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Cultural life:
sample reading and responding task answers
Task 2
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a perceptive understanding of the social and cultural significance of New Year in Japan and Australia with detailed supporting evidence | 5 marks |
| Demonstrates an excellent understanding of the social and cultural significance of New Year in Japan and Australia with supporting evidence | 4 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of the social and cultural significance of New Year in Japan and Australia with supporting examples | 3 marks |
| Attempts to compare New Year in Australia and Japan with some supporting examples | 2 marks |
| Lists some examples of New Year celebrations from the passage | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: New Year in Australia is basically a holiday and a time to catch up with family. There are no special preparations involved but some people use this time to make New Year’s resolutions i.e. to start anew.
In Japan, on the other hand, New Year is a very important 3 day festival. Firstly, a great deal of preparation is necessary prior to New Year such as making traditional food and cleaning the house. The cleaning, for example, cannot be done on New Year itself, as, if you clean, you could sweep up the good luck which has come into the house with the New Year.
Next, on New Year’s Eve, families go out and visit local temples and listen to the temple bells which are rung 108 times.
Thus, in Japan, New Year has a far greater social and cultural significance both in preparation and due to tradition.
Task 3
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates an excellent understanding of whether Helen would want to repeat her kimono experience, using supporting evidence | 4 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of whether Helen would want to repeat her kimono experience, using supporting evidence | 3 marks |
| Attempts to justify whether Helen would want to repeat her kimono experience with some supporting examples | 2 marks |
| Lists some associated facts about kimono from the passage | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: I don’t think that Helen would want to repeat her experience of wearing a kimono, even though initially she is very happy to get the opportunity to try one on.
When she first puts it on, she is surprised that there are so many cords needed and that it was heavy and tight. Even so, when her host mother is worried that she doesn’t like it, she replies that she’s really thrilled to be able to wear such a pretty kimono and that she was just surprised at how difficult it was to put on.
However, as the conversation continues, we hear more negatives coming to the fore. She finds out that there are even schools for Japanese people that teach how to put on kimono and then discovers that walking in a kimono is an art in itself. She is aghast that there are still more difficulties involved, and thus I do not believe that she would want to wear it again.
Task 4.1
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a good understanding of the aim of the article | 2 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of the aim of the article | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: to identify the growing trend towards more car ownership but to highlight the dangers that this brings – namely car/traffic accidents in both Australia and Japan.
Task 4.2
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a perceptive understanding of how successfully the author argues his case with detailed, relevant examples | 5 marks |
| Demonstrates an excellent understanding of how successfully the author argues his case using supporting evidence | 4 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of how successfully the author argues his case using supporting evidence | 3 marks |
| Attempts to demonstrate how successfully the author argues his case with some supporting examples | 2 marks |
| Lists some associated facts about car accidents from the passage | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: The author is most successful in presenting his case through the use of logic and by presenting both the positives and negatives of car ownership.
Firstly, the reasons for increased car ownership are given in a factual manner: cars these days are easier to drive and even less skilled drivers can manage to drive easily, as well as the fact that having one’s own car has become a common dream of many young people.
The next section outlines statistics to demonstrate how significantly the number of cars on the road has increased (30 years ago about 20 cars to every 1,000 people whereas now the figure has jumped to 400 cars to every 1,000 people). The use of the word shika emphasises the difference between the 2 statistics.
The second paragraph delves into the negatives of increased car ownership - accidents. It does acknowledge the advantages – convenience, and, in doing so, gives the impression of airing both sides of the argument. The bulk of the paragraph deals with the different situations in Japan and Australia that cause accidents. Japanese drivers must be careful because the roads are narrow and there are many bicycles. Accidents often occur in Japan when people speed and cannot turn corners, and at intersections where they crash into motorbikes and other vehicles. In Australia, on the other hand, due to the great distances between towns, drivers get tired and fall asleep, crashing into other cars and trees. Again, all of this information is written quite factually, without emotive words.
The last paragraph sums up the author’s message: that cars have become such an important part of our lives that we cannot do without them but that traffic accidents are a real problem. He leaves the details of a solution to the reader.
Task 5
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a perceptive understanding of the impact that other religions have on Japanese life with detailed, relevant examples from the passage | 5 marks |
| Demonstrates an excellent understanding of the impact that other religions have on Japanese life using supporting evidence from the passage | 4 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of the impact that other religions have on Japanese life using supporting examples from the passage | 3 marks |
| Attempts to demonstrate the impact that other religions have on Japanese life using supporting examples from the passage | 2 marks |
| Lists some associated facts about religions from the passage | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: It’s really hard to answer the question: “What do Japanese people believe in?” The Japanese may believe in either Shintoism or Buddhism but don’t make it a practice to visit shrines or temples regularly. Thus, daily life is, perhaps, not greatly affected but festivals and celebrations throughout the year owe a lot to different religions.
Perhaps Buddhism is more widely held to than Shintoism. Certainly, the most widely celebrated festival is Obon in August.
You can distinguish between temples and shrines quite easily: temples have statues of Buddha, incense and various food offerings to the gods, whereas shrines have big, red gates (torii) and you pray to the gods by throwing money in and clapping your hands.
Only 0.07% of the population is Christian but Christian events have become part of Japanese life: church weddings in a wedding dress; Christmas trees; giving children Christmas presents and having a party.
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