'Lovely' questions but taxing for some

A TEACHER'S views on the Junior Certificate English Ordinary Level Paper ranged from well pitched with lovely questions, to taxing in parts.

It certainly got off to a fun start with a comprehension text on a family visit to a water festival in China, which Christina Henehan of the Association of Secondary School Teachers in Ireland and Rice College, Westport, Co Mayo, said would have presented no problems.

In the essay section, Ms Henehan said her only criticism was that one of the choices should have been a concrete topic, to cater for weaker students.

Functional writing involved either speech to welcome the President or a letter of complaint to a shop about a lack of facilities for wheelchair users, which was 'taxing enough and more higher level standard', she said.

In the fiction question, candidates were asked to name a novel or short story involving terrors, racism or betrayal, and depending on what they studied 'they might not have done one'. Similarly, students may have had difficulty naming a poem that described a family member.

- JC English Ordinary level Katherine Donnelly

Irish Independent