IGCSE

EASTER
REVISION PACK

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 CONTENTS

Transforming a Text into a Newspaper Page 3

Report
Transforming a Text into a Letter Page 6
Transforming a Text into a Dialogue Page 9
Transforming a Text into a Diary/ Journal Page 12
Entry
Transforming a Text into a Speech Page 16
Grade Descriptors to Mark your Work Page 20

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TRANSFORM A TEXT INTO A NEWSPAPER REPORT

TOP TIPS: Structure for Success

How to structure a newspaper article:

1. A catchy headline that captures the main theme of the story. (THIS WILL PROBABLY BE
GIVEN BY THE EXAM - if it is - USE IT!!)

2. First paragraph should tell the reader the main events (who, when, what, where).

3. Then tell the events in order (from start to end).

Be factual. Be unbiased.
Include an eye witness “quote” from the article your report is based on.
Paragraph each new point.
Use time connectives (after, later that day, at the same time).

4. End with a prediction of the future,

e.g. ‘police are now investigating …’ / ‘
They hope that next year will be even more of a success’.

THE TEXT – taken from http://igcseeastbury.weebly.com

The Duvall family were relatively new to the village of Malsam. They had feared a long period of
suspicion, but even gimlet-eyed old women, who normally took months to unbend and acknowledge
newcomers, warmed to the blond-haired children and their gentle parents.

The weather in these parts was less hospitable. The wind never settled and, as the Duvalls gathered
by the fire each night, their little home wheezed and moaned like an out of tune accordion. Even
though the floors were spotless, and Katya, the mother, insisted on cleanliness in this new home of
theirs,
draughts still made skittering noises.The children, Gabriel and Luca, did schoolwork upstairs, but
more often played noisily with good friends they had made. Henri, their father, was becoming well-
known for his finely crafted furniture, and life was good here.

One night, when the grumbling of their home was low, Henri and Katya were about to settle to sleep,
when they both heard unfamiliar sounds; tiny scratchings and patterings started and stopped. ‘It’s
probably a couple of little field mice looking for a warm place for the winter,’ Henri said, and Katya
smiled as she fondly remembered the pictures of the family of mice in the story book she used to
read to the children when they were very young.

Lifting the flour sack next morning, Henri was surprised to see a trail like a white path across the
dark flagstones of the kitchen. Looking closely, he spotted a gnawed hole, the size of a small coin, in

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the bottom of the sack. Katya made her own discoveries: chewed biscuit boxes, or sometimes the
biscuits themselves, looked ragged around the edges and she threw them away in disgust. Even their
store of candles had tiny teeth marks that ran up and down each one, looking for all the world as if a
small creature had been eating a cob of maize but had fallen asleep during its meal.

That night in bed they couldn’t sleep. Their ears strained to hear any movement and, as soon as the
oil lamp was dimmed, the room became alive with chattering, scuttling and squeaking. The couple lay
on their raft of safety as the sea of movement and noise swelled around them. The squeaking
became
shrill and angry. There were interminable gnawing sounds that to the couple seemed as loud as men
sawing through hard wood. Objects, buttons or spools of thread rolled around them, threatening to
drown the couple’s sanity, until Henri could stand it no longer and his hand reached for the matches
on the bedside table. As he did so, a warm body squirmed over his hand, and he felt the scratch of
claws and the trail of a bald tail. He stifled a groan of disgust, but when the oil lamp illuminated the
bedroom, both he and his wife cried out as a swell of writhing, glistening, grey rodents with long,
dirty, gristly tails took less than a minute to retreat under the floor boards, behind the skirting and
into the thatch.The light stayed on until the sanctuary of morning. During that sleepless night, the
couple agreed that this problem needed to be tackled, soon.

They decided that Henri would have to travel to the nearest city in order to buy sufficient poison.
The children must not be told; no one must ever find out that their home harboured vermin. These
were still superstitious times in a village whose oldest inhabitant could remember the plague, carried
by vermin, which had wiped out three quarters of their population. If word got out, the parents
knew that their family would be hounded from their happy home, without belongings, without a place
to go, without mercy.

Eventually Henri returned, his knapsack full of certain death, but his pockets bulging with sweet
things to silence the children and to get them out of the way. Tonight, Henri would save his family.
He wasted no time in setting to work the minute the children were tucked up in bed that night.
Granules of black powder were placed in every strategic position: in cupboards, under skirting, in the
rafters, the cellar and even at the back of the stove. By the third night the results finally showed:
silence. The couple slept for the first time in an exhausting week.Soon everything returned to
normal. Relief washed over the couple when neighbours called by or the children’s friends came to
play. However, all the anxiety of late had caused them not to notice just how quiet and secretive
their children had recently become.If the parents had looked into Gabriel and Luca’s room they
would have understood the reason. In a small box, lined with sheep wool and an old sock, lay a light
grey mother mouse, bright eyes semi-closed, contented and at peace. She nuzzled her six ‘babies’ as
they suckled and slept, their little mouths pink and puckered, so vulnerable and so adored. The
mother’s whiskers twitched with delight as her warm tail wrapped around her brood. Nothing would

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 harm them, not with the children looking after this little family straight out of their favourite story
book of old

QUESTIONS

1. Summarise the article in 50-100 words.

2. Imagine you are a reporter investigating the cause of an infestation of mice that has occurred
throughout the village of Malsam.
 Write your report for a national newspaper, using the headline: ‘Horror Plague Overwhelms
Village. ’
 You should include the following:
-the effects of the infestation on the villagers;
-the attitudes of the villagers to the Duvall family;
-the comments of the Duvall parents and children.

Base the news report on what you have read in the text and be careful to use your own words.
Write between 1½ and 2 sides, allowing for the size of your handwriting.

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TRANSFORM A TEXT INTO A LETTER

TOP TIPS: Structure for Success

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
occured 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.)

Should children be banned from museums?

By Ivan Hewett

After a child was photographed clambering on a $10 million sculpture at Tate Modern, Ivan Hewett
thinks that children should be banned from museums altogether.

The pendulum of cultural mores never comes to rest at the golden mean. It’s always swinging wildly
one way or the other.

Take the question of how children should relate to the institutions of high culture. At one time the
answer was simple: keep them out. The pleasures of a museum and a gallery are beyond them, so
they’re bound to be bored, or inappropriately excited by the joys of running up and down the polished
floors. Either way, the enjoyment of the adults is spoiled. Nobody wins; better to wait until the
teenage years, when they can make their own decisions, knowing that if they do, they have to obey
the rules of grown-up spaces.

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That was perhaps too extreme; but now the accepted wisdom runs too far the other way. Just how
far was shown recently, when a couple allowed their children to crawl all over a vastly expensive
Donald Judd sculpture at Tate Modern. According to the London Evening Standard, a passing visitor
to the exhibition, a gallery owner from New York, actually dared to protest. "I was shocked," she
said. "I said to the parents I didn’t think their kids should be playing on a 10 million dollar artwork.
The woman turned around and told me I didn’t know anything about kids and said she was sorry if I
ever had any."

This is the absurdity we’ve reached, thanks to the child-centred philosophy that now rules the
discourse about how public spaces should be organised. Many people seriously hold the view that
making children conform to the adult quiet of museums is a form of child abuse, which should be
subverted at every turn. They must be allowed to run around freely, run their sticky fingers over the
Shaker furniture or Chinese bronzes, and drink the babycinos thoughtfully provided by the museum
cafe.

The irony is that at the root of this solicitousness lies a very Victorian idea, which is that children
must be initiated into the glories of high culture, and not kept away. The problem is that this good
idea has become confused with a very bad one. This is the notion that high culture must be brought
down to the kids’ level. High culture is like any other product of the grown-up world, whether it’s
maths, or democracy, or science. It’s inherently difficult, and so beyond the reach of children. To
pretend otherwise, by encouraging kids to think of museum exhibits or paintings or plays as so many
shiny toys, available to be handled and dropped as soon as boredom sets in, is just a form of lying. And
lying to our children seems an odd way of encouraging a love of high culture.

The end result will surely be the exact opposite of what these earnest campaigners want. When they
reach adolescence, these children won’t think of museums and galleries and theatres as enticing,
mysterious places of adult pleasures and values. They’ll think of them in much the same way as they
think of Disneyland or Hamleys or the kids channels on TV: something adjusted to their needs when
they were kids, and therefore to be left behind as quickly as possible, as they head towards
adulthood.

But worse than that will be their dim, not-quite-articulated perception that they’ve been patronised.
And that is a disaster, because it’s storing up trouble for the future. My hunch is that when they
reach adulthood, the children who are now allowed to run around museums will regard the whole
apparatus of high culture with contempt, as something with no belief in its own innate worth.

QUESTIONS

1. Summarise the article in 50-100 words.

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2. Transform the article into letter to Ivan Hewett.
 You should include the following:
- How you feel about the incident he describes in his article involving the child climbing on things
in the museum.
- Whether or not you agree with his opinion and why.

Base the letter on what you have read in the passage and be careful to use your own words.

Write between 1½ and 2 sides, allowing for the size of your handwriting.

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 TRANSFORM A TEXT INTO A DIALOGUE

DIALOGUE SUCCESS CRITERIA

If you're asked to write a dialogue then you are recording in writing spoken language. You'll need
to write in a much less formal style than many of the other forms (e.g. the report). A dialogue is
an equal conversation between two people (both should speak for about the same amount of time).

1. Equal conversation between two people. Each character needs a clear personality.
2. Should NOT be one person asking and the other answering; it MUST be both ways. Mixture of
long and shorter paragraphs.
3. This form should use stage directions given in brackets (sometimes, for effect - don't overuse
these)

E.G:

Mum: You can't go out tonight, it's about

Son: (interrupting) That's not fair. You always do this. I hate you.
Mum: (wearily) Don't be rude.

4. Both these forms rely on punctuation for effect. See what a difference to meaning it makes?

E.G:

Mum: You can't go out tonight, it's about...

Son: (interrupting) That's not fair! You always do this... I hate you.
Mum: (wearily) Don't be rude!

5. Lay it out like a script, using a colon as shown above.

6. Use language that is realistic to the character. Try and use language that is appropriate and
create a clear sense of voice - particularly in the dialogue. Think about who is more powerful
and try and show that in the language. Don't try and use words that are too formal all the
time.

A Visit to Rataia

In this story, the writer travels on foot to a small seaside town that is untouched by civilisation.

The moment I arrived in Rataia, I knew I could transform this place into a world-class tourist resort.

It was a ramshackle, run-down town with a handful of shops selling essential commodities. The biggest
of these boasted the imposing title, ‘Emporium’. There was an apology for a hotel, where I was to stay

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in a cramped little room with a window too high for me to enjoy the sea view. The town square, with
its sad, droopy trees, had an atmosphere of yesterday. In one corner, hiding behind a riot of bushes,
stood

a tiny church, sadly in need of restoration.

So what had made me see the potential of Rataia? The day before, when I had reached the top of the
hill behind the town, I was stunned by the natural beauty that lay below. There was the bay with its
magnificent stretch of golden sand and the sea glistening in the sun, reflecting the brightness like a
sheet of glass. On either side, the mountains fused into a purple haze. Silence was omnipresent,
broken only by bursts of magical birdsong around me.

I descended to the tiny, forgotten town. I stood transfixed. Even here the sand was really pure and
the water in the rock pools translucent. I gazed at myriads of fish with their dazzling colours darting,
cruising or just lazing between the crevices.

As I sat alone, in the one shabby café on the front, my imagination took over. The bay was extensive
enough to accommodate thousands of visitors in comparative comfort. Once electricity was brought
from the neighbouring towns, there could be five or six hotels, a casino or two, a truly modern
waterpark. New, superior housing for the well-to-do would spread into the foothills behind the bay.

Such was my entrepreneurial spirit! Finance was of course a major consideration, but just think of the
money that my fashionable visitors would bring to my investment! In my mind’s eye, handsome people
wandered along the spacious promenades, the women vying with each other to display the most
charmingly casual or the finest formal clothes. Men would stroll in their smart designer items, or
sport full evening dress for their visit to the Grand Theatre or the All Stars Concert Hall. Children
would laugh happily as they caught sight of a special park just for them. And perhaps a very special
theme park! The name ‘Everest’ crossed my mind.

The café owner approached, rubbing his hands on his faded apron. He sat down at the next table. ‘Not
much of a place, is it?’ he asked. ‘We’re cut off from civilisation; there are no jobs here – you’re the
first customer I’ve had this morning.’

‘Ah,’ I answered, ‘but the climate … what a perfect temperature! What sunsets!’

‘I suppose so,’ said the café owner, looking over the bay. ‘Though it’s always like this. The only change
is every week or so when we have a thunderstorm or a tornado, and then everyone gets wet or blown
away.’

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‘But,’ I blurted out enthusiastically, ‘I know a way to bring thousands of rich people here. Just think
of that guy who takes you to the islands in his boat. He could buy a bigger boat and make his fortune.’

The owner looked at me hard and long. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘we had someone like you a year back. Wanted to
make the place some sort of paradise. He gave up quickly enough. You’ll never interest the people
here. They prefer it the way it is. They may be poor and have no television or internet, but they like
the simple life. You build a new road over the hills or tempt walkers with a chair-lift up the mountains
and you don’t know what you’ll let loose. Just ask anyone here. Those islands you mentioned are real
nature reserves – birds and animals few of us have ever seen. What would you do with our fish? Put
them in some huge aquarium?’ He got up, wiping his hands on his apron. ‘I’m sure you’re a good man, but
I wouldn’t even think of it if I were you.’

QUESTIONS

1. Imagine a meeting between the writer and the town major to discuss the writer’s ideas for
Rataia.
Write the conversation that would take place.

Include the views of both speakers on how the changes would affect:
-the town
-the lives of the inhabitants
-the natural environment

Base the conversation on what you have read in the passage and be careful to use your own words.

Write between 1 ½ and 2 sides, allowing for handwriting size.

Begin the conversation as follows:

Major: I hear you’ve got some grand plans for our town.

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TRANSFORM A TEXT INTO A DIARY ENTRY/ JOURNAL

DIARY/ JOURNAL SUCCESS CRITERIA

A diary is a personal record of things that have happened to the writer. It can also record the
writer's thoughts or feelings.

-Write in the first person 'I'

-Date at the top
-Clear paragraphs with topic sentences
-Give a clear sense of the writer's personality and explain their feelings and changing emotions
-Focus on key moments or incidents in their world
-Provide a sense of time and sequence (use time connectives: finally, afterwards, earlier, later
that day...)
-Varied Punctuation
-Varied Sentence types

JOURNAL: More focus on the external, objective and factual.

DIARY: More emotional, exploring thoughts and feelings of a character.

AN EXTRACT FROM ‘DIVERGENT’ BY VERONICA ROTH

There is one mirror in my house. It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs. Our faction
allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts
my hair.

I sit on the stool and my mother stands behind me with the scissors, trimming. The strands fall on
the floor in a dull, blond ring. When she finishes, she pulls my hair away from my face and twists it
into a knot. I note how calm she looks and how focused she is. She is well-practiced in the art of
losing herself. I can’t say the same of myself. I sneak a look at my reflection when she isn’t paying
attention—not for the sake of vanity, but out of curiosity. A lot can happen to a person’s
appearance in three months.

In my reflection, I see a narrow face, wide, round eyes, and a long, thin nose—I still look like a
little girl, though sometime in the last few months I turned sixteen. The other factions celebrate
birthdays, but we don’t. It would be self-indulgent.

“There,” she says when she pins the knot in place.

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Her eyes catch mine in the mirror. It is too late to look away, but instead of scolding me, she
smiles at our reflection. I frown a little. Why doesn’t she reprimand me for staring at myself?

“So today is the day,” she says.

“Yes,” I reply.
“Are you nervous?”

I stare into my own eyes for a moment. Today is the day of the aptitude test that will show me
which of the five factions I belong in. And tomorrow, at the Choosing Ceremony, I will decide on a
faction; I will decide the rest of my life; I will decide to stay with my family or abandon them.

“No,” I say. “The tests don’t have to change our choices.”

“Right.” She smiles. “Let’s go eat breakfast.”
“Thank you. For cutting my hair.”

She kisses my cheek and slides the panel over the mirror. I think my mother could be beautiful, in
a different world. Her body is thin beneath the grey robe. She has high cheekbones and long
eyelashes, and when she lets her hair down at night, it hangs in waves over her shoulders. But she
must hide that beauty in Abnegation. We walk together to the kitchen. On these mornings when
my brother makes breakfast, and my father’s hand skims my hair as he reads the newspaper, and
my mother hums as she clears the table—it is on these mornings that I feel guiltiest for wanting
to leave them.

The bus stinks of exhaust. Every time it hits a patch of uneven pavement, it jostles me from side
to side, even though I’m gripping the seat to keep myself still. My older brother, Caleb, stands in
the aisle, holding a railing above his head to keep himself steady. We don’t look alike. He has my
father’s dark hair and hooked nose and my mother’s green eyes and dimpled cheeks. When he was
younger, that collection of features looked strange, but now it suits him. If he wasn’t Abnegation,
I’m sure the girls at school would stare at him. He also inherited my mother’s talent for
selflessness. He gave his seat to a surly Candor man on the bus without a second thought. The
Candor man wears a black suit with a white tie—Candor standard uniform. Their faction values
honesty and sees the truth as black and white, so that is what they wear. The gaps between the
buildings narrow and the roads are smoother as we near the heart of the city. The building that
was once called the Sears Tower—we call it the Hub—emerges from the fog, a black pillar in the
skyline. The bus passes under the elevated tracks. I have never been on a train, though they never
stop running and there are tracks everywhere. Only the Dauntless ride them.

Five years ago, volunteer construction workers from Abnegation repaved some of the roads. They
started in the middle of the city and worked their way outward until they ran out of materials.
The roads where I live are still cracked and patchy, and it’s not safe to drive on them. We don’t
have a car anyway.

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Caleb’s expression is placid as the bus sways and jolts on the road. The grey robe falls from his
arm as he clutches a pole for balance. I can tell by the constant shift of his eyes that he is
watching the people around us—striving to see only them and to forget himself. Candor values
honesty, but our faction, Abnegation, values selflessness.

The bus stops in front of the school and I get up, scoot-ing past the Candor man. I grab Caleb’s
arm as I stumble over the man’s shoes. My slacks are too long, and I’ve never been that graceful.

The Upper Levels building is the oldest of the three schools in the city: Lower Levels, Mid-Levels,
and Upper Levels. Like all the other buildings around it, it is made of glass and steel. In front of it
is a large metal sculpture that the Dauntless climb after school, daring each other to go higher
and higher. Last year I watched one of them fall and break her leg. I was the one who ran to get
the nurse.
“ Aptitude tests today,” I say. Caleb is not quite a year older than I am, so we are in the same
year at school.

He nods as we pass through the front doors. My muscles tighten the second we walk in. The
atmosphere feels hungry, like every sixteen-year-old is trying to devour as much as he can get of
this last day. It is likely that we will not walk these halls again after the Choosing Ceremony—once
we choose, our new factions will be responsible for finishing our education.

Our classes are cut in half today, so we will attend all of them before the aptitude tests, which
take place after lunch. My heart rate is already elevated.
“You aren’t at all worried about what they’ll tell you?” I ask Caleb.
We pause at the split in the hallway where he will go one way, toward Advanced Math, and I will go
the other, toward Faction History. He raises an eyebrow at me. “Are you?”I could tell him I’ve
been worried for weeks about what the aptitude test will tell me—Abnegation, Candor, Erudite,
Amity, or Dauntless?

Instead I smile and say, “Not really.”

He smiles back. “Well . . . have a good day.”

I walk toward Faction History, chewing on my lower lip. He never answered my question.

QUESTIONS

1. Summarise the extract in 50-100 words.

2. Transform the extract into a diary entry.
You must include:
-thoughts and feelings
-information and events from the text

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Base the conversation on what you have read in the passage and be careful to use your own
words.

Write between 1 ½ and 2 sides, allowing for handwriting size.

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 TRANSFORMING A TEXT INTO A SPEECH

SPEECH SUCCESS CRITERIA

Speeches are usually formal spoken presentations for a particular purpose - often to persuade the
audience to support an idea, or to explain/describe an interesting topic or event.

If you're asked to write a speech the most important thing is that a strong sense of ‘voice’ or
viewpoint comes through – make the reason for the speech clear from (or very near) the
beginning.

- Write in the first person ‘I’ (but use ‘we’ to include the audience!)
- Use direct address ‘How would you feel?’
- Clear topic sentences, with separate points/ideas for each paragraph
- You don’t need speech marks
- Use some informal language, shorter sentences and questions to keep your audience
interested
- Varied punctuation for effect... (Are you with me? I said are you with me? Good!)
- Range of sentence lengths

Some England riot sentences 'too severe'

MPs and justice campaigners say some of the sentences given to those involved in the riots in
England are too harsh.

On Tuesday two men were jailed for four years for using Facebook to incite riots and another was
given 18 months for having a stolen TV in his car.

The former chair of the Criminal Bar Association, Paul Mendelle QC, said sentences were too long
and harsh.

But Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said tougher sentences would show there were
consequences to disorder.

More than 2,770 people have been arrested in connection with last week's riots in a number of
English cities.

By Tuesday afternoon, 1,277 suspects had appeared in court and 64% had been remanded in
custody. In 2010 the remand rate at magistrates for serious offences was 10%.

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On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police announced that it has charged 1,005 people after 1,733
arrests over the rioting that swept through the capital. The force has a target of 3,000
convictions.

The force's Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin said the investigation was "far from over".

The courts and tribunals service says legal advisers in court have been advising magistrates to
"consider whether their powers of punishment are sufficient in dealing with some cases arising
from the recent disorder". Magistrates are able to refer cases to crown courts which have
tougher sentencing powers.

A spokeswoman from the service said magistrates were independent and did not have to take
direction from their legal advisors who are themselves independent of government.

The former chair of the Criminal Bar Association, Paul Mendelle QC, told BBC 5 live: "When people
get caught up and act out of character, in a similar way, there is a danger that the courts
themselves may get caught up in a different kind of collective hysteria - I'm not suggesting
violence or anything like that - but in purporting to reflect the public mood actually go over the
top and hand out sentences which are too long and too harsh."

But Mr Pickles told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We need to understand that people for a
while thought that this was a crime without consequence - we cannot have people being frightened
in their beds, frightened in their own homes for their public safety.

"That is why these kind of exemplary sentences are necessary. I think people would be rightly
alarmed if that incitement to riot got off with just a slap on the wrist."

Lord McNally, Liberal Democrat Justice Minister, said the courts must operate independently and
warned "it's dangerous when politicians try to do the sentencing".

He said politicians make the laws, police do the arresting and judges do the judging and
sentencing.

Cheshire men Jordan Blackshaw, 21, of Marston, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, of Warrington,
were jailed for four years each after admitting using Facebook to incite disorder, although none
actually resulted.

Defence solicitor Chris Johnson said Mr Blackshaw and his family "are somewhat shocked by the
sentence and he will be appealing".

The Recorder of Chester, Judge Elgan Edwards, said he hoped the sentences would act as a
deterrent to others.

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Assistant Chief Constable of Cheshire Police Phil Thompson said it was "easy to understand" the
sentence when you consider the impact technology had on the riots.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the offences committed carried maximum sentences of 10
years, but the four-year sentences were the lengthiest related to rioting so far.

Meanwhile a 17-year-old from Suffolk has been banned from using social networking sites for 12
months and ordered to observe a three month overnight curfew for using Facebook to encourage
people to riot during last week's disorder.

Labour MP Paul Flynn wrote on his blog that the government was "throwing away sentencing rules".

"How can this make sense? How does it compare with other crimes? What will it do to prison
numbers? This is not government. It's a series of wild panic measures seeking to claw back
popularity."

Andrew Neilson, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "A four-year sentence would
normally be associated with offences such as holding someone up at knife point, grievous bodily
harm, sexual assault, and I'm not sure that the offence in question was really related to those
types of offences."

He added that over-sentencing would see more appeals and that the courts and prisons would
struggle to cope.

Leading criminal barrister John Cooper QC said he believed the sentences were "over the top" and
were likely to be overturned by the Court of Appeal.

"What we need to remember here is that there's a protocol for sentencing, and there are rules
and procedures in sentencing which make them effective and make them fair.

"What we can't do, in my view, in situations like this, is suddenly throw the rule book away simply
because there's a groundswell of opinion."

BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman said what people were going to find troubling was the
discrepancy in sentencing.

A 15-year-old is arrested and led away in handcuffs by police officers in Brixton Croydon MP
Gavin Barwell said his constituents wanted to see the courts get tough on rioters
He said an 18-year-old was imprisoned for one day for stealing two Burberry t-shirts while in
another court, a 23-year-old man was sentenced to six months in prison for stealing £3.50 worth
of water.

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"There is always a discrepancy in sentencing around the country, although we try to make it as
consistent as possible. I think this intense, feverish atmosphere that we've seen has magnified
that somewhat," he said.

In another case, three men were jailed for up to two years in relation to the disorder in
Manchester and Salford on 9 August. David Beswick, 31, Stephen Carter, 26, both from Salford,
and Michael Gillespie-Doyle, 18, from Tameside, all pleaded guilty at earlier hearings.

Sitting at Manchester Crown Court, sentencing Judge Andrew Gilbart QC said: "I have no doubt
at all that the principal purpose is that the courts should show that outbursts of criminal
behaviour like this will be and must be met with sentences longer than they would be if the
offences had been committed in isolation."

Beswick was sentenced to 18 months in prison for handling stolen goods.

Our legal correspondent said under normal circumstances Beswick would have been given a mid-
range community sentence.

His friend Tony Whitaker said the punishment was disproportionate, given that he had pleaded
guilty straight away.

QUESTIONS

1. Summarise the article in 50-100 words.

2. Transform the article into a speech to persuade the Department of Justice that their
sentence lengths were correct and justified. BE PERSUASIVE.
GRADE DESCRIPTORS

Grade D-C: You have organised your writing in the appropriate way for
the task. You make simple points and explain some of them in detail. Your
writing is simple and there may be errors in punctuation and spelling.

Grade C-B: You explain more ideas in detail. Your tone is appropriate for
the task; you have inferred detail from the text you have read. Sentences
are correct although relatively simple, vocabulary is simple but spelling is
correct. You begin to use more ambitious vocabulary.

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Grade B-A*: All of the above PLUS you use and develop several ideas.
Your tone is mature. Sentences are well structured and you use the full
range of punctuation. Structure is good and there is a logical flow to the
piece.

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