Introduction

The Checkpoint suite

This is the second stage in a suite of Coursebooks and Workbooks, supported by a
Teacher Resource CD, to deliver the revised Cambridge Secondary 1 English curriculum
for each of the three stages of lower secondary education, stages 7–9. It culminates in
the Checkpoint test, an external diagnostic assessment test at the end of stage 9, first
examined in May 2012. This suite leads into the Cambridge IGCSE® First Language

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English suite written by the same author. The approaches are similar to those of
Cambridge IGCSE in order to create a consistent course across the five years of the
secondary school English curriculum, and to continue on from the Cambridge Primary

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English curriculum framework.
Each stage of the three-year Secondary 1 programme has an appropriate theme and skills
focus, derived from the Cambridge Secondary 1 English curriculum framework, moving
outwards from the student’s home environment to a wider context and then on to a
global perspective:

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• Stage 7: Narration and reflection – My world (home and school; family and friends)
• Stage 8: Description and information – The wider world (people and places)
• Stage 9: Argument and discussion – A world view (aspects and attitudes)
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The skills
The skills for Secondary 1 are different in degree but not in kind from those assessed at
the end of Key Stage 4. The language level and length of response gradually increase,
but the basic skills of comprehension and expression need to be developed from the
beginning of the secondary programme. Both Checkpoint and IGCSE are text-based
assessments which test students’ familiarity with and understanding of the conventions
of a range of fiction and non-fiction genres, as well as the mechanical writing skills of
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vocabulary use, spelling, punctuation and grammar. The attendant skills, all developed
in this suite, are exploring, inferring, selecting, supporting, structuring, analysing and
evaluating. The course takes a holistic approach, mixing language learning and practice
with response to texts, so that students appreciate that reading and writing skills, language
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and literature study, are interdependent.

The structure
The content follows the published curriculum framework for each of the three years,
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covering the requirements for fiction, non-fiction and use of language. The course
is progressive over the three years. Within each Coursebook and within each unit
containing different types of text, the skills are progressive. In addition, each activity has
a progressive structure of three or more bullets which provide scaffolding for the task.
Additional Key point and Tip boxes offer explicit teaching to support the overall skills
delivery and the specific continuous writing tasks and learning outcomes for the unit,
which are the objectives and genres specified by the Cambridge Secondary 1 English
curriculum framework. The Teacher Guide (page 16) says that ‘Skills and knowledge
reinforce each other with each reiteration’, and therefore within the Coursebook there
are opportunities for the recall and repetition of the practice of key skills.

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 1
 Introduction

The Coursebook and Workbook each contain 12 cross-referenced units. The Coursebook
units are in a logical order but stand alone. Each unit prepares students for one or more
extended writing tasks, with models provided to aid their completion. The Workbook
units continue the subject matter and give further practice of the skills and language
points of the corresponding unit of the Coursebook. This Teacher Resource CD contains
suggested and example answers to the activities in the Coursebook and to the exercises
in the Workbook, as well as providing worksheets, supporting documents and additional
visual materials. It also gives ideas for extension activities and suggestions for further
reading in the unit opener grids.

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Each Coursebook unit consists of a minimum of 12 activities, and it should take an
average of 30 minutes to complete each one, including feedback to the teacher
and/or the class. There are typically three main reading texts per unit, which should

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each take 10–15 minutes to read. The Coursebook as a whole should provide enough
material for the academic year, with the Workbook as an additional source of exercises
for classroom and homework tasks. However, the Coursebook cannot provide the
exposure to novels and plays, whole short stories and lengthy poems required by the
literary component of the curriculum framework, and therefore this would be needed
to supplement the course.

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There should be a set of dictionaries and thesauruses in the classroom or access to them
online. As they work through the Coursebook, students are expected to make notes in a
notebook. Sometimes they are asked to work on a copy of a text. They can write answers in
the spaces in the Workbook. It is recommended that they keep a vocabulary book in which
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to record new words learned, along with examples of their meaning in context. There is a
complete two-paper practice progression test, plus mark scheme, based closely on, but not
identical to, those provided by Cambridge International Examinations and published on its
website, with which to end the year’s study as a practice for the Cambridge progression tests.
Please note that these practice tests have not been produced by Cambridge International
Examinations.

The aims
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Students should be enabled to make full use of their English skills in their later study,
work and social lives. They should be encouraged by this course to read for pleasure,
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and to widen the range of the types of reading, writing, speaking and listening that they
undertake. The Unit overview grids on this CD suggest further reading and extension
activities.
The Cambridge Checkpoint English suite aims to:
• build up good habits of independent learning
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• convey the curriculum content for Cambridge Secondary 1 English

• provide examples of a variety of reading material and ways of responding to it
• give practice at responding to reading at word, sentence and text level
• vary the tasks and include retrieval, reflective and evaluative skills
• encourage effective teaching strategies.
The activities lend themselves to a mixture of individual, paired, group and whole-class
interaction, and to constant speaking and listening opportunities, though these are not
explicitly assessed by the Checkpoint tests. The first activity in each unit is designed to get
students thinking and talking about the topic, and to engage personally with it, before
they are introduced to the texts.

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 2
 Introduction

A wide range of ability is catered for by the wealth of material provided in the
Coursebook, which teachers may select from and tailor to their students’ needs. Further
differentiation is possible in the teacher’s judgement of:
• how much time to allow for each activity
• how much additional support to give
• the form any feedback should take
• how long and at what level the outcome should be
• which tasks to set for homework or for individual students
• how much use to make of the reinforcement and language practice exercises in the
companion Workbook.

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The topics have been chosen according to the subject interests of students in the 11–14
age group, of both genders and all cultures, with the aim of providing stimulating texts
which are enjoyable as well as challenging. Students should be entertained and engaged

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in order to be motivated, but they should also be stretched, as well as supported, if they
are to make progress and learn effectively.
Marian Cox

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®
IGCSE is the registered trademark of Cambridge International Examinations

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 3
 UNIT 1 Telling Tall Tales
2 Fire

Text types
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proverb, letter, poem, informative text, magazine article, myth
Reading skills identifying powerful language, identifying metre, paraphrasing, explaining figurative language, summarising
definitions, planning, sequencing, writing concisely, using complex sentences, descriptive verse, descriptive prose, news reporting, headlines,
Writing skills
informative leaflet
Speaking and
describing to a partner, class discussion, interview
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listening skills
Language skills synonyms, definitions spelling, adverbs, present perfect tense, irregular past participles, would for repeated past action
Coursebook answers Activities 2a, 3, 4a, 5, 6, 7a/b, 8, 9a/c, 10, 11a–d
Workbook answers Exercises 1a, 2, 3a, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Worksheets Worksheet 1: Descriptive effects
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Handout Descriptive devices
1A Extract from letter by Pliny the Younger
1B Poem from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien
1C From America at Work, Joseph Husband
Texts
1D Archimedes’ secret death ray
1E Greek myth: The Gift of Fire
1F Cherokee myth: The First Fire
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• range of firework poems, e.g. www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Fireworks-Poems-6126239/(login required)
• selection of creation myths based on fire e.g. www.angelfire.com/ca2/IsisShrine/Norsemyth.html or www.indigenouspeople.net/legend.htm
Further recommended • Cherokee fire myth (search on YouTube)
resources • footage of eruption of Mount Etna in 2002 (search on YouTube)
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• presentation of poems and fireworks set to music at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuG1t2smdCQ (or search on YouTube for ‘Handel: Music for
the Royal Fireworks, Overture’)
• Students research descriptive accounts of volcanic eruptions; they collect powerful sentences and phrases to label poster photographs of
the eruptions.
• Students describe as a five-stage process how volcanoes work.
Further activities
• Make group anthologies of fire poems, including students’ own.
• Students write news reports about different kinds of fire (many countries suffer from bush fires in summer).
• Students write their own myth to explain how fire was created.
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© Cambridge University Press 2013
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Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 1
 UNIT 2 Answers to Coursebook activities

2 a has different names in different countries; an ancient game; still played all over
the world today; revived in the 1970s; mostly played by old men in Mediterranean
countries
b Example answer
The ancient game of backgammon, which has different names in different
countries, is still played all over the world – mostly by old men around the

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Mediterranean – thanks to a revival in the 1970s.
c • is still played • be stored
• was held • is designed

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• is seen • is . . . played
• being rolled • are thrown
• is divided • are removed
This is an impersonal, objective, informative text with the focus on facts, making the

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passive form appropriate. There is no need to create a sense of immediacy or of persona.

3 b The prefix re means ‘again’ or ‘back’. Other examples are: restore, revisit,
re-establish, resurrect, repair, reboot, reapply, recount, reduce, regurgitate, request,
rerun, retract, reveal, rewire, resume, re-entry. Note that a hyphen is needed if the
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stem word begins with an e.
c Double dashes or brackets are used to create a parenthesis – a part of a sentence
that could be left out because it is grammatically unnecessary and extra to the main
meaning of the sentence. Parentheses created by pairs of dashes or brackets are
more noticeable and more definite than those created by pairs of commas.

4 a and b The four uses of which and who in the passage do not have a comma before
them because what follows cannot be separated in meaning from the noun being
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defined, unlike the examples in Activity 4b which are non-defining relative clauses,
i.e. the information given is extra and separable. The test is whether the sentence
will still make sense if the relative clause is removed (e.g. ‘The game is very
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popular’). The commas perform the usual role of indicating a part of a sentence
that is removable without damage to its grammar.

5 a You is used to avoid the repetition of ‘the player’ throughout, or the clumsy
construction ‘he or she’, both of which would make the passage longer and
less concise.
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b Could conveys possibility or ability; should conveys obligation or correctness.

6 a Example answers
pilgrims – religious travellers inferior – lower in rank
meditation – long and deep reflection dramatically – spectacularly
disciplined – strict
b demonstration, conference, nunnery, devotees, fighting, actor, instructor,
leader, introduction, importance, meditation, happiness, safety, attention, servant,
kitchen-worker, gardener, monastery, self-confidence, education

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 1
 UNIT 2 Answers to Coursebook activities

c a Chinese martial art; a Hong Kongese actor and martial arts instructor; capital of
Nepal; His Holiness The Gyalwang Drukpa; the main religion of Bhutan; a 16-year-
old from India; kitchen-workers and gardeners; Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
7 a Example answer (red text denotes wavy line)
Last week young Buddhist nuns gave demonstrations of their skill at kung fu, a
Chinese martial art, to thousands of pilgrims attending the Second Annual Drukpa
Conference in Nepal.
The Amitabha Drukpa nunnery has revealed that interest in becoming a nun has
increased hugely since classes in kung fu have been offered there. [Each morning

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hundreds of devotees walk clockwise around a golden statue of Buddha], while on
the roof the nuns practise the same kung fu fighting which was made famous in the
1970s by [the] films [starring Bruce Lee, a Hong Kongese actor and martial arts

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instructor].
The nunnery, belonging to an 800-year-old sect, is on a hillside outside Kathmandu,
[capital of Nepal]. Here the [young Buddhist] nuns are taught kung fu by a
Vietnamese master, who began teaching at the nunnery two years ago. It was

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introduced into Amitabha Drukpa by the leader of the spiritual sect, His Holiness
The Gyalwang Drukpa. [Drukpa means ‘dragon’, and] this sect, [the main religion
of Bhutan], is widely followed across the Himalayan countries.
The Gyalwang Drukpa says that he felt that previous spiritual leaders had not done
enough to advance the rights of women. [He decided that the introduction of
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kung fu was the best thing that he could do for them.] He got the idea after seeing
nuns in Vietnam being taught kung fu. [The nuns must practise up to two hours
every day.]
The nunnery, built by The Gyalwang Drukpa, is modern and well-equipped for
worship and study. [The sect puts emphasis on the importance of meditation
and happiness.]
One of the nuns, a 16-year-old from India, says that kung fu helps her to
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concentrate on her prayers and studies. She says, ‘Meditation becomes easier after
disciplined exercise, and it’s also good for our health.’ Another Indian nun says she
likes the fact that kung fu gives her strength and safety. [‘It protects us to have this
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physical power,’ she says.]

Normally nuns in the Himalayas are seen as inferior to monks and are overlooked,
so this amount of attention is unusual. They have traditionally been treated as
servants, [kitchen-workers and gardeners in the monasteries].
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A senior Buddhist nun, [Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo], who attended the conference,
says that she wants to introduce kung fu into her own nunnery in the Indian state
of Himachal Pradesh. She says that ‘it arouses a sense of self-confidence which is
very important for nuns, and it keeps young men in the area away when they know
that the nuns are kung fu experts’. She reports that since nunneries have begun to
offer better education, and physical programmes like kung fu, the number of girls
wanting to become nuns has grown dramatically.

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 2
 UNIT 2 Answers to Coursebook activities

8 a Text 2D contains all six of the listed elements:

• narrative, e.g. ‘In Srdjan’s parcel we put a nice New Year’s present for him to give
to some child in Dubrovnik.’
• description, e.g. ‘The cake will be shaped like a butterfly’
• opinion, e.g. ‘It’s a nice little package.’
• fact, e.g. ‘It’s my birthday tomorrow.’
• thought, e.g. ‘I’ll have to take a deep breath’
• feeling, e.g. ‘hoping to bring happiness’
b Seven tenses are used in the passage (present simple, present continuous, past

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simple, future simple, future continuous, present perfect, conditional). The effect
of the range is to make the passage seem spontaneous, varied and lively.
c The indicators that the passage was written by an 11-year-old child are: domestic

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and childish content; enthusiastic, naïve tone; simple or compound sentences,
some of them short; sentences all begin with the subject; repetition (the verb
‘hope’); simple or monosyllabic vocabulary (‘Mummy’, ‘nice’, ‘little’, ‘sweet’).

9 a Since/As it’s my birthday tomorrow, Mummy is making a cake and all the rest,

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because we really celebrate in our house.
b This year we have birthday cups, plates and napkins all with little red apples on
them, bought by Mummy in Pula, which are sweet.
c I’ll have to take a deep breath to blow out all at once the eleven candles on the
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butterfly-shaped cake.
d Example answers: attractive, pleasant, pleasing, lovely
e Whoever, whatever, whenever and whichever are used when there is doubt or a range of
possibilities being referred to. Whichever rather than whatever is used when a precise
choice is on offer.

11 a • nouns often qualified by preceding adjectives, e.g. ‘winning forehand’

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• hyperbolic adjectives, e.g. ‘exciting’, ‘crucial’, ‘thriller’, ‘enthralling’

• alliterative adjective/noun phrases, e.g. ‘classic contest’, ‘seven straight’
• intensifier adverbs, e.g. ‘completely’, ‘utterly’
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• clichés, e.g. ‘comfortable victory’, ‘remarkable comeback’

• dramatic action verbs, e.g. ‘swung the momentum’, ‘raced out of the blocks’,
‘snatched’, ‘broke’
• repetition, e.g. ‘swung’, ‘break back’
b • present and past participle connectives, e.g. winning, looking, lifted
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• simple sentences
• compound sentences using and and but
The effect of all these language devices is to create an atmosphere of drama, save
space, and make the reading age low enough in terms of vocabulary and grammar
for any reader to understand.
c The report begins with the news event and gives the who, what, when and where.
This is followed by a chronological account of the how. This is different from a
news report of a non-sporting event because the match is already over so no future
speculation is required, and nor are quotations from observers as the report is itself
an eyewitness account.

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 3
 UNIT 3 Answers to Workbook exercises

1 The weight of the glacier puts pressure on the land underneath and makes the valley
floors. [4]
The snow builds up over several years because it falls more often than it melts. [1]
The pressure of the new snow, over thousands of years, causes the underlying snow to
turn to ice. [2]
The glacier carves out and shifts rock as it moves. [5]
The air is forced out of the ice, so that its colour appears to be blue. [3]

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2 Example answers
a They went home sadly, disappointed by not being able to picnic by the river.

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b Prevented from playing cricket by the rain, they did gymnastics indoors instead.
c Enjoyed by the majority of people, a few don’t like snow.
d Built with Russian help, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt stopped the seasonal
overflowing of the River Nile.
e The Venice tide barriers, installed after massive flooding of the city in 1966, cost

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b
c
millions of dollars.

slept
sought
lain
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sunk
run
known
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d swum i sewn
e become j dug

4 a Realising that there was going to be a storm, the fishermen did not go out in their
boats that day.
b Delayed by the flooded roads, we missed the meeting, arriving half an hour after it
finished.
c The drought is causing crops to dry up in an area also burned / burnt by forest
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fires, leaving very little greenery.

d Sold to the highest bidder in the auction, the painting of a ship at sea was the most
interesting of the things found in the old mansion.
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e He finally made it to the shore, swimming against the current the whole way.

5 a Example answers
i became well known overnight
ii It was an established academic belief that
iii it had put him into the category of
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b Example answers
i dominant iv recklessly bold
ii characteristics v fit
iii feel aggrieved at
c i pro – forward
ii pre – before
iii con(m) – with

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 1
 UNIT 3 Answers to Workbook exercises

d Example answers
pro – pronoun, prospect, propose, proceed, progress, protrude
pre – preview, premonition, precede, prepare, prelude, prejudice
con(m) – conversation, consult, connect, committee, contract, contact

6 It was a beautiful evening when they decided to walk down to the lake; the moon
was full and there was no wind. The group of friends from the camp in the woods
intended to have a midnight swim. The lake was shallow at the edges and the water
would be reasonably warm. Those who didn’t know how to swim would content
themselves with paddling and splashing each other; the younger ones seemed to enjoy

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making each other wet at any opportunity. The camp leader realised that the group
had left their tents when she heard voices moving through the trees. She followed
them at a distance. Just as they were about to enter the lake, she blew her whistle and

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told them to go back; she said it was too dangerous to go in the lake in darkness. They
could come back the following day to swim.

7 Example answer
The following day, when they went back to the lake, the weather had turned cold,

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because there was a strong northerly breeze. As there were waves on the lake, and the
water was freezing, none of them wanted to go in. The camp leader tried to persuade
them to have a swim, although she didn’t really want to go in herself. She led the way
into the water, even though no one followed. Before she turned round to see where
they were, they had all run away. When they got back to camp they lit a fire, since they
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felt cold. They wished they had been allowed to swim the previous evening, when it
would have been much warmer.

8 a colony e troupe i range

b swarm f team / panel j flight
c litter g den / gang
d gaggle h bunch / hand
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9 a ‘How many of you are there?’ the waiter asked. ‘There’s room for only a few more.’
b There are few snow leopards left living in the wild. Little is being done to save the
species.
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c I wish I had more time. I have so much to do.

d Every year fewer people attend the annual show. The tickets now cost a lot of
money. If they cost less, more people would go.
e There is little hope that there will be a solution. However, there may be a little
improvement in the situation.
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© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 2
 UNIT 11 Worksheet 11: Past tenses
cloze exercise

This worksheet can be done individually or as a pair. Fill the 25 gaps in the passage with
the most suitable past tense form of the verb given, in the active or passive form:
• past perfect, e.g. I had talked
• past perfect continuous, e.g. I had been talking
• past simple, e.g. I talked
• past simple continuous, e.g. I was talking
• present perfect, e.g. I have talked

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• present perfect continuous, e.g. I have been talking
• repeated past action, e.g. I would talk

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Towering Inferno
This is the story of a well-known disaster movie which [1] 
[make] many people afraid of high-rise buildings.
In central San Francisco, a fire [2] [start] during the

81st floor [4]

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opening celebration party of the world’s tallest skyscraper, called the Glass Tower.
Faulty wiring [3] [cause] a series of short circuits in the
building earlier in the evening, and finally some oily rags in a storage room on the
[catch] alight. As the fire
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[5]  [spread] quickly up the floors, the architect
and the city’s fire chief [6] [try] to think of a plan to
contain the fire. The 300 party guests, who [7] [trap]
on the 135th floor, [8] [panic]. The lifts
[9]  [not work] and they [10]
[hear] gas explosions coming from below. Soon many separate fires
[11] [break out]. The building’s owner
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[12] [battle] against a lack of time in his efforts to

save them.
The fire [13] [move] upwards with such speed that
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the entire city fire department [14] [call]. The fire chief
[15] [explain] that he [16]
[dislike] skyscrapers for many years because it [17]
[prove] impossible to deal effectively with a fire above the seventh floor. The
plan that [18] [decide on] was to detonate the
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water tanks on the roof of the skyscraper and hope that the tons of water
[19] [extinguish] the fire. Some of the guests
[20] [drown] as a result, but the fire
[21] [put out].
Since this film [22] [show] in the 1970s, questions
[23] [continue] to be raised about fire safety in tower
blocks. Until the present day, people [24] [ask] ‘What
[25] [change] to make another towering inferno
impossible?’

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 1
 UNIT 6 Handout: Narrative duration
(Coursebook Activity 8)

When writing a story, you have many decisions to make, and one of them (and this is one
which is often not considered) is how fast you want the pace to be. If you tell the story too
quickly it will be too short and not developed enough, with insufficient detail of character,
setting and event for the reader to be able to empathise and become engaged. The story
may read like a series of unrelated actions which have not been sufficiently prepared
for. If you tell the story too slowly, however, with too much unnecessary detail, repetition
or dialogue, the reader will switch off because nothing is happening and their curiosity

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(which is the motivation for reading fiction) will not have been activated. You need to
make careful decisions because different paces have very different effects, and a story can
be ruined by using the wrong one.

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So when you do your story planning, think about how long you will spend on describing
the actions in the story. You have four choices.

1 Real time

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If you are using real-time narrative pace, then you will match the length of time it takes
to narrate or describe an action with the amount of time it would actually take in reality
to perform it. So if you are describing a moment in a race, let’s say the moment when the
flag goes down or the whistle is blown and the competitors start the race, then you would
probably use just one short sentence to capture the suddenness of that moment (e.g.
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‘They were off!’ or ‘She shot away from the starting line’).

2 Slower than real time

On the other hand, you might want to slow down the narrative, even though it only took
a couple of seconds in real time for the competitors to start the race. You could spend a
whole paragraph describing the thoughts going through a persona’s head, or how the
crowd were behaving, or how a persona’s body reacted to the whistle or starter gun, or
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how they seemed slow off the mark to the crowd, so that the world would seem to have
slowed down for them or for the anxious spectators. This will position the reader in either
the persona’s or the spectator’s viewpoint, and where speed is so important, reducing
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narrative pace will cause tension.

3 Faster than real time

There may be a reason why speeding up the narrative pace is desirable. If the reader is
expecting a detailed account of the finish of a race you might defeat that expectation and
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suddenly jump to the end, as in: ‘She rounded the corner and saw the finishing line 100
metres ahead. She crossed it and knew she had won.’ Your reasons for doing this would
depend on how important the end of the race was. It would reduce the suspense and
tension to do this, especially if it was a close race, but it would create the effect that her
winning had always been inevitable, which may be what you want to convey, or perhaps
the winning of the race is not the main point of the story.

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 1
 UNIT 6 Handout: Narrative duration (Coursebook Activity 8)

4 Switching pace
The best-told stories tend to use a mixture of the three options above: they slow down
the pace for very tense moments; they speed up time for repeated actions which do
not require detail so that they can quickly be covered without being tedious (e.g. ‘they
practised many times, and each time with the same result’); they narrate in real time
actions where the exact detail of how it happened is very important, as when an unlikely
contender comes from behind, stage by stage, to finally, at the last moment, win the race.
Real time would capture what the spectators were seeing and how it felt to the persona
racing – dramatic and dynamic – yet not give away too much too soon. The pace could

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change from fast to slow within a story, or vice versa, or backwards and forwards several
times between the two. Changes of pace, like any form of variety in writing, are a means of
keeping a reader engaged.

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Try to write four paragraphs now, each trying out a different one of the narrative pace
options above to describe a part of a race.

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© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 2
 Lesson plan 2 (45 minutes):
Park bench dialogues

Previous
Familiarity with drama conventions
knowledge
Linked to Secondary 1 curriculum objectives Stage 8: Writing fiction; Speaking
and listening
Objectives • to convey character through speech
• to devise appropriate exchanges in conversation

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• to create serious or comic dramatic effect
Common
• that successful dialogue needs to be exaggerated and unrealistic
misunderstandings

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• to express thoughts and feelings coherently and engagingly to a listener or
Success criteria reader
• to convey character and distinctions of character to a listener or reader
• create character
• adopt a suitable register and style
Skills

Resources
•
•

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write sequential and balanced dialogue with two distinct voices
speak clearly, fluently and with appropriate intonation
• model of format for a playscript
• workshop space
Coursebook: Units 3 (Activities 8b and 14c), 4, 8, 11, 12
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Checkpoint links Teacher’s Resource CD: Unit 12 Worksheet 13: Identifying comic devices; Unit 4
Handout: Using comic devices
Differentiation can be achieved by the amount of teacher support provided to
Differentiation
individual students in Activities 1 and 3.

Activities
1 [5 minutes]
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a Students think of a character.

b They decide on a background and previous life story for that character. What job, if
any, do they do? What relationships do they have? What has just happened to them?
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c They decide on a speech mode for that character. Do they speak simply or in a
complex way? Do they have an accent? Do they speak forcefully or timidly?

2 [25 minutes]
a One student volunteers or is chosen to go and sit at the front of the room on
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one of two chairs. The imaginary scenario is that they are sitting on a bench in a
public park. They should sit in a way that suggests who their character is, and do
something appropriate, such as read or stare into the distance.
b Another student volunteers or is chosen to go and sit next to them on the other
chair. One or other of the characters initiates a conversation. How this develops,
and for how long, will depend entirely upon the interaction of the characters: they
may get on or they may not; one of the characters may be reluctant or overeager to
talk; the conversation may be comic or it may be serious.

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 1
 Lesson plan 2 (45 minutes): Park bench dialogues

c Either voluntarily or at a sign from the teacher, the first character leaves and is
replaced by another character, and a new dialogue ensues.
d This continues until everyone in the class has had a turn.

3 [15 minutes] Students write out one of the dialogues which they witnessed. It does not
have to be exactly what was said and heard, but it should capture the essence of the two
characters and the way in which they interacted. This should be done in the form of a
playscript, with names or types (e.g. ‘the doctor’) in the margin and the spoken words
written without speech marks (model to be provided if necessary).

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Homework
Students write a park bench playscript dialogue for the character they originally created

pl
and another character which they create for the purpose of this new written dialogue.
They should plan it after deciding whether they want it to be comic or serious, and they
should try to convey two clearly distinct voices and characters. These scripted dialogues
can be performed in the next lesson and evaluated for their effectiveness in conveying
character through speech.

m
sa
ft
ra
D

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 2
 Practice progression test 1
(1 hour 10 minutes)

Disclaimer: Please note that this practice progression test has not been produced by Cambridge International Examinations and it
should not be assumed that Cambridge progression tests will follow this exact pattern.

The total number of marks for this paper is 50.

Section A: Reading – Non-fiction (20 marks)
Read this article about a bird of prey and then answer the questions.

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The omen
Ravens are a type of crow, but they can fly higher than other crows, and they

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have a blue-purple tinge to their feathers. Their relatively large size, swift
acrobatic flight, fierce territorial instincts and black colouring – even their
feet and beak are black – have given them a reputation for being powerful,
5 mysterious and sinister. They are opportunistic carrion and garbage eaters

10
m
across the northern hemisphere, and it is this habit of eating leftovers and
roadkill that makes these scavengers unappealing to most people.
However, the raven is part of the folklore of many cultures. In Scandinavia
and Siberia they are ancient gods, and Native Americans also revere them,
while acknowledging that they are tricksters and thieves. Ornithologists have
proved ravens to be the most intelligent of birds, with an ability to mimic the
sa
calls of other birds, use tools and make toys. They possess logic and problem-
solving skills, and they can even get other species to work for them: for
instance, if they come across a dead animal they will call foxes to open up the
15 carcass for them. If a prey is too large for one raven, they know how to work
effectively in pairs or teams. As their relatives, jackdaws and magpies, also do,
they steal items that attract their attention, such as golf balls and small, shiny
items of jewellery, perhaps to impress their neighbours. They also steal food
from other birds and other species too, such as dogs who don’t keep an eye on
ft

20 their dinner.
Another reason why people are wary of ravens is their chilling, coarse,
croaking cry; this alarm call sounds like ‘cras, cras’, the Latin word for
ra

‘tomorrow’, and hence their link to prophecy

and forecasts of impending doom. It doesn’t
25 help their negative image that the collective
noun for a group of ravens is either an
‘unkindness’ or a ‘conspiracy’.
D

In literature and films, ravens are

associated with darkness, danger and death,
30 and often play the role of a bad omen. Edgar
Allen Poe’s long narrative poem ‘The raven’
is about a bird that repeatedly issues the dire
warning ‘Nevermore’. When Lady Macbeth
says ‘The raven himself is hoarse / That
35 croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan / Under
my battlements’ she is planning to murder
the king in her castle that night.

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 1
 Practice progression test 1 (1 hour 10 minutes)

1 What information cannot be found in the passage? Tick one box.

The habits of ravens
The appearance of ravens
The life cycle of ravens
The symbolism of ravens [1]

2 Find an opinion expressed by the writer in the article.

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[1]
3 What would be the best summary of the way people feel about ravens, according to
the passage? Tick one box.

pl
They are appealing.
They are clever.
They are sinister.

4
They are thieves.

Find synonyms in the article for:

a worship
m b cautious
[1]
sa
[1]

5 Give the meaning of each of these words as they are used in the article. In each case
give one word or a short phrase.
a tinge
b acrobatic
c territorial
ft

d impending [2]

6 Find a prepositional phrase and a verbal noun in this sentence:

ra

They are opportunistic carrion and garbage eaters across the northern hemisphere,
and it is this habit of eating leftovers and roadkill that makes these scavengers
unappealing to most people.
a prepositional phrase [1]
b verb used as a noun [1]
D

7 Rewrite this sentence using the same words, so that it begins with the main clause.
Use correct punctuation.
As their relatives, jackdaws and magpies, also do, they steal items that attract their
attention, such as golf balls and small, shiny items of jewellery.

[1]

© Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint English 8: The Wider World 2