2012 KCSE TIP 2 (REPORT WRITING)

1. You are the secretary of four-member committee investigating the cause of dismal performance by your school at KCSE Exam results just released. You committee is mandated to also find how to improve the performance in future. Write a report highlighting the causes, findings and recommendations to your Principal. Question is courtesy of Buramu District Mock 2012. The Introduction answers the questions who the report is being written for, who make up the committee making the investigations. Further, it lists all the members of the committee and specifies their designations as well as when the report is due. It is also in the introduction that you will specify the objectives of the committee. The introduction will be followed by the body which will have a subtitle as closely related to the task as possible. The findings will be listed in this section as sub – titles. You will need to mention at least two findings. Below each sub – title of the findings you will write a paragraph clearly spelling out what you found out. This section will then be followed by the conclusion which will summarise your findings (tell them what you have told them). The conclusion will then be followed by the recommendations. These will derive directly from the findings. If you had two findings, we will expect two recommendations. To complete your report, you will have the name of the institution on the right hand side and below it the date of submission. On the left hand side you will have your designation, in this case secretary, and your name. Make sure that the name you have here corresponds to the secretary’s name you listed in the introduction. That’s it. Below find a sample answer to the above question. Take note that I have taken the liberty to put all the titles and sub-titles in upper case. This is because the blog does not allow for formatting. Read each of those sub-headings as a separate paragraph. If you are able to download it, then reformat them into paragraphs and remove the capitalization of the sub-headings. It is only the title that appears fully in upper case and should be underlined. The rest can be in bold but do not underline them.  REPORT ON THE CAUSES OF DISMAL PERFORMANCE AT ALWALA MIXED SECONDARY SCHOOL IN THE 2011 KCSE INTRODUCTION The Principal of Alwala Mixed Secondary School asked the academic committee to investigate the cause of the school’s dismal performance in the 2011 KCSE. Further, the committee was to give recommendations on how to improve the school’s performance in future national exams. The four member committee was made up of: 1) Mr. Jack Oulo, Deputy Principal – Chairman 2) Mr. David Acholla, Director of Studies – Member 3) Ms. Tabitha Odhiambo, HOD Career Guidance – Member 4) Ms. Joyce Rachuonyo, Examinations Officer - Secretary The committee was constituted on 1st March 2011 and the report was due on 14th March 2012 CAUSES OF DISMAL PERFORMANCE IN KCSE 2011 AT ALWALA MIXED SECONDARY SCHOOL a) Syllabus not covered in some subjects The students were ill prepared for the exams. The syllabus was not completed in three subjects, namely English, Maths and Kiswahili. Students therefore sat the exam without sufficient content. b) Little exposure to quality examinations The students sat only one exam that tested all the papers examined at KCSE. This was the Kisumu West District Mock. Many students therefore did not know what topics are examined in which paper. Further, the students sis not understand the rubrics of the papers they sat resulting in time wastage while answering more questions than the papers demanded. CONCLUSION In view of the foregoing, it was impossible to expect a better result from the students. The students did the best they could under the circumstances they found themselves in because the core subjects were taught poorly yet they counted in the students grading. RECOMMENDATIONS The committee recommended that: a) Teachers should complete the syllabus before the district mock. b) The form fours should sit an examination similar to KCSE in first term. Besides the District Mock the students should sit a pre- mock in second term. Finally they should sit for a post – mock exam in third term. Alwala Mixed Secondary School 14/3/2012 Ms. Joyce Rachuonyo Secretary

Adverbs of Manner

Adverbs of Manner Objective: Write sentences using adverbs of manner Adverbs of manner tell us how something is done. Think about your teacher in class. Sometimes your teachers speak loudly and sometimes they speak softly. Loudly and softly are adverbs of manner. They tell us how the teacher is speaking. Most adverbs of manner have opposites. In this lesson we shall look at a few adverbs of manner and construct sentences with them. Use the following adverbs to complete the sentences below: slowly, sadly, softly and carelessly. 1) The girl walked__________ . 2) The teacher spoke ______________ . 3) The boy wrote ___________ . 4) The lost girl spoke _____________ . The following adverbs are the opposites of the adverbs you have used above: quickly, happily, loudly and carefully. Use them to complete the following sentences. 1) When the lunch bell rung, the children put their books away ____________ . 2) The children who won the game sang ________________. 3) The boy who won the writing competition wrote _______________. 4) The actors in the big hall spoke ___________________. You will have noticed that these adverbs all end in –ly. But it is not true that all adverbs end in –ly. There are three adverbs that we should look at that do not have the same ending: fast hard and well. These adverbs do not just end differently, but they are also difficult to use. The word fast can be used instead of quickly. 1) The girl walked fast. 2) The river is moving fast. 3) Slow down, you are walking too fast. The other word we shall look at is hard. 1) The top student in my class studies hard. 2) The rough boy hit his friend hard. 3) Learn to kick the ball hard. Remember that the word hardly exists but it does not mean the same thing as hard. It is therefore wrong to say that, “The top student in my class studies hardly” or “The rough boy hit his friend hardly”. Finally let us look at the word well. Use well when you mean that you are happy with what you are talking about. 1) Our football team plays well. 2) My students read well. 3) The school choir sang well. 4) I like this machine, it works well. The opposite of fast is slowly and that of hard is gently. The opposite of well is badly or poorly. Now use these opposites to make sentences of your own. A final word to remember, adverbs of manner have opposites, if you want to know your adverbs then you must learn each adverb and its opposite. I hope that you have enjoyed this lesson. Now practise writing your own sentences using all the adverbs that you have learned today.

Adverbs of Place

Objectives: i. Define adverbs ii. Identify adverbs iii. Make sentences using adverbs of place. Adverbs are words that add meaning to verbs. They tell us more about verbs. Today we shall look at adverbs of place. These are words that answer the question: “where?” Read the poem below and identify all the words that answer the question: “where?” Called away I meant to do my work today…/ But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,/ And a butterfly flitted across the field,/ And all the leaves were calling me./ And the wind went sighing over the land,/ Tossing the grasses to and fro,/ And a rainbow held out its shining hand…/ So what could I do but laugh and go?/ By Richard Le Gallienne Most adverbs of place are made of a group of words. In the poem “Called away” the adverbs of place are in the apple tree, across the field, over the land and to and fro. Now that we have the answers, we shall ask the questions and supply the answers in complete sentences. a) Where did the bird sing? It sang in the apple tree. b) Where did the butterfly flit? The butterfly flitted across the field. c) Where did the wind go? The wind went over the land. d) Where did the wind toss the grass? It tossed the grass to and fro. Now list all the places you visited during your vacation. Get a friend to ask you the question, “Where did you visit?”. Supply the answers from your list. Notice, when names of places answer the question “where”, they are no longer nouns. They have become adverbs of place. You can extend this lesson by asking your friends to list the places they visited and then ask them the same question they had asked you. Let them supply the answers based on the list. Make sure they make complete sentences. Well, we have come to the end of this lesson. I hope that you are now able to use adverbs of place confidently.

Abstract Nouns (Passage)

Objective: Identify and list all the abstract nouns in the passage. Do you think school is important? We go to school to learn. When we learn three things happen. We get knowledge, skills and values. These things will in future help us to serve our nation. So what is knowledge? In our grammar series we began by studying verbs. We learned that verbs are action or state words. We are even able to give examples of action and state words. This is what we know about verbs. When you know something then you have knowledge about it. You also have knowledge about nouns. You know that nouns are naming words. You know that nouns name people, places and things. Further, you know that we have different types of nouns. We have proper nouns, common nouns, concrete nouns and abstract nouns. And what do you know about skills? Can you throw a ball? That is a skill. Can you catch a ball thrown at you? That too is a skill. If I gave you a phone and asked you to call your parents, would you do it? Well, that too is a skill. Think about anything that requires you to use your limbs, that is, your hands or legs, and you have a skill. But some skills do not require our limbs. Are you able to read this passage on your own? That is a skill. Are you good with numbers? Can you add, subtract, divide and multiply? You guessed it right, that too is a skill. Let’s now turn our attention to values. We do things that our elders like. For example, we always say thank you when somebody gives us something. What do you do when you meet somebody for the first time every day? You greet them of course. If you do not greet them, they will be very cross with you. So “thank you” and “how are you” are not just phrases we like using. They are values of our people. Are you one of those people who jump queues? Our people frown upon anyone who cannot keep order. Without order there is no harmony. Harmony is a very important value. We lose it when we jump queues, use bad language or even fight. We are a nation of forty- four tribes and the only reason there is peace is because we are taught to live in harmony with everybody around us. So once we have a lot of knowledge, skills and values we are ready to serve the nation. Wait a bit, for you to get enough of these three things to serve your nation; you have to be in school for at least sixteen years. By this time you will be an adult. Remember, adulthood is that stage in life when you become independent. You buy your own clothes, food and shelter. You are now responsible enough to be of service. But what responsibility will you be given? This will depend on the knowledge, skills and values that you have. So you are not too young to start thinking of how you want to serve your nation when you grow up. How many abstract nouns can you find in this passage? By Walter Akach

Abstract Nouns

Objective: Make sentences using abstract nouns. We have looked at proper and common nouns. Common nouns also give us concrete and abstract nouns. All the nouns we have looked at so far are concrete nouns. We can use our five senses to determine that they exist. You can see, touch, hear, smell and taste them. Another group of nouns exists that those senses can not help you determine their existence. These are called abstract nouns. Read the following poem: Who has seen the wind?/ Neither I nor you./ But when the leaves hang trembling,/ The wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind?/ Neither you nor I:/ But when the trees bow down their heads/ The wind is passing by. (“Who Has Seen the Wind?” Christina Rossetti)NB:Each backslash marks the end of a line so you can rewrite it to get a feel of its structure. List all the nouns in this poem. You should have listed wind, leaves, trees and heads. One of these is an abstract noun, which one? If you picked wind your answer is right. Your teachers always ask you to be honest. The noun formed from honest is honesty. This is a quality that people admire in you. Other qualities that people admire in you include bravery, loyalty and courage. These are abstract nouns. Other abstract nouns refer to a state in our lives: childhood, youth, adolescence and adulthood. Other abstract nouns refer to the ideas we have: dream, truth, thought, faith and truth. Making sentences using abstract nouns is not very easy. Complete these sentences using one of the nouns on this list: faith, childhood, dreams, truth, honesty, bravery/courage and dreams. Make sure you look up the meanings of all these words in a dictionary before you start this exercise. a) The boy who returned the lost phone was praised for his_____________. b) She showed a lot of _____________ when she got five stitches on her cut without making a noise. c) In the bible, Job was healed because of his________________. d) During our______________ we depend on our parents for food, clothing and shelter. e) Are _____________real? f) Do you know of any child who always speaks the _____________?

Common Nouns

Objective: Use common nouns in sentences. In the last lesson we said that nouns are naming words. Nouns can be broken into two groups: proper nouns and common nouns. We saw that proper nouns name specific people and places. We saw that the things we named were not specific. Nouns that name things in a general way are called common nouns. Is it possible to name people in a general way? Look at the words boy, girl, man, woman, etc. These nouns name people in a general way. Nouns that name people in a general way are common nouns. The things we find around us are normally named in a general way. If you make a list of all the things you use in school, it will look like this: pen, pencil, book, ruler, eraser, bag etc. All these items are general names. They do not name a specific thing. They are common nouns. Common nouns are further divided into count and mass nouns. All the nouns we have listed so far are count nouns. Count nouns can form plurals: boy – boys, girl – girls, man –men, pen –pens etc. Count nouns in the singular take “a” or “the “before them: a boy, a girl, a pen, the boy, the girl, the pen etc. In the plural they take “some” or “the” before them: some boys, some girls, some pens, the boys, the girls, the pens etc. We shall now write sentences in the singular and plural. We shall use the Noun+ verb with –s pattern. a) A boy watches movies. b) A boy washes clothes. c) A boy dries dishes. d) A boy makes toys. Great! You can now make more sentences using the nouns and verbs we had identified. Take note that movies, clothes, dishes and toys are common nouns. Look for more appropriate nouns to use after the verbs. We shall now use Noun + verb without –s pattern. a) Some boys watch movies. b) The boys wash clothes. c) Some boys dry dishes. d) The boys make toys. Make your own sentences following this pattern. Now let us look at mass nouns. These do not have plural forms. We do not use “a” before them. Examples of mass nouns include ink, sugar, salt, sand. They can take “the” or “some” before them: the ink, some ink, the salt, some salt, the sand, some sand. A man bought some ink. A man bought some salt. A man bought some sand. Now make as many sentences using this pattern. In the next post we shall look at other proper nouns.

KCSE FUNCTIONAL WRITING TIPS

FORMAL LETTER Objective: Write a letter through your Principal. Question: You are a candidate at Happy Secondary School in Bubari district. Since there will be no tuition in your school during the August holidays, you decide with the permission of your parents to do your studies at the Teachers Resource Centre (TRC) in your district headquarters. Write a letter through your Principal requesting the District Education Officer (DEO) to allow you to do so. (20 marks) (Courtesy Busia District Mock, 2011) Let’s get one thing very clear: this is not a prediction but an attempt to help you understand how to conduct your revision for question 1,101/1) The first thing you need to understand is the mark distribution in this paper. Make no mistake about this; you are writing the exam to score the highest mark that you possibly can. This question is allocated 20 marks. These 20 marks are divided into 3 sections: format, content and language. Depending on the nature of the question, format attracts between 6 and 8 marks. For this question I have allocated 8 marks. Make sure that for every item you revise you master the format. This way you guarantee yourself 40% of the 20 marks. The format for this question requires that you have 3 addresses. (I advise you use the block format. Therefore all your work will start on the left margin. Any deviation from this will be considered an indented format.)The first address is the sender’s. The question has already given you a school; don’t give the name of a different school. Remember not to include your name in the address. Skip a line and write the date. Skip another line and give the recipient’s address, in this case the DEO. Skip another line and write the word “Through”. Skip another line and write your Principal’s address. Skip a line and write your salutation: Dear Sir/Madam Skip a line and write the regards section. Remember it is “RE” and not “REF” follow this with the subject matter. A good interpretation of the question will be STUDIES at the TRC and underline neatly. The remaining format marks are in the complementary close and signing off. The close for this letter will be “Yours faithfully”. Below it put your legible signature and below that your full name. That’s it. You have the full marks for format. Next you need to earn the content marks. Strictly speaking the content marks are in the question if it has been constructed well. For this question I have allocated 6 marks for content. So what did this examiner want you to include in your letter? A rereading of the question will tell you that you are expected to i. Mention the name of your school ii. Give the reasons why you want to use the TRC iii. Inform the DEO that you have your parents’ permission to use the facility iv. Formally make a request to use the facility NB: two marks for tone usually form part of the content mark. In this case the tone expected should be that of making a request. Do not be worried about this. If you have listed the four items above you will most like be using the right tone. The examiner will be looking for expressions like “I wish to”, “I would like to”. Expressions like “I want”, “give me” will give your letter the wrong tone. You now have 60% of the marks for this question. Finally, let us earn the language marks. In this case I allocated 6 marks. Well we all know that a formal letter should be brief. The examiner’s dilemma is how to give you six marks for writing two lines. My advice: develop three paragraphs. In the introductory paragraph say how you learnt about the facility and state your request. That is all you need to do with the first paragraph. You must now skip a line and start your second paragraph. It is in the second paragraph that you will want to answer the remaining questions. Tell them who you are, why you want to use the facility, in this case you will not have April holiday tuition at your school. Tell them that you have your parents’ blessings and reiterate your request. You must now start your third paragraph. Use your imagination. Remember you want to earn the 6 language marks. Tell them that you are grateful that they developed such a facility. Promise them that you will use their facility conscientiously. Then ask them to give you a response before school’s close. That’s it. If you have used your best English no examiner will hesitate to award you the full mark. Congratulations! If you have written this letter as per the lesson you now have all the 20 marks. It is effort that makes successful students. Thank you.