MEED Primary School

Grade 6 English First Additional Language Baseline Assessment

Comprehension, LSC, Writing and Reading Aloud
Mark Allocation: 55 marks
Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Instructions and information:

1. This question paper consists of FOUR sections:

SECTION A: Comprehension (20 marks)

SECTION B: Language Structures and Conventions (15 marks)
SECTION C: Writing (10 marks)
SECTION D: Reading Aloud (10 marks)
2. Read all the instructions carefully.
3. Answer all the questions.
4. Write neatly and legibly.

Comprehension __________/20
LSC __________/15
Writing __________/10
Reading __________/10

Page 1 of 12
SECTION A: COMPREHENSION (20 MARKS)
QUESTION 1: READING FOR MEANING AND UNDERSTANDING
TEXT A

Read the information text and answer the questions that follow.

Picture A Picture B
Fire is an important part of people’s lives. Fire enables people to have light, cook food
and boil water. They found that food cooked by fire was easy to chew and had a better
taste than eating uncooked food. Fire was also used for protecting people and to chase
wild animals away.

How did people learn to use fire? Thousands of years ago people found that fire could
be made by rubbing two pieces of wood together. They also found out that you could
make flames if you hit stones against each other. It was hard to light fires in this way, so
they kept their fires burning in fireplaces for as long as they could. People who do not
have matches or lighters can light fires this way.

Some people learnt to build stoves. The first stoves were round in shape and made of
clay with no chimneys (passages for the smoke to go through). Now they could make
fires inside their homes to cook food. Wood stoves and coal stoves now have chimneys to
take the smoke outside. This new way meant that people could keep warm without
breathing in smoke.

[Adapted from the Internet: Discovery and Creation of Fire]

Page 2 of 12
1. Which is the best title for the text? (1)

A Making Smoke
B Using Chimneys
C Making Stoves
D Making Fire

2. What material is used to make the fire in picture A? (1)

A Chimney
B Sparks
C Wood
D Rocks

3. Which picture shows the modern way of making fire? Picture ________ (1)

4. What is fire used for? (Paragraph 1) (1)

A Making fireplaces
B Building stoves
C Healing sickness
D Cooking food

5. Which is the correct meaning of the underlined word? (1)

It is very hard to make fire with wood.

A Difficult
B Simple
C Heavy
D Easy

6. Complete the following statement. (1)

Wood stoves and coal stoves have chimneys so that they can take the

______________________. (Paragraph 3)

Page 3 of 12
7. Say whether the following statement is true or false and provide a reason for your
answer. (2)

Smoke from the first wooden stoves always filled the houses since it couldn’t
escape.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

8. What is this text about? It is about how to … (1)

A make sparks.
B build stoves.
C cook food.
D make fire.

9. Explain how fire added value to the lives of people after its discovery. (2)

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

10. Choose and underline the correct answer. (1)

One can infer from the text that the discovery of fire made it more difficult/easier
to prepare food.

11. Say whether you agree or disagree with the following statement. (1)

Humans ate mostly raw food before the discovery of fire. ____________________

12. Name two ways in which you can light a fire if you do not have matches or
a firelighter. (2)

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Page 4 of 12
Text B

13. What do you think this poster is about? (1)

_____________________________________________________________________________
14. What should you do if a cooking fire starts? (1)
_____________________________________________________________________________
15. Why do you think it is important to stay in the kitchen while you are cooking? (2)

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
16. What does it mean to extinguish a candle? (1)
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Page 5 of 12
Page 6 of 12
SECTION B: LANGUAGE STRUCTURES AND CONVENTIONS (15 MARKS)

1. Rewrite the following sentence using a capital letter, a comma and a full stop. (1)

thembi likes collecting wood leaves and grass around the Umgeni River

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

2. Complete the joining of the sentences. (1)

People like using gas stoves. They do not make a lot of smoke.

People like using gas stoves because

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

3. Write the prefix from the word box that will change the underlined word to the
opposite. (1)

dis- mis- ir-

We like making a fire for cooking food. like

4. Which word in brackets has the same meaning as the underlined word? (1)
Underline the correct answer.

It is very easy to cook with wooden stoves.

(common/simple)

5. Write the opposite gender of the underlined word. (2)

5.1 A man uses matches to light a fire. ____________________________

5.2 The food cooked on the fire is fit for a queen. _________________________

6. Write the plural of the underlined word. (1)

They eat their cooked food out of the dish. ______________________________

Page 7 of 12
7. What is the correct form of the adjective within brackets. (1)

Gas stoves cook (fast) than wooden stoves. ______________________

8. Which is the correct preposition in brackets? (2)

We still use wood stoves 17.1 (under/in)___________our homes. Playing with fire
could get you into trouble. It is impossible to move around 17.2 (at/into)
_______________night without putting on the lights.

9. Write the word in brackets in the simple past tense. (1)

The moon (looks) like a fire at night.

10. Circle one adjective in the following sentence. (1)

Fire was also used for protecting people and to chase wild animals away.

11. Circle one noun in the following sentence. (1)

Fire was also used for protecting people and to chase wild animals away.

12. Rewrite the following sentence in the present progressive tense. (2)

Some people learnt to build stoves.

Page 8 of 12
Grade 6 English First Additional Language 2020
Baseline Assessment

SECTION C: WRITING AND PRESENTING (10 MARKS)

Write three paragraphs (100 words) in which you describe an animal that you like.
Remember that correct spelling, use of language and punctuation are very important.
Use the following guidelines for planning:

What kind of animal is it?

Where does it live?
Is it a tame or a wild animal?
What does it eat?
What does it look like?
Why do you like it?

The animal is a …
Planning
This animal lives…

Is the animal tame or wild?

I like this animal because…

This animal eats…

This animal looks…
Grade 6 English First Additional Language 2020
Baseline Assessment

The Animal I Like

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Grade 6 English First Additional Language 2020
Baseline Assessment
Your writing will be assessed according to the following rubric:

Criteria 5 4 3 2 1,0
Content Content is Content is Some effort is Effort is Content
very creative and made to made to does not
creative and matches the write write a match the
matches the topic. creatively. paragraph. topic.
topic well. Content is Content is Learners
topic not related copied
related. to the topic. instructions.
Paragraph Excellent Good Acceptable Only one to One
structure paragraph paragraph paragraph three sentence
structure structure structure with sentences only.
with 10 with between written. Sentences
sentences between four and six numbered.
written. seven and sentences. Not a
eight paragraph.
sentences
Spelling Almost no Only some Many Many Too many
spelling spelling spelling spelling spelling
errors. errors. errors. errors. errors.
Reading not Difficult to Difficult to
affected. read. read.
Language Almost no Only some Many Many Too many
structures language language language language spelling
errors. errors. errors. errors. errors.
Reading not Difficult to Difficult to
affected. read. read.
Total: 20/2
= 10
Grade 6 English First Additional Language 2020
Baseline Assessment

SECTION D: READING ALOUD (10 MARKS)