One last tip

As for the WRITING, if you know your grammar and your vocabulary, and you do some extra reading, then you should be OK. Remember, grammar is 5 points out of 10, vocabulary is 3, and reading is what makes your writing flow.
GOOD LUCK in September!
Have a nice summer!

SUMMER READERS

Those of you who have failed the Reading part or who are interested in reading some books in English, here are some books I have enjoyed reading in English:

Any book by NICK HORNBY:

• High Fidelity
• About a Boy
• How to Be Good
• A Long Way Down
• Slam

The two books by KHALED HOSSEINI:

• A thousand splendid suns
• The kite runner

The two books by MARK HADDON:

• The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
• A spot of bother

You can start with these but please let me know if you want some other titles.

Summer Revision PART 3: SPEAKING

If you have failed the speaking part, my best piece of advice would be: Go abroad!, travel to the remotest part of an English-speaking country where you can find NO Spaniards. However, as this isn't always possible, then you should find a way to speak English while in Málaga over the summer: have a linguistic exchange with a native English speaker or hire a private teacher.

If your problem is pronunciation, then you can also do some work on your own with the method published by Cambridge English Pronunciation in Use. There are several levels ranging from the elementary up to the advanced, although you should be OK with the intermediate.

If your main weakness is fluency, there is a very good method called Streaming Speech, although I must say it is rather expensive. You can buy the book and CD-rom or you can do an online course. Have a look at the web page, do some demos and decide if it's really worth it:

http://www.speechinaction.com/index.htm

http://speechinaction.fab242.net/v3/streamingspeech.htm

Summer Revision PART 2: LISTENING

If you have failed the LISTENING part, then find in the Archive the two entries with listening links that I posted last term and go there for practice. If you find any other interesting links on the internet with listening practice, please email them to me so I can blog them.

Also, you should be listening to the radio in English at all times. You are lucky to live in Málaga where there are so many English radio stations to be tuned. Here are some:

• OCI (ONDA CERO INTERNATIONAL) - 101.6FM & 98.4 FM
• REM.FM - 104.8FM & 91.9FM
• SPECTRUM FM - 105.5FM
• WAVE 96 FM - 96.0FM
• ACE FM 106.8FM
• CENTRAL FM - 98.6FM & 103.8FM
• COASTLINE FM - 97.6FM (WEST) 93.3FM(EAST)
• GLOBAL RADIO - 96.5FM
• RADIO MIJAS - 107.7FM

Any First Certificate Listening course will provide you with the necessary exam practice. There are a lot of them which you can find in any bookshop that has a section for English as a Foreign Language. Cambridge, of course, is the leading publisher in this field.

Finally, if you happen to have an i-pod and are used to downloading podcasts with i-tunes, there are many interesting ones on learning English. You can start with some of those offered by the BBC, such as:

• 6-minute English http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/144_6minute/
• Grammar Challenge http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/gc/
• or Talk about English http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/tae/

SUMMER REVISION Part 1: USE OF ENGLISH

This is an entry to give you some hints on how and what to revise for those of you who have to re-sit some parts of the exam in September.

First of all, don't leave it until the last minute. If you have failed one or several of the skills involved, it means your competence is below the right level, which means you need to work hard if you want it to be right for the level in two months' time.

If you have failed the USE OF ENGLISH part, then you have to actually sit down and do some studying. Remember it involves both grammar and vocabulary. Revise the language points in the Student's Book, the vocabulary builders at the end of the book, the reading texts for new items of vocabulary and prepositions, the grammar checks and word lists I regularly sent to you by e-mail, and do the tests in the photocopy pack. The key to these is still online and will be all through the summer. Check the Archive. Also, do the exercises in the Workbook. If you think you have time to do some further practice, then here are some books I'd recommend, but don't do any extension before doing revision.












Advanced Language Practice: With Key
Michael Vince

MACMILLAN












Advanced Grammar in Use with Answers
Martin Hewings
CAMBRIDGE
* The Intermediate is also good for some of the language points of the syllabus.



















English Vocabulary in Use Upper-Intermediate
Michael McCarthy
Felicity O'Dell
CAMBRIDGE






























English Phrasal Verbs in Use
by the same authors and the same publisher as the one above

Phrasal Verbs Workbook

COLLINS COBUILD

Phrasal verbs

Follow the link below to do some practice on phrasal verbs.

'Face up to Phrasals'? What's it all about?
Phrasal verbs are quick, easy and fun with Face up to Phrasals! Follow the adventures of Fred, Betty, Daisy, Amanda and the rest of the gang - and learn about a new phrasal verb with every episode!

MARKS JUNE 2008

You can find your marks by clicking on the link below

http://www.webaplaza.com/notas/year4june2008.htm