Selecting relevant information
Dahlia Bartley, Contributor

How are you today? I hope you are focusing on your work at school. Remember that an investment in education always pays the best dividends.

You should have had no problem with the exercise in last week's lesson. I know it was easy for you to carefully select the required information. You should have noticed that not all the sentences contained relevant information. Therefore, you would not have extracted information from the following sentences:

(Incidentally, Darwent's effort was not only the first in Trinidad but the first in the Western world, for it was not until 1868 that Drake drilled the first American oil well).

Walter Darwent's achievement at Aripero stirred the imagination to such an extent that when the famous English writer, Charles Kingsley, came here during the Christmastide of 1869/1870 he was taken to see Darwent's well.

It is important for you to read questions carefully and answer only what is asked.

Here is another question which tests your ability to select relevant information. This, too, is from a Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate past paper.

Read the following dialogue carefully then answer the question.

You have been chosen by your youth club to write a short, biological sketch of Mr Jackson, the principal of your school, for its annual magazine.

Imagine that your sketch is to be based on the following recorded interview with Mr Jackson. Write the sketch in not more than 100 words.

Interviewer: Mr Jackson, how long have you been at Forestbrook High?

Mr Jackson: I first came here in 1965.

Interviewer: Twenty-seven years ago! It must have been a very different place then.

Mr Jackson: It certainly was. When I first came here, there were only about 500 pupils.

Interviewer: And now they say that this is one of the biggest schools in the country.

Mr Jackson: Our enrolment now stands at 2,000, as I suppose you know. There was a report in the newspapers about that the other day.

Interviewer: You have a degree in chemistry, I believe. What made you decide to go into teaching?

Mr Jackson: You probably won't believe this, but I've never wanted to do anything else. I've had many offers for jobs at higher salaries, but none of them appealed to me.

Interviewer: But why did you stay in this school? It isn't a particularly good one, after all. Halstead High, for example, has much better accommodation. Were you never tempted to go there?

Mr Jackson: Not for one minute; although, as you probably know, my wife teaches at Halstead. And our three children are pupils there. The oldest one is just about to take the CXC examinations. He's a fine boy. The two younger ones are girls, Marie and June.

Interviewer: And the boy is Jason, I think. I chatted with him at your 25th wedding anniversary party last month. That was a really enjoyable occasion, you know. We prefects really appreciated the invitation to attend.

Mr Jackson: It was the least we could do. We wanted as many as possible to share the occasion with us. You know, I've spent all my married life at this school. My wife taught here too, until five years ago. Besides, Forestbrook is very dear to me for other reasons. I am an old boy of the school. Very few people living here might know that.

Interviewer: Yes, that is a surprise. Now I know why you have stayed so long. Well, Mr Jackson, it's been good talking with you. I think I now have enough information for my sketch. Thank you very much.

Mr Jackson: Thanks to you too. Goodbye and good luck.

Your approach to a reasonable response to a question of this nature is crucial.

• You must take care to sift from the dialogue the essential information being sought.
• Organisation of the information is important. So, too, is the use of grammar and mechanics. (Your account must read smoothly).
• Give accurate information and never ever copy chunks of information directly from the passage.
• Do not exceed the word limit!

Important details that must be included are as follows:

• Mr Jackson came to Forestbrook 27 years ago.
• He has a degree in chemistry.
• He is committed to teaching.
• His contribution to the school is evidenced by the growth of student enrolment - from about 500 to 2,000 during his administration.
• He is a past student of the school.
• He has been married for 25 years.
• His wife is a teacher.
• He has three children.

Continue to study and we will meet again next week.

Students from Lister Mair-Gilby School for the Deaf performing a dance last month during the National Child Month Committee Youth Forum 2008 at the Stella Maris Pastoral Centre in St Andrew. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

Dahlia Bartley teaches at Glenmuir High School.