🔄 C2 Final Task: The Capstone Projects
Welcome to your final C2 consolidation activity. You have progressed from learning rules to understanding style, and now to achieving true proficiency1. A capstone project2 is a final, multifaceted assignment that allows you to demonstrate the full range of your skills. This is your opportunity to synthesize3 everything you have learned and produce a polished, professional-level piece of writing.
The C2 Proficiency Checklist
As you work on your project, your writing will be evaluated based on your ability to demonstrate these C2-level skills. Use this as your personal rubric4.
- Grammatical Accuracy & Range: Flawless use of all tenses and complex structures (conditionals, passives, subjunctive, etc.).
- Stylistic Sophistication: Deliberate use of devices like inversion, participle clauses, and cleft sentences for impact.
- Lexical Precision: A wide vocabulary with nuanced understanding of collocations, connotation, and register.
- Cohesion & Coherence: Seamless flow between ideas using advanced discourse markers.
- Audience & Register Awareness: The ability to adapt your tone, style, and vocabulary perfectly to the chosen task and audience.
Choose Your Capstone Project
Select one of the following three project options. Choose the one that interests you the most.
Project 1: The Persuasive Op-Ed
Write a 300-400 word opinion editorial (Op-Ed5) for an international newspaper.
Topic: "To ensure its long-term survival, the Angkor Wat complex should implement a significantly stricter limit on the number of daily visitors." Argue for or against this position.
Project 2: The Formal Proposal
Write a 300-400 word formal proposal to a fictional UNESCO committee.
Topic: Propose a new sustainable community tourism project in a village near Siem Reap. Explain the project, its goals, and why it deserves funding.
Project 3: The Reflective Narrative
Write a 300-400 word piece of creative non-fiction for a literary travel magazine.
Topic: Describe a single, powerful personal experience at a Cambodian temple (it does not have to be in Siem Reap) and reflect on what it taught you about history, culture, or yourself.
The Professional Writing Workflow
Do not just start writing. Follow the professional process:
- Brainstorm & Research: Gather your ideas and any facts you might need.
- Outline: Structure your text paragraph by paragraph. What is your thesis? What is the topic sentence of each paragraph?
- Write the First Draft: Focus on getting your ideas down on paper clearly.
- Edit for Style & Substance: Review your draft. How can you make it more persuasive, clear, and sophisticated? This is where you apply your C2 stylistic skills.
- Proofread for Accuracy: Perform one final, slow check for any grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors.
📝 Project Planning (Your First Step)
Before you begin writing your draft, complete this short plan. This is the most important step.
- Chosen Project: _________________________
- My Audience: (e.g., educated international readers, a formal committee, readers of literary travel stories) _________________________
- My Purpose: (e.g., to persuade, to propose, to reflect and entertain) _________________________
- My Thesis / Core Message: _________________________________________
- Three C1/C2 grammar or stylistic points I will try to include are:
1. ____________________
2. ____________________
3. ____________________
Vocabulary Glossary
- Proficiency: (Noun) - ភាពស្ទាត់ជំនាញ (phéap stuat'chŭm'néanh) - A high degree of skill, expertise, and mastery in a particular subject. ↩
- Flexible: (Adjective) - ដែលអាចបត់បែនបាន (dael aach bât'baen'baan) - Able to change or be changed easily according to the situation. ↩
- Intuitive: (Adjective) - ដោយសភាវគតិ (daoy sâ'phéav'vĕ'kât'tĭ) - Based on feelings rather than facts or proof; able to understand something instinctively. ↩
- Synthesize: (Verb) - សំយោគ (sâm'yok) - To combine a number of things into a coherent whole. ↩
- Op-Ed: (Noun) - អត្ថបទមតិ (ât'thâ'bât m'tĭ) - A newspaper article expressing the opinions of a named writer who is not a regular editor or columnist for the paper. ↩