Source A: The Saturday repair table
An original contemporary non-fiction-style practice text, written for this question.
I arrived at the repair workshop carrying a desk lamp that would no longer switch on. Through the open door I could hear people talking over one another. I paused outside, suddenly aware that I had no idea what I was meant to do once I went in.
A woman at the nearest table looked up and moved a chair aside. She asked what had brought me there, then listened while I explained about the lamp. Her welcome was simple, but I stopped gripping its handle so tightly. Around us, people were passing tools and comparing the objects they had brought.
I had imagined that everyone would know more than me. Instead, a man examined the lamp with me and asked what I thought might be wrong. I hesitated before answering. He did not laugh or take it out of my hands; he waited. When we found that the plug had come loose, he showed me how to check it safely.
By the time I left, the lamp was working. I had spoken to three people, although I could not have named all the tools they had used. What stayed with me was being asked to contribute rather than being treated as someone who had nothing useful to offer.
Source B: The shared allotment
An original contemporary non-fiction-style practice text, written for this question.
On my first morning at the allotment, I stood by the gate with a pair of gloves in my pocket. The rows looked so carefully arranged that I was afraid of stepping in the wrong place. People were already working, bent over the soil, and I could not tell whether they had noticed me.
One of them pointed to a patch near the fence and said I could help clear it. There was no long introduction. I was grateful for the instruction, though I wondered whether they had asked me because they needed an extra pair of hands rather than because they wanted to know me.
We worked for a while without saying much. Then a woman beside me asked what I liked growing at home. I had never grown anything. She showed me how to loosen the soil and told me about the plants they hoped to put there. The conversation made the patch seem less like a test I had to pass.
When I left, the ground was still untidy and I was still learning everyone’s names. But I had been given a place to begin. I walked back through the gate more slowly than I had arrived, thinking about what we might plant there next.
Compare how the writers present their ideas and perspectives about joining an unfamiliar group. In your answer, you may consider their first impressions, how other people respond to them and how their feelings change. Support your answer with detailed examples from both texts, including brief quotations.
220 exam-style questions on Edexcel A IGCSE English Language 1.1 Content overview, covering 1.1.1 Anthology non-fiction texts, 1.1.2 Analysing linguistic and structural devices, 1.1.3 Links and connections between writers' ideas, 1.1.4 Transactional writing for purpose and audience, and 1.1.5 Accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.