Choosing Evidence for the Folio
Jonas must submit a school-assessed folio of three written texts in German, each 120-180 words, linked to the themes studied: Meine Schule, Umwelt, and Reisen. He has drafted five pieces: (1) a 200-word email about his school timetable, (2) a 130-word blog post about recycling at home, (3) a 95-word postcard about a holiday, (4) a 175-word article about public transport and pollution, and (5) a 150-word letter to a friend describing a school excursion. He wants to submit pieces 1, 3 and 4 because they show the widest variety of text types. His teacher reminds him that each piece must meet the word limit and that the folio should show range across themes and structures, not just text types.
1. Evaluate Jonas's proposed selection against the requirements and recommend a final set.
Read the worked answer
His selection fails on two counts. Piece 1 is 200 words, over the 180-word maximum, so it is non-compliant and would need trimming or replacing. Piece 3 is 95 words, under the 120-word minimum, so it is also non-compliant. That leaves only piece 4 valid in his chosen set, which is not enough. A compliant set must use texts within 120-180 words. Valid options are pieces 2 (130), 4 (175) and 5 (150). Recommended final set: 2, 4 and 5. This covers Umwelt (2 and 4) and Schule (5), and gives three different text types (blog post, article, letter). If he wants stronger theme coverage, he could rewrite piece 1 down to 180 words and swap it for piece 5, but he should not submit non-compliant lengths.
2. Jonas argues that submitting two texts about the environment shows depth. How should he weigh depth against breadth?
Read the worked answer
Depth in one theme is not itself a criterion; the folio is judged on the range of language and ideas demonstrated across the three texts. Two environment texts risk repeating the same vocabulary (recycling, Müll, Umwelt) and the same structures (present tense, modal verbs like 'man sollte'). Breadth of theme usually produces broader vocabulary and structures. However, breadth is not just about topic labels: pieces 2 and 4 both concern the environment but differ in purpose (personal blog vs. persuasive article), which can show different registers and connectors. The defensible choice is to keep 2 and 4 only if he can show they use noticeably different language, and pair them with a clearly different theme such as school (piece 5). If the two environment pieces read too similarly, he should replace one with a rewritten school or travel text.
3. Suggest one language-focused improvement Jonas could make when editing his chosen texts, and justify it.
Read the worked answer
He should audit each text for structural variety, for example ensuring each piece uses at least one subordinate clause (weil, dass, wenn), one perfect-tense sentence, and one comparison or opinion phrase. Justification: the folio rewards range, and beginners often default to short main clauses in the present tense. Deliberately including a subordinate clause and a perfect-tense sentence in each text demonstrates control of more complex structures without inflating length beyond 180 words. He should check accuracy after editing, since adding complex structures increases error risk, and confirm each text still sits within 120-180 words.