Cover all syllabus elements
LEARNERS in examinable classes have been busy and need no reminder that this week is back to serious business. Followers of this column will recall that last week we briefly dwelt on O-level report writing as requested by one learner. Many learners have said they have problems with English Language without presenting specific areas of need. For example, they could state whether it is on compositions, free essays or situational, summaries or registers.
As a service to that community, I have decided to briefly go over the suggested topics. Through observation of a wide cross-section of learners, it is clear that the summary is the easiest of all parts in the English Language examination. Most learners score high marks in that section. This is quite good and shows that teachers are doing a good job in that area. Learners should make sure that they maximise all the marks in that section. Remember the summary accounts for 20 marks in the examination.
Learners just like in any reading material, should have any eye for detail. It is important that the summary question is thoroughly read and understood. Learners need to understand which paragraphs they are asked to summarise. They need to understand what they are supposed to include. They need to understand that they are not to include everything in the selected area. The question to be asked now and then is, “Have I obeyed the question requirements?”
The key points are in the selected part and learners should understand what the main points are. On summary writing, marks are awarded based on the learner’s ability to sieve out key ideas with a tight word limit. We discussed this before. Learners should not exceed the stated word limit. I do not believe in allowing extra words to stand as doing so will be failing the standard of the examination. To show that you are capable of answering a summary question read and stick to the question requirements.
Learners need to identify points that get them marks. They should not waste words describing the other non-essential parts of the passage. The question asked is, “So how do we identify these points and what can we leave out? Follow these simple steps: First leave out examples — some summaries might require you to summarise details or examples. In such cases find a way of combining those examples and present them as a single entity.
Watch out for repetition as well. Certain points are repeated, especially in narrative passages, for effect. In such cases identify the central ideas that underpin the repeated points. The same applies to quotations, if you feel there is a key point in a quotation, follow the previously stated example. Learners having problems with writing summaries might help themselves by trying these examples. But, the best solution to all these problems is for learners to ask their teachers questions.
Teachers are free to help students who ask questions, after all they are not monsters. The worst way learners can disadvantage themselves is to fail to ask questions from their mentors when they have problems. Learners who bring excitement to lessons are those who discuss and ask questions when necessary. By so doing they bring out what they know which could be correct or wrong. They are commended for giving correct answers and corrected when they have wrong answers.
Talkative learners, as long as they do so productively, help the reserved ones who might be keeping wrong answers to themselves. These are referred to as the extrovert and the introvert in education circles. Another element which has led to many learners’ undoing is narrowing the English Language syllabus to a few areas of study, forgetting that the subject is wide. The depth of the subject means that tests or examinations can come from far and wide.
Many will agree with me that because the pattern of examinations for some years was not asking questions on speech writing when they came many learners and their teachers were caught unaware. Learners were quick to point fingers at their teachers for not teaching them. For those years speeches appeared as if they were out of syllabus. The same applies with situational compositions, like the ones based on graphs and pie charts. These are generally ignored in examinations and they are not taught in class.
The year examiners decide to bring them in the examinations the results are disastrous. On the same note, learners do you know that writing letters is part of the syllabus? How many times have you practised writing letters, that is personal or business letters? The day you will be asked to write a letter you would have forgotten even the basics. To kick start what we will discuss later, let us define a personal letter.
A personal letter is written to someone you know personally, such as a friend, a relative, your parents, a classmate, or your teacher. Note the following points on personal letters: personal letters have one address: yours/the writer’s, each line of the address starts immediately under the previous line and there are no punctuation marks in the address, date, salutation, and signature. Words such as: Street, Road, Private Bag, Post Office Box, Avenue, and Company are written in full in the address.
These are minor things but they make a big difference when used correctly or wrongly. Abbreviations such as: 1st, 2nd, 4th are no longer used. We write the date as 10 September 2017. More information on writing letters to follow, but the emphasis is learning requires that learners cover the whole subject syllabus.
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