How to teach an exam class for B2 First for Schools and C1 Advanced Cambridge English

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hello everyone good morning good  afternoon good evening wherever you are   welcome to this webinar about uh how to teach  an exam class for b2 first for schools and c1   advanced my name is alberto costa and i  work for cambridge assessment english in the   assessment services team and with me today is my  colleague sarah ellis hello everyone and welcome   to today's session thank you very much yes so i'm  sarah and i work for the assessment services team   based in italy in in fact today i'm talking  to you from just outside florence and tuscany   and thank you to everyone who's telling us where  you're watching us from it's great to see where   you're joining us from so thank you for doing  that absolutely i am speaking from brazil i'm   based in sao paulo so let's get started over to  you alberto thank you sarah so once again everyone   thank you very much for joining us today this  is an overview of what we're going to talk about   we'll start talking about smart goals very briefly  because i mentioned smart goals in my last session   we will also talk about the importance of  knowing the exam well so we can better prepare   students for the exam we will also talk about exam  classes for b2 first for schools and c1 advanced   and we have some more right  sarah absolutely lots of ideas   and activities we hope you'll be  able to take away from the session um as well as the resources we have here  sarah and i have put together a number of   resources that we are going to share  with you so that you can get ready to   start preparing learners for the exams right  okay we're going to start talking about uh   preparation for an exam when we look at  uh preparing for an exam it seems like   we are going on a long journey so in order for  us and our learners to feel that this journey is   nicer more pleasant smoother it's very important  that we start creating uh and setting goals   along the way so that we can better prepare  learners based on their needs based on   the time that we have between now and the day  of the exam and as we said goes along the way   students will feel more confident when they come  to the day of the exam so it's very important   that we help them set smart goals and that we as  teachers set goals as well for our learners for   example for this session uh sarah and i have a lot  to cover so we we had to set some very smart goals   right sarah in order to try and speed as much as  possible and give you as many ideas as possible   in these 60 minutes so when we're talking about  smart goals we are talking about this acronym   here making goals for example relevant so what  are my students learning needs one of the first   questions and also it's about making goals  specific what do i want my students to achieve   and making goals time-bound as well what do i  want my students to achieve this year this term   this class uh we are at different moments of  the academic year around the world for example   i'm in the southern hemisphere so we are just  this week just now starting our academic year   whereas i'm in the northern i'm in the north so  hemisphere of course we're actually in the middle   of the academic year so it's obviously we're  looking at this from two different perspectives   yes so this is important to make the goals  time-bound as well because our students   since we are talking about uh an international  audience will be taking the exams at different   dates right also it's important to make the  goals achievable so is what we are going to   propose to learners level appropriate and what  support do i need to give them and making goals   measurable and accessible so how will i how will  my students know that they are making progress   so this is what we talk about and this is what we  mean when we talk about creating smart goals also   it's very important that we know the exam well  and sarah will tell you a few things about this   yes absolutely so even whether you're new to  cambridge english qualifications or a very   experienced teacher i think for all of us uh  the first place to go is the teachers handbooks   so you'll see on the next slide here that you can  download um a b2 first for schools handbook or a   ca one one advanced sandwich whichever you need  and of course this is a real treasure trove of   information it's very important and you can see  that each part of the test is included and there   is information about how it's tested the types  of tasks that each part has the way it's marked   the time of it so all the kind of essential  information that will help you in planning your   your program let's say and of course unfortunately  today we haven't got time to go through each part   but you will be able to find information about  all the parts which we don't manage to cover   today but we've chosen a few parts from each  part of the exam so that you get a flavor of   some ideas as well and you can also see how it  relates and each skill relates to each other   as well so please start with reading alberto  yes uh well when you're talking about reading   for b2 first four schools in c1 advanced we  are talking about a paper that has actually   had two components there we have the reading  component and we have the use of english component   when we look at the structure of the this paper  for the two exams they have some similarities so   for example some of the exam items are similar so  we have this task alignment between the two exams   and we also have the fact that uh this paper  weighs 40 percent of the total because uh   20 is for reading and 20 is for use of english  and then we have the other percentages for the   papers we are going to talk about very soon yeah  but we also have some differences like for example   the length of the paper one hour and fifteen  minutes for b2 first for schools and uh   one hour and thirty minutes for um c1 advanced we  can also see some differences in terms of parts   and number of questions as well yeah and of  course yes and of course in your results you will   actually get a score for your use of english  part and your reading skills um separately   so we talked about teachers getting to know the  exam the other thing of course is helping our   students really um see where they're going and  have a direction so there are some great new free   lesson plans which you can use with your students  um to help them get no to know the exam so   if you're at the beginning of a course you  might decide to get them to have a look at   a sample paper you've got some questions here to  help them look at that paper and find out if the   information is true or false of course you've got  the answer key here if you're already doing the   already in the middle of your course and you're  getting towards the exam time you might use this   activity also just to re remind the students  about what to expect in each part of the paper   how and also looking at the questions and the  task types etc so that's available to download and   we'll make sure that you have the links to these  um after the session so if we just look briefly   at a couple of sections from the use of english  and the reading just to remind you that the first   four tasks in the reading and use of english  paper are if you like focusing on vocabulary   and grammar and the second part focuses more on  the reading skills of course reading is involved   in all parts of this paper and it's important to  get your students to think about understanding the   text and not just about trying to fill in the  gaps for example in this first part part one   tests mostly vocabulary you can see that you have  to select one suitable word um which from a group   of semantically similar words and obviously  it's a multiple choice for option question here   so what we're testing here of course  is the meaning and use of words   and of course words can mean different  things in different contexts so we're kind   of exploring that meaning and how they're used  and students will need to practice recognizing   differences in meaning where they're very similar  so we just got an example here we've got the   difference between cut and tear and so we've got  the two very semantically similar but obviously   the meaning and use will be different and of  course you've also got to watch out for things   like tear so the same spelling but different  pronunciation and pronunciation and of course   different meanings so getting students to  really look at recognizing um differences   in meaning is important also for this part of  the paper we need to look at collocation um and   set phrases and you can see here of course we're  talking about the context of applying for a job   and of course all these words would be suitable  but what we're trying to get students to look at   is that collocation looking at the way it's used  in context so here of course they're looking   at what's before the gap and what's after the  gap which is very important and of course here   the preposition is going to help them choose  the correct word now it's understanding those   text attack skills if you like um are important  equally at b2 and c1 and you can see at c1 like   um alberto was saying you've got task alignment  so the difference says um exams levels have   similar tasks obviously the level of challenge  increases but the actual task alignment helps   the fact that maybe they've done b2 first they've  had experience of this kind of task and as they go   through their learning path it will help but as  i said obviously the level of challenge changes   so if we look at this next activity we can see  this is again something you can download um   it's a lesson plan to use with students to help  them understand how to determine which option is   correct now we can see in the example here that  the the correct answers are circled and we're   going to get our students to think about what does  the reader have to know about these words so that   they can actually choose the correct answer and  this takes them through that process so let's look   at the example zero so we've got the the lexically  similar words they're all similar but the use is   different now what does that mean and we can see  some examples to help student so they look at the   text and they can see four so he swapped his black  belt for ballet shoes so obviously that's key   um i know that varied for example isn't followed  by preposition whereas we have uh two other words   which have prepositions let's have a look at those  so we have differed from and replaced with or by   so of course these are the kind of clues that  students need to start being where looking before   the gap and after the gap so of course this takes  us to the correct structure swap for but um again   this lesson plan will help you do that with the  students and there's some other examples as well now part two of the uh the reading paper is an is  an open close so there are no options available   so the students need to think of the words the  suitable word to go in the gap now again we've   got the task alignment between b2 first and c1  advanced so similar activity level of challenge   a little bit more difficult now of course here  we're testing grammatical or if you like lexical   grammatical uh language so looking at things like  phrasal verbs linkers and words in fixed phrases   so again students really need to be looking at  their knowledge of structure of the language   but also understanding the text and not just  going for that gap they've got to look at the text   so when we're working with students perhaps at the  beginning it can be quite challenging so we can   provide a bit more scaffolding so for example  here we have the answers but they're mixed up   and we ask the students to obviously read the  text choose from the from the from the words   that are available then as they get more confident  of course they're going to be working on choosing   the words without your help but i think this  can be a step in between then of course we   can have a look at the next slide there that  i think one of the things that helps students   enjoy exploring uh if you like lexus in this sense  and grammar together is creating their own closed   tests so taking a paragraph like this for example  get them to create their own clothes and again   you can do that gradually perhaps starting  with something like removing the articles   and here is a free app there are many others  this is just one which allows you to paste the   text into the box as you can see on the left  and then choose what you're going to use for   making the clothes so as i said you could choose  to do articles or you may choose to do every fifth   word every sixth word of course um and of course  others as well including letting you choose which   words you you take out and of course students  can create it for their peer and get them to be   thinking about that so here's the example with  the articles removed using the same text so the   students are working with that text let's have  a look at the prepositions though you might take   out something else as well so again using the  same text they kind of develop that confidence   and explore language um of course we've got  our stronger and weaker learners to think about   uh for weaker learners or perhaps learners are  new to this type of task you might provide more   support so it's saying what kind of word is  missing so it's a preposition is missing etc   whereas the stronger learners you might ask  them to use a text you've already done before   take out some words for example prepositions  create an open close and again they they would   then do that without the same support so  you can use the same text in different ways so then we come to part three and part three is  looking at word formation so we have a text but   this time we have a stem word as you can see  on the left again same task at the both levels   but the challenge changes and of course this is  testing knowledge of prefixes suffixes internal   changes as you work with that stem word now again  one of the the challenges is that students often   go for the gap without looking at the text so here  we have the stem word yes they could look at the   gap and try and make the word but the problem  is that they really do need to be looking at the   whole text so one of the things you can do whether  you're online or offline of course is cover it   with a post-it so there's my digital post it  cover it up get them to read the text first tell   you about the text they might even start thinking  about the potential words in the gap before they   look at those stem words and then really think  about the knowledge of structure that means that   the word will fit into the space so just for the  first one some say you need to be very to play it   well so obviously we need to look at what kind of  word so here would be you need to be very skillful   to play it well etc so again it's really using  the text to help them choose the right form   and again we've got some lesson plans that you  can refer to and this one crosses over between   b2 and c1 and it works on word formation and  on vocabulary development so again very clear   instructions for the teacher you can see that  there are lesson stages and there are also online   options so if you are teaching um online and you  want to somehow support with that there are ideas   for that too this is the text that is used you can  see that we've got the stem words but we've also   got some focus and a focus on vocabulary as well  so the vocabulary handout which you can download   provides the words the students obviously have  to match the definition which in itself is an   important activity because we're looking  at paraphrasing and again that's going to   be important for a variety of parts of the of the  exam so yes and that lesson plan you can download   now the other thing of course is doing little  little uh tasks for students give them a stem word   ask them to choose a picture that you think um  illustrates that that word and then get them   to design some questions which they can give to  their peers so i can ask you to write in the chat   you know what have these people been involved  in what do you call a person who takes part in   one of these things and how do you describe a  person who really wants to win and works hard   to do so thank you i can see you writing in the  chat that's great and the last but not least how   do you describe someone who is not interested  in winning or working hard to win and of course   it's important to look at the negative um uh  suffixes and as well um and prefixes so uh we've   got the words there so and very simple but it's  nice they create their own exercise and they're   thinking about that word development and of course  if you're doing it online it's like it's possibly   easier to share and if you're not then they're  they could still do it and that's an interesting   activity to develop word word formation now uh in  alberta's last session he talked about b1 a2 and   b1 and he showed you the word list that you can  download now at b2 and c1 there are no word lists   so what can you use to help with vocabulary  development one of the fantastic tools is this one   on the screen english vocabulary profile online  again it's a free tool and you can choose the the   cfr level you're interested in so i've chosen c1  here as an example i've actually chosen a topic   and then the computer has given me the list of  words that it has there at c1 and you can see   that i can now click in to get more detail and i  get more information i think if you click again   then we can see how the word bitter uh is  developed and you can see also the levels   above and the levels below but also you can see  how the word bitter is taste as well as feelings   um and again they get sample examples as well  to help uh exactly also to practice further   so it's a great tool and you can use that for  free too now the second part of this paper as   we said is focuses on reading skills now because  they're going to be seeing a variety of different   text types it's very important to encourage  students to do as much reading as possible of   different text types not always the same kind now  we could just look briefly at a couple of examples   but thinking about the skills that they need to  develop of course it's about the ability to to use   a variety of reading skills scaling and scanning  of course essential but also being able to manage   the ambiguity coping with unfeeling really words  and understanding in particular attitude and   opinion and of course the tone of the text as you  get to see one of course that becomes increasingly   important understanding text organization will  help them with their reading so again these skills   are important for us to develop excuse me so part  five in both ex exams is a reading comprehension   using multiple choice questions um and of course  this is uh focuses on a text where the students   will be looking at quite detailed understanding as  well as just reading if you like so they do need   to do use both skills and again they'll be looking  at organization exemplification and reference   and of course the challenges for students are that  they often don't read the whole text so one of our   jobs is to help students appreciate why  it's important to read the whole text   before they actually look at the questions because  otherwise they fall into the trap of not reading   the question alongside the text which may be  means that they maybe not exploring enough of   the text to be able to find the answer and they  may be distracted by the multiple choice option   perhaps they're spotting a word in the question  and then trying to spot it in the in the text   when the meaning may be different so again we  look at the lesson plans available to you which   can encourage you to do your students to do more  reading and thinking about how what they already   know can help them understand the text so it's  reading strategies um to help them be successful and then we have an example here this problem of  students rushing in and looking at the questions   and trying to choose the answer again the famous  post-it note cover up the answers get them to   read the text and just the question can they find  the answer to that question without the options   um and then look at the options so it again  it's it's a strategy that they can start using   as well if you're encouraging them to think  differently about the way they're reading   and again we recommend there is a reading for each  part there is an activity for this part um in part   five and there are also other lesson plans for the  other parts which we haven't had time to mention   the reason it's useful is you can use them also  to encourage student independence and you will   find that there are some lesson plans for self  access like this one which you can give to your   students to help them develop their strategy  it helps them look at what they need to do   and reminder of a strategy for exam tips so  again we recommend you to have a look at those so that's a kind of quick look there now the  other thing that we'd like to mention is the   updated information for candidates um pdfs  which is downloadable again available for   both levels but this i've just chosen this one  because we're looking at reading and you can see   on the next slide how the what kind of information  it provides so there are lots of common questions   you know what do i do if i don't understand  the text and there are some answers to help   with that plus some do's and don'ts to help the  student approach this paper and they're really   practical and very helpful so again downloadable  from the website we'll let you have the links   thank you sarah there are so many ideas in those  i mean two components of the exam reading and   use of english and i think the great the  lesson plans will be a great asset for us   teachers now we're going to talk about the writing  paper uh the writing paper has a task alignment as   well uh between the two exams we can see uh some  differences for example b2 first for schools is a   bit shorter but in the two papers uh you have to  write an essay as a compulsory task for part one   so we have an essay for between first four  schools we have an essay for c1 advanced   and uh we're going to see some differences  between the those two tasks right well in both   papers you have two parts one compulsory  task and then the second part has   options of texts that the candidate can choose  uh to write so there are other text genres that   they need to to have practiced so that they can  make better choices for part two in this paper   right so we're going to look at uh part one for  for those two papers so as we as i mentioned we   have task alignment here they both have an essay  for part one in b2 first for schools uh they have   the essay and they also have the option to add one  more idea of their own uh in the topic of the uh   they can add to the topic of the essay whereas  in c1 advanced they have some bullet points   and they have to choose two of the bullet  points in the list of ideas there to write about   of course because of the levels we can say that  there are differences in the number of words that   the learners have to produce in each paper and  we also have a slight difference in the length   as well of the uh part one 40 minutes for b2 first  for schools 45 minutes for uh c1 advanced right   so here we can see images of the tasks in the two  exams we can see on the left b2 first for schools   as i said the learner has to include to add  another idea to the list of ideas in the topic and   we are going to talk about how we can best help  learners to prepare for those tasks right so some   of the ideas can be applicable to either b2 or c1  so we're going to start by looking at for example   expressions that we use when we write an essay  well we have to deal with a number of language   functions when we are writing the essay for  example we have to agree or disagree give opinions   give examples we need to compare and contrast  ideas we also need to draw conclusions so one   idea uh to help learners is to give them a list  of expressions and then they you give them also a   table with some categories so the purpose is for  the learner to start organizing the expressions   under each of the headings here in the categories  and later they can start creating sentences   and then starting putting paragraphs together  using those expressions this idea comes from   one of our lesson plans which you can download  from the website and when we're talking about um   writing an essay it's very important that in the  classroom we help the learners to generate ideas   before they get down to writing so here is  an idea that i'm going to share with you   c1 advanced but you can also adapt it for b2  first for schools as well we're going to start   this discussion on using technology in class  so a combination of technology and education so   first we could start by uh surveying the students  getting them to work in pairs and find out about   the benefits or dangers to society in terms of  technology so they can decide uh they can talk   about things like artificial intelligence  social media online learning which everyone   is involved at the moment and then after we  do this initial conversation we can give the   learners the topic of an essay and then uh we  can help them put the topic together by choosing   one of the points we discussed previously  so they insert it in the title and then   they can start they can start considering uh uh  other ideas about the topic so for example how   social media has influenced society what are the  benefits the drawbacks the ways to improve it etc   etc so helping the students to generate a lot of  ideas before we ask them to simply write a text in   the code without warming them up for this activity  right so it's very important that we use the power   process right sarah so absolutely this is a  very nice acronym that sarah and i really like   uh sharing with teachers when you say  the power process we're talking about   p for prepare so getting the students to do the  research narrow down the topic brainstorm ideas   organize uh so they choose their best ideas  write a plan or outline of the the essay   think about paragraphing as well and then they  write the answer so once they have written   the answer it's a moment for them to check  carefully for errors and necessary repetition   and they can also edit their work and then  finally r for review and reflect when the   learners practice for the exam and then they have  someone else check their work and think about what   they can improve on next time right so this is the  power process we like talking about right sarah   so in order to help us teachers with uh assessing  learners writing um we have now uh developed some   writing guides assessment of writing guides  which are available from the website they are   brand new they are great resources and they are  full full of ideas for both teaching and assess   writing so here is an example of uh the points in  the criteria we need to consider when we assess   right and so we can see the four uh subscales here  content communicative achievement organization and   language and then we can see a description of what  each of those points are and what each of those   points are not so it's very important that we look  at content for example and decide content is about   this but it's not about that so this is one of the  things the uh criteria uh and those uh guides for   assessing writing help us with so uh in terms  of organization for example it's very important   that at b2 level learners understand that they  shouldn't be writing individual sentences but also   but they need to master uh paragraphing skills  so how to join ideas together put them in   paragraphs in the case of c1 advanced  understand this specific attacks genre   uh for the exam for example one of the things you  have in c1 advanced that you don't have in the uh   b2 is for example if you're writing a report or a  proposal you need to know how this is structured   and all those things you need to give feedback on  and prepare learners for for the task giving them   uh the skills and the the tips so  in terms of the criteria one of the   things you can find in those guides is um  sample texts from learners so you can see   those simple answers and also you can find  detailed descriptions of the wording in the   rubrics for uh assessing writing here is  an example of the rubric for communicative   achievement in b2 first for schools you will see  the criteria and the the descriptors on the left   you have definitions of what they mean and you  have a sample answer with examiner's comments   it's the same for example for c1 advanced where  we have descriptors for organization we have a   description of what they mean and a sample answer  with examiner's comments you can even use those   sample answers to work with the learners and  for them to spot why this or that area actually   needs to it's working on needs improving right so  here are the the guides that we are talking about   they are um available and they are downloadable  from our uh website we highly recommend looking   at them because they bring lots of ideas as i  said not only for assessing but also for teaching   writing one other point about b2 first for schools  is that for part two in b2 first for schools only   one of the options the candidate has is to  write about a set text so uh set texts are   recommended by cambridge and the set text  but for this year and next year is rebecca   by daphne du maurier and uh this um set text is an  option right it's not a compulsory task but it's   for b2 first four schools only so sarah  anything else you would like to add yes   yeah i'd just like to say about the guys they are  fantastic and it's also interesting because they   look at teacher assessment self-assessment and  peer assessment and also how you can obviously   encourage your students to become more confident  and understanding the criteria so yeah absolutely   i agree with you they're wonderful wonderful and  suggestions for online teaching as well right   yes that's true as well so online and offline and  uh yes so yes super one of my favorite resources   at the moment um looking at listening um some  of the things that we've said about reading   are equally important when we talk about listening  so for example making sure that the students know   how much they themselves bring to the listening  is an important thing but let's just have a look   at the structure first um we can see that like the  other papers there is commonality between the b2   and the c1 invites in fact very similar because  they have four parts and they have similar tasks   what's different is that they're slightly longer  text at c1 because obviously the speed of delivery   also changes so with the level of challenge  so you will see um that the texts are slightly   longer at c1 you can download the audio files um  to accompany the the teachers handbooks that we   talked about at the beginning so again if you want  to use those materials they are free to download   as well we talked about students understanding the  the paper and again this is a slightly different   variation of getting the students to be thinking  about what's involved in each paper there's a   student a has some questions and student b has  some questions or let's say group a and group b   they do their research and answer the questions  and then of course they can exchange information   with their partner or with another group but  it's a really important way to make sure they   know what to expect um in each part of the  test now preparing to listen includes getting   your students to do as much listening as possible  thanks to things like netflix and the and youtube   and there are there are lots of opportunities  for many people who have access to those   um but of course we also in class need to be  making sure that we're doing different kinds   of listening so maybe sometimes we're listening  for gist sometimes we're listening for more detail   and of course the skills that are really  important to developing our students is that   preparing to listen predicting answers using what  they already know thinking about the topic so that   when they go into the listening mentally  they're much better prepared for prepared   and also using the question to help  them do that so if we look at this one we can see um that in again in paper part one  in both both levels we have multiple choice   uh questions and they are um actually and here's  the b2 example we have eight different situations   and the students obviously have to look at  each situation think about that situation and   then listen out for the answers we're looking at  gist we're looking at listening for detail we're   looking at function opinion and purpose in both  levels and you can see that the c1 paper has just   three extracts so but two tasks per extract now  of course we need to develop those skills again   perhaps looking at the context without the answers  thinking about the kinds of things that they might   hear so they get used to predicting expectation  what might they hear and will really help them and   be able to approach the listening more confidently  so if we look at um this lesson plan here   again just to remember to remind you that what  really are lots of lesson plans for each level   uh this can be used um uh with it as a teacher but  it also can be used for self-study in ca including   recommending that the kind of things that students  should be doing about listening on their own so   again i think those strategies are very important  to develop preparation now as i said for part one   we're listening for opinions so students need  again not just word spots but they need to start   listening around the word perhaps as a paraphrase  um and for example here we can see the expressions   from the dialogue on the left and they match with  what the expression actually means in practice   and you can see that these are actually about  expressing an opinion very useful task and again   creates awareness of what they might be listening  for rather than trying to do word spotting   and in the second part of the paper uh we have  a gap fill if you like it and they have to   complete the text obviously they need to be  able to look at the grammatical or look at the   structure of the text and make sure that the words  they're fitting into the gaps also make sense in   the tense of the of the um actual text but before  we even get there i think it's very important that   again we think about the preparation for listening  and so you might decide to do something like this so we're going to be listening about puffin so  hey do they know what a puffin looks like so   that might be quite useful and then what do they  already know about uh puffins let's activate their   prior knowledge so that they can start  anticipating something that what they might hear   you can do that very simply by asking them to uh  think of three things that they know about puffins   and three things that maybe they would like to  know then away from the exam task just listen to   the text and see if they can find out any answers  to those those um three questions or whether three   facts in the text then we can go to the exam task  so we've already kind of warmed up to the topic   um and of course now we need to fill in those gaps  so we need to make sure that we look before the   gap and after the gap and of course then we would  listen and try and to try and predict the answer   and then listen to the to the text again  but again we've already done some warming   up in that prior task and again it's the  principle which is important now the um   information for candidates again has some really  useful tips on do's and don'ts for students   for the listening paper so again  recommend you have a look at that   and i think that brings us on to the next skill  yes thank you sarah oh lots of good ideas you   know you just feel like going to the lesson plans  and digging into all those wonderful resources   that are available so speaking of um the speaking  paper again we can see that those two papers they   have lots of alignment lots of similarities  so they both have four parts each i mean this   paper is worth twenty percent of the total of  uh uh the the score in the exam um they have a   slight slight difference in terms of length so 14  minutes for b2 first four schools 15 minutes for   uh c1 advanced and the sequence of the the  tasks are also very similar as we can see   from this table here so for part one uh the  candidates will be uh having this conversation   with the the examiner the interlocutor asking them  questions for part two they have an individual   long term and then there is a slight difference  there so in b2 first four schools they have two   images that they need to compare and contrast  and for part two in c1 advance they have two   images they have to choose two images out of three  that are given to them part three it's a two-way   conversation where they need to talk together and  come to a conclusion or a decision or a consensus   uh it's important that they look at all the  visual prompts before they come up with a decision   and part four in the two cases it's a discussion  which follows up from follow zone from part three   in uh each of the exams so here is an example of  part two for b2 and part 2 for c1 you can see b2   two images for each candidate and part uh uh c1  advanced they choose two images out of three it's   very important to highlight that the images uh in  the exam are colored images those are black and   white images because they come from our handbooks  for teachers which you can download right but one   of the things um isn't the truth error that we can  find today is images we can find images in many   places on the internet we can take photographs  and bring our images to the classroom as well so   there are images everywhere and a recommended  site is unsplash.com and because obviously they're   copyright free so you're allowed to use those so  definitely recommend unsplash.com absolutely so   we have here some ideas to help you prepare your  learners for part two we have an example here for   b2 first for schools but it can also be used  with c1 advance which is asking the learners to   do this individual long term on their own using a  mobile device so what students can do is they can   use an image or take take a photograph and then  they can find time to look at the photograph start   describing it and then they can make a recording  of this uh image and they can share it uh with a   friend or they can share it with the teacher so  they can get feedback on their description right   so we have here uh one example that that students  can do using mobile devices especially now that   many students are studying remotely and then  they can send it to their teacher so learners can   for example choose a pair of images in this  case we have two images which are about people   trying to win a sporting event and then they  uh talk about what is similar what is different   and it's very important that they time themselves  while they are doing it so they set the timer   they start the recording they speak about the  photos and then they record themselves speaking   and then they can record themselves again and  then they save their favorite recording and   this is a very interesting strategy nowadays  that we have access to those devices because   students even without knowing as they record  and record themselves again they are using the   language they are repeating the language they  might be improving their pronunciation of their   choice of vocabulary etc so there's loads that  they can do with a mobile device and a set of   images which is so easy to find so once they  have submitted this recording they can use a   number of questions too either for peer assessment  purposes or self-assessment purposes for example   were you able to speak for a minute or were you  speaking for too long or for a very short time   did you pause or repeat yourself how easy  or difficult was it to speak for one minute   and if you want to have access to uh those tasks  and those uh questions you can download the lesson   plans from our website right yeah and just add  just so you can sorry but so just to mention   if you also want to use an app uh  voicespice.com uh it's easy to use   for audio recording so if you if you have  got students who haven't got a mobile device   and you can use an online program something like  voicevice.com works very well yeah very nice sarah   another idea we were talking about structuring  writing skills at the beginning and then students   would need to structure what they're going to  say if they are describing images for example   so again a similar idea to the one we talked  about we have a number of expressions and then   we give students the opportunity to categorize  those expressions into three sections organizing   their response describing photos comparing photos  and then again they are given a set of images   then they can start describing the images using  those expressions they can do it in pairs they can   construct this little by little until they feel  they are ready to uh record themselves and uh   use as much language as possible in a way that the  description makes sense and it's well organized   and well sequenced so this is one idea  that you can use with learners right   another thing again going back to what we  discussed uh before with writing is uh helping   the students to generate ideas if we want them to  uh to do well in a task where they will be talking   to each other negotiating ideas trying to come to  a decision together so here is an example for you   to prepare learners to speak this is good for c1  advanced because they can go through a number of   questions and lots of ideas before they start  practicing with the exam tasks for part three   where they have this uh two-way conversation  right so here we have a number of questions which   are related to education and technology because  we're all living in this reality nowadays it's   students will uh easily familiarize and uh  will easily empathize with the the situation   with the thing so we have a number of questions  students can talk about them and then we can get   share ideas get the answers etc and then one  suggestion is for example using videos uh related   to the topic one suggestion that they bring  to you is this ted talk about uh a virtual lab   which will revolutionize science class it's all  about virtual reality so it's a very interesting   video to watch so students watch the video and  then they read the questions first and then   talk about the questions watch the video and  here we have a set of questions that they can use   to answer while they are watching the  videos then they can do the pair check   then we can get the answers and um now  together with the students we are going to   construct the the task for which is very similar  to the exam task so for example they can after   going through all the stages they can complete  this mind map with five benefits that virtual   reality can have for education using the ideas  discussed in class so they add their uh ideas   to this mind map and then we can use the mind  map for them to start having this conversation   in pairs or in small groups and then practicing  for part three and the idea is that they come   to a conclusion or to a decision together but  making sure that they talk about all the five uh   topics before they decide on anything right so  this is one idea to share so as i mentioned we are   going to go back to smart goals because you know  after all this time we had so much to to cover   right sarah we had to kind of uh make decisions  along the way uh preparing a lot then chopping   a lot of the materials as well but we we have been  giving you the paths for you to access all those   resources so it's important that you set goals  with your learners and that the goals are specific   measurable achievable relevant time bound and  in order to also help learners set goals this   is an idea that you can use with the learners is a  simple grid give them this or you can do it using   your virtual room or a whiteboard so get the  students to consider after you've given them   feedback on their tasks get them to consider  what they need to work on so then they can   make their own decisions for example i need to  work on building my vocabulary then get them to   uh to set themselves a task so what is it that  they're going to do to address this we're going   to start a word list for example and what is  the time frame for them to do that it's very   important to negotiate deadlines with learners  set deadlines negotiate deadlines so that they can   keep on task and develop the skills they need to  develop and you can agree together on those goals   right we have so many resources to share with you  right sarah it's not enough we have simple tests   yeah absolutely sample tests with all the parts  of the of the exam and again you can download the   audio files to go with them you can also if you're  thinking about doing the computer-based version of   the test you can also try out the computer-based  versions again through the website and just   because i saw a question in the q a someone was  concerned that they thought that the b2 first   standard version so not the version for schools  is going to disappear that's not the case you can   choose between b2 first for schools obviously  recommended for school-age students um but   you can also choose the standard b2 first which  have similar tasks just the context is slightly   for first for schools is slightly aimed at  the younger age group that's all but you can   choose whichever you want and it's not going to  disappear absolutely now one of the things that   we can share with you as well is when we say for  example the exam is b2 first for schools or c1   advanced those cfr levels they encompass a big a  big number of competencies and skills so cambridge   has organized the i mean a summary of those  can do statements to each of the exams and you   can find those can do summaries in the handbooks  for teachers so this is an example of the can do   summary for b2 first for schools you can download  the handbooks for teachers right sarah absolutely   and more as you can see on the on the on the  slide posters as well so what about the posters   those posters um i think i don't know i cannot  judge which one is my favorite resource but i   love those poses those poses for b2 uh first for  schools they were designed uh with a theme in mind   so each poster has a specific topic and you can  together with the posters you can download those   um class activities booklets where you can find  ideas for you to use the posts with the learners   both face-to-face classes or in an  online environment so you have tips   and uh because of the level a lot of the  language you will find in the posts for b2   is phrasal verbs so you have the phrasal  verbs you have the definitions and examples   and you also have ideas that you can use in class  to practice language one of them is the categories   game where you can have cards with number of words  so learners can put words in different categories   you can use the cards as well to ask the learners  to uh consider how many words can you think   for x y zed and then they can try and find  which words that you have on your card   also you can have the option to get them to write  sentences to practice uh those words in context so   lots of ideas you can find there as well as  lesson plans sarah can you remind us about   the lesson plan yes when you go to my your my new  english classroom this is the website you'll go   into a section where you can find the lesson  plans there and you've got self-access study   materials to give to work with the students  encourage independence and you've also got   lesson plans for yourselves as teaching you  could see they're available at different levels   but we still have more we have the the  platforms to help learners practice writing with   write and improve this platform helps learners to  develop writing skills because they can uh choose   tasks in the platform then they can write their  answers to those tasks and then the platform will   immediately give them feedback on their  writing skills and they have the opportunity to   edit their work and resubmit a version and  get more feedback on the the second version   third version etc of their uh task right you have  the option to uh practice writing with exam tasks   and tasks which are not uh specifically exam  related but they are just writing tasks but not   necessarily similar to the uh exam right we also  have the platform speak and improve which learners   can use to practice speaking with a mobile phone  or a computer and then they can start talking to   the lovely robot sandy who will listen to them ask  them questions and give feedback on their writing   skills as well it's a great way to practice  english sandy is lovely everyone loves her and of course if there are also the the webinars  that have previously taken place and you can catch   up on the one that alberta did on a2 and b1  preliminary schools if you missed that and of   course there's a whole range of other webinars  which you will find here and you will also find   examples of the speaking tests with candidates  which you can also use from the cambridge english   tv youtube channel yeah wonderful cambridge  english tv well each of our exams will have   a preparation page section so if you choose the  exam on our website you you have the tab called   preparation or you can go to this link and click  on one of those rectangles here this will give you   access to a number of resources like the sample  test that we have mentioned the links to english   practice activities that also you can download the  information for candidates which sarah mentioned   here they have been redesigned with lots of tips  for learners questions and answers do's and don'ts   etc also you find out information and you can  access our games and our social media channels   and find out more about the official cambridge  english preparation materials from cambridge   university press in case you want to have  more resources to use with your learners right   and we also have the guides for assessment for the  assessment of writing which we have mentioned uh   a lot and we are really enthusiastic about them  aren't we sarah yes and of course this is the uh   your new classroom that i mentioned which is where  you'll find those lesson plans and much more so   lots to explore there and lots of free resources  to to download in one to mention specifically   is the teacher support pack um which is an  interactive pdf and it will allow you to click   directly to the resources from this page so we've  chosen the older learner resources for b2 and c1   but you get them for the other resources as well  i think we've got quest chime for like a couple of   questions and then i think we'll have to stop yes  okay i can see uh some some questions here um uh   sarah about how do you assess speaking and writing  i mean how do you give the points in each of these   areas i think we have mentioned the the guides  for assessing writing we don't have the guides   for assessing speaking yet but there's a lot of  information about uh assessing speaking skills in   the handbooks for teachers which you can download  from the site but please go to the writing guides   and you will find a lot of information about  how to better assess uh writing skills and for   speaking go to the youtube channel and you'll  be able to see the sample um tests with with   candidates and there are also comments on their  performance that you'll find there absolutely   okay um i would like to have uh uh teacher  handbooks where can i download them sarah where   can i download well uh absolutely you showed the  page but i think you will also find that you'll be   you're going to be given links in the follow-up  to this webinar where you'll be able to find them   directly but yes if you go to our website go there  are various ways to access the resources as you   can see um but you will find them to download from  my new classroom that i said at the beginning yeah   well sarah i i would love to answer all those  questions but we have run out of time we would   like to thank everyone who has taken their time  to attend this webinar to share their thoughts   send their comments and questions and thank you  very much indeed for giving up your time to be   with us we hope we've given you a few resources to  help you with your journey and with your students   learning and thank you and we hope you're  joining us for another webinar another time   so thank you thank you sarah for being with me in  this webinar and thank you alberto it's been great   and just amazing that we're in two different  hemispheres so i've really enjoyed that so thank   you very much thank you it was lovely working  with you thank you bye-bye to everyone bye-bye

2021-02-16

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