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📰 C1 Editorial Challenge • Unit: Comedy, Humour & Satire

Lantern Rooms Review Desk

Step into the shoes of magazine editors! Check each review line, name the job of the marker, and decide to keep it or cut it.

📖 1. Rules of the Game

👩‍🏫

Teacher Set-Up & Execution

Group Formation: Divide the class into editor desks of 3 or 4 students.
Distribution: Hand out the 8 Review Line proof cards and one Edit Sheet per team.
Briefing: Explain House Style: spoken markers that sound too chatty must go, while markers fitting print context stay.
Facilitation: Keep time (20 minutes total) as teams work through the 8 review lines.
Peer Audit & Scoring: Direct teams to swap edit sheets for peer checking using the Teacher Key.

🎓

Students: How to Play

Identify Job: For each review line, write the marker's job (SOFTEN, LIST, EXPLAIN, CHECK, CONTRAST).
Editorial Decision: Decide whether to KEEP or CUT the marker according to magazine House Style.
Clean Copy: If CUT, copy the line without the marker, start with a capital letter, and make no other changes.
Score Points: Earn 1 point for decision, 1 point for job word, and 1 point for clean line copy.
Claim Bonus: Add C1 Unit vocabulary to your written team responses for +1 bonus point per word!

⏱️ 2. Timed Plan (20 Minutes Total)

Step 1

Desk Setup

Hand out the cards. Name a score keeper in each team.

Step 2

Job Labeling

Read lines and match markers to job words.

Step 3

Edit Lines

Decide KEEP/CUT and write exact edited lines.

Step 4

Peer Audit

Swap edit sheets with another desk to check.

Step 5

Score Check

Check against Teacher Key & tally points.

Step 6

Bonuses

Award C1 word bonuses and name top editors!

✏️ 3. Review Lines: Magazine Proof Cards

8 Proof Cards

Jobs: SOFTEN (less exact), LIST (more examples), EXPLAIN (clearer), CHECK (listener knows?), CONTRAST (point against).

✏️ Proof Card #1

Line 1: "The host was sort of nervous at the start."

Marker Job:

____ SOFTEN ____ LIST ____ EXPLAIN ____ CHECK ____ CONTRAST

Decision:

____ KEEP ____ CUT

Edited Line (if CUT): ____ (Type edited line here...)

✏️ Proof Card #2

Line 2: "The first act made fun of doctors, teachers, bankers and so on."

Marker Job:

____ SOFTEN ____ LIST ____ EXPLAIN ____ CHECK ____ CONTRAST

Decision:

____ KEEP ____ CUT

Edited Line (if CUT): ____ (Leave unchanged if KEEP or type line...)

✏️ Proof Card #3

Line 3: "The audience may have been tired or something."

Marker Job:

____ SOFTEN ____ LIST ____ EXPLAIN ____ CHECK ____ CONTRAST

Decision:

____ KEEP ____ CUT

Edited Line (if CUT): ____ (Type edited line here...)

✏️ Proof Card #4

Line 4: "The sketch about a talking fridge was, I mean, completely absurd."

Marker Job:

____ SOFTEN ____ LIST ____ EXPLAIN ____ CHECK ____ CONTRAST

Decision:

____ KEEP ____ CUT

Edited Line (if CUT): ____ (Type edited line here...)

✏️ Proof Card #5

Line 5: "Mind you, the tickets were cheap."

Marker Job:

____ SOFTEN ____ LIST ____ EXPLAIN ____ CHECK ____ CONTRAST

Decision:

____ KEEP ____ CUT

Edited Line (if CUT): ____ (Type edited line here...)

✏️ Proof Card #6

Line 6: "He is, as it were, the king of dry humour."

Marker Job:

____ SOFTEN ____ LIST ____ EXPLAIN ____ CHECK ____ CONTRAST

Decision:

____ KEEP ____ CUT

Edited Line (if CUT): ____ (Leave unchanged if KEEP or type line...)

✏️ Proof Card #7

Line 7: "You know, the second half was much stronger."

Marker Job:

____ SOFTEN ____ LIST ____ EXPLAIN ____ CHECK ____ CONTRAST

Decision:

____ KEEP ____ CUT

Edited Line (if CUT): ____ (Type edited line here...)

✏️ Proof Card #8

Line 8: "Her closing story was kind of lovely."

Marker Job:

____ SOFTEN ____ LIST ____ EXPLAIN ____ CHECK ____ CONTRAST

Decision:

____ KEEP ____ CUT

Edited Line (if CUT): ____ (Type edited line here...)

📝 4. Edit Sheet

Line	Marker	Job word	Decision	Edited line (CUT lines only)
1	sort of	__________	KEEP / CUT	__________________________
2	and so on	__________	KEEP / CUT	__________________________
3	or something	__________	KEEP / CUT	__________________________
4	I mean	__________	KEEP / CUT	__________________________
5	Mind you	__________	KEEP / CUT	__________________________
6	as it were	__________	KEEP / CUT	__________________________
7	You know	__________	KEEP / CUT	__________________________
8	kind of	__________	KEEP / CUT	__________________________

🏆 5. Editorial Scoring & Bonus Scheme

Decision Point

Correctly choosing KEEP or CUT according to print House Style rules.

Job Word Right

Accurately identifying the functional category (SOFTEN, LIST, EXPLAIN, CHECK, CONTRAST).

Clean Copy Point

Writing the edited CUT line with exact spelling, correct capital letter, and no extra edits.

+1★

Bonus for Unit Words

+1 extra bonus point for each target C1 Comedy unit word incorporated naturally in desk notes!

✍️ 6. Sentence Starters (Unit Words + Chatty Markers)

10 Unit Words

Target Vocabulary: satire parody irony sarcasm punchline witty absurd ridicule mock caricature

Starter 1

"To be fair, the satire in the opening scene was..."

Starter 2

"The punchline was, as it were, a masterclass in..."

Starter 3

"Mind you, the comedian's sarcasm felt a bit..."

Starter 4

"The show was sort of absurd, especially when..."

Starter 5

"I mean, the caricature of the politician was pure..."

Starter 6

"You know, the parody succeeded because it mocked..."

🔑 7. Teacher Answer Key & Common Pitfalls

Official Key

Official Desk Outcomes (Lines 1 – 8)

Line 1: SOFTEN, CUT "The host was nervous at the start."
Line 2: LIST, KEEP (Line retained unchanged)
Line 3: LIST, CUT "The audience may have been tired."
Line 4: EXPLAIN, CUT "The sketch about a talking fridge was completely absurd."
Line 5: CONTRAST, CUT "The tickets were cheap."
Line 6: SOFTEN, KEEP (Line retained unchanged)
Line 7: CHECK, CUT "The second half was much stronger."
Line 8: SOFTEN, CUT "Her closing story was lovely."

🚨 Common Mistake Alert to Hear Out For:

Watch out for teams attempting to KEEP "you know" in Line 7! Students often view it as a natural sentence opener. Remind them that in formal magazine review style, "you know" is an informal chatty listener check and must be CUT.

🎨 8. Activity Variations & Scaling

Level 1 • Support

Pre-Circled Markers

Provide cards with markers pre-highlighted so students focus exclusively on job classification and KEEP/CUT decisions.

Level 2 • Standard

Standard Desk Editing

Unassisted identification of markers, job category labeling, KEEP/CUT decisions, and clean copy transcription.

Level 3 • Challenge

Formal Replacements

Instead of simply cutting informal markers, teams must replace CUT markers with formal written transition words (e.g., replacing 'Mind you' with 'However').

Fast Finishers

Draft New Reviews

Fast desks draft 2 original comedy review lines using C1 Comedy vocabulary (irony, ridicule, mock) and 2 markers that are fine in print.

💬 9. Closing Questions & Debrief

Question 1

Which marker was the hardest to sort, and why?

Question 2

How does removing chatty markers change the tone of a comedy review?

Question 3

When is it fine for a print reviewer to KEEP a marker such as "and so on" or "as it were"?

Class activity: Lantern Rooms Review Desk

Lantern Rooms Review Desk

Teacher Set-Up & Execution

Students: How to Play

Desk Setup

Job Labeling

Edit Lines

Peer Audit

Score Check

Bonuses

Decision Point

Job Word Right

Clean Copy Point

Bonus for Unit Words

Official Desk Outcomes (Lines 1 – 8)

Pre-Circled Markers

Standard Desk Editing

Formal Replacements

Draft New Reviews

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

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