Your four sections
Say your four section headings out loud. Four words each, maximum. Then say which one you have most to say about.
One decision before you write.
1. A hundred and twenty words across four sections. How much is that per section?
A model, and the rubric
Model — 118 words
My grandmother's house stood in a village ninety kilometres inland. It had two rooms downstairs and a yard with a fig tree older than the house itself.
We went every July and August until I was sixteen. My brother and I slept in the same room for eleven summers and never argued once.
In 1994 the river flooded. The water reached the second step, and we spent two days upstairs eating whatever was in the house. I was nine and I thought it was the best thing that had ever happened. My grandmother did not speak for a week.
They sold the house in 2006. I drove past four years ago and stopped for ten minutes. The fig tree is still there. I did not knock.
The rubric — four criteria
| Criterion | What it means | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | Four sections, roughly balanced, in a defensible order | 25% |
| Specificity | Dates, numbers, named things — not "very important to me" | 25% |
| Past-tense accuracy | Irregular forms, once-per-clause marking, -ed spelling | 30% |
| Length | 110–130 words, counted and written at the bottom | 20% |
Compare the written model with Teresa's spoken version in Lesson 5.
1. What happened to the section openers — What and where, When I was there?
2. What happened to which I still find strange?
3. The last four words are still I did not knock. Why keep that?
4. How many past-tense verbs are in 118 words?
Spoken narrative → written narrative
What changes
| Spoken | Written | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One thing I remember is… | a new paragraph | Paragraphs signal sections on a page |
| which I still find strange | — (cut) | 120 words has no room for asides |
| and… and… and… | and · but · because · which | Written English varies its joins |
| sort of · about · you know | — (cut) | Fillers do not survive writing |
| It was really, really old. | older than the house itself | Repetition becomes comparison |
| It was very important to me. | I did not knock. | Show the fact, not the feeling |
Match each spoken feature to what happens to it in 120 written words.
Show the fact, not the feeling. It was very important to me tells the reader nothing they can picture. I drove past four years ago and stopped for ten minutes tells them everything, and never uses the word important.
This is the single biggest difference between an A2 piece that reads well and one that does not, and it costs no extra grammar.
Tighten four sentences
Four sentences that tell the feeling instead of showing the fact. Rewrite each one as something a reader could picture.
1. The house was very old.
2. I was very happy there.
3. The village was very small.
4. It was a very long journey.
One word per gap. This is the model's third paragraph, gapped — past forms and joins.
In 1994 the river . The water the second step, we two days upstairs eating whatever in the house. I nine I thought it was the best thing that had ever happened. My grandmother not speak for a week.
Write it, swap it, question it
Task card · Writing and speaking
"A Place That Matters to Me", 120 words, then somebody else reads it.
Four sections, 110–130 words, at least eight past-tense verbs of which five are irregular. Then answer three questions from your reader.
- Write (10 min). Four short paragraphs. No very, no important, no fillers.
- Proofread (3 min). Start with the one error you chose at the end of Lesson 6. Then count the words and write the number at the bottom.
- Swap (2 min). Read your partner's piece once, carefully.
- Question (5 min). Three questions each, all in the past simple. Ask about what is not on the page — the gaps are the interesting part.
Proofreading checklist. Answer about your own page.
1. How many irregular past forms did you use?
2. Any sentence with did or didn't — is the main verb bare?
3. Did you write the word very anywhere?
What they asked about
The three questions your reader asked are the feedback. Each one marks a gap — something you assumed the reader knew, or left out because you ran out of words.
Write the three questions at the bottom of your page. Next lesson you write the final version, and answering them is how it gets better.
Answer from the three questions you were asked.
1. What were most of their questions about?
2. Could you answer them in the past simple, out loud, without stopping?
Before the unit task
One question.
1. What replaces It was very important to me?
Before Lesson 8. Keep your draft and the three questions. Do not rewrite it tonight — the final version is written in the lesson, and a rewritten-at-home version measures your evening, not your English.
Watch the English Like A Native short video on past-tense storytelling. Note one thing the presenter does that you do not.