CAE Weekly Writing Activity 1.1

For this week we’d like you to take a look at the revised writing instructions for the two exams. You need a pdf reader like adobe acrobat to open this file.

You’ll find CAE here http://www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/pdf/resources/teacher/cae_hb_dec08.pdf . Go to page 26 to read about task types. You need a pdf reader like adobe acrobat to open this file.

We’d like you to think about these four questions in relation to the task types.

1. Which have you never done before?
2. If you'vw done them, which seem easier or more difficult?
3. Can you think of any useful advice for other students? Post it here!

We want to hear from you, so post a reply or question by clicking on comments below. Don’t forget to include four first name and class (“Julia, A8”), for example.

Whiteboard Grab; Informal Letters

This is a whiteboard grab from last year's course.

This one was used in answer to a question in an S6 group about phrases for starting informal letter paragraphs.

You can click on it to see a bigger version. Try to borrow a few phrases to help your work.

If anything's not clear, let us know.

FCE Weekly Writing Activity 1.1

Take a look at the revised writing instructions for the two exams. You need a pdf reader like adobe acrobat to open this file.

You’ll find FCE here http://www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/pdf/resources/teacher/fce_hb_dec08.pdf . Go to page 21 to read about the task types. You need a pdf reader like adobe acrobat to open this file.

After reading it, can you post some ideas and tell us

What makes a good informal letter?

that can help other students.

Post your replies (and any questions) by clicking on comments below. Please include your first name and class (“Pedro, A6”), for example.

CAE Use of English Part 1

Go here for information on Part 1 (on page 9), and here for an extra practice activity.

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CAE: Advanced Vocabulary Introduction

To get an idea of how important vocabulary is at Level 8, take a look at this video. You need Adobe flash player to watch it. Don't worry about watching all of it, scroll through for the most important information from the presenter.

What's most important do you think?

PS
And if you've ever wanted to know what English teachers do on their Saturday mornings, this is it!

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Welcome to The Las Rozas Blog, Year 2, (continued)

The Right Column>>>>>>

What's on there then?

1. We'll update our Twitter feed when new posts appear - and when new Email Club mailouts happen too. Click on the logo to go to our page. You can then follow us from anywhere!

2. Use the Labels box to find topics directly. You can also click on the labels at the bottom of each post to get everything on the same topic.

3. Use the Archive to go back to older posts if you miss a week.

4. You can find some useful links on the right to take a look at - we'll add to these when we can.

5. You can use the dictionary if you need it - it will take you to another website.

6. You can also find a selection of current news stories at the bottom of the page if you are at a loose end.

Come back on October 13 (FCE) and Ocotober 14 (CAE) for our first activities for you to join in with.

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Exam Comments from Miles Brickman

Miles this week had some interesting comments on the Cambridge exams.

He would like to remind everyone taking the exams (and also taking our exams) to focus on what you can do and what you know and try not to place to much attention on things you think you can't do as well as you'd like to.

During your studies you will have practised a whole range of topics and may be surprised about how much you actually know.

One way to see this. Look through the list of labels on the right of this page. Just looking at the question types - review, article, informal letter, report and so on* - you can probably visualise one and know what makes it distinctive. You can think of some of the vocab and grammar that are typical of them. (*You probably know why we prefer "and so on" to the Spanish equivalent!)

So our general comment is - look on the postives, and try not to worry about negatives too much. You have gained new skills and understand new things - here's a chance to put them to good use.

Good luck!