IGCSE English 0500: Directed Writing. A Passage into Interview Questions

Read the following passage, then complete the task below.

Nkechi Odusanya has tended the same allotment plot behind the community centre for eleven years, and her runner beans have won the county show's top prize four years running. She keeps a battered notebook of sowing dates going back to her first season, when, she admits, she "killed every single seedling by June." These days she spends Saturday mornings answering questions from anyone who wanders past her fence, insisting that "the only way to learn is to get your hands dirty and expect to fail a few times first." She has offered, more than once, to run a free beginners' session for any student willing to turn up early.

You are a student journalist about to interview Mrs Odusanya for the school newsletter, in order to encourage other students to join the allotment club.

(a) Using ideas from the passage, write THREE interview questions you would ask her, each one designed to draw out a different idea from the passage. [4] (b) For ONE of your questions, briefly state the register/tone you would use when asking it, and why it suits interviewing an adult community member for a student newsletter. [2]

Assessment focus

This question tests whether a candidate can select distinct ideas from a source passage and reshape them into open interview questions. A directed-writing skill that depends on genuine selection (three different details, not one idea repeated three ways) and on choosing a register appropriate to interviewing an adult for a young audience.

Part (a): Devising the questions

A strong answer traces three separate details through the passage rather than circling one idea:

On her early failure: “You mentioned losing every seedling in your first year. What kept you going after a start like that?” (draws on “killed every single seedling by June”)
On her record-keeping: “Why do you think keeping that notebook of sowing dates has mattered so much over eleven years?” (draws on her “battered notebook”)
On her offer to teach beginners: “What would you say to a student who’s never gardened before but is thinking about coming to your Saturday session?” (draws on her free beginners’ offer)

Each question is open, it cannot be answered with a single word, and each targets a different detail in the passage, rather than three variations on “why do you like gardening?” Note that these are two separate criteria in the mark scheme: three marks for drawing on three distinct ideas, and a fourth, independent mark for all three questions being genuinely open. A response could draw on three good, distinct ideas but phrase them as closed questions, and would still earn 3/4, losing only the openness mark.

Part (b): Register

For question 3, a model answer:

I would keep this question warm and encouraging rather than purely factual, using a friendly, slightly informal phrasing (“What would you say to…”) rather than a stiff “Please state your advice for beginners,” because Mrs Odusanya is giving her time as a favour to student journalists, and the piece is for a newsletter aimed at other students, not a formal publication.

Common pitfalls specific to this task

Asking “Do you enjoy growing runner beans?”, closed, and ignores three richer details available in the passage (the failure, the notebook, the beginners’ offer). This costs the openness mark even if the idea it draws on is otherwise valid.
Writing three questions that all really ask about the same idea (e.g. three different ways of asking about the county show prize) rather than genuinely distinct details. This costs the distinctness marks, separately from whether the questions are open.