Extracting information from

1.2 personal writing

Learning objectives Checkpoint progress test
7Rx1; 7Rx2 • Paper 1, Section A

Differentiated learning outcomes Resources

• Lower: All students must skim a whole story to work out the • Student Book: pp. 10–13
writer’s ‘big idea’.
• Worksheet: 1.2
• Mid: Most students should find key words in a starter
sentence that give clues about the ‘big idea’. • PPT: 1.2
• High: Some students could scan a story to find ‘small • Workbook links: Unit 1.2, pp. 7–8
points’ that link to the ‘big idea’.

Introducing the skills

Remind students that when writing about an event, place or person, writers choose to focus on
different things. Their choice is usually linked to the overall message (the ‘big idea’). They may
exclude other information if it does not correspond to this point of view. For example, if
someone is writing about a ruthless tyrant, they may choose to exclude the fact that this person
was kind to their own children.
Ask students to write ten pieces of information about themselves in a bullet-point list.
They should then swap their lists with a partner, who should write one sentence summarising
the writer based on the information in the list. For example:
This person is very adventurous and particularly likes playing sport.
Are students surprised at the conclusions their partners have drawn based on the information
they provided?

Give extra challenge by asking some students to write three additional pieces of information
about their partner that give a different impression of them from the one they summarised
based on the original list.

Show students slide 1 of PowerPoint 1.2 to remind them of the key terms for this topic. They
could copy these into their books to refer to as needed.
Students should then read the description of Mrs Pratchett on page 10 of the Student Book and
complete Questions 1 and 2. Go through the correct answers as a class, taking time to discuss
why the statements are true or false according to the information provided by the writer.
When students have completed Question 3, talk together about the different pieces of Cambridge Checkpoint English
information (‘small points’) they have chosen that helped them decide on the writer’s point of
view. Use slide 2 to show students how they can scan for words in the text that help describe
the writer’s point of view, using the example given (‘loathsome’). Remember, scanning is used
to find specific information in a text. In this instance, students are not looking for a particular
word, they are looking for describing words linked to the idea of the character being ‘loathsome’.
This means that all the words they find should contain some description linked to the big idea
that the writer does not like Mrs Pratchett. Students should check the words they have chosen
against slide 3.

Developing the skills

Before students complete Question 4, remind them that the purpose of a starter sentence is to
give the reader a clue about the content of a story before they start reading it.
The starter sentence in Question 5 suggests that the text will be about the writer’s experience of
being poor. Before moving on to Question 6, ask students to write down all the things they
associate with being poor. Then, as they skim the text they will more easily pick out relevant
Stage 7

information based on the clues in the starter sentence. Remind them that skimming is quickly
moving your eyes over a text to get a general understanding of its content without reading every
single word.

© HarperCollinsPublishers 2016 1.2 Extracting information from personal writing • 5

 Give extra support by providing key categories for students to link with the idea of being
poor, such as ‘clothes’, ‘home’, ‘food’.

Once they have completed Questions 7 and 8, students should use Worksheet 1.2 to consider
in more depth how descriptive words are used to link to a big idea. To match the words to the
starter sentences, they will need to work out what big idea the writer is going to present in the
rest of the story.

Give extra challenge by asking students to choose one of the starter sentences from
Worksheet 1.2, and then carry on the paragraph, using appropriate words for the big idea.

Applying the skills

Discuss students’ thoughts on the big idea and small points in Questions 9 and 10. Notes like
this can be used as preparation for an extended piece of writing. Display the sample student
paragraphs on slide 4, which have been written using small points. Using their own small points,
students should work in pairs to decide which paragraph gives the most accurate representation
of the extract and why.
Feed back to the class, explaining that the first response has understood the general idea that
the boarding school seems like a harsh place that the writer is unlikely to enjoy. However, it
makes assumptions about the writer’s feelings, such as that he ‘misses home’. This is not
mentioned in the text.

Give extra support by directing students to link the comments made in the sample
responses with relevant points in the text.
Give extra challenge by asking students to change or add any comments of their own that
they think would improve either of the responses.

Plenary Use slide 5 to check students’ learning about how to extract information from texts.
Read the statements aloud one by one. Students should go to one of four corners of the room
(marked with each of the titles as indicated) or write their answer on a mini-whiteboard or
piece of paper to hold up. Alternatively, they could put their hand up when you call out the
one that corresponds to their idea.
Note that the answers are not necessarily exactly right or wrong. There is opportunity here for
discussion about each one, especially in cases where students have given different
responses to one another.
Cambridge Checkpoint English
Stage 7

4 • 1.2 Extracting information from personal writing © HarperCollinsPublishers 2016