CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 9: DIAGNOSTIC CHECK

Name Date

Part 1: Non-fiction
Section A: Reading
Spend around 20 minutes on this section.

Read this article, then answer questions 1–8.

Let’s Chat!
When 18-year-old Amit visited his grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins in Pakistan
during his university holiday, he was troubled that despite living as part of an extended
family, his grandparents were still eating and watching TV alone every evening in their
living room.
5 Returning to his home in the UK, he pondered on it, wondering what life was like for
elderly people living in his home country where the generations tend to live separately,
often miles apart from their relatives, and where elderly people often live in residential
care homes.
After undertaking some research, Amit discovered that most of the wellness initiatives
10 available to young people, such as counselling and telephone helplines, were not
available to the elderly. Yet there are 12 million elderly citizens in the UK, according
to census data, and those aged 85 and older account for over 5 per cent of the
country’s population. To Amit there seemed to be a gap in provision for the well-being
of the UK’s elderly citizens.
15 In 2019, Amit founded Let’s Chat!, a non-profit organisation that allows young people
to visit elderly people living on their own or in care homes. The organisation is now
developing a remote model to provide even more opportunities for senior citizens
across the country to stay socially connected. Elderly citizens – or their loved ones –
can complete an online form, and they will receive a weekly call from a young
20 volunteer – or ‘chatter’ – either by phone or video call.
‘We don’t want elderly people to feel too proud to get involved; if you are calling us, or
need any sort of help, it doesn’t mean you can’t cope,’ Amit told us. ‘If you’re feeling
isolated or just want a chat, call us! All of our volunteers are social people who want to
talk back. We all need a good chat sometimes – so sign up!’
25 Loneliness for elderly people in long-term care is a very real concern – Amit remembers
a time when he chatted with an 89-year-old woman who hadn’t had a visitor for 15
years while living in a care home. Approximately 50 per cent of people over the age of

80 feel lonely, a 2019 report from Age UK found. Elderly people who are socially
isolated are more at risk of not being active and not eating well, the report suggests.
30 They’re also more likely to be hospitalised.
For those who want to help, Let’s Chat! is recruiting. Visit their website to see how you

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 9: DIAGNOSTIC CHECK

can get involved and improve the quality of the lives of elderly people.

1 Explain, using your own words, what the writer means by the phrase ‘extended family’
in paragraph 1.

[1]

2 According to paragraph 2, how does family life differ in the UK compared to Pakistan?

[1]

3 What evidence is offered in paragraph 3 to support the provision of wellness services for
elderly people?

[1]

4 Give two facts about the organisation Let’s Chat! from paragraph 4.

• [2]

5 Why is the word ‘chatter’ in inverted commas in line 20?

[1]

6 Who is being addressed in paragraph 5?

[1]

7 Give two features of an article that are used in paragraph 6, with a clear example of each.

• [2]

8 How does the final paragraph differ from the rest of the text?

[1]

Section B: Writing
Spend around 20 minutes on this section.

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1 Write a letter to Amit applying to become a volunteer for Let’s Chat!.

You should consider:
• why you want to get involved in volunteering
• what personal qualities and experiences make you suitable
• what you would gain personally from volunteering. [10]

Space for your plan:

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Write your letter.

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 9: DIAGNOSTIC CHECK

Part 2: Fiction
Section A: Reading
Spend around 20 minutes on this section.

Read this text (an extract from The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig), then answer questions
1–7. This is the opening of the novel, narrated by 10-year-old Esther. It is set in Poland in 1941,
during World War II.

The morning it happened – the end of my lovely world – I did not water the lilac bush
outside my father’s study.
The time was June 1941 and the place was Vilna, a city in the north-eastern corner of
Poland. And I was ten years old and took it for granted that all over the globe people
5 tended to their gardens on such a morning as this. Wars and bombs stopped at the
garden gates, happened on the far side of garden walls.
Our garden was the centre of my world, the place above all others where I wished to
remain forever. The house we lived in was built around this garden, its red-tiled roof
slanting towards it. It was a very large and dignified house with a white plaster façade.
10 The people who lived in it were my people, my parents, my paternal grandparents, my
aunts and my uncles and my cousins. My grandfather owned the house; my
grandmother ruled the house. They lived rather majestically in their own apartment,
and the rest of us lived in six separate apartments. Separate but not exactly private.
There were no locked doors; people were always rushing in and out of each other’s
15 apartments to borrow things, to gossip, to boast a bit or complain a bit, or to tell the
latest family joke. It was a great, exuberant, busy, loving family, and heaven for an only
child. Behind the windows looking out on our garden there were no strangers, no
enemies, no hidden danger.
Beyond the garden, beginning with the tree-lined avenue we lived on, was Vilna, my
20 city. For the best view of Vilna one went to the top of Castle Hill. Built along the banks
of the river Wilja in a basin of green hills, Vilna had been called a woodland capital. It
was a university town, a city of parks and lovely old houses hugging the hills and each
other. It was a spirited city for a child to grow up in.
From this hilltop I could make out the place where my family’s business took up half a
25 block, the synagogue we attended, the road that led to the idyllic country lake where
we had our summer house. When I stood on this hilltop everything was just as it should
be in this best of all possible worlds, my world.

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 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 9: DIAGNOSTIC CHECK

1 Suggest one reason that paragraph 1 is an effective opening to the novel.

[1]

2 ‘And I was ten years old and took it for granted that all over the globe people tended to their
gardens on such a morning as this. Wars and bombs stopped at the garden gates, happened on
the far side of garden walls’ (lines 4–6).

What impression do you get of Esther from these lines?

[1]

3 a Which literary technique is ‘Our garden was the centre of my world’ (line 7) an
example of?

[1]

b Why is it effective?

[1]

4 a ‘My grandfather owned the house; my grandmother ruled the house’ (lines 11–12).
Suggest why this is an effective sentence.

[1]

b ‘They lived rather majestically in their own apartment’ (line 12).

What does the word ‘majestically’ suggest about Esther’s grandparents?

[1]

5 Explain, using your own words, two reasons for Esther describing her home as ‘heaven for an
only child’ (lines 16–17).

• [2]

6 Which literary technique is ‘a city of parks and lovely old houses hugging the hills and each
other’ (lines 22–23) an example of?

[1]

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7 Suggest how the writer uses structure effectively in the final paragraph.

[1]

Section B: Writing
Spend around 20 minutes on this section.

1 Write a story called ‘The Perfect Morning’.

You should consider:
• the characters in your story
• the setting of your story
• what happens during the morning. [10]

Space for your plan:

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Write your story.

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