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Youth issues:
sample reading and responding answers
Type A
Type B
Task 3 Response to a letter
Task 1
Question a)
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a good understanding of the writer's first smoking experience | 2 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of the writer's first smoking experience | 1 mark |
Sample answer: He was fifteen years old and it was 1978. He had been convinced by a school friend to try smoking, as it was still seen as a cool and manly thing to do. He instantly had his first kick and in the short term he forgot his worries about his Latin results.
Question b)
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates an excellent understanding of why he calls himself "a particularly valuable customer" | 3 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of why he calls himself "a particularly valuable customer" | 2 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of why he calls himself "a particularly valuable customer" | 1 mark |
Sample answer: The writer started smoking at fifteen and we now know that the earlier you start smoking under the age of twenty, the harder it is to give up. Ninety percent of these smokers don't manage it. Therefore, he was "a particularly valuable customer" to the cigarette company Marlboro, as he would be most likely buying their products for the rest of his life.
Question c)
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a perceptive understanding of how the author persuades readers to accept his point of view, with detailed, appropriate examples from the text | 5 or 6 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of how the author persuades readers to accept his point of view, with relevant examples from the text | 3 or 4 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of how the author persuades readers to accept his point of view | 1 or 2 marks |
Sample answer: The writer uses himself as an example of the "typical" teenager, drawn into smoking. He honestly and openly describes the effects of smoking later in life. He says that he will never forget his first cigarette - twenty-two years ago.
He presents the irony of the original Malboro man dying from lung cancer, and then goes on to say that cancer is only one side-effect. The tar that is inhaled by smokers is described in terms that shock readers - the sticky material used to build roads!
Overpowering statistics are used, such as: Germans have smoked one hundred and forty five billion cigarettes in past years, and have left about one thousand nine hundred tonnes of tar in their lungs. These figures are so high that the reader is stunned. The writer then gives a darkly humorous example to further emphasise his point and put it into more understandable terms: if smokers could use the tar from their lungs, they could surface sections of the freeway with it.
Again, statistics are quoted (whoever smokes more than twenty cigarettes a day will die 8.3 years earlier than a non-smoker.) This is brought home on a personal level to the reader by applying that statistic to the writer himself (he already knows that he will only live until sixty six at the latest - unless he dies of lung cancer or something similar, whereas the average life expectancy in Germany for men is seventy four.)
After shocking the reader with all of these statistics, the writer ends on a more positive note: he will do something about the situation and give up smoking no matter what the cost. He says that life is too valuable to throw it away senselessly. By using phrases like Schluss mit dem Quatsch - "Stop the rubbish", he dispels the feeling of helplessness and inertia and substitutes positive action.
Total: 11 marks
Task 2
Question a)
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a good understanding of what they have in common | 2 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of what they have in common | 1 mark |
Sample answer: They both can't afford the amount that they spend on their mobiles. Rolf's pocket money is not enough to pay for his phone calls and SMS, and Klaus' mobile phone bill was four times more than he earns as a butcher's apprentice.
Question b)
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a good understanding of how Julia's case is different | 2 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of how Julia's case is different | 1 mark |
Sample answer: Julia doesn't have a problem with her mobile phone. She keeps wanting to borrow money from her friends to buy the latest expensive clothes, so that she will feel accepted at school. Her friends have had enough and avoid her, because they're sick of her asking them for money.
Question c)
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates an excellent understanding of the tone of the article, with relevant examples | 5 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of the tone of the article, with relevant examples | 3 or 4 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of the tone of the article, with relevant examples | 1 or 2 marks |
Sample answer: The article has a warning tone, and is quite negative about the teenagers it portrays. With the words das Handy verlangte nach neuem Futter, the writer makes a mobile phone sound like an demanding animal, out of control.
By examining three young people's cases, the writer shows how the youth of today are getting into debt because they want to buy everything now, without thinking about the consequences. The writer wants to warn the public that young people need to learn to budget and not to follow every trend. The writer wants to alert young people or their parents, so that preventative steps can be taken.
Certainly, he does attempt to provide some guidance, and speaks about the seminar on "spending money", which gave tips about how to manage mobile phones. Such seminars seem to be practical and useful for young people.
By concluding the article with Dass so viele junge Leute dieses Problem haben, zeigt dass wir etwas machen sollten, the writer lays the problem at the feet of the reader. He provides no constructive suggestions for how to fix the problem, but implies we all need to do something to turn this trend around.
Total: 9 marks
Task 3
In this question you are required to read a letter from a friend. You have to show you understand this text by identifying and analysing the relevant information contained in it.
You have to write an appropriate response of 150-200 words in German.
The question provides you with:
- a purpose: a letter in response to a letter
- a context: giving advice, responding to a problem raised in a letter
- an audience: the writer of the letter (Katje)
To answer this question you should use a personal informal style and include the appropriate letter format. You would address Katje as “du” in this context.
You should begin your letter showing empathy for Katje and her problem. It is normal in a letter of this type to refer to the aspects of the problem raised. You should keep in mind that you are being assessed on the relevance of your response.
Your answer should include:
-
an introductory paragraph:
- show you have read Katje’s letter and identify with her situation
-
responses to the following:
- her breaking up with Günther
- the incident at the movies
- Günther’s good points
- possibly a short paragraph about one of your boyfriends/girlfriends
-
a concluding paragraph:
- What is your advice regarding Katie’s continuing the relationship with Günther?
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