I- Complete each sentence in the dialogue below with a suitable expression chosen from those in the brackets.

Swiri: Did you go out yesterday?

Ngum: No, I ______________________ home all day yesterday evening. (was staying, stay, stayed)

Swiri: ______________________ were you doing? (Where, Whom, What)

Ngum: I finished writing ______________________ essay that I started the previous day. (and, an, some)

Swiri: ______________________ nice! So what will you be doing tomorrow? (That it was, That, That’s)

Ngum: Well, I am thinking about going to the Zoo with ______________________ younger brother. (me, mine, my) I’ve not been there for long.

Swiri: Alright, I wish both of you a good time at the Zoo tomorrow.

Ngum: Thank you my friend!

II- Complete the paragraph below with the correct form of the words in the brackets.

Mrs. Rebecca Chacko is an American Peace Corps volunteer. She came to Cameroon in 2001 when she was 23 and ______________________ (teach) English language in Lycée de Batie, in the West Region.

She said “I have always ______________________ (want) to become a volunteer. It has been a dream to me. My entire family has done volunteer work. I want to become a volunteer because I want to try to make the world a ______________________ (good) place in which to live.

My dream ______________________ (fright) me because it is a very ambitious objective”.

I want every Cameroonian to begin to think beyond their ______________________ (community). They help people but they only help people they know. When you help someone, the whole community benefits.

I- Fill in each gap with the appropriate word chosen from the box so that the sentence makes sense. There are more words than you will need.

1. Drinking too much alcohol can damage your ______________________
2. How much ______________________ do you spend on cigarettes and alcohol?
3. Some men beat their ______________________ and children when they drink too much.
4. Children whose parents fight always suffer from ______________________
5. The government should pass a ______________________ to regulate the sale of cigarettes and alcohol.

II- Complete this cloze text with a suitable expression of your own so that the passage makes sense.

Serena’s mother makes breakfast for her children every morning before they go to school. Every morning, Serena sweeps the floor before she goes to school. Their mother fries eggs for some of them to eat during ______________________

Mary eats eggs, her younger ______________________, Valentine dislikes them. For this reason, the mother sometimes bakes ______________________ so that she can please Serena and Jordan.

As a ______________________, it is often difficult to know all that your ______________________ like best because they have different eating habits.

Jordan for example may like cakes but Serena may prefer eggs. Valentine may not like bread and cheese but Julius may like it.

Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow it. Use complete sentences and as far as possible, your own words.

The best age to have a baby

The safest age for both mother and baby is between 20 and 30 years of age. Younger or older mothers may have more problems during pregnancy or birth. Of course thousands of mothers above or below these ages have easy births and healthy babies but more healthy babies are born to mothers between 20 and 30 years than at other ages.

Among teenage women, miscarriages are more common and the baby is often born too early. Babies of teenage mothers are on average smaller and weaker. This may be because some young mothers do not eat well. A teenager’s body has not finished growing so her pelvis may be too narrow for this baby to get out easily. If “she” has to go to school early, she will miss her education. She may not know about ante-natal-clinic and good nutrition. If she goes back to school, the young mother has to find someone to look after the baby. If the father is also at school, he has the difficult choice of giving up school and losing his education or staying at school and not earning any money to support his new family.

Many young women feel dissatisfied with being school girls. They think that by becoming mothers, they will grow into adult women more quickly. Becoming a mother is not easy. A woman needs to be emotionally matured, physically matured and emotionally stable with a man or a family to support her. Being a parent means learning to love children, accepting their demands and working for them for at least 15 years.

During the first year, motherhood is especially very tiring and difficult.

The majority of teenage pregnancies are unplanned. This is very sad as every baby should be a wanted baby. Adult parents can usually find a way of looking after unplanned babies but it is always more difficult for teenage parents. Sometimes, the parents of the teenage mother send her away from home. This makes life even more difficult for both her and the new baby.

Between 20 and 30 years is both the safest age for mother and baby, and also the time when parents have the energy to cope with small children. Over the age of 30 years, the risks of problems in pregnancy gradually increase. Conception may take longer as a woman gets older. By 40 years old, the ovum is not fresh and there is a higher risk of having a disabled baby.

Source: (Culled and adapted from The Guardian Post. Wednesday, 25 September, 2015.)

QUESTIONS

Write an essay of between 150–180 words on any ONE of the topics below.

1. You have discovered that your schoolmates/classmates do many things that you do not like. You have advised them time and again but they have refused to do what is right. Write a letter to the Principal of your school informing him/her on:
   • The negative things your schoolmates/classmates do,
   • When these schoolmates/classmates do these things,
   • The advice you always give them,
   • Measures the Principal could take to put an end to your schoolmates’/classmates’ behaviour.
2. You are Mambo Atu from G.B.H.S Ekobo and your Post Office Box number is 2061.

3. Your mother sent you to the market with a shopping list to buy some food items. You bought a few and some other things for your personal needs which were not on your mother’s list.
   • When you went to the market,
   • The food items you bought on your mother’s list and your personal needs,
   • Why the “bayam sellams” were quarrelling and fighting,
   • The reaction of onlookers of the scene,
   • Your reaction after discovering that your money was missing and how you came out of the embarrassment,
   • Your mother’s reaction after you narrated what happened in the market.
4. You live in town and you were invited to a traditional marriage in Ndam village. The road to the village was not good. Write an essay in which you say when the occasion took place, the means of transport you took, the difficulties encountered on the way and describe how some of the activities were carried out.