Calificación del nuevo First Certificate 2015- Reading and Use of English

Muchos de mis alumnos me preguntan como se califican las diferentes partes del examen, especialmente este año al ser el formato del examen distinto. Dado que el tema es largo, lo dividiré en diferentes posts

Este post ha sido elaborado con la información del Handbook for Teachers FCE 2015.

Cuestiones generales

Notas (Marks) y resultados

Todos los candidatos reciben unos resultados.

Estos resultados son:

Grade A

Si el candidato saca una A en el examen, recibirá el FCE diciendo que ha demostrado tener un nivel C1, es decir, un nivel superior al First Certificate (B2).

Grade B o C

Si el candidato saca una B o C, se le dará el First Certificate (B2)

Nivel B1

Si el nivel del candidato es inferior al B2, pero está dentro de la categoría B1, recibirá un un certificado diciendo que tiene un nivel B1.

Tabla de puntuaciones de la Escala de Cambridge English

Fuente imagen:  Cambridge English Handbook for teachers, p.4

Como puedes ver en esta tabla:

• Si consigues una puntuación de entre 160 a 180 puntos obtendrás el First Certificate B2
• Si consigues una puntación de entre 181 a 190obtendrás el First Certificate con un nivel C1
• Si consigues una puntuación inferior a 160 y de  hasta 140 puntos conseguirás una certificación acreditativa del nivel B1

Puntuación del Reading and Use of English

En esta parte del First Certificate se puede lograr un máximo de 70 puntos. En la siguiente tabla verás cómo se distribuye esta puntuación.

Parte	En qué consiste	Nº de preguntas	Puntuación
Part 1 Multiple-choice cloze	Vocabulary, idioms, collocations, fixed phrases, complementation, phrasal verbs, semantic precision	8	Cada respuesta correcta recibe 1 punto
Part 2 Open cloze	Awareness and control of grammar with some focus on vocabulary	8	Cada respuesta correcta recibe 1 punto
Part 3 Word formation	Vocabulary, use of affixation, internal changes and compounding in word formation	8	Cada respuesta correcta recibe 1 punto
Part 4 Key word transformation	Grammar, vocabulary, collocation	6	Cada respuesta correcta recibe hasta 2 puntos
Part 5 Multiple choice	Detail, opinion, attitude, purpose, main idea, gist, meaning from context..	6	Cada respuesta correcta recibe 2 puntos
Part 6 Gapped text	Cohesion, coherece, text structure	6	Cada respuesta correcta recibe 2 puntos
Part 7 Multiple matching	Detail, opinion, specific information, implication	10	Cada respuesta correcta recibe 1 punto
Total		52	Máx. 70 puntos

Esto significa que si consigues los 70 puntos en el Reading and Use of English, deberás obtener, al menos, 90 puntos más en el resto de las partes para completar los 160 puntos mínimos para obtener el FCE B2.

En el próximo post, calificación del Writing

                                 Adapted from El Blog para aprender inglés

Words with multiple meanings

Interesting Facts About English

In no particular order...

1. The most common letter in English is "e".
2. The most common vowel in English is "e", followed by "a".
3. The most common consonant in English is "r", followed by "t".
4. Every syllable in English must have a vowel (sound). Not all syllables have consonants. 
5. Only two English words in current use end in "-gry". They are "angry" and "hungry".
6. The word "bookkeeper" (along with its associate "bookkeeping") is the only unhyphenated English word with three consecutive double letters. Other such words, like "sweet-toothed", require a hyphen to be readily readable.
7. The word "triskaidekaphobia" means "extreme fear of the number 13". This superstition is related to
8. "paraskevidekatriaphobia", which means "fear of Friday the 13th".
9. More English words begin with the letter "s" than with any other letter.
10. A preposition is always followed by a noun (ie noun, proper noun, pronoun, noun group, gerund).
11. The word "uncopyrightable" is the longest English word in normal use that contains no letter more than once.
12. A sentence that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet is called a "pangram".
13. The following sentence contains all 26 letters of the alphabet: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." This sentence is often used to test typewriters or keyboards.
14. The only word in English that ends with the letters "-mt" is "dreamt" (which is a variant spelling of "dreamed") - as well of course as "undreamt" :)
15. A word formed by joining together parts of existing words is called a "blend" (or, less commonly, a "portmanteau word"). Many new words enter the English language in this way. Examples are "brunch" (breakfast + lunch); "motel" (motorcar + hotel); and "guesstimate" (guess + estimate). Note that blends are not the same as compounds or compound nouns, which form when two whole words join together, for example: website, blackboard, darkroom.
16. The word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, bēta.
17. The dot over the letter "i" and the letter "j" is called a "superscript dot".
18. In normal usage, the # symbol has several names, for example: hash, pound sign, number sign.
19. In English, the @ symbol is usually called "the at sign" or "the at symbol".

Pancake Day

Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday is a special day celebrated in many countries around the world. It is celebrated in English-speaking countries like the UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada. In some countries, like France and the USA, it is called 'Mardi Gras' or 'Fat Tuesday'. In other countries, like Spain, Italy or Brazil, Shrove Tuesday is at the end of Carnival. On this day many people eat pancakes, a thin, flat cake made in a pan.

Pancake Day is always on a Tuesday in February or March. It is the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. Lent is a period of 40 days before Easter when people often give up or stop eating things that are bad for them like chocolate or fast food. At the end of Lent is Easter. Easter takes place on a different date each year because it depends on the moon. Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring. Traditionally, during Lent, people didn’t eat rich foods like butter and eggs, so they made pancakes from these ingredients on Shrove Tuesday.

Another tradition on Pancake Day in the UK is pancake racing. People run in a race with a pancake in a pan. As they run, they have to toss the pancake (throw the pancake in the air and catch it in the pan) several times. In some pancake races people dress up in fancy dress costumes. The most famous pancake race takes place in a town called Olney, in the middle of England. People say that Olney has been celebrating pancake races since 1445!

Pancakes are very easy to make. Try our recipe.

Ingredients:
One cup of flour
One cup of milk
One large egg
Some salt
Some butter or oil
Lemon juice
Some sugar

Instructions:
Fill one cup with flour and put into a bowl. Fill another cup with milk and pour into the bowl. Crack the egg into the bowl and whisk the flour, milk and egg until the mixture is smooth. Put a very small amount of butter or oil in a pan, and when it is hot, put some mixture in the pan and move the pan to make a thin pancake. After one minute hold the pan carefully and throw or toss the pancake in the air to turn it over. Now cook the pancake on the other side.

When the pancake is ready, squeeze some lemon juice and put some sugar on it and eat it immediately. If you don’t like lemon juice, eat them with jam, chocolate sauce or ice cream. Mmm, delicious!


                                                 From British Council

                                                           From English is Fun

New Advanced Speaking test 2015

First Certificate Speaking 2015

De nuevo os dejo un artículo donde os explican el nuevo formato de la parte oral del examen First. Tenéis una descripción detallada, además de consejos y ejemplos. Leedlo todo con clama, veréis que es realmente útil.


Speaking 2015

Winter vocabulary

IDIOMS ABOUT THE WEATHER: 

• • It's raining cats and dogs: It's raining very hard.
  • A fair-weather friend: A person who will only be your friend when things are going well for you.
  • If someone has their head in the clouds, they are out of touch with the everyday world and can be unrealistic as a result.
  • It never rains but it pours: The problems don't happen occasionally . They happen all at the same time.
  • You're just chasing rainbows: You are trying to do something that will never happen.
  • He has a face like thunder. He is really angry
  • That  all sounds like a storm in a teacup to me. A person is exaggerating their problems.
  • Save up for a rainy day : Put money aside for when you might need it later

                     From American English at State