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7015/1
ENGLISH
PAPER I
December 2015
Time: 11/2 hours
THE KENYA NATIONAL EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL
CERTIFICATE IN EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
AND EDUCATION
ENGLISH
PAPER 1
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
In question ONE choose ONLY ONE option.
Question TWO and THREE are compulsory.
Answers to ALL the questions must be written in the spaces provided in this question paper.
Do NOT remove any pages from this question paper.
Candidates should answer the questions in English.
1. COMPOSITION (15 MARKS)
Either
i) In about 300 words, write a story beginning:
when I arrived, everyone was unusually quiet …………………………….
Or
ii) In not less than 200 words, write a letter to your former classmate at ECDE college, telling him or her about your experience as an ECDE teacher.
2. COMPREHENSION (15 MARKS)
Read the following passage carefully and then answer the questions that follow.
Monday was a bright and beautiful day. The sun seemed to have risen earlier than usual for it was much warmer. Normally the chilly air would bite into every exposed part of the body, and on such days the students’ attire would be adorned with scarfs, leg warmers and heavy jackets to ward off this chill.
On this particular day, the students had abandoned any additional clothing. It was, however, not the absence of leg warmers, scarfs or jackets that gave a different look to most of them. It was the hairstyle the girls sported this morning.
One girl in every three had worn what was now known as “Barbara’s hairstyle.” It was interesting, almost comical, to see “Barbara’s hairstyle” on every girl’s head. The line that parted the hair from the front to the middle of the head became very common in the school. Some girls looked good, some funny. It depended on the length of one’s hair, but obviously some of them had not considered whether, their hair was the right length for the style.
“Hey Barbs! Look over there. Someone has made your hairstyle. Hey, there is another!” Raphael screamed.
“What!’’ Barbara exclaimed. She knew she always had an influence on others but she had not expected it to happen so soon. It was clearly no longer “Barbara’s hairstyle” but the new trend.
“Barbs”, Jasmine, the class prefect called, “how do I look? Did I do it right?’’
“You look great, Jasmine,” Barbara assured her. “I feel as if I am at my old school, we all styled our hair this way,” Barbara added.
Hassan was shaking his head. “How dumb could people be?” He wondered whether some of the girls knew how ridiculous they looked.
“Copy cats,” hissed Heather. “I wonder what else they are going to do.” What was most surprising was that a number of students had started talking in Barbara’s foreign accent and a few were even trying to walk like her.
The students’ buzz went dead as soon as they spotted Mr. Kozia, walking along the platform set at the front of the essembly ground. He took a swipe at the students and noted with displeasure that the girls had a common hair do. Additionally, the school captain addressed the school in a rather strange accent. There was no mistaking it: it was Barbara’s.
Mr. Kozia addressed the students in his usual eloquent manner. He spoke about discipline which he said was going downhill. Noting that the school would not stand any nonsense, he warned the students against giving in to peer pressure and “group thinking.” Each one of them came to school alone and would leave alone. He emphasized that there was need for each one of them to understand oneself in order to deal with issues in a sober and mature manner. Finally, he reminded the students that the school was going to take severe action to deal with the problem of indiscipline in the school.
(Adapted from: Short – changed by Nancy Mwanzia. University press, 2010)
a) What reasons made this particular Monday morning different? (2 marks)
b) Describe “Barbara’s hairstyle”. (2 marks)
c) Explain the difference in meaning between ‘sported’ and ‘spotted.’ (2 marks)
d) Suggest two words that best describe Barbara as presented in the passage. (2 marks)
e) Why do you think the students’ buzz went dead when they spotted Mr. Kozia?
Explain your answer using information given in the passage. (2 marks)
f) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage. (3 marks)
i) Comical
ii) Considered
iii) Sober
g) What moral lessons do we learn from Hassan and Heather’s conversation? (2 marks)
3. GRAMMAR (20 MARKS)
a) Rewrite the following sentences according to the instruction s given. Do not change the meaning. (3 marks)
i) “I will see you tomorrow,” he told me. (Rewrite in reported speech).
ii) Policemen are looking for the lost child. (Rewrite replacing the underlined word with a gender sensitive one).
iii) We should work hard. (Rewrite adding a question tag).
b) Fill in the blank space with the correct form of the word in brackets. (2 marks)
i) The suspect felt ………………………………. By his people (forsake).
ii) Jane ……………………………. A nice picture of herself (Draw).
c) Use a few, few, little, or a little to complete the following sentences. (2 marks)
i) Since I had ……………………………… money, I could not buy lunch.
ii) In the older days people were safer because there were ………………………………….. cases of insecurity.
d) The sentences below contain errors. Write them out correctly.
(3 marks)
i) Despite being punished, she repeated the same mistake again.
ii) Of the two, Jomo ran fastest.
iii) Those are the last kicks of dying donkey.
e) Punctuate the following sentences correctly. (2 marks)
i) Our boarding master asked why are you joining the party
ii) What a beautiful baby you have
f) Underline silent letters in the following words. (3 marks)
i) Plumber
ii) Biscuit
iii) Listen
g) Fill in the blank space with the adjectives given in the brackets in their correct order. (1 mark)
Our school has bought a …………………… bus (nice, big, new).
h) What would a teacher look for in correcting learners’ handwriting? (4 marks)