In the minds of ESL exam candidates, e ssay writing is one of the most daunting tasks they are required to complete, regardless of the level of the exam, the administering body or the ease with which they themselves use the language. The same applies to students who are asked to write an essay by their teachers at school. In the previous sample essays posted on the blog, the main point I stress is the need to become acquainted with this form of writing (as opposed to writing a letter, review or report, for instance), to get a feel of what authorial voice is and how to organize and progressively express the arguments you wish to make in a coherent manner. Unfortunately, the best way to prepare for exam writing or learn how to write good essays for school is to read as many essays from as many sources as possible, then write as
As seen in the first post to deal with articles, there are a number of points candidates need to bring to the table when it comes to writing. The main ones are:
- argumentation
- organization of paragraphs
- development of one's reasoning
- wide range of grammatical structures
- lexical range
- authorial voice
Don't forget to engage the reader from the start by including an apt title.
As always, I refer you to the post that tells you what to take from these sample essays. If you haven't read it, click the image below:
Now, let's take a look at the topic, taken from Practice Tests for the ECPE Book 1 (revised 2021 version). The question is accompanied by the following writing prompts:
- 8 million tons of plastic waste end up in the oceans every year
- a graph that shows the number of plastic bags used per person in Ireland since the fee was added (328 bags in 2002, 170 bags in 2010, 14 bags in 2019)
- "Plastic bag fees hurt poor people." - Janet Gomez, Economist
The question is the following:
Your city is planning to introduce a bill requiring consumers to pay 10 cents for every plastic bag they use in supermarkets and grocery stores. Some people are opposing this bill. Write an article for a local newspaper explaining your opinion. Include at least one piece of information given above to support your response.
Here's the sample article. By all accounts, at over 600 words it's rather long, but I always prefer to give students more material to digest rather than make them feel a much shorter 250-word essay is adequate for a pass mark.
Plastic Bag Bill: Every Little Helps
Our environment is going to the dogs. Everyone knows this, everyone nods their heads in agreement and dismay at the sound of this, yet how many actually act on this dismay, turning disappointment and despair into positive action? Our city’s recent proposal to slap consumers who choose to use new supermarket bags with an extra ten-cent fee has revealed our ineptness when it comes to acting decisively in order to save our planet from further destruction. To be fair, not everyone disagrees with the city council’s proposed bill, yet those who have demonstrated adamant opposition would do well to re-examine the facts and fall in line with the rest of us more environmentally-conscious consumers.
Fact number one in favor of this extra fee is the horrendous amount of plastic that ends up in seas the world over. A United Nations report made clear that no less than 8 million tons of plastic waste is dumped into our planet’s oceans every year -- that’s a little less than 700,000 tons per month. “No problem,” you say? “Big problem!” says I. The plastic that finds its way to the world’s oceans either kills marine life one way or another or returns to us through our meals. Need you be reminded of the images of dead pelicans, tortoises or fish displayed on the news, plastic bags wrapped tightly round their necks or lining their stomachs? Then there’s also the threat of microplastics, the small plastic particles floating about in the sea as a result of plastic bags, like the ones you and I have used to place our groceries in, which have managed to find their way into the fish we eat. These microplastics are at the root of plastic toxins that incur hormonal abnormalities in humans and if this is not alarming enough, then maybe we should be more worried when these microplastics break down further to become nano-plastics that may even reach our brain or enter organisms at the cellular level.
Fact number two that shows this bill is helpful and in no way harmful is its effectiveness in other countries where it has been instated. In Ireland, for instance, the number of bags used per person per year since the added fee came into effect dropped from 329 bags to 14 bags per person in seventeen years. In the first eight years since the measure was introduced, Irish consumers halved the number of bags they bought, then in the ensuing nine years the downward trend continued by more than 90%. This proves the added ten cents is persuasive, effectual and can change nocuous consumer behaviors without stripping consumers of their basic rights. Indeed, this bill in no way prohibits the use of plastic bags, nor is there any pressure on less affluent shoppers to make use of one, so the argument that plastic bags fees hurt poor people, expressed by economist Janet Gomez, simply has no merit. I, for one, place my groceries in the cart, then transfer them onto crates made out of recycled plastic I keep in the trunk of my car. If the “poor people” Ms Gomez refers to bought such crates or a shopping trolley, they would save a pretty penny and the planet in the long run.
Let’s stop beating about the bush. Safer alternatives to plastic bags exist and consumers need to start becoming aware of them. People need a push to get them to live more sustainably, so mindless entrenched consumer behaviors due to force of habit must be eradicated. We might not completely stop shoppers from reaching for plastic bags at the checkout, but 10 cents might be enough to make them reach for one instead of two bags, and that ultimately does make a difference. To pave the way for a more environmentally-conscious society, every little helps.
Need more writing samples to read through? Click on the image below.
