FCE Writing an Article (Recap)

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 2

FCE Writing Exam (part 2)

 Articles

Articles in First Certificate are usually written for English magazines or newsletters. The main thing is to make your articles interesting to read, and to give your opinions on the topic.

An Article for FCE:

Mandatory task: no

Word count: 140-190

Main characteristics: interesting, engaging, personal opinion / comment

Register: semi-informal to informal

Structure: Title/introduction, 2-3 topic paragraphs, closing paragraph / conclusion

Language: adjectives/adverbs, colloquial expressions, phrasal verbs, idioms, linking words, interesting grammar

Example:

An article is usually written for an English-language magazine or newsletter, and the reader is assumed to have similar interests to the writer. The main purpose is to interest and engage the reader, so there should be some opinion or comment.

from: Cambridge English First Handbook for Teachers

Who are you writing for?

In the FCE writing exam you always have to consider the reader of your texts as you have to adjust the register (formal, neutral, informal language) in your writing. With different levels of formality come different things you should or shouldn’t write, but in articles we normally expect the readers to be people like us so we can write in a more informal style.

Informal English means that you should use contractions like ‘I’m’ or ‘don’t’, colloquial words and expressions, for example, ‘awesome’ or ‘tons of’. Also, try to add some phrasal verbs because they are definitely a feature of informal language as well and last but not least, involve the reader personally by addressing them directly and even ask a question or two.

Organisation:

It probably makes sense to give each  point a paragraph in our article so we already have three sections. To me it seems as if we could use the first topic point in our introduction, which means that we don’t need a separate one, but it is always nice to have a short closing paragraph (similar to a conclusion in an essay). Adding that and a title, we end up with four paragraphs and our article would look like this:

Title & Introduction / Topic point 1 (What is the thing you learned?)

Topic point 2 (Who did you learn it from?)

Topic point 3 (Why is it useful?)

Closing paragraph / conclusion

Always make a plan!

I can’t say it often enough, but, unfortunately, this is something that drives me crazy and a lot of you simply forget to do.

Always plan your articles before you start writing. It takes just a few minutes to create a list of paragraphs  (see last slide) with a couple of words to remind you of what you want to write added to each heading.

Introduction

In your introduction you always want to get the reader interested in your article. Your goal is to make the reader want to continue. As always, there are a couple of things for you to remember when you start writing:

Give your article a title.

Start with a personalised question.

Include the topic and give your opinion or comment on it.

An example could look like this:

The most useful thing I’ve ever learned

Have you ever learned something that completely changed your life? I can remember exactly how it was for me when I got interested in learning English and who helped me become the person I am today.

Topic points

Once we have our introduction ready and our readers can’t wait to find out more, we need to think about how we can present the rest of the information.

Introduction

Paragraph. 1 ........................

Paragraph. 2........................

conclusion

 So what is the most important thing I have learnt? - Well, on balance it is probably .... . I learnt it at the local language school

 First of all- speaking Dutch means that,...........It really helps with making friends.

Another thing, is being able to get a good job. ...............It always puts me in a good mood. 

All in all,  I think learning ...............has been extremely worthwhile.

An article should have a title

Notice the adverbs. You will get higher marks if you use a range of vocabulary.

Instead or using the same word again, use different words with similar meanings. eg. shy - timidly

Good to have a small joke at the end!

Closing Paragraph

Last but not least, we want to round off our article with a good closing paragraph. In the conclusion we want to achieve a few different things:

Summarise what you wrote in your article.

Comment on the topic or give your opinion one last time.

End your article in an interesting way.

The last paragraph shouldn’t be too hard to write if you’ve done a good job with your introduction and topic paragraphs. 

You are going to write your own article to answer the writing task in exercise  5. 

PAGE 73: Exercise  10, 11 and 12

Before your write: 

• decide on a title for your article which will encourage people to read it.
• decide how many paragraphs you need, the subject of each paragraph and write a short plan.
• think about some vocabulary you can use. 

See slides 15-20 for extra tips. 

Extra tips for an article

see the link on the following slide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q - Do I have to use British spelling?

• A - No. You can use American spelling.

• Q - How important is spelling and punctuation?
  
• A - You aren't expected to be perfect, but if a mistake stops the reader from understanding what you want to say, that's quite bad.
  

Q - How important is the word count? What happens if I write too many words?

Q - How important is the word count? What happens if I write too many words?

• A - If you do the task properly you will write the correct number of words. You won't lose marks if you write 5 words too many. Focus on writing what you have to write, and the word count will take care of itself. Don't waste time in the exam counting how many words you have written! 

FAQ

Q - My handwriting is terrible! Will I lose points?

A - Just make sure a human can read it - if you are very messy, write a little bit slower. If you usually end up with lots of things crossed out - you need to plan better!

https:

Common mistakes students make in articles

The language is too formal and more suited to essays. Avoid words like:

  to sum up, some people say, nevertheless, on one hand etc.

They don't use quotes or examples

They either use not enough, or too many, questions. The questions, called rhetorical questions because they don't require an answer, shouldn't be more than one per paragraph. 

Good examples are:

Have you ever ……..?

What do you think about ……..?

Are you one of those people who thinks that ……?

What would life be like if ……?

Will the future bring us ….. ?

Today's lesson choices

1. Write an article using the plan you made earlier.

2. go to the link on the next slide and QUIETLY practice for the Use of English and Reading

theicingonyourenglish.com

When you are ready, write your article using between 140-190 words 

Go to the next slide of how to practice using the British Council site using the code you have been given via your school gmail 

https:

Visit the website at https://learn-english-exams.britishcouncil.org to access  

our Success in B2 First levels

To get started please take a few minutes to watch the website video before  

you log in. (log in details in your g-mail)

How LearnEnglish Exams works…

• There is advice, tips, strategies, model answers and practice exercises  

to help you in Listening, Reading, Use of English, Writing and Speaking.

• You can complete all the exercises or choose the parts of the exam you  

want to focus on.

• You can check your answers after each exercise.

• There is no time limit so you can take as long as you need and repeat the  

exercises as many times as you want.

• You will reflect on your learning and understand why you got something  

right or wrong and see how you can do better next time

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Good luck with your exam!