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PAPER 3

DIRECTED WRITING

QUESTION 1

ARGUMENTATIVE AND DISCURSIRVE MAGAZINE

ARTICLES AND LETTERS
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PAPER 3 QUESTION 1 (DIRECTED WRITING)

TIPS
 Candidates answer one question on a passage or passages totalling 650–750 words,
printed on the question paper insert. This question may be sub-divided.
 Candidates use, develop and evaluate the information in a
discursive/argumentative letter or article.
 Candidates write about 250–350 words.
 This question tests the following writing assessment objectives (15 marks):
o articulate experience and express what is thought, felt and imagined
o sequence facts, ideas and opinions
o use a range of appropriate vocabulary
o use register appropriate to audience and context
o make accurate use of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
 This question also tests the following reading assessment objectives (10 marks):
o demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings
o demonstrate understanding of implicit meanings and attitudes
o analyse, evaluate and develop facts, ideas and opinions.
 For this question, you will need to put yourself into role, and address your audience
directly. The opening needs to introduce clearly the situation and purpose of the task,
and will be rewarded if it puts the reader in the picture.
 You need to be clear and often persuasive in tasks like these, so imagining that you
are addressing someone in front of you might help you to keep that in mind. Do not be
overly casual though - this is a formal piece of writing. Even if it is for your peers in a
school magazine, written language for publication is less colloquial than spoken
language.
 You should try to use as many ideas from the passages as possible as they will all be
relevant, but you will have to change the way you express them; all the material you
use from the passages must be modified to suit the new genre.
 Do not write as yourself unless you are specifically told to do so and keep in mind why
you are writing.
 There will almost certainly be two texts, perhaps in different genres e.g. a letter and a
dialogue. The question will require you to assimilate information from both texts so
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you must not ignore one of them, but don’t just lift from the text(s) word for word. You
need to find the ideas and use them.
 The recommended structure for the response will be offered in the wording of the
question, and you should follow this.
 There will be at least two factors to focus on – for example advantages and
disadvantages. You will need to make two lists before you start in order to make sure
you have enough material for both sides of the question.
 The third element of this question is evaluation; you will have to decide which of the
options is better, present reasons why you have formed this opinion and justify it.
 Keep your focus on what the question is asking you to do. Do not get distracted by
peripheral issues; for instance if you are asked how money should be spent, don’t
discuss the fund-raising methods.
 Though you cannot make up things which are not in the passages, you should try to
use your own ideas in the way that you extend those of the passages, provided that
they are ‘based on the reading material’.
 The ending needs to be definite and provide an effective and satisfying conclusion to
the piece.
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MAGAZINE ARTICLE

MODEL- Argumentative Magazine article

The Battle of the Century: Humans vs. Cell phones.

It is a Sunday morning. My kids sit at the table for breakfast. They look enthusiastic and hungry so
it seems like a perfect opportunity to chat and share some time. Yet, silence followed by a buzzing
sound of cell phones invades the kitchen. As wild animals jumping on a prey, my sons clutch their
phones and, immediately after, I know I have lost their attention: their eyes are glued to the bright
screens of those devices. I feel technology has taken control over my family. Are mobile
phones our enemies? It really seems like it to me.

Only 20 years ago, if I wanted to organize a Saturday night out with a friend, I had to either plan
it at school or contact him at his home phone if I was lucky to find him in. Cell phones did not
exist and teenagers had no other chance but to talk face-to-face. Now, in 2016, 9 out of 10 teens
get a cell phone as a birthday present and if not, they inherit a less modern one used by one of their
parents or older siblings.

Of course I do not deny the fact that this mobile technology is making life a lot easier in many
different ways. We use our cell phones to remember about daily tasks such as the appointment
with the doctor or about the list of groceries we should get from the market.
Yet, aren’t cell phones ruining the way people relate? Are we really connecting and bonding
with each other when using cell phones. One of the reasons why I think cell phones are doing too
much harm to society is the fact that we are each time communicating less and less face-to- face.
Due to the communication through a screen, there may be misunderstandings between two friends.
For instance, sometimes we misinterpret emoticons and we even read messages with the wrong
tone and intonation. Hasn’t it happened to you that you feel your friend’s message sounds rude to
you?
Besides, I have also noticed how family time is decreasing. We are physically together in the same
room with our kids but we are also sharing their attention with hundreds of other friends they are
chatting with either on WhatsApp or Facebook.
This constant use of cell phones also distracts teens from their school assignments, having
consequently poor academic results. It is true students use their phones to do research or even look
up words in the built-in dictionary. Still, a survey carried out by Cambridge University has
revealed that 80% of teens at school confessed that they find it very hard to concentrate in class as
their phones are constantly receiving notifications. Frank Martin, Psychologist from this same
University explained: “Not only do they lose attention in class, teens are not creating real
friendships as they have more virtual friends that real ones”

I feel the future looks gloomy if this excessive use of cellphones isn’t controlled and even
reduced. The way we relate with the world that surrounds us will get worse each year, and
teenagers will experience more difficulties to study and develop their academic and social skills.
Is this the future we want the younger generations to have? I am sure you agree with me when I
say we should stop this obsessive use of cellphones among our children. With parents and teachers
together, recovering the value of a pleasant face-to- face conversation is possible. Remember the
saying: “All for you and one for all”. Let’s win the battle of the century.
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LAY-OUT

EYE CATCHING HEADLINE

Paragraph 1: Introduction
Introduce the topic. Say why it is important or interesting.

Since earliest times, people have always enjoyed dancing.

Dancing has formed an important part of social and religious events.

Paragraph 2: Background or history

Provide some background about when it started and major developments up to now. What has
led to the events today?

The folk dances of the middle ages developed into classical ballet in the eighteenth century.

Paragraph 3: Now
Say what is happening at the moment? The article is likely to return to the present-day situation at
this point, discussing and giving different viewpoints of the person or event, with details and
examples and quotations. Though the writer’s own viewpoint may be inferred, alternative views
must be given equal weight and other voices heard.

Paragraph 4: The future

Say how things will develop in the future.

In my opinion, there will be a return to more traditional ballet.

The suggestion that one day robots will dance is ridiculous.
They could never ...

Paragraph 5: Conclusion
Summarise the main points and say again why you think your subject will continue to be
important.

To sum up, ballet has its roots in ...

As long as people feel the need to dance, there will be a place for ballet.

Useful Vocabulary

For background stage

Since earliest times, ... / Ballet has its roots back in ... / The age of ballet began in ... / The history of
ballet goes back to ... / The first performance of modern ballet took place in ... / Over ... years ago,

For discussion stage

Recent/y, there has been renewed interest in ... / Recent developments in the field include ... / Other
exciting developments have been ... / One of the most ground-breaking ... / State of the art technology
has been used ... / Cutting edge techniques have been introduced ...

For prediction stage

The outlook is bright. / The outlook is gloomy. / The future looks rosy. / The future looks grim. / Who
knows what will happen in the future, but ... / Many experts predict that ... / Some forecasts predict ... /
The field of ... has enormous potential / The sky's the limit
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TIPS to keep in mind before writing an article!

 Unlike a news report, which is informative, a magazine article comments

on a topical situation and is discursive or argumentative.
 Paragraphs are longer in an article than in a report and the facts are
expressed in a less condensed way. E.g. in a news report you might say
36-year-old ex-schoolteacher and mother of two, Margaret Smith,
says… whereas in an article, it might be Margaret Smith, who is in her
mid-thirties, has two children, and used to be a teacher in a junior
school, believes that..
 Before hand, decide on what the purpose of the writing is (e.g. to
describe, to inform, to advise, etc.) and who the intended readers are
(e.g. general public, fellow students, colleagues) these factors will
determine the style and language.
 You must sound conversation. Therefore, you should: address reader
every now and then, include rhetorical questions, use informal language
(contractions, informal linkers, NO passive voice if possible)
 Support and develop your arguments with quotations (comments by
experts) and statistics.
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SAMPLE MAGAZINE ARTICLE 2

Here you have got another model article. Read it and pay close attention to its
structure and to the circled areas. What is the writer trying to do in those parts? How
are these parts important to the structure?

SAMPLE: PERSUASIVE MAGAZINE ARTICLE

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Some articles are more persuasive than others. Have a look at this example below and
compare it with the one you read before. Mark on the text those differences that you notice.
EXAM TIP!
Persuasive writing is intended to convince someone to do something which is for their benefit or
that of the writer. To be effective it must be focused clearly on the purpose, on the audience being
targeted, and on the choice of vocabulary to evoke the required emotional response (e.g. guilt,
sympathy, fear). Be firm but polite to be persuasive, extreme language can defeat your objective.

Discursive vs. Argumentative

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Discursive writings (letters or magazine articles) discuss. They present an argument in

a more balanced way than argumentative and persuasive writing and do not argue
for or against a point throughout the writing. Instead, they evaluate all arguments and
all aspects of the topic in turn. Therefore, these writings do not aim to persuade the
reader that the writer’s opinion is the only valid one, but to make him consider a current
issue from various angles.

SAMPLE INSTRUCTIONS TO EXPLORE AND ANALYZE. HOW WOULD YOU

STRUCTURE THESE ARTICLES ACCORDING TO THE INSTRUCTIONS?

Instruction 1

Instruction 2
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TASK 1: MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Read carefully the report from a newspaper about changes to the structure of a school in the
Reading Booklet Insert, and then answer Section 1, Question 1 on this Question Paper.

Section 1: Directed Writing (discursive or argumentative approach)

Question 1

Write an article intended for young people entitled ‘Keeping up: what’s it worth?’.
In your article you should:

• select the relevant arguments in the article to support your views (either in favour or against or in
views in favour AND against)
• develop and evaluate those arguments to make a convincing case, based on what you have read.

Base your article on what you have read in the passage, but be careful to use your own words.
Address each of the bullet points.

Write about 250 to 350 words.

Up to 10 marks are available for the content of your answer, and up to 15 marks for the quality of
your writing.

Read the passage carefully, and then answer Question 1 on the Question Paper. T

This magazine article is about the issues involved in keeping up with technological changes in the
modern world.
The Cost of Keeping Up

One of the most obvious features of modern life is the hectic pace of change in technology. Young
people seem to relish this heady race towards ever better/faster/sleeker gadgets, machines and
household appliances. Some older people, however, look back nostalgically to days gone by when
a TV would last decades, a washing machine would service a whole family until the children had
children of their own, and even phones would last a lot longer than a year or two. These older
people are, after all, the ones who pay the bills.
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It’s true that ingenious designers and manufacturers give us plenty of incentives to upgrade. We
can purchase TVs that have internet connectivity, high definition, 3-D functions, applications and
all manner of improvements which are made to sound essential for modern living. New models of
last year’s cars appear with fancier dashboard electronics and a slightly more refined, ‘cooler’
look. The other day I heard an eleven-year-old lamenting how ‘old’ and ‘slow’ his phone was
compared to those of his friends, as if his parents were guilty of the most grotesque neglect of their
offspring by not updating such a vital piece of equipment.
It is true that young people are always attracted to ever-changing fashions in clothes, music and
technology. It’s part of being young. Even their parents often want what their neighbours have in
their homes and spend their hard-earned cash on new appliances when the old ones are still
reasonably serviceable. But it’s not just that. Those same ingenious manufacturers who create the
wondrously designed ‘must have’ products of today, already have their eye on your next purchase.
They can, and often do, design or program products with a limited life span to make sure they’ll
need replacing sooner rather than later. A printer, for example, can be designed to send an error
message once it’s copied a certain number of papers, even if it’s still working perfectly, and the
battery life of a phone can be deliberately made short. Expensive software is often programmed to
disable its online connectivity after a while, and then its users are directed to the latest version.
They have to pay for it, and relearn how to use it, whether they want to or not. Many laptop users
have experienced a sudden deterioration in the speed and reliability of their machines – just as the
new model appears on the market.
The practice isn’t new. It’s even got a name – planned obsolescence – and has been used by
manufacturers for decades to create a steady stream of demand for all kinds of everyday things
from the light bulb to the latest smart phone or sports car. Technology industries make us buy
things more often than we need to, both by making them stop working sooner than they would
anyway, and by enticing us with ever more glitzy and fashionable updates so that we can gloat
over our friends. That’s why there’s such a thriving recycling industry for these goods in some
communities.
It might seem a cynical and manipulative practice, but the economies of some very big countries
depend on it. Hundreds of thousands of jobs world-wide rely on people throwing away and
replacing computers, TVs, phones, cars, satnavs and all the rest on a very regular basis. It is,
however, an expensive practice in other ways. Environmentalists are quick to point out that it takes
a thousand times more energy to make a thousand more gadgets than are really necessary –
multiplied many more times globally – and in a world where resources are running out fast this
level of waste is immoral. These unwanted products are also dumped in poorer countries where
desperate people risk their health by burning plastics in order to retrieve the working parts or the
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rare minerals used in the manufacture of things the richer world has discarded after a year or so.
Many older people in the world know, or at least remember, how to ‘make do and mend’ – to live
with things which aren’t the latest and best and to repair them rather than replace them. The poor
of the world have never had a choice, of course. But isn’t it about time that young people realised
how much their wasteful pursuit of all things new is really costing them, their families and the
planet?

TASK 2: MAGAZINE ARTICLE (DIRECTED WRITING)

Directed Writing

Read carefully the conversation in the Reading Booklet Insert. Then answer Section 1, Question 1
on this Question Paper.

Do we need art?

Art teacher: You’re very good at art. I think you should choose art as an exam course next year.
Student: But what is art good for? People are always saying that the government shouldn’t waste
money on supporting the Arts. My parents definitely wouldn’t consider it to be a secure career
choice. They want me to study science and maths at university and do something practical later,
something good for the economy.
Art teacher: No one ever asked what the work of great artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo da
Vinci was good for! Educated people believe that art makes us think, as well as giving us pleasure.
You could also argue that it helps us to understand the world around us.
Student: What is art anyway? Where do we draw the line between art and non-art, and between
good and bad art? Can a video, a wall of graffiti, or an advertisement count as art? What about a
bucket of paint thrown at a canvas then? There are paintings made by very young children, and
even animals, that fetch amazing prices. Are sharks in tanks and piles of bricks art? If the artist
produces something to make a political statement, to further a religious cause or to make money,
can it be considered art?
Art teacher: Opinions change over time. At different times in the past, people have despised
pictures that tell a story, family portraits, and bowls of fruit and veg, for example. No permanent
judgements can ever be made; what you like reflects where and when you live.
Student: Yes, and that means that artists have often suffered. I wouldn’t want to be like Van Gogh,
penniless and persecuted in my lifetime, and revered after my death – when it’s too late. In any
case, who should decide what is or isn’t ‘good’ art: other artists, critics, or the general public?
Art teacher: New ideas are always seen as shocking and incomprehensible at first – like Picasso’s
deformed faces – and later they are accepted, first by critics and then by visitors to art galleries.
After that, they’re deemed valuable because they’re unique.
Student: But they should be valuable because they are beautiful, not just because of their novelty –
and of course you can’t define beauty, can you? Yet only rare works of art are considered worth
collecting, forging or stealing. In a starving world, I don’t believe it is morally acceptable for what
in the end are only decorations to change hands for millions of dollars. What’s more, since private
collectors often don’t let anyone else look at their collections, there is even less reason for art to
exist.
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Art teacher: Actually, making art is even more worthwhile than going to see it. Schools include art
in the curriculum for this reason, not because they believe they are turning schoolchildren into
future Rembrandts. We make art because there is something inside us that needs to get out. The
writer, musician and artist all have a desire to express what they feel and to create something
permanent. Doing it for yourself teaches you to look at things in a different, more imaginative
way.
Student: Well, you’ve given me a lot to think about. I’ll certainly bear this conversation in mind
when I choose my subjects for next year. I must admit I do really enjoy art classes.

Following your conversation with your art teacher, you decide to write an article for your
school magazine, entitled ‘Do we need art?’.
Write your magazine article.

In your magazine article you should:

• identify and evaluate the arguments presented by both you and your teacher
• explain which arguments you now agree with, and why.

Base your magazine article on what you have read in the conversation, but be careful to
use your own words. Address each of the two bullet points.

Begin your magazine article: ‘In a recent conversation about the role of art in society and
in school …’.

Write between 250- 350 words

Up to 10 marks are available for the content of your answer, and up to 15 marks for the
quality of your writing.
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TASK 3: MAGAZINE ARTICLE IN PAPER 2

NEITHER ARUMENTATIVE NOR DISCURSIVE:

INFORMATIVE

Part 1

Read Passage A carefully, and then answer Questions 1 and 2 on the Question Paper.

Passage A: Badluck Way, Sun Ranch

The narrator recounts his year working on the remote Sun Ranch in southwest Montana,
living the life of a modern day cowboy and learning more about himself and the land.

When the sun dropped behind the highest ridge of Gravelly Range, I sat on my front porch
watching daylight quit the valley. In April, at three thousand metres, night came quickly. Once the
sun winked out of sight, the day’s hard, pale light and meagre heat poured across the western
horizon in a torrent. Warm colours went first and fastest, balling up in an eddy of red, orange and
ochre before slipping from view. I imagined those hues flowing across The Gravellies to glint on
the small-town storefronts of Twin Bridges and reflect in the slow oxbow lakes of Beaverhead
River. I pictured them gaining speed as they fled westward, skipping like stones across mountains,
valleys, mountains and on to the sea.
I was alone in the cold crystalline night, thirty kilometres from a town of any consequence, staring
out across the seldom-travelled gravel path that we on Sun Ranch called Badluck Way. The failing
light made it easy to remember the land as it had looked in the summer. In my mind’s eye the land
glowed golden under a late July sun. Tall, drying bunch grass bent against the wind and fed the
ranch’s vast herds of cattle. Above it all wolves, grizzlies and other wild creatures made endless,
inscrutable loops across the ridges and valleys.
The bustle and toil of life in August – long days on horseback and barbed wire fence work – had
raised a thick network of scabs and scars on my hands. Some of the scars remained but they were
the least of the high season’s wounds. Staring into the darkness beyond Badluck Way, I returned to
the moments that had demanded violence of me. Alone in the dark, I threw old punches again and
set my finger against the rifle’s trigger once more.
After one year on Sun Ranch, a year of work, sweat and hard choices, I was thinking about
leaving. Dwindling snowdrifts dotted the landscape, some sculpted by the wind, others the
consequence of my winter ploughing.
My house on Badluck Way was a log cabin designed by an architect who’d never intended to live
in it. He’d drawn cramped rooms, sparse light fixtures and a drafty brick fireplace that kept the
place cold no matter how much wood was burning. Living there, I’d come to hate the crevices
between the wall logs. They gobbled incandescent light like candy and soaked up most of the glow
from the cabin’s two small windows. Neatly joined, a good log wall can be a masterpiece. My
walls were sieves. On clear days, the rooms were flecked with glowing slivers of sunlight. During
storms, the wind hissed in.
In Spring, when the world began to thaw and the weather allowed, I ate dinner on the front porch –
a concrete slab kept sunless by an over-hanging roof. Deer, elk or hamburger from town went on
to the grill of my little barbecue. When the meat was ready, I ate leaning forward to catch the heat
rising from the coals. Most of the time I stayed comfortable on the porch because the house
blocked everything except a straight north wind.
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One way to explain how I got to Sun Ranch is that ever since I can remember I’ve been obsessed
with the West. I grew up in Seattle, the son of a professional photographer and art director. Our
first family visit to a ranch, when I was seven years old, lasted only a couple of days. We pulled
spotted knapweed and helped move a few cows on horseback. My mother photographed every
disintegrated outbuilding she could find. My father must have had a touch of my own mania, since
on returning to his work running the university’s art museum, he organised a show called ‘The
Myth of the West’.
At eighteen, I sat down in front of my parents’ computer to look for a job. I couldn’t put the idea
of ranching from my mind. Beneath a hypnotic magazine article about Sun Ranch, its surroundings
and its commitment to conservation, I found a job advertisement for a position beginning early that
summer. The job title was ‘Assistant Grazing Technician/Livestock Manager’. Of the qualities
listed for successful applicants most were unremarkable, but the last three were different. I read
them slowly and more than once: common sense, adaptability and gumption.

Read carefully Passage A, Badluck Way, Sun Ranch, in the Reading Booklet Insert and then
answer Questions 1 and 2 on this Question Paper.

Question 1

In the final paragraph of Passage A, the narrator explains that he read a magazine article about
Sun Ranch, which persuaded him to apply for the job as Assistant Grazing Technician/Livestock
Manager.

Write the magazine article that the narrator might have read.

In your magazine article you should:

• describe the attractions of Sun Ranch and its surroundings

• explain the activities and appeal of daily life as a worker at Sun Ranch
• suggest the challenges of working in that environment and the opportunities for personal
development a job there might offer.

Base your magazine article on what you have read in Passage A, but be careful to use your own
words. Address each of the three bullet points.
Give your magazine article a suitable headline and begin with, ‘The Sun Ranch is located …’

Write about 250 to 350 words.

Up to 15 marks are available for the content of your answer, and up to 5 marks for the quality of
your writing.
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TASK 1: ARGUMENTATIVE LETTER

SECTION 1: DIRECTED WRITING

Read the passage carefully, and then answer Section 1, Question 1.

The passage below is a speech on the topic of homework, made by a Headteacher to parents
of students beginning their IGCSE courses.

Good evening, everyone. As parents of students about to begin their IGCSE studies, I’m sure you
are anxious that your child should do well. The time will pass very quickly and I cannot emphasise
enough that we all – teachers, parents and students – have a part to play in ensuring that our young
people achieve their dreams. With this partnership in mind, I’m proposing some radical changes in
the balance between school work and homework during the next two years of your child’s
education.
Homework is a very contentious subject in this school as in many others. Pupils progress at
different rates and have varying abilities and aptitudes in the range of subjects they study. Add to
that the very wide differences in their home circumstances and you have the potential for
curriculum chaos: some pupils go home to a peaceful, quiet and supportive environment, some to
responsibilities for siblings or after-school jobs to help support their families. How can teachers
assess the work done – or not done, very often! – at home when there is such disparity between
students’ circumstances? How can they plan the progress of the whole class when not all students
have completed the homework set? Some pupils become demoralised and disaffected because they
can’t keep up with the demands homework makes on their time, or they need their teachers’
support to complete the work. Others become automatons who spend their evenings and weekends
completing homework but have no time for outside interests or family. It’s time for us all to be
more realistic in our expectations and treat homework differently.
My proposal puts the student at the centre of his or her own homework planning. They will
choose, on a daily basis, whether to commit to completing homework, in which subjects and how
much time it should take. They will also set their own deadlines. Research shows that students
who take responsibility for their own learning have more investment in it and learn important skills
such as goal-setting and time-management. These are skills every student needs, whatever their
ability. Initially, teachers will guide pupils to make sensible choices, but it will be unacceptable for
students simply to opt out of homework altogether. Once they’ve chosen a homework task,
students will be held accountable and there will be strict penalties for those who fail to complete
the tasks they themselves have chosen by the deadlines they themselves have set. That’s real life,
after all, isn’t it? The balance of subjects in which homework is undertaken will be the student’s
responsibility too, although teachers and parents will need to keep a close eye on children’s
choices to ensure that there’s adequate coverage of those subjects they find more difficult.
There are clear academic benefits to this approach. However, as you would expect, we’ll be
monitoring how well the students perform in their IGCSE studies. Teachers will also have to
undergo retraining to challenge their attitudes to homework, what it’s for and how to use it. An
essential element of the proposal is that different levels of homework will be set by each teacher.
Some tasks will be simple and less time-consuming and some more complex. Pupils can choose,
for example, simply to complete a piece of classwork at home or a much more complex task to
develop the skills taught in the classroom – a piece of extended descriptive writing, perhaps, after
working on an opening paragraph in class. Although this approach will increase the teacher’s
workload at the beginning, I’m confident that there will be real benefits from a planned approach
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to homeworksetting. Teachers will also need to prepare homework tasks which will appeal to
students.
Parents will need to play their part by ensuring that pupils have peace and quiet at home and
sufficient time, free from family responsibilities, to complete their homework. There are
advantages for families, however. In one school with an enviable academic record where these
changes were adopted, parents told me that high-achieving students had more leisure time and
could pursue other interests outside school and spend time with their families. There is also
evidence that poorly motivated students who might otherwise have completed very little
homework, and only then after taxing their parents’ patience, begin to undertake more as the
course progresses. Your children will be the first pioneers of a new approach which could
transform your family life as well as their own futures.
I would welcome your observations on this proposal. Please write to me with your views on what
I’ve outlined this evening, and thank you for your attention.

Read carefully the speech given by the Headteacher in the Reading Booklet Insert and then
answer Section 1, Question 1 on this Question Paper.

Section 1: Directed Writing

Question 1

Imagine you are the parent of an IGCSE student in the Headteacher’s school. You do not agree
with what he has said.

Write a letter to the Headteacher in response to his proposals about the new homework policy.
In your letter you should:

• identify the Headteacher’s views about homework

• evaluate how you think his proposals might affect you, your child, and other students and
parents.

Base your letter on the speech you have read, but be careful to use your own words. Address each
of the two bullet points.

Begin your letter, ‘Dear Headteacher…’

Write about 250 to 350 words.

Up to 10 marks are available for the content of your answer, and up to 15 marks for the
quality of your writing.
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TASK 2: DISCURSIVE LETTER

Read the passage carefully, and then answer Section 1, Question 1.

The magazine article below is about virtual schooling and is by Petur Sorensen.

A twenty-first century education?

Like any young person opening that fateful envelope on results day, Katherine Weitz looks
anxious. The offer of a university place hangs in the balance, after all, as years of hard work and
commitment come down to this. Her parents are concerned too. They’re wondering whether they
made the right decision some years ago when Katherine left her local school and enrolled in
Futures Academy, a virtual school providing an education based entirely on learning online.

Katherine’s mother, Aditi, says there’s no such person as a ‘typical’ virtual school student but that
an increasing number of children find that ordinary schools just don’t work for them. When
chronic illness struck her daughter at the age of 15, Aditi knew that Katherine’s school wouldn’t
be able to cope with a poor attender who was also bright and ambitious. ‘Then I remembered that
my own mother studied accountancy by correspondence course many years ago while bringing up
small children. Surely with all the resources of twenty-first century technology, new life could be
breathed into an old idea?’
Aditi discovered that all over the world, virtual schools are indeed reinventing ways to bring
education to students in different, innovative and exciting ways. Rather than narrowing
Katherine’s experience, as people often imagine happens when students don’t attend a traditional
school, Aditi is convinced that her daughter’s social interaction is broader, even though it’s not
face-to-face: ‘Katherine’s online classmates talk regularly in the school’s chatrooms and she’s
formed strong friendships with disabled students, young people with caring responsibilities at
home, teenage mothers or students who live in far-flung places many kilometres from a ‘real’
school. She’s met a wider range of people and most young people socialise more online than face-
to-face in any case these days, don’t they?’ Aditi says.

There is clearly a demand for this kind of education. The number of students learning exclusively
online has increased rapidly since 2000 and virtual schools are beginning to appear in many
different countries. Although often parents have to pay quite high fees to educate their children
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this way, in some places public funds are used because virtual schools are seen as a viable
alternative to spending on school buildings. Whether such schools will ever educate the poor,
those who would benefit most from a decent education, remains to be seen.

Even before the illness, Katherine’s father, Carl, had been unimpressed by his daughter’s more
conventional education. Her progress, he felt, was only as fast as the slowest student in a class of
over 30, and Katherine was losing interest in the subjects she used to love. ‘It’s not cool to be
clever in many ordinary schools,’ he said, ‘and such attitudes, especially when expressed violently
by school bullies in the playground, can be a powerful influence in young people’s lives.’

For the last two years, Katherine has made rapid progress. It hasn’t always been easy though. She
says there were times when her motivation flagged and she missed the ‘buzz’ of the classroom,
even though she had well-qualified tutors with time to devote to each individual student. Although
she never considered giving up, many virtual school students do. The quality of the teaching on
offer can vary considerably and sometimes tutors are responsible for too many students and don’t
mind when some of them don’t bother to do much work. On the other hand, Katherine says she’ll
never forget the encouragement and support of her online tutors and considers them ‘special
teachers’ who focus on exactly what each student needs in order to do well.

When she opens her envelope, Katherine’s broad smile is soon mirrored by those on the faces of
her relieved mum and dad. University beckons – but Katherine has yet to decide whether that’ll be
a ‘real’ or a virtual one!

Question 1
Imagine that you have read Petur Sorensen’s magazine article and wish to write a letter to him in
response to the ideas raised.
In your letter you should:
• explain and evaluate the views expressed in the article
• give your own views about virtual schooling, based on this article.
Base your letter on what you have read in the article, but be careful to use your own words.
Address both bullet points.
Begin your letter, ‘Dear Petur Sorensen, I found your recent article about virtual schooling
very interesting…’
Write about 250 to 350 words.
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Up to 10 marks are available for the content of your answer, and up to 15 marks for the quality of
your writing.