Directed Writing: The Price of a Grade — Paper 2 for IGCSE First Language English

A free taster lesson for Cambridge IGCSE First Language English (0500), Paper 2 Section A: Directed Writing, Question 1(a) and Question 1(b), written for the 2027–2029 specification.

Should students be paid £100 for every top grade? One lesson, one question students love to argue about, and every Section A tool they need to answer it.

• 1complete lesson
• 24teaching slides
• 12workbook pages
• 5exam tools

What’s included?

• Editable PowerPoint with one complete 60-minute lesson: 24 slides, from the Do Now to the exit ticket.
• Detailed speaker notes on every slide: the purpose of each task, timings, what to say, answers to expect, and support and stretch ideas, plus “On Zoom” adaptations for online teaching.
• Student workbook (12 pages, PDF to print and editable Word) with a space for every slide task in slide order.
• Two brand-new texts written for the lesson: a news article, “Cash for Grades: Can Money Buy Motivation?”, and a parent’s newspaper column, “Twenty Pounds an A”.
• A real 1(a) question and a full 1(b) speech task, set out exactly as they appear on the exam paper.
• Three student answers to judge and mark (1, 3 and 5 marks), and a top-band model paragraph built step by step.
• Every task clearly marked Core, with Optional Support and Optional A* Challenge steps, so weaker students are supported and the strongest are pushed towards the top band.
• MY TOOLKIT on the back page of the workbook: all five tools on one page, to keep for every Directed Writing answer.
• Answer key for teachers, in slide order, with the answers to every task.

What does the lesson cover?

• What Section A asks, how it is marked and how to spend the hour
• Reading two texts for ideas for, against and “instead”
• Question 1(a) with Name it · Nail it · Link it: naming a writer’s attitude, proving it with a short quotation and explaining how the words show it
• Thinking like an examiner: pricing three answers at 1, 3 and 5 marks
• Planning a 1(b) speech with VOICE
• Question 1(b) with Pick it · Prove it · Push it: upgrading a middle-band paragraph to top-band style
• The delete test for style and the 5-Minute Check for accuracy
• Self-rating at the start and end of the lesson, so students can see how far they have come

This lesson is a taster of Directed Writing: Full Unit, which teaches every tool step by step over fourteen lessons, with a 118-page student booklet and two practice papers.

What’s inside?

Lesson slides with one full lesson:

Student workbook that follows the slides: