My C1 students recently completed a mock writing exam in class and I realised some glaring flaws in their approach to the task. The main issues I observed were a lack of planning which led to a lack of coherence in their arguments and no logical throughline. So I designed this activity based on a model answer to offer them some more support.
Students will analyse a model answer to the task, then try to reverse engineer the writer’s plan/brainstorm. They will then focus on useful language for the task and then repeat the planning phase for a similar task. The idea is to model what I expect students to do in the first 5 minutes of the exam: plan out what they want to express then brainstorm advanced language to express it.
Download the student handout and teacher’s notes below: