Revised Cambridge English: First and Advanced from 2015

I am busy preparing seminars for various sessions in Bilbao (at the British Council) 30th October, 13th and 20th November and in San Sebastian (Lacunza-ih), 15th November.


All of these seminars are related to Cambridge English: First and/or Cambridge English: Advanced, so I thought I'd better check out the revised formats of these two exams.   (The seminars I'm giving are not about the changes but I try and make sure I'm informed in case anyone asks!)

As from January 2015, both exams will change.   Very obvious changes are:

- Candidates will take 4 papers instead of 5.  (The Reading and Use of English papers have been combined into a single paper.)

- Both exams will be shorter in total - Cambridge English: First will take 30 minutes less and  Cambridge English: Advanced will be 45 minutes shorter.

You can access the Specifications and Sample Papers for both exams:

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-qualifications/first/exam-update-for-2015/

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-qualifications/advanced/exam-update-for-2015/

I am going to look at the Sample Papers and Audio Samples in more detail now.  ...

Bye!!!!!!

I've been apologising since June about not writing regular posts for this blog.  Today, I'm not going to say sorry - I'm going to say 'See you soon'.  


On Friday, I'll be heading off to Madeira with the family on holiday.  

http://estevesther.blogspot.com.es/2011/04/madeira-y-sus-flores-1.html

There is something about islands that attracts - last year's trip to Sardinia was a total success - I loved everything about it.  The light, the temperature (it was hot, but bearably hot), the food, the hotel, and especially the colours all around me.  I admit I've mentioned these things before.  



This won't be the first time we've been to Madeira.  We went there 15 years ago when our 2 daughters were very young.  They have vague memories of the visit - mainly of the 'mushroom' shower in the middle of the hotel's children's swimming pool!
  

Later today, I'm going to look through the collection of photos we have for that holiday and catch up on my own memories!

I have a ton of ted.com talks to watch - I might view some of the lighter topic talks while I'm away.  

Design for all 5 senses is one of the latest talks to arrive in my inbox.  Pico Iyer: Where is home? is another.

Pico Iyer's talk seems to fit in with me and my situation (and I'm sure a lot of you fellow teachers can identify with his statement and focus of his talk):

More and more people worldwide are living in countries not considered their own. Writer Pico Iyer — who himself has three or four “origins” — meditates on the meaning of home, the joy of traveling and the serenity of standing still.

And to think about while I'm getting ready for my trip, I'll bear in mind the first of three questions asked by Silvia Marinova a couple of years ago in a TED conversation:

Traveling - what is that all about?

1. What is traveling to you - a way of life, growth, escape or...?

2. Where would you most like to go?

3. Can you recommend a gorgeous place where you've been?

In answer to question 2, I've just been looking at the islands recommended by various websites.  I haven't visited any of the Top Ten on them!  Still a lot of traveling to do then!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Islands-g1

I could recommend serveral gorgeous places to go, but it would all depend on what you're looking for.  Right now, I fancy switching off, changing pace (slowing down) and spending time chatting and enjoying experiences and moments with my husband and daughters.

So goodbye for now.  I hope to come back with photos of me looking as relaxed as as I did here in Sardinia!

Source: http://astoriedcareer.com/2012/12/hope-to-see-you-soon.html

Are you a typical ELT teacher?

Top on my list of things to do today was to write this post!  I have been meaning to sit down and write all week, but have lots of things to finish off and wrap up for the testing I've been doing and each day ended with no blog post written!  So today, I'm going to start off by writing this post, then move on to tidying up my study!!!


One of the things I've been planning to write about is the survey I took part in.
A few weeks ago, I filled in my answers to the Snapshot Survey by Cambridge English Teacher.   They wanted to form a picture of what being an English teacher is like.



And 2 weeks ago, I received an email telling me that the results of the survey had been uploaded to the Cambridge English Teacher website.

I was not one of the teachers who said they had ended up in ELT 'accidentally', but I never intended making a career of it!  After a year in France as a assistant, I came to Spain to teach for a year and 28 years later, my Spanish 'year' is still in progress!  I have several teacher friends who say the same!

You can download the results of the Snapshot Survey as a pdf file.  It would be useful for class I feel - students could work out the original questions and interview you and see if their teacher is 'typical'!

Cambridge Experience Santander, TESOL e-newsletter

Hello again
Today's post is going to be a mixture of things - an update on recent activities before I move onto newer things.

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Cambridge Experience in Santander on Saturday.  It was quite a sacrifice to make, seeing that it was our first glorious day here after days and days of cold and pouring rain!

There was a great turnout, filling the room in the Hotel Santemar.  Participants were rewarded for their dedication with a goodie bag full of useful materials for the classroom (as well as a nice bag!) and they certainly were willing to participate in all the activities.

Here I am being introduced by Helena, from the Cambridge English: Language Assessment in Madrid.
And here is the end of my talk!

And I also wanted to mention that the latest issue of the TESOLSpain e-newsletter is out. I was asked to write an article on this Blog!

How I came to write the Teaching Together Blog and why I enjoy it so 
much!

You can read it here.

Avoiding Making Mistakes in Cambridge English: First Paper 2 Writing

Myself and the rest of the Presenter Team are busy busy right now.  For the next two Fridays, I'll be going to San Sebastian to give seminars, then I'll be popping across to Rome to talk at the International House Young Learners Conference at the beginning of March as well as giving a seminar here in Santander and in Miranda del Ebro and at Deusto University.  Phew!!!

Find out where we'll be by clicking here.

As always, when I'm preparing for these sessions, I come across some great material and ideas on the web.  I saved one of them and made a note to myself to share it with you here!

It's a pdf document from one of my favourite sites for materials to prepare students for First, Advanced and Proficiency:  flo-joe.

It's not new (dated 2005), but it contains some very useful advice for students when taking Paper 2 (Writing).

Get your students to read it (and read it through the day before the exam to remind themselves) and work on suggestions like planning and paraphrasing in class.  

Right, back to seminar preparation now .......   

Back from Alcalá, a name change and gearing up for seminars and YLE.

As you will have seen from my previous two posts, last weekend nearly everyone involved in running the Cambridge exams in Spain and Portugal (Centre Managers, Inspectors, Presenters, Team Leaders, the people who work in the Madrid office...) met together in Alcalá de Henares to find out about developments taking place or in the pipeline.

At the gala dinner, I was extremely proud to be given an award - a silver plaque 'For continual support of Cambridge English activities in Spain as Senior Presenter and the development of the 'Teaching Together' Blog!

One of the biggest changes we learnt about and one which will affect all of us immediately is the change in the name of the organisation we work for.  We no longer represent Cambridge ESOL.  The name has changed to Cambridge English Language Assessment.

You can read about the change and the reasons for it here.

We will be receiving information about other developments, like the revision of the Cambridge English: First and Cambridge English:Advanced exams and the trialling of Computer Based Young Learners Tests over the next few months.  I will cover them on this blog as we get details of these.

Myself, well I'm gearing up to some busy months ahead.

Tomorrow, I'll be in Santurzi giving a seminar on Cambridge English: First for Schools and Cambridge English: Preliminary for Schools.  Then, for the next five weeks, I'll be jumping in the car and driving to many more Centres in the north of Spain.  The rest of the seminar team is going to be very busy too.  You can find out more about where we'll be, click here to find out.

And I'll also be setting up the Young Learners Tests here in Cantabria for the Centre where I work.

There are lots of useful resources and also news to share about the YLE tests.  My next post will look at some of these.  Speak to you soon about these!

Hello from Italy!

Good morning!
Just a very quick post from Salerno, Italy.  In a couple of hours, I will be giving two sessions with teachers here.

My journey started in Turin on Monday.
I helped out with the storytelling session given by Marcus Tubby.  (Here's me and the picture washing line!)

And I shared tips and ideas with teachers for getting the most out of pictures and for useful knowledge to pass on to young learners about words.

Then it was on to Milan.  Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from Milan.

One thing I will say is that I have been impressed (as always) by the dedication and obvious love of teachers for their subject and their vocation.

And also this time, by the architecture of the three venues we've been to.  (The photos I have are still on my camera, so I can't share them with you yet)

And what about this sky? - yesterday evening, Salerno.  You can just about make out the Costa Amalfi through the clouds.

And this sunset??????  Even on a mobile phone photo, it's still impressive.

Right, time to get a move on.  Off to meet and share ideas and experiences with lots more teachers here in Salerno.

http://www.quirkyguide.com/story/seconds-to-spare

See you in Italy!

You may have noticed that I have not been very active on this blog this week.

That's not because I've been putting my feet up!

Image:  http://storibookdesigns.blogspot.com.es/2010/11/blog-bites-kick-up-your-feet.html

In a couple of hours, I will set off for Bilbao, where I'll be giving a seminar on 'Cambridge English First:  Exam Tips' at the British Council.

Then, on Monday, I have a very exciting trip to Italy!

I'll be giving training sessions in five different cities:

On Monday afternoon, I'll be in Turin at the Istituto Valsalice.

On Tuesday afternoon, I'll be sharing ideas with teachers in Milan at the Istituto Zaccaria.

On Wednesday morning, I'll be in Rome at the Auditorium Antonianum.

Thursday morning it's Salerno at the Mediterraneo Hotel.

And on Friday morning, I'll be in Reggio Calabria.

As you can imagine, I'm really looking forward to this trip!

And the great news is that on Monday, I'll be meeting up with Marina, who used to teach Italian at the school I managed for many years here in Santander.  She got in contact via this blog to let me know and I'm looking forward to catching up and to getting back in touch.

This blog has many readers in Italy and I hope to meet some of them somewhere in Italy next week!

You can find information on the different venues and sessions and register here.

Great blog(s) for Cambridge English: First!

http://www.cambridgeesol.org/spain/seminarios/index.php

Yesterday, I was at the British Council, Bilbao for a 2 hour seminar on the theme of:

'Planning and teaching short exam courses'

I really enjoyed the session - there were some teachers I've met at previous seminars in Bilbao, plus some new faces.  Great to share ideas with you all!  Thanks for coming!

When planning the session, I decided to take the Cambridge English: First exam as the focus for the course we were going to plan.

We looked at the English Profile website - the Vantage pdf document that can be downloaded via a link there, at the Vocabulary Profile and various other useful resources for material to guide us with our course content and focus planning.  

One point that all of us at the session agreed on is the need to offer students the opportunity to practise and study outside the classroom (especially with students that you may only see once a week for example).

We looked at various online resources for doing this.  I've mentioned some of them on this blog before - mailvu, IH  Bristol...

Interestingly, when looking around the web at what is available for teachers and students to prepare and practise for Cambridge English: First, I discovered that there is a British Council Bilbao blog for Cambridge English: First!

The blog has posts on different aspects of the exam and some practice materials based on authentic texts.

I also showed the teachers in Bilbao a blog about Cambridge English: First that I discovered recently. 

http://fceblog.blogspot.com.es/

This blog, by Claudia Ceraso is (in her own words)

An afterclass meeting point for all First Certificate in English Students

 I like the mixture of advice for the different parts of the exam and the fun links.

Why not visit Claudia's blog  and the FCE British Council Bilbao blog yourself and see what you think!

Singing the praises of internet!

I'm just back from a trip to the UK.  (Well actually, back from a PLANNED trip to the UK and an UNPLANNED trip through France!!)  Along with a group of friends, I took the ferry from Santander to Portsmouth 8 days ago.  The plan was to visit the New Forest area, with a shortish motorbike ride each day and some cultural visits and pub lunches.

Lyndhurst, UK  (Photo from TripAdvisor)

That all changed when I heard on the radio that Brittany Ferries had decided to cancel all its ferry sailings till further notice!

Suspension of Brittany Ferries' Services

We ended up taking a ferry from Dover to Calais and then riding 1,300 kilometres down through France over two days.

We're back in Cantabria now, safe and sound.

Our original trip was planned using some of our previous knowledge, plus a lot of research done using the internet.  For some visits, we had bought our tickets in advance.  The hotel and pub meals were booked in advance too.

The route through France was also helped a lot by access to the internet - while we stopped for lunch, we checked out hotels and booked them online so that when we arrived we knew where we were going, and very importantly, that we had enough rooms (there were 11 of us in the party and we needed 6 rooms, plus somewhere to park the 5 motorbikes and the van securely).

I was very impressed by the Hotel de l'Europe - its location, rooms (small but confortable) and especially  the covered area for parking bikes - a storm broke just as we arrived!!!  I find I am using Tripadvisor more and more to find out things like this!

And I still keep thinking (as I do so often!) - How did we exist before internet?

(I certainly wouldn't be talking to you via this blog!!!)

Hi again!
I'm back after my break .....!!!!!!

I had a great, relaxing time and learnt a few words of a new language for me.

Where was I?

Well, I went to an island.  Here's a blank map of the island:

It's the second biggest island in the Mediterranean (Sicily is the biggest).

Many of the scenes from

 were filmed there.
For example:

I didn't stay at the same hotel as the one Bond stayed at, but I did enjoy the food and the swimming pools.

And after visiting the nearby islands and swimming in the sea, watching the amazing sealife there, I am seriously thinking of learning to scuba dive!!

This photo was taken from the boat where I had lunch on Friday!

(And I hope to learn a few more words of Italian!)    Chao!!

Teaching is like ....

Been a bit of a busy week, so I was catching up on a few emails that have come in and came across this blog challenge by Brad Patterson.


1) Challenge one: what is your “teaching is like____ ” metaphor?

2) Challenge two: what experience, activity, or lesson that is completely non-teaching related has brought more to your classroom than anything else?

Brad himself answered these two questions:

1) Teaching is like surfing. It requires patience and often more observation than action. Knowing how to push up, stand and guide your board is useless if you’re not in tune with the ocean, its movement and timing.  Each wave is unique and never again will you enjoy the one you’re on now, so carpe diem and enjoy class!

2) I think my experiences with yoga and being a massage therapist have brought more to the classroom than I can easily express in logical terms.  They’ve brought me an awareness and sensitivity that would have otherwise been hard to learn through a training course, or “tough”to pick up while on-the-job.

Being able to observe reactions to our efforts and attuning oneself to learners is a balancing act, just as noticing how students’ energy is throughout the day, knowing when to wait, when to be firm, smile or just move on… these are things that I feel I cultivated in these more physical-mental-spirtual arts and they have served me well in the classroom.

I then read a few of the answers to the challenges and particularly liked Cecilia Lemos' replies (maybe it's because I have a weakness for shoes and also do pilates!!!)

Cecilia Coehlo

PilatesClasses .ie

So what are my answers to this challenge?????

For me, teaching is like gardening.  

In a garden, there are lots of different kinds of plants.  

Some need sunshine, 

some need shade.  

Some need a lot of water, others need less.  

They will flower and shine out at different times.  

Some are obvious, whereas you notice others when you get closer to them or really take time to look.

Together, they can form a beautiful garden and they all have a right to be there and to get the attention they need!!

I'll give you my answer to the second challenge question in another post!

And think about and share your answers too!  

The Burning Questionnaire

In a recent post, I mentioned my guest post on take a picture and ....

Fiona Mauchline emailed me a couple of days ago to tell me that the questionnaire I'd completed was now up on the Burning Questionnaire blog.

I was also asked to choose some pictures from eltpics.

In this one, you can see my shadow reflected in the grass (third from the right - my parents are the ones to the right of me!)

While I was writing this post, I popped back to eltpics again.  It's impressive how it's growing!  Well done to Fiona and Sandy and everyone else!

Take a picture in Oviedo

Just back from Oviedo.  I thoroughly enjoyed my trip along the coast on Saturday morning.

My session was the last one of the morning, so I had the chance to pick up some very useful tips and ideas from Karen Elliot and Borja Uruñuela who were 'on' before me.

Karen shared some great story and story telling techniques with us.  We were treated to her 6 'voices' when she entertained us with some stories.  Another important number in stories is 3 apparently.  I learnt some very useful and simple tips for choosing and using stories for class.  Great!

Next on was Borja.

 I had heard a lot about Borja before I first attended his session in Bilbao at this year's TESOL Convention.  I was not disappointed there nor last Saturday, where, like Karen, he was sharing the Magic Ingredients for the Primary Classroom.


Again, I was impressed by the way he demonstrated simple, effective techniques and suggestions for really involving students in classroom activities and the learning process.

And then it was my turn.  I was talking about one of my favourite topics - using pictures to stimulate language practice.  I wanted to show how the same picture can be used at different levels to practise different language.

Most of the activities and pictures (such as the ones above) that I shared with teachers in Oviedo are available to download from the Cambridge ELT website.

The teachers in the audience were GREAT!  They participated, laughed and smiled.  Thanks if you were one of them!!!

Happy new year!

I was reading in the newspaper about the spectacular fireworks display over London last night and thought I would share a couple of photos of them with you.

Here's hoping that your 2012 has started in such spectacular style. For the members of the Cambridge ESOL Spanish seminar team, it will be another busy year.

Every year we share ideas, experiences and knowledge with teachers all over Spain. Many teachers come back because they have already attended a seminar. Other teachers who have not been to one of our seminars join them.

Thanks to other ways of keeping in touch, such as the Teaching Resources Website, we are reaching more and more teachers (and their students).

This blog is another attempt to share ideas - watch this space in 2012!!

And please contribute your ideas, suggestions and comments!