Language Paper 2 Question 5: writing a viewpoint
Forty marks for a letter, article, speech or essay. Form and register are half the battle; a persuasive argument that ignores its audience cannot reach the top band.
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Write a letter, article, speech or essay presenting a point of view, organised for effect and technically accurate.
Key learning points
- • Read the form and audience carefully
- • Argument architecture
- • Rhetoric used sparingly
- • Evidence you may invent
This lesson at a glance
- 35 minutes
- 21 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 21
Visual introductionPicture this
Language Paper 2 Question 5: writing a viewpoint
Forty marks for a letter, article, speech or essay. Form and register are half the battle; a persuasive argument that ignores its audience cannot reach the top band.
In a nutshell
Write a letter, article, speech or essay presenting a point of view, organised for effect and technically accurate.
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 21
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Read the form and audience carefully
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 21
Learn
Read the form and audience carefully
A letter to a headteacher, a speech to students and an article for a broadsheet are three different registers. Match the opening: a letter has a salutation, a speech addresses listeners, an article carries a headline and a hook.
Reset break
Part 4 of 21
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 21
Learn
Argument architecture
Plan four paragraphs: a concession you answer, your strongest point with evidence, a second point with an example or anecdote, and a call to action. Answering the other side early makes the rest sound reasonable rather than shrill.
Quick check
Part 6 of 21
Quick check
Part 7 of 21
Reset break
Part 8 of 21
Pause
That's sitting 2 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 9 of 21
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Rhetoric used sparingly
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 21
Learn
Rhetoric used sparingly
One rhetorical question, one triadic list and one deliberate short sentence will do more than a page of devices. Overloaded rhetoric reads as a checklist and depresses the content mark.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 21
Learn
Evidence you may invent
You may create plausible statistics, expert names and anecdotes; examiners do not fact-check. Keep them plausible and specific — a named local example lands better than an implausible global figure.
Reset break
Part 12 of 21
Pause
That's sitting 3 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 13 of 21
Quick check
Part 14 of 21
Explore the idea
Part 15 of 21
Worked example
Model opening
Dear Councillor Hart, I am writing about the plan to close the Marley Street library on Saturdays. I understand the pressure on the budget; nobody expects a service to run on goodwill alone. But the saving of roughly four thousand pounds a year comes at the cost of the only warm, free room in this ward where a teenager can revise. Last term, twenty-two of us used it every weekend. Close the door on Saturday and you do not save money — you move the cost somewhere it will be harder to see.
Reset break
Part 16 of 21
Pause
That's sitting 4 of 5 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Challenge round
Part 17 of 21
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 18 of 21
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
A ____ to a headteacher, a speech to students and an article for a broadsheet are three different registers.
Match the opening: a letter has a salutation, a speech addresses listeners, an ____ carries a headline and a hook.
Challenge round
Part 19 of 21
Game · Recall cards
Why open with a concession you then answer?
Card 1 of 4
Mastery quiz
Part 20 of 21
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Language Paper 2 Question 5: writing a viewpoint
4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Why open with a concession you then answer?
2. How much rhetoric should a top-band answer use?
3. May you invent statistics and examples?
4. Which opening best matches an article for a national newspaper?
Lesson round-up
Part 21 of 21
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaPart 1 of 21 · Watch & discover