NCEA Level 2 English 91099 Visual Text free practice questions with answers

PRACTICE TEXT — SPEECH TRANSCRIPT (ORAL TEXT) Study the practice text, then choose one question The Person with the Keys An original speech written for this practice paper. Words in square brackets describe how the speaker delivers the speech.

[Mrs Tupaea walks to the front of the hall, carrying nothing. She waits until the room is silent.]

Good morning. Some of you know my name. Most of you know my keys. [Laughter. She lifts a heavy ring and shakes it.] Thirty-four years. Thirty-four years of opening this school at six o’clock in the morning, and locking it at six at night, and I have never once been late for either.

I was asked to say a few words today, and I have a confession. [She lowers her voice.] I am much better at sweeping than speaking. But I have a message for you, and I want you to hear it, because nobody ever told it to me. You see the teachers. You see the principal. You see the trophies in the cabinet and the names on the honours board. [She gestures to the wall.] But who put the chairs out for this assembly? Who unlocked the gym for your netball final? Who found your lunchbox, your bag, your lost shoe, at the bottom of the field at four o’clock in the rain?

[She pauses and looks along the rows.] I do not tell you this to be thanked. I tell you because the world runs on people like me: the people you do not notice, the people whose work is only seen when it is not done. The bus driver. The nurse on the night shift. The one who fixes the pipe. Nobody makes a speech about the pipe. But try living without one.

I used to think that work like mine did not matter. I thought that mattering was for people with names on walls. Then one morning, a small girl, six years old, found me in the corridor and said, “Mrs Tupaea, you make the school clean for us.” [Her voice softens.] Eight words. I have kept them in my pocket ever since, with the keys. So here is my message. [She straightens and speaks more slowly.] Notice people. Say thank you. Learn the name of the person who cleans your classroom, because they know yours. And when you leave this school, and you will, take care of the small things, because small things hold up the large ones.

[She holds up the keys one more time.] I will not be needing these on Monday. [Pause.] But I will be listening for the sound of them. Thank you, and kia ora koutou.

[She places the keys on the table. The hall rises.]