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Personal world:
Sample reading and responding task answers
Task 1.1
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Gives a comprehensive description of Megumi’s house | 2 marks |
| Lists some information about Megumi’s house | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: It’s a two storey house that is narrow/small but the garden has lots of flowers and it’s a pretty house. Her parents’ bedroom is on the first floor and her room is on the second floor. Her room has a big window and she can see the nearby park from it.
Task 1.2
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a perceptive understanding of Megumi’s character with detailed examples from the text | 4 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of Megumi’s character with relevant examples | 3 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of Megumi’s character with some examples | 2 marks |
| Gives some information about Megumi | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: Megumi is not sporty (unlike her friend Michiko) and prefers indoor pursuits such as listening to music and reading.
She values her good friends such as Michiko. This can be seen by the fact that, although Megumi and Michiko go to different schools now and both have a busy lifestyle with after school clubs etc, they keep in constant contact by email and sometimes talk on the phone. They also make the time to go out to the movies or shopping together on the weekend.
Megumi likes people who do not necessarily have the same characteristics that she has. Her friend, Michiko, has completely different hobbies but they are very close.
Megumi appears to be a tidy person, who says that, due to exams, she hasn’t cleaned her room for two weeks, so she intends to do it this Saturday.
She also seems to enjoy looking at nature, as she mentions both the flowers in her garden and the fact that she can see the nearby park from her window.
Task 2
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a perceptive understanding of the mood of the diary entry with detailed, relevant examples from the text | 5 marks |
| Demonstrates an excellent understanding of the mood of the diary entry with detailed examples from the text | 4 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of the mood of the diary entry with relevant examples | 3 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of the mood of the diary entry with examples | 2 marks |
| Gives some information from the diary indicating mood | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: The diary entry is a mixture of anticipation of Sarah’s entry into the family and worry that various problems will occur.
The anticipation can be seen in the fact that she says it will be a good opportunity for her to practise her English conversation; that she is looking forward to meeting Sarah and that it should be a valuable experience for the whole family.
However, the writer is concerned about the home stay in a number of ways: it is the family’s first time hosting and they are worried that their house may compare unfavourably with Sarah’s large house. Similarly, there is the matter of communication, as Sarah has never learnt Japanese and also the writer’s mother is worried about whether Sarah will like the normal Japanese food that they eat or whether she should have specially cooked food. The writer feels that it’s important for Sarah to get accustomed to Japanese life quickly but there is an anxious tone to the whole passage.
Task 3
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Playing the piano and collecting telephone cards | 1 mark |
Task 4.1
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a good understanding of the relationship between the writer and Hiroki Yamada | 3 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of the relationship between the writer and Hiroki Yamada | 2 marks |
| Gives some information about the relationship between the writer and Hiroki Yamada | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: Because they were in the same junior high and baseball club and they had to go through hard training together, they became really good friends.
Despite the fact that they don’t go to the same senior high, the writer still went to some of Yamada’s games and expresses the desire to go to see Yamada play again when he becomes one of the top players in the game.
Sometimes they go out and do karaoke until late at night together.
They may not necessarily be very close now but certainly were when they were at school together. They remain friends.
Task 4.2
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a good understanding of
Hiroki Yamada’s personality
|
3 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of Hiroki Yamada’s personality | 2 marks |
| Gives some information about Hiroki Yamada | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: Hiroki Yamada thrives on challenge. This is shown by the fact that the word “kibishii” is used twice to describe the training that they went through and also how he is “hard on himself”. He strives for excellence and is good enough to become a professional player.
However, on a personal level he is quite the opposite and is described as easygoing, a good raconteur, enjoys karaoke and a good bloke.
Task 5.1
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Lost child announcement | 1 mark |
Task 5.2
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Shows an excellent understanding of the mother’s attitude | 2 marks |
| Shows some understanding of the mother’s attitude | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: She is naturally very concerned at his disappearance but seems overly protective of the boy and has a rather unrealistic and one-eyed view of the child. She claims that he is always good, well-behaved/docile and that today’s wandering off is very unusual. She thinks that he’ll probably be crying. In fact, he is described at all times as almost an angel.
Task 5.3
| Marking Criteria | |
|---|---|
| Demonstrates a perceptive understanding of the relationship between Ichiroo and his older sister with relevant, detailed examples | 4 marks |
| Demonstrates a good understanding of the relationship between Ichiroo and his older sister | 3 marks |
| Demonstrates some understanding of the relationship between Ichiroo and his older sister | 2 marks |
| Gives some information about the relationship between Ichiroo and his older sister | 1 mark |
Sample Answer: The sister seems to have a far more realistic view of her younger brother than the mother does. The mother indicates that the relationship between the siblings is rather competitive (probably because she only has nice things to say about the little boy but criticises the girl): “Don’t say such selfish things. Think about Ichiroo a bit more.” The older sister doesn’t want to do anything when the mother first indicates that Ichiroo is lost, inferring that this is probably not the first time it has happened and that the mother is making a mountain out of a molehill. She contradicts her mother’s assertion that he is always well-behaved by saying that he’s always noisy and that she’s sure that he’s playing somewhere in the toy department. She is, in fact, proven correct, as he returns with a toy.
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