Monday 1 June

Hello.

Here is a brief summary of what we did today, plus homework for next time.

Focused on Listening and Speaking practice.

Objective PET, p. 126-127 (Grammar, verbs followed by -ing/to).
Pronunciation work, p. 127, ex 1, 2 and 3.
Workbook, Happy families, pages 40-41.
Objective PET, Unit 24, discussing old inventions and how things haver changed for some products (page 154 + listening).
Objective PET, Exam folder 20, page 134 (track 2/38).
Objective PET, page 137, formal and informal language in phone calls.

Homework: pages 174-175, all exercises.

See you in class!

Some listening practice

Here is an intermediate level listening activity from BBC Learning English.

You can read the text of the interview as well.
You can learn some vocabulary about wildlife conservation, which could be a topic on your Preliminary exam.

If you have any questions, we can talk about them in class.

Does English sound like this to you?

Here is a short film in which two people speak a language that could be English.
(But perhaps it isn't!)

Does English sound like this to you when you listen to it?

Another reminder about a Preliminary English Speaking resource

Here is a reminder about another video to help you think about the Preliminary English Speaking test.

If you have any questions, we can talk about them in class.

Just another reminder ....

If you need to refresh your memory about the Preliminary English Speaking test, you can watch the official video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE7saDZrYOw

If you have any questions, we can talk about them in class.

Just a reminder ...

Here is a reminder that you can find some useful practice exercies on the Flo-Joe site:

http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/preliminaryenglish/index.htm

If you have any questions, we can talk about them in class.

Some useful advice

Today's lesson: 11 May 2015

We spent a lot of time doing Listening practice today.

Listening practice: exam folder 22, p. 146.
Completed all exercises and discussed what strategies to adopt for Listening Part 4.

Continued listening practice with unit 23, p. 149, ex 1.

Homework: p. 149 Listening: ex 2, 3; Language focus, relative clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 (see also summary on p. 212).

Some extra grammar practice

{GRAMMAR}

Follow the link to some extra grammar practice.

The points covered are:

- ways of expressing the future

- prepositions of movement

- too / enough

- zero, first and second conditionals

- when / if / unless + present / future

- so do I / neither do I

- relative pronouns and relative clauses.

Enjoy!

If you have any more questions, we can talk about them in class.

Cambridge English: Preliminary - Listening - sample 2

{Cambridge English: Preliminary - Listening}

{Exam Practice}

1) Please download this file, if you haven't already. It is a copy of the answer sheet for the Listening paper of your Preliminary exam.

I think it would be a good idea to print four copies of the answer sheet.

2) Next, you need to get hold of this file, which contains the second sample Listening test you are going to complete.

3) Then you need to get the audio tracks for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

4) Try to complete the Listening paper under exam conditions: no interuptions, no help from dictionaries or internet, finish in the maximum time allowed.

We can discuss your answers in class.

A quick revision exercise - grammar

{GRAMMAR}

Here is a very quick revision exercise.

Look at these verbs:

avoid     look forward to     choose     suggest     apologise for     imagine

manage     intend     remind     offer     persuade     miss

Now organise them into two groups:

1) verbs that are followed by a full infinitive (for example, "to do")

2) verbs that are followed by the -ing form (for example, "doing")

After you have made your two lists, why not write an example sentence for each verb?

If you like, you can write your example sentences in the comments below.

See you in class.

Cambridge English: Preliminary - Speaking

{Cambridge English Preliminary: Speaking}

{Exam preparation}

Here is a video which you can find on the usual video sharing site.

It demonstrates the Speaking part of your Cambridge English: Preliminary exam.

Watch the video. 

Make a note of the different steps in the Speaking test: what does the interlocutor do? 

When do the candidates speak individually and when do they speak together? 

Think about the language they use.

Would you say the same things? Do you know some other expressions that you could use during the different parts of the test?

If you have any questions, we can talk about them in class.

Cambridge English: Preliminary - Listening - sample 1

{Cambridge English Preliminary - Listening}

{Exam Practice}

1) Please download this file. It is a copy of the answer sheet for the Listening paper of your Preliminary exam.

I think it would be a good idea to print four copies of the answer sheet.

2) Next, you need to get hold of this file, which contains the first sample Listening test you are going to complete.

3) Then you need to get the audio tracks for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

4) Try to complete the Listening paper under exam conditions: no interuptions, no help from dictionaries or internet, finish in the maximum time allowed.

We can discuss your answers in class.

Some vocabulary practice

Hello.

I prepared some Quizlet cards to practise vocabulary used by our Preliminary for Schools candidates.

However, I thought you might like to test your vocab recall as well.

Here are the links:

http://quizlet.com/72158552/cpfs-unit-1-flash-cards/

http://quizlet.com/72159730/cpfs-unit-2-flash-cards/

http://quizlet.com/77560128/cpfs-unit-3-flash-cards/

http://quizlet.com/72810797/cpfs-unit-4-flash-cards/

http://quizlet.com/77556272/cpfs-unit-5-flash-cards/

http://quizlet.com/77584029/cpfs-unit-6-flash-cards/

http://quizlet.com/77587609/cpfs-unit-7-flash-cards/

http://quizlet.com/77615413/cpfs-unit-8-flash-cards/

Copy and past the links into your browser bar.

Have fun!

For film fans and cinema buffs!

Adverbs of frequency

{GRAMMAR}

Here is a nice exercise from Flo-Joe to help you practise adverbs of frequency.

Before you do the exercise, why not refresh your memory of how we use them by consulting the grammar summary in your Objective PET Student's Book?

We can talk about your answers in class.

A handy visual guide to sequencers and linkers

{VOCABULARY BUILDING}

At Preliminary level (B1), you will find that you don't need to use many of the expressions listed below.
However, I think you can still have a lot of fun including some of them in your speaking and writing tasks!



(How did this picture get here? I borrowed it from the TLTalk Google + page.)

Want to know more about the computer-based Preliminary exam?

As we mentioned in class, you can find more information about what to expect in the computer-based (CB) Preliminary English Test on the official Cambridge English site.

You can link to the Listening sample here.

You can link to the Reading and Writing sample here.

REMEMBER: you need to use the Firefox browser to use these resources. (This is a requirement imposed by Cambridge English, not by us.)

Dates for Cambridge English Preliminary exams.

As we mentioned in class, here are the dates for the upcoming PB and CB sessions of the Cmbridge English Preliminary exams at Giga IH.


Remember, we still need to do our full exam simulation before we can decided about taking the exam.

Also remember that you can find information about exam dates on the Giga IH web site.

Please ask at Reception for detailed information. They are the best people to ask.

(Paper-based exams)

(Computer-based exams)

A listening challenge from the BBC

{LISTENING practice}

Do you want a listening challenge?

Try this podcast from the BBC.

Before you listen, read this article and think about some of the vocabulary you will hear.

Listen to the podcast. Some parts might be difficult, so you can listen another time if you like. You will hear the word "survey". You can check the definition and pronunciation here.

Try not to read the text of the podcast first. Listen a few times and then check your understanding with the text.

In class we can talk about how important "body image" is in your country, for men and women.