More practice with the language you're learning
Supplementary support — grammar, vocabulary, speaking and review — built from language already taught in the course. Not a lesson, and never a test.
1.Transformation: express the same meaning without repeating the original wording — "**Layer**: 'That's not a technical objection, it's an ethical one — and I think you're right on the ethics.'"
2.Transformation: express the same meaning without repeating the original wording — "**Loop**: 'The more we publish league tables, the more schools optimise for them, and the less the tables measure what we care about.'"
3.Transformation: express the same meaning without repeating the original wording — "**Lock-in**: 'Once the pension formula is written into law, changing it is a twenty-year project, not a five-year one.'"
4.Layer-label: 'We can't afford it' in a debate on funding social care.
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Political, dressed as technical. Fiscal capacity is a political choice about tax base; calling it 'affordability' hides that.
5.Name the loop: publishing hospital mortality rates by surgeon.
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Surgeons decline the sickest patients to protect their score; overall system mortality rises even as individual scores improve.
6.Mini-context: someone disagrees with you in a meeting. Reply in two turns, using this structure at least once.
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Four moves at C2: (a) LAYER — name whether you're arguing about the TECHNICAL layer (what would work), the ETHICAL layer (what's right), or the POLITICAL layer (what can pass) — mixing them is how public debates go nowhere; (b) LOOP — say when a proposed fix creates a FEEDBACK LOOP that strengthens the problem ('teaching to the test' feeding back into a testing-obsessed system); (c) LOCK-IN — name the point at which a choice becomes structurally hard to reverse ('once the standard is set, everyone builds against it'); (d) SECOND-ORDER — name the effect that shows up only after the first-order fix ('congestion charges cut traffic, and then house prices in the zone rise').
1.Sort these into "positive", "neutral" and "critical" in tone, and be ready to defend a borderline case: a wicked problem, a tame problem, the technical layer, the ethical layer, the political layer, a feedback loop, lock-in, a second-order effect, to premature-close, to hold the problem open
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a wicked problem — an issue whose definition keeps shifting and where every 'solution' creates the next problem | a tame problem — an issue with a stable definition and a knowable right answer | the technical layer — the part of an argument about what would actually work | the ethical layer — the part of an argument about what is right, independent of feasibility | the political layer — the part of an argument about what a real coalition can be built for | a feedback loop — a cycle in which a fix strengthens the very thing it was meant to reduce | lock-in — the point at which a choice becomes structurally hard to reverse | a second-order effect — a downstream consequence that only shows up after the first-order fix has landed | to premature-close — to declare a wicked problem solved after solving only the tame part of it | to hold the problem open — to keep the definition of a wicked problem in play instead of resolving it too fast
2.Odd one out: which of these is least like "a wicked problem" in meaning or use — a tame problem / the technical layer / the ethical layer? Explain why.
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Compare against: an issue whose definition keeps shifting and where every 'solution' creates the next problem
3.Odd one out: which of these is least like "a tame problem" in meaning or use — the technical layer / the ethical layer / the political layer? Explain why.
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Compare against: an issue with a stable definition and a knowable right answer
4.Odd one out: which of these is least like "the technical layer" in meaning or use — the ethical layer / the political layer / a feedback loop? Explain why.
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Compare against: the part of an argument about what would actually work
5.Odd one out: which of these is least like "the ethical layer" in meaning or use — the political layer / a feedback loop / lock-in? Explain why.
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Compare against: the part of an argument about what is right, independent of feasibility
6.Semantic map: place "a wicked problem" on a scale from mild to strong against two other words you know. Then use the strongest one.
7.Semantic map: place "a tame problem" on a scale from mild to strong against two other words you know. Then use the strongest one.
8.Semantic map: place "the technical layer" on a scale from mild to strong against two other words you know. Then use the strongest one.
9.Mini-dialogue: write four lines in which two of this lesson's words appear naturally.
1.Word family: give the noun, verb, adjective and adverb forms linked to "a wicked problem" where they exist, then use the form that is hardest for you.
2.Word family: give the noun, verb, adjective and adverb forms linked to "a tame problem" where they exist, then use the form that is hardest for you.
3.Word family: give the noun, verb, adjective and adverb forms linked to "the technical layer" where they exist, then use the form that is hardest for you.
4.Word family: give the noun, verb, adjective and adverb forms linked to "the ethical layer" where they exist, then use the form that is hardest for you.
5.Spot the mismatch: which partner does NOT work with "a wicked problem" — and what would a proficient speaker say instead?
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Natural model: Climate adaptation is a wicked problem — there is no version where you finish.
6.Spot the mismatch: which partner does NOT work with "a tame problem" — and what would a proficient speaker say instead?
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Natural model: Fixing the printer is tame. Deciding what students should learn is not.
7.Spot the mismatch: which partner does NOT work with "the technical layer" — and what would a proficient speaker say instead?
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Natural model: Let's separate the technical layer from the political one before we go any further.
8.Rewrite one sentence from your last piece of writing, swapping a weak combination for a precise one from this lesson.
1.Shift the register twice: make this markedly formal, then markedly conversational — "**Layer**: 'That's not a technical objection, it's an ethical one — and I think you're right on the ethics.'"
2.Shift the register twice: make this markedly formal, then markedly conversational — "**Loop**: 'The more we publish league tables, the more schools optimise for them, and the less the tables measure what we care about.'"
3.Shift the register twice: make this markedly formal, then markedly conversational — "**Lock-in**: 'Once the pension formula is written into law, changing it is a twenty-year project, not a five-year one.'"
4.Diplomatic vs direct: soften this, then sharpen it. Which version would you actually use, and to whom? "Which single sentence in the memo would you cut if you had to lose one?"
5.Compress: express the idea behind "Climate adaptation is a wicked problem — there is no version where you finish." in six words or fewer without losing the nuance.
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an issue whose definition keeps shifting and where every 'solution' creates the next problem
6.Compress: express the idea behind "Fixing the printer is tame. Deciding what students should learn is not." in six words or fewer without losing the nuance.
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an issue with a stable definition and a knowable right answer
7.Compress: express the idea behind "Let's separate the technical layer from the political one before we go any further." in six words or fewer without losing the nuance.
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the part of an argument about what would actually work
8.Read one of your own paraphrases aloud. Which word choice is doing the most work? Replace everything around it.
1.Rank and justify: order the ideas in Which single sentence in the memo would you cut if you had to lose one? / Which sentence is doing the most POLITICAL work — protecting the eventual renewal debate? / Where does the memo risk sounding like a lecture rather than a diagnosis? from most to least convincing. Defend your top choice.
2.Role-play: 3 minutes for you to brief the case; 12 minutes for the chaired conversation; the one-page diagnosis is drafted live in the last 3 minutes. Take the position you least agree with.
3.Decision task: you have two minutes to reach a single recommendation on The one-page diagnosis: three layers named, one loop, one lock-in, one thing you refused to conclude today.. State it in one sentence.
4.Now switch sides and argue the opposite for 60 seconds. Which language had to change?
5.Follow-up — push further: Case A: rolling out generative AI in secondary schools by 2028. Add a counter-example.
6.Follow-up — push further: Case B: the housing crisis in the city you know best. Add a counter-example.
1.Paragraph ordering: draft your four topic sentences only, then decide their best order and say why.
2.Partial writing: write only the concession paragraph of Write a 260-word diagnostic memo (not a proposal) on the wicked problem you brought. The memo MUST: (a) classify the problem wicked vs tame in one sentence, (b) separate the technical, ethical and political layers in three short numbered paragraphs, (c) name at least one FEEDBACK LOOP or LOCK-IN, (d) name at least one SECOND-ORDER effect a naïve fix would trigger, (e) end on a 'what I refuse to conclude in the next ten minutes' line. Use at least SEVEN target items naturally. Do not offer a solution. — 60–80 words.
3.Editing pass: cut 15% of your words without losing content. What went first?
4.Audience switch: rewrite your opening for a hostile reader, then for a sympathetic one.
5.Self-check: underline every repeated word and replace two with precise choices from this lesson.
1.Take a Part 3-style prompt board (real or invented — 'How can a city best reduce loneliness among older residents?'). Deliver a 90-second opening that layer-tags at least two of the five prompts before offering any preference of your own.
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Open Part 3 not with a preference but with a frame. 'Before we pick, I think we're actually looking at two different kinds of question here — the technical one is X, the political one is Y. I'd like to take them in that order.' Examiners hear that as C2 organisation, and it also buys you thinking time.
2.Find the evidence: which exact words in the text/script support this — Where does the memo distinguish the TECHNICAL layer from the ETHICAL and POLITICAL layers?
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Paragraph 3 explicitly. 'The emissions data speaks to the technical layer only. Rent, roll, retail and the geography of who now lives inside a cleaner-air zone are ethical and political questions.' Paragraph 1 is the technical layer; paragraph 2 is the raw material for the ethical/political case.
3.Find the evidence: which exact words in the text/script support this — Name TWO second-order effects the memo documents.
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Rent inside the zone up 22% against a 9% citywide baseline (displacement); and the retail-mix shift — independent grocers down 28%, delivery warehousing doubled. Both were downstream of a policy aimed at emissions, not housing or retail.
4.Find the evidence: which exact words in the text/script support this — Where does the memo resist a PREMATURE-CLOSE?
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Paragraph 3 refuses to let 'emissions improved' answer 'was it a good policy'. Paragraph 4(c) refuses the frame 'critic of charge = critic of clean air'. Paragraph 5 refuses abolition, so it doesn't premature-close in the opposite direction either.
5.Key word transformation: rewrite "**Layer**: 'That's not a technical objection, it's an ethical one — and I think you're right on the ethics.'" using the structure from Wicked-problem vocabulary: layers, loops, lock-in, second-order effects, in 3–8 words.
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Four moves at C2: (a) LAYER — name whether you're arguing about the TECHNICAL layer (what would work), the ETHICAL layer (what's right), or the POLITICAL layer (what can pass) — mixing them is how public debates go nowhere; (b) LOOP — say when a proposed fix creates a FEEDBACK LOOP that strengthens the problem ('teaching to the test' feeding back into a testing-obsessed system); (c) LOCK-IN — name the point at which a choice becomes structurally hard to reverse ('once the standard is set, everyone builds against it'); (d) SECOND-ORDER — name the effect that shows up only after the first-order fix ('congestion charges cut traffic, and then house prices in the zone rise').
6.Reflection: which part of this task type costs you most time, and what will you do differently next time?
1.True, false or not stated? Decide for each, then correct the false ones: "Paragraph 3 explicitly. 'The emissions data speaks to the technical layer only. Rent, roll, retail and the geography of who now lives inside a cleaner-air zone are ethical and political questions.' Paragraph 1 is the technical layer; paragraph 2 is the raw material for the ethical/political case." · "Rent inside the zone up 22% against a 9% citywide baseline (displacement); and the retail-mix shift — independent grocers down 28%, delivery warehousing doubled. Both were downstream of a policy aimed at emissions, not housing or retail." · "Paragraph 3 refuses to let 'emissions improved' answer 'was it a good policy'. Paragraph 4(c) refuses the frame 'critic of charge = critic of clean air'. Paragraph 5 refuses abolition, so it doesn't premature-close in the opposite direction either."
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Where does the memo distinguish the TECHNICAL layer from the ETHICAL and POLITICAL layers? → Paragraph 3 explicitly. 'The emissions data speaks to the technical layer only. Rent, roll, retail and the geography of who now lives inside a cleaner-air zone are ethical and political questions.' Paragraph 1 is the technical layer; paragraph 2 is the raw material for the ethical/political case. | Name TWO second-order effects the memo documents. → Rent inside the zone up 22% against a 9% citywide baseline (displacement); and the retail-mix shift — independent grocers down 28%, delivery warehousing doubled. Both were downstream of a policy aimed at emissions, not housing or retail. | Where does the memo resist a PREMATURE-CLOSE? → Paragraph 3 refuses to let 'emissions improved' answer 'was it a good policy'. Paragraph 4(c) refuses the frame 'critic of charge = critic of clean air'. Paragraph 5 refuses abolition, so it doesn't premature-close in the opposite direction either.
2.Retrieval race: in 60 seconds, list every word from this lesson you can remember, then check what you missed.
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a wicked problem, a tame problem, the technical layer, the ethical layer, the political layer, a feedback loop, lock-in, a second-order effect, to premature-close, to hold the problem open
3.Use "a wicked problem" in a sentence about a completely different topic from the lesson.
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an issue whose definition keeps shifting and where every 'solution' creates the next problem
4.Use "a tame problem" in a sentence about a completely different topic from the lesson.
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an issue with a stable definition and a knowable right answer
5.Use "the technical layer" in a sentence about a completely different topic from the lesson.
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the part of an argument about what would actually work
6.Teach it back: explain Wicked-problem vocabulary: layers, loops, lock-in, second-order effects to someone who has never met it, in under 45 seconds.
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Four moves at C2: (a) LAYER — name whether you're arguing about the TECHNICAL layer (what would work), the ETHICAL layer (what's right), or the POLITICAL layer (what can pass) — mixing them is how public debates go nowhere; (b) LOOP — say when a proposed fix creates a FEEDBACK LOOP that strengthens the problem ('teaching to the test' feeding back into a testing-obsessed system); (c) LOCK-IN — name the point at which a choice becomes structurally hard to reverse ('once the standard is set, everyone builds against it'); (d) SECOND-ORDER — name the effect that shows up only after the first-order fix ('congestion charges cut traffic, and then house prices in the zone rise').
7.When was the last time you watched a public argument collapse because the speakers were on different layers without knowing it?