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.

Posted in Exam Preparation Class, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

C2 Proficiency: Inverted Open Cloze

C2 Proficiency: Exam Technique – Reading Part 7 – Tim's Free English Lesson  Plans

This is a lesson plan for C2 proficiency students designed to more fully exploit a use of English part 2 open cloze text. Download the handout below:

The part 2 exercise is taken from the Expert Proficiency Coursebook published by Pearson.

Students first complete the exercise from their books, compare answers with a partner and correct the task in open class. The teacher then instructs them to close their books/fold the handout over and try to complete the second “inverted” version. In this version, different words have been removed from the fixed expressions tested in the original text. Other changes have been made in order to fully exploit the text for more high level lexis such as phrasal verbs and fixed expressions. Students can then refer back to the original in order to check their answers.

You can create your own inverted cloze exercises from any text in your course book. Happy inverting!

Inverted Version

Cover the original exercise.

Complete this version.

The relationship between the modern consumer and their rubbish is a complex one. Getting (1) ……. of rubbish has come to mean a great (2) ……. more than simply consigning breakfast leftovers (3) ……. a plastic bag. With the advent (4)……. recycling, rubbish has now invaded many people’s personal lives to an unprecedented (5) ……. There was a time, (6) ……. living memory, when rubbish collection was a simple matter – but today’s household rubbish, before being (7) ……., has to be filed and sorted (8) ……. colour-coded containers (9) ……. to its recycling category.

What is (10) ……., we are brought (11) ……. in a rash of irritation by the suggestion that, if rubbish collections were to become more infrequent, people would then make the effort to (12) ……. down on shopping and recycle more. We might be excused for wondering (13) ……. this would be possible. Can people realistically buy fewer eggs or (14) ……. of toothpaste than their lives require?

Recycling is supposed to be good for us. But for some, it’s just a (15) ……. of rubbish.

Posted in Exam Preparation Class, Proficiency, Vocabulary Classes

C2 Proficiency: Use of English Worksheet & Conversation

C2 Proficiency: Exam Technique – Reading Part 7 – Tim's Free English Lesson  Plans

This is a lesson plan for students preparing to take the C2 Proficiency exam. Students look at some typical phrasal verbs, collocations and dependent prepositions that often come up in the exam and put them into practice in conversation. Download the handout, key and accompanying slides below:

Here is a link to a quizziz game you can use for spaced repetition:

https://quizizz.com/admin/quiz/635960fbd051f0001d04ea21?source=quiz_share

Procedure

First of all students have to choose from two prepositions to complete the phrasal verbs so that it fits the context of the sentence. Then have them match the phrasal verbs to the definitions in the box below. You could then have students test each other, one says a definition, the other has to recall the phrasal verb.

Show students slide 2 of the presentation and instruct them to turn their handouts over and attempt to recall the missing words in the questions from memory. In this exercise they are required to recall the verb, rather than the preposition. Once they have completed the exercise, have them ask and answer the questions in pairs or small groups and then share any funny/interesting discoveries in open class.

Students then repeat the process for the dependent prepositions. However, in this case, rather than matching definitions, they match synonyms of the collocations to transform the sentence. I most cases they are direct synonyms that fit the same grammatical pattern but in a couple of cases they will need to make changes to the sentence, instruct them to check carefully if the synonym fits.

Slide 4-5 have a similar gapped questions task to the first one for students to complete in pairs. The final exercise contains more expressions and phrasal verbs with prepositions. Have students complete the exercise in pairs, then after checking in open class, have students come up with gapped questions for their classmates to complete. Tell them that their questions must be open-ended and designed to spark conversation, for example:

Are there any things that you’ve done so many times that you can now do ….. auto-pilot?

Feel free to post any of your students’ questions in the comments! Let me know how it goes!

Posted in Advanced C1, B2 First, Conversation Classes, Exam Preparation Class

B2+ Goat vs Bear – Exam Practice & Discussion

This is a lesson plan for B2+ students. It is based on a text from https://www.iflscience.com/ on the subject of wild animals. It will serve as good exam practice for students preparing to take Cambridge exams and should also be an engaging topic of conversation for teenagers and adults. Download the handouts and slides below:

Link to original article: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/badass-goat-killed-grizzly-bear-by-skewering-it-on-its-horns-necropsy-reveals/

Procedure

  1. Show students the second slide of the PowerPoint, encourage them to guess which animal would win.
  2. Show them the second and have them speculate about how a goat would beat a bear.
  3. Give out handout and have students read to confirm their speculations, check in open class.
  4. Have students complete the open cloze, they could work in pairs or individually and then check with their partner. Good practice for Cambridge exams use of English.
  5. Lead students through the vocabulary exercises.
  6. Discussion: Which animal could you beat in a fight? Show students the fourth slide and explain the statistics to them. Put students in groups and have them discuss which animals they think they could beat and how they would do it. 
  7. Lead a discussion on the best way to tackle certain large, dangerous animals. Have students speculate on the best thing to do in each encounter, then check on the internet to see whether or not they would have survived. Board any emergent language and exploit it for recall later.

Open Cloze Key

Apex predators make (1) IT to the top (2) BY being the most efficient hunters in their domain, but every now and (3) THEN an underdog crops up to disrupt the food chain. (4) SUCH an example played out on the mountains of Burgess Pass in Yoho National Park, where Parks Canada retrieved the body of a female grizzly bear. Such a creature would usually (5) BE  the slayer rather than the slain, and most surprisingly of all the assailant turned (6) OUT to be a goat.

The battle (7) TOOK place sometime before September 4 after which Parks Canada was made aware (8) OF the presence of a carcass. Bodies such (9) AS these need to be removed as they can otherwise lure in wildlife that could put visitors to the pass (10) AT risk.

The discovery of a slain bear merits a forensic investigation to determine the (11) CAUSE of death, and so a necropsy (12) WAS conducted on the animal. During the examination, staff noticed that the fatal wounds were at the base of the bear’s neck and in (13) ITS armpits. The attack sites might sound random to the uninitiated, but to experienced park rangers, this was the work (14) OF one extremely lucky mountain goat.

“When grizzly bears attack, they tend (15) TO focus (16) ON the head, neck, and shoulders of the prey, usually (17) FROM above,” Alison Biles, Public Relations and Communications Officer for Parks Canada, told IFLScience. “In turn, the defensive response of mountain goats would (18) BE  to protect themselves using (19) THEIR sharp horns.”

“Grizzly bear predation of mountain goats is relatively common and significant goat activity was observed (20) IN the immediate area. (21) IN this case, it appears that the mountain goat was (22) TRYING/ABLE to defend itself. While rare, other cases of mountain goats defensively killing bears have (23) BEEN reported in the past, (24) WHICH is not completely surprising since mountain goats are strong animals that are well-equipped to defend (25) THEMSELVES” 

Adapted from: https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/badass-goat-killed-grizzly-bear-by-skewering-it-on-its-horns-necropsy-reveals/ 

Find words or phrases in the text to match these definitions:

  1. Animals at the top of the local food chain. – APEX PREDATORS
  2. Someone in a game or fight who has little chance of winning. – AN UNDERDOG
  3. A killer. – SLAYER – assailant – an attacker
  4. The dead body of an animal. – CARCASS
  5. Attract. – LURE IN
  6. Where your arm meets your chest. – ARMPITS
  7. People without experience. – THE UNINITIATED 
  8. A person who patrols and maintains a national park. – PARK RANGER
  9. To have the tools to do something. – BE WELL-EQUIPPED

Complete the collocations from the text:

  1. MAKE it to the top
  2. Every NOW and then
  3. Such AN example
  4. The assailant TURNED out to be a goat
  5. The battle took PLACE sometime before September 4
  6. Parks Canada was MADE aware of the presence of a carcass.
  7. Put visitors at RISK
  8. An investigation to determine the cause of DEATH

Complete the sentences with one of the collocations:

  1. The police still aren’t sure of the CAUSE OF DEATH
  2. I don’t go out often but EVERY NOW AND THEN I like to meet up with friends and let my hair down.
  3. His carelessness PUT everyone on board the ship AT RISK, it can’t happen again.
  4. I have been MADE AWARE OF some complaints that customers have made and I would like to address them.
  5. The match will TAKE PLACE tonight at the usual address.
  6. To MAKE IT TO THE TOP in this industry you have to work very hard and get lucky.
  7. We thought it was a shark under the boat but TURNED OUT TO BE a piece of rubbish.
Posted in Advanced C1, Exam Preparation Class, Grammar Classes, Vocabulary Classes

CAE/C1 Advanced: Use of English Part 2 Revision Worksheet

cae | British Formazione Inglese Livorno

This is a worksheet for students preparing to take the C1 Advanced exam. It will act as a refresher for a lot of the language, including linkers, prounouns, fixed expressions and phrasal verbs, that often come up in part 2 of the reading and use of English paper. Download the handout and key below:

You could follow up by playing this quizziz game that covers 25 of the sentences: