Personal Response Writing
What is it? This is the essay that you will have to write after the Listening assessment. The topic for the essay is linked the the Listening. The word count is 120-150 words and is out of 10. You have 30/40 minutes to plan and produce your piece of Writing. You will be given questions to help you structure your essay. The questions will be on something you have studied during Higher so it won t be knew. You should try to cover all the questions although you might have more to say about one or two and that s ok. The questions might asked you to write about the past or the future so make sure your perfect/imperfect as well as your future and conditional tenses are strong - VERBS are the foundation of your sentence, without a strong verbs your sentence collapses. Make a list of words and phrases that you are going to reuse and recycle regardless of the topic
What should you have in your writing To get top marks there are several things that I would expect to see: varied tenses (present; perfect; imperfect; future ; conditional) - you won t use them all but mix and match to showcase your knowledge about the language. Some modal verbs and infinitives ( je peux finir / il faut étudier, nous devons être etc) one SUBJUNCTIVE (see slide 14 ) One if clause Good Linking words (see slide 9 &10) Excellent opinion phrases (slide 8) interesting adjectives and adverbes - bien!!!
Structure You essay usually answers 3 questions - you should aim to write about 40 words for each. You should also have a introduction and a conclusion.
Introduction You should rephrase one of the questions and start your sentence with: je voudrais parler de For example if you essay question is: Jean et Emilie nous ont parlé de leur expérience professionelle et leur projets d avenir. You should start your essay with Je voudrais parler de mon expérience professionelle et de mes projects d avenir.
Main body start your main part with simple, straightforward structure an build it up little by little by introducing sub-clauses and adjectives/ adverbs. You are aiming for three parts of 40 words each. Try to introduce a variety tenses prepare a different way of introducing your opinion (slide 8) have a variety of adjectives and adverbs for opinion - not just bien and difficile ( see slide 11 &12) have a couple of impressive sentences for each topic area, which you can put in regardless of the questions Have at least one conjunction in each of the three sections. For e.g.: Je suis très contente d avoir choisi ces matières car elles me permettront d aller à l université.
Conclusion Have one sentence ready to finish off with a conclusion for eg: En bref, Je suis pressé d aller à l université.
Opinion and reasons Je trouve que c est A mon avis Je suppose que je crois que Je trouve que Selon moi Quant a moi Il est possible que D une part d autre part A vrai dire Cela va sans dire que Le revers de la médaille je considère que It think it is In my opinion I suppose that i believe that I find that According to me As for me It is possible that On one hand on the other day To tell the truth It goes without saying The other side of the story I consider that
Conjunctions car/parce que comme donc Par conséquent Quand Lorsque Pendant que comment si ce que because as so Therefore When when while how if what
Linking your paragraph De plus Par contre Premièrement Deuxièment En outre Cependant Malgré Meme si Néanmoins Par ailleurs Tandis que Morever On the other hand First of all Secondly Furthermore Nevertheless despite Even if Nevetherless Beside Whereas
Adjectives affreux désagréable parfait choquant pratique barbant impressionant magnificqiue pénible awful unpleasant perfect shocking practical boring impressing magnificient annoying
Adverbs absolument assez extremement légèrement totalement trop très fortement jamais toujours absolutly quite extremly slightly totally too very really never always
Verbs se contenter to make do with se débrouiller etre confronté à être élevé être partagé entre se mettre à profiter de empêcher to get on, to get by OK to be confronted with to be brought up to be torn betweenn to start to take advantage to prevent
Subjunctive clauses The following sentence require the subjunctive in the sub clause il faut que il faut qu il réussisse he needs to succeed je ne crois pas que il est possible que Il est important que Bien que Il se peut que je ne crois pas qu il puisse y aller il est possible que je n aille pas à l université Il est important que j aie des bonnes notes au bac Bien que je veuille aller à la fac je voudrais aussi Il se peut que je devienne ingénieur I don t think he can come It is possible that I won t go to uni It s important I have good grades for my Higher Although I want to uni I also want to.. I might become an engineer