1	I can adequately understand simple factual texts on themes relating to my own interests and subjects in the school curriculum
Read the text about summer jobs for teenagers.

Summer Jobs for Kids

Summer's here, and there are a number of jobs to do to earn some extra pocket money. If you work hard and have a bit of luck, you can build up a successful business in no time!

1 Lawn Mowing
Many people don't want to care for their own garden in the summer when the lawn needs to be mowed every other week. Why don't you take over? Lawn mowing is the right job for anyone who likes to be outdoors. It's important to actively look for customers and offer a low price. Drive through your neighbourhood and look for lawns that need mowing. As soon as you've found one, leave a flyer so that you can be contacted. Lawn mowing is hard work, but you can earn decent money.

2 House sitting and pet sitting
Summer is holiday time. But when everybody leaves for their vacation, someone has to watch the pets or collect the mail and newspapers from the mailbox. With this job it's important that people have trust in you. In the end, you'll be watching their house and their dog. Best get in touch with everybody you know and tell them you're looking for this kind of work. Also make sure you get on well with the pet before you agree to do the job.

3 Babysitting
Summer can be a real challenge for parents of school-age kids who have to work during their kids' holidays. Sports clubs may take care of their children for a few weeks, a family trip may cover another week or two, but what about the rest of the long summer holidays? Why don't you find two or three families and take care of their kids during the day? It's a good idea to visit a babysitting class to prepare for the job. The Red Cross offers such courses for 11- to 15-year-olds.

4 Lemonade Stand
In the summer, people love to spend their free time outside. But there are many public places without a snack bar. You could open up your own stall and sell bottled water, soft drinks or small snacks. If you bring your own coolbag, such things will sell anywhere sunny and hot. Try parks, the beach, or a busy street corner near popular summer attractions. Running a lemonade stand  won't be a regular job for you, but doing this once or twice during the summer could still get you some extra spending money.
Mark the sentences true (T) or false (F).

 1 In the summer, you need to mow the lawn more often than once a month.
 2 You should find out which neighbours need help with their lawn and offer your services.
 3 Lawn mowing isn't easy work.
 4 People will want to know more about you before they hire you as a house sitter.
 5 Some families don't know how to take care of their children in the summer.
 6 You have to take a course at the Red Cross to work as a babysitter.
 7 The text says it's a good idea to sell lemonade in public places that have snack bars.
 8 Selling lemonade is not a job you would do every day for the whole summer.

2	I can recognise and understand the most important information in everyday texts 
Read the text about sun protection and complete it with the sentences below.

Protect your child from the sun! 
In the past, many parents thought it was healthy for their children to be in the sun while doing outdoor activities. 

A part of the sun's energy contains rays of invisible ultraviolet (UV) light. When ultraviolet light rays enter the skin, they damage the skin cells. Sunburn, for example, is an injury of the skin that we can see. But ultraviolet light also causes invisible damage to skin cells which adds up, year after year. 

The only way to prevent such damage to the skin is to protect it. Sun protection should begin the first time children go outside and continue throughout life.   Therefore, sun prevention in childhood is very important to prevent skin cancer later in life.

Teach your child to follow the "ABC for fun in the sun":

A = AWAY. Stay away from the sun in the middle of the day.
Midday sun contains the most intense rays. Plan your outdoor activities before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. and avoid long periods of direct sun exposure. Sit or play in the shade.

B = BLOCK.   Spread it evenly over all uncovered skin, including ears and lips and apply it about 30 minutes before going outside. Don't forget to reapply the sun cream approximately every two hours, even on cloudy days.

C = COVER UP. Wear a T-shirt and a hat and never play or work outdoors without a shirt.    Sunglasses that block ultraviolet rays protect the eyes and eyelids.

 After 20 to 30 years or more, the built-up damage appears as wrinkles and even skin cancer.
  Use sun cream with a sun protection factor of 30 or higher.
 In addition to filtering out the sun, clothing reflects heat and helps keep you feeling cool.
 Today we know however that staying in the sun has many unhealthy effects, such as early aging of the skin and skin cancer.
 We get about 80 percent of our total lifetime sun exposure in the first 18 years of life.

3	I can understand and recognise the central information from simple texts on familiar themes in newspapers and magazines
Read the text about the Loch Ness monster and complete it with the sentences below.

Nessie, the monster of Loch Ness

The Loch Ness is a lake in Scotland.   The lake is very cold and dark and some people believe that there's a monster living in it: the Loch Ness Monster.

The Loch Ness Monster, which many people called "Nessie", was first seen in 565 A.D. when Saint Columba rescued a swimmer from a lake monster.   But only from 1933 onwards, when a road was built around Loch Ness, did a large number of people report that they had seen Nessie.

On 14th April 1933, the owners of the Drumnadrochit Hotel saw something like a body floating in the sea.   The first photograph was taken in 1933 but you could only see what seemed to be a tail, lifted 3 feet above the surface. He was out on his motorbike when he saw the beast run across the road. He said it had a long neck, a smooth body and flippers. He compared it to an ancient dinosaur.

In 1960, Tim Dinsdale filmed the monster while he was visiting Loch Ness. Nobody believed him, but he himself was so convinced of what he had seen that he spent the next twenty years trying to find the monster.

Scientists have made a number of suggestions about the type of animal which could live in Loch Ness as a "monster".   Recent studies have shown that some water dinosaurs were warm-blooded like humans. Dr. Roy Mackal, a Loch Ness researcher, thinks it could be a kind of whale. But if there was a whale in the loch then there would be more sightings, because it would have to breathe on the surface.

It seems most likely that the sightings of "Nessie" could be underwater waves, which sometimes occur in deep cold lakes and push stones and other stuff from the ground of the lake to the surface.   In 2003, a team of specialists thoroughly examined Loch Ness, but they saw no signs of any large living animal there. If "Nessie" really does exist, it is extremely difficult to find and most of the reported sightings have turned out to be fakes. Yet, as a result of so much publicity, Loch Ness has become a major tourist attraction.

 Some think it could be a dinosaur.
 It's 24 miles long and has an average depth of 450 feet.
 The creature they saw was described to look like a snake with "a long, narrow neck, about 6 feet long".
 These could certainly look like a monster.
 In the following centuries, the monster was spotted a few times.
 In 1934, a student saw "Nessie" on land.

4	I can understand short, simple, personal letters, cards or e-mails
Read Duncan's letter to his grandmother and tick the true sentences below.

Dear Grandma,

Thanks a lot for the awesome birthday present you sent me! I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the parcel and found the new video camera I had been wanting for so long! You didn't choose this gift on your own, did you? You must have had someone to help you. Miriam maybe? Or Roger? Anyway - it's terrific. Thank you so much.

I've enclosed a current photo of myself for you. It's a grad photo that was taken at our school. You know, here in the U.S. anything that's to do with graduation is very important for people. There are dances, ceremonies, special clothes - and photos. I know, I look awful on that photo. Let me tell you my personal "bad haircut story".

You know, I have basically had the same haircut since I was eight years old. How often have you told me to go to the hairdresser's and get a more mature haircut, something fashionable? I think although it might have looked childish it didn't look bad on me. But ok, it was just about a week before graduation and grad photos were going to be taken the following Tuesday. And Flora literally dragged me to some weird salon. You remember my girlfriend Flora, don't you?

60 dollars later, I come out of the salon with this horrible hair cut that words could not describe. To this day I don't even know what to call it. But let's just say I looked like a real freak. When dad got home, he took one look at me and  shouted "What on earth did she do to your head?" He sat me down into the kitchen, came downstairs with his beard trimmer and gave me a crew cut right there. That's why in my grad photos I look like a soldier.

What do you think of my new look, grandma?

Take care and write back soon!

Love,
Duncan

1 Where is Duncan at the moment?
 In Great Britain
 In the U.S.
 In Canada

2 Why was the photo that Duncan has sent to his grandma taken?
 because of his graduation
 because he joined the military
 because he went to a dance

3 How often has Duncan had a new haircut in his life?
 He goes to the hairdresser's eight times a year.
 He has had the same haircut for eight years.
 He has had the same haircut since he was eight.

4 Who took Duncan to the hairdresser's?
 his mum
 his girlfriend
 his dad

5 What did Duncan's dad do?
 He gave him another haircut.
 He gave him money to go to another hairdresser's.
 He took a photo of Duncan.

5	I can understand order forms and similar pre-printed forms 
Read about the charity "Small Gifts" and how it works.

Small Gifts that make a big difference

Don't know what to buy this Christmas? Here's our solution: Small Gifts, a charity gift service that has something for everyone, whether it's your boyfriend or girlfriend, best mate, co-worker, mum or granddad. With Small Gifts you can't fail to find a gift that's right. That's because Small Gifts offers you a great choice of gifts that make a big difference all over the world.

Here's how it works!

When you buy a gift from our catalogue, your donation helps support one of our charity programmes around the world. In return, you send a card to your friend, co-worker or relative that explains how their special gift is helping others. Have a look through this catalogue and continue what we’ve always believed: that giving good gifts never goes out of fashion.

It only takes 4 easy steps to make someone happy

1 Choose your favourite gifts 

We’ve sorted our gifts into eight categories that cover a range of products and prices to suit everyone. There are gift ideas for animal lovers, bookworms, gardeners and many more. Some example gifts are: a goat for a family in Africa, school supplies for a school in a developing country or farming tools for farmers in Africa and Asia.

2 Place your order  

You have various options for ordering one of our gifts:

- our website www.small-gifts.com
If you order online, you can personalise your gift card with a message and send it to your recipient or we’ll send you the card and you can write your own message.
- by phone: 0800 034 034
Call us from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm and place your order over the phone. Orders may take a few minutes to complete.
- from the catalogue
There’s an order form and instructions at the back of the catalogue that you simply fill out, tear off and send back. We’ll send your gift cards back to you.

3 Personalise or write your own card                                                                                                                                                 

The best part about Small Gifts is the card you get to give as the gift. With every item you purchase, you will receive a card that explains the good the gift does somewhere in the world. You can have cards delivered to you to write your own message. If you order online, you can have your own message printed on the card and we can send it directly to your recipient.

4 Everybody feels good                                                                                                              

That’s it! Your donation will go to those who need it most and your recipient gets much more joy from their card than another unwanted gift - that's a promise.
Mark the sentences true (T) or false (F).

 1 If you order a gift from Small Gifts you actually donate money to a charity programme.
 2 If you buy a gift for your mum, she won't get a real present.
 3 Small Gifts has put gift suggestions into four categories.
 4 If you order online you can only send e-cards by e-mail to the recipient of your gift. 
 5 You can't order a gift by phone on a Sunday.
 6 If you use the order form at the back of the catalogue you have to fax it to Small Gifts.
 7 On the gift cards there's information that explains how this gift helps someone else.
 8 You can't have a personal message on the gift cards.
6	I can recognise and understand the most important information in everyday texts 
Read the text and complete the sentences below.

Mountain Biking - River Mountains

Experience one of the newest bike paths in the Las Vegas valley, which has been open for just two years. The River Mountains trail is a beginner-friendly bike trail for the whole family.

Before the trip our experienced bike trainers will give you some basic instructions. After that, you will start the tour and can immediately enjoy spectacular views of the area. A short stop will give you the opportunity to see Bighorn Sheep, so don’t forget your camera. Along the way there will always be a chance to take photos or ask questions about the area.

The bike path continues toward Lake Mead where you can stop at the Lake Mead Visitors Center to use the toilet or buy water. Visit the wildlife museum and learn about local plants and animals of the desert.

The trip continues on to a railroad tunnel. There you can see the five giant tunnels that were used to transport building materials to the Hoover Dam, 24 hours a day for two years. At the Hoover Dam, take some time to snap some photos, or take a tour inside the dam to learn more about it and its functions.

After lunch, we will pack up the mountain bikes and equipment before heading back to Las Vegas to finish off our unforgettable trip.

Please note: This trail is a scenic tour. If you have experience riding cross-country and would like to book a more challenging ride please talk to our staff.

1 The River Mountains bike trail was opened _________________.

2 The first stop on the trip is  _________________.

3 At Lake Mead Visitors Centre, the bikers can use the toilet or _________________.

4 On the way to the Hoover Dam, the bikers pass  _________________.

5 At the dam, the bikers may take some photos or  _________________.

6 The trip finishes in _________________.