OxfordAQA International GCSE Urdu: Local, National, International and Global Areas of Interest (9264)

This guide covers Theme 2 Local, National, International and Global Areas of Interest, the second of three themes in OxfordAQA International GCSE Urdu (9264), for International GCSE exams May/June 2026 onwards. Where Theme 1 Identity and Culture covers personal and family life, Theme 2 moves outward to the candidate’s surroundings and to wider social and global concerns, requiring a noticeably broader and more abstract vocabulary range.

Where this fits in 9264

As with every theme in this specification, Theme 2 is examined across both Paper 1 (Reading, Grammar and Meaning) and Paper 2 (Writing), each 1 hour 45 minutes and worth 70 marks (50% of the GCSE). There is no separate paper for this theme – the same two skills papers draw on content from all three themes.

Syllabus coverage

OXFORDAQA INTERNATIONAL GCSE URDU (9264) — THEME 2 LOCAL, NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL AND GLOBAL AREAS OF INTEREST

The specification (3.1.2) sets four topics, with sub-topics shown under two of them:

• Topic 1: Home, town, neighbourhood and region — describing where you live, local amenities and facilities, and giving directions
• Topic 2: Social issues (sub-topics: charity/voluntary work; healthy/unhealthy living) — vocabulary and structures for discussing issues affecting society
• Topic 3: Global issues (sub-topics: the environment; poverty) — vocabulary and structures for discussing issues affecting the wider world
• Topic 4: Travel and tourism — vocabulary and structures for discussing holidays, transport and travel experiences

Vocabulary you need in place

This theme demands a wider and more opinion-heavy vocabulary than Theme 1. Build reliable, active vocabulary in these fields:

• Home and locality — types of housing, rooms and facilities, local amenities (shops, parks, transport links), giving and following directions.
• Social issues — charity and voluntary work, and healthy/unhealthy living, and the vocabulary needed to describe problems and propose solutions.
• Global issues — the environment (climate, pollution, recycling) and poverty, alongside the vocabulary of cause and effect. (Poverty sits under Global issues in the specification, not Social issues.)
• Travel and tourism — modes of transport, booking and planning a trip, describing a holiday experience (past tense), and comparing destinations.

Because Theme 2 leans more heavily on opinion and issue-based language than Theme 1’s personal vocabulary, treat “problem and solution” language – the issue is…, a possible solution would be…, this would help because… – as core vocabulary in its own right, not an optional extra.

Structures that raise the grade

The structures that mattered for Theme 1 remain essential, but Theme 2 rewards a wider range applied to more abstract subject matter:

• Conditional structures — if we recycled more, the environment would improve.
• Passive-style and impersonal constructions — used for describing general social or global problems rather than personal experience.
• Comparatives and superlatives — applied to places (this town is quieter than the city) and to travel experiences (the best holiday I have had).
• Cause and effect connectives — because of this, as a result, this leads to.
• Past tense narrative — for recounting a specific travel experience, alongside present tense for describing ongoing local or global issues.

Because this theme mixes description (home, travel) with argument (social and global issues), practise switching registers within a single piece of writing – describing a place factually, then evaluating a problem affecting it opinion-led.

Approaching the tasks

For reading, questions on social and global issues often test whether a text is describing a problem, proposing a solution, or evaluating how effective a solution has been – distinguish these before answering rather than treating the whole passage as one block of information. For writing, travel and tourism tasks frequently ask for a past-tense recount alongside a present-tense evaluation (what you did, and what you think of it now), so practise moving between tenses within the same response rather than defaulting to one throughout.

Worked example

Task: Write about an environmental problem in your area and suggest what could be done about it.

Weak:   there is a lot of pollution
        (states a problem, no detail, no solution, one tense)

Strong: describes the specific problem (present tense) -- traffic
          pollution near local schools
        gives a cause -- because of this, more cars drive through
          residential streets
        proposes a solution (conditional) -- if the town introduced a
          bicycle scheme, this would reduce
        gives a personal opinion with a reason -- I believe this
          matters because children's health is affected

Naming a specific local problem, giving its cause, proposing a conditional solution, and closing with a justified opinion is a reliable structure for the strongest responses in this theme.

Common mistakes

Treating “social issues” and “global issues” as interchangeable, when strong answers distinguish problems affecting a local community from those affecting the wider world. Describing a problem without proposing any solution, missing an easy opportunity to use conditional structures. Writing about travel purely as a narrative without any evaluative comment, missing the chance to demonstrate opinion-giving language. Losing gender agreement when adjectives modify unfamiliar, more abstract nouns (an issue, a solution) rather than the familiar personal nouns practised in Theme 1.

Quick revision checklist

• Build active vocabulary across all four topics: home/locality, social issues, global issues, and travel/tourism.
• Practise conditional structures for proposing solutions to problems.
• Rehearse switching between past-tense narrative and present-tense evaluation within a single travel-themed response.
• Use cause-and-effect connectives when discussing social or global issues.
• Distinguish “describing a problem” questions from “evaluating a solution” questions in reading tasks.

Official syllabus

OxfordAQA International GCSE Urdu (9264) specification, Version 1.1, for International GCSE exams May/June 2026 onwards — oxfordaqa.com, verified 2026-09-02.