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!

Phrasal verbs and the Cambridge: Advanced Use of English Paper

In my previous post, I discussed the presence of phrasal verbs in the wordlists at the different levels of the Common European Framework as defined in the English Vocabulary Profile.

I had said that I would share some useful links with you for working on the area of phrasal verbs in my next (i.e. this) post, but on reflection, I thought I'd go into WHERE phrasal verbs are tested on the Cambridge English: Advanced Use of English Paper.

Let's look at the December 2009 CAE Use of English Paper:

Phrasal verbs are tested twice in Part 1 of this CAE paper - within the context of a text about the Toronto Shoe Museum.

In question 3 of this part, candidates had to choose from phrasal verbs containing the verb 'look' in the following sentence:

The more I (3) .................... the subject, says Sonja, the more I find that footwear (4) ...... (reveals) more about the world of the wearer than any other item of clothing.

For question 3, candidates were given these four phrasal verbs:

look through, look into, look up, look over

Later on in this same text, candidates had to choose between:

pick up, take on, get over, make out

In this case, it was the precise meaning of different phrasal verbs connected with the idea of understanding or perceiving that was being tested.

I just couldn't .......... (11) why it was like that.  

In Part 2 of the same CAE Use of English Paper, in an article about the Census of Marine Life,

the phrasal verb 'cut off' is tested.  Here, candidates have to supply the particle in the gap fill text:

(The project) is expected to discover thousands of new species of marine animals, many of ..........  (which) have been completely cut ........ (off) from the rest of the world for thousands of years.

In Parts 3 and 4 (Worldbuilding and Gapped Sentences), no phrasal verbs are tested.  With the wordbuilding task, this is to be expected, but with Part 4, phrasal verbs ARE tested on some versions of this exam.

For example:

At the start of his career, James was ..... between taking a job in television and becoming an accountant.

The main suspect in the case told the police that his jacket had been ........ when he fell off his bicycle.
                                                                                                                                                 
In some urban areas, tower blocks are being ......... down to be replaced by rows of houses.               

CAE Handbook

(In all three sentences, the missing word is 'torn' and in the last sentence, it is part of a phrasal verb - tear down)

Finally, in this paper, phrasal verbs may also be tested in Part 5 - the Key Word Transformations.

In December 2009, candidates had to transform the first sentence:

They told Nick not to go to the city centre on New Year's Eve.

using the key word 'warned'

to complete this second sentence:

Nick  ..................................   from the city centre on New Year's Eve.

Here, two phrasal verbs could form part of the answer:  to stay away or to keep away.

Nick was/has been warned to stay/keep away from the city centre on New Year's Eve.

As you can see, knowledge of phrasal verbs is tested considerably in the CAE Use of English Paper (and at other levels of the Cambridge ESOL exams too)

So, in my next post, I will share some great resources with you for working on phrasal verbs.


So, I'll sign (1) ......... now but will be. back with you again soon!


1  a)  up   b)  off   c)  in   d)  on

Zooming in on phrasal verbs (part 1)

The last two weeks have been very busy for me (and the rest of the Spanish seminar team).  I've been giving seminars focusing on various exams and different papers.

In the past ten days, I've been discussing the Cambridge English: Advanced Use of English paper with two different groups of teachers.  Thinking about how we can help our students do well in this Paper as well as how to widen their language resources generally, one area where they definitely need to devote themselves to and to dwell on is phrasal verbs.

The Use of English paper requires the candidate to display knowledge of the formulaic structures of language (e.g. collocations, idiom, etc.) which aid the development of naturalistic speed and fluency of language production. Candidates must also show an understanding of, and sensitivity to, precision in choice of words, grammatical accuracy.....

(Cambridge English: Advanced Use of English Paper Overview) 

http://cambridge-english-advanced.cambridgeesol.org/files/CAE_Use_of_English_paper_overview.pdf

I've mentioned English Profile to your before.  And I've also mentioned the English Vocabulary Profile. 

If you use the search tool to find the phrasal verbs which have been allocated to a particular level, the number of verbs assigned to the lower levels is considerably smaller than the higher levels.

At A1, there are four phrasal verbs listed:  come from, get up, go out, wake up.  All very much related to daily routines and personal information, as you would expect at this level.

At A2, 27 phrasal verbs are listed.  Go up to the next level, B1, and you find 135.

This number doubles when you search for phrasal verbs at B2:  277 new phrasal verbs appear.  Well, not all of these phrasal verbs are new, but a new meaning is added.  'get up' appears on the B2 list with the meaning 'stand up', as in the example:

The whole audience got up and started clapping.

Unfortunately, there is no general public access to the English Vocabulary Profile for the C levels, so I made this word cloud from the phrasal verbs listed under the preview version (for letters d, j and k only)

This revisiting words and phrasal verbs and expressions is a very important part of learning English.  It's an essential part of 'understanding of' and 'sensitivity to' 'precision in choice of words...'

In my next post, I will share some great resources for working on the area of phrasal verbs. 

So, I hope your week kicks off well and that nothing keeps you from deriving pleasure and enjoyment from your classes and life!!!