Mireia's English Blog

So that you can practise writing these blog entries and article, take the listening and reading tests:

WEB LOG / DIARY / BLOG

1. Imagine  that you  have just returned  from a trip to London  with your parents. Write  an entry in your blog about  some good and bad experiences on  this trip, and on travelling with your  parents in general. (Remember to NOT mention  your real name, or that of anyone in your family,  in this blog entry.) (June 2017 S5) Reading Test & Listening Test / Audio File / Answers
2. Imagine  you are Carolyn  Barnabo. Write an  entry in your blog  explaining how your views  on love-locks have changed over  the years. (June 2015 S2) Reading Test & Listening Test / Audio File / Answers

ARTICLE

1. Write an article for your school magazine. Discuss the effects of climate change in your country. Do you think measures should be taken to stop or at least slow down its effects on the planet?  (June 2009 S4) Reading Test & Listening Test / Audio File / Answers

Remember to follow the writing process:

• PAY ATTENTION TO THE FORMAT:
  • Is it an email, an opinion essay, an interview?
  • Is it a letter? Formal? Informal?
  • As there are two options, you can choose the format that suits you best.
  • Be extremely careful with dialogues and interviews (questions are required!!)
• BRAINSTORM FOR IDEAS:
  • Write down all the ideas you can think of.
  • Don’t worry whether the idea is relevant. The more ideas you get, the better. You’ll use only some of them, others will be discarded and others can be used as examples.
  • Don’t worry about grammar or spelling at this stage.
• ORGANISE YOUR IDEAS:
  • Decide which ideas to keep and cross out the others.
  • Group similar ideas together.
  • Organise them in the different paragraphs.
• FOCUS ON LANGUAGE:
  • Think about specific ‘topic’ vocabulary, expressions and grammatical structures that can be used to enrich your writing.
  • Make clear you know how to use modals, relative sentences, passive …
• WRITE A FIRST DRAFT:
  • Write your first draft on the computer or by hand. If you are writing by hand use a pencil. Leave wide margins for notes.
  • Leave space between lines for additions and corrections.
  • Write quickly. Don’t worry about neatness or accuracy.
  • If you can’t think of a word in English, write it in your own language. Look up the word in a dictionary later.
  • If you can’t spell a word, write it any way you can. Then check the word in a dictionary or use a spellcheck when you have finished.
• CHECK YOUR WORK:
  • Use the Writer Checklist to improve your work.
  • Write at least 150 words.
  • Try to be clear, logical and coherent (better a simple, clearly exposed idea than a witty, clever, original idea which cannot be understood)
• WRITE A FINAL DRAFT:
  • If you are writing by hand: copy your corrected work neatly onto a clean sheet of paper.
  • Use a pen and leave a margin on the left-hand side.
  • Make sure your paragraphs are clearly indicated.

Use the Writing Checklist to make sure you took everything into account in the text.

[Partly based on: Selectivitat Writing Guide by Fina Melgar]

Keep in mind the assessment criteria which are linked to the previous Checklist:

– Grammar (1 mark) :

• the correct and appropriate use of morphological and syntactic structures
• the range (variety and complexity) of structures used.

– Vocabulary (1 mark):

• the range and appropriate use of vocabulary (variety of semantic fields, richness, phrasal verbs, collocations, idiomatic expressions, linking words,…).
• the correct spelling of words.

– Text / Paragraph building (1 mark):

• The clarity of organization of ideas within the sentence, the paragraph and the text
• The clear and correct use of punctuation and text markers.

– Maturity (1 mark):

• The skilful handling of the topic (clear thinking, good outline, well-reasoned ideas, creativity, …)

Reminders

• Wrong format: If a composition does not follow the format (letter, dialogue, news report, diary, for and against argumentation, description, narrative, …) of the chosen option, it will be penalized up to 1 point.
• Copying from the text: the use of full sentences or fragments taken from the text will not be considered as personal writing.
• Insufficient length. Compositions under 100 words will be penalized up to 1 point.
• Wrong topic: No points will be given to a composition written on a topic not included in the two given options.