Typed dictation texts for FORM A

FORM A – Typed text

Bee–keeping

One day last year we saw a lot of bees going in and out of some old boxes behind our garage.

My friend once sat on a bee and got stung on the bottom, so I was a bit scared of them. But I know a lady who keeps bees, and I asked her if she would take them away. However she thought that I should learn to keep them myself.

She told me what I needed and what clothes to buy. There was a special jacket, which included a hat and veil, and some thick leather gloves. Then she showed how the bees build their comb on frames in the hive, and she taught me how to handle them.

We used a smoker to puff out smoke which calms them down. Then we lifted off the roof of the hive and looked at the frames where the queen was laying her eggs. When we spotted her, we marked her with a dab of white marker ink on her body. We made certain that she was in the bottom box of frames and put a wire mesh called a queen excluder, on top of that box. This keeps her from laying eggs in the boxes above, where the other bees store honey.

[212 words]

FORM A – Handwritten text

My Dog, Bill

My dog Bill is very old, but he still likes to play football. We go out into the garden, and Bill tries to get the ball away from me and run off with it.

On Sunday he was 10, so we wanted to give him a birthday treat. My brother Tom said that we should leave him out in the front garden, where he could bite the postman. However, my mum said that it was a really stupid suggestion, as Bill was in enough trouble already from chasing the neighbour’s cat.

In the end we decided to take him to the park which he always enjoys because he can chase the pigeons and play with other dogs.

On that day, there was this really posh poodle dressed up in a tartan jacket. You could see that Bill thought she was terrific. He couldn’t take his eyes off her and he kept bouncing around in front of her as if he was a puppy.

She was having absolutely nothing to do with him and walked away with her nose in the air. Poor Bill. To make up for his disappointment, we bought him one of those artificial bones that dogs love to chew.

[201 words]