Canteen Price Newsletter
Your school's canteen has raised the price of a basic lunch from N$12 to N$18. A survey of 240 learners shows 156 bring lunch from home at least twice a week, 61 skip lunch, and 23 buy every day. The principal asks you to write a piece for the school newsletter. You have two draft openings: one is an angry letter beginning 'Dear Principal, this is unacceptable...'; the other is an article beginning 'A plate of rice and chicken now costs half a day's pocket money for some learners.' The newsletter goes to learners, parents and teachers. Your teacher says the piece must inform, not campaign, and must include one practical suggestion. You have 180–220 words for the final piece.
1. Which draft opening is more suitable for the school newsletter, and why? Refer to audience, purpose and the teacher's instruction.
Read the worked answer
Reasoning: the newsletter is a public, mixed-audience text. Its purpose is to inform learners, parents and teachers, not to press the principal in public. A 'Dear Principal' letter is the wrong channel for a newsletter and 'this is unacceptable' reads as a campaign. The article opening is therefore the better base, but it needs a factual check: 'half a day's pocket money' is not in the survey and should be removed, softened or attributed.
Answer: Use the article opening, revised. It suits the newsletter audience and the teacher's 'inform, not campaign' instruction because it presents a concrete change (N$12 to N$18) rather than an accusation. Replace the pocket-money claim with survey data such as '156 of 240 learners now bring lunch from home at least twice a week'. Keep the tone factual and add the practical suggestion later. The angry letter should not be used: it addresses one person, not the newsletter readership, and its tone would break the teacher's instruction.
2. Outline a plan for the final piece that includes the survey data and one practical suggestion, without campaigning.
Read the worked answer
Reasoning: the plan must do three things at once-report the price change, use the survey without overclaiming, and offer one practical suggestion as a proposal rather than a demand.
Plan:
- Headline: a question such as 'Lunch at N$18: what is changing?'
- Factual lead: basic lunch rose from N$12 to N$18; date of change if known (not given, so avoid inventing).
- Survey evidence: 240 learners; 156 bring lunch at least twice a week; 61 skip lunch; 23 buy daily. Present these as survey results, not proof of cause.
- Balanced comment: note that the survey does not say why learners skip or bring lunch; avoid blaming the canteen.
- One practical suggestion: ask the canteen to trial a N$15 set meal for one term, or a pre-order system to reduce waste. Frame it as 'the school could consider'.
- Close: invite learners to give feedback to the student council.
This meets 'inform, not campaign' because it reports, qualifies and proposes, without insults or demands.
3. Write the first 60–80 words of the final piece.
Read the worked answer
Draft (72 words including headline):
Cheaper by the Lunchbox?
A basic school lunch now costs N$18, up from N$12. In a survey of 240 learners, 156 said they bring lunch from home at least twice a week, 61 skip lunch, and only 23 buy every day. The figures suggest that price is changing how learners eat. This article sets out what the survey found and one practical idea for the canteen to consider.
Reasoning: the opening is informative, uses exact survey numbers, avoids blame and promises a practical suggestion rather than a campaign. The headline is a question, not an accusation.