Thursday 28 April 2016

Very Important Information: Mock Tests

Below you will find the dates for the Mock Exams during this year.

Some points to consider:

You will have a booklet with 4 complete exams (Reading & Use of English paper, Writing paper and 
Listening paper). This booklet is to be used at York, you will only take it home during the winter break 
to complete Mock #2. You must bring it back to class once we start again
It is yours, take care of it and keep a neat record of your corrected answer sheets
They will be essential for the revision period before the exam date.

Concerning the papers, please note:

  • Listening paper. 

It will always be completed during class time. So make all your efforts not to be absent on that day. 
Before the class starts, ask for your booklet and an answer sheet to the secretaries
So, please, do come some minutes earlier.
When you finish, check you have written your name on the answer sheet, place it in the booklet and 
hand it to your teacher.

  • Reading and Use of English paper, and
  • Writing paper

Both of them are always on a Friday. You have to come to York during opening hours and ask for 
your booklet and an answer sheet to the secretaries.
When you finish, check you have written your name on the answer sheet, place it in the booklet and 
hand it back to the secretaries.

General advice:
  • As you can see, you are responsible for your Mock Exams. We, teachers, believe you can handle this.
  • Mock Exams are intended to give you full practiceconstant evaluation of your progress 
         and help you build the strategies you need to succeed in the exam.
  • Complete every paper with responsibility, do not use dictionaries or any other help that is not allowed 
         during the exam. 
  • Very important: Be aware of the time set for each paper and do not exceed the limit (when you 
         are doing the Reading and Use of English, and the Writing papers)



Date
Paper


1
May 17 / 18th
Listening

May 20th
Reading & Use of English

May 27th
Writing



2
July (during Winter break)
Listening

July
Reading & Use of English

July
Writing



3
September 13 / 14th
Listening

September 16th
Reading & Use of English

September 23rd
Writing



4
October 17 / 27th
Listening

October 28th
Reading & Use of English

November 4th
Writing

UNIT 3

Tuesday 26 April 2016

LET'S PRACTICE SPEAKING!!!

In the Speaking exam, you will be expected to talk on your own about two photographs for about two minutes.


 The interview will begin with the examiner saying something like:
 In this part of the test I'm going to give each of you two photographs. I'd like you to talk about your photographs on your own for about 1 minute and also to answer a short question about your partner's photographs.
 (Candidate A), here are your photographs. They show...................... I'd like you to compare and contrast these photographs and say.................
Notice there are TWO instructions here,
 a) 'Compare and contrast' the two photographs,
 b) 'say..........................' .

 In Part 2 candidates need to show they can compare but also give an opinion.
 So you will also need to,
 c) Speculate
 d) React.

 Have a look at the following presentation and work on your skills.



Thursday 21 April 2016

EXTREME ADJECTIVES

Learn how to make what you say in English more natural and interesting by using extreme adjectives!




WHAT WOULD YOU DO ...?


Into the wild - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Wednesday 20 April 2016

Wednesday 6 April 2016

WRITING 1

WRITING: AN INFORMAL LETTER 

GREETING: Say hello + friend's name

BODY: Opening + Giving a reason for writing/replying

          Answer to question 1

          Answer to question 2

           (If there are more questions you have to combine them appropriately

            with question 1 or 2, using good connectors)

CLOSING: Give a reason why you're ending + Make reference for future contact
               Closing statement
               Signing off

3. Let's read an example:

Informal greeting
Hi Dean,

Opening - referring to the sender's email/letter.
Good to hear form you again. I hope you're still enjoying your Science course.
Give reason for replying. I'm glad you asked me about the party I planned for my mother's birthday. Well, I have to say it was a fantastic success. I told my mother we were taking her out for a quiet meal at a local restaurant with just the family, but in fact I'd(1) hired a large room in a hotel and invited all her old friends!(2)

Answer to question 1: Start a new paragraph as the topic has changed slightly.Use an informal linking word/phrase.
Anyway, I picked my mother up and told her I'd changed my mind. We were going to have a meal in a hotel. You should have seen her face when she walked into the room and everyone cheered! She just couldn't believe it and burst into tear(3). Then the party got going and it didn't finish until four in the morning. We were absolutely exhausted, but my mother had had a wonderful time.

Give a reason why you're ending + make reference for future contact.
Must dash now - I've got to go to college. Hope to hear from you (4).
Closing statement: informal phrase
Love,
Sign with your name
Tania


(1) Use contractions
(2) Use some exclamation marks (but not too many) to express emotion.
(3) Use a range of appropriate vocabulary and informal expressions
(4) Short sentences are acceptable



4. HOMEWORK: WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT
You’ve just received this letter from an English pen pal.

Hello,

I would like to get to know you a bit more. I couldn’t find any clear picture of you in Facebook so can you tell me what you look like, please? And how would you describe your personality? Tell me some positive and negative aspects about it. What about your personal life: family, friends, boyfriend/girlfriend? Tell me something about them and what you like doing together.
Thanks.

Write your letter in 140-190 words in an appropriate style.

PERSONALITY ADJECTIVES REVISION

TRY THESE CROSSWORDS AND REVISE PERSONALITY ADJECTIVES



CLICK HERE 

CLICK HERE AND COMPLETE