Experience Cambridge in Cordoba!

On Saturday, Katie Curbelo, who's a Seminar Presenter for Cambridge English Language Assessment here in Spain, will be taking part in the Cambridge Experience in Cordoba.  Katie's sessions are always very practical and popular and I'm sure this one will be no exception.

The other two speakers at the event are also favourites of mine.  I've seen Jacquie speaking live and have watched recordings of Ceri Jones - unfortunately I haven't actually 'experienced' her live yet.  She is a very active contributor to ELTpics and to takeaphotoand.  I've mentioned both of these in previous posts:  the burning questionnaire  and   A wonderful resource

So, good luck to all three speakers and I hope that those of you who get to go to the event enjoy yourselves!

Fun songs for young learners

I was checking out some of the materials and links that I received this morning in my BusyTeacher weekly newsletter, and came across a great channel on You Tube with lots of songs to use with young learners.

I checked out some of the songs (not all, because there are 111 videos!!)

I loved the Colors song!

Other songs I liked were: This is me and My family 

Can an elephant jump?  

I was a bit put off by the word 'spitting' in the Fun summer song though - it's a shame, because otherwise it's very usable.

And some teachers from a school here also deserve a mention in this post - I've seen them perform this song live!  Check out the Tickles and their Flip it!

I hope you find these useful!

Speaking Test videos for Starters, Movers and Flyers

Back in October, I sang the praises of Cambridge English TV.

In my previous post, a link to some new speaking test videos was mentioned in the January 'Enseñamos Juntos' newsletter.

I have just watched the Starters video on the Cambridge English TV youtube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHAnqjI4cU8&feature=youtu.be

It's a great way of showing students and teachers what to expect in the test and Olivier's answers and the examiner's reactions and responses really illustrate how candidates need to respond in each part of the test.

For example, if they have to put a small picture next to something in the big picture, then it should be next to that thing, not on it.  In that part of the test, candidates' understanding of prepositions of place is tested and the examiner can really see if they understand them well.

We can also see how the Starters Speaking Test moves from understanding and doing (pointing to things in the picture, identifying the small picture and placing it somewhere in the big picture) to speaking more about things related and familiar to the candidates (eg  What colour are the buses in Luxembourg?) to questions about the candidates themselves (eg  How old are you?, Who do you play with at school?)

And seeing the new visuals for the speaking tests, I'm impressed!  Very attractive and colourful!!