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An Explorer's Diary

Diary Entry

Intermediate

25 minutes

Independent

Kent

The Prompt

“Imagine you are an explorer who has just discovered an uncharted island. Write your diary entry for the first day.”

Planning Hints

4 tips to help you plan your response

Think about the register — an explorer would be precise and observational.

Describe the island using all five senses.

Include practical details: what you found, what you need, what worries you.

Balance excitement with caution — discovery is thrilling but also uncertain.

Starter Sentences

Suggested opening lines to get you started

“Day 1 on the island. I am the first human to set foot here. At least, I think I am.”

“14th March. The boat is gone. The island remains. I must make the best of it.”

“I have made camp on the eastern shore, where the trees provide shelter and the freshwater stream meets the sand.”

Key Techniques to Demonstrate

Techniques the examiner will be looking for in your response

Annotated Model Answer

A high-quality example response with techniques highlighted

14th March Day 1. Uncharted Island — Eastern Shore. The boat is gone. A wave took it in the night — dragged it from the shallows like a thief stealing something shiny. When I woke at dawn and saw the empty beach, my first feeling was not panic but a strange, reckless calm, as though my body had decided that fear was a luxury I could no longer afford. I have made camp beneath a cluster of palms at the point where a freshwater stream meets the sand. The water is clear and cold and tastes faintly of stone. The palms provide shade, and their broad leaves, layered and overlapped, form a crude but serviceable roof. It will do. It must. The island itself is extraordinary. I have never seen colours like these: the sea shifts from turquoise to sapphire depending on the depth, and the sand is not white but a pale, pinkish gold, scattered with shells the size of my fist. Inland, the vegetation is dense — ferns taller than a man, trees with bark as red as rust, and flowers I cannot name in shades of orange and violet that seem to glow against the green. The sounds are constant. Birds — dozens of species, none of which I recognise — call from the canopy in shrieks and whistles and low, bubbling notes. Insects hum. The stream chatters over stones. At sunset, I heard something larger moving through the undergrowth. I could not see it. I did not investigate. I have taken stock of my supplies: a knife, a compass, a notebook (this one), two pencils, a lighter, a length of rope, half a bar of chocolate, and a sense of humour that is, frankly, being tested. I have enough to survive. Whether I have enough to be found is another question entirely. Tonight the stars are astonishing. Without any other light for miles, they fill the sky from horizon to horizon — not scattered but packed, dense, blazing. I recognise Orion. The rest are strangers. I will explore further tomorrow. For now, the fire crackles, the stream murmurs, and the island waits. — Dr. L. Osei

Hover or tap the highlighted phrases to see the technique and explanation