Posted in Advanced C1, Writing Classes

C1 Advanced Essay Task: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

How To Reduce The Carbon Footprint? | World Culture Network

This is a writing task for C1 students preparing for the Cambridge Advanced exam. Download the handout below:

Task

Your class has recently taken part in a debate on ways individual citizens can reduce their carbon footprints in order to combat climate change. Below are three of the methods discussed and some quotes from people who took part in the debate.

  • Changing our diets
  • Changing travel habits
  • Changing our shopping habits

Comments:

“Going vegetarian or vegan would be so hard for me, I couldn’t live without meat or cheese!”

“Airplanes and cars pollute so much, I cycle to work and try not to fly too often.”

“Fast fashion is terrible for the planet, people buy cheap clothes and sometimes don’t even wear them!”

Write an essay discussing two of the methods in your notes. You should explain which method you think is most realistic for most people and give reasons to support your argument. You may, if you wish, make use of the opinions expressed in the debate but you should use your own words as far as possible. Write your essay in 220-260 words in an appropriate style.

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

C1/C2: A Priceless Family Heirloom

Turning Heirloom Jewelry Into a New Design | Jewelry Wise

This is a short text I wrote for C2 students who had to to a proficiency writing on a possession with sentimental value. I haven’t designed a full lesson plan around it yet but it might be useful for other teachers of high levels:

Do you have any possessions that you have inherited from other family members?

Do they have sentimental value to you?

If your house caught fire and you had enough time to save one thing, what would you choose?
My great grandpa’s old stamp collection is a priceless family heirloom that has been handed down from generation to generation. It was his prized possession and he held onto it through thick and thin, travelling the world to collect over 2000 different stamps. Leafing through the pages gives a fascinating insight intoa bygone era. Smelling the pages evokes memories of a seemingly simpler time before all the noise and stress of life in the 21st century. Some would call it a dusty old knick knack but the collection has huge sentimental value to me and has been a source of endless hours of pleasure. It seems that my dad really was a chip off the old block because he has his own collection. This geeky fascination with stamps really seems to run in the family because now my son is crazy about stamps too, I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Apparently a rival collector once offered my dad €200,000 for the collection but he turned it down out of hand. You can’t put a price on that slice of history. Blood really is thicker than water.