Specimen Paper Answers – Paper 1

Question 3
Re-read Text C, The Gift, in the insert and then answer Question 3 on this question paper.

You are the grandfather. Some years later you are interviewed about your memories of that night for a radio
programme about local history. The interviewer asks you the following three questions:

• What did you see and feel during your journeys through the city that night?
• What do you remember of your granddaughter’s behaviour and reactions that night?
• What were your reasons for taking your granddaughter out that night and what do you think she gained from
the experience?

Write the words of the interview.

Base your interview on what you have read in Text C, but be careful to use your own words.
Address each of the three bullet points.
Begin your interview with the first question.
Write about 250 to 350 words.

Up to 15 marks are available for the content and 10 marks for the quality of your writing.

Specimen answer
Interviewer: During your journey, what did you and your granddaughter see and feel that night?

Grand Father: After I had woken her up and convinced her to follow me, we left the house and
walked out of our street. I was unaware of the cold- due to my excitement - I could see my
granddaughter was cold but did not want her to miss this chance so hurried along. The streets
were dark, empty and completely soundless. It was almost as if the night was paused, then I heard
the melancholy grunt of the elephant I had seen earlier at the train station. I quickly pointed it out
to her and she looked startled, yet excited. We gazed in wonder at the man and animal as they
crept along with its paintbrush tail and leathered skin. Even in the depth of midnight we knew
what it was, even though my granddaughter wanted to tell people immediately, I didn’t let it
effect the mystical events of that night.

Interviewer: How did she react to seeing the elephant?

Grandfather: At first she seemed angry that I was dragging her from comfort but that soon
changed to confusion. She was puzzled. After she had come to grips of course she wanted to prove
it happened to her friends; children eh? Yet I could see that this would be a night she would always
remember.

Interviewer: Why did you take your granddaughter out? What did you hope she would gain?

Cambridge IGCSE First Language English 0500 13

Grandfather: It was my birthday gift to her. You need to remember there was a war on so there
were no parties or presents. It was a moment that we could share, just the two of us were up. She
would learn what a strange and sometimes marvellous world we live in but most importantly that
not every experience should be shared. Somethings are deeply kept secrets, not for malicious but
personal reasons. She will always know what she saw, only she will know. This would be a turning
point in her life where she would be happy with knowing what she knows, yet not always feeling
the need to tell other people. I felt as though this was an imperative skill for her to learn before
adulthood; who knows how many more opportunities I will get like this one to teach her my old
ways. [25]

Examiner comments
This is a successful answer with a strong sense of purpose and approach. The task invited candidates to
demonstrate their skills and understanding by using and modifying ideas from Natalia’s narrative account of the
night’s events to present them from her grandfather’s point of view as he reflected on them years later. The
question encouraged candidates to show that they could do more than just repeat or retell events from the text and
this response picks up on some more subtle details and hints in the passage to provide a convincing and
consistent response from the grandfather’s perspective. There is evidence that the ideas have been planned
beforehand. For example, at the end of the passage we learn that the event took place during a war – a time when
life would have been hard for children and adults – and ideas from the passage have been developed with that in
mind.
Each of the interviewer’s questions have been addressed, though by changing the wording of two of the questions
the candidate has inadvertently made the task more difficult for themselves. For example, in bullet two the
interviewer’s question as set asks, ‘What do you remember of your granddaughter’s behaviour and reactions that
night?’ This invites candidates to look back at the whole episode, opening up a wider range of potentially relevant
ideas, not as this candidate’s answer suggests just how she reacted ‘to seeing the elephant’.
Occasionally, the chance to include details from the text has been missed – for example, rather than describing
the elephant’s ‘paintbrush tail’ it might have been better to use one of the details about the animal from the
passage as further evidence of close reading. However, there is a wide range of relevant ideas in response to all
three bullets of the question evidencing a thorough analysis of the text.
The language of the response sounds convincing – we believe that Natalia’s grandfather is talking to a more
modern audience and explaining events for their benefit. Spelling, punctuation and grammar are almost always
accurate with ideas firmly expressed.
Total marks awarded = Reading 15 out of 15
Writing 10 out of 10

14 Cambridge IGCSE First Language English 0500