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Nowadays, watching any TV series on HBO or Netflix in original version is an opportunity everyone might have and it is a fun and useful way to learn English. It is important to get used to the different accents and it is also vital to improve our vocabulary.

There are loads of programs available but if you are preparing a Cambridge exams such as FCE, CAE or CPE.

DOWNTON ABBEY

Downton Abbey is a British drama television series set in the early 20th century. It is set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their domestic servants in the post-Edwardian era —with the great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.

SHERLOCK

Sherlock is a British crime drama television series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes detective stories. The series is primarily filmed in Cardiff, Wales with North Gower Street in London used for exterior shots of Holmes and Watson’s 221B Baker Street residence.

GAME OF THRONES

Nine noble families fight for control over the mythical lands of Westeros, while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for thousands of years.

It is an American adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire written by George R.R. Martin’s series of fantasy novels.

DOCTOR WHO

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC since 1963. The programme depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called “the Doctor”, an extraterrestrial being, to all appearances human, from the planet Gallifrey. The Doctor explores the universe in a time-travellig space ship called the TARDIS.

THE HOUSE OF CARDS (UK)

House of Cards is a 1990 British political thriller television serial in four episodes, set after the end of Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

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PEAKY BLINDERS

Peaky Blinders is a British crime drama television series set in Birmingham, England after World War I. The series follows the exploits of the Shelby crime family. It was the first production to receive funding from the Yorkshire Content Fund, which in turn made certain the majority of the show was filmed in Yorkshire as part of the deal.

You might find hard to follow some of these TV series regarding the accent their characters speak. However, it is useful to practice some listening and some vocabulary and expressions which may appear in the exams.

Hope you find this blog interesting. Enjoy it!

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PREPARING CAMBRIDGE YOUNG LEARNERS ENGLISH TESTS THROUGH DRAMA ACTIVITIES

Research indicates that using creative drama in the classroom as a means of teaching helps students learn academically, socially, and developmentally.

Drama boosts collaboration in the classroom: Working as part of and contribuiting to a group. It gives students the chance to work together and share ideas.

It is a way for students to express themselves. Drama gives them the chance to think and discuss about emotions. It provides a safe environment to express feelings and emotions. Children can feel more confortable expressing their emotions through a character than speaking for themselves.

It help students to develop their empathy skills. Walking in the shoes of another person can help students understand other people´s feelings and see things from multiple perspectives.

It enhances creativity and imagination. Drama provides an environment which encourages students to be present, inquisitive and curious. In drama there are not right or wrong answers. It is very subjective and students can bring their own out-of-the-box thinking and opinions.

Drama provides a fun means of learning. Recent brain research proves that emotions are linked with learning. When children connect to the concept emotionally , they will have a better understanding of it. Teaching using drama brings emotion and learning together.

Here is a list of some drama activities that can be done in the classroom:

• Movement activities (Total Physical Response)
• Diction excersices (pronunciation, rhythm)
• Songs and chants
• Presentations
• Storytelling

For an example of storytelling and drama activity, please watch the following video:

Cambridge English has created a platform full of resources to make YLE exams preparation fun for the students. It is called World of Fun

World of Fun offers resources to prepare for all three YLE tests: Pre A1 Starters, A1 Movers adn A2 Flyers, including a series of drama activities and videos.

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Emojis and Exams

What’s the difference between an emoticon and an emoji?

Thinking Face

Emoticons came first. They’re the images made using normal keys on a keyboard – usually punctuation, letters and numbers : )

while Emojis are small cartoon images which can be chosen by users to enhance their messages

When was the first emoticon used? Was it?
a) 1606 b) 1862 c) 1982

Keep reading to find out if you are right or wrong

EMOJIS AND EXAMS:

Lately, there has been increased tweeting by exam candidates following the end of their exams, discussing the questions on the paper.

To better understand this influence a research project was carried out by Cambridge Assessment Research Team looking at the use of social media over the summer 2016 UK exam session.  During the research 6.44 million exam-related tweets that were posted between 14th May and 14th July were collected and analyzed.

Real-time data from Twitter was used to establish the extent of exam-related tweeting, patterns over time, topics discussed, and sentiments expressed. This research provides insights into students’ perceptions and feelings about exam questions and illustrates the way candidates deal with the challenges that they face. It is curious that in the research project, emojis were used instead of Sentiment Analysis (SA) [is a family of techniques for computationally determining the emotions in text.]

What Makes Tweeting About Exams So Important?

First, to give some insight into the views of exam candidates into the assessments they are taking; and secondly because stories in the national media about exam questions may indirectly shape public perception of exams and standards.

Here are the ten Most Twitted Emojis

Loudly crying face 249,542

Upside down face 145,671

Smiling face with smiling eyes 140,458

Weary face 103,302

Party popper 93,676

Person with folded hands 89,767

Face with rolling eyes 79,922

Person raising both hands in celebration 58,067

Thinking face 57,788

We asked before when they were invented.  Is it

a) 1606

b) 1862 or

c) 1982?

Emoticons A witty speech Abraham Lincoln reprinted in a newspaper as far back as 1862 included a semi colon with a close bracket. Just like a winking face ; )

Though people think this was sadly just a typographical error – or what we normally call a typo.

Emoji Meanwhile, the official birth of emoticons is usually given as 1982, when a US professor instructed his students to use smiley faces to indicate jokes – in digital a communication.

WHY USING EMOJIS ?

“They enable us to express emotion and empathy in digital communication. Increasingly, what we’re finding is that digital communication is taking over from certain aspects of face-to-face interaction. In the UK today, for example, adults spend 22 hours online on average each week. One of the reasons emojis are so interesting is that they really do enable us to express our emotional selves much more effectively.”

(Professor Vyv Evans, Author of ‘The Emoji Code’)

So, adding an emoticon can show you understand and express emotion, and show empathy – more clearly. It is said that 60% of information when we’re talking to each other comes from non-verbal cues.

Here are some Emojis and Emoticons for you.

Enjoy!

Based on:

BBC 6 Minute Eglish “The Rise of the Emojis”.

https://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/blog/emojis-and-exams/

Research Matters / 23 a Cambridge Assessment Publication: Tweeting about exams: Investigating the use of social media over the summer 2016 session by Tom Sutch and Nicole Klir Research Division.https://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/Images/381638-research-matters-23-spring-2017.pdf

15 Interesting facts about the English Language that will surprise you

Do you know what a pangram sentence is? Do you think Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is the longest word in English? Then you should keep reading!

English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world so it is not surprising that so many people want to learn how to speak English. Over 840 million people speak English as a first or second language, but what do we really know about English apart from the grammar and the vocabulary? It may seem simple, but it is not, English is full of crazy inventions, misinterpretations, strange words and needless words.

1. A new English word is added to the dictionary every two hours. So while you are reading this blog a new word is about to come out! During a year almost 4000 new words are added!
https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/how-a-word-enters-the-oxford-english-dictionary-html-1295707-2018-07-25

2. William Shakespeare added over a thousand new words to the English language. Do you want to know which ones? http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/wordsinvented.html

3. English used to have 29 letters instead of the current 26. Now it has 21 consonants and 5 vowels. Find out the story behind the letters:
https://nypost.com/2015/02/08/the-stories-behind-the-letters-of-our-alphabet/. There is only one word in English with 5 vowels in a row: ‘Queuing’. This is a great word to use when you are playing hangman! ”Abstemious’ and ‘‘facetious’ are the only words that have all the vowels in the right order. And 11% of the entire English language is just the letter E.

4. Do you know what is special about the following sentence? ‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’. This type of sentence is called a ‘pangram’ as it contains every letter in the language. Are there the 26 letters from the alphabet?

5. The word ‘set’ has the highest number of definitions: 25 different meanings!!

6. Not even one number from 0 to 999 contains the letter A: one, two, three, four, …

7. OMG! And I was thinking like…do you know like…do you use crutch words? Crutch words are those words that have not a meaning or value to a sentence. So like…er…do you think, like um, you can like find a crutch word here?

8. Due to a printing error, there was a word in the English dictionary from 1932 to 1940 which did not have a meaning. The word was ‘Dord’ and it became known as ‘ghost word’.
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2019/03/in-a-word-dord-the-word-that-wasnt/

9. ‘I’ has three first positions: it is the shortest, the oldest and the most commonly used word in English.

10. The original name for ‘butterfly’ was ‘flutterby’.

11. The word ‘Goodbye’ originally comes from an Old English phrase meaning ‘God be with you’.

12. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in not the longest word in English. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis is a type of disease caused by inhaling ash and dust. The word has 45 letters. Can you pronounce it? Try again! Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis.

13. The most difficult tongue twister is: ‘The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick’. It is part of the Guinness World Records.

14. Swims will be swims even when turned upside down. Such words are called ambigrams.

15. ‘Angry’ and ‘hungry’ are the only two English words that end with –gry.

English is the only major language that doesn’t have any organization guiding it. The organizations are responsible for controlling the evolution of their respective language in terms of usage, vocabulary and grammar but English does not have it, so there is total freedom!

Don’t forget that English is the official language of 67 countries and ¼ of the world’s population speaks at least some English so is never late to start! LOL (Did you know the world ‘lol’ was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011?)

For more interesting facts about the English language, you can check:
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/10-interesting-english-facts-guest/
https://www.lingoda.com/en/blog/fun-facts-english-language
https://oxfordhousebcn.com/en/10-crazy-things-about-the-english-language-infographic/
https://blog.cambridge.es/curiosidades-sobre-la-lengua-inglesa/

Harry Potter’s impact on the Cambridge English exams.

A History of Magic.

Without a doubt, Harry Potter has contributed extensively to many readers and has also somehow affected the way we see and understand English history and culture. Researcher Matt Norton has wondered himself about its clear impact on the English language. Little could J. K. Rowling imagine when writing the first book. Harry Potter and the Philosophy Stone, that her words would somehow influence thousands of speakers.

It should be stated that it would not be difficult for anybody to remember and recall some of the most known and memorable “Potter-esque” words included either in the book or the film series. Certainly J.K. Rowling has contributed with her creativity to produce a number of new words to the actual English language.

Thus, teachers might be taking this into account when working with language learners to provide Cambridge exam candidates with situations and lessons full of interest and originality while exploring the English vocabulary in a different way.

Matt Norton has used corpus linguistics to investigate to what extent has the world of Harry Potter – or the ‘Potterverse’ – influenced English with new words invented by Rowling which also known as “coinings”. As you can imagine he found many examples of those invented words.

In Harry Potter we can also find many different blend words, words formed by combining two separate words with different meanings to form a new one. These words are often created to describe a new invention or phenomenon that combines the definitions or traits of two existing things. Word blends are also known as portmanteau, a French word meaning “trunk” or “suitcase.”

Words like ‘animagus’, a blend of animal and magus, and ‘merpeople’, blending from mer(maid) and people can be found in Harry Potter. However blend words can be found everywhere as English is a dynamic language that is constantly evolving. New technologies and cultural phenomena have seen the introduction of words such as “brunch“, docudrama, emoticon, frenemy, Globish or moped (motor+pedal).

J. K. Rowling also used many sound-like Latin words especially in the spells or charms, such as ‘Expelliarmus’, ‘Expecto Patronum, to protect against dementors; and ‘Finite Incantatem’ (end the spell).

There are numerous examples of these words found in the Cambridge English Corpus, being the most frequent: Hogwarts, Voldemort, Azkaban, Quidditch, muggle, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, Portkey, Horcrux, Butterbeer, Hufflepuff, Patronus, Whomping Willow, Quaffle, sorting hat, floo powder…

Matt norton

Other words were reused or repopularized by the Harry Potter books. Amongst these words, Norton includes: mandrake, squib, bludger, muggle, dementor, mandragora, hippogriff, apparate or disapparate.

All in all, the language used in Harry Potter has changed the English Language, and many speakers, specially those influenced by the book or film series, use now some of these odd “Potter-esque” words.

We can even find many examples of the interest and attraction it has caused for many readers and viewers of the series in the creation of a rap like the one we are sharing.

For that reason Cambridge invites teachers and learners to take advantage of Harry Potter words in their lessons as a good means to encourage students in their path to improve their English.

Any candidate could also download their suggested magical Harry Potter themed wordlists in which they might be able to find a complete list of words for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners.

As we all know, English learners do usually worry about finding the best way to improve their linguistic competence and skills. One of the best ways to enrich our vocabulary and listening competence has always been by watching films, cartoons, tv shows and certain tv channels like BBC or Sky news.

Another advice would be to read in English at every opportunity that we may have. There is so much good and new vocabulary in a book like Harry Potter that we can improve our English more and more after every chapter and every book.

Harry Potter’s saga is undoubtedly a pop culture work of art showing great complexity and beauty but also many possibilities to those wanting to improve their language skills and, consequently have a better chance of succeeding in a Cambridge Exam. c

For more magical ideas for the classroom or Exam preparation, take a look at Robert Dobie’s article on how to use the Harry Potter books or films for grammar practice.

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TOEFL vs TRINITY vs CAMBRIDGE

Looking for the right certification? Then, this post is for you. Here you can find a comparison among TOEFL , Trinity College  (Integrated Skills in English) and Cambridge certifications.

The first question you must ask yourself is what you need the certification for. Having that in mind, you must know that TOEFL prepares you for the academic English requirement of a university, since TOEFL prepares students who plan to study at a higher education institutions. Whereas Integrated Skills in English (ISE) exams are intended for young people and adults who prepare themselves for academic study and employability and Cambridge English qualifications are aimed at schools, general and higher education and business.

If you are still unsure which certification to take, then go on reading. We are going to analyse the different certifications in depth.

First of all, you must know that ISE and Cambridge exams are available at levels from A2 to C2 on the Common European Framework, so there is a level for every learner, however, TOEFL’s level ranges between Intermediate and Advanced. 

Secondly, the exam length isn’t the same either. The TOEFL exam consists of four sections, Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing, which take around four hours with a ten-minute break in between;  ISE consists of two exam modules Reading & Writing and Speaking & Listening that can be taken together, or at different times. The Reading & Writing module takes two hours and the Speaking & Listening takes from 13 to 25 minutes depending on the level chosen. Finally,  Cambridge exams are divided into four papers, Reading and Use of English, Writing, Listening and Speaking, which takes about three hours and a half.

Thirdly, the four skills are assessed by means of different tasks. These tasks might vary depending on the level so I have chosen B2 level of each certification in order to compare them. Here you have a table:

	TOEFL	CAMBRIDGE	ISE
READING	Read 3 or 4 passages from academic texts and answer questions (36-56)	(and Use of English). Seven parts: Multiple-choice cloze Open cloze, Word formation, Key word transformations).6 questions, Multiple choice, Gapped text, Multiple matching.	Four tasks: Long reading with 15 questions. Multi-text reading. (four texts). Reading into Writing. Extended writing.
WRITING	Write essay responses based on reading and listening tasks; support an opinion in writing (2 tasks)	Two parts: Compulsory question, Situationally based writing task
LISTENING	Listen to lectures, classroom discussions and conversations, then answer questions (34-51)	Four parts: Multiple choice Sentence completion Multiple matching Multiple choice	Four tasks: Topic. Collaborative. Conversation Independent listening.
SPEAKING	Express an opinion on a familiar topic; speak based on reading and listening tasks (6 tasks)	Four parts: Interview, Long turn, Collaborative task, Discussion

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