I was rooting through my over-stuffed Google Drive and found this C1 Advanced writing part 2 proposal task and handout that I made a few years back. Download it below:
Tag: exam preparation
C1 Advanced Reading Part 7: Gapped Text – Exam Technique
It’s nobody’s favourite exam reading exercise! This is a slightly tweaked version of a very old lesson plan I use to help C1 students tackle the part 7 gapped reading task. Apologies for the rather ugly PowerPoint template! Download the PowerPoint and handout below:
C2 Proficiency: Key Word Transformation Ladder
This is my C2 version of a great activity I’ve seen on some other blogs. It’s a great way of giving exam prep students an engaging way to do some practice for the use of English part 4 task.
- Students work in pairs or groups of 4.
- Each group gets 5 cards with 5 key word transformations on them.
- They place their cards on the table to form a “ladder”
- Student A goes first and attempts to complete the bottom “rung”
- They flip the card over to check their answer.
- If they’re right they go up the ladder one rung and continue until they make a mistake.
- When/if they make a mistake they must flip over all the cards and go back to the bottom.
- Student B then has a go.
- First to reach the top of the ladder wins.
- The answer they give must be the exact words on the back of the card; no “más o menos”
- They then swap cards and start again.
Download the cards below:
C1 Advanced: Key Word Transformation Ladder
This is my version of a great activity I’ve seen on some other blogs. It’s a great way of giving exam prep students an engaging way to do some practice for the use of English part 4 task.
- Students work in pairs or groups of 4.
- Each group gets 5 cards with 5 key word transformations on them.
- They place their cards on the table to form a “ladder”
- Student A goes first and attempts to complete the bottom “rung”
- They flip the card over to check their answer.
- If they’re right they go up the ladder one rung and continue until they make a mistake.
- When/if they make a mistake they must flip over all the cards and go back to the bottom.
- Student B then has a go.
- First to reach the top of the ladder wins.
- The answer they give must be the exact words on the back of the card; no “más o menos”
- They then swap cards and start again.
Download the cards below:
C1 Advanced: Grammar Range Test
A quick, simple worksheet I’ve created for my C1 Advanced class. They’re in their second year of preparation for the exam and I just want to get an idea of their grasp of some of the typical advanced grammar points that come up in the syllabus so that I know where to focus our efforts in the coming weeks.
I’m tying it into chatting about travelling and holidays and getting them to complete an informal letter writing task. I’ve used this old worksheet that I made years ago for the homework task.
It also serves as some exam practice for part 4 of the reading and use of English paper. You could have students complete it in pairs or individually then check the answers in open class. Tell students not to worry too much if any of the structures are unfamiliar as future lessons will look at them in detail where necessary.
Download the worksheet below:
Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first using the word given. You must use between 3 and 6 words, you must not change the word given.
- It took us 6 hours to walk up the mountain.
WALKING
When we arrived at the top of the mountain _____________________ 6 hours.
- It was the first time I had seen such a beautiful sunset.
BEFORE
Never _____________________ a beautiful sunset.
- You mustn’t leave the vehicle while you’re on safari.
CIRCUMSTANCES
Under ______________________ of the vehicle while you’re on safari.
- If I went there again, I’d definitely pack warmer clothes.
GO
Were ______________, I’d definitely pack warmer clothes.
- The water was so clear that we could see all the fish at the bottom.
CLEAR
So _______________ could see all the fish at the bottom.
- I enjoyed going on the roller coasters the most.
WAS
What ____________________ on the roller coasters.
- We had no idea that there were man-eating sharks in the water!
KNOW
Little _____________________ there were man-eating sharks in the water!
- I didn’t pack enough warm clothes because I didn’t know the weather would be so cold.
WOULD
Had _____________________ be so cold, I would have packed more warm clothes.
Proficiency Reading Part 6: Gapped Text Training
This is a training lesson plan to help students preparing for the C2 Cambridge Proficiency exam tackle part 6 of the reading and use of English paper. Students tend to struggle with this part of the exam and need a lot of guidance.
I’ve based this lesson plan around an example task from the CUP Proficiency Testbook 1 on the topic of expedition rafting. Download the PowerPoint, student handout and a scanned annotated copy of the text below:
Procedure
First have students activate their schemata on the topic of rafting with the 3 conversation questions in the first slide.
In slide 3 students will look for the ways in which paragraph B fits into the first gap. By giving them the answer to the first gap, we can provide them with an opportunity to analyse the text and find the vocabulary, grammar and story connections that link the paragraph to text on either side. Reveal the answers on slide 4.
Go through the exam strategy on slide 5, then have students complete the clue hunt on slide 6. Reveal the answers to them and remind them to bear the clues in mind while they complete the task.
Negotiate a time limit for the students to complete the rest of the task individually. In the official exam they should dedicate 20 minutes to this part of the exam, however, as you’ve already done some prep work on this text, negotiate a time between 10 and 15 minutes.
Once they’ve completed the task, have them compare their answers in pairs. Make sure they refer back to the clue hunt and explain how each of the clues connect the paragraphs to the text.
Use the final few slides to reveal the answers and annotations.
Set them another part 6 task for homework and share the PowerPoint with them to refer to at home.
C1/C2 Review Writing Task: A Life of Crime
This is a writing task for C1/C2 students who are preparing to take the C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency exams and need to practise writing film/TV reviews. You could set it for homework after having used my vocabulary/use of English training activity The Heist. You may also find my lesson plan on incorporating engaging hooks into this type of writing task useful.
Download the handout below:
Task:
Your university’s film club is asking for reviews of films or TV shows on the topic of crime. Maybe you’ve seen a thrilling heist movie, a dark film noir or a TV show about the nefarious adventures of a mafia family. Your review should comment on the plot of the film/show, the quality of the script and acting and recommend the film/show to a specific demographic or warn a specific group against watching it. C1: 220-260 words C2: 280-320 words
C2 Proficiency: Report on a Charity Concert
This is another report task for students preparing to take the Cambridge C2 Proficiency exam. It’s designed to give them some practice of planning a report task for part 2 of the writing paper.
A common problem I find is that the report tasks are often quite open and require a bit of creativity and imagination. They may be required to invent a company or organisation they work for or a school they attend. My students often neglect to do this and end up writing things like:
The aim of this report is to evaluate the company event that took place last week.
They don’t use their imagination enough or really generate the situation which leads to bland, unfocused pieces of writing. Therefore, in this worksheet, students will put some time into generating ideas about the charity they work for, the event they organised and what went wrong. They will also revise some inverted conditionals so they can put them to use in their final compositions. Download the handout and key below:
C2 Proficiency: Report on a Training Course
This is a worksheet to help C2 proficiency students practise writing formal reports in preparation for part 2 of the writing paper. Students will brainstorm ideas to complete the task then complete some exercises to help them include advanced grammar and relevant vocabulary. Download the handout and key below:
C1/C2: Advanced Conditionals Revision
While correcting a mock exam with my C2 group, it came to my attention that they needed a refresher on advanced conditionals. Things like inverted conditionals and also alternatives conditional phrases such as “on condition that”, “supposing…?” and “provided that”. So I put together a little PowerPoint as a refresher. It’s not the most inspired of formats, but I dotted in a few fun speaking activities along the way. Download the PowerPoint below:
You’ll need to prep by coming up with 3 sentences, one with each inverted conditional, here are my examples:
- Should I have time tonight, I’ll watch another episode of Ted Lasso. (inverted 1st conditional)
- Were I to win the lottery, I’d quit my job. (inverted 2nd conditional)
- Had I been born in the 1400s, I would have been an explorer. (inverted 3rd conditional)
The three sentences should be a mixture of true or false bits of information about you.
Read the sentences to your class one by one, students should take no notes, just listen. They should then debate with their partner whether or not the sentence is true. Reveal the truth, then move onto the next sentence.
Once you’ve finished, show the first slide of the PowerPoint (you’ll need to edit the first few slides so that they show your 3 sentences, or just do it on the board). Students have the basic information from the 3 sentences, but none of the grammar, they have to work together to recall what you said. Maybe they’ll remember the “basic” conditional structures (if….), or perhaps the sharper students will remember some of the inverted forms.
Once you’ve revealed and discussed the different forms, lead students through the rest of the PowerPoint, they will get more complete revision of each inverted conditional plus all the other alternative forms already mentioned.
I’m interested to see what hypothetical questions your students come up with for the “suppose”/”supposing” section, let me know in the comments!