Cambridge Writing

Take a couple of minutes to talk to one of the people sitting behind you or in front of you about your week-end ( at least the parts you remember and which cannot be used as evidence against you!)

Last term we looked at some of the basic principles for writing good English.

HERE WERE SOME OF THE KEYS:

Writing, as opposed to speaking is a learnt skill. Even a native speaker can have problems with writing for a number of reasons.

There are 5 KEY areas to consider when discussing Writing as a language skill:

1.    REGISTER

Is it FORMAL, INFORMAL or NEUTRAL?

2.    FORMAT

What does the task require in the way of format?

Headings ? Introduction ? Formalia ?

3. ORGANISATION

What aspects of organisation does the task require?

Paragraphing ? Sequencing? Contrast ? Information ?

4. LANGUAGE & GRAMMAR

Will be defined by the context. Is there a need for specialist vocabulary ? Strategies ?

5. BALANCE & CONSEQUENCE

Have I really answered the question ? Is my language consequent and ”tight” ? Is my writing balanced ?

Today we are going to look at an example past paper and see what is important to consider when tackling the writing task(s)

Writing

The writing test consists of two pieces of writing (see the example you have got from a past paper)

In the first section you are given a lot of material which you need to reshuffle into a finished product.. The format of the product can vary but the task is generally very similar.

In the second section you choose one of several topics to write about. 

On page 4 in the "Advanced Gold" book you have the list of the different kind of topics. 

Check out the different exercises and the way they differ

There is also an example of a Part 1 question on page 124 and

an overview of Part 2 on page 186-

However, the best resource I have seen is on the net..

The address is:

http://cae-tips.blogspot.se/

Here you can go through each kind of format and see what is required.

We will try to examine the example questions on the paper you have received today in the light of this...

When I go off for my online lesson you can have ago at one of the exercises on the past paper.

Remember there is rather limited time and you need to use it effectively.

Discuss your ideas with a friend and do a plan for one of the topics.


If you feel that you need to use the time to finish off the Shakespeare then that's ok.