a sorry patch of earth, teeming with spiders. At night, with lanterns lit, the place looked perfect.
Dinner nights were cheap to run and popular with the camp’s owners, but not with the staff.

Setting up meant that any quiet time, when guests were out of camp, was filled with frantic activity. The
one spare vehicle, a decrepit, spluttering truck, would be loaded with firewood, lanterns and a chef named
Wusani whose bulk made the ageing truck’s suspension creak ominously. Wusani particularly disliked
bush dinners. Once, after being dropped off to light the cooking fire, she’d been unpleasantly surprised by
the roar of a lion. Lions often walked in the soft sand of the dry riverbed that flowed beside Bush Camp,
enjoying the shade or stalking antelope in the cool tranquillity of the surroundings. This lion wasn’t
hunting, or it wouldn’t have roared. That didn’t make it any less terrifying for Wusani. Returning later, the
truck-driver found Wusani improbably perched on the outermost branches of a long-dead tree. When told

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it was safe to come down, she would not, because she could not. Adrenaline had fuelled the climb.
Finally, gravity’s pull resolved the issue. Wusani was saved from serious harm, but would never stay at
Bush Camp alone again. She warned me against it.

My job for bush dinners was to transport sufficient amounts of liquid refreshment to Bush Camp to last the
night. I hadn’t been working at Idube long, so was last in the queue for everything.

‘Drat,’ I thought one afternoon. I’d already helped load tables, chairs, salads and cutlery, and was waiting
in the sun for the truck to return. ‘I’ll carry it there.’

I loaded up a wheelbarrow with cans. I’d been learning from the guides and felt I could handle anything
Africa threw at me.

‘You’ll need to learn how to walk,’ Chris had said to me earlier.

I was nineteen and had been getting around on two feet with relative ease for some years, so the
comment seemed strange. But the ‘walking’ Chris meant involved learning in-depth knowledge of trees,
tracks and insects – the smaller things, usually overlooked on safari drives. It was possible that while
walking I, and the excitable tourists I was being trained to lead, could encounter one of the larger, more
dangerous animals usually only viewed from the safety of a vehicle. If so, it was important I remained
calm.

‘Don’t run, whatever you do,’ was always the advice from other guides. ‘Food runs – and there’s nothing
here you can outrun anyway.’

After struggling some way along the bumpy tracks the vehicles used, I decided to ditch the wheelbarrow
and carry the cans. However, I hadn’t considered how heavy 24 cans of lemonade get when you’re
slogging through soft sand. I soon decided to change routes, taking a shortcut along the riverbed.
Midway, I stopped to shake pebbles from my shoe, putting the cans down and stretching. Branches met
overhead, offering cool shade. A sense of peace mingled with the undercurrent of excitement that comes
from walking in the bush. In one of the branches, a lourie bird called, a long drawn out hag-like rasp,
irritatingly insistent. Later, I’d learn there are many birds that give alarm calls when they see predators.
The tricky part is figuring out whether it’s calling because of you, or because of something larger and
fiercer.
I put my shoe back on, hopping around to do so, picked up the cans and rounded a fallen tree, startling
two massive male lions that had been waiting for whatever clumsy creature was making all the noise.
The time it took for them to get from where they were to where I stood was too short for my life to flash
before my eyes. Every instinct told me to flee, but two thoughts came to mind: ‘Don’t drop the lemonade,
it will get fizzed up,’ and ‘Don’t run’. Whichever motive was strongest, I don’t know. I stood my ground,
attempting my best roar back at the lions.
The lions stopped, centimetres from me, bellowed, spat, then, with a visible release of tension, trotted
around me, carrying on down the riverbed as if they had pressing business elsewhere.
I sank gratefully to the sand, shaking, but through the fear felt something else … Pride.

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f) Interview (could also be referred to as a conversation)

Type 1: INTERVIEW (Interviewer and person interviewed)

· Answer all three bullet points.

· Use the first line of the interview given to you.

· The interviewer will frame the bullet points in the form of a question, three questions
in total.

· The person interviewed will answer using material from the passage, both explicit
and implied. Bring out the character of the person interviewed, e.g. is he eccentric, is
he adventurous?.

Layout:

- Interviewer’s question

- Interviewee’s response

- Repeat

Type 2: INTERVIEW (Interviewer and two persons interviewed each with a different
point of view)

· Answer all three bullet points.

· Use the first line of the interview given to you.

· The interviewer will frame the bullet points in the form of a question, three
questions in total.

· The person interviewed will answer using material from the passage, both
explicit and implied. Bring out the character of the person interviewed, e.g. is he
eccentric, is he adventurous?.

Layout:

- Interviewer’s question

- Interviewee 1 response

- Interviewee 2 response

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- Repeat

Type 3: CONVERSATION

· Address all three bullet points given, using material from the text for general ideas
and for details.

· Start the conversation with the first line given

· Bring out the different personalities of the speakers. You can expect that the
speakers will have opposing views and contrasting personalities, so bring this out.
From your reading of the passage, you will have to decide how their personalities are
different

· The format is different from the interview in this way. The structure of the interview is
clearly three questions given followed by three answers.

· The structure of the conversation is interactive where each speaker may respond
and ask questions.

· Language: you can use abbreviations such as ‘can’t’ ‘haven’t’ and informal
expressions. Remember to be grammatical at all times.

All interview types are laid out as follows:

Interviewer: Tell me about your recent adventure in the Antarctica.

Interviewee: It was the most incredible experience…

Interviewer:

Interviewee:

etc…

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Interview Practice Question (Paper 1, Question 3)

Read carefully My career as a journalist begins, and then answer the question.

Question

Imagine you are Doris. Years later, now successful yourself, you are interviewed by a national radio
programme about your family, brother and memories of the upbringing the two of you had.

The interviewer asks you the following three questions only:

• What do you remember about your family and the values and attitudes to life they each had?
• Your brother claims he started his career in journalism at the age of eight. Tell us your memories
of him and what happened at that time.
• Looking back, can you explain how the skills and qualities you had as a child helped you get
where you are today?

Write your response to each of the interviewer’s questions.

Base your interview on what you have read but be careful to use your own words.

Address each of the three bullet points.

Begin your interview with your answer to the first question.

My career as a journalist begins

The narrator, now a successful journalist and broadcaster, remembers his childhood when he had
recently moved with his mother, father and sister to the city.

I began working in journalism at eight years old. It was Mother’s idea. She wanted me to make something
of myself and, appraising my strengths, decided I’d better start young to have any chance of keeping up
with the competition. Dissatisfied with my father’s fourth-grade education, calloused hands and overalls,
she determined I’d not grow up like him and his people, and tried to wean me early from the country life
we’d left behind. Mother had fancier ideas of life’s possibilities: desks, white collars and well-pressed
suits.

She’d already spotted the flaw in my character. My ideal activity was lying prone listening to the radio.
Mother was powerless to hide her disgust. ‘You’ve got less gumption than a bump on a log,’ she’d say.

My sister, Doris, had enough gumption for both of us, but back then elderly relatives only asked boys if
they wanted to grow up to be president.

My grandfather asked, ‘Well, what do you want to be then?’

I loved to rummage, collecting empty bottles with pretty labels, and discarded magazines. The most
desirable job instantly sprang to mind. ‘A garbage-man,’ I said. Mother decided action could no longer be
safely delayed.

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When I returned from school that afternoon I was introduced to an executive of the Post Publishing
Company, who bent low and shook my hand. Was it true, as my mother had told him, he asked, that I
longed for the opportunity to conquer the world of business?

Mother replied that I was blessed with a rare determination.

‘Have you the never-say-quit-spirit necessary to succeed in business?’ he asked me.

Mother said I certainly did.

He eyed me silently. I’d heard, no doubt, of The Post?

‘Heard of it?’ Mother said. ‘He reads it religiously.’

The executive announced my good fortune – I was to become a PPC representative. Next Tuesday, thirty
freshly printed copies of The Post would be delivered at our door. I would place them, still warm with the
heady ink of the presses, in a handsome canvas bag, sling it over my shoulder and set forth through the
streets to bring the best in journalism to citizens whose happiness depended upon us soldiers of the free
press. He had the bag with him, and presented it with reverence fit for my holy quest, draping the strap
across my chest to leave my sword-arm free for swift extraction of copies. The following Tuesday I raced
home from school, threw the bag on my shoulder, tilting left to balance its weight, and embarked upon the
highway of journalism.

I headed for my designated street corner. For several hours I made myself highly visible, shifting position
occasionally. At supper time, I walked back home.

‘How many did you sell?’ Mother asked.

‘None.’

‘What did you do?’

‘Stood on the corner.’

‘You just stood there?’

Father intervened, ‘I’ve been thinking for some time … and I’ve decided to take The Post. Put me down

as a regular customer.’ I handed him a magazine and he paid me.

Afterwards, Mother instructed me in sales technique: doorbell-ringing and addressing adults with

charming self-confidence. I told her I’d changed my mind about wanting to succeed in the magazine

business. Mother’s powers of persuasion ensured I set forth with my bag again promptly next day.

I returned, soaked, without a single sale to report.

Mother beckoned Doris. ‘Leave your chores, go show Buddy how to sell those magazines,’ she said.

Brimming with zest, seven-year-old Doris dragged me back unceremoniously to the corner. She extracted
a Post from the bag, strode to the nearest car waiting at the lights and hammered her small fist against its
closed window. The driver, startled, lowered the window. Doris thrust the magazine at him, saying, ‘You
need this.’ Awestruck, I watched Doris – a whirlwind of activity, a deluge of charming innocence – shift the
entire batch within minutes. Far from humiliated, I bought us apples on the way home to celebrate.

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Months later, Mother finally concluded I would never make something of myself in business and started

considering careers demanding less competitive zeal. One evening she said, ‘Maybe you could be a

writer.’

I clasped the idea to my heart. I’d never met a writer, had no burning urge to write, but loved listening to
stories. What writers did couldn’t be classified as work. Writers didn’t have to trudge through town
peddling from sacks, being rejected by surly strangers and savaged by the elements. I was enchanted by
the vision. Writers didn’t need any gumption at all.

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g) Article

Magazine Article Structure

1) Topic
(Introduce the issue, which may be something topical and in the news, or research
recently published, or proposal which has been put forward by a government or other
agency, or the description of the person that the article will concern. Unlike a news
report, which is informative, and a speech, which is argumentative, a magazine article is
discursive writing.)

2) Background
(The article is likely to fill in the past history of the person or event which the article
concerns, so that readers are fully aware of the necessary facts and reason why the
article has been written and what has led to the current state of affairs.)

3) Discussion
(The article is likely to return to the present-day situation at this point, discussing and
giving different viewpoints of the person or event, with details and examples and
quotations, and making comparisons with the past or with similar topics. Though the
writer’s own viewpoint may be inferred, alternative views must be given equal weight
and other voices heard.)

4) Prediction
(At this point the article may deal with the future developments or predicted outcome of
the present situation, e.g. that a person will go on to become even more famous and
successful, or that a current predicament will become worse if nothing is done about it,
or which side will win the political debate.)

5) Conclusion
(The article needs a neat conclusion, which may be an ironic reference or humorous
comment, or an evaluation of the different viewpoints, or a reference back to the
beginning of the article, or a quotation.)

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Magazine Article Practice Question (Paper 1, Question 3):

Read The Nightblooming Jazzmen carefully and answer the question below:

Question
You are a journalist writing an article for a monthly music magazine. You were at the gig in the park, and
at the party afterwards, and interviewed band members and some of their audience.

Write your magazine article.

In your magazine article, you should:

• explain who the band are, their style, and the history of the band
• describe the concert, audience reaction and the aftershow party
• introduce Stanley and consider how he fits in with the band.

Base your article on what you have read in Passage A, but be careful to use your own words.

Address each of the three bullet points.

Begin your article: ‘This month’s featured concert …’

Up to 15 marks are available for reading, and up to 10 marks for writing. Write about 250 to 350
words.

The Nightblooming Jazzmen

The narrator has successfully auditioned for the job of drummer in a small jazz band. He has been invited
to play with the band at their next ‘gig’. This concert will be the last of a series of open-air summer
concerts in a local park. The existing members of this jazz band first played together in a bigger band
after they had retired.

The dudes are severely elderly, these Nightblooming Jazzmen. They wear white belts and bow ties,
trousers pulled up high.

‘Our angle is we’re old,’ they say. ‘You’ll have to dress the part if you’re going to be our pulse, drumbo.’ A
couple of them have serious moustaches. I paste one on for the gig, bleach my eyebrows and pop on a
straw hat.

They have the coolest names: Clyde, Chet, Wally and Hal. When I say my name is Nathanial, they say,
‘You can’t use a name like that.’

After my audition, Clyde comes over as I’m packing up my drums. Grinning, he says I’ve got the job, but
from now on they’ll call me Old Stanley.

***

The gig’s in a park. The bandstand is covered with graffiti. A crowd of old people and a few of their
grandkids look on from folding chairs.

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Clyde puffs ‘Good afternoon’ into the microphone and we’re off and running. We cook up a carousel of
sound with our hands, with the wind in our chests. A gang of senior citizens – and me – just tearing up the
place. Chet is coaxing sad wah-wahs out of his trombone. Clyde noodles out golden lassos on the
clarinet. Wally burps wetly along on the tuba. We stir up a flock of audience jazz-hands, playing music no
one plays any more, stuff I learned from my dad. The sun tilts through the trees, spot-lighting shafts of
dust. We’re just a speck in the grand whirling scheme, but at least we’re making noise. We close the set
like landing a plane, bouncing along a little then rolling to a stop.

Give these guys their due – that gig was pretty sweet.

Hal, breathing heavily, comes over. ‘Great job,’ he says. ‘You can swing. How’d you learn?’

‘My dad,’ I explain.

‘Did he play?’

‘Yeah.’ That’s all I say.

Hal talks more at the after-show party. ‘We were a big band. Guys gradually dropped off though …’

They tried rolling with it, calling themselves The Littlest Big-Band, but couldn’t draw a crowd. So Clyde,
who’s basically the leader, said they’d play jazz – did anyone have a problem with that? One guy – the
drummer – walked out.

‘You’re good kid,’ Hal says patting me hard on the back, like he’s burping a baby.

The women organising the party have laid out a great spread: crackers, some kind of creamy dip, cheese,
grapes and peanuts. I start attacking the snacks.

Hal says, ‘Easy, Stanley.’

The women gather up and introduce themselves. They have candy-floss hair, neatly knitted cardigans
and foggy eyes. There’s more than one brooch and bracelets all around, so they jangle when they move.
They deliver their names like they’re performing a song. Ruth and Nancy are sisters. Betty is an old
friend. Great names, I say. Crumbs fly from my mouth. Clyde gives me a look.

The women love our music. So many of the summer concerts are such disappointments, they say.

Ruth recalls a terrible rap act. They all shudder and look to me, expecting an opinion. ‘Rap sucks,’ I say
reaching for more cheese.

‘You have most unusual eyebrows,’ Nancy says.

‘Goes better with the moustache,’ I say.

Everyone laughs because, at the moment, my silvery fringe moustache is curled up on the dashboard of
my car.

‘How’s that for commitment?’ Clyde smiles. ‘The kid gets hired and goes the extra mile to fit in.’

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I feel like I’m eight years old – a little kid with a whole army of grandparents.

The party chugs forward, with some of the guys playing their horns, Wally’s stories of wars and Chet
coming West to pick citrus.

They start dancing to records.

‘Why don’t you dance?’ Wally asks, watching Chet dancing with Betty.

‘I don’t know how to dance to this music,’ I say, making my excuses and leave.

Looking back from my car, I watch them, silhouettes jitterbugging, framed in the rosy window. The music’s
faint, but I tap along. They’re laughing in waves, warbling harmonies. Why couldn’t I have met them a
long time ago? But they didn’t exist then as they are now, I know. They look like a movie flashed on a
wall, hanging in space with no connection to time. It seems impossible that I stepped out from it, or that I
could get back in. It’s like a soap bubble you try to put in your pocket.

The song ends. Everyone shouts, ‘More!’

That’s all I need to be called back. I press on the moustache.

Magazine Article Practice Question (Paper 2, Question 1):

Read the following discussion and consider the views of both the teacher and her students.
Imagine that you are one of the students involved in the discussion. Write an article for your school
magazine about how people use modern technology.
In your magazine article you should:
• examine issues about family and social life;
• examine issues about health and safety;
• give your own view and develop your arguments.
Base your magazine article on the ideas found in the discussion and be careful to use your own words.
You should write between 1½ and 2 sides, allowing for the size of your handwriting.
Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer and up to 25 marks for the quality of
your writing.

After a Communication Studies lesson, the teacher, Mrs Trapido, and three students discuss modern
technology.

Mrs Trapido: That lesson makes me more worried than ever about your physical well-being. Surely it’s
not a good thing that you use modern technology to escape from reality so often?

Bharat: So, what do you do to escape from the stresses of your job? No doubt you ‘up the
volume’ on your classical music in the car or watch the latest soap opera on television. Either way, it’s not
that different.

Mrs Trapido: Okay, we all need to switch off now and then, but the kids I see are permanently hooked
up to some gadget that stops them communicating with others. My son is constantly in his own bubble; if
he’s not on the phone to a friend then he’s ‘shuffling’ and focused on his music
player, and don’t get me started on these new games and films he watches on a ridiculously small screen.

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Katrin: It’s the latest technology. It solves the problem of what film you all want to watch on
television. He’s just ‘zoning out’; it’s what we all do. In your day you would have gone to your room. Well,
now we can block out situations that are stressful.

Mrs Trapido: What? Like family life? You see that’s what worries me. He’s there in the room with us,
but he’s not really there.

Ali: Well, it depends on how high the volume is! I can easily listen to my music as well as
tune in to what’s being said around me. If my mother starts an argument, then I just turn the volume up to
the maximum!

Bharat: That’s how I like to listen to my music anyway. Loud.

Mrs Trapido: You see that also concerns me. New studies prove it is dangerous to listen to really loud
music as it can cause hearing loss.

Katrin: Well, what about you and your laptop? You’re always hunched over it typing, risking injury
to your back and your hands. You see, you condemn our use of technology, but you forget how much
people older than us rely on it. Plus, if anything goes wrong with your new devices, you usually ask us to
fix it.

Mrs Trapido: Okay, I know you belong to the technological society, but it doesn’t stop me worrying
about your health. My laptop isn’t a miniscule gadget that requires me to risk my eyesight to see the
screen. The keys on your game players are so small that you could suffer from repetitive strain injury or
even arthritis in the future.

Katrin: I get your point. However, we know that we should have breaks when our eyes get tired
or our fingers ache.

Mrs Trapido: What about the dangers of walking around or cycling whilst the latest rap song is blaring
in your ears? You’re oblivious to the traffic around you and you risk being in an accident. What’s more,
someone could attack you as you wouldn’t be aware of their presence.

Ali: It is stupid to lock yourself up in your own world in a busy city, but is it very different from
adult motorists talking on their mobiles and causing accidents?

Mrs Trapido: But it’s in cities where I see most teenagers not interacting with what’s going on around
them, and they don’t even mutter please or thank you to others who serve them.

Ali: You can’t blame these devices for bad manners. Don’t tell me that adults aren’t tempted
to block out the noise and stress of public transport! I saw an old guy with headphones on in the subway,
blissfully unaware of his surroundings.

Mrs Trapido: Everyone over thirty looks old to you lot! My point is still relevant. I’m not just concerned
about noise. I’ve even heard of discos where teenagers listen and dance to their own choice of music on
their own headphones.

Katrin: Hey, that’s a good idea! The world is changing. By the way, is that your cell phone ringing?

Creative Writing Genres

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a) Narrative Writing

Narrative Writing Structure

1. Setting

(Location, surroundings, atmosphere, time of day, week, month, season, weather)

2. Characters

(Introduce up to three characters by describing their appearance, behaviour and maybe

direct speech. Make their relationship clear.)

3. Problem

(Create a situation requiring decision or discussion. Build up conflict, perhaps using

dialogue.)

4. Climax

(Narrate a series of actions/events, leading to a crisis)

5. Resolution

(Describe the outcome, which may involve an ironic twist)

Narrative opening options

1. Starting in the middle

(This is called the in medias res device, when the narrative starts in the middle of either
a sequence of actions, e.g. ‘The pursuers were catching up on him’ or in the middle of a
dialogue, e.g. ‘‘I can’t believe you just said that,’ said Mary’. In both cases the reader is
forced to try to imagine what has gone before and to quickly get involved in what is
happening or being said now.)

2. Shocking or intriguing statement

(A shocking statement provokes the reader e.g. ‘I had always hated my mother and was
glad that she was dead’. An intriguing one arouses curiosity e.g. ‘The clocks were
striking thirteen.’ Both narrative openings make the reader want to read on because
they are surprised.)

3. Flashback or flashforward

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(Instead of starting in chronological sequence, a narrative can begin with a reference to

a relevant previous event or jump to the future outcome of the story about to be told.)

4. Framing the story

(A narrative can have a ‘book ends’ framework of a story within a story, so that the
beginning tells of someone who, for instance, finds a diary or hidden document and
reads and quotes it, or who travels back to a place where something significant once
happened to them and relives the experience.

5. Setting the scene

(The conventional way of starting a narrative is to provide the context by referring to the
country, place, season, weather, time of day, and to introduce the main character by
giving some detail about his/her name, age, job and problem. For example: It was
pouring with rain, which was unusual for summer in Cyprus. Costas, a middle-aged
bank clerk, was trying to make his way on foot through the flooded streets of the city to
get home to his sick mother when ....)

Narrative Writing Exam Practice Questions (Paper 2, Section B)

1) Write a story called ‘A Moment of Doubt’.

2) Write a story in which an item of great value or beauty plays an important part.
3) Write a story about fulfilling a dream or an ambition.
4) Write a story using the title, ‘The Cancellation’.
5) Write a story which includes the words, ‘I tried to stay calm’.
6) Write a story with the title, ‘It’s Now or Never’.

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b) Descriptive Writing

Structure

1. Setting

(If you are describing a place, it is appropriate to set the general scene of location,
surroundings, atmosphere, time of day, week, month, season, weather, temperature.
Either time or distance can be used as the framework for a descriptive composition.
Descriptive compositions must have some kind of framework to give them a shape and
structure and logical progression to involve the reader.)

2. Positioning

(The observer takes up a position with regard to the object or place being described e.g.
they are standing outside a room. This should be at a distance so that interest is
aroused as to what will be revealed on closer inspection e.g. when the gate into the
secret garden is opened or the chest in the attic is opened. The senses of sight and
sound will be explored in this section and used to draw the reader in. If time is the
framework then this must be established, e.g. daylight is beginning to fade at dusk.)

3. Approaching

(The observer moves towards the object or place being described. New details can be
revealed because of the closer proximity e.g. as the beach becomes clearer to view. At
this stage the sense of smell can be added to sight and sound. Alternatively, time has
moved on e.g. darkness is creeping into the sky and natural appearances are
changing.)

4. Arriving

(The observer is now part of the scene, e.g. in the heart of the street market, or in
contact with the object e.g. going through the items in a chest. Minute details of vision
and noise can be used here, and also the sense of touch can be explored, and taste
implied e.g. people in the scene are eating, the sea is salty. Alternatively, time has
reached its climax, e.g. it is now night and the new sky and atmosphere can be
described.)

5. Farewell

(The observer leaves the scene, with or without a backward glance. They may have
replaced anything they disturbed in a room and now close the door so that things are
again as they were at the beginning; alternatively it may be going home time for the

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people on the beach or at the market, so that the scene empties and becomes the
opposite of how it was at the beginning. Reference to either time or distance is used as
closure.)

Descriptive Writing Exam Practice Questions (Paper 2, Section B)

1) Describe the inside of a workshop and the person who owns it.

2) Describe what you see and experience as you dive downwards to explore under the sea.

3) Describe the kitchen of a busy restaurant at lunch time.

4) Imagine your school or college 25 years from now.

5) Describe a familiar place at an unusual time or from a different point of view.

6) Describe what you see, hear and feel when you look up into the sky as day changes into night.

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Response to Reading - Argumentative Writing [Paper 2, no 1]

Argumentative Writing:

● Ensure your arguments are consistently well developed, and you have logical
stages.
● Ensure each stage is linked to the preceding one, and sentences within
paragraphs are soundly sequenced.
● Avoid repetition. Your writing should be carefully planned. You should support
your opinions with facts or examples wherever possible.
● A clear introduction and a forceful conclusion will help to convince the examiner
to agree with your ideas. If you are given a specific audience for your writing,
use vocabulary and a register that is appropriate to it.
● Plan carefully. You need not include more than four or five main points as long
as they are developed in detail.
● Try not to include too many generalised statements; illustrate all of your main
points with specific details and examples.
● Use vocabulary and a register appropriate to your audience but don't forget that
your real audience is the examiner.

If you are writing a speech, try to make it sound authentic by using

phrases that are directed at your imagined listeners, but don't write in such
a colloquial way that the examiner is unable to understand clearly what
you mean.

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