What you could not do eight lessons ago
In Lesson 1 you spoke for sixty seconds with no preparation. Say, in one sentence, what you would do differently if you did that minute again today.
One question before the assessment starts.
1. The A2 can-do statement for this unit is: introduce myself in one to two minutes, covering name, origin, work or study, family and free time. Which part are you least sure of?
Eighty words, written
The spoken piece you have rehearsed. The written one is new — and it is not a transcript.
Model — "About Me", 79 words
My name is Lucia and I am from Córdoba, in Argentina. I have lived in Lisbon for four years. I work for a small furniture company, three days in the office and two at home. I usually start at nine and I always finish at six.
At home there is my partner and a very loud cat. I do not have children. In my free time I run — three or four times a week — and I read crime novels, mostly badly written ones.
Compare this with Lucia's spoken version in Lesson 7. Three things changed.
1. What happened to Hi, I'm Lucia?
2. What happened to I don't have children?
3. What happened to the close, So that's me. Tell me about you.?
Spoken and written are not the same register
What changes when you write it down
| Spoken | Written | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hi, I'm Lucia. | My name is Lucia. | No greeting on a page |
| I don't have… | I do not have… | Contractions thin out |
| badly written ones, honestly | mostly badly written ones | Fillers go |
| So that's me. Tell me about you. | — (nothing) | No turn to hand over |
| and… and… and… | and · but · because | Written English varies its joins |
Match each spoken feature to what happens to it in an 80-word written profile.
Eighty words is short. That is about six sentences. You cannot fit everything, so the choice of what to leave out is part of what is being assessed.
Count as you write. Seventy to ninety is inside the target; a hundred and twenty is not a longer answer, it is a different task.
The two pieces
Speaking first, while you are warm. Writing second.
Task card · Assessment · Portfolio
Two minutes spoken, recorded. Then eighty words written.
Both go into your portfolio. The spoken piece is assessed on the Lesson 7 rubric; the written piece on coverage, accuracy and length.
- Part 1 (8 min). Record two minutes. No notes, no restart. Cover all five areas with more detail than Lesson 7 — not more headings.
- Part 2 (12 min). Write your "About Me" in 70–90 words. Written register: no Hi, few contractions, no fillers, no close.
- Then (2 min). Count your words and write the number at the bottom. If it is outside 70–90, cut or add before you hand it over.
Before you hand the written piece over, proofread it. These are the five errors this unit has been about — check for each one in your own text, then fix these five examples.
1. My mother work in a bank.
2. I go usually to the gym on Fridays.
3. She doesn't has any children.
4. I work in Lisbon since 2019 in an office.
5. I have 34 years.
Against the can-do statements
The longest feedback phase in the unit. This is the assessment conversation, not a formality.
A2 can-do — CEFR 2020 Companion Volume, adapted
| I can… | Not yet | With effort | Comfortably |
|---|---|---|---|
| introduce myself for two minutes without stopping | □ | □ | □ |
| describe my typical day using frequency adverbs | □ | □ | □ |
| ask someone seven different personal questions | □ | □ | □ |
| talk about a third person and keep the -s | □ | □ | □ |
| write 80 words about myself in written register | □ | □ | □ |
Mark yourself honestly, then compare with your teacher's marking. Where you disagree is the interesting part.
1. Two minutes without stopping —
2. Third-person -s under time pressure —
3. Compared with Lesson 1, the biggest change is —
Into the portfolio. Two files: the two-minute recording and the 80-word text. Label them Unit 1 and date them.
You will record the same two minutes again after Unit 4, at the end of the term. Nothing in this course demonstrates progress as plainly as those two recordings side by side.
Into Unit 2
Eight lessons in four pairs. Match each rule to the lesson that taught it.
Unit 2 — My City, My Day. The present simple stays; what changes is that you start describing places rather than people, and the past tense arrives at the end of the unit.
Before Lesson 1 of Unit 2: two more episodes of Easy Stories in English. Note any sentence that describes where something is.