Are you planning to take an English exam like Cambridge B2 First, C1 Advanced or the Trinity ISE exams and feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of writing a report? Let’s discuss the style and purpose of a report, the suggested format when you write a report for an exam, and useful phrases for reports. Finally, […]
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In Cambridge First (FCE) Speaking Part 3, useful phrases can be anything that helps you keep the communication going. This is the collaborative task in the exam, where you have to communicate with your partner about a topic that is provided for you by the examiner. The topic includes a question to discuss and several
First (FCE) Speaking Part 3 Useful Phrases Read More »
The gapped text task from Cambridge First (FCE) Reading part 6 can be tricky. I’ve always found students can swing from getting a full 12 points (2 points per question) or only getting 2 or 4 points. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground because once you get one gap wrong, you’re likely to
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It’s never a bad idea to do a Christmas Find Someone Who activity just before the break. You’ve often got a class or two where attendance is low, you’ve just finished an exam or you simply want to have a bit of fun. Find Someone Who is a great activity because it naturally includes a
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Writing is the part of any English exam where you should aim to get a high score and B2 First FCE Writing Part 1, an obligatory essay, is no different. It’s also the most trainable part of the exam in a classroom. While other skills often take lots of time, effort and practice, writing can
B2 First (FCE) Writing Part 1 – Improve an Essay Read More »
Phrasal verbs are a huge challenge for English language learners, and for that reason, so are key word transformations with phrasal verbs. At the Cambridge B2 First (FCE) level, phrasal verbs are certain to appear in Use of English activities and key word transformations are no exception. The challenge when you come across these words
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Letters and emails are probably the most practical writing type in the exam. Personally, I write emails almost every day. Letters, not so much. I’m not quite sure if I’ve ever hand-written and posted a letter to be honest. However, emails to clients or job application cover letters are definitely things which I’ve written at
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Writing a review is an option in many different English language exams, and films are such an obvious choice for reviews, so knowing how to write a film review is pretty important. It’s a great topic for the classroom too. Everyone watches films and there is a lot of opportunity to teach vocabulary, either film-related
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Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 panel show where panellists are asked to talk for one minute, without hesitation, about a topic. This game can be adapted fantastically to a whole host of ESL classroom situations and contexts. I’ve played it with adults, teens, and even young learners. Depending on the class and
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I’m a big fan of lists. Shopping lists, to do lists, meal plan lists, hopes and dreams lists, and even lists about lists. When teaching or learning English, lists aren’t the type of fun communicative task that modern language teaching thrives on, but lists get the job done. That’s why I spent time developing this
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