Virus warning

(from Jim)
Our IT company have warned us that there is another virus to watch out for. If you receive an email with the subject "Fax" then please delete it immediately without opening it.

Many thanks

Exam revision for T2

Dear T2 teachers,

Amory's prepared an exam revision activity for T2. It's saved here: S:\Teachers\03 Levels\02 YL Levels File\07 T2 - Super Minds 5\03 Tests & Exams\Exams\Mid-course exam\Exam revision

Thanks, Amory!

S&L Material (In-company)

(From Jo)


Dear all,

I've prepared some more S&L material. (For Upp Int / Adv)

There's a worksheet based on a BBC article about names (Names) here:

\\192.0.0.2\Intranet\Teachers\03 Levels\03 In-company Levels File\02 Resources\01 Speaking and Listening\2014-15\S&L In-company\S&L ADV UPP INT Articles

There's a worksheet including a CAE type listening (The Office) here:

\\192.0.0.2\Intranet\Teachers\03 Levels\03 In-company Levels File\02 Resources\01 Speaking and Listening\2014-15\S&L In-company\S&L Advanced (CAE) Exam Listenings

and there's a worksheet including an FCE type listening (Leisure) here:

\\192.0.0.2\Intranet\Teachers\03 Levels\03 In-company Levels File\02 Resources\01 Speaking and Listening\2014-15\S&L In-company\S&L Upp Int (FCE) Exam Listenings

Enjoy!

T3 Directions Prezi

Paul E has created a Prezi for T3 to practise directions with Batman!

To access this click on the image above, or go to 

S:\Teachers\03 Levels\02 YL Levels File\08 T3 - Gateway A2\05 Units\Unit 4\Directions Prezi

Thanks Paul!

Message from Adam re Tornado Game

Adam has asked my to clarify that he didn't actually create the tornado game (and doesn't want people to think that he's claiming he did)

He just changed it a bit so there were less penalty and bonus pictures and more points.

Clothes Craft Activity N3

Tom W has found a clothes craft activity that worked well with N3

The worksheets are saved in the level folder
S:\Teachers\03 Levels\02 YL Levels File\03 N3 - Footprints 1\06 Units\Unit 4 My Clothes

Thanks Tom!

Revision and Grammar Powerpoints

Adam has created some new powerpoints.

There are 2 Tornado games, which come with full instructions. These are great for exam revision.

A game to practise Gerunds V Infintives

And a powerpoint for modals of obligation and prohibition

All of these are saved in

S:\Teachers\03 Levels\06 Projector resources\02 Games and Power Point templates(\grammar presentations)

Thanks Adam!

Sticky Ball Templates

Paul English has created some sticky ball grids with stars in various colours. The ones with the black blobs can be used as bombs to lose points or spell a word etc.

Maria has also created a score board that can be used with the sticky balls.

The bombs could mean the team loses all their points, or the OTHER team loses all their points, however you want to play it.

All of the grids can be found in 
S:\Teachers\03 Levels\06 Projector resources\02 Games and Power Point templates\Nueva carpeta

Thanks Paul and Maria!

Triptico has changed!

(From Penny)

There have been some changes to the way Triptico works.  First of all, it looks like they're asking everyone to sign up for a free account in order to use the free resources.  You can no longer use the free resources without an account.  They're also giving everyone who signs up a free 30-day subscription to Triptico Plus.  However, they did warn users that the site may not be working properly on Friday 23rd and I haven't been able to load any Word Magnets or Find 10 games today.

So, just to warn teachers that if you want to try to use Triptico in the next few days, you'll have to sign up (for free) and even then it may not be working.

We'll try to find out a bit more about what's going on and let you know as soon as we can.

ELT workshops at the University of Barcelona - 2 free places available

(From Penny)

We have two free places for each of these workshops organised by the University of Barcelona EIM (School of Modern Languages).

They take place at the university on a Saturday from 9.30 - 14.00.

Let me know if you're interested in going to one and I'll sign you up!

Video worksheet (TED TALK)

(From Jo)

There's a new a video (S&L) worksheet based on a TED talk about the world's most boring TV programme. The talk lasts almost 20 minutes but I've only used the first 5 minutes so it's not too long to be used in class. Do feel free to watch the complete talk, on your own, possibly at 2am in the morning, when the world is sleeping. I think it's fab.

You can find the video and worksheet here:

\Teachers\03 Levels\03 In-company Levels File\02 Resources\01 Speaking and Listening\2014-15\S&L In-company\S&L ADV UPP INT Videos\TEDTALK Most boring TV programme

Enjoy!

More ideas for using sticky balls in class

Cardedeu teachers have sent in some more ideas for using the sticky balls in class.  Thank you!

• TIC TAC TOE to practise pronunciation. Draw a grid with nine square and write a word you want to practice. Students throw on a square, pronounce the word and get the square if correct.  First team to get a line wins

• True/False alternative.

• After a class survey students give open class feedback on the information they discovered.  Others listen.  Then all the names are written on the board and students take turns to throw the ball  on a name and say what piece of information they remember about that student

• In combination with TRIPTICO word spinner, to review groups of vocabulary. Load a group of words into the text spinner, for example household objects. Then write words on the board related to the ones in the spinner, for example different rooms in the house.  Students spin the spinner, then throw the ball on the correct room.

• Draw a target on the board and use as a scoring method

Speaking and listening: Healthy or happy living?

(from Jim)

Hi everyone,

I've made a speaking and listening lesson based on a song from the BBC Radio 4 Friday Night Comedy podcast. It's about how this week in January is traditionally when we break all of our resolutions.

It's aimed at very strong upper intermediate students and above. 

The worksheet and the mp3 are here on the Granollers network:

Teachers\03 Levels\03 In-company Levels File\02 Resources\01 Speaking and Listening\2014-15\Healthy living or happy living

Note: the worksheet is in A3, it should print to A3 automatically if you send it to the photocopier.

Participle Clauses for PP

(From Lee)

I've created a powerpoint to introduce participle clauses for pre-proficiency.

It's saved in the level folder, unit 5.

Sticky balls for YL classes

(From Penny)

Has everyone got a set of these sticky balls for their YL classes?  If you don't, see you centre director or Ana Pin in Granollers.

Teachers in Sant celoni have been using these balls for a while and have sent in some ideas for how to use them in class:

• Use as an alternative to run and touch
• Use as an alternative to a dice, putting numbers one to six on the board
• Use to revise vocabulary – students have pictures on the board plus other symbols e.g. bomb, minus points, plus points etc. Students try to hit vocab and say what it is. 
• Use as a ball
• Use as a form of buzzer. To answer a question student throws the ball on the board instead of putting up their hands

If you have any other tips for using sticky balls in class, please send them to Lee or Penny so we can share them with everyone here.

Thanks!

Powerpoint Games for N3 and N4

Paul English has created some powerpoint vocabulary games for both N3 and N4 for Unit 4.

They include Run and Touch, What's Missing, Circle the Word and Write the Word.

All the games can be found in the corresponding level folder, unit 4

Thanks Paul!

Julia's seminar notes: Marking FCE and CAE writing 13.1.15

The notes from today's seminar can be found on the Granollers server here:

S:\Teachers\01 Info for teachers\03 Teacher training and observations\01 Teacher training\2014-15\Seminar handouts\Correcting FCE writing - January 2015

Julia suggests that you look through the documents in the following order.

1. Food for thought – powerpoint ‘A few recommendations from Cambridge when preparing for paper 2 writing.
2. Mark one of Miriam’s FCE SWT’s as you would do mark a SWT. Pass? Fail? After this we’ll see which criteria we should be using etc etc.
3. Word doc – criteria (in the seminar I got the teachers to put which criteria they thought should go in which place on the grid) The first page is the empty grid and the 2^nd page is the completed grid)
4. We talked about the meaning of certain words from the criteria and I gave some examples taken from the FCE Handbook for Teachers p23 - Glossary of terms
5. Marking. Looked at the question + gave out Candidate A script with the marks and used that as a ‘benchmark’
6. Marking: Candidate D script (a story) – Teachers mark and compare and then compare with Camb comments.
7. Marking: Candidate F (Reader question)– Teachers mark and compare and then compare with Camb comments.
8. Marking: Sample H (p116) (A report). Teachers mark and compare and then compare with Camb comments.
9. Marking: Now re- mark Miriam’s student’s SWT (the first one we looked at at the beginning of the seminar. Teachers mark IN MORE DETAIL and compare and then compare with what Miriam, Julia and Steve thought. - *I’ve got the marks for this one!
10. Marking: CAE BK 1 Candidate E (Pelican Brief) A bit of an experiment!!! Teachers mark using FCE criteria, compare and then compare with Camb comments for CAE! In theory the comments for CAE are 2 lower than FCE. So if you think it’s a 5 at FCE, it should say a 3 at CAE!! 

1

Speaking and Listening lesson plans

(From Miriam)

I have put two full lessons for Speaking and Listening classes in the in-school folder. It would be great if other Sp-Li teachers could do the same. I have to prepare a full lesson from scratch every week, as I'm sure everyone does -  a bit of sharing will make life easier for everyone!

Thank you!

  

Miriam

If you have any speaking and listening lessons please add them to the folder 

(S:)Teachers / 03 Levels / 01 Adult Levels File / 14 Speaking and Listening / 2014-15

or email them to lee.amaira@cambridgeschool.com

Thanks!

2014 - Year in Pictures

(from Jo)
Happy New Year everyone - let's hope 2015 is a good one!

I have put together (not particularly well, on my rather old and sad laptop - updated, thanks Jim :)) a worksheet with some pictures of news stories from 2014 which you can use with your in-company students on the first day back after the Christmas holidays, if you like.

You can access the document here: 2014 - The Year in Pictures

ENJOY!