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Home > German > Continuers Course > The Individual > Personal Identity > Personal identity: sample reading and responding tasks
Personal identity:
reading and responding answers
Type A
Task 1: A model is interviewed about her father
Task 2: A young actress talks about her father
Type B
Task 3: Response to an advertisement
Task 1
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Perceptively evaluates the relationship between Heidi and her father, with detailed references to the text | 5 or 6 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of the relationship between Heidi and her father | 3 or 4 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of the relationship between Heidi and her father | 1 or 2 marks |
Sample answer:
Heidi and her father have an unusually close relationship. He spent a huge amount of time taking her from one activity to the next, such as to endless ballet lessons. He even waited outside the disco to pick her up when she was out with friends. She appreciated his protective instincts, but sometimes it got on her nerves.
He was always worried about her welfare. When she drove her VW into a tree at eighteen years old, he bought her an old Mercedes because it was safer. She, of course, thought it was like a tractor and makes a joke of it in the interview. Nevertheless, she obviously felt protected and loved.
When she was fourteen, her father worked for a cosmetics company and used to bring her perfume and makeup. She thought he was really cool for doing this, particularly at a time when her friends weren't allowed to wear makeup at all. This demonstrates how close they were and how he related to her at her own level.
Her father didn't always allow her to do what she wanted, however. She had to leave the disco at midnight on the dot, which she found ridiculous at sixteen. He also insisted that she finish her HSC before taking up an offer as a professional model because he was worried that if her modelling career didn't work out, she would have no school qualifications. Both examples show how her father was thinking about what was best for her. She actually agreed that he was right in the second example, probably because she could see that he had her future best interests at heart.
Her father still treats her as his little girl, even though she is twenty six but she enjoys it. When she is away, she hides little notes around the house for her father to find later, signing them "your little Heidi", showing a loving, close relationship.
Total: 6 marks
Task 2
Question a)
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a perceptive understanding of the type of person Wolfgang is, with detailed reference to the text | 4 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of the type of person Wolfgang is, with reference to the text | 2 or 3 marks |
| Gives some information about the type of person Wolfgang is | 1 mark |
Sample answer:
Stefanie describes Wolfgang as good-natured, a sometimes serious but humorous person. They laugh a lot together.
He is sensitive: pictures of war and the death and suffering of people he doesn't know touch him greatly. He didn't have a happy childhood. He didn't know his own father and he had to look after himself. However, he doesn't speak about that much, so it would seem that he is quite a private person. Stefanie feels that she is living his childhood dreams. Given that he is not the sort of person to speak about his innermost feelings directly to the person that they concern, he doesn't actually tell his daughter that he is proud of her, but she reads about it in magazine interviews.
He is, however, a good communicator in other ways. Stefanie and he talk about everything and anything except boys (she talks to her mother about them) and politics (he talks to his friends).
Question b)
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates an excellent understanding of what is unusual in their relationship | 3 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of what is unusual in their relationship | 2 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of what is unusual in their relationship | 1 mark |
Sample answer:
They often go to the ice rink together at night or to the port, where they talk about anything and everything (except boys and politics). Most fifteen year olds would not go out with their father on a social basis or want to speak freely about most topics.
Stefanie thinks it's great when he is around - he gives her strength and that she wouldn't swap him for anyone else. She is able to rely on him. It is very unusual for a teenager to enjoy their parent's company to this extent. She doesn't really talk about any negatives in their relationship (except his bad handwriting) and is wholeheartedly positive - again, a rare situation in a young person's life.
Total: 7 marks
Task 3
Tips and hints
In this question you are required to read a scholarship advertisement. You have to show you understand this written text by identifying and analysing the relevant information contained in it. You then have to write an appropriate response of 150—200 words in German.
The question provided you with:
- a purpose: a scholarship application
- a context: a piece of writing about
yourself, containing all the necessary information
- an audience: the people giving the scholarship
To answer this question you should base the letter on yourself and your reasons for wanting the scholarship. You could start immediately by introducing yourself and continuing with the information required by the advertisement.
In response to the questions, comments and statements made in the letter, your answer should include:
- a bit of background about yourself. The letter asked
you to say "etwas von dir und deinem
Leben". You would therefore have limited
yourself to the details you considered to be the most
relevant and interesting, rather than giving your complete
life history
- why you are learning German
- your extra-curricular involvement at school
- why you want to go to Germany
- a comment on what you could contribute in your role as an exchange student.
Although the points given follow the order in which the issues were raised in the text, you do not necessarily have to use the same order in your response. However, you must ensure that your answer flows logically.
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