A8 - Tuesday and Thursday

As promised, schedule for next week's mock exams.


Please try to be in class and ready to start in good time. Email to the usual address if you have doubts.


A reminder of the rest of the next three weeks:


28 Feb 
&           Mock Exams - see below
1 Mar   
6 Mar  Exam review day, done with a bit of oomph!
8 Mar  Vocabulary and Grammar from Unit 7 of Coursebook: Reported Speech, Health, Word Formation
13 Mar  (provisionally) Full Results & Feedback - hopefully by 1-1 tutorial.


Exams Schedule


A87
Tuesday 28 Feb
Use of English
Listening
Thursday 1 Mar
Writing
Reading

A88
Tuesday 28 Feb
Writing
Reading
Thursday 1 Mar
Use of English
Listening


Brian

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Listening Page Update

February's listening activity is now online, and, as a bonus, also introduces you to the wonderful world of podcasts.


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Advanced Student's Work: A Film Review

Student Sample

Read the homework. Can you use your experience to imagine how many marks of out 10 this review of two movies might get?

>>  ?? <<  

Produced with fifteen years of difference[m1] , Source Code and The Rockare both remarkable movies.
Source Code is an intriguingüaction film, which is still in some cinemas, and is suitable for a general audience. This thrillerü is centered on a soldier, Jake Gyllenhaal, who wakes up in a train, in the body of an unknown man. After some minutes, he discovers he is part of a mission to find a terrorist who is in that train. The plot is captivatingü; with some unexpected twistthat makes this film very thought-provokingü. As a curiosity, I would like to mention that it is a low-budget film. It has cost ^32 million while the normal budget for American films is about ^100 million. I strongly recommendüwatching it, as it is one of the best films I have seen this year.
 Going back to 1996, The Rockis one of my all-timeüü favorite thrillers. With a really intense plot, this film catches your attention from the first minute to the last one. A renegadeü general and his group of Marines take over Alcatraz with some hostages and biological weapons.  They threaten the city of San Francisco to protest for an injustice from the government. The cast couldn´t be betterüü: Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris give a tremendous performance. 

Although it is an entertained film and also has some moments of humor, because of the scenes of violence and sex, this film would be better only for adults.

Highlight to read the teacher's comments:

 Pretty good, although I would have liked a title on the top – and a bit more personality would be good, but I think, I will, go for 8 because I can see the effort is there. I would like more “film” vocabulary to be really confident about the mark though.

---

 [m1]Fifteen years apart

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CAE Student's Work 1: A Film Review

Student Sample


Read the homework. Can you use your experience to imagine how many marks of out 10 this review of two movies might get?

>>  ?? <<  

Produced with fifteen years of difference[m1] , Source Code and The Rockare both remarkable movies.
Source Code is an intriguingüaction film, which is still in some cinemas, and is suitable for a general audience. This thrillerü is centered on a soldier, Jake Gyllenhaal, who wakes up in a train, in the body of an unknown man. After some minutes, he discovers he is part of a mission to find a terrorist who is in that train. The plot is captivatingü; with some unexpected twistthat makes this film very thought-provokingü. As a curiosity, I would like to mention that it is a low-budget film. It has cost ^32 million while the normal budget for American films is about ^100 million. I strongly recommendüwatching it, as it is one of the best films I have seen this year.
 Going back to 1996, The Rockis one of my all-timeüü favorite thrillers. With a really intense plot, this film catches your attention from the first minute to the last one. A renegadeü general and his group of Marines take over Alcatraz with some hostages and biological weapons.  They threaten the city of San Francisco to protest for an injustice from the government. The cast couldn´t be betterüü: Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris give a tremendous performance. 

Although it is an entertained film and also has some moments of humor, because of the scenes of violence and sex, this film would be better only for adults.

Highlight to read the teacher's comments:

 Pretty good, although I would have liked a title on the top – and a bit more personality would be good, but I think, I will, go for 8 because I can see the effort is there. I would like more “film” vocabulary to be really confident about the mark though.

---

 [m1]Fifteen years apart

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Writing Forum: Reviews

Writing Forum

We ask questions. You think about some answers and add comments here if you like.

So - your comments are very welcome!


1 Why do people read reviews (in the real world)? Does that matter in an English Exam?

2 How much should you tell us about the content of your review subject (movie, book etc)?

3 What do you start and finish your reviews with?

4 What seems more realistic - formal or informal style?

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First: Formal Writing

Reviewing Formal Letters

We'd like to recommend this page on the Flo-Joe website. have a go at some of the twenty two(!) exercises before your next homework.

Obviously, we're happy to answer questions or doubts you have here or on Facebook.

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Level 6: Formal Writing

Reviewing Formal Letters

We'd like to recommend this page on the Flo-Joe website. have a go at some of the twenty two(!) exercises before your next homework.

Obviously, we're happy to answer questions or doubts you have here or on Facebook.

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Advice on Exam Orals

Advice for the IELTS oral exam - but most of it just as interesting for FCE and CAE!

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/ielts-interview-skills

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Email Inbox: Advice on Listening

Email from a student:

Could you recommend me some english radio channel  

apart from BBC news?

Thank you!

Reply:

For listening, try almost anything from here: bbc.co.uk/iplayer.  99% of the radio is available - and there's a lot! Try an audiobook perhaps? (Look for A book at Bedtime, for example).

You can't download radio from Iplayer, but as you have an iphone perhaps a few programmes downloaded as podcasts might be a good idea? Via Itunes you can find lots of the programmes (not to mention lots of others of course) which if you sibscribe to the podcast will download automatically when you connect your phone to the PC.

Oh, and perhaps interesting: www.audible.com

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Presentation C1/Advanced

Powerpoint Presentation for C1 level:

Advice on:
Formality and grading it
Planning Writing
Checking Writing

Link: 
http://www.slideshow.com/users/bcteacher/politeness-and-writing--572162773

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Presentation A8

Powerpoint Presentation from A8 on Thursday


Advice on:
Formality and grading it
Planning Writing
Checking Writing

Link: 
http://www.slideshow.com/users/bcteacher/politeness-and-writing--572162773

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Real World Writing

Real people...
real reasons...
real writing!

Link here to an interesting real webpage written by a university professor to his students about what he expects from their emails to him. Some lessons for everyone here!

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Real World Writing

Real people...
real reasons...
real writing!


Link here to an interesting real webpage written by a university professor to his students about what he expects from their emails to him. Some lessons for everyone here!


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