On February 18th, 2014, in Donetsk, there was held the seminar for English language teachers «Євроінтегрована мовна освіта: Speeding up Towards Exam Success» conducted by the Irishman Robert Hartigan, ELT methodologist and PTE examiner. The seminar dealt with the problems of preparing students for External Independent Testing, Reading and Writing exams in particular. These are some tips for an English language teacher to pay attention to:
The important ingredients of an exam preparation class:
- Ongoing language development
- Exam practice under timed conditions
- Training in exam strategy
Reading Exam
Problems:
- Choosing what appears to be the obvious answer turns out to be the wrong one;
- Lack of vocabulary to make the connections between the question and the answer/task.
Tips:
· Read for gist first
· Gist reading gives the students more confidence
· Gist reading prepares students for more detailed reading
· Make sure there are word-distracter among the options in the task, which take away students’ concentration
Writing Exam
Nine Steps to the Perfect Letter
1. Read the question, and underline the key words.
2. Brainstorm - write down all your ideas on a piece of paper. It doesn't matter how silly they seem. This is your time to think of new ideas.
3. Re-read the ideas you have noted down, and cross out the ones which you don't like.
4. Put the remaining ideas into a logical order.
5. You will need paragraphs when you write, so decide on how many paragraphs you will have, and try to include only one point per paragraph. Now, this is your plan.
6. Start writing your letter. Don't forget the greeting, Dear Sir, or Dear Tim,.
7. While you are writing, if possible leave a free blank line between your paragraphs. It makes your writing more attractive.
8. End your letter with a suitable conclusion: Best regards, Yours sincerely, take care, are possibilities, depending on how formal the letter is. Underneath that, don't forget to write your name.
9. Re-read your letter to check for mistakes, to see that it is linked properly together etc.
Good Luck!
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