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English Functional Skills Question Paper

English Functional Skills

Course:English

Exam Year:2014

NAME……………………………………………… INDEX NUMBER……………………….

ADM …………………………………….. CLASS………………… DATE……………………

101/2
ENGLISH
Paper 2
(FUNCTIONAL SKILLS)
2 HOURS

BUNYORE – MARANDA (BUMA II) JOINT EXAMINATIONS
Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education
ENGLISH
Paper 2

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
a) Write your name, class, date,, index and admission number in the spaces provided above
b) Answer all the questions in this paper
c) All your answers must be written in the spaces provided in this question paper
d) Candidates should answer all the questions in English.

For Examiner’s use only

Question Maximum Score Candidate’s Score
1 20
2 25
3 20
TOTAL 15

1. Read the passage below and answer all the questions that follow

Society has the obligation to provide young people with the right knowledge and skills to become productive workers, good parents and responsible citizens, according a World Bank Report, Development and the Next Generation. And it is through education that the young develops their ability to be productive workers, good parents and responsible citizens, World Development Report, 2007, authored by World Bank notes.

The report says that effective investments need to happen during childhood and adolescence for it to bear fruits. Investments in adolescence are needed to make earlier investments during childhood pay off a hundred fold. The report underscores the need to establish a strong secondary education that will further strengthen the capabilities that primary education established.

It stresses the need to improve the relevance and quality of post primary education by teaching students the practical knowledge, thinking and behavioral skills demanded by the labour market. To achieve this, the education system must promote a teaching method that leads to high learning achievement and blends the academic and vocational curricular. It should link what happens in school to local economy.

To improve the relevance of education to the learners, the report says, education must produce peep with strong thinking and interpersonal skills because job tasks are increasingly requiring problem solving, and communciaiton skills. Entrepreneurs are also increasingly demanding thinking skills and problem and behavioral skills such as self-confidence and leadership.

In a nutshell, what are the types of skills that a topnotch education system requires? It requires two basic types of skills: thinking skills and behavioral skills. Thinking skills include conceptual, critical and creative skills. High quality education develops learners with superior conceptual, analytical and critical skills – skills that condition the learner to be curious,. Inquisitive and always posing and seeking answers to problem situations or processes. Behavioral skills include such traits as perseverance, self-discipline, teamwork, the ability to negotiate risks.

The report also still highlights the enduring role of what it terms basic skills which is literacy and numeracy-ability to read, write and count. These basic skills are needed for further learning, work and life. The report also identifies what it terms post basic skills-the higher order thinking skills, and higher order behavioural skills such as decision-making skills, team work, the ability to negotiate conflict and manage risks and specific knowledge applied to real-life situations, and vocational skills. The foregoing demonstrates the integral role of Early Childhood and Primary and Secondary cycle plays in crating the foundation for higher education in tertiary and Universality education. The quality of higher education is as good as the primary and secondary education.

(Adapted From Elimu News. A Newsletter of Ministry of Education. Issue No. 7 Dec. 2012)

a) According to the passage what is the role of the society in the development of an individual? (2 marks)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

b) In what ways can an education system attain the demands of the job market? (3 marks)
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c) Contrast thinking and behavourial skills (4 marks)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
d) In not more than 40 words, summarize what is expected of a person who has attained post basic skills (5 marks)
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e) Explain the relationship between primary and secondary education (2 marks)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
f) The report says that effective investments need to happen during childhood and adolescence for it to bear fruits, (Rewrite using a conditional) (1 mark)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

g) How does post secondary education benefit from lower levels of education? (1 mark)
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h) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage (3 marks)
a. Underscores…………………………………………………………………………..
b. Blends…………………………………………………………………………………
c. Topnotch……………………………………………………………………………….

2. Read the extract below the answer all the questions that follow
The procession turns into the gateway. Again the ADJUTANT lingers behind. He waits. Enter the wounded rider form the doorway. To IRONSHIRTS of the Palace Guard have taken up positions by the gateway.
ADJUTANT (to RIDER): The Governor does not wish to receive military news before dinner-especially it’s depressing, as I assume. In the afternoon His Excellency will confer with prominent architects. They’re coming to dinner too. And here they are! (Enter three gentlemen through the doorway) Go to the kitchen and eat, my friend. (As the RIDER goes, the ADJUTANT greets the ARCHITECTS) Gentlemen, His Excellency expects you at dinner. He will devote all his time to you and your great new plans. Come!

ONE OF THE ARCHITECTS: We marvel that His Excellency intends to build. There are disquieting rumours that the war in Persia has taken a turn for the worse.

ADJUTANT: All the more reason to build! There’s nothing to those rumours anyway. Persia is a long way off, and the garrison here would let itself be hacked to bits for its Governor.
(Noise from the palace. The shrill scream of a woman Someone is shouting orders, Dumbfounded, the ADJUTANT moves toward the gateway. An IRONSHIRT steps out, points his lance at him) What’s this? Put down that lance you dog.
ONE OF THE ARCHITECTS: It’s the princes! Don’t you know the princes met last night in the capital? And they’re against the Grand Duke and his Governors? Gentlemen, we’d better make ourselves scare. (They rush off. The ADJUTANT remains helplessly behind).

ADJUTANT (furiously to the Palace Guard): Down with those lances! Don’t you see the Governors life is threatened?
The IORNSHIRTS of the palace guard refuse to obey. They stare coldly and indifferently at the ADJUTANT and follow the next events without interest.

SINGER:
O blindness of the great!
They go their way like gods,
Great over bent backs,
Sure of hired fists,
Trusting the power
Which has lasted so long.
But long is not forever.
O change form age to age!
Though hope of the people!
Enter the GOVERNOR through the gateway, between two SOLDIERS armed to the teeth.
He is in chains. His face is gray.
Up, great sir, deign to walk upright!
From your palace the eyes of many foes follow you!
And now you don’t need and architect, a carpenter will do.
You wont be moving to a new palace
But into a little hole in the ground.
Look about you once more, blind man!
The arrested man looks round.
Does all you had please you?
Between the Easter Mass and Easter meal
You are walking to a place whence no one returns.
The GOVERNOR is led off. A horn sounds an alarm, noise behind the gateway
When the house of the great one collapses
Many little ones are slain.
Those who had no share in the good fortunes of the mighty
Often have a share in their misfortunes
The plunging wagon
Drags the sweating oxen down with it
Into the abyss.
The SERVANS come rushing through the gateway in panic

a) Identify the setting of this extract? (2 marks)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
b) What has Natella blamed the governor for just before this extract? (2 marks)
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c) What are the reasons for disallowing the rider from reaching the governor? (2 marks)
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d) For what reason did the princes hold a meeting the capital and how will this affect the governor later in the play? (3 marks)
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e) Identify any theme that has been highlighted in this extract (2 marks)
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f) Explain an instance of irony in this extract (2 marks)
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g) How has the singer foreshadowed the tragic end of the governor before the is led off? Write your answers in note form (3 marks)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
h) Why it is justified to refer to the governor as a blind man (3 marks)
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i) Identify and explain any use of proverb in this extract (2 marks)
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j) He will devote all his time to you and your great new plans. (Begin: All his time…) (1 mark)
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k) Explain the meaning of the following as used in the extract (3 marks)
i. Confer…………………………………………………………………………
ii. Disquieting………………………………………………………………………
iii. Make ourselves scarce………………………………………………………….

2. Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow

AN ELEGY
When he was here
We planned each tomorrow
With him in mind
For we saw no parting
Looming in the horizon

When he was here,
We joke and laughed together
And no fleeting shadow of a ghost
Ever crossed our paths

Day by day we lived
On this side of the mist
And there was never a sign
That his hours were running fast

When he was gone,
Through glazed eyes we searched
Beyond the mist and shadows
For we couldn’t believe he was nowhere
We couldn’t believe he was dead
(Laban Erapu)

a) What is the message of this poem? (4 marks)
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b) Comment on the use of repetition in line 1 of stanza 1 and 2 (2 marks)
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c) What is the significance of the last line of poem? (2 marks)
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d) What would the persona miss in his friend’s absence? (2 marks)
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e) Describe the mood of this poem (3 marks)
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f) Paraphrase the following line: Through glazed eyes we searched (2 marks)
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g) Which two lines in the poem show that the persona has nostaligic tone? (2 marks)
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h) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem.
i. Ghost (1 mark) ……………………………………………………………………..
ii. And there was never a sign: that his hours were running fast (2 marks)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

4. (a) Rewrite the following sentences according to instruction given in brackets (4 marks)
i. John never reported late to work last year. (Not once…)
……………………………………………………………………………………………
ii. His excuse was flimsy. He ended up in jail. (Combine the two sentences beginning: so…)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
iii. If I had not missed the plane last night, I……………………………….(give) my first lecture now. (Use the correct tense of the verb in brackets)
iv. As soon as the sun rose, they set out. (Begin: no sooner)
……………………………………………………………………………………………

(b) Fill in the blanks with the correct word chosen from the ones given brackets after each sentences (2 marks)
i. The bride was looking forward to walking down the………………….on her wedding day (aisle/isle)
ii. We cannot accommodate another person there is ……………………. Space left (little/a little).

(c) Use the correct form of the words in brackets to fill the blanks (2 marks)
i. The modern world today has many ………………………….forms of communication (sophistication)
ii. The gas was stored in a …………………………………..container (pressure)

(d) Fill in using appropriate prepositions (3 marks)
i. Many people claim that girls are good …………………… arts subjects
ii. Unemployed youths often subscribe ………………………. Illegal groups.
iii. They attended the party dressed ……………………….smart casuals

(e) Explain the meaning of the following idiomatic expressions (2 marks)
i. Face the music……………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
ii. From the horse’s mouth ………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………

(f) Replace the underlined word(s) with a phrasal verb that has the same meaning as the underlined (2 marks)
i. The nurse couldn’t tolerate the noise
ii. The mayor assumed that the problem had been got rid of.

English Functional Skills Question Paper

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