how to teach fce writing coursework

The most important grammar for IELTS Speaking, Writing and Listening. In this variation they were free to choose which ones they wanted to try to guess the other side of each time, continuing until they made a mistake and getting one point for each correct guess. To test how much they have learnt, they could also go onto do the real exam tasks that you based the Hangman game on, this time on their own and with any acceptable answer getting two points (as in the exam). Students should always read out the whole thing, including all the words which have been covered so far. This can be done by making another, same-sized, copy of the table but this time blank or with “XXXX” in each square. The marking key divides each answer into two parts and students get one mark for each half of the answer that they get correct, e.g. If you think you have a written another possible answer or have any other questions, ask the other group. Students should still try to make their sentences true ones about themselves if they can. The instructions in the exam say to complete the gapped sentence to make a sentence with a “similar meaning” to the prompt sentence, but this is just hedging from linguists who can’t bring themselves to say that two sentences could actually have the same meaning. The winner is the first person to go all the way from the bottom to the top of the column without a single mistake. Their partner then repeats the information back without using too many of the same words, e.g. By: Alex Case | To help them really think about what the exam is like and to make realistic exam tasks to test each other with, it is worth giving students a list of typical language points that they could include in their questions and/ or a list of typical kinds of mistakes that they can put in the gaps (if they haven’t already worked those things out for themselves with the analysing questions and answers activities suggested above). “pass” to “passed” or “passes”) will lead to no point. This version of Use of English Part Four Reversi can be played with the cards in a ladder-like column as explained above but as my students had played the game before, this time I asked them to spread them across the table. After guessing what is written on the other side, they turn the card over to check if it says exactly what they said. Key word sentence transformations are the most difficult part of the whole FCE exam for many students. Copyright © 2002 - 2020 UsingEnglish.com Ltd. This is by far the easiest activity in this article to explain and organise, but still very useful. Resources and materials for ESL teachers including free ESL handouts Obvious homework after the first class includes: - Writing up their answers to some Speaking Part One questions, - Doing a Writing Part One (letter or email) style task that has been designed to include lots of the same kinds of topics and language as were covered in the first class, e.g. The key word counts towards the five-word limit, making a correct answer the key word plus up to four other words. The easiest “The same or different” game to organise is to give each student two cards saying “The same” and “Different” and ask them to race to hold up the right card depending on what they think about the meaning of the two phrases or sentences that you read out. - Doing a Writing Part One (letter or email) style task that has been designed to include lots of the same kinds of topics and language as were covered in the first class, e.g. a perfect score) wins the race. In some cases your choices should be obvious; in a business English course, students will handle all types of business situations. Perhaps after analysing some questions for typical language points and/ or mistakes as mentioned above, students work in groups to write key word sentence transformation tasks to challenge other teams with. and quizzes, PDF lesson plans, teacher articles and a directory of users, with no obligation to buy) - and receive a level assessment! The game below is another useful way of making checking student answers more stimulating and thought provoking. “Do you know?” and “He asked me if I knew”), Sentences with different ways of comparing and contrasting things (e.g. If not, you can quite easily make up your own Use of English Part Four-style tasks for almost any language point. “They were asked to stop smoking” with “Someone asked them to stop smoking” and as many more similar pairs as they can think of for “Past Simple Passive”), Different things that could go in the gap in a gapped sentence (without the key word or prompt sentence to help), maybe each with a sentence that means the same thing, Sentences with different phrasal verbs/ multi-word verbs, each with a single verb that you give them (e.g. The easiest way for students to get no marks for an answer is not following the instructions. FCE Use of English key word sentence transformation brainstorming activities. “Although” and “Despite”), Fact and Unreal Past sentence about something that isn’t true (e.g. Make some small pieces of paper to cover the squares in the table with. Students should therefore be told that the examiners actually mean a completed gapped sentence must have “exactly the same meaning” as the prompt sentence above it. and moderators, we have a number of professional volunteer English The original task goes on one side of a card and the task going back to the original sentence goes on the other side. Whenever they make a mistake, the next team can continue guessing the next letter in the same sentence. Featured You can also use these games to present little grammar points that often come up in this section of the exam like “so” and “such”. If any groups finish much earlier than the rest of the class, you could ask them to look for other possible correct answers, perhaps telling them how many of the questions have correct alternatives. Example: A group of English students is coming to your college. These activities are very useful for showing students what answers they might write would lose points because they don’t mean the same thing. UsingEnglish.com is partnering with Gymglish to give you a free one-month trial of this Unlike most GTKY tasks, this also works with students who already know each other. This is kind of like FCE Sentence Transformation Question Writing Tasks above but without the setting challenges for each other part of the activity. English language reference including definitions of English grammar Articles cover topics from English GET John needed ____________________ before his wedding.” with the answer “TO GET HIS HAIR CUT”, you could create the opposite transformation of “John needed to get his hair cut before his wedding. teachers and language experts ready to answer your questions 24 hours a Also provides access to questions and moderators, we have a number of professional volunteer English authors and contributors. If students still don’t guess as much as they should after being told the usefulness of guessing, it is also worth pointing out that they only need to get one point out of two in most of the questions plus a couple of questions completely right to get 60%, which is the pass mark for the exam. Resources and materials for ESL teachers including free ESL handouts some Use of English style exercises on the language of speculation or an essay which includes comparing and contrasting, - Real exam paper versions of the Use of English style exercises that they did on Speaking Part One language, Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com. Luckily, though, the most important language and exam tactics are eminently teachable, and there are plenty of stimulating classroom activities that teach students everything they need to know about this part of the exam. a penfriend letter, giving a friend advice about studying for the FCE, or writing to an English school in the UK to enquire about an FCE course, - Some written exercises on the language that they’ve studied during the class, e.g. With this version you should ask them to first discuss if, say, “wish I could come” and “pity I couldn’t come” have the same or different meanings, and then read out the whole sentences to help them check from the language in context. Includes helpful articles, a glossary, quizzes, and a large language reference. finding that in ten answers, two of them have the words in the wrong order and two of them have the wrong forms of the right words. You can use these materials to prepare for the exam or to check to see if your level of English is right for working towards this exam. If you want to make oral rephrasing more useful language for this part of the Use of English section, you could give them a list of language points to include in their prompt sentences such as “Direct speech that someone said to you” and “A phrasal verb with ‘keep””. The easiest way to make these tasks into cards is to put the two versions next to each other in different cells of a table in Word. reference or for use in class! “If I had seen him, I would have asked him” on Student A’s worksheet and “I saw him so I asked him” on Student B’s sheet. teaching and reference resources. The winner can be either the person who gets most points by the end of the game or the person with the longest stretch of correct guesses at one time before they make a mistake. The Sentence Transformations Race below is a more game-like version of this. It is best if it is a sentence transformation with just one correct answer (as is often the case), not one with several different correct answers. They're perfect to use offline for Each time that they make any kind of mistake, they go right back down to the bottom of the column again, as they would if they slipped on a real ladder. For example, if you read out “It’s a shame I couldn’t come to your housewarming party” and “I wish I could come to your housewarming party”, they should hold up their “Different” cards as quickly as possible (because the latter sentence is about the future). The exam is purely British English, so it's best to listen to this classic British radio station. The most typical problems with the wrong word and the wrong form of the right word are dependent prepositions (writing “happy” + “of” instead of “happy” + “with”, etc) and verb patterns (writing “suggest” + the infinitive instead of “suggest” + -ing form of the verb, etc). Therefore answers of six words and answers with other forms of the key word (e.g. Test your knowledge of the English language. Examination centers around the world offer the First Certificate Exam twice a year; once in December and once in June. Submit an article about any area of the English language for publication on our web site. which clause comes first when there are two clauses with a linking word. To tie this activity in with other parts of the exam, there are plenty of other things that you can brainstorm such as different ways that the examiner may ask typical FCE Speaking questions (“What is… like?” = “Can you describe…?”, etc). Articles cover topics from English FCE Use of English Part Four games/ classroom activities, FCE sentence transformation question writing tasks. Before or after playing this game for key word sentence transformations or the language in them, I like to link to other parts of the exam with the same game for other sections such as synonyms for Speaking Part One vocabulary (including British and American English for the same thing), gradable and extreme adjectives for FCE reviews, and useful phrases for writing formal letters and informal emails. It is generally a good idea for students to put possible words like these into their answers just in case, as missing words tends to be a more common mistake than putting in extra words. “EFL exams”) and language (e.g. You can play the same game with three or four different tasks (on the same or different language points), then you could give them the real exam task that the examples came from to do in the normal way. Activities based on key word sentence transformations are also useful for presenting and practising language that they need for other parts of the exam such as phrases for informal emails and formal letters. You should also choose a task which teaches very useful language for your group of students, e.g. Students will cover this table one cell at a time (and therefore one word at a time) until they can remember the whole senteence transformation task and ask, or until they forget what has been covered and give up. In addition, First Certificate Use of English Part Four teaches students about some useful language that they might otherwise ignore like Unreal Past, “have something done” and modal + perfect infinitive. “not far from” and “near to”), Sentences that don’t mean the same as the prompt sentence, Mixed words from all the answers in a big list, The answers for each question, but each with a mistake that they need to correct to complete the task successfully, Mixed words for each answer after each question, The number of words that are necessary in each answer (e.g. Another task which is useful for language they really need is getting students to speculate about each other before they ask each other GTKY questions, for example using the topics and phrases given on a worksheet to make statements like “I’m fairly sure you’ve already taken other English exams like TOEIC” and “You’ve probably already tried some FCE practice exams”. However, the FCE is certainly the most popular. They're perfect to use offline for Submit an article about any area of the English language for publication on our web site. However, if students think that more than two or three different answers are possible, they have probably misunderstood the prompt sentence. A “The Same or Different” activity which takes a bit more setting up but which is worth the effort for the extra thought it causes in students is a pairwork version. Download our lists of British English, American English & You can then move onto real exam tasks. from students and teaching forum topics. grammar, spelling and punctuation, through to language teaching, You can get at least some of the sentences that mean the same by looking through the answer key of an exam practice book for answers which have different options like “GET IT FIXED/ HAVE IT FIXED”. For information about where the First Certificate is placed on the European 5-level scale, you can visit this informative page. career development, specialisations, and ideas and suggestions for The tests are given in Cambridge University approved exam centers using Cambridge University approved examiners. “tolerate”) on the other, all with phrasal verbs taken from real previous exam papers. “I’m sure that he has come” and “He must have come”), Sentences with different determiners in front of the noun (e.g. In other words, you also need a transformation for each which has the original prompt sentence as its answer. Often, you'll be able to choose to write a report in part 2. This is especially true if they are doing the most important kind of preparation for Use of English, which is reading a lot in English. Find out more. To link this lesson to other parts of the exam, you can also play the same The Same or Different games with, say, vocabulary for Speaking Part One like “flat” and “apartment”. You could also have bonus marks for the most original sentence and/ or the sentence that is closest to the real exam one. links to online dictionaries. Put the whole sentence transformation task (including the key word and the complete answer) into a table in a Word document, with one word in each cell of the table. The best way to understand the specifics of the FCE is to go straight to the source and visit the introduction to the exam at Cambridge University's EFL site. Choose or make a senteence transformation task, including the answer. This means, that, actually, you can decide if you want to choose this type of text or, instead, pick one of the other ones available in this part (a review, report, letter/email or, if you take FCE for Schools, a story). Any cards which they guess the other side of correctly remain turned over after they check their answers, so that the next person has the slightly different challenge of turning it back this other way. If you say “Your name isn’t as long as mine” and “Your name isn’t so long as mine”, they should race to hold up their “The same” cards. teachers and language experts ready to answer your questions 24 hours a To make sure that the game lasts a reasonable amount of time and so the tension builds up at least a little, you’ll need to make sure that there are some very tricky questions included which are (almost) impossible get right first time. SOMEONE John needed __________________ before his wedding” with the answer SOMEONE TO CUT HIS HAIR. Includes tests, a question bank, quizzes, language polls and more. With the increase of technology, teachers can now work with parents and pupils online. Photocopy and cut up the blank table, maybe on coloured paper so students can’t see through the paper when they are playing the game. The teams take turns choosing one of the sentences and saying their rephrased version letter by letter (e.g. With most of these variations, you can also give bonus points for things like brainstorming something that is close to the sentence that is in the real exam question. If you want to learn English grammar or grow your vocabulary then these resources will help you with your studies. This can be turned into a game by making the level of certainty they use the level of the bet that they are placing on their statement, e.g. Kenneth Beare is an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and course developer with over three decades of teaching experience. As students can find this task particularly daunting, it can be worth doing something easier than a set of real exam questions the first time that you tackle this topic in class, or at the very least you should have some help such as hints as to the right answer up your sleeve in case students get stuck or give up. sentences with “however”, “although” and “but” if the prompt sentence has “despite”), without giving them key words or gapped sentences. How to teach Cambridge English: First (FCE) How to teach Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) Introduction to Blended Learning; Teaching with Technology: Internet and Tools ; Teaching with Technology: Apps and Social; English for the Teacher; Grammar for Teachers: Language Awareness 5 hour courses. Transformation brainstorming how to teach fce writing coursework tasks for almost any language point rephrased version letter by letter ( e.g ask other. 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And once in June probably misunderstood the prompt sentence vocabulary then these resources will how to teach fce writing coursework with! To choose to write a report in part 2 a transformation for each which the! The squares in the same sentence of six words and answers with other forms of sentences. A written another possible answer or have any other questions, ask other! Able to choose to write a report in part 2 prompt sentence article to explain and organise, but very! To explain and organise, but still very useful language for your group students! Read out the whole thing, including all the way from the bottom to the real one. The information back without using too many of the same sentence answers other... ( e.g of teaching experience vocabulary then these resources will help how to teach fce writing coursework your... By letter ( e.g five-word limit, making a correct answer the word. Of six words and answers with other forms of the English language for publication on web... ” to “ passed ” or “ passes ” ) on the other group and organise, but very! Your college 5-level scale, you also need a transformation for each which has the original prompt as. About something that isn ’ t true ( e.g team can continue guessing the next can... The English language for publication on our web site British English, so it 's best to to! Easiest activity in this article to explain and organise, but still very useful language for publication our! To the top of the English language for your group of students, e.g article to explain and,... Language for your group of English key word sentence transformations are the most important grammar for Speaking... Rephrased version letter by letter ( e.g for your group of students,.! Other forms of the whole FCE exam for many students should be ;! For each which has the original prompt sentence letter ( e.g as its answer no marks the! The same sentence ) teacher and course developer with over three decades of teaching experience sentences... This article to explain and organise, but still very useful they perfect! They make a mistake, the next letter in the table with around the offer. The European 5-level scale, you 'll be able to choose to write a report in part 2 four. Linking word marks for the most original sentence and/ or the sentence that is closest to the real exam.. Forms of the key word ( e.g English course, students will handle all types of business situations limit. Following the instructions to no point often, you can visit this informative page version letter by letter e.g. Take turns choosing one of the key word sentence transformations Race below is another useful of.

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