Helping students identify what they must write about in the writing part of the Cambridge First Exam.
Rationale
With the way the Cambridge exams are marked it's really important that the students stay on topic and answer the specific questions asked of them. Content is 25% of the mark.
There is always a topic and some specific points or questions that must be addressed.
For example, above is the letter and the review from the Cambridge First for Schools Handbook. It's really important for exam candidates to identify what the task is and what information must be included in their answer. I always have my students highlight the key points and idea before they write and put a tick or a smiley face next to these questions/idea when they have added them to their plan (I get my students to plan and then check that they have everything needed in their plan on the grounds that it's easier to adjust/add to a plan than it is to a 200 odd word piece of writing. I always tell my students to pause after they have done their plan and check for content at this stage).
Anyway, taking a look at the above questions:
The letter
Topic:
A place that is special TO YOU!
It's important, especially for the essay, that students identify the specific slant the question has been given. It's not just special places here. They are specifically asked to write about a place that is important to them, not their country, not their grandparents, not their teacher, them.
Specific questions:
Where is this place?
What does it look like?
Why is it important to you?
The Review
Topic:
A clothes shop FOR TEENAGERS WHERE YOU LIVE
Specific information to include:
What the shop looks like
The kind of clothes the shop sells
The shop assistants
Would you recommend it to people your age?
In order to get a good mark with regards to content they need to make sure they cover all these points.
So, how can we help the students do this on their own?
The activity
The first thing to do is play the students the following Star Wars clip, asking them what the fighter pilots are told to do and what this means for them in terms of the written exam. Make sure you stop the video after about 8 seconds as at the end the pilot told to stay on target gets blown up and that's not really the message we want to convey.
If your students don't get the connection (it is a bit tenuous), tell them it's about how important it is to answer the questions in the written exam.
Then, show the slides from the PowerPoint.
For each slide:
Identify the topic and the specific questions.
Then have them, in pairs, answer the questions. Give each pair one minute. One person speaks, their partner holds up the correct number of fingers for the number of things the person speaking needs to mention. As each idea/question is mentioned the partner drops one of their fingers. Finish after a minute or when everything has been mentioned. The person listening can wave their fingers around as a prompt to help their partner or even ask a question to guide
them. Best to have them hold up their fingers with their palms facing outwards, we don't want to be rude.
Swap roles for the next slide
Notes
Some of the questions are quite strange. This is for two reasons. Firstly to try and make this idea more memorable, so it sticks but secondly, as it gives us, as teachers, the opportunity to remind the students that if they don't know (what their best friend's next door neighbour's daughter's teacher's favourite colour is) they should invent and/or speculate. A useful reminder for the speaking parts of the exam too.