Skills for Life Level 1 Writing Non-academic Reports teachers

notes
Description
This activity examines simple non-academic reports at Level 1 and looks specifically at
identifying what is required and structuring simple reports. Students assess sample reports,
and write a report based on a task taken from a past test.
Time required:

40 minutes

Materials
required:

Students Worksheet 1 (one copy for each student)

Students Worksheet 2 (one copy for each student)

Aims:

to familiarise students with simple non-academic report writing

tasks and what is expected of them

to assess sample reports

to practise writing reports

Procedure
1. Establish that one of the text types students may have to write in their Skills for Life
Writing exam is a report. Discuss if anyone has read or written a report, in their own
language or English, at work or college. Together, establish the key features of
written reports to reach a definition (a document giving factual information, which
may also make suggestions or recommendations. It is clearly organised and may
include headings.)
2. Give out Students Worksheet 1. Establish that this is a particular type of report in
which the writer reports back on an event or incident. Discuss if anyone has ever
needed to write this type of report, e.g. when reporting a crime, an item of lost
property, etc. Point out that this is a Task 1 question, so all candidates must answer
it. In this lesson, you will be looking at this type of report writing task.
3. Ask them to look at the sample task and ask the following questions:
a. Who is the report for?
b. What points should you include in the report?
c. Should your writing style be informal, formal or somewhere in between?
d. How many words should you write?
e. How many minutes should you take?
f. How many marks does this question have?
g. Can you remember (from the Overview activity) the total number of marks?
(See Key to Procedure steps.)
4. Ask students to underline the key words in the task, i.e. the ones that will help them
most when writing the report. Check the answers together (see Key to Students
Worksheet 1.)
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5. In pairs, students now put the five sentences AE in the best order to answer the
task. Check the answers (see Key to Students Worksheet 1.)
6. Refer students to the questions in Exercise 2, and ask them to answer the questions
in pairs. Check answers together as necessary (see Key to Students Worksheet
1). Point out that its important to use the scenario and follow all the instructions in
the task. If theyre at work and their boss wants a report on Februarys sales figures,
the boss wont be happy if the report is on Januarys staff absences instead.
7. Give out Students Worksheet 2. Ask students to look only at Exercise 1, so they
should either cover Exercise 2, the sample question, or to fold the paper over so they
cant read it. They should read the report at the top of the page and discuss with their
partner whether they think this is a well-written report or not. (It contains factual
information, e.g. the train time, its destination, etc but also some irrelevant
information e.g. He rang me and I had to drive to Peterborough...).
8. Now ask students in pairs to look at Exercise 2, underline the key words in the task
and answer questions 17 about the report in Exercise 1. They should discuss
whether their opinion changes, and why. Feed back answers (see Key to Students
Worksheet 2).
9. Working individually, they are now going to write a better answer to this task. Allow
them 23 minutes to plan what they are going to write and about 56 minutes to write
(in the test, the remaining time should be spent reviewing their answer). Ask them to
exchange their answers and check their partners answer against the questions in
Exercise 2.

Additional information

Writing is assessed in terms of Text, Sentence and Word features. Among the text
features assessed is organisation, and appropriate paragraphing will help greatly in
this respect. It is worth explaining to students that they should think about text
organisation, and paragraphing in particular, in all the text-types they are asked to
write articles, letters, emails, notes, reports, etc.

All the Basic Skills Standards descriptors are assessed in the Writing paper (see the
Skills for Life Handbook p.26). Planning and drafting are assessed through the
organisation of the candidates final piece of writing. Candidates are not required to
submit drafts, plans, or other evidence of their planning and drafting stages. Similarly,
proof-reading may be assessed through the accuracy of spelling and grammar in one
or more output tasks.

For further information about assessment, format and marking, see the Skills for Life
Handbook pp. 2632.

Past papers are available at:

https://www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org/ts/exams/generalenglish/sfllevels12

For more report writing tasks, see past paper:

Sample Paper Version 1 Task 1
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Suggested follow-up activities/questions

For an activity looking at writing longer non-academic reports (as used in Task 3 of
the Writing test), see the activity: Structuring longer reports.

For an activity looking at writing academic-style reports based on date, see the
activity Writing Academic Reports.

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Skills for Life Level 1 Writing Non-academic Reports answer keys

Key to Procedure step 4
a) Who is the report for? The owner of the parked car, and possibly for his/her insurance
company
b) What points should you include in the report? 1. where you were.
2. details of what happened.
3. description of the damage to the
parked car
c) Should your writing style be informal, formal or somewhere in between? formal or
somewhere in between (neutral)
d) How many words should you write? About 80
e) How many minutes should you take? About 10
f) How many marks does this question have? 9
g) Can you remember the total number of marks? 36

Key to Students Worksheet 1

Task 1

(About 10 minutes)

You were in the town centre recently when you saw a minor accident. A lorry hit a parked car
but the lorry driver didnt stop.
The owner of the parked car has asked you to write a witness report to describe what you
saw.
In your witness report:

say where you were

give details of what happened

describe the damage to the parked car.

Write about 80 words.
(Total: 9 marks)
Exercise 1
1

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Complete answer:
I was in the west side of the High Street at 1.15 pm on Monday, 17 January, walking
northwards. A Renault Megane, registration number KM57TXY, was parked close to the
kerb beside a parking meter outside Keiths Electronics.
When I was about 20 metres from the car, a lorry coming up the road from behind me hit the
offside rear of the car. I estimate that the lorry was travelling at about 30 mph. The rear of
the car was badly damaged and the offside lights smashed.
Exercise 2
1.

yes

2.

yes

3.

yes

4. yes

5. yes

6.

yes

7. yes

Key to Students Worksheet 2

Exercise 2
Task 1

(About 10 minutes)

You were travelling on your local bus when you hurt yourself on a broken seat.
Write an accident report for the bus company:

giving details of when and where the accident happened

describing how it happened
saying what you would like the bus company to do.

Write about 80 words.

(Total: 9 marks)

1. No theyve written about their son instead of themselves, and a train instead of a
bus
2. Yes
3. The date is necessary, as well as the time. The place is given (but wrongly on a
train)
4. Yes
5. No
6. No 62 words is too short
7. Yes

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Skills for Life Level 1 Writing Non-academic Reports Students

Worksheet 1
Task 1

(About 10 minutes)

You were in the town centre recently when you saw a minor accident. A lorry hit a parked car
but the lorry driver didnt stop.
The owner of the parked car has asked you to write a witness report to describe what you
saw.
In your witness report:

say where you were

give details of what happened

describe the damage to the parked car.

Write about 80 words.
(Total: 9 marks)
Exercise 1
Number the sentences AE in the best order to answer the task.

I estimate that the lorry was travelling at about 30 mph.

The rear of the car was badly damaged and the offside lights smashed.

I was in the west side of the High Street at 1.15 pm on Monday, 17 January,
walking northwards.

When I was about 20 metres from the car, a lorry coming up the road from
behind me hit the offside rear of the car.

A Renault Megane, registration number KM57TXY, was parked close to the kerb
beside a parking meter outside Keiths Electronics.

(87 words)

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Skills for Life Level 1 Writing Non-academic Reports Students Worksheet 1

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Exercise 2
Answer these questions about the answer in Exercise 1.

Has the writer used the scenario accurately (You were in the town centre recently
when you saw a minor accident. A lorry hit a parked car but the lorry driver didnt
stop)?

Has the writer written a witness report?

Has the writer said where they were?

Has the writer given details of what happened?

Has the writer described the damage to the parked car?

Has the writer written about 80 words?

Is the style neutral?

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Skills for Life Level 1 Writing Non-academic Reports Students Worksheet 1

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Skills for Life Level 1 Writing Non-academic Reports Students

Worksheet 2
Exercise 1
Read this report. Is it a good report? Why/Why not?
Accident report
My son was on the train that left Huntingdon at 9.32 am, travelling towards Peterborough. He
went to sit down on an aisle seat in the front carriage, and as he did so, it collapsed under
him. He twisted his ankle and bruised both his legs. He rang me and I had to drive to
Peterborough to take him to the hospital.
(62 words)
Exercise 2
Read this Task 1 and underline the key words. Then answer the questions below about the
report in Exercise 1. Have you changed you mind about whether this is a good report or not?
Task 1

(About 10 minutes)

You were travelling on your local bus when you hurt yourself on a broken seat.
Write an accident report for the bus company:

giving details of when and where the accident happened

describing how it happened
saying what you would like the bus company to do.

Write about 80 words.

(Total: 9 marks)

Has the writer used the scenario accurately (You were travelling on your local bus
when you hurt yourself on a broken seat)?

Has the writer written an accident report for the bus company?

Has the writer given details of when and where the accident happened?

Has the writer described how it happened?

Has the writer said what they would like the bus company to do?

Has the writer written about 80 words?

Is the style neutral?

UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo

Skills for Life Level 1 Writing Non-academic Reports Students Worksheet 2

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