Important Notice for Cert III Students

This post is only for my certivicate III students who come to AMES in my evening class. You will have to do a second writing test this week. You will have to write 300 words. 299 words are not enough. You will write a narrative. A narrative is an even that happened to you or a situation you have been in. It is like a simple story that you tell.

There are different things you can write about. I will give you some ideas to think about:

• an exciting/unusual event at work (The day you got your driving licence)
• a dangerous encounter (The day when a robber entered your house)
• a difficult experience (When you lost your train ticket and got a fine)
• a natural disaster (The day when the river water flooded your city)
• a difficult childhood experience (An annoying boy in your class)
• an imaginary event (The day you became a film star at Holywood)

I want you to tell me when and where the event took place. I also want you to use the past simple tense in your writing. I want you to use adjectives like (nice - beautiful - sunny - wonderful - dangerous). I also expect you to produce good handwriting so I don't need to go and get my eyes tested after reading your test. You will have to write more than one paragraph. Of course I expect you to make some small grammar mistakes. Very big grammar mistakes will affect your test of course.

There are many transitional words and phrases you can use.

First of all ...................
in addition to that, .............
after that .................
later on ................
From my point of view ............
I would have thought that = I think that ........
in the end ..................

You will have to use at least one of these words:
because, so, hence

This test will tell you how good your English is and if you need to do some extra work on your own at home. It is a good idea to ask some "Wh" questions to get more ideas of things to write about.
Think of a bank robbery that you witnessed one day.

What is the title of your text?   (A Robbery at a Bank )
Whre did the event take place?
What was the weather like?
Why were you there?
What time of the day?
What were you doing?
What were you wearing?
What other people were involved?
What were the people doing at the place?
How did you react to the situation? What did you do?
How did you feel when the event was taking place?
How did the event end?
What did you learn from the experience?

Here is a sample of the writing:

The Day I Witnessed a Bank Robbery

Last October I went to the Commonwealth Bank in Box Hill to withdraw some money. I needed the money to buy some food for my family. It was a sunny day and there was no rain at all. I felt happy because I had three days off work and wanted to spend them with my family.   ............

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I want you to write simple sentences. If you need any help in class, ask me before you start. Go to Google and search "Writing a narrative" and see how much reading you can do. Good luck.  

Possums

We moved to a new house a few months ago. It is a big one and it has a big garden. It is sunny and we love it very much.

At night we go to bed before 11 o'clock. On the first night in the house we heard some noise. We thought it was a cat. The noise continued for some time. It did not take us long to discover that we had possums in the house.

A possum is an Australian animal. It is a bigger than a cat and looks like a big rat. It is very active at night. The problem is that possums can cause a lot of damage to houses. They can cause fires too. They have sharp teeth and can damage the roof. They fight with each other and make a noise at night.

In Australia you are not allowed to kill possums because there is not a big number of them nowadays. You can not use poison to kill them or shoot them. You can get yourself into trouble if you do so.

We rang the local council to ask what we could do. A lady told us on the phone that we could hire a possum man. This man is trained on how to catch possums. A possum man normally charges a few hundred dollars. The lady also said we could buy a possum trap from a shop and do the job ourselves. A possum trap costs about 120 dollars at the shops. She told us we could hire the possum trap from a shop for one week if we wanted to.

We went to a shop in Eltham. Eltham is a suburb in Melbourne. We asked to hire a possum trap for one week. The man in the shop told us it would cost 15 dollars per week to hire it. He gave us some advice on what to do. He told us to put a rotten apple inside the trap. He said that possums like apples and they can smell very well. He told us that when the possum is caught, it normally makes a lot of noise. He told us it could take some days to catch a possum. He told us to be careful when a possum is trapped. Possums can attack you if you come near them. He told us to take any possum we catch in the car and drive a few kilometres and set it free.

We took the trap home in the car. We used an apple to catch the possum. We put the possum trap in the attic. After one day, a possum was caught. It was inside the possum trap. It was making a lot of noise. It wanted to go out. We took the possum trap down to the garden. I took some pictures of the possum. The kids were so excited. They gave the possum some fruit to eat. They were scared of the possum too.

I took the possum that was inside the trap to the car. I drove for about 20 minutes. I stopped the car near a park. I took the trap outside and set the possum free. It ran fast to a nearby tree and climbed up.

Now I am happy I got rid of one possum. I need to go back home to try to catch the other members of the possum family.

Take a Test Online

Can you find 5 mistakes?

We moved to a new house a few months ago. It is a big one and it has a big garden. It is sunny and we love it very much.

At night we go to bed before 11 o'clock. On the first night in the house we heard some noise. We thought it was a cat. The noise continued for some years. It did not take us long to discover that we had possums in the house.

A possum is an Australian animal. It is a bigger than a cat and looks like a big rat. It is very active at night. The problem is that possums can cause a lot of damage to houses. They can cause fires too. They have sharp legs and can damage the roof. They fight with each other and make a noise at night.

In Australia you are not allowed to kill possums because there is not a big number of them nowadays. You can not use poison to kill them or shoot them. You can get yourself into trouble if you do so.

We rang the local council to ask what we could do. A lady told us on the phone that we could hire a possum man. This man is trained on how to catch possums. A possum man normally charges a few hundred dollars. The lady also said we could buy a possum trap from a shop and do the job ourselves. A possum trap costs about 120 dollars at the shops. She told us we could hire the possum trap from a shop for one year if we wanted to.

We went to a shop in Eltham. Eltham is a suburb in Melbourne. We asked to hire a possum trap for one week. The man in the shop told us it would cost 15 dollars per week to hire it. He gave us some advice on what to do. He told us to put a rotten apple inside the trap. He said that possums like apples and they can smell very well. He told us that when the possum is caught, it normally makes a lot of noise. He told us it could take some days to catch a possum. He told us to be careful when a possum is trapped. Possums can attack you if you come near them. He told us to take any possum we catch in the car and drive a few kilometres and set it free.

We took the trap home in the car. We used an apple to catch the possum. We put the possum trap in the attic. After one day, a possum was caught. It was inside the possum trap. It was making a lot of noise. It wanted to go out. We took the dog trap down to the garden. I took some pictures of the possum. The kids were so excited. They gave the possum some fruit to eat. They were scared of the possum too.

I took the possum that was inside the trap to the car. I drove for about 20 minutes. I stopped the car near a park. I took the trap outside and set the possum free. It ran fast to a nearby house and climbed up.

Now I am happy I got rid of one possum. I need to go back home to try to catch the other members of the possum family.

Fill in the gaps:

cat - dollars - car - buy - Melbourne - possum - catch - allowed - night - told

We moved to a new house a few months ago. It is a big one and it has a big garden. It is sunny and we love it very much. At night we go to bed before 11 o'clock. On the first ............... in the house we heard some noise. We thought it was a cat. The noise continued for some time. It did not take us long to discover that we had possums in the house. A possum is an Australian animal. It is a bigger than a ............ and looks like a big rat. It is very active at night. The problem is that possums can cause a lot of damage to houses. They can cause fires too. They have sharp teeth and can damage the roof. They fight with each other and make a noise at night. In Australia you are not .................... to kill possums because there is not a big number of them nowadays. You can not use poison to kill them or shoot them. You can get yourself into trouble if you do so. We rang the local council to ask what we could do. A lady told us on the phone that we could hire a possum man. This man is trained on how to catch possums. A possum man normally charges a few hundred dollars. The lady also said we could .............. a possum trap from a shop and do the job ourselves. A possum trap costs about 120 dollars at the shops. She told us we could hire the possum trap from a shop for one week if we wanted to. We went to a shop in Eltham. Eltham is a suburb in ................... We asked to hire a possum trap for one week. The man in the shop told us it would cost 15 ............... per week to hire it. He gave us some advice on what to do. He told us to put a rotten apple inside the trap. He said that possums like apples and they can smell very well. He ............... us that when the possum is caught, it normally makes a lot of noise. He told us it could take some days to catch a possum. He told us to be careful when a possum is trapped. Possums can attack you if you come near them. He told us to take any possum we catch in the ............... and drive a few kilometres and set it free. We took the trap home in the car. We used an apple to catch the possum. We put the possum trap in the attic. After one day, a possum was caught. It was inside the possum trap. It was making a lot of noise. It wanted to go out. We took the ................... trap down to the garden. I took some pictures of the possum. The kids were so excited. They gave the possum some fruit to eat. They were scared of the possum too. I took the possum that was inside the trap to the car. I drove for about 20 minutes. I stopped the car near a park. I took the trap outside and set the possum free. It ran fast to a nearby tree and climbed up. Now I am happy I got rid of one possum. I need to go back home to try to ............... the other members of the possum family.

Why I came to Australia

My name is Abdullah and I come from Saudi Arabia. I came to Australia in February this year. I love learning. I went to a very good school in Saudi Arabia. I came to Melbourne to do a degree at Victoria University. I hope to finish my degree in three years. I want to finish my studies and then go back to my country. I want to work in my city. I want to work at a bank.

I have one problem. My problem is that my English is not good enough. I can't understand people when they talk to me. I find it difficult to answer the phone. I don't speak English good enough. I think that my English is poor compared to other people.

I am doing an English course now at VU. My course will take one year to finish. I hope that by the end of this year, my English will be good enough to start my study at uni.

I go to class every day. I make sure I go on time. It is not nice to come to class late or not to come to class at all. In Australia students learn in a different way than in my country. The teacher in my country keeps talking all the time. Students have to listen and not talk at all.

In Australia teachers don't talk all the time. Students don't keep quiet and just listen. They talk to each other and to the teacher. Students in Australia don't have to ask the teacher before they go to the toilet. They just open the door quietly and go. They show that they are nice to other students by not talking loudly in class.

In my home I have a computer. My computer is connected to the interent. I use the internet to learn English. I listen to lessons. I read a lot. I also watch TV in the evening. I like watching the news.

Teachers in Australia are very good. They listen to me if I have a problem in class. They give me all the help I need. If I am late one day or if I skip class, they email me the lessons I missed. Sometimes I don't understand a word or a sentence. I look the word up in my dictionary. If I still don't understand, I go to my teacher. My teacher helps me understand what the word means.

I find life in Australia very different from my country. In Melbourne it is sometimes hot and cold in the same day. It is sometimes sunny and rainy in the same day. I make sure I take my umbrella with me before I leave home in the morning. I don't have a car and I use the train.

Trains here are good but they are expensive. Tickets are very expensive. The good thing is that I can use one ticket and use a train, a tram or a bus. In my country I have to buy three tickets. I buy one ticket to use a train. I buy another ticket to use a tram. Still I buy a third one to use a tram. We don't have trams in every city in my country.

In class I learn with people from different countries. I made friends with all the students. I have friends from India, Korea, Japan and Iran. I also have friends who study at VU. They are not in my class but we are friends.

I like playing football. I have some friends who like playing football too. We play football every Sunday. We play football for two hours. We have fun. After we play football, we have a meal. We cook some meat and vegetables. We also eat some fruits.

Take a Test Online

After you finish the test, please click on the magnifying glass to get feedback on your test.

After publishing this lesson, my Saudi students told me that there is no public transport at all in Saudi Arabia. All people have cars. If they don't have cars, they use taxis.