The 25-35 Word Festival Invitation
You are a second-year student at a Yamagata junior high school. Your Australian friend Alex sends this message: 'I hear your school festival is coming. What is it like? Can I come?' Your teacher gives these writing conditions: write a reply in English of 25-35 words; include the date (Saturday, October 18) and one activity (your class will sell apple pie); give one reason Alex should come, using 'because'; answer Alex's question directly. You must not use Japanese. You have five minutes. A classmate writes: 'Hi Alex. My school festival is on October 18. We sell apple pie. Please come.' The teacher says it is too short and does not use 'because.' Another classmate writes 40 words and adds two activities. You need a reply that meets every condition without going over the limit.
1. Write a model reply that meets all five conditions, and count the words. Explain how you answered Alex's question directly.
Read the worked answer
Model: 'Hi Alex. Yes, please come! My school festival is on Saturday, October 18. My class will sell apple pie. You should come because we can enjoy it together.' Word count: 28 (Hi 1, Alex 2, Yes 3, please 4, come 5, My 6, school 7, festival 8, is 9, on 10, Saturday 11, October 12, 18 13, My 14, class 15, will 16, sell 17, apple 18, pie 19, You 20, should 21, come 22, because 23, we 24, can 25, enjoy 26, it 27, together 28). The direct answer is 'Yes, please come!' It replies to 'Can I come?' instead of only describing the festival. The date and activity are included, and 'because we can enjoy it together' gives the reason. The reply is inside 25-35 words.
2. The short classmate's reply is 14 words. Identify which conditions it meets and which it misses, then revise it to 25-35 words.
Read the worked answer
The short reply meets two conditions: it gives the date (October 18) and one activity (apple pie). It misses the direct answer to 'Can I come?' and the required 'because' reason, and at 14 words it is below the 25-word minimum. Revision: 'Hi Alex. Yes, you can come! My school festival is on Saturday, October 18. My class will sell apple pie, and you should come because it will be fun.' Count: 29 words. It keeps the date and activity, adds a direct 'Yes, you can come!' and adds a because-clause. The revision does not add a second activity, so it stays within the content limit.