Posted in Advanced C1, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #9: Get out of hand

Today’s phrase is….

To get out of hand

Introduce it to your students with some personalised examples:

The party got a little bit out of hand after you left.

His Miley Cyrus obsession has got a little bit out of hand.

Help students to infer the meaning of the expression:

to become difficult to control

Have students discuss the following questions in pairs or small groups:

  1. Have you ever been to a party that got a bit wild?
  2. Have you ever attended or witnessed a celebration or protest that became difficult for authorities to manage?
  3. At school, were there specific times of day or times of the year when teachers had difficulty controlling students?
  4. Do you have any hobbies, tastes or pastimes that you think might be turning into obsessions?

Use this Quizlet set to recall previous phrases of the day.

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #8: Not be cut out for…

Today’s phrase is….

To not be cut out for something

OR

To not be cut out to do something

Introduce the expression to your students with a personalised example:

After just 2 days working for an insurance company, I decided I wasn’t cut out for an office job.

While at medical school my sister realised that she wasn’t cut out to be a doctor.

Have students infer the meaning: to not be the right type of person for that job/situation. Point out that it is almost always used in the negative and that it can be followed by “for” and a noun, or my “to” and a verb.

Put students in pairs and have them discuss the following jobs and situations. They should decide how suitable they think they are for them and to give reasons for their answers:

How well do you think you would cope in these situations?

  1. As a waiter in a busy restaurant on a Saturday night.
  2. As a board member of a big corporation.
  3. In an army on a battlefield.
  4. As an Olympic athlete.
  5. As a doctor in an emergency room.
  6. As an explorer in the 1500s.
  7. As a teacher in a class of 30 4-year-olds.
  8. As a teacher in a class of 30 14-year-olds.
  9. As a world famous celebrity.
  10. As an auctioneer selling world famous artworks.
  11. As a reclusive writer living in a cabin in the woods.
  12. As an astronaut piloting a rocket to Mars.

Use this Quizlet set for recall activities with previous phrases of the day.

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #7: Do wonders for

Today’s phrase is….

to do wonders for

Introduce it to your students with a personalised example:

“Getting away from the city for a couple of days did wonders for my mental health.”

Show them some more examples to help them grasp the meaning:

All that sunshine does wonders for your mood.

Yoga will do wonders for his fitness.

Fresh vegetables and pure water can do wonders for the liver.

Get a pet – my dog has done wonders for my soul.

The expression means to have a big positive effect on something. It’s most often used to describe positive impacts on physical or mental health, but can also be used to describe improvements to relationships or reputations.

The couples therapy did wonders for their marriage.

The announcement of the ceasefire did wonders for the country’s standing on the world stage.

Put students in pairs or small groups and have them think of some examples:

  1. A product or activity that has had a positive impact on their mental or physical health.
  2. Some advice you could give a couple who are going through a rough patch.
  3. Something that a celebrity did that had a really good impact on their career or reputation.
Posted in Advanced C1, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #6: Spare a Thought for…

The phrase of the day today is…

Spare a thought for someone.

As we’re over a year into the horrific war in Ukraine, we should spare a thought for all of the people who have been killed, injured or displaced as a result of Russia’s brutal invasion.

The expression means to stop and think about that group of people. The expression often appears like this:

Spare a thought for those less fortunate than you.

Encourage your students to think of other marginalised groups who need more support and attention at the moment. Perhaps consider creating a poster display with all your students’ messages of support for different groups.

Have them discuss the following questions in pairs:

  1. How often do you think people spare a thought for those less fortunate than them these days?
  2. What else can be done to raise awareness of the plight of marginalised groups?
  3. Do you know anyone who has taken in refugees or offered support in other ways?
  4. Would you be willing to do it?

Use this Quizlet set to practice past phrases of the day.

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #5: Contrary to Popular Belief, …

The phrase of the day today is….

“Contrary to popular belief,….”

Introduce it to your students with some examples:

“Contrary to popular belief, you can’t catch a cold just from being cold.”

“Contrary to popular belief, gorillas are shy and gentle creatures.”

“Contrary to popular belief, British cuisine is actually quite good.”

The expression is used to introduce a fact or statement that is the opposite of what most ordinary people think

Challenge students to be stereotype/myth busters. They can either choose to disprove a stereotype about people from their country/region using the expression, or they can disprove a commonly held theory or “old wives’ tale”.

Please post some of their example sentences in the comments!

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #4: To Draw the Line at

Today’s phrase is….

“To draw the line at something”

Introduce it to your students in a personalised example:

“I like scary movies but I draw the line at the Saw films, they’re too gory for me.”

Ask them to guess the meaning with their partner. The expression means to set a limit on what you’re willing to do or accept. You could show them more examples:

“I like exotic pizza toppings, but I draw the line at pineapple.”

“She’s all for her daughter expressing herself but she draws the line at her getting a nose ring.”

First have students consider the three examples. When it comes to horror films, where do they draw the line? What about pizza toppings? Where did their parents draw the line when they were growing up?

Encourage them to write 2 or 3 personalised examples and share them with the class.

Here’s the quizlet set with all of the phrases of the day so far.

Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #3: Keep your options open

Today’s phrase is…

“To keep one’s options open”

Introduce it to your students in a personalised sentence, for example:

“When I chose my A-Level subjects, I wanted to keep my options open so I picked psychology, English literature, history and media studies.”

The expression means to wait before making a final decision in case a different option arises.

You could show them some more examples:

“I thought maybe I’d keep my options open, maybe I’d go on a skiing trip, camping trip or something later.”

Film star: “At this stage, I’m just keeping my options open and I’ll sit down with my agent and see what comes along.”

“I’ve had offers from two different colleges but I’m keeping my options open just for now.”

Ask students to discuss the following questions in pairs:

  1. Have you made a final decision about….
    • What you want to study at uni/as a masters?
    • What career you want to go into?
    • Where you’re going on your next holidays?
  2. What are the pros and cons of keeping your options open?
  3. Are you a decisive person?
    • What is your process for making big decisions?
Posted in Exam Preparation Class, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #2: Try as I might…

Today’s phrase of the day is….

“Try as I might…”

Introduce it to your student by confessing about your inability to stick to a new resolution of healthy habit. You could say:

“Try as I might, I just can’t get out of bed in the morning to go to the gym. What should I do?”

Encourage students to come up with their own confessional sentences about their lives:

“Try as I might, I just can’t seem to find the time to….”

Encourage feedback on their issues from their classmates. Each student should leave with an action plan on how they can get over their issue. Be sure to check back in on their progress in the following class.

I’ll be adding all the phrases of the day to this quizlet set.

Posted in Advanced C1, Phrase of the Day, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

Proficiency Phrase of the Day #1: Strange as it may seem…

I’m trying to introduce some micro-learning to my proficiency class by starting a “phrase of the day” system. I’ll collect them in a Quizlet set so I can revisit them.

The first one is:

Strange as it may seem, ….

OR

Strange as it may sound, ….

I’ll introduce it to my students in a sentence about myself:

Strange as it may sound for someone who is petrified of heights, I actually love rollercoasters.”

You can also use corpus websites like Skell, to show students more examples, though personalised sentences are always more effective.

Allow students to react to the meaning of the sentence. Do they think it’s strange that I like rollercoasters as Simeone who is scared of heights? How do I rationalise it?

Then have students come up with three examples about their own life. Encourage them to think carefully about some interesting or contradictory facts about themselves.

Have them read their sentences to each other and use it as a jumping off point for a short conversation. Can they find common ground? Who has the strangest fact?

Posted in Exam Preparation Class, Proficiency

C2 Proficiency: Exploiting Use of English Texts Further

This is a worksheet for students preparing to take the Cambridge C2 Proficiency exam. It serves as a way of extending use of English activities to further exploit the text. Download the handout below:

My students are using the official test book 1 to prepare for the June exam. This worksheet is based on parts 1 & 2 of test 2 from the book.

Part 1 – Multiple Choice Cloze

After they complete a part 1 task, either for homework or in class, I prepare an activity like the first one on the worksheet in which they’re required to use one more of the words from the multiple choice cloze to complete another sentence. This can help draw the attention to subtle differences in meaning and usage between the often confusing vocabulary items test in this part.

Part 2 – Open Cloze

After they’ve done a part 2 task, I create an inverted version of the same text by taking a photo of the original and running it through https://www.onlineocr.net/ to turn it into editable text. I then remove other words from the text, perhaps the delexicalized verb in an expression like “take into account”. Whereas in the original test the student might have been tested on the preposition: “take ….. account”, in the inverted version they might be tested on the verbs: “…… into account”

I also aim to remove some words from expressions that students may have overlooked in the rest of the text in their race to fill in the gaps. For example, this particular text contains the expression: “to all intents and purposes”, meaning “in all the most important ways”

If you create any similar training worksheets and want me to post them on the blog, feel free to get in touch via the comments.

Part 1

Use the extra words from part 1 to complete the sentences:

  1. During the Vietnam war thousands of American men were called …. to serve in the military.
    1. on
    2. up
    3. in
  2. She decided to wear a ……. pink satin dress to the interview.
    1. arresting
    2. catching
    3. fetching
  3. Undergoing a ten-week basic training course is …….. practice for anyone wanting to join the US army.
    1. native
    2. standard
    3. typical
  4. He was excited to see his cousins again but when he saw them he ……… all shy for some reason.
    1. came over
    2. gave out
    3. set up
  5. The paramedics did their best to save him but he was ……….. dead on arrival at the hospital.
    1. predicted
    2. entered
    3. pronounced
  6. They considered his political ideas to be too ……… for the group and his membership was revoked.
    1. basic
    2. radical
    3. central
  7. It suddenly …….. on me that he had been lying to me the whole time.
    1. started
    2. dawned
    3. birthed
  8. We thought we’d put the issue to ……., but it was brought up again at the next meeting.
    1. sleep
    2. bed
    3. ground

Part 2

Film music 

Any mention ….. the movie Star Wars instantly triggers the resounding opening bars of the film score, which signals the presence of the enemy. But can you ….. to mind who wrote the music? 

According …… the legendary film director Orson Wells, music ……… for half the work in a movie, mostly without the audience ……. knowing the composer’s name. The cruellest part of it for the composer is that, in a good film, that is how it ……. be. If the art of dressing well is to …. intents and purposes to dress in …… a way that others do not ……. your elegance, the art of a great music ……. is to fuse so perfectly with what is …… the screen that audiences are unconsciously …….. into the mood of the movie. ……. this reason, even great movie music ……. very little recognition to composers.

Key

Part 1:

  1. b – up – be called up to the military
  2. c – fetching – a fetching dress = an attractive dress
  3. b – standard – standard practice = what people normally do
  4. a – came over all + adjective = to react in a specific way to a situation
  5. c – pronounced – be pronounced dead = a doctor officially announces and records your death
  6. b – radical – radical political ideas
  7. b – dawned – if something dawns on you, you realise it is happening.
  8. b – bed – put something to bed – solve/resolve an issue/debate

Part 2

Film music 

Any mention OF the movie Star Wars instantly triggers the resounding opening bars of the film score, which signals the presence of the enemy. But can you CALL to mind who wrote the music? 

According TO the legendary film director Orson Wells, music ACCOUNTS for half the work in a movie, mostly without the audience EVEN knowing the composer’s name. The cruellest part of it for the composer is that, in a good film, that is how it SHOULD be. If the art of dressing well is to ALL intents and purposes to dress in SUCH a way that others do not NOTICE your elegance, the art of a great music SCORE is to fuse so perfectly with what is ON the screen that audiences are unconsciously SUCKED into the mood of the movie. FOR this reason, even great movie music BRINGS very little recognition to composers.