Guided writing: tourism festival awards paragraph

Sample paragraph (one acceptable answer, not the only one). The Sidi Bou Said Lantern Walk was first organised on 21 July 2018. It is an evening guided walk through the village which lasts two hours, and lanterns are provided. Its objective is to encourage holiday visitors to discover the village during their trip, outside the beach hours. Last summer it welcomed 3,000 visitors, among them families, tourists and travel bloggers, and it is free for children under 12. The next edition will take place every Saturday from 5 July.

The decision the table hides: which rows are past, present or future. First edition → past simple (was first organised / took place), because it is a dated event. Description, Objective and Price → present simple (it is… / lasts… / its objective is… / it is free), because they describe the event as it exists. Visitors last summer → past simple (welcomed / attracted): the row has no verb, but last summer forces the past. Next edition → future (will take place / will be held). Two rows may share a sentence when they belong together (description + duration; visitors + price), which helps make the paragraph concise.

Figures and dates: 21/07/2018 → on 21 July 2018; 3,000 → 3,000 visitors or three thousand visitors; under 12 or under twelve; from 5 July needs from, not since.

What the official grid rewards for the table task: Efficient use of prompts; Linguistic and mechanical accuracy (the same two lines are printed for the table-to-paragraph task of the 2017 contrôle). Typical losses: the row Free for children under 12 copied as a fragment without a verb; was organised every Saturday (past used for the future row); 3,000 visitors visit last summer; a prize, a founder or a price for adults invented to lengthen the paragraph. These are criteria from the cited paper, not an official mark allocation for this authored exercise.

Model e-mail (six lines, every note used).

Hi Rami, — Greetings from Tabarka! We arrived on Saturday after a six-hour bus trip, so we were exhausted. Our hotel is small, but it is near the harbour and from my window I can see the fort. Yesterday we went on a boat trip to the coral reef and I tried snorkelling for the first time — amazing! It is very hot, so we swim every morning. Tomorrow we are going to the jazz festival: there is a free concert on the beach. We come back next Friday, and I will bring you a souvenir. — See you soon, Karim

The decisions the notes hide. Idea: a note has no verb, so the tense is yours to choose from the time word in the row. Arrival and Yesterday → past simple (arrived, went, tried); Hotel and Weather → present simple (is, can see, swim); Plan → are going to / will because of tomorrow; Return → present or future (come back / will bring). Link cause and result with so (six hours → tired) and contrast with but (small but near the harbour).

Use of the prompts. All six rows must appear: an e-mail that forgets the weather or the return loses the prompt credit even if the English is perfect. Do not invent a price, a storm or a new friend — the corrector checks the notes, not your imagination.

Adherence to the genre. An e-mail to a friend needs a greeting (Hi Rami), a closing (See you soon) and an informal tone (amazing!, contractions acceptable); Dear Sir or a formal report would miss the task, and so would a paragraph with no addressee.

Language and mechanics. Capital letters on Tabarka, Saturday, Friday; consistent spelling of harbour (or harbor); souvenir with one n; a comma after the greeting.