Preparing for Cambridge
English: Advanced Writing
(from 2015)
Handout: True or False?
Read through the following statements on the Cambridge English: Advanced Writing paper and decide if they are True or False.
TRUE FALSE
A) The Writing test is 2 hours long.
B) There are two parts in the test.
C) Part 2 is worth twice as many marks as Part 1.
D) Candidates are required to write up to 260 words for Part 1, and up to 220 words for Part 2.
E) Candidates write their answers in spaces on the question paper.
F) The first part is a compulsory task.
G) In Part 1, candidates have to write a formal letter.
H) The input for Part 1 consists of a short text to read, and some opinions that people have expressed on the topic.
I) For Part 1, candidates should choose two points from the input, explain which of the two points is more important, and give reasons for their opinion.
J) For Part 1, candidates must include the given opinions in their essay.
K) In Part 2, candidates choose one task from a choice of three.
L) The Part 2 text types can include essays, letters/emails, reports, reviews and proposals.
M) There is a task based on a set text.
Handout: Task types: situations and purposes
1. Look at the situations described below. Decide which task type (A–E) you
would write for each situation (1–5).
A
1) Your boss wants to know which of two venues would be more suitable for the annual staff conference.
2) Your student magazine wants people to write about films or concerts that they have seen recently, so that other students can decide what they might be interested in going to.
3) Your tutor has asked you to decide which facilities in your town you think are more important and why, and should therefore receive funding from the local council.
4) Your line manager wants to know what you feel you have achieved in the first six months of your new role, and what support you still feel you need.
5) A friend is applying for a job and has asked you to provide a reference for the company.
2. Match the purposes below to each of the situations above. There may be
more than one purpose for each.
Purposes: a) describing b) giving opinions c) justifying opinions d) persuading
Handout: Suggestions for student motivation
Here are some suggestions for motivating activities when dealing with the Part 1 essay task.
Brainstorm in small groups the ideas behind a typical Cambridge English: Advanced Writing task, for example, a Part 1 essay discussing ways in which adults can influence younger people’s behaviour, then elicit ideas from the whole class.
Have a group discussion about which way is more effective and why.
Divide the class into three groups, and give each group one of the suggestions from a Part 1 essay task – they have to come up with as many reasons as they can to justify this, for example, why this is an effective way of influencing behaviour. Then hold a debate.
Divide the class into three groups, and give each group one of the suggestions from a Part 1 essay task – they have to come up with several pros and cons for this suggestion. Then regroup the class into threes, with one person from each of the original groups in their new groups. Ask them to present their ideas to each other, then discuss which they think overall is the best suggestion, and why.
Handout: Structuring an essay
There are many ways to start an essay. Match these types of introductions to the examples on the right.
1) Using a rhetorical question on the topic
A) Adults can influence younger people in a good way, but also in a bad way. There are various possibilities how this can happen.
2) Using a general statement on the topic
B) Recently, I was surprised to see a group of teenagers help a mother get her young baby and her shopping onto a bus outside a busy shopping centre. I realised that this isn’t the typical way that teenagers behave.
3) Stating what you are going to discuss
C) Footballers behaving badly and politicians being exposed for telling lies are certainly not examples of good behaviour. But unfortunately this is the sort of thing that can influence the younger generation.
4) Giving provocative examples
D) Many people complain about the way the youth of today behaves. But how should the younger generation know what is right and what is wrong? How should they know how to behave in the right way?
5) Referring to a past experience that’s relevant to the topic
E) Many parents struggle with bringing up their children into being responsible adults and are unsure how to influence them. There are, of course, many ways of influencing young adults, and I want to present and discuss two of them: giving rules to obey, and offering your children advice.
Handout: Part 2 tasks
2 There are plans to demolish an old and unused building in the town where you are a student. You feel that the building should be saved. You decide to write a proposal for the town council explaining why you think the building should be preserved, suggesting what could be done to modernise it and saying how the building could benefit the local people.
Write your proposal.
who: ...
why: ...
what: ...
how: ...
3 You have just finished a three-week study and work programme in an English-speaking country. You studied English language in the mornings and worked for a local company in the afternoons. The programme organiser has asked you to write a report about your experience. In your report, you should evaluate the programme, explaining which part of the programme was more useful, and suggest changes you would recommend for next year’s programme.
Write your report.
who: ...
why: ...
what: ...
4 A travel website has asked you to write a review of a holiday resort you have been to, explaining what kinds of people the resort is likely to appeal to, and which aspects of the resort you would most recommend to other visitors. You should also suggest at least one way in which you feel the resort could be improved.
Write your review.
who: ...
why: ...
what: ...
Handout: Sentence structure cards
1) Not only did I ...
2) Having done that, ...
3) What impressed me most ...
4) If it hadn’t been so ...
5) It can’t have been ...
6) By the time I ...
7) No sooner had we ...
Handout: Sentence structure answers
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
Handout: Classroom activities
Classroom activity: Focus on Part 1
Timing up to 75 minutes (if the writing activity is done during class time)
Materials worksheet: Part 1 task (this task can be found on Sample Paper 2 in the Handbook for Teachers)
Rationale The aim of this activity is to motivate learners to write a Part 1 task, by getting them to engage with the topic, brainstorm ideas and have a discussion in groups. Learners look at a range of functional language for expressing opinions, contrasting ideas and adding supporting points or reasons. Then they produce their own answer to the question.
Procedure
1. Ask learners in pairs to think about what writing involves. Ask them to note down all the skills that are required in order to produce a written text (it doesn’t matter which text type at this stage). Allow a minute or so for this.
2. Elicit some feedback from the class, e.g. coming up with ideas for the content; organising the ideas; thinking about register, format and layout; choosing suitable language; editing; proofing.
3. Write ‘who’, ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ on the board. Explain that these skills can be summarised by thinking about four points: a writer needs to consider who the target reader is, and why they are writing (what their purpose for writing is), in order to be able to decide what to write and how to write it.
4. Give learners the worksheet: Part 1 task. In pairs, ask them to discuss the four points (who, why, what and how) for this task.
5. Elicit from the class that the target reader is the teacher; they are writing because the teacher has asked them to and because they heard a radio discussion on the topic; they need to write about two ways that adults can influence younger people’s behaviour, and which is most effective; they have to write it in the format of an essay, using semi-formal or formal language, with an introduction,
paragraphs giving their opinions and reasons, then a conclusion.
6. Divide the class into small groups (3–4 learners). Ask them to brainstorm the ways in which adults can influence younger people’s behaviour, and to note down their ideas. Allow 2 minutes, then elicit ideas from the whole class.
class, then you can subdivide the three groups into smaller groups. Ask the learners in their groups to come up with several pros and cons for their
suggestion. Allow 2 minutes, then regroup the class into threes, with one person from each of the original groups in the new groups. Ask them to present their ideas to each other, then discuss which they think overall is the best suggestion, and why.
8. Elicit some feedback from one or two groups, asking learners to say which they thought the best suggestion was, and why.
9. Ask learners what sort of functional language they used for this activity. Elicit that they used language to give opinions, to contrast ideas, to add another
point/reason, and so on. Draw a table with three columns on the board, and put ‘give opinions’, ‘contrast ideas’ and ‘add another point/reason’ at the top of the columns. Elicit a few examples that were actually used, and write them on the board as they come up: e.g. for giving opinions: ‘I think ...’, ‘In my opinion ...’; for contrasting ideas: ‘although’, ‘but’; for adding another point: ‘also’, ‘and’, etc. Ask learners if they can come up with any more examples, and add them to the columns on the board. Point out that it is a good idea to use a range of this type of language in writing, but not to overuse it – this can make writing repetitive. 10. Ask learners to write their response to the Part 1 task, using any of the ideas
discussed as a class, and to focus on using a good range of language for giving opinions, contrasting ideas, and adding points. Allow at least 30 minutes. This stage can also be done as homework if you prefer.
11. As learners finish writing, ask them to spend a few minutes checking their own work. Then put learners in pairs, as they finish, and ask them to swap their essays with each other. Tell them to read each other’s work, and to write three comments at the end: one positive comment, and two constructive suggestions as to how the learner could improve it. Point out the suggestions should be written in a positive way, rather than being critical.
12. Learners take back their work, read the comments, and spend a few minutes making improvements to their work.
Worksheet: Part 1 task
who: ...
why: ...
what: ...
Classroom activity: Holiday resort review
Timing up to 75 minutes (if the writing activity is done during class time)
Materials worksheets: Normal and extreme adjectives (cut up into cards, one set per pair); Holiday resort review; Review sample answer
Rationale The aim of this activity is to motivate learners to write a review and develop general writing skills in an integrated skills lesson.
Procedure
1. As a quick warmer, ask learners to think about their last holiday. Ask them to briefly tell the person next to them where they went, and what it was like – allow just a minute or two for this stage.
2. Now ask learners to imagine they are going to a place they have never been to before. Ask them how they could find out about the place beforehand – either to decide whether or not to go, or just to prepare themselves for their holiday. Elicit suggestions, including the fact that they could read reviews (e.g. in a travel magazine or online). Write ‘Review of a holiday resort’ on the board.
3. Now ask them to think about what kind of information might be included in a review of a holiday resort. Ask them to brainstorm some ideas in pairs, then elicit ideas from the group, and write them on the board, e.g. a description of the hotel, the activities, the staff, the food, and so on.
4. Write two or three sentences on the board, e.g. The staff were friendly. The view from our room was beautiful. It was exciting to go scuba diving. Point out that there is nothing wrong with these sentences, but they could be improved – at
Cambridge English: Advanced level, learners need to show that they can produce better language than this. Ask learners how they could improve the language used in these sentences – elicit ideas, e.g. using more extreme/interesting adjectives (e.g. stunning, thrilling); using adverbs too (e.g. absolutely stunning); using more complex language, e.g. adding clauses, and so on.
6. Check the answers as a group, and ask learners if they have any questions. If many of the words are new, it is also a good idea to focus on their pronunciation – drill the words by modelling them yourself, then getting the class (or groups and individuals) to repeat. Make sure learners produce the word stress correctly when they repeat.
7. Ask learners how they can make an extreme adjective even stronger – elicit that they can add an adverb before it. Ask if you can say ‘very stunning’ (no – as ‘very’ is used to qualify a ‘normal’ adjective) – it would be ‘absolutely stunning’.
8. Practise using adverbs and extreme adjectives for a few minutes, by asking learners questions about their last holiday, such as ‘What was the weather like?’; ‘What was the view from your window like?’; and so on. You can also ask some questions using ‘normal’ adjectives, e.g. ‘Was the view nice?’ and elicit answers using ‘extreme’ adjectives. Make sure you focus on word stress while doing this, i.e. ‘It was absolutely stunning!’ You could extend this stage by letting learners ask each other some more questions in their pairs, while you monitor to check that they are using the language correctly.
9. Now write ‘who?’; ‘why?’; ‘what?’; ‘how?’ on the board. Give each learner a copy of the Part 2 task on worksheet: Holiday resort review, and ask them to read the question and in pairs, to discuss who the target reader for this task is, and
why they are writing it (what their purpose for writing is), what they need to write, and how to write it. Allow a minute or so, then elicit their ideas.
10. Next, give out the copy of a sample answer for this task on worksheet: Review sample answer. Ask learners to read it quite quickly, then to discuss in pairs if this writer has done everything that the question asked them to. Elicit that the answer is fine, but point out that this is a fairly bland description of a holiday resort, as the language used in it isn’t very interesting or particularly good for a
Cambridge English: Advanced learner. Tell them that you would like them to cross out and amend any language that they can improve, in particular by thinking about using a wider range of adjectives and adverbs. Tell them that they can focus on other parts of speech, as well as sentence structures, linking words, and so on, if they like.
Worksheet: Normal and extreme adjectives
hot sweltering
cold freezing
angry livid
interesting fascinating
bad awful
big huge
hungry starving
frightened petrified
tired exhausted
small minute
good wonderful
dirty filthy
tasty delicious
wet drenched
shocked horrified
surprised astonished
funny hilarious
Worksheet: Holiday resort review
Have you been on holiday recently?
We would like you to send us a review of a holiday resort you have been to,
explaining what kinds of people the resort is likely to appeal to, and which aspects of the resort you would most recommend to other visitors. You should also suggest at least one way in which you feel the resort could be improved.
The most interesting reviews will be published in next month’s magazine!
World Traveller magazine
who: ...
why: ...
what: ...
Worksheet: Review sample answer
Our dream holiday
Have you ever imagined yourself sitting under a palm tree with a nice cool drink and lots of clear blue water in front of you?
I had this experience last year, when my family decided to have a dream holiday and we chose the Dominican Republic, and more specifically Punta Cana, as our
destination.
We had lots of resorts to choose from, but finally we chose Palladium resort, which is a big, beautiful complex of villas, each with their own terrace. It’s the perfect place for families, especially those with young children.
There are six restaurants at the resort, offering many different kinds of food. But the best thing is the pool – big, clean, with sun beds right next to the water. If you come to the Palladium resort, it’s a must. The only problem was that the pool wasn’t open in the evenings – that would really have been good.
I had the chance to try scuba diving in the sea, and I can tell you that it was the most exciting experience. Swimming along with lots of little creatures around you in the water, and seeing the beautiful colours of the fish and the corals, was a dream come true.
There are also lots of places to visit, like cacao and coffee farms in the mountains. We went there in a big old truck, which had a very noisy engine. It was a good experience to see the farms, and we also learned something about the history of the island on these trips.
Classroom activity: Task types, situations and purposes in the Cambridge English: Advanced Writing paper
Timing 30 minutes
Materials worksheet: Task types: situations and purposes
Rationale The aim of this activity is:
to increase learners’ awareness of the task types used in the Writing paper
to increase learners’ awareness of the typical situations in which these text types are used
to highlight the main purposes of each text type.
Procedure
1. Ask learners to quickly note down all the things they have written in the last few days, and the reasons why they wrote them. Give an example or two to start them off, e.g. writing a list of food to buy from the supermarket; writing an email to invite a friend to a party.
2. Work around the room, eliciting a different example from each learner. Point out the range of different things we write in real life.
3. Give out the worksheet: Task types: situations and purposes. The five task types at the top of the page are all tasks that are included in the Writing paper. Learners need to:
decide which task type would be required for each of the situations.
match the purposes listed at the bottom of the page to each situation. 4. Allow learners to work together and discuss their answers. After a few minutes,
elicit the answers for each situation (see key to worksheet, below).
Key to worksheet
Which of these text types is likely to have an introduction and conclusion? (A, C)
Which of these text types should have an opening salutation and closing phrasing? (B)
Which of these text types should include description and evaluation? (C, D, E)
Which of these text types would be written about a product or service? (C, D, E)
Worksheet: Task types: situations and purposes
Look at the situations described below. Decide which task type (A–E) you
would write for each situation (1–5).
A
1) Your boss wants to know which of two venues would be more suitable for the annual staff conference.
2) Your student magazine wants people to write about films or concerts that they have seen recently, so that other students can decide what they might be interested in going to.
3) Your tutor has asked you to decide which facilities in your town you think are more important and why, and should therefore receive funding from the local council.
4) Your line manager wants to know what you feel you have achieved in the first six months of your new role, and what support you still feel you need.
5) A friend is applying for a job and has asked you to provide a reference for the company.
Match the purposes below to each of the situations above. There may be more
than one purpose for each.
Purposes: a) describing b) giving opinions c) justifying opinions d) persuading
Classroom activity: Sentence structure development (proposal)
Timing 30–40 minutes
Materials worksheets: Sentence structure cards (cut up, enough for one card per student); Sentence structure answers
Rationale This activity focuses on the proposal task and looks at ways that students can improve and develop their sentence structure.
Procedure
1. Show students the sample task: Proposal (see below) on a slide or on the board and give them time to discuss ideas for the content of the text in small groups. Elicit these ideas and write them up on the board.
2. Tell learners that they are going to revise some useful structures they can use in the proposal.
3. Give out worksheet: Sentence structure answers and distribute the cards from
worksheet: Sentence structure cards so that each student has one card. You will need to make further cards depending on the number of students in your class. Give the students up to 2 minutes to complete the sentence in a way relevant to the proposal and write the sentence on the answer sheet.
4. After 2 minutes, clap your hands. Each student must pass their card to the next person and then write a new sentence with the new structure on their card. 5. Repeat this three times (or more if you wish).
6. In feedback, collect examples from the answer worksheets from the class and encourage self/peer correction if there are errors.
7. In class or for homework, the students must write the proposal, using as many of the sentences as possible.
Sample task: Proposal
There are plans to demolish an old and unused building in the town where you are a student. You feel that the building should be saved. You decide to write a proposal for the town council explaining why you think the building should be preserved, suggesting what could be done to modernise it and saying how the building could benefit the local people.
Extension
Worksheet: Sentence structure cards
1) Not only should the building ...
2) In order to …
3) What needs to be considered is ...
4) Despite its age and condition …
5) In addition to this …
6) If the building is to be saved …
7) It is considered to be …
Worksheet: Sentence structure answers
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
Writing checklist
When you have finished writing, check it carefully!
Have you answered the question?!
Will your writing have the right effect on the target reader?
Have you used appropriate language for the task – e.g. is it too formal, or too informal?
Is your layout clear, and have you used paragraphs?
Are your ideas in a logical order, and are they well linked?
Have you avoided repeating ideas and/or language?
Have you included some examples of more complex vocabulary and grammar?
Is your writing accurate? Think about the following points:
Is your spelling correct?
Have you used correct punctuation?
Is your word order correct?
Have you used articles where necessary?
Do verbs and subjects agree? (e.g. it has, not it have)
Have you avoided using double subjects? (e.g. the postman, he ...)
