Revision Guide

 
English as a First Language
 
Paper 2
 
 
This paper is 50% of your total ‘English as a First Language’ exam
Grade,
 the other 50% is your Coursework Portfolio.
The paper contains 3 questions of which you must answer all
three.
You have 2 hours to complete this paper.
Total marks for the paper is 50 marks divided:
Q1. 20 marks, Q2. 10 marks, Q3. 20 marks.
 
 Examiner’s tips for this paper:
 
• Do not write rough drafts. You cannot afford the time to write out
every answer twice, and it is neither required nor desirable that
you should do so; plans are sufficient.
 
• Take two different coloured highlighters into the exam. You need
to annotate all the passages, and it is especially useful to use two
colours for the summary and other questions where there are two
types of material asked for. But don’t go mad with the highlighting!
Only single words or short phrases should be highlighted in a text,
otherwise you are not precisely identifying your useful phrases
and will end up with a ridiculous amount of highlighted text.
 
• Regulate your time and keep an eye on it: in Paper 2, for
instance, question 2 should take half as long as questions 1 and 3,
which carry double the marks and require more planning.
 
• If you run out of time on the last (summary) question write notes
instead of full sentences. You will lose fewer marks for doing this
than for continuing to write in sentences but leaving the answer
incomplete. Indicate what points you would have made and you
will get some credit for them.
 
• Suggestions for length are given as a number of pages and are
there to help you understand what is expected and what is possible
within the time limit. Answers which are shorter or longer will be
self-penalising.
 
• However, the exam is assessing quality rather than quantity. Do
not waste time counting words either during or after you have
finished your responses. The time would be better spent improving
content, expression and accuracy.
 
• Avoid using ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘so’ and ‘then’. These are immature ways
of linking ideas and events.
 
• If you finish the exam early, go back and check your answers
again; you may have missed something.
 
• Do the questions in the order in which they are printed on each
exam paper, as there is a reason why they are in that order. In
particular you should not read both passages on Paper 2 before
answering question 1.
 
• Have a pen (and a spare) for the exam with which you can write
legibly and neatly. It is good policy to get the examiner on your side
with a well-presented script. Often untidy writing is associated
with poor spelling and punctuation.
 
• Underline the key words in every question, and then use them to
plan around.
 
• Make your endings strong; they are what the examiner has in
their mind when they are deciding on a mark. There is no point in
repeating anything you have said earlier.
 
• If you are weak on sentence structure do not attempt over-long
and complicated ones in which you lose grammatical control. On
the other hand, you should use complex sentences rather than
simple or compound structures throughout the exam, as these are
what formal English requires and educated writers produce, and
they will give concision, precision, variety and maturity to your
style.
 • Use commas to separate clauses in a sentence. It is sometimes
difficult to follow meaning where they have not been used and
should have been. Commas are not, however, a substitute for full-
stops, and ‘comma-splicing’ is penalised heavily in this exam, as it
shows an inability to understand what a sentence is and how the
building blocks of language work.
 
• Detail, detail, detail. Every one of your exam answers will benefit
from use of supporting detail, either textual, factual or creative.
 
• Avoid repeating either ideas (which spoil the effect of the first
time you used them) or language (which gives the impression that
your command of grammar is limited or your vocabulary
restricted).
 
• Copying and lifting of whole phrases should be avoided
throughout the exam, except when you have been specifically
requested to select quotations (i.e. Q2). Copying gives no evidence
of understanding, rather the reverse.
• Don’t guess the spelling of a word you are not sure of if that word
exists somewhere on the exam paper. You should, however, try to
guess the meaning of a word you don’t know if you think it is
important to your understanding of a text, and you should not be
put off by it being a long word. There are three ways of working out
the meaning of a word:
i)       Is it possible to tell the approximate meaning of the word
from its context?
ii)     Does it remind you of another word you already know? If so it
may be related.
iii)   Can the word be broken down into syllables? If so you may be
able to work out the meaning of the different parts.
 
• Check through your answer, pretending you are the examiner, to
make sure that what you have written can be clearly read and
understood. It is usually possible to improve your answer even at
this stage by adding a few more words for clarification or support,
or by correcting errors, or by making a word more legible. Use
carats (^) or asterisks (*) to add extra material above the line or
at the end of the piece.
 
• Do not be afraid to make corrections, using a line through the
word(s) and making a clear substitution above or with an asterisk
below.
 
• Keep up your concentration to the bitter end. Often students
start well and then their writing declines in quality as they get
tired. Sentence structure, as well as tidiness of handwriting, tends
to deteriorate as time passes. Keep producing mature vocabulary
even when you’d rather take the easy option and write on auto-
pilot; the last questions carry as many marks as the first.
 
• Don’t ramble; the longer the piece of writing the more likely
there are to be mistakes in it and the more time you would have to
allow for checking and correcting. Say it once and then move on.
 
• Checking is crucial for any piece of writing, because slips
inevitably occur, particularly when one is writing fast and under
time pressure. If the examiner finds the careless mistakes you
have left uncorrected, their assessment of your writing ability will
inevitably be affected.
.
 
 
Question 1 - Response to a Text
This question is called ‘Response to a Text’ because you will be
asked to read a passage and respond to it. 15 marks are
rewarded for your understanding of the text, 5 marks for the
quality of writing in your answer.
The passage will be literary and/or contain description of a person
or place or both. You will have to be sensitive to atmosphere and
show appreciation of the feelings of the characters in your
response.
 
• This question is rewarded not only for identification of relevant
material in the passage but also inference, development of the
ideas and use of supporting detail. There are therefore four types
of content required to show advanced comprehension for a top
mark out of 15 for Reading.
 
• For full marks out of 5 for Writing you need to demonstrate
structure, sequence, and ‘a wide range of original and appropriate
language’.
 
• It will help you enormously to highlight the material you are
going to use in the text, and then write a quick plan in order to
organise it into a logical structure before you start writing your
response. This will enable you to avoid repetition and to make sure
you are fully answering the question.
 
• Use everything which is relevant, not just some of the material.
On the other hand, there may be some parts which you should
ignore because they are not covered by the question.
 
• Do not drift away from the text; everything you write must be
‘tethered’ to the passage i.e. have a direct connection with it and be
supported by references to it.
 
• Before you start writing, decide how formal the task is and adopt
an appropriate tone. No question in an exam assessing your ability
to use educated English will expect you to use slang or jargon or
non-sentences, so expect to have to write in a reasonably formal
style whoever your audience is and whatever the task. Even a
letter to a relative will be someone distant or older, such as an
uncle whom you haven’t met recently, and a report to your fellow
students will be official or for publication in the school magazine. It
is essential to remember who your audience is and to address them
directly as ‘you’.
 
• Though you can use short quotations from the passage within
your response, you should not copy big chunks of text and you
should use your own words when not actually giving details.
 
• If the question has several parts you can either integrate the
two, e.g. advantages and disadvantages, or deal with them
separately. You can decide on your own structure for your answer,
but what matters is that there should be a structure of some kind,
and one which the reader can discern.
 
• It is time-wasting and does not achieve anything to try to design
your answer in the layout which you think might be appropriate in
real life, e.g. dividing a newspaper report into columns and adding
drawings and extraneous advertising material. This cannot be
rewarded and can distract you from the real task of providing
appropriate and accurate content for your response.
 
• What is important is that your answer should be divided into
paragraphs, as all continuous prose should be.
 
• If you are given bullet points to remind you what should be
included, use them to check you have covered what is required,
and they can also help you to structure your answer. The material
from the passage should be put into the appropriate section and
not repeated.
 
• Do not add extra sections, for instance where you are given
which questions to ask in an interview, stick to those questions
only. It makes the response too fragmented or less focused if you
add more.
 
Revision:
 
Formal Letters
Practise writing formal letters; it is highly likely you will be asked
to write a letter on. Letters to people in official positions and whom
you don’t know typically adopt a formal style and polite tone, and
they are structured in three paragraphs:
i)   the topic of the letter/reason for writing it
ii) background information, arguments and factual details
iii)   request or suggestions for future action
Reports
Practice turning passages into reports; they have a particular
style, and structure which is different from any other kind of
writing:
i)   style - short paragraphs; short sentences; dramatic vocabulary;
statistical information; stacking of adjectives and descriptive
phrases before the noun (e.g. ‘The Japanese-owned lightweight
racing yacht Sunshine II...’, ‘Divorced former model and mother of
two, Susan Smith...’)
ii) The expression should be impersonal (do not use ‘I’ or ‘We’ and
do not give any opinions).
iii)   Use interview material and direct speech as well as reported
speech.
iv) structure - contrary to normal chronological sequence, news
reports begin with the very recent past (usually yesterday);
go on to fill in past background prior to the event; return to
the immediate present and how things are developing; then
finally speculate about the future.
 
Interview
Practice writing interviews between two people. Interviews
typically adopt an empathetic tone.
i)   Style – question/answer format. If you must skip a line between
questions and answers, or, use names in the margin like a play
script to distinguish between the interviewer and interviewee.
ii) The interviewer should not speak that much allowing the
interviewer to speak the most. It is through the interviewee that
you will show your understanding of the text as they will most
likely be someone mentioned in the passage.
iii)   Write in first person perspective with personal language (do
use ‘I’ and ‘we’ and do give opinions
 
Diary Entry
To show understanding of a viewpoint you may be asked to write a
diary entry. Don’t worry , it’s easy.
i)     Style – almost identical to an informal letter, but packed full of
thoughts and opinions.
ii)   The audience must be yourself, not the diary. Never treat a
diary like a person!
iii) Always include some kind of hpe/plan/intention for the future.
 
 
 

 
 
 Examples of Q1 tasks over the last few years:
 
June 2009
Imagine you are Aunt Pegg. After one week of looking after the
children, you write a letter to their parents in which you:………..
 
Nov. 2009
Imagine you are a schools inspector and you have recently visited
the school described in Passage A. You are not pleased with what
you have observed. Write your report in which you:…………
 
June 2008
Imagine that you are Donovan Webster. You are being interviewed
for a television programme about your visit to Diudiu in Mongolia.
Write the words of the interview.
 
 
Nov. 2008
Imagine you are a reporter, writing from the area. Write the
newspaper report which would have appeared a week after the
eruption of Vesuvius.
 
June 2007
Write a report to the committee that organises the group. In your
report give your reasons whether or not Dr. Zinc should be invited
to speak at one of the debates.
 
Nov. 2007
Write a newspaper report using the headlines printed below. Base
what you write closely on the reading material in Passage A.
 
June 2006
You have recently stayed at the Shamrock Hotel and, most
surprisingly, you thoroughly enjoyed your stay. Write a letter to Mr
and Mrs Doyle explaining the reasons why you liked the hotel so
much. You know that the Doyles will use your letter to advertise
the hotel in future.
 
Nov. 2006
Imagine you are the writer of Passage A. Write a diary entry in
which you explore your thoughts and feelings about the trip so far.
You will be sending your diary entry to your friends and family.
 
 
Question 2 – Effect of Language
This question aims to determine whether or not you understand
the importance of specific vocabulary. Why has the writer used
the word ‘fat’ instead of ‘overweight’ and how did that word
change the meaning of the text. You will be asked to look at the
language that describes two different things from the passage.
 
The beauty of question 2 is that it is always exactly the same!
 
Re-read the descriptions of:
(a) something
(b) something else
Select words and phrases from these descriptions, and explain how
the writer has created effects
by using this language.
 
The second half of this question will be more demanding than the
first. You need to give equal attention to each part and provide at
least half a page for each.
 
• You should aim for 5 relevant quotations in each part of the
question. Give the quotation, in quotation marks, explain its
meaning, and then explain its effect on the passage. You cannot get
higher than 3 marks if you only identify quotations, or higher than
6 marks if you discuss only meanings.
 
• For 10 out of 10 you should give a full range of explained effects
and link them into an overview which shows understanding of
what the writer was trying to achieve in the passage as a whole.
 
• Do not select a quotation which you do not understand as you
will not be able to explain either its meaning or its effect.
 
• When explaining a quotation do not repeat the words used in it.
Do not repeat quotations; you cannot get credit more than once.
 • Generalised and ‘gushing’ comments such as ‘The writer makes
me feel as though I am there’ and ‘The passage is cleverly written’
gain no marks and give the impression that you are failing to find
things to say.
 
• There is no need to use technical terms, and they are no
substitute for explaining an effect in your own words; if you do use
technical terms, such as onomatopoeia, make sure they are
actually correctly used.
 
• Select brief quotations only, of between one and four words. Do
not lift whole chunks of text, or clump quotations together, or list
them. Each one must be focused on specific use of language and
explained separately.
 
• Introduce your choices of language with phrases such as ‘gives
the impression of’, ‘suggests that’, ‘makes me think that.’ Do not
say over and over again ‘This has the effect that...’
 
• Once you have arrived at an overview, do not contradict yourself,
e.g. do not say that one quotation makes a character seem
physically old and another one makes her seem physically young.
This is not likely therefore you need to look at the passage again.
However, there are no ‘right answers’ to this (or any other) part of
the exam and you can score highly by engaging with the text and
thinking about the way language is being used, whether or not
your  comments are what the examiner is expecting.
 
• Things to look for are: use of the five senses; use of contrast; use
of colour; use of noise; links between subject and environment;
surprising, or unusual words; words which create sound effects;
unusual or dramatic punctuation;  imagery (similes and
metaphors)
Question 3 - Summary
Though this question is called ‘Summary’ it is not a summary in
the sense of being a general description of a situation but
instead it is a focused list of the specific ideas or details
contained in the passage, after anything irrelevant to the two
questions has been removed. Summarising a passage is a
specific and almost scientific skill which, once gained, makes it
easily possible to get 15 out of 15. To get an extra 5 marks, be
conscious about you writing style and A* here you come.
 
The beauty of Q3 is that is nearly always exactly the same!
 
Summarize the features of something in:
(a)    Passage A
(b)    Passage B
 
Or
 
Summarize:
(a)    The features of something in passage A
(b)     The features of something else in passage B
 
 
Here is 5-step process that will make this question a whole lot
easier:
i)       read and underline relevant material; count that there are at
least 15 points altogether, and preferably 20
ii)      transfer the points into a plan, whilst changing them into
your own words
iii)     group the points logically (using arrows/brackets); put them
in order (using numbers), and decide which ones can be combined
into one sentence
iv)     write the summary in two paragraphs (one for Paper 1),
using complex sentences
v)      check the summary for accurate expression; adapt the length
and improve if necessary by adding material overlooked or by
removing repetition.
 
Remember:
summaries never include: examples, repetitions, direct speech,
figurative language or minor details.
 
• Find all the points you can for each part of the question; do not
stop when you get to 15 as these may not be the same ones the
examiner has on their list. The only way to be sure of getting all 15
Reading marks is to use everything relevant.
 
• To get all 5 Writing marks you need to show evidence of clear and
concise summary style throughout, precise focus and the use of
your own words.
 
• Do not attempt to synthesise the two passages as this is not
required, is not rewarded; it makes your task more difficult to
attempt to do so as they may not be directly comparable. Treat the
passages separately and focus on the exact wording of the
question.
 
• Do not give your summary in the wrong form as this is penalised
i.e. do not offer bullet points or a list, or write in the first person, or
comment on the content of the passages, or present a narrative, or
use quotation.
 
• The lengths of the summaries of each passage should be roughly
equal.
 
• Though you must use your own words whenever possible, you do
not have to find synonyms for technical objects e.g. solar heaters.
 
• Both halves of the question are equally important and should be
done in the same way and given the same length of about half a
page.
 
• Summaries much longer than half a page are no longer
summaries and will be penalised in the Writing mark.
 
• To be concise enough for summary style and to get in all the
points you should use complex sentences containing two or three
points in each.
 
• Do not repeat points, or express them vaguely; (these will be
given an R (repetition) or PNM (point not made) respectively in
the margin, and discounted.
 
• There is no need to introduce or conclude a summary, and doing
so wastes time and words. Start by using the wording of part of the
question e.g. ‘The features of the desert were...’
 
 
 FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH
Paper 2 Reading Passages (Extended) READING BOOKLET INSERT
READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST
0500/22 May/June 2014
Part 1
Read Passage A carefully, and then answer Questions 1 and 2 on the
Question Paper.
Passage A
After an overnight stay in a lonely farmhouse, three friends set off on a walk
that has a mysterious ending.

An Unexplained Disappearance

Next morning, the three friends sat at the long table enjoying Mrs Grace’s
farmhouse breakfast. Arthur Hilyer, the historian, joked about the
loneliness of the location. Anita Myborg, the naturalist, hoped to watch
rare birds of prey. Grant Frensham loved tramping across the moors. Mrs
Grace glanced at their map. ‘I hope you wouldn’t be thinking of going into
Malbrun. That’s a bad village. No one’s gone there since a young man got
locked up overnight. They say that it’s full of dangerous animals. And
around it, there’s what we call the wild forest – a terrible place, with
sudden deep waters and paths that lead you nowhere and trap you. Just
keep right and skirt the village and the forest.’

After breakfast, the three walkers set off in high spirits, marvelling at the
view before them. Hilyer likened it to the work of a famous painter. The
track they took wound up the hill like a shiny, yellow ribbon, tapering from
their view until the forest finally swallowed it up. To their left, the land fell
away suddenly, like a cliff face, with tiny sheep on the valley floor,
resembling ‘white patches,’ Anita said. Beyond, stood lines of grey hills
like uniformed guards.

Half way up the hill was a stone hut that figured on their map, and beyond
was a small circle of trees that would serve as a bird-watching hide. Anita
said, ‘Go on. I’ll catch up later. This is just the right place for eagles.’ She
was holding a pair of powerful binoculars.

Ten minutes later, Frensham and Hilyer reached the summit and entered
the woodland they had seen at the beginning of their walk. Soon the track
divided into two, and a signpost pointed to Malbrun. Hilyer frowned,
unsure of himself. Then he said, ‘I think we should investigate. As a
historian, I’d like to set the record straight about this place’.
 Frensham said, ‘You heard what Mrs Grace said, about those strangers
that go up and down the track, and the lights in the sky at night. I think
she believes in UFOs – but it’s dangerous nonetheless.’

Hilyer was a fiery man. In a moment he began to argue, and a fierce

disagreement broke out between them. Frensham lost his temper too,
and turned his back on Hilyer. He set off along the right-hand path,
passing a high wire fence and hearing what he thought was the
occasional gunshot. He walked far that day, meeting only one other
rambler, and returned to the farmhouse late in the afternoon. There he
found Anita, who had spent her time watching eagles and had not tried to
rejoin the two men. Of Hilyer there was no sign. Eventually they called in
the local police officer, who seemed unhelpful but who questioned
Frensham closely for nearly an hour.

-------------------------

As Hilyer approached Malbrun village, he sensed something was wrong.

There were the remains of barbed wire strewn on the ground, and at one
point the path was virtually blocked. He had come so far he was
disinclined to turn back, and curiosity got the better of him. He waited to
see whether Frensham had relented and had followed him; then,
impatient and wanting to get on, he entered the village.

His initial, shocked reaction was that there had been a catastrophic
earthquake. The houses, where they remained intact, were nothing but
shells. On closer inspection he saw that the walls were pockmarked with
tiny bullet holes. Then he wondered whether the place had been created
as a ruin, maybe a film set. Before him was what seemed to be a
workshop, with a door that hung off its hinges and creaked in the wind as
if in a ghost town. He entered cautiously, and immediately two grotesque
figures with wild expressions and wearing army gear lunged at him. They
rattled and roared, as hinges and levers swivelled, swinging backwards
and forwards in a vast jangling of unrestrained metal. Hilyer, frightened,
flung himself to the floor. Then, allowing himself to look on this terrible
sight, he saw that they were nothing but mechanical figures, and it
dawned on him that he had stumbled across some secret military
installation.

He rushed outside, his face contorted with alarm, and collapsed onto a
low stone wall. All was silence once more, but for a moment he seemed
to see faces peering out of the windowless houses and what looked like
an officer’s peaked cap.
 Fear deprived him of his senses, and in blind panic he ran out of the
village and into the terrible depths of the wild forest, watched by two silent
men in uniform.

Passage B
Part 2
Read Passage B carefully, and re-read Passage A. Then answer
Question 3,
which is based on both passages. Answer on the Question Paper.

A walk through the ancient city of Pula, Croatia

The bus brought us to Pula earlier than we expected. We had a date with
a pleasure boat that would take us to a nearby island. With time to spare,
we set off down the road from the bus station, turned left at the
roundabout, and were amazed by the sudden appearance of the three-
storeyed Roman amphitheatre that towered before us into the sky.
Nowadays this magnificent building is used for rock concerts given by
world-famous stars, a far cry from the entertainments enjoyed by the
Romans two thousand years ago. We crossed the road into the
pedestrian precinct and paused by an intriguing archaeological dig, rare
in a city of medieval houses that were never demolished. Our mouths
watered as we read the enticing menus of the little restaurants that spilled
out on to the pavements.

Visitors to Pula always make for the spectacular Roman forum, the old
market place of the city. This open space is dominated by a first century
Roman temple, which stands proudly at the top of a flight of steps, with
fine columns and an intact roof. It was still in use as an art gallery, and
was definitely not a ruin.

It was still only nine o’clock, and the atmosphere was magical because
there were so few people about. We saw students, clutching examination
results, hurrying to sign up for their new academic year, and a few
serious-looking teachers with clipboards. A group of tourists stopped
momentarily in the forum to take photographs before continuing their
journey along the precinct. But that was all. We sat in a restaurant,
enjoying the warm morning air and drinking delicious coffee.

Continuing our morning walk, there were still two surprises. The first was
a Roman arch, remarkable for the clarity and quality of its carvings. It was
untouched by time and we felt a sense of history as we trod in Roman
footsteps. Then, something quite different! As we glanced at the terrace of
a restaurant, we saw the famous Irish author, James Joyce, sitting at a
table enjoying the sunshine. Of course, it was a bronze statue, but so
lifelike that it had caught our attention.

Now it was time for our boat. We walked out of the town and passed the
shipyard. Further along, we found many brightly-painted passenger boats
competing for custom for rides up the coast. This was our second chance
to enjoy Pula’s atmosphere – colourful, bustling and noisy as the boats
prepared to sail. We were soon on board, surrounded by fishing boats,
yachts and ferries.

And so we left Pula behind. We knew there were even more pleasures
awaiting us another day. If we felt energetic, we would climb up to Pula’s
castle with its ramparts and extensive views of the city, the harbour, and
the planes dipping into the airport. We looked forward to visiting the
archaeological museum with its Roman funeral monuments and statues
rescued from the city. Some were left nonchalantly outside the museum
to impress visitors with the richness of this ancient place. Our favourite
was a handsome, friendly, Roman lion.
 FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH 0500/12 Paper 1 Reading Passage (Core)
May/June 2014

Read the following passage carefully and then answer all the questions
on the Question Paper.

Johnny Langenheim, the writer, describes a visit to the remote Solomon Islands.

The Wild Side of the Solomon Islands

We rise on a great South Pacific wave, and there it is: a spinner dolphin within arm’s reach of
my perch at the front of the speedboat. And it’s not alone. Thirty or more of the creatures are
darting and leaping in front of me now, each one seeming to return my grin as we head for
the wild western side of Tetepare. Beyond us stretch 1,600 kilometres of ocean – all the way
to Australia’s Queensland coast. But for now, I’m unaware of this, mesmerised instead by the
silvery flash of the dolphins as they pilot us toward shore.

Even though Tetepare – at 120 square kilometres – is the largest uninhabited island in the
South Pacific, it is not widely known, just like the Solomon Islands’ nation to which it belongs.
Having gained independence only in 1978, the Solomons today are a sleepy backwater, with
most of their half-million people engaged in farming and fishing. Yet a closer look at this chain of
nearly 1,000 islands turns up unexpected treasures.

How fitting, then, that the promise of treasure gave the country its name. In 1567, Spanish
navigator Alvaro de Mendaña set out from Peru on a quest for the mythical continent of Terra
Australis, source of King Solomon’s gold. What he found instead were the Solomons, where he
set up camp on the island now known as Santa Isabel. De Mendaña and his crew spent several
months scouring the area for riches, but left empty-handed. The name, however, stuck.

The Solomon Islands’ real treasures are their ecosystems – both terrestrial and marine – which
offer close encounters with nature that you don’t have to share with dozens of other camera-
toting tourists. This is the easternmost corner of what is known as the Coral Triangle, an area rich
in reef-building corals. So it’s hardly surprising that the Solomons’ developing tourism industry
is based almost exclusively on diving. Most people head to Western Province – a mosaic of
volcanic islands fringed by coral reefs, lagoons, and bone-white beaches which creates the
essential image of the South Seas.

The jumping-off point for most diving holidays in the Solomons is the provincial capital of Gizo,
an unremarkable stretch of concrete shop fronts and offices with a lively fish market. Head
out from here, however, and things get seriously beautiful. Even the popular, mid-range diving
resort called Fatboys, just 10 minutes away by boat, has a castaway feel to it, not to mention a
world-class reef right under its jetty.

Only a few visitors get as far as Tetepare, however. And this is the true appeal of the place: its
remoteness, coupled with the abundance of creatures that thrive there in the absence of people.
My guide is Allen Bero from the Tetepare Descendants’ Association (TDA). He and its 3,500
other members, all descendants of the original inhabitants, are the present-day custodians of
the island.
Leaving the dolphins behind, we close in on Tetepare’s coastline, etched in sharp relief against
a pale blue sky. Whereas most of the Solomons’ forests have been aggressively cleared, 35
Tetepare retains the largest stretch of undisturbed lowland rain forest in the country. The waters
around the island are also protected. ‘Back in the 1980s, some of the landowners wanted to
log Tetepare – but most of us disagreed,’ Bero explains. ‘We opted for conservation instead.’
Supported by international conservation groups, the TDA now monitors the numerous species
that abound here – they have an incredibly difficult job.

Tetepare is a nesting site for the endangered green turtle as well as the critically endangered
species of turtles, such as leatherbacks, which lay their eggs on the island’s black-sand beaches.
Placid dugongs graze on sea grass in the lagoon, while huge coconut crabs forage by night. The
world’s largest skink (a type of lizard) and 73 species of bird, including pygmy parrots, can be
found on the island, while sharks, dolphins and myriad reef fish inhabit the surrounding waters.