Good luck!

Good luck to our students who are going to do their Key exam on Friday and Saturday!

All the best.

A listening challenge?

We mentioned "acupuncture" in a recent lesson.

Here is a listening activity from LearnEnglish/British Council about this practice.

You might parts of it to be challenging. Good!

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

More practice formulating questions

We have done a lot of work in class recently on ASIC and QuASIC.
Here is a lower intermediate practice activity from BBC Learning English that will help you practise how we formulate questions in English.

You can listen to the conversation and then complete the activity.

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

Preparing for Speaking practice

Please look at the quizlets for the vocabulary from your topic lists.

I would like you to choose ten different items from the lists. Think about how you can describe these items to another person, without using the word (like playing Taboo).

In class on Thursday, I will ask you to give me your lists of words, and then you will mime the words for the other members of the class.
If you all have very similar lists of vocabulary, I may decide to suggest some items.

See you in class.

Some useful advice

Cambridge English: Key - What's in the exam?

{Cambridge English: Key - exam format}

Here is an overview of the format of the Cambridge English: Key exam.

(Source: Cambridge English: Key Handbook for Teachers (c) Cambridge English Language Assessment)

On Monday 20 April, we will do Paper 1 and Paper 2.

On Thursday 23 April, we will do Paper 3 - Speaking and then we will look at the results of the tests.

Cambridge English: Key - Speaking

{Cambridge English: Key - Speaking}

Here is a sample Cambridge English: Key video that demonstrates what happens in the Key Speaking test.

Think about the different parts of the test.

(Remember, this is a simulation, so it is possible that the less proficient candidate deliberately demonstrates poor preparation.)

In my opinion, you are already well-prepared to perform appropriately in the Speaking test.

If you are interested, you can read the examiner's remarks about the two candidates here.

Cambridge English: Key - Listening: sample N° 1

{Cambridge English: Key - Listening}

1) Make sure you have the sample answer sheet which I made available in this post.

2) Download the Listening (Paper 2) questions for parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

3) Download the audio tracks for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

4) Listen and answer the questions.

Remember that you have approximately 30 minutes maximum to complete the Listening (including time to listen to the tracks twice).

You may need to replay the audio track yourself if it does play for a second time.

Good luck!

We can check your answers in class. 

Now for some exam format Listening practice

{Cambridge English: Key - Listening}

This is the first step in doing some Listening practice for your Cambridge English: Key exam.

You need to download this file and print at least four copies.

It is the pdf of the answer sheet you will need to fill in when you complete the Listening paper practice tests that I will soon post.

Cambridge KEY Vocabulary Topic Lists - Clothes & Accessories

{VOCABULARY CHALLENGE}

Here is your second,  relatively easy vocabulary challenge.

You'll find the challenge on Quizlet.

You don't need to log in.

Just follow the link and start playing, erm, I mean learning!

See you in class.

For film fans and cinema buffs!

More on the Cambridge English Scale and your Key exam

Here is a visual giving some information about scores for the Cambridge English Key exam, using the Cambridge English Scale.

To give you an idea, the former PASS mark for Cambridge English Key was 70%; on the new Scale, this is now 120.

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

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.

Cambridge KEY Vocabulary Topic Lists - Appliances

{VOCABULARY CHALLENGE}

Here is your first, very easy vocabulary challenge.

You'll find the challenge on Quizlet.

You don't need to log in.

Just follow the link and start playing, erm, I mean learning!

See you in class.

Happy birthday!

Many happy returns to our coursemate, Turi.

We hope you have a great birthday!

Help with vocabulary

{VOCABULARY}

Here is a list of vocbulary that learners are expected to know and use at Cambridge English Key level.

The document is in pdf and is 29 pages long so you might want to download it to your device, rather than print it out.

There is a section on Topics (Appendix 2, p. 22-29) that you will find very useful.

I will be setting you some challenges connected with the Topic Lists during the next few weeks!

See you in class.

Movie Night - UPDATE

{UPDATE}

There is a new date for the Movie Night!

It is now scheduled for Wednesday, 25th March.

Watch, and talk about, a film in English!

More listening practice

Here is another Listening practice task from Objective Key.

First, you need to get a copy of the questions. (Or you can use the image below.)

Next, you need to listen to this audio track so you can answer the questions.
Try to listen to the track no more than two times.

You can write your answers in the comments below, if you like.

Some A2 practice exercises

Here are some Cambridge English: Key practice exercises.

If you like, you can write your answers in the comments below.
Or, if you prefer, you can write your answers in your notebook.

The source of the exerises is Objective Key Teacher's Resources CD-ROM (c) Cambridge University Press.

<<<Practice Exercises 1>>>

<<<Practice Exercises 2>>>

<<<Practice Exercises 3>>

See you in class.

Confused about what your Cambridge English results mean?

Take a look at this post about the Cambridge English Scale to learn more about Cambridge English grades.

More Listening practice

Here is another KET Listening practice exercise from Cambridge English (www.cambridgeenglish.org).

This exercise is for Listening Part 2, which is a matching activity.

The audio track is here.

(If the track doesn't PLAY or start automatically, you can always download it.)

Here are the instructions and the questions:

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

What is going on?

Have a look at this photo by Tommy Ingberg (www.ingberg.com).

What does it make you think of?

How would you describe it?

What do you think is happening?

Write your ideas in the comments below.

A very quick writing exercise.

This very quick and easy writing exercise helps us recycle what we know about the past simple, about how to formulate correct sentences and how to write a brief email.
(There you go - three activities for the price of one! A bargain!)

Write your messages to Gianni and Emilio (I think they are both from Norway) in the comments below.

Come and chat in English!

Talking about POSSIBILITY

Do you want to talk about possible situations in the future?

Here are some useful expressions from our friends at IH Bristol.

See you in class!

Take the 8-minute challenge! Listening - relatively easy.

          <<<Listen to me!>>

          <<<Listen to me!>>>

     After you listen and answer the questions, think about what advice Professor Parker might give Simon.  Write your ideas in the COMMENTS below.

More about the weather.

Have a look at this video from Cambridge English.

You can find it on the usual video sharing site here.

What other expressions do you know that are connected with the weather?

What terrible weather!

As you can imagine, there is a lot to say about the weather.

What's your weather vocabulary like?

Why not have a look at these great activities from the BBC's Learn English web site?
They are all about vocabulary, expressions and verbs we often use when we need to talk about the weather.

Here is the link to the first activity:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/lower-intermediate/unit-16/session-1

We can talk about the terrible weather next time in class!