Question 1

You are taking part in a fitness challenge which involves walking 10000 steps every day. You
have
decided to write a blog about the experience.
a)Write the text for your first blog entry, using no more than 400 words. In your writing, create a
sense of enthusiasm for the challenge and encourage others to take part too.
a) Hello to all my lovely fitness enthusiasts (or couch potatoes looking to move their body, we
don’t discriminate!)
I recently decided to take part of a 10 thousand step daily challenge and it all started with grocery
bags. Now your probably confused, grocery bags? What do they have to do with exercise? Well
it was unpacking those grocery bags that led to the out of breath, drenched in sweat mess that
was me. And it was then that I realized I was in worse health then I thought, while ive been
trying to be more active I was completely neglecting other parts of my health like my stamina ,
instead focusing on weight training.
This wasn’t unintentional, I like many other people HATE cardio, topped with the fact I have
asthma and couldn’t do intense cardio like running without dealing with pretty annoying
consequences, I had no clue what to do. I needed a low intensity, effective and easy to implement
exercise that I can squeeze in to my routine.
That’s when I saw it: an article about the effects of simply walking more.
THIS WAS IT! The solution to my problem, through the article I found out the crazy benefits
that come through walking ten thousand steps daily, including and not limited to: improving joint
health
Boosting mood and brain function, improving cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, and
body composition, reducing stress, and boosting overall mood.
It was too good to be true.
So I started changing things in my routine like taking 30 minute daily walks and opting to walk
to places whenever I could.
The first few days it was hard to be consistent, and I learnt a week in to the challenge to stretch
out your muscles and do some ankle exercises to prevent soreness. This challenge taught me
things I didn’t know about my body, for example I have really weak ankles.
Every day I tried to meet the 10 thousand step goal, and by week two I could see and feel slight
changes in myself. My energy was boosted, my days would normally be more productive when
id walk first thing in the morning and day by day I was getting less fatigued.
By week three I started encouraging my family to join and by week four I knew that this little
habit was one id never let go of. For such a simple thing it really made a difference, and while it
didn’t fix every problem in my life (because lets be realistic here) it definitely helped.
So I encourage you to just try and walk more often, and while it may be hard at first, the benefits
far out way the cost.
b) The blog starts by greeting the audience setting a friendly and personal tone. It introduces the
topic of deciding to take part for a ten thousand step challenge then rewinds and uses an anecdote
to give context as to how and why they have decided to do so.
The blog progresses from presenting the problem to finding the solution, finally doing the
challenge then reflecting and giving the audience feedback. Using paragraphs to switch through
topics and walk us through the chronological journey in a clear and concise manner.
The text uses personal pronouns and directly addresses the audience e,g the repetitive use of
“you” the tone is upbeat chatty and inclusive, making the reader feel as though they are a friend
joining on this challenge and creating emotional resonance.
The purpose of the text is to encourage the audience (fitness enthusiasts or aspiring fitness
enthusiasts) to take part of this challenge, this can be seen through the content which uses
positive language like “it was to good to be true” , mentioning factual evidence to enhance
credibility and then including their personal experience and giving positive feedback.
The blog has a humorous undertone and uses rhetorical questions such as “grocery bags? What
do they have to do with exercise?” to keep the readers engaged. Descriptions like “out of breath,
drenched in sweat mess” create vivid imagery and depict a vulnerability that allows intimacy
between the reader and writer. Throughout the text the writer reinforces this vulnerability by
saying things like “I had no clue what to do.” And relates to the audience using phrases such as I
like many other people HATE cardio,”
The use of capitalized phrases like “THIS WAS IT!” create a sense of excitement and
anticipation alongside adding to the visual appeal of the blog.
Furthermore, punctuation used like colons allows the writer to list certain benefits in a clear and
easily comprehensible way, the inclusion of exclamation marks creates an upbeat jovial tone that
appeals to the readers and keeps them interested.
Language and positive adjectives such as “crazy benefits”, “boosted”, and “effective and easy”
help encourage and persuade the readers to try out the challenge.
Additionally, the writer creates a welcoming atmosphere by starting the text by saying “we don’t
discriminate!”
Finally the blog ends by encouraging readers to try out the challenge, providing a conclusion for
their thoughts by saying “the benefits far out way the costs”
Question 3
[25]
You recently read a newspaper article which said that young people should get jobs after leaving
school, rather than go to university. You decide to write a letter to the editor, in response to this
article, giving your opinion. Write between 600 and 900 words
Dear editor,
I’m writing this in regard to the article written about how young people should get jobs after
leaving school, rather than go to university. And I just want to preface this by saying I thought it
was wonderfully written, I agree with some of the points written and I believe it was written with
good intentions. However, the overlying message could be damaging, here’s why:
While I agree that the academical system is flawed and isn’t suitable for everyone, there is no
debate that a university degree has become a necessity rather than a recommendation when it
comes to job applications. While this may have been different in the past it is unfortunately not
anymore. There is an influx of people fighting tooth and nail for jobs and the majority have some
sort of higher education, in a line up of these people it would be illogical to choose someone
without a degree.
While I believe -similar to you- that intelligence goes far beyond our academic system, society
unfortunately uses these systems as a metric for intelligence, this “metric” tries to make
intelligence and skill tangible, when in truth they are the farthest thing from. We cannot limit
intelligence but that is the basis that our society works on, and it is the basis that will get you
employment in our current day life.
Now let’s put in to account the benefits that you are so clearly ignoring about getting a university
degree, while the knowledge taught can be easily learnt outside the university walls, the
connections made cannot be reiterated. Sometimes those connections will get you further in life
than anything you learn inside the confines of a classroom.
The point is, a university degree might not be the be all and end all of a successful life, but the
lack of one could do more harm than good.
And I hear your argument, skipping university gives you more time to focus on your more
ambitious goals like starting a business or climbing up the company ladder to become some
insanely successful business tycoon, sadly that only works for a select few, so putting it out there
as the secret of life for hundreds of people to view and implement can be insanely damaging. The
truth is these things are set to only work for a select few.
Society cannot be maintained if everyone is a millionaire, there is a reason they are called the
one percent, they are meant to be only confined to 1 percent.
Ambition is a beautiful thing to have but there are thousands of people whose ambitions have led
them astray; you just don’t hear about them. While this might be seen as a pessimistic view, it is
simply realistic.
So encourage people to get that university degree, if not just to act as a safety net so that they can
then go on to work on all their dreams and ambitions without the constant worry of living a life
of poverty in a world that runs on money.
However, I’m not saying that you cannot fail in life with a university degree, again it is not some
magical solution to all of life’s problems. The person you are and the intelligence you have
beyond a degree alongside your charisma play a huge role too.
Not everyone has the luxury to ditch the university degree similarly to how not everyone has the
luxury to GET a university degree.
So I urge you to rethink the message you spread to young impressionable teenagers, especially
ones already doubting everything around them and expected to be thrown in to a harsh
unyielding world after being taken cared of their whole lives. While one lucky kid might
flourish, 100 others could plumet.
People tend to forget the other side of the phrase “education isn’t for everyone” because it
indicates that it IS for some people: that some people flourish under the academical system set
out for us.
Best regards