Focus!

I've been going through my assessments as we have mid-term reports to write and go out for next week and looking at them globally allows me to see things in a slightly different light. The writing assessments have been poor, spelling and poor hand writing letting my guys down especially. I am thinking of my FCE guys, though my CAE guys are almost equally culpable. By now, my students at FCE level should not be spelling 'writting' instead of writing, or 'oppening', oh you get the idea. None of these errors are because of lack of knowledge but are for lack of attention. You know how to do this stuff. Just focus, get it right and you'll be fine. Remember, the writing is one fifth, that's 20%, of the exam grade.

Think... and Blink

My Guys,

You've got until 20th March to sign up. I was looking at the list yesterday and many of you haven't. If you don't sign up now you'll have to wait until December. I'll warn you again in class this week.... it's your call.

On a similar subject...

I was working Saturday, invigilating the FCE exams and also being an Oral examiner. Some more points:
The Writing paper is to be written in pen. Not pencil. It says so on the front of the paper and I told the students but somehow the message did not get through. I can't see Cambridge docking marks because of this but it hardly shows you in a good light if you get simple instructions wrong. And again.... HANDWRITING! None of my guys took it yesterday. Which is good for me seeing such dreadfully formed letters dancing across the page.
The Listening Paper. You need to write your name on the question sheet as well as the answer sheet. I haven't mentioned this to you before (as I didn't know). I imagine it's so that if you appeal your mark it can be moderated.
The Use of English Paper. Some guys left this exam very early. Check, check and check again, but only change an answer if you are sure. Often your first answer is the best (read BLINK, by Malcolm Gladwell. It tells us that we know stuff when we have a hunch... we just don't know why we know stuff, and often we don't trust the stuff we know because we don't know the why... if you catch my drift).
The Reading Paper. I know the notes say 'please don't write on the exam paper'. But as there's no name on the question paper (unlike the Listening) I suggest you make notes, draw diagrams, use high-lighter pens. Anything that will help you get the answer right.
The Speaking. Fossilised errors really hurt marks. Nice vocab and good, appropriate fixed phrases saved a couple of students from lower marks. Exam technique and good preparation for the interview part of this exam will get weaker students through...
Good luck in May and June... and

DON'T FORGET TO SIGN UP!

Parents' Evening

We had our parents' evening yesterday and it was nice to meet the good people who consider English valuable enough a resource so be worth paying people like me to teach it to their offspring! In general, the Portuguese are good at English (when compared to my experience in Spain, France and Italy), and are keen to learn, spurred on by the internet, Hollywood and music. There was a recurring theme however (well, two actually, but 'he/she could work harder' doesn't really count as I KNOW that's a perennial since teaching began), and that was a complaint about hand-writing. It's hard to get students to write, so I am willing to accept my written work as printouts. All well and good (so long as it's not cut and pasted from Wikipedia... and guys, I DO check), but herein lies the rub, the problem. You don't get to practice writing longhand, in pen or pencil, in English. You all write at school and university in Portuguese, but it isn't the same (especially your m and n which are particularly cursive so that the latter looks like the former and the former looks like a child's drawing of the Loch Ness monster).
Why is this important? Because writing is one fifth (that's twenty percent) of your Cambridge mark! And you'll get a lower mark if the examiner gets bored of your spider scrawl. So, spread your words out, write on every second line and take your time. Try different pens. Do something so that it's legible, otherwise you are losing marks needlessly.

Blood from a Stone

Students are less and less likely to write longhand in class for me these days. It's like trying to get blood out of a stone! When they do pick up a pen the scrawl is a tangled mess - texting and computers have done for hand writing (though in truth I can't talk as my own handwriting is dreadful. I could be a doctor it's so bad). But students need to do writing in class and not just for homework. They need to practice timings, they need to see how long a text is, how long it takes them and learn how to plan it in controlled conditions and they won't get that at home. And they will complain... so teachers, expect a cacophony of moaning. Also tell students to:
* Plan their answer before they write
* Address ALL the points in the task
* Use the widest range of vocab they can - encourage them to show off a bit.
* Write in a consistent register and style
* Finish with a strong final paragraph.

That's if you can get them to pick a pen up in the first place!

Sample Papers, Answer Sheets and more

I can't stress enough how important it is to look at past/sample papers of the exam you are going to take. I have mentioned before elsewhere on this blog that I have the links below to help but it doesn't hurt to remind readers. Of particular use is the Cambridge handbooks for teachers, as this includes sample answers and sample answer sheets. http://www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/pdf/resources/teacher/cae_hb_dec08.pdf
Here's the link - and the papers themselves are from page 10 (of 96) inwards. This is for the CAE, the Advanced paper, but the others are very similar and you can navigate round and hardly need telling how.
Pay particular attention to the answer sheets. There are samples of these given too. Cambridge veterans will know that they should fill in the spaces for multiple choice in PENCIL so that they are able to correct them. It's worth printing them out and practicing on them. It WILL take you some time to transfer your answers over to them, which of course you must do accurately. I had a student fail many years ago because he can't have done this (we guessed, though couldn't know for sure, that he had staggered his answers so that they were all off by one, so that the answer for q. 10 was 11's answer etc etc). He was gutted when he failed, as I reckoned he should have easily got a 'B' grade, and maybe an 'A'.
Timing is also vital: when you do the sample papers leave yourself a little extra time for this, but not too much, you want to have ehad enough time to answer the questions properly.
While you're on the site look at the sample answers for the writing too. Look at the notes as to why particular students got a particular mark. Don't look only at the best marks but at the weaker answers too. Why did they get a 'c' or a 'd' (they will talk in terms of band 3 or 4 but you get the idea)? Ask yourself, do you make the same silly, avoidable mistakes as well?
And one more thing... I've said it before and I will say it again... be LEGIBLE!

2 FCE, 2 CAE - Swing!

I've just got my timetable through for the year and I have 2 classes of FCE and 2 of CAE. No CPE this year, which is good as I need a break from it (I've been teaching it five years straight and am bored of it a little, it's due to change soon so it'll be good again getting to teach the new exam).
And it's good to get 2 CAE classes. I really enjoy this exam, and this level. It's the level you need to get into Uni in the UK if English isn't your mother tongue (or often an IELTS 6.5 - 7.5 depending on the subject though years ago they were accepting 4.5 (!) at the weaker Unis in the UK for business courses) so it's a high enough level to have some meat to it, but it's also low enough that students have fundamental errors that have some how manage to evade all the exams they ahev taken so far.
It's also the first time when the writing can get interesting too. There can be substance there. Of course, here in Portugal as in many countries of Romance languages, the style that students write can often be extremely vague and waffley. It can also be over-formal. You'll see this acronym again and again in this blog I'm sure but K. I.S.S. (Keep it Simple and Short). Use the paragraph as the unit of an idea, not the sentence. Otherwise it'll be exhausting to read.

I found some swings in my town that my daughter can use (she's not yet 2 so needs the ones with the waist support thingy). Now she's demanding 'Swings!' every five minutes.

Thoughts on the writing part of the Cambridge exams

Exam technique is something a lot of teachers and students overlook. Yet by becoming familiar with the exams, their foibles and their authors' ways and habits you can really boost your marks. Do as many practice tests as you can get hold of, under timed conditions if possible and use that time well. Don't write too much or too little - stick to around the number of words given (different in each exam I know) and use any extra time to plan your writing. Planning or drafting writing is key. It'll give shape to your work and make sure that it's a complete article rather than just a jumble of paragraphs. Practice writing longhand, with a pen! I know that we all use computers these days, but in the exam hall you can't, so practice the old skill with a trusty biro. And be legible!
I mark my students down if I can't read their writing... and it drives me nuts!