Candidates produce a piece of writing of 120–200 words in the modern language, using detailed language, based on one of the following contexts: society, learning or culture. Candidates may refer to other contexts in their writing if they wish.

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This assignment–writing is worth 20 marks out of a total of 120 marks available for the course assessment.

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Writing practice is part of normal class activities in the National 5 Modern Languages course. The assignment–writing is another opportunity to do this, with this piece of writing counting towards your final grade.

 

The purpose of the assignment–writing is to improve your writing, and develop techniques for checking accuracy and understanding how the language works.

 

You produce a draft piece of writing and aim to improve it by using the feedback and support provided by your teacher or lecturer. You should aim to produce your best writing by the end of the process.

 

Process and degree of supervision:

•  Your teacher or lecturer will tell you which reference materials you may use during the process of producing your assignment–writing.

• You will produce your assignment–writing over a period of time. You will have a maximum of two occasions on which to work on your writing (one initial draft and one final version).

• You will produce the assignment–writing in class time under the supervision of your teacher or lecturer.

• You must sign your work to confirm the assignment–writing is your own work.

• Your school or college will send the assignment–writing to SQA for marking. There will be a deadline for this, which you will be given well in advance.

• You will not be awarded any marks if you do not produce an assignment–writing in the modern language.

 

Main points about the assignment–writing:

• You should aim to use detailed language. You may want to use the language structures and vocabulary you have learned in listening and reading activities in the National 5 course.

• You will write on one of the following contexts: society, learning, culture.

• You should express your ideas and opinions.

• You will choose a topic stimulus in English (bullet points to write about or questions/statements to respond to) and the content of your writing should be relevant to the context and title. 

• You do not have to cover all the bullet points, and you may add other information as long as it is relevant to the title.

• The piece of writing should be of 120–200 words in the modern language.

• Your writing should be focused and structured and you should write in paragraphs.

• You should check the accuracy of your work at all stages.

 

Your writing will be marked in terms of three aspects: 

• content

• accuracy

• language resource

 

Example 1

French - Culture: Tourism in my region/area

 

An online tourist forum requests contributions for opinions on Scotland. The forum asks members living in Scotland to write about their own town/area.

 

Write 120–200 words in French. You could include:

•  where your town/region is situated

• what it is like, why you like it/good points and bad points

• the weather

• areas or sites of interest for visitors/tourists

• any tourist information and useful advice for coming to Scotland

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Example 2

Italian - Learning: My school

 

Recently, your school has been twinned with a school in Italy. You have been asked to describe your own school for your twin school’s online magazine.

 

Write 120–200 words in Italian. You could include: 

• details about your school — building, students, etc

• why you like it/dislike it/good points and bad points and reasons why

• what you would like to change in your school