Review Lab 8 — Review & Correspondence Studio

Lab scenario

Teams co-draft a Review and a chain of emails around one scenario, justify choices aloud in a Speaking P3/P4 frame and peer-critique against CPE Writing descriptors.

Skills you'll practise

Evaluative writingRegister controlJustificationPeer critique

Stations

Practice rotation

Five stations · ~12 min each · ONE shared scenario across all five (a newly-opened community library). In 1:1, teacher rotates through with the learner.

60 min total

Station 1 · 12 min

Writing P2 · Review — community library

Plan a 250-word Review with voice, ONE honest negative and a calibrated recommendation. From Lesson 31.

Scenario

A new community library has opened in your area. A national lifestyle magazine has invited reviews from local readers. The shared scenario will recur across all five stations.

Task · 220–260 words

Plan a 220–260 word CPE Review of the library for the magazine. Four sections: Open (voice + context) · Works (one specific strength) · Doesn't (one honest negative, framed as a quality issue) · Verdict (calibrated recommendation with a self-selecting caveat). Include ONE marked structure that earns its place.

Self-check

Voice opener — establishes who is reviewing and why.
One quoted specific in WORKS (a detail you would only know if you'd visited).
One honest negative framed as a quality issue, not a complaint.
Calibrated recommendation with a self-selecting caveat.
One marked structure (inversion / cleft / fronting) justified by emphasis.
Recycled-noun link between WORKS and DOESN'T.

Station 2 · 12 min

Writing P2 · Email — to the library director

Plan a 250-word semi-formal email pushing back on a planned change to library opening hours. From Lesson 32.

Scenario

The new community library has just announced it will close on Sundays from next month. You are a regular user. Write to the library director — Dr Imani, whom you have met once at the opening — pushing back on the decision and proposing an alternative.

Task · 220–260 words

Plan a 220–260 word semi-formal email to Dr Imani. Identify the register cell (semi-formal, occasional familiarity, purpose = push-back). Choose matched opener and closer. Include ONE diplomatic move from L24 (soft-front + relational anchor + scoped push-back + invitation) and ONE calibrated claim from L26.

Self-check

Register cell named in your plan (semi-formal, occasional, push-back).
Opener-closer pair matched (e.g. 'Dear Dr Imani' … 'Best regards').
Soft-front opener that does not dilute the core.
Relational anchor naming what you agree with.
Scoped push-back — ONE specific concern, not blanket rejection.
Calibrated invitation, not pressure.
Closer matches opener register.

Station 3 · 12 min

Listening P1 · Three short extracts on the library

Multiple-choice listening on short extracts — speakers reflect on the library, the closure decision, and the writing about it.

Extract 1

Extract 1 — a regular user (Polish, m) interviewed on local radio.

Extract 1

Tap play to listen. Scrub the bar or use ± 5 s to jump.

The speaker's overall stance is best paraphrased as:

Extract 2

Extract 2 — Dr Imani (Kenyan, f, library director) on the closure decision.

Extract 2

Tap play to listen. Scrub the bar or use ± 5 s to jump.

Dr Imani's stance is best paraphrased as:

Extract 3

Extract 3 — a magazine editor (English, f) on the review submissions received.

Extract 3

Tap play to listen. Scrub the bar or use ± 5 s to jump.

The editor's selection criterion was:

Station 4 · 12 min

Speaking P3+P4 · Defend your Review and Email decisions

Justify writing choices aloud in a P3/P4 frame — register, negative-framing, calibrated recommendation, push-back move. Spirals Module 6.

1. P3 (2 min discussion + 1 min decide): your station partner has read your Review and your Email. Discuss: which ONE band-shift move had the biggest effect — for each piece? Decide jointly which move you'd most want to teach to a learner one level below you.
“I'd argue for ______ as the biggest shift in the Review, because ______.”“Building on that, in the Email it was ______.”“Where we converge is ______.”“Shall we land on ______ as the one we'd teach?”
2. P4 (1 min long turn): 'What is the hardest part of getting register RIGHT in a real workplace email?' Use ONE marked structure (L25) and ONE calibrated claim (L26).
“What appears to underpin most register mistakes is ______.”“On the balance of my own experience, ______ is highly likely to ______.”“It is the OPENER-CLOSER pair, not the body, that ______.”“Only when ______ can ______.”
3. P3 (1 min): negotiate which TWO sentences from your Email you would cut if asked to bring it to 180 words. Defend the cuts using L24 vocabulary (scoped, soft-front, relational anchor).
“I'd cut ______ because it's the least scoped sentence in the email.”“I'd push back on cutting ______ , because it's where the relational anchor lands.”“Where we converge is on cutting ______.”“Shall we land on those two?”

Station 5 · 12 min

Module 8 reflection — band-shift, register, peer feedback

Convert the lab into a concrete checklist for Module 9 (Exam Strategy in Action) — what to keep, what to drop.

Discuss

1. Of the four band-shift moves for Reviews (voice / specific / honest negative / calibrated), which is now the EASIEST for you, and which is still the hardest?
2. For Emails, which is the part you most over-shoot — formality, familiarity, or purpose?
3. Did your Module-6 diplomatic moves transfer naturally into your Email today, or did you have to force them?
4. What's the ONE Module-8 habit you most want to keep alive when Module 9 pushes you into exam-strategy mode?

Self-audit · tick what was true

Review — voice + ONE specific + honest negative + calibrated recommendation all visible.
Email — register cell named; opener-closer matched; ONE diplomatic move integrated; calibrated invitation present.
Speaking — all four P3 moves used; P4 answer reached 60s with ONE marked structure + ONE calibrated claim.
Module-7 carry-over — marked syntax, calibration, nominalisation+cohesion still present without being forced.

Ready for a full paper?

Sit a complete CPE simulation — Mock 1, Mock 2 or the Official Exit Test — in real timing.

Mock Exams & Exit Test

Review Lab complete

Talk through your work with your teacher or study partner, then move on.

Last lesson of module Start Module 9