Your four sections
Say your four section headings out loud. Then say which one has the most in it.
One decision before you write.
1. A hundred and fifty words across four sections. How much is that each?
A model, and the rubric
Model — 147 words
I manage a team of six at a logistics company. Most of my week goes on scheduling: I work out who is going where, and I fix it when it goes wrong, which is most days.
This month is not normal. Two of my six are on leave, so I am covering the routes myself, and I am training a new supervisor as well. That takes about two hours a day.
We are also rolling out new tracking software. It went live on Monday and nobody has complained, which never happens with these things.
The part I do not enjoy is the backlog. We are about three weeks behind and I know we will catch up in February, but I do not like looking at it.
I like the job. I do not always like this particular month.
The rubric — four criteria
| Criterion | What it means | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Tense choice | Simple for permanent, continuous for temporary, simple for states | 30% |
| Specificity | Numbers, names of things, real detail — not "I work in an office" | 25% |
| Collocation | The fixed pairs, not translated ones | 25% |
| Length | 140–160 words, counted and written at the bottom | 20% |
Compare the written model with Vera's spoken version in Lesson 5.
1. What happened to the section headings — What I normally do?
2. What happened to the signposts — Normally… but this week…?
3. The last two lines are eleven words. What are they doing?
4. How many tense switches are there in 147 words?
Spoken update → written piece
What changes
| Spoken | Written | Why |
|---|---|---|
| What I normally do… | a new paragraph | Paragraphs signal sections on a page |
| Normally… but this week… | This month is not normal. | Signposts get absorbed into sentences |
| you know · sort of · I mean | — (cut) | Fillers do not survive writing |
| and… and… and… | and · but · because · which | Written English varies its joins |
| three jobs and none of them properly | kept | A good line is a good line in both |
| It is really really busy. | That takes about two hours a day. | Judgement becomes a number |
Match each spoken feature to what happens to it in 150 written words.
A hundred and fifty words is about ten sentences. You cannot describe your whole job. Choosing what to leave out is part of what is assessed.
Tighten four sentences
Four vague sentences. Rewrite each with a number, a name, or a real detail.
1. I work in an office.
2. It is really busy at the moment.
3. We are doing a new project.
4. We are quite behind.
Write the verb in brackets in the right tense. This is the model's second paragraph, gapped.
This month (not / be) normal. Two of my six (be) on leave, so I (cover) the routes myself, and I (train) a new supervisor as well. That (take) about two hours a day. I (not / mind) the training. I (mind) doing three jobs at once.
Write it, swap it, guess
Task card · Writing and speaking
"What I Do", 150 words, then somebody who has never met you reads it.
Four paragraphs, 140–160 words. Then your reader says what they think your job involves, from the page alone.
- Write (12 min). What you normally do; what is different at the moment; one thing going well; one that is not.
- Proofread (3 min). Start with the one error you chose at the end of Lesson 6. Count the words and write the number at the bottom.
- Swap (2 min). Read your partner's piece once, carefully.
- Guess (3 min). Say three things about their working life they never wrote — how big the company is, whether they like their boss, how stressed they are. Then find out how close you were.
Proofreading checklist. Answer about your own page.
1. Every continuous verb — is it genuinely temporary?
2. Any state verbs in the continuous?
3. Every third-person verb in the simple — does it have its -s?
What they guessed
Your reader's three guesses are the feedback. Whatever they got right, your detail carried. Whatever they could not guess is where you were generic.
Write their three guesses at the bottom of your page. Next lesson you write the final version.
Answer from what your reader guessed.
1. How many of their guesses were close?
2. Could they tell how you feel about the job?
3. What did they ask about that you left out?
Before the unit task
One question.
1. What replaces It is really busy at the moment?
Before Lesson 8. Keep your draft and the three guesses. Do not rewrite it tonight.
Next lesson you also record a 90-second spoken professional introduction — the kind you would give at a conference. Same content, different medium, and it is not a reading of the page.