2012 - 2014 HKDSE EXAM PAPERS AND PRACTICE PAPERS PAPER 4 SPEAKING

The following should be taken into consideration:

Over the years a substantial proportion of the Budget has been allocated to promoting general welfare and social harmony. However, some elderly people have reportedly fallen through the safety net and little effort has been made by the government to attend to their needs. Write an article for the Teenage Post illustrating the major problems that face the elderly, and giving suggestions on how the government and the public can help improve their lives. Give a title to the article.

Text Type: Newspaper article

Communicative Functions: To inform and propose Role of the Writer: A secondary student Target Reader: Teenage Post readers

Over the years a substantial proportion of the Budget has been allocated to promoting general welfare and social harmony.

However, some elderly people have reportedly fallen through the safety net and little effort has been made by the government to attend to their needs. Write an article for the newspaper illustrating the major problems that face the elderly, and giving suggestions on how the government and the public can help improve their lives.

Give a title to the article.

Language

Propose solutions to the problems facing the elderly people in Hong Kong

A title for the article

Range of vocabulary

•Vocabulary items related to elderly problems

Content

Relevance of ideas and elaboration

The problems facing the elderly people in Hong Kong

Background information

Appropriate language

•The present tense to present general facts

•Appropriate modals and expressions to propose solutions

Appropriate tone and register

•An impersonal, semi-formal, objective tone to present facts about, and the causes and effects of, the problems facing the elderly

Organisation

Coherence

•Appropriate organisational framework

•Using appropriate topic sentences and supporting ideas to create logical development of ideas

Cohesion

•Appropriate cohesive devices and expressions to indicate the cause-and-effect relationship

Ask Ss to name the different stages of life (infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age) and to choose the stage they would like to be at forever. Allow them time to share their ideas.

Draw Ss’ attention to the old age. To prepare Ss for the topic, ask them whether they think old people in Hong Kong are happy and how it feels to be old. Introduce to them “ageing population” and discuss with them to what extent “ageing population” is a pressing problem in Hong Kong (e.g. How much of the local population will old people account for in 10 years’ time? Why are there more old people but fewer kids in Hong Kong? What is the impact of the growing number of elderly people on society? What has the government done to show care for the livelihood of the aged?).

Organise Ss into groups of 4. Distribute articles and play video clips featuring specific elderly problems so as to give Ss more visual and audio stimuli. Then have Ss identify the problems and discuss the underlying causes, emphasising the need to draw upon their own observation in society. Have each group present their ideas orally and record their suggestions on the board. Provide vocabulary and language support when necessary.

Introduce the assessment task. Elicit students’ understanding of the task requirements, including the text type, the writer-reader relationship, the tone, the content, the overall structure, the choice of

expressions and the purpose of writing. Give out the assessment form and go through the criteria with Ss.

Have Ss discuss in groups who and how to contribute effort to helping old people live a better life. To scaffold Ss’ discussion, get them to do research on what have been done so that they do not propose measures already in place but comment on their effectiveness. Encourage Ss to suggest what more can be done by various parties in society.

Get Ss to report their discussion output and record their ideas on the board. Ask Ss to support their suggestions with reasons and to explain how they can be put into practice.

Tell Ss to write the first draft of the newspaper article individually.

Show Ss how to use the assessment form to give feedback on others’ draft. Then pair up students and ask them to do peer assessment after they have completed the first draft. With a weaker class, put emphasis on one or two problematic areas based on the impression of Ss’ drafts, discuss with Ss these areas and use a sample of student draft to demonstrate interactively how the problematic areas can be addressed.

Tell Ss to revise their draft based on the comments received before submitting it.

A task-specific assessment form for

clarifying the task

requirements

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Background of the letter

The social issue concerned

Purpose of the letter