Klassenarbeit — Unit 5: The United States Today

Track E · Klasse 7 · Niveau E · 45 Minuten

Track E · Klasse 7 · Niveau E · 45 Minuten

class test ("Klassenarbeit") — Niveau E (45 minutes)
Materials allowed. A monolingual dictionary (Niveau M only).
Time. 45 minutes.
Total. 60 points.

Task 1 — Reading (18 BE) Link to heading

Read the short text below.

The first thing Maya noticed in Phoenix was the sound of the air conditioning. It was everywhere: in the supermarket, in the car, in the hotel lobby. Outside, the heat had a sound too — the steady drone of cicadas in the desert trees. Her cousins said you stop hearing the cicadas after about a week. She did not believe them. By the end of the third day, she realised they were right. The desert had its own kind of silence, and it was full of noises she would not have called noises a week earlier.

  1. Where is Maya visiting? (2)
  2. What sound does she notice first? (2)
  3. What sound does she notice outside? (2)
  4. What did her cousins predict? Did the prediction come true? (5)
  5. What does the writer mean by “its own kind of silence”? (7)

Task 2 — Use of English (12 BE) Link to heading

A. Will-future or going-to (6 BE). Choose the better option.

  1. Look at those clouds! It __________ (will rain / is going to rain) any minute.
  2. I think the new film __________ (will be / is going to be) very popular.
  3. Don’t worry, I __________ (will help / am going to help) you with that bag.

B. Articles (6 BE). Insert a, an, the, or — if no article is needed.

  1. Maya is from __________ Stuttgart, but her cousins live in __________ United States.
  2. Phoenix is __________ city in __________ desert.
  3. She wants to see __________ Grand Canyon next summer.

Task 3 — Mediation (10 BE) Link to heading

Your German friend sends you this WhatsApp message:

“Meine Tante schickt jeden Sommer Fotos aus Texas. Es sieht immer extrem heiß aus. Ich verstehe nicht, wie die Menschen dort wohnen können, ohne den ganzen Tag im Schatten zu sitzen.”

Write three sentences in English to your American pen-pal explaining your friend’s question. You do not need to translate every word.

Task 4 — Writing (20 BE) Link to heading

Write 100–120 words about a place in an English-speaking country that you would like to visit. Cover:

  • one fact you already know about the place,
  • one thing you imagine the daily life is like,
  • one thing you would want to find out for yourself.

Use would twice and the future with will or going to at least once.

Expected answer key — class test ("Klassenarbeit")

Task 1 (18 BE).\

  1. Phoenix (in Arizona, in the United States). (2)
  2. The sound of air conditioning everywhere. (2)
  3. The drone of cicadas in the desert trees. (2)
  4. Her cousins said she would stop hearing the cicadas after about a week. By the end of the third day she found the prediction was right. (5)
  5. The desert is not soundless; it is full of small steady noises that her ear gradually accepts as the new “quiet”. The writer is rethinking what silence means. (7)

Task 2 (12 BE).
A. 1. is going to rain, 2. will be (or is going to be — accept both with reasoning), 3. will help.
B. 4. — / the. 5. a / the. 6. the.

Task 3 (10 BE). Sample: “My friend’s aunt sends pictures from Texas every summer. She says it looks extremely hot. She is wondering how people there can live their daily lives without spending the whole day in the shade.” Award for: gist (4), addressee-fit (2), correct grammar (4).

Task 4 (20 BE). Inhalt 10 / Sprache 10.

Rubric — grading scale (Notenschlüssel)
Punkte (von 60)Note
56–601
49–552
40–483
30–394
18–295
0–176