1 Objectives
By the end of this course the student should have a mid-intermediate level of English across the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) consistent with a low B2 level in the European Framework, or about midway between the Cambridge ESOL exams of PET (Preliminary English Test) and FCE (
First Certificate in English). Successful completion of this objective will be determined by a single exam grade derived from the average of several individual papers covering the four skills. See ‘Evaluation’ below for further details.
There are two further objectives: to introduce students to various aspects of the culture of English-speaking countries (chiefly Britain); and to motivate students to actively seek opportunities to practise and develop their English beyond the present course.
Naturally, I should also like you to find the course enjoyable and stimulating.
2 Methodology
Methodology falls within conventional communicative approaches whilst incorporating recent developments in the teaching of vocabulary. The course aims to de-emphasise the traditional focus on structure (conditionals, passive voice etc) and give greater prominence to various aspects of vocabulary. A good part of work on grammar will be set for homework so as to free up class time for communicative activities. In order to maximise the use of English students will be required to speak only English in class. A lot of attention will be given to how speakers and writers adjust their message according to who they are speaking to (and especially what that person can be expected to know), and grammar and vocab items will be studied in this context. Alongside this approach, the course will also consider key problems specific to Spanish speakers and try to help students avoid ‘Spanglish’.
3 Syllabus
Please refer to the contents page of the coursebook, Countdown to First Certificate (pp2-3), for details of the syllabus. (As soon as I have time I will indicate the most important sections in a list below.)
4 Bibliography
Coursebook
Countdown to First Certificate, Michael Duckworth & Kathy Gude. Oxford University Press, 1999.
1 Student´s Book 2 Workbook
Reading texts
At this level more than at any of the previous levels, it is essential that students get into the habit of reading outside of the class. This can be in the form of graded readers (intermediate level and above), unsimplified works of fiction or non-fiction, magazines, web pages, academic articles, and so on. I will make available short articles from the excellent BBC website which I have found interesting. Any kind of reading, or indeed watching of videos and so on, is useful, and it can be made even more so by attending to the text with a critical eye/ear for the way English prefers to express things. Below are three suggestions of books in their original form which I and other students have enjoyed.
Willy Russell, Shirley Valentine (Longman Literature)
George Orwell, Animal Farm (Longman Literature)
John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men (Penguin Classics)
It is not obligatory to read these or any other books, but you will be required to talk about a narrative in the exam. If you have something in English you will undoubtedly perform much better
5 Evaluation
It is vital to note that evaluation is based on communicative and holistic principles. This means that abstract knowledge of structures, say how to form the third conditional ( if + past perfect, would + perfect infinitive), is not tested. Students must know how to draw on all their knowledge of English in any particular context in order to achieve some kind of communicative task, such as writing a letter or determining what nuance of meaning a writer is tacitly invoking. The exam aims to reflect this principle as best as possible, and where individual discrete items are tested, this will always be done with abundant contextual information.
Also fundamental to the exam are the principles of objectivity and transparency. The marking criteria and their application, which are set out here, will be stressed at all times during the course. The first criteria is that of accuracy, the second naturalness. That is, what students say and write should in the first instance conform to the rules of English grammar, and in the second, be as near as can be expected to the way a native speaker would express the concept. As a simple example of what is meant by this, consider the following questions: (a) ‘What age are you?’ (b) ‘How old are you?’ Both are correctly formed according to the rules of grammar, but the second is the more natural form, and the first is reserved for marked contexts. What this doesn’t mean, please note, is that students are expected to speak like natives. What it does mean is that they are expected to be aware that literal translation from Spanish, albeit grammatically possible, may not necessarily be appropriate. Naturalness, like accuracy, is a matter of degree – one can be more or less natural-sounding just as one can be more or less accurate – and the marking of the exam aims to measure what degree of both criteria each student has achieved.
At the time of writing, the precise form the exam will take is under revision. Information about the definitive format will be given in class and made available on the SLM website, although it is worth noting that the changes will not be great, and that they will of course follow the principles outlines above. Each of the four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) will continue to be evaluated as in previous years.
