Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Childhood is the happiest time of a person's life. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

In my opinion, childhood is often not the happiest time of a person’s life.

A Happy childhood always means happy reminiscences about the early years. The love and care of one’s parents, exciting celebrations and holidays, safety, family dinners, the joy of getting presents – these all are the symbols of a person’s childhood happiness.

But do all children get the love, warmth and excitement of being a child they deserve? Do all people consider their childhood as the happiest time of their life? I would be happy to say “yes”, but the reality dictates the opposite answer.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of parentless children in the world who live either with a foster family or in an orphanage. These children get a lot of support from the State and there are always strict laws protecting their rights. However, not many of them are really happy because there is no substitute for the warmth of your own family.

It also happens that growing up in a family situation may make a child suffer from a lot of hardship. Drink and drug addictions result in poverty and even cruelty to children in a family. Children often run away from such marginalized families, but it makes them even unhappier and vulnerable in the face of danger

It is painfully obvious, that wartime brings not only destruction and devastation to people and a country, but it hurts defenseless children most of all. My grandmother was a child during the Second World War. Her father was killed at the war, all her family was starving and she lost her sister who got sick and died. She will never recall her childhood without crying because it was the bitterest time of her life.

To conclude, I have to say, that to agree with the statement, I have to change it - Childhood must be the happiest time of a person’s life and adults must do their best to assure it.

Comments-

 Good intermediate essay, would be upper intermediate if ideas were developed further. Good use of emotional language and personal examples, grammar and vocabulary are correctly used. Some uncommon vocabulary correctly used, however much vocabulary is too common and informal. The use of “get” and “lot” should be avoided in an essay.

Nowadays companies put more emphases on social skills in the recruitment process. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

I totally agree with the statement that nowadays companies give more attention to social skills of applicants when they employ new staff and I find it absolutely logical.

The advance of new technology over the last few decades has brought a significant shift to all spheres of commerce. However, the means of business communication have been influenced more dramatically due to the development of the Internet and mobile telephony industry.

First of all, these two factors themselves dictate the importance of social expertise among business people at all levels. It is an indisputable fact that a successful manager should be efficient in discussing deals on the phone and in some cases in taking part in video conferences over the Internet. The age of handwritten business letters is far behind; consequently, a good command of interpersonal communication is one of the skills the companies want their employees to possess.

Furthermore, the ascendency of the internet has led to the globalization, the appearance of multinational companies and fierce competition in all industries. As a result, the interaction with both colleagues and clients has altered immensely. Being a good team player has become a must for an ideal employee of any business organization. Building up a rapport with the clients may be more important than giving them a good discount. The last two abilities are inseparable with excellent social skills.

To conclude, over the last few decades needs of companies have changed in response to the advance of new technology. Utilizing mobile telephones and Internet instead of hand-written correspondence, working in a team and under pressure of fierce rivalry – all these require social skills, and this is explicitly sought in the recruitment process.

Comments-

This is an upper intermediate level essay.

Good points: wide variety of uncommon vocabulary, complex sentence structures, points logically developed, clear essay structure

Minor weaknesses: some words and phrases are too informal for an essay

There are many things that young people can learn today from the older generation

I can’t imagine young people’s lives without learning things from older generations in the past or today.

Firstly, the older generation includes teachers.

All children go to school and study from their experienced and qualified teachers. Few will not remember how their parents taught them to read, write and count and helped with their homework. Children and young people gain knowledge by reading books and textbooks, written by an older generation.

Secondly the older generation includes parents and older relatives.

Learning professional skills from one’s parents and working for the family business is a tradition which has existed for centuries. This institution is not as popular as it used to be in the past, but it still exists. Likewise, young people traditionally learn some other essential skills from their parents and older relatives. These traditionally include cooking and drawing, crafts and gardening.

 Finally, every generation needs to learn how to get on with other people.

Young people learn from adults in their families and at school the ability to socialize and to communicate with the outer world. The older generation can teach the young everything from The simplest things like how to say Hello and Goodbye, Please and Thank you to more complex things  such as the values of friendship and love .

On the other hand, the world does not stay still the older generation often turns to the younger one for help about the technology and how it works.

To conclude, from my point of view, the younger generation still learns essential skills and knowledge from the older generation.

It would be difficult not to champion the notion that the means of passing knowledge and experience over from an older generation to a younger still exist in the society and in family.

Your class has attended a panel discussion on facilities which should receive money from local authorities. You have made the notes below:

Some opinions expressed in the discussion: “Museums aren’t popular with everybody!” “Sports centres mean healthier people.” “A town needs green spaces – parks are great for everybody.”

Which facilities should receive money from local authorities?

Museums sports centres public gardens etc

Distributing the city treasury funds demands good planning and a wise approach. The opinion of the local citizens should be taken into consideration - the facilities have to be socially beneficial and serve the needs of the community.

 First of all, I should say that my city is in urgent need of green spaces. Consequently, I would vote for funding public gardens in the first place. It is unlikely that, they will reduce the air pollution in my city significantly due to the heavy traffic, but the benefits for people are evident. They will give the city dwellers a chance to be close to nature – relish the beauty of it in every season, listen to birds and feed squirrels. Also, public gardens provide free recreation for children and allow for bonding opportunities for families.

The second facility in need of funds is a chain of libraries for children and young people. The reason for that is the alarming statistics which show that the number of young people with inadequate levels of literacy in Russia has significantly increased over the last few decades. Besides other institutions, libraries would play a key part in reversing the trend.

It should be mentioned that museums need less public funding than is popularly supposed; they already receive generous public and private sector funding as well as revenue from ticket sales. Furthermore, they already receive adequate [generous] funding from both public and private sectors.

In conclusion, it is essential that some public gardens are funded in order to create more green spaces in the city. In addition, the libraries for school children are crying out for government funding because of the alarming drop in the level of literacy among young people.

Comments:

Well structured, clearly argued essay. Strong introduction, good use of imagery

As a general rule it is best to avoid contractions in an essay or in any persuasive writing unless you deliberately want to adopt an informal, friendly tone.

Read the two texts below.

Write an essay summarising and evaluating the key points from both texts. Use your own words throughout as far as possible, and include your own ideas in your answers.

The Excitement of Advertising

Outdoor advertising has to attract, engage and persuade potential customers; it is the most important way of grabbing customers’ attention and outdoor media continue to undergo a transformation.

At the core of this transformation is the digital screen media, which encompass everything from giant screens to digital billboards.

The technology is cheap and advertising agencies rave about the creative possibilities for advertisements which entertain, amuse, inform, make the environment brighter and enliven the world we live in.

Advertising: an undesirable business

Once upon a time outdoor advertising was straightforward. Posters were stuck up on anything from a bus shelter to a motorway hoarding. Many people considered this kind of advertising to be fairly dull, a harmless blot on the landscape and chose to ignore it. These people now regard digital advertising as a form of unwanted, creeping commercialization: it attracts a buzz simply because it is new. They feel that any advertising which targets children or vulnerable adults is a dubious practice at the best of times, and digital advertising is, moreover, wasteful

The passages give two clashing opinions on the outdoor advertising. Whilst the first author celebrates it, the second strongly opposes it. Obviously, the authors are related to two different “tribes” – business people in advertising and members of public.

According to the first passage, it is the out-of-home advertising that appeals most of all to the members of the industry. Roadside billboards, posters on buses and subway escalators, adverts in airport terminals are the more eye-catching and compelling. Other advantageous aspects include the low price and high quality of flat-screen displays which make the agencies switch to these digitals in public places from any others. Digital commercials allow agencies to be more imaginative and creative.

The second author begins the article with some historical information about the dullness of the outdoor advertising in the past; the article states that now outdoor digital advertising has become popular only due to new technology. Afterwards, a number of arguments against this type of publicity is brought up to the reader’s attention. The author argues that many people consider out-of-home advertising as pervasive and pernicious.

The further criticism is based on the facts that the targeting of vulnerable members of society is ethically questionable, and the digital media use too much electricity which is environmentally unfriendly.

If I worked in advertising, I would happily support the in-favour-of-advertising passage. I would consider it to be true in reflecting the current situation in the industry. However, the second extract is more appealing to me as a member of public. Outdoor advertising is irritating and disturbing. It spoils the city landscape and imposes the wrong values on vulnerable members of society.

Comment:

This essay is extremely good, no major faults.

Some parents think that if there is a computer at home their children will waste much of their time on videogames and social networking. Do you agree or disagree?

Some parent think that having a computer at home means that children waste their time on social networking and playing computer games.

I agree with this statement. Firstly, children can’t control the time they spend in front of the computer. Besides that, parents often can’t control how much time their children spend in front of the computer because they are at work while their children play computer games. As for me, I am 16 years old and I am not a child. But sometimes I myself spend too much time surfing the net and playing computer games. Secondly, social networking may have bad influence on young people. They spend too much time on Facebook or Classmates and don’t go out, don’t have real relationship.

However, some people argue that computers are necessary in modern life both for children and adults. The main reason is that the internet is a great source of information Even computer games can be educational and social networking helps to connect people in different parts of the world.

I disagree with this point of view because there are much crueler computer games than educational. It’s better to go to the library and to read a book than to surf the net for information.

In conclusion, I support the parents who don’t buy computers for their children, because children can’t control the time they spend in front of the computer; and because of social networking they don’t have real communication.

COMMENTS -

An intermediate essay. Grammar correct, vocabulary used correctly in context.

Minor weaknesses: the language is too informal with contractions such as “can’t”. Repetition should be avoided through the use of synonyms and rephrasing. Grammar structures are limited and ideas are restated rather than elaborated.