Examiner's comments

The writing contains:

The date and a signing off phrase:

'Ipswich, le 27 février, 2008'

'Avec mes salutations distinguées'

• The date and signing off phrases are correctly written. A good start and a good finish! Sarah made sure she could write the correct date on the day of her exam. She knew that there is normally no need to write out an address in full - she just put the name of her town before the date. She had also prepared a correct signing off phrase for a formal letter.

'Ne'and 'pas' in negative statements:

'Je ne suis pas d'accord'

'Les Anglais ne sont pas paresseux'

'La cuisine anglaise n' est pas mauvaise'

• In these phrases Sarah placed ne and pas around the verb. She also remembered that when the verb begins with a vowel, ne changes to n' .

Simple sentences about your own thoughts and experiences:

'Je distribue des journaux'

'J'aime bien la cuisine traditionnelle'

'Je suis allée dans un restaurant'

• These statements are simple and clear. Sarah then developed the sentences with phrases such as 'tous les jours' and 'par exemple'.

Simple sentences about other people:

'Les Anglais ne sont pas paresseux'

'Mes parents travaillent'

• Phrases like these show that Sarah can write about others as well as herself. The correct verb ending of 'travaillent ' is very good at this level.

Use of the present, perfect and future tenses

'la semaine dernière, je suis allée dans un restaurant chinois'

'demain, il fera froid, mais il fera soleil'

• Sarah used the present tense when she gave her opinions and wrote about what she does. She also found opportunities to use the perfect tense and the future tense.