Paper 4 The Continuous Writing Paper

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Paper 4The Continuous Writing Paper

• Key issues, using the mark scheme and suggested
  strategies

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The Continuous Writing Paper

• 2 pieces of writing in 75 minutes, 110-140 words
  in length
• 25 marks available per question
• Communication 5 marks (20) points must be in
  correct tense
• Quality of Language 15 marks (60)
• General Impression 5 marks (20) dictated by
  Language mark

Tot A B C D E F G
25 17 13 9 7 5 3 1
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Question 1 types

• "Point of view" questions
• Describe something e.g. your school / region etc.
  
• Give and justify your opinion about it
• Talk about the advantages / disadvantages
• Say whether you are for or against it
• This could be in the form of
• A letter to a friend (informal)
• A letter to a French school or family (e.g. about
  an exchange)
• A letter to a magazine or newspaper
• An article
• Text type features counted for language marks
• e.g. letter openings / endings
• Could affect General Impression mark

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Question 1 types

• Specific letters
• Job applications (explain why you want the job,
  why you are capable when you are free)
• Formal letters to hotels
• Letters of complaint e.g. about a stay in a
  hotel)
• Letters explaining you have left something at the
  hotel
• Persuasive letters (e.g. persuade a family to
  visit you by giving information about your house,
  region, climate and what you need to bring)
• Explanatory letters (e.g. a family is coming to
  visit you and you need to change the dates of the
  visit because you have had an accident)

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Question 2s

• Always requires the use of past tenses
• Description of past events (have to describe at
  least 3 things that happened using accurate
  grammar to get communication marks)
• Describe someone elses reactions e.g.  my
  parents were surprised 
• Describe your reactions / whether you liked /
  disliked something

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Key features of mark scheme

• 140 words max
• If the task is a letter, addresses and dates do
  not count towards the total word count.
• The definition of a word is a group of letters
  surrounded by a space
• A group of letters containing a hyphen or
  apostrophe is regarded as one word.
• Lhomme one word
• La dame two words
• Quest-ce que cest three word
• Il y a three words
• Y a-t-il? two words
• All numbers count as one word whether written as
  figures or words
• 21 one word
• Vingt et un one word

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Key features of mark scheme

• Marking units
• Verbs
• Noun adjective
• Noun preposition
• Adverbs
• Conjunctions
• Zero marks for
• Nouns (but do get mark if possessive is used)
• Très, bien, et, mais
• Faulty gender agreement
• Tolerances
• Use of accents (except -er in perfect tense)
  hyphens and punctuation
• Accept declared gender (not name on front)
• Lots of moderation essential
• Top 10 common mistakes
• Top 15 features to include

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Suggestions for improving continuous writing
skills

• Languages online
• Year 10 spelling improvement programme
• GCSE silly mistakes from essays
• Verb busters
• Intensive translation work using mini-whiteboards
• Encourage lower ability students to stick to
  basic structures (e.g. regular -ER verbs in
  perfect tense) and learn bonus phrases
• IGCSE style tasks in formal assessments from Year
  7
• Correct the mistakes exercises
• Peer marking focusing on 1-2 elements from mark
  scheme
• Lots of practice papers and log sheet for
  mistakes (with tallies)