Paper One: Answering Question 5 English Language Paper One: Answering Question 5

Question 5 (writing) It is always a creative task focusing on narrative and, or descriptive writing skills: one narration and one description, or two description, or two narration. There is always a choice of written prompt and visual image that is linked to the topic of the reading text in section A. It is worth 40 marks to give an equal weighting to the reading and writing tasks. You should spend 45 minutes on this task: 5 minutes planning, 35 minutes writing and 5 minutes checking and editing. You should write 6-8 interesting, accurate and well- structured paragraphs. You are marked on AO5 and AO6 for this question.

Assessment objectives AO5 – Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts. 24 marks 15% AO6 – Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. 16 marks 10%

Writing to describe What skills do you use? You have five minutes to complete the sheet in your books and come up with your own examples. We will then share our examples from everyone.

We’ve got the techniques… …why are they used?

Painting a picture Writing to describe is like creating a full image in someone’s mind. You want them to be able to experience what it is like to be somewhere and/or feel something. Imagery is created using different techniques to achieve this purpose.

Describe the coldest places on earth in autumn The first thing you need to do is create a plan. An easy way to do this is by using a spider diagram. This is not wasted time. This is an opportunity for you to think about what you are going to write and gives you something to refer back to.

After you have created your spider diagram Number the points so you know what you are going to write about in each paragraph. You need an overall introduction in every piece of writing before developing main paragraphs. You need at least four paragraphs for this shorter piece of writing.

Introductory paragraph Should be short, relate to the question and give an overview about what you are going to write about. For example: The autumn is an interesting time in the Arctic and Antarctic. Some animals start to think about travelling from the poles, going south or north for the colder months. Other animals will return to the icy environment; some in order to give birth.

Main paragraphs Then, you need to start developing the points from your spider diagram. You must show: Developed paragraphs – this is more than two sentences! A variety of punctuation. Clear spelling – use capitals when needed. A variety of sentence lengths. You must be descriptive – think imagery and the five senses.

So… Start with the first point. Graceful, white Beluga whales often travel north in winter. They swim in a large group to shallow water like a huge ghost. Silently, they glide over rocks which they use as a way of cleaning themselves, slowly scratching and scrubbing dead skin from their bodies. The whales smile as their freshly polished skin appears from under a layer of dirt. The animals know they only have a short amount of time to use the cleaning station before the ice returns; freezing the water.

Then, start to move on Every paragraph should create a new image in the reader’s head or add to the one which you are creating. You should be making your writing as imaginative as possible but also as accurate as possible. After 4-6 main paragraphs, which follow the introductory one, you need a couple of sentences to sum up the piece of writing.

Conclusion All writing needs an introduction and conclusion but they don’t have to be the longest parts of your writing. For example: Autumn ends across the Artic and Antarctic with a silence spreading across the region. Winter is fast approaching and any colour starts to disappear as the white blanket of snow falls, covering much of the remaining life which is put on hold until the spring.

Sometimes you may have a stimulus Sometimes for either the writing to describe or writing to narrate task there is a picture which you are asked to used as a stimulus for your writing. You have five minutes to plan a piece of writing to describe, inspired by the picture on the next slide. You will then spend 35 minutes at home writing a response and 5 minutes checking your work.

Write a description suggested by this picture