Make It Real! B1.2 Teacher's Book: English Language Learning

Teacher’s book
B1.2
Paul
Davies
Verónica
Espino Barranco
Claudia Liliana
Hernández Hernández
Laura
López González
®
© Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo
C. General Mariano Abasolo No. 600, Col. Centro, Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo, México, C.P. 42000
E-mail: editor@uaeh.edu.mx
Dirección Universitaria de Idiomas
No unauthorized photocopying.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo.
Make It Real! Professional
Teacher’s book B1.2
Editors: Paul Davies and Sarah Conway.
Coordinators: Diana Matxalen Hernández Cortes and Edward Amador Pliego.
Project manager: Claudia Liliana Hernández Hernández.
Authors:
Paul Davies, Verónica Espino Barranco,
Claudia Liliana Hernández Hernández and Laura López González.
Cover design: Nancy Yuridia Vega Ramírez.
Page design: Ariadna Meza Juárez and Nancy Yuridia Vega Ramírez.
Web materials developer and editor: Jacob Law.
Web developer: Jorge Alberto Hernández Téllez.
Illustrators: Sandra Candelaria Trejo and Ivan Emilio Tapia Camargo.
Photographers: Madian Zarai Guevara Medina and Gabriela Nayeli León García.
First published: 2016
1st printing: 2016
ISBN: 978-607-482-492-6
Make It Real! ® is a registered trademark
Printed in Mexico
Dear Teachers:
The Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo is one of the best universities in Latin America.
Reasons for this include our university’s academic impact and reputation, which depends mainly on
the quality of its teaching staff, its research quality and the employability of its graduates.
To improve the employability of our graduates further, we want to provide our teachers and students
with tools that can really enable our graduates to communicate effectively in English (listening,
speaking, reading and writing), which will contribute to the holistic development of their personal,
academic and occupational competences to their full potential. This is an area in which most
institutions of higher education in Mexico are notoriously unsuccessful, for a variety of reasons,
including the use of materials that are not designed for the characteristics and needs of their students.
The book you have in your hands, part of the “Make It Real!” series, is the result of a great effort of our
institution to provide you with material that is really appropriate for UAEH students. It works with
situations in which a high school or university graduate from Hidalgo could really need to use English.
It was developed based on an analysis of UAEH students’ present and future needs regarding the use
of English, in academic, occupational and social fields, and their characteristics as learners, including
the fact that they probably speak Spanish or Portuguese as a native language. We are sure that, with
your effort as teachers, our students, if they also make the necessary effort, can all become capable
of participating effectively in situations that require the use of English, whether in Hidalgo, elsewhere
in Mexico or in other countries.
The effort our university has put into this project confirms our commitment to quality in our academic
services, which depend most of all on you, our teachers. Specifically in the teaching of English, we are
aiming at higher, but realistic, goals.
Best wishes,
The President
INTRODUCTION TO MAKE IT REAL! B1.2
and intermediate level teaching
BACKGROUND TO THE MAKE IT REAL! PROJECT
The Make It Real! project was begun in 2013 as a response to the unsatisfactory level of English of most students
graduating from the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, as from most public institutions of higher education
and many private ones in Mexico and the rest of Latin America. The Make It Real! team analyzed the situation to
identify the main problems that were contributing to the poor results, and ways to solve the problems and improve
results. The team found that probable causes of the poor results included the following:
1 Most students entered higher (or tertiary) education with beginner or low elementary level English after six or more
years of courses in secondary education (equivalent to middle and high school in the USA). This naturally meant that
many had negative attitudes, low expectations and low motivation for further study of English.
2 The first, and often only, English courses in higher education generally repeated (albeit usually with better teachers)
what the students had done previously in secondary education, going through the same beginner-to-elementary
(A1-A2) language syllabuses with traditional methodology. This tended to consolidate the students’ negative
attitudes, low expectations and low motivation, and also their dependent, rather than autonomous, learning styles.
3 Most higher education courses followed the norms of international textbooks, which generally assume learners will
use English mainly in everyday social and transactional situations, especially in English-speaking countries. The
courses did not respond to the higher education students’ context and needs to try to provide them with English for
their real present and future lives.
4 Given the above factors, and also the conditions common in higher education ELT (curricular English in fairly large,
mixed-level groups), many teachers felt they could not apply the best ELT practice they studied in their professional
training (strongly communicative, learner-centered teaching) and used mainly traditional, teacher-centered
methodology.
This analysis led to decisions about the content and approach in the Make It Real! books and platforms. Problem 1,
unfortunately, cannot be changed by decisions and actions within institutions of higher education, and, for the
foreseeable future, most students will enter higher education in the same circumstances. However, Problem 2 is related
to Problem 1, and the Make It Real! books, platforms and teacher development program endeavor to make higher
education English courses distinctly different from and better than the courses students have had previously at school.
Problem 3 is also related to attitudes and motivation, as well as to the real lives and prospects of most higher education
students and graduates. A Student Needs Analysis was a key element in the development of the Make It Real! project,
and it indicated that most higher education students and graduates will not use English mainly in everyday situations
in English-speaking and other countries (though some will), but for their studies and work in their own country.
Consequently, the Make It Real! books focus more on English for study and work in the student’s own country than on
its everyday use in other countries (though they do not neglect that possibility), and the online platform includes work
on English for their area of higher education studies (ESP).
To overcome Problem 4, most higher education teachers probably need to be more ambitious and depart from
traditional, teacher-centered methodology. The Make It Real! books endeavor to help all teachers do the
learner-centered, communication-focused, autonomy-developing, lesson-planned teaching that today’s most
respected experts in EFL teaching recommend (and which some teachers are doing already, of course). However,
part of the problem has been the conditions of much English teaching in higher education (often by academic
semester rather than by English level, in groups of 30-40 students with different levels of English) and every effort
should be made to change and improve those conditions.
LEVELS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY, AND STAGES IN LEARNING
Make It Real! Professional B1.2 is the second intermediate level book in the series, as defined by the Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF) levels of language competence:
BASIC USER A1 Breakthrough or beginner (Make It Real! A1.1 and A1.2)
A2 Waystage or elementary (Make It Real! A2.1 and A2.2)
IV
INDEPENDENT USER B1 Threshold or intermediate (Make It Real! B1.1 and B1.2)
B2 Vantage or upper intermediate (Make It Real! B2.1 and B2.2)
PROFICIENT USER
C1 Effective Operational Proficiency or advanced: beyond the scope of the project
C2 Mastery or proficiency: beyond the scope of the project
(Note that Proficient User levels are usually achieved through extensive real world use of the target language, though
courses can help, and can certainly improve scores in high level proficiency tests like TOEFL iBT, TOEIC, IELTS,
CAE and CPE.)
With Make It Real! B1.2, then, we continue advancing on the Independent User side of a significant border between
two levels of proficiency in English (Basic User and Independent User). There are, of course, no actual borders in
language learning, except the artificial ones between courses in educational institutions, where students pass (or
don’t pass) from one course to the next. Real, functional, communicative language learning is a continual process,
a sort of journey, and usually an erratic one, often with interruptions.
However, there are typical stages and situations on that journey, and moving from one to another may sometimes
seem like crossing a border. Many successful foreign language learners can recall times when they felt lost or stuck,
and times when they seemed to advance, or even quite suddenly understand and communicate much better. The
good times are usually associated with better-than-usual learning circumstances – an outstanding English teacher,
a school or language center with excellent communicative English courses, a foreign friend to speak or correspond
with in English, a stay in an English-speaking country, employment in a company where English is a working
language, etc.
Continuing with the metaphor of language learning as a journey, we can say that the nature of the journey changes
as learners advance along the route. Students in a first or second higher education English course and those in a
sixth one (like B1.2) should not be distinguished only by the amount of grammar and vocabulary they know; they
should have changed as learners also. Beginners naturally tend to be dependent on teachers, reference books and
other sources of information and support, while intermediate learners are usually much more independent and do
not panic when they cannot understand everything. They can communicate much more fluently and confidently, and
with that ability, create and exploit many more learning opportunities – in class, online, with television, movies, songs
and more. Experienced intermediate teachers know all that and more about their students, but, unfortunately, there
has been very little research on typical differences between learners at different levels. What there is generally
supports the above description (though we should remember that there may be significant differences between
individual learners).
Glick (2014) compared the learning strategies used by American students studying Spanish in two courses – one
beginner and the other intermediate – in a state university (Penn State). She found that the intermediate students
used learning strategies only a little more than the beginners but they used many different strategies while the
beginners used very few. For the beginners, just one strategy dominated – the cognitive strategy of using reference
materials such as dictionaries (note that beginners often try to convert teachers into bilingual dictionaries and
grammar books). In contrast, the intermediate students frequently used various compensation and metacognitive
strategies as well as cognitive ones. Glick also noted a correlation between more use of strategies and better
grades, for both the beginner and the intermediate students: most of the intermediate students seemed to have
learned how to learn better (using many different strategies they had found effective), while only a few of the
beginners – the better language learners – had done so.
Perhaps more than strategy use, motivation is key to successful language learning (in fact, high motivation may lead
to more and better use of strategies). Dörnyei (1998) proposed the following components of motivation in classroom
language learning:
LANGUAGE RELATED: Integrative Motivation (wanting the language to interact with native speakers)
Instrumental Motivation (wanting the language for study, work, travel, a promotion, etc.)
LEARNER RELATED: Need for Achievement (wanting to succeed for the sake of self-esteem, etc.)
Self-Confidence (+/- Language Use Anxiety, +/- Perceived L2 Competence, +/- Self-Efficacy)
V
LEARNING SITUATION RELATED:
Course-Specific: Interest, Relevance, Expectancy of success, and Satisfaction provided by the course
Teacher-Specific: Aspects of the teacher's behavior, personality and teaching style
Group-Specific: Goal-orientedness, including Motivational Components, Norm & Reward System, Group
Cohesion, and Classroom Goal Structure
(Adapted from Dörnyei 1998)
All of these components are important in beginner and intermediate courses, but some should develop significantly
between beginner and intermediate level. Intermediate students in the UAEH should have more instrumental
motivation (and some of them more integrative motivation also). Having succeeded in getting to intermediate level,
they should have more need for further achievement, and more self-confidence. The Learning Situation related
components obviously depend on the learning situation – the conditions in the institution, the course and the
teacher – but the nature of most intermediate textbooks (and certainly Make It Real! B1.1 and B1.2, we hope)
should stimulate teachers to be more motivating and students to be more motivated.
Teaching experience suggests that, though intermediate learners have usually progressed considerably in listening
and reading comprehension and, to some extent, fluency in speaking, many may still struggle a bit with speaking
and writing, especially in terms of accuracy. In fact, many may still be making a lot of mistakes with A1-A2 level
language. Of course, there is more essential grammar in A1-A2 than in B1-B2 and beyond, and the intermediate
learner has to work as much on gaining automatic accuracy, fluency and confidence with A1-A2 grammar as on
learning new B1-B2 grammar. Language learning at intermediate level also begins to shift towards more vocabulary
and rhetorical appropriacy (register, style, etc.).
We have considered what intermediate learners are typically like, and what they should be like. If most students in
an intermediate class you are beginning to teach are reluctant to speak English almost all the time, turning to their
native language whenever they can, and seem to want to turn you into a sort of speaking dictionary and grammar
book, something is seriously wrong with them – not as people, of course, but as intermediate learners of English! It
is probably not their fault, though, but the fault of the English courses they have had prior to the one you are
teaching.
TEACHING INTERMEDIATE LEVEL COURSES (IN HIGHER EDUCATION)
Let us first attend to the parenthesis because it is fundamental to the Make It Real! project, which is all about
teaching English to your higher education students (not any students anywhere in your country or the world). Who
are the students in your intermediate courses, specifically? Almost all are:
• Latin Americans (not Turks, Indonesians, Chinese, Koreans, etc.),
• between 18 and 25 or so (not 11 to 17 year-olds),
• usually in third semester or above of higher education (with some serious professional study behind them), and
• they will use English mainly for their study, work and personal interests in their own country, though some will use
it abroad occasionally and a few frequently.
That general description of your students has important implications for what English you teach them, and how you
teach them, and we have tried to make Make It Real! B1.2 respond to these implications.
The general approach recommended for the Make It Real! intermediate courses is essentially the same as for the
basic courses, since your intermediate students have a lot in common with your basic students (they are usually just
a bit older and more mature, which is a positive factor). However, a major part of the work of the teachers of
beginners’ courses is learner training, while most students in intermediate courses should be functioning
reasonably well as learners. The teachers of beginners’ courses usually have to work very hard and ingeniously at
first to stop students using their native language unnecessarily all the time and establish English as the main
classroom language; to show students that they can understand short, fairly formal texts quite well without being
taught all the grammar and vocabulary first (and, in fact, without understanding all the grammar and vocabulary);
VI
to get students to discover (with help, through structured tasks) how areas of grammar work and not passively
wait for the teacher to explain everything, again and again; and so on. In short, the teachers of beginners’
courses have to change the bad attitudes and study habits most students bring with them from their secondary
education English courses.
Teachers of intermediate courses in your institution of higher education should not have to do all that, and, from
the start, they should be able to run the course almost entirely in English, and get willing and imaginative
participation from students, both in all kinds of communicative activities (the main focus of the course) and when
working on language. They should not have to work hard to establish the Make It Real! approach in general, but
simply work on the areas of language learning that most, some, or a few students are not handling well.
However, we mentioned that there are sometimes supposed intermediate students, or even groups, that are
reluctant to speak English almost all the time, continually turning to their native language if permitted, and that
seem to want to turn their teacher into a speaking dictionary and grammar book. In such cases, the teacher’s
priority at the beginning of the course should be to give those students, or the whole group, a sort of crash-course
in language learning, doing quickly what should have been done during the basic courses the students have had
previously. The teacher must try to turn them quickly into better language learners. Then the teacher can begin
to teach them effectively using the Make It Real! approach – learner-centered, communication-focused, and
autonomy-developing. That means creating lesson plans that:
• use material and activities that relate to the students’ current and prospective needs: English for higher
education, for professional work and development in their own country, for personal interests, for possible
travel or stays abroad, etc.
• begin with communicative activities: greetings and chat, a pair or group speaking activity, a reading activity
plus speaking related to the reading, etc.
• overall, have more genuine communicative activities than focus on language: by working on communicative
skills, the teacher is also working on language, of course, making recognition and production of grammatical,
lexical and discourse items more automatic, attending to major language problems that arise in
communication, etc.
• focus on language through the students rather than to the students: rather than explaining, giving rules, giving
more examples, translating, etc., the teacher should get students to explain, come up with rules and more
examples, translate (if appropriate), etc. That requires the teacher to be ready with structured
language-focused tasks and prompts that help students to recall or discover how bits of language work.
• remember that most language-focused work at intermediate level is on A1-A2 language that most, some, or a
few students have not mastered yet, and on new vocabulary; there are relatively few new grammar items.
Because most grammar work is on ‘old’ items, which students should know already, it is even more vital for the
students themselves to remember or work it out and become more autonomous learners.
• usually end with a communicative activity.
In Make It Real! B1.2 Student’s Book and Teacher’s Guide we have done our best to provide teachers of
intermediate courses in Latin American institutions of higher education with appropriate material and teaching
ideas, understanding and hoping that most teachers will incorporate some of their own material and ideas, with
their specific students in mind.
References
Dörnyei, Z. 1998. ‘Motivation in second and foreign language learning’. In Language Teaching, 31.
At http://www.zoltandornyei.co.uk/uploads/1998-dornyei-lt.pdf
Glick. B. 2014. ‘A comparison of language learning strategies used by beginning and intermediate college
learners in Spanish classrooms’. In ICERI 2014 Proceedings (7th International Conference of Education,
Research and Innovation).
At https://library.iated.org/view/GLICK2014ACO
VII
2.2
Personal plans
and preferences
page 17
2.1
Career plans
and ambitions
page 13
UNIT / LESSON
TOPICS
2
UNIT
1.2
University for
me from now on
page 5
1.1
University for
me so far
page 1
UNIT / LESSON
TOPICS
1
UNIT
• University/academic
vocabulary
• Communicating about what
students need to do in order
to graduate, their social lives
at university, their theses, etc.
• Life stories and lifestyles
vocabulary
• Communicating about
lifestyles, personal
relationships, marriage /
family (or not), etc.
• Mixed grammar review
+ will have …ed (future perfect)
+ Compound adjectives
+ Adverbs so/such (… that…) and
too/enough (…for…to…)
+ post modification of nouns
with participle and preposition
phrases
• Mixed grammar review
+ was/were going to + verb
(future in past)
GRAMMAR REVIEW + EXTENSION
Proficiency Assessment 2, page 21
• Compound nouns, and
noun + noun
VOCABULARY
• Mixed grammar review
+ Present reported/indirect
speech or thought
+ Speech and thought verbs
+ Past reported/indirect speech
or thought
• Mixed grammar review
+ has/have been …ing (present perfect
continuous)
GRAMMAR REVIEW + EXTENSION
Proficiency Assessment 1, page 9
• Communicating about plans
and ambitions
NOTIONS / FUNCTIONS
Y OUR FUTU R E LIFE
• University vocabulary
VOCABULARY
• Communicating about
students’ university life up to
now: how university life has
changed, university
resources, a typical day, etc.
NOTIONS / FUNCTIONS
UNIV ERS ITY LI FE
• Reading: Blog post on the differences between real lives and
life stories in books and movies
• Listening: Talk about two very different life stories
• Speaking: Comparing own lives to parents’ lives.
• Writing: Text about plans and hopes for personal life
• Reading: Article on achieving professional success
• Listening: Job interview
• Speaking: Discussing preparations for after graduation
• Writing: Cover letter
COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS
• Reading: Manual on writing a thesis
• Listening: Conversations in university contexts
• Speaking: Discussing university social life
• Writing: Proposal for a thesis project
• Reading: Freshman welcome on university website
• Listening: Tutorial on how to use a digital library
• Speaking: Discussing university resources
• Writing: Describing a typical college day
COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS
CONTENTS
4.2
English for
personal and
social purposes
page 41
4.1
English for
academic and
occupational
purposes
page 37
UNIT / LESSON
TOPICS
4
UNIT
3.2
The state of the
human world
page 29
3.1
The state of the
natural world
page 25
UNIT / LESSON
TOPICS
3
UNIT
• Communicating about using
English for socializing with
foreigners, travel, etc.
• Communicating about
learning and using English
NOTIONS / FUNCTIONS
• Vocabulary for social
situations
• Mixed grammar review
• Verb tenses and structures
+ Prepositions
+ Prepositions after verbs and
past participle adjectives
• Mixed grammar review
• Common errors (especially
errors made by Latin American learners of
English)
+ Expressing ideas in different ways
• Mixed grammar review
+ Phrasal verbs
+ Connectors
+ either / neither / both / or / nor / and, used
alone and in combination
GRAMMAR REVIEW + EXTENSION
Proficiency Assessment 4, page 45
• Vocabulary common in
academic texts
VOCABULARY
USE S OF E NGLIS H
• Vocabulary for human
activities and behavior
• Communicating about social
and political issues.
• Mixed grammar review
+ Uses of -self/-selves pronouns (myself,
yourself, etc.; ourselves, yourselves, etc.)
+ get/have something done (causative)
GRAMMAR REVIEW + EXTENSION
Proficiency Assessment 3, page 33
• Environmental vocabulary
VOCABULARY
• Communicating about the
environmental situation, in
Mexico and around the world
NOTIONS / FUNCTIONS
THE W ORLD AROUND US
• Reading: Blog post about the importance of English in one
learner’s life
• Listening: Chat between two friends (one Mexican, one
American) on Spanish and English music
• Speaking: Comparing experiences of using English in social
situations and the importance of English in students’ (or others’) lives
• Writing: E-mail to an English-speaking friend, declining a
wedding invitation
• Reading: Back cover of an academic book
• Listening: Part of a seminar
• Speaking: Discussion of English in students’
academic/professional fields and their English abilities
• Writing: Brief summary of a short article or text related to
students’ academic/professional fields
COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS
• Reading: Article on the League of Nations and the United Nations
• Listening: Part of a Politics lecture
• Speaking: Discussion of social and political issues in students’
country
• Writing: Text about the country in the Americas that students
admire most
• Reading: Article on attitudes towards environmental protection
• Listening: Conversation about environmental policies in Costa Rica
• Speaking: Discussion of environmental issues in students’ own
area and in their country
• Writing: Facebook post, tweet or similar online post about the
environmental situation in students’ city or country
COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS
UNIT
1
A
U NI V E RS I T Y L I F E
Lesson 1
University for me so far
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
In pairs, talk about what you can
remember about your first month at
college (see the note about college and
university on the right). What was good
and bad about it for you?
Has university life changed much for you
since then? Have you changed much?
COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY
In the USA, a college is any higher education center immediately after high
school. Two-year colleges offer certificates and associate degrees, and
four-year ones offer bachelor’s degrees. Four-year colleges are usually part
of a university, with post-graduate and research programs also. So students
in a four-year undergraduate program leading to a bachelor’s degree are at
college and university, but they usually refer to it as college.
In Britain, Australia and other English-speaking countries, college usually
refers only to vocational training centers, not universities (except when
referring to the constituent colleges of collegiate universities, like Oxford,
Cambridge and London).
READING
1 Read the following post on a university website, and answer these questions: Who posted it? Julia Simmons, Dean
of Freshmen. Why? To welcome freshmen and give them some advice. Does the post remind you of your own
experiences?
UNIVERSITY OF GREEN VALE
ABOUT
ADMISSIONS / AID
ACADEMICS
RESEARCH
LIFE AT UGV
Welcome, all freshmen!
1 On behalf of the faculty and administrative
staff of the University of Green Vale, I would like
to welcome all freshmen (women and men) to our
prestigious institution of higher study and research.
You are about to begin an important and exciting
new chapter in your lives. UGV has been receiving
freshmen for one hundred and three years now, and
we are proud to help generation after generation of
people like you advance towards your ambitions
and dreams.
responsible for it. Your professors will not call your
parents if you don’t study and get pass grades!
2 As Dean of Freshmen at UGV, I am here to
help you join and participate in our community of
enthusiastic students, staff and researchers. To
do that, you may need to start seeing some things
differently than you did in high school. So, let me
begin by mentioning some of the differences you will
probably notice in college.
5 Apart from understanding how higher education
works, you need to become familiar with UGV’s
resources, for study and personal development.
Explore this website thoroughly, if you haven’t already.
Go to ACADEMICS and the UNDERGRADUATE
submenu. There you will find most of what you need
to know about the programs you enroll in, both your
minors and, when you are ready, your major. Under
LIFE AT UGV you will find the wide range of cultural,
sporting and social resources and activities available.
And don’t miss the Welcome Week sessions and
events starting on July 24!
3 At school, you had teachers and classes; in
college, you have professors and lectures (and
seminars, workshops and tutorials, according to the
programs you enroll in). Most of your high school
teachers were probably obsessed with results in
tests, and reprimanded, or even punished you, if you
didn’t study and didn’t pass those tests; in college,
you have to get pass grades in assignments and
tests, of course, but it is entirely your responsibility
to study, do assignments and prepare yourself for
tests. The professors give you information, ideas,
tools and guidance for learning, but you alone are
1
University life
4 Of course, taking responsibility for your own
learning and work is the key to success, not only in
college, but in life. It is also the main key to satisfaction
and honest pride in whatever you do and achieve in
life. Always remember that college is intended to
help you to prepare yourself for your future working
life, and your adult life in general.
6 You can follow and interact with me online at
twitter.com/freshmendeanugv and facebook.com/
freshmendeanugv. Throughout the semester I’ll be
posting articles and notes to inform and help you,
as well as reminders about upcoming events and
deadlines. Make your first semester a really, really
great one!
Julia Simmons
UNIT
U NI V E RS I T Y L IF E
1
UNIT OBJECTIVES:
1 To ensure that all your students are totally committed to using English as the main classroom language.
2 To ensure that all your students see communicative competence in English as the course goal, with the
3
4
5
6
development of communicative skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing).
To consolidate your students’ awareness of the importance of English in their lives.
To consolidate and extend your students’ vocabulary to communicate about their lives as students in
higher education.
To consolidate and extend your students’ grammar, especially to:
- communicate about events, activities and situations up to now (now adding past perfect continuous)
- report speech and thought (now adding past tense reporting)
- identify and correct errors.
To consolidate and develop your students’ learning skills and autonomy.
Lesson 1
A
University for me so far
Developing your
communicative skills
This skills section (reading, listening, speaking, writing and integrated skills) aims to ensure that communication is the
first and main area of activity of the course as well as its goal. This is more important than ever as your students advance
through the intermediate area. Students should communicate here principally with the language resources they have
accumulated over their years of studying English. If some of them use the new language that is to be worked on in the
Consolidating and developing your English language section, that is fine, but do not interrupt the communicative activities
to start working on that language in this section. In fact, there will probably be no language in this book that is new for all
your students, given the different experiences of English they have had getting to this intermediate level. Keep the focus
strongly on communication, with some attention to problems your students have with language they are ‘supposed to
know’ already, with creative remedial work.
SPEAKING
This activity aims to introduce the topics of the lesson – people’s experiences in higher education – and activate your
students’ existing repertoire of English. In the first class of the semester you will probably not start using the book
material (some students may not be there yet, there may be many students without books, etc.), but you can read out the
instructions or copy them onto the board and have your students do the task. Keep the pair work fairly short unless your
students are really enthusiastic and are communicating well, and then get students to share with the class some of the
memories and thoughts they talked about in pairs.
The note about college and university may generate more speaking as well as clarifying – we hope! – a rather complex
and fluid area of usage. Note that most undergraduate or bachelor degrees in the UK and Australia, and many in
Canada, are three years, not four. Note also that Oxford and Cambridge Universities have 38 and 31 constituent
colleges respectively, the oldest of them founded in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Most of these colleges are for
undergraduate and postgraduate studies, but some are for postgraduate studies only, which turns the American idea of
college on its head! Nonetheless, and unsurprisingly, American usage is tending to spread.
READING
1 Before they read, ask your students about the website of their own institution of higher education, and about any
events or services specifically for freshmen (new students). Then have them do task 1, and compare and discuss their
answers in pairs or groups. After they have done that, check with the class, but do not discuss the article in depth at
this point.
You may want to discuss the term freshmen with your students (especially from the gender perspective) and the related
terms, sophomore, junior and senior. There is an increasing awareness of inappropriate gender-specific language in
English as well as in other languages, but freshperson/people does not seem to be replacing freshman/men yet! It
could happen, because chairperson, or simply chair, has replaced chairman in many contexts.
University life
1T
2 In which of the six paragraphs of the post can you find the following information?
2
3
1 The writer’s position in the university. __
4 Differences between high school and college. __
5
2 Where to find out about extra-curricular activities. __
1
3 How old the university is. __
6
5 How to keep in touch with the writer. __
4
6 The purpose of a college education. __
3 Answer the following questions about the post. Then discuss your answers in pairs.
1 What would you expect in each submenu (ABOUT, etc.)?
Answers will vary.
2 In the first paragraph, who does faculty refer to?
Academic staff, professors and researchers.
3 What does the Dean of Freshmen do at UGV?
Help new students join and participate in the community.
LISTENING Track 1
4 Does paragraph 3 apply to your country too?
Answers will vary.
5 Where would an athlete look on the website?
A submenu under LIFE AT UGV.
6 What other support is there for freshmen?
Welcome Week, and the Dean’s posts.
1 Listen to a tutorial on how to use the UGV Digital Library. Number the order in which the features of the resource (A-E)
are mentioned.
UNIVERSITY OF GREEN VALE
Preselection
B 1
Digital Library
Find And Read
C 2
A 3
Services
D 5
JULY
Library News
E 4
Track 2
2 Listen to the tutorial again and answer the following questions about it.
1 Has the UGV Digital Library existed for a long time?
5 What is the CONTINUE option for?
No, it’s new.
To continue reading where you stopped before.
2 Can students still sit in a UGV library and study there?
6 When does the chat service start and end?
Yes, in a quiet and comfortable environment.
At 6am and 12am, Monday through Friday.
3 Where do you collect books you have preselected online?
7 What kind of events are in the calendar?
Events related to the Library, literature and reading.
At the Library reception desk.
4 How can students read UGV Library books at home?
8 What is there in the SERVICES menu?
By searching for and reading them online.
Answers to FAQs, assistance for users with
different capabilities, seminars and clubs.
SPEAKING
In groups, talk about your
university’s library and other
resources for individual study.
How much do you use them?
What other study resources
do you use? What do you
think of the UGV Library (in the
photo) and the Digital Library
(described in the tutorial)?
WRITING
In an e-mail to you, a foreign
friend described a day in
college and asked you about
your typical college day. Reply,
telling your friend about the
main things you did today, from
the time you arrived at college
to the time you left.
2
University life
READING
2 This activity is intended to check and develop text navigation skills, which start with preliminary scanning, but are also
required when you look back at a text you have already read. It should be quickly done and then checked.
3 This activity explores the text more fully, and calls for more reader participation (remember that meaning is not only IN a
text, but also CONSTRUCTED by interaction between a reader and a text), and should generate discussion in the pair
stage.
In 1, ABOUT may include some history of the university, its values, its facilities, etc., ADMISSIONS / AID the requirements
and procedures for admission, scholarships, etc., and so on. In 4, the answers will vary according to the country and each
student’s experiences and perceptions. In the other questions, the answers are specific.
LISTENING
1 Make sure your students understand the webpage before you play the track and have them do the task. This is listening
practice, not a test, so repeat the track for students to complete or check the first task if you feel that would be helpful.
Leave the final checking of answers with the whole group until after the second task.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
Welcome to the new University of Green Vale Digital Library. Our online system puts library resources just a click
away, at any time, from any place. We have been thinking of you and your needs!
You can preselect physical books, journals and other materials online, and collect them in the UGV Library at a
given time. In the Library you’ll find a quiet and comfortable environment for study, with library staff ready to assist
you at all times. For online preselection of material, go to PRESELECTION and use the search menus. Then simply
ask for the material at the Library reception desk.
You can also find many digitalized books, journals and other materials online, and search and read them on any
computer. This option is ideal for those of you who can’t spend much time in the UGV Library, or want to study
outside Library hours. For this option, go to FIND AND READ and use the submenus. When you finish a study
session, you can save the material you’ve selected and continue where you left off in your next session by clicking
on CONTINUE in the FIND AND READ menu.
If you need assistance when using the UGV Digital Library, you can get help from our 6am to 12am chat service,
Monday through Friday. To access it, simply click on the chat icon at the top right hand corner of our home page.
On our homepage you’ll also find a calendar of recent and upcoming events related to the UGV Library and to
literature and reading in general, as well as the latest library news. This section is updated frequently so check it
regularly so as not to miss events and new acquisitions and services.
And finally, speaking of services, explore the SERVICES menu. You’ll find all sorts of interesting and useful things,
from answers to Frequently Asked Questions, through assistance for users with different capabilities, to seminars
and clubs for users.
2 Give students time to read and think about the questions before you play the track once more. Again, as this is listening
practice, not a test, repeat the track for students to complete or check the second task if you feel that would be helpful.
When you check the answers to the two tasks with the whole group, you can play the track yet again, pausing at key
points, so that the students can confirm the information in the text. Mention the abbreviation of Frequently Asked
Questions – FAQs – in case some students do not know this common acronym.
SPEAKING
To start things off, you could ask a few questions and get some answers and discussion about the topic before your
students discuss it in groups. Go round the groups showing interest and helping if necessary. Get feedback from the
groups after their discussion.
WRITING
Before you have your students do the task, probably for homework, you could get them to suggest opening and closing
sentences, e.g. Today has been just another typical day for me / the best/worst day I have had for a long time. You could
set a strict word range, e.g. 40-60 words, or you could leave it quite open, e.g. 40-100 words, to give stronger, keener
students space to explore their ability to write in English. After checking the tasks, read out some of the best sentences or
groups of sentences and comment on them to show the whole class what is possible for them at this level.
University life
2T
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Mixed verb tenses
Complete the comments about university life, made by students from around the world. Use the verbs in parentheses in
their appropriate forms. In some cases, you must use a modal verb like can, must or should.
has changed (change) dramatically since I 2_____________
started
My life 1__________________
(start) college a year ago. I am from the
is located (locate). After a year, I 4__________
am/have only
countryside, hundreds of miles from where my university 3_______________
beginning/begun
_________________ (begin) to get used to being a college student in a big city instead of a schoolboy in an isolated village.
Meiyun Han, China
am doing
have lived
(live) in Recife all my life, I 6_______________
(do) my last year at university in Recife, and I
I 5__________________
live/am
living
should be
7____________________ (live) with my parents. Life 8________________
(modal / be) really easy for me, but it isn’t. The stress
(including a difficult boyfriend and living with my parents) is almost too much for me!
Luiza Ferreira, Brazil
am enjoying/enjoy (enjoy) university life enormously. It 10_____________
seems
After only one month, I 9______________________
(seem) to me that
was
not
will get/is going to get
school 11_______________ (not / be) the right place for me, and university is. I am sure that it 12_________________________
(get) better and better for me, month by month, year by year.
Lars Eriksson, Sweden
did not start
was
I 13____________________
(not / start) college until I 14_____________
(be) twenty-one years old, so it is a bit different for me
was
working
started
than for most undergrad students. I 15______________________ (work) full-time when I 16________________
(start) college, and
working
am
I 17________ still _______________ (work) part-time to pay the fees.
Jenny Scott, Canada
do not like
must pass
I 18____________________
(not / like) my degree program very much, but, with just one year to go, I really 19_______________
have
invested
(modal / pass) all the courses and graduate. I 20_____________________ (invest) too much time, money and effort in
university to fail to graduate now!
Kedar Sharma, India
2 REVIEW: Mixed verb tenses, questions and answers
Complete questions about the students in 1 above. There are different possibilities for some of the questions. Then ask
and answer the questions in pairs.
changed
Has
1 ________
Meiyun’s life _____________
much since last year?
did
start college?
2 When ________
he ________
is
located
3 Where ________
his university ___________?
is/has he only ___________________
beginning/begun to get used to?
4 What ________
lived in Recife all her life?
Has
5 ________
Luiza ________
Does/Is she still ____________
live/living with her parents?
6 ________
is
enjoying
7 Who __________________ college life enormously?
3
University life
Was school/Is college
8 ________________________
the right place for Lars?
started
9 Who _______________
college at 21?
Was she working
10 __________________________
full-time at that time?
Is she working
11 ________________________
full-time now?
like his degree program?
Does
12 _________
Kedar _______
(different possibilities)
13 Who __________________________?
(different possibilities)
14 Where __________________________?
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
This section provides you with resources for consolidating language which all your students should know and use well by
now, but some may not, and for focusing on language which is probably new for many students. You should create lesson
plans that include exercises from this section, along with ideas and material of your own. These ideas and activities may
include additional language work, communicative activities, games, songs, etc. This is where you can be a really creative,
autonomous teacher!
1 REVIEW: Mixed verb tenses
Mixed item exercises require skills similar to those needed for actual communicative use of language, in which you
never know exactly what grammar is coming next. The use of grammar in communication is not like doing traditional
grammar exercises, focused artificially on one grammar point; it requires flexibility and agility, and an ability to see the
clues and constraints in the context. In this specific exercise those skills are restricted to verbs structures only, but the
principle holds.
Go through the illustrations first, getting your students to tell you what they can guess about the people and matching
them to the people in the exercise. Then have the students do the exercise and check it with a partner before you
check with the whole group. Note that 4, 7, 9 and 12 have two options. Point out that this is common – language is
not always a matter of right or wrong options, but often of alternative options. There may be virtually no difference in
meaning, a slight difference, or notable one: in 7, am living perhaps suggesting a wish to make the situation temporary
and move out as soon as possible. You could ask the students if similar options, and any additional ones, are possible
here in their native language.
2 REVIEW: Mixed verb tenses, questions and answers
This continues on from the previous task, with more attention to structure (interrogative) now required. Similar alternative
options to those in task 1 apply to 4 and 6, and a new pair of alternatives for 8. The different possibilities in 13 include
questions with Who as object (Who does Luiza live with? etc.) as well as Who as subject (Who lives with her parents?
etc.). Be prepared to do extra work on any things that several students still seem to be having trouble with.
University life
3T
3 NEW FOCUS: Present perfect continuous
Read the following sentences (from the reading and listening texts) and answer the three questions.
UGV has been receiving freshmen for one hundred and three years.
We have been thinking of you and your needs!
1 Is the grammar of the equivalent sentences in your language similar or very different? In Spanish - similar.
2 Which sentences below, A or B, emphasize that something is unfinished or is going to continue? B
A UGV has received over 100 generations of freshmen. B UGV has been receiving freshmen for 103 years.
We have thought of you and your needs.
We have been thinking of you and your needs.
3 Which sentence below, A or B, indicates that something is temporary or recent? A
A Julia has been working on the Welcome Week program.
B She has worked at UGV for twenty years.
Complete the sentences with the words in parentheses in the appropriate form and structure.
John has been working
1
2 Jill has finished
(John / work) hard on the Genetics assignment since last Monday.
(Jill / finish) it already, and is going to hand it in tomorrow.
3
Have you been following
(you / follow) the new TV series, “Friends in Need”? No,
4 Where has Fred been living
5
Have you handed in
6
I have not been feeling
(Fred / live) since he moved out of the dorm?
(you / hand in) the assignment yet? Yes,
I gave
(I / not / feel) well for several days, and
I haven’t
(I / not / have).
In an apartment, with friends.
(I / give) it to the professor yesterday.
I have lost
(I / lose) my appetite.
4 REVIEW: University vocabulary
In pairs, complete the sentences with one word in each space. More than one word is possible in some cases.
undergraduate
1 We offer four-year ___________________
programs leading
graduate
degree
to a bachelor’s ____________. Students can ______________
with a thesis, or just with the required number of credits and a
grade
satisfactory ______________
average.
faculty
2 The university’s _____________
consists of more than 300
professors and researchers, and we also have over 300
staff
administrative __________.
Many professors teach and also do
research
________________.
resources
library
3 The university ___________
offers you different ______________
for study and research – books, journals and more, in our
modern building or online. You can also buy books in the
bookstore
university _________________.
ation
ity organiz
s
r
e
iv
n
u
t
tr y
Note tha
fro m co un
y
r
a
v
y
g
olo
eaching
an d ter min
ain, most t
it
r
B
n
I
.
y
cturers
to co untr
e calle d le
r
a
s
ic
m
e
d
n as
aca
s are know
e
n
o
p
o
t
ly a
an d only
culty is on
fa
a
d
n
a
scho ol,
professors,
sity, like a
r
e
iv
n
u
a
ff.
part of
a demic sta
not the ac
5 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Individually, underline vocabulary and grammar you think are wrong in the following text. Then, in pairs, compare and
discuss what you have underlined. There are eight mistakes.
My first year at university was difficult. I was not used to working alone, without my high school
professors teachers pushing me all the time. Live Living away from home, without my parents to
control me, was a problem too. I spent too much time talking and doing almost nothing with others
students, and was I went to bed very late. Fortunately, a student who was very serious became my
friend. She has being been a very good influence on me, and I am doing much more better this year.
I study a lot in the library now, that which I did not do last year.
When you have agreed on what the errors are, correct them individually. Then compare your corrections with a
different partner.
4
University life
3 NEW FOCUS: past perfect continuous
The inductive (guided discovery or consciousness-raising) approach in this material is fundamental in Make It Real!, and
it not only follows the indications of the most respected language acquisition research and theory, but also the policies of
most modern institutions of higher education, which promote learner autonomy.
Get your students to read the two sentences and answer the three questions individually, and then compare their answers
in pairs or groups. Check with the whole class, and help any students that fail to see that:
- the grammar of Spanish is similar, though alternative forms may be more common (e.g. Llevo ocho años estudiando
inglés rather than He estado estudiando inglés (desde hace) ocho años).
- the simple and the continuous of the present perfect are sometimes completely interchangeable, but the former often
suggests something completed and perhaps some time in the past (e.g. She has learned five languages), while
the latter almost always suggests something not yet completed and recent or temporary (e.g. He has been learning
Mandarin).
The above observations apply to the sentence completions:
- The simple and continuous forms are interchangeable in 1, 4 and the first space of 6, with just a nuance of difference.
- The simple form is necessary in 2, 5 and the second space of 6.
- The continuous form is necessary in 3.
4 REVIEW: University vocabulary
Have your students do the exercise individually and then check in pairs before you check with the whole group.
The note continues from the one on college and university. Education is a cultural matter, and cultures differ from country
to country. In the USA, when an adult says I’m going back to school, it is understood that he or she means university; in
Britain people would respond with something like, I beg your pardon? or You mean, to visit your old school?
5 EDITING AND CORRECTING
This task aims to develop the students’ ability to edit texts, correcting and improving them, which is a very important skill
for any writer. It also prepares students for a type of exercise in TOEFL ITP tests. Make sure your students do the task as
indicated in the instructions:
1 Individually, they should try to identify and underline the eight errors in the text.
2 In pairs, have them compare and discuss what they think the errors are. There will probably be differences of opinion
in most pairs – students often think things that are correct are wrong, and fail to notice things that are wrong. That is
a major problem with editing and correcting. You may want to intervene at this point and confirm with the whole class
what the eight errors are, but without discussing or correcting them.
3 Ask your students to try to correct the eight errors individually.
4 Have students work with new partners to compare their corrections. Again, there will probably be differences of opinion,
but together, most pairs should be able to agree on the corrections.
This combination of individual work and pair work should help students develop editing and correcting skills, and develop
their learner autonomy. Remember, you should be teaching students to use English without the help of a teacher.
However, they do have you as their teacher now, so you will obviously confirm the corrections with the class after the last
pair work activity.
Most of the corrections in this particular text are quite obvious in themselves, but many students may not remember that
that cannot be used after a comma, that is, in a non-defining or parenthetical clause.
University life
4T
Lesson 2
A
University for me from now on
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
In pairs or groups, discuss what you need to do in order to
graduate and receive your degree. Consider:
How many semesters do you have to complete?
Are there any especially difficult courses to take and pass?
Do you have to get a certain minimum grade average?
Will you have to write a thesis?
What administrative or other formalities are there?
Should you work harder now, or continue as in the past?
READING
1 Read the extracts from a manual on writing a thesis. In pairs, identify the topic of each extract.
Extract 1 The purposes of theses
This manual guides students through the challenging
task of writing a thesis. The main educational objective
of writing a thesis is to develop in students the ability to
carry out and clearly report research. In addition, the
research underlying a thesis should contribute to the
growing body of knowledge and ideas produced in this
university. The thesis should make knowledge and ideas
available to other students and staff at the university,
and to the wider academic world.
Extract 2 The thesis review process
All theses, without exception, must be reviewed and
approved by the University Office of Theses and
Dissertations. The approval application form can be
downloaded at http://ugv.otd/app.form. The thesis title
entered on the form must be exactly the same as on
the title page of the thesis. All sections of the form must
be completed according to the instructions, and the
form must be submitted with the thesis, as a separate
document.
Extract 3 Ethical issues
Ethical issues arise when research involves human
beings or animals as subjects, and when it involves
biological and radioactive risks. Research ethics
emphasizes the protection of the privacy of human
participants, especially vulnerable ones such as children
and people with cognitive impairment. Great care
should be taken over acquiring the informed consent
of participants or their legal representatives, and over
protecting confidentiality and concealing identity.
5
University life
Citations and references, avoidance
Extract 4 of plagiarism
Citations and references are vital elements of
academic papers, but plagiarism means a thesis will
be automatically rejected, so great care must be taken.
Signed permission from the creator(s) or publisher(s)
must be obtained for all copyright material in a thesis.
This generally means long quotations, diagrams,
photographs and illustrations. Short quotations and
paraphrasing do not require permission, but full
references must be included in the thesis, according to
academic norms.
Extract 5 Style and format
Style and format must be consistent throughout a
thesis, with style conforming to accepted norms in your
field of study. See the Format Manual for Theses and
Dissertations for the physical appearance of your final
thesis document: the design, order and contents of the
front and end matter, width of margins, page numbering
and so on.
Extract 6 Submission of theses
Deadlines for the submission of theses are strictly
enforced, and no exceptions are made. It is advisable
to submit your thesis at least four weeks before the
deadline if you want to ensure that all requirements are
met for the conferral of the degree at the first opportunity.
Electronic submission opens on the first day of classes
each quarter, while paper submissions are open from
the fifth week of each quarter.
Lesson 2
A
University for me from now on
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
Look at the illustration with your students and get them to say what each of the people in the picture is doing. Invite them
to speculate on whether the students in the picture are at the beginning, middle or end of their higher education, and say
what makes them think that. Ask them if they are often in situations like the ones shown in the picture.
Then have your students do the task, telling them to work through the questions one by one. Monitor and help as
necessary. In feedback, focus especially on the question about writing a thesis, as this is the topic of the reading passage.
READING
1 Have your students read the text individually before they do the task in pairs. Be prepared for the student to express the
topics of the paragraphs in different ways, but make sure they all finally agree on the central topic of each paragraph.
University life
5T
2 Read the extracts again and answer these questions.
1 What is the purpose of a thesis or dissertation?
7 How would you define plagiarism?
To develop the ability to carry out and report research, etc. Copying without recognizing the author of the original.
2 Who has access to approved theses and dissertations?
8 Is a reference enough for all quotations?
Students and staff at the university, and other academics.
No, signed permission is needed in some cases.
3 What does the Office of Theses and Dissertations do?
9 Is academic writing style the same in all fields?
Review and approve (or reject) theses.
No, there are different norms in different fields of study.
4 When must the approval application form be submitted? 10 What does deadline mean?
At the same time as the thesis.
The date by which something must be done.
5 Does all research involve ethical issues?
11 Which two ways can you submit a thesis?
No, only research that involves certain things.
Electronically or printed out on paper.
6 What does informed consent mean?
12 What different things can cause a thesis to fail?
Plagiarism, wrong style or format, missed deadline.
Permission given when fully informed about something.
3 In groups, discuss the information and ideas in the extracts in relation to your studies. If you do not have to write a
thesis or dissertation, talk about written assignments.
LISTENING Track 3
1 Listen to short conversations in university contexts. Match them with three of the following illustrations.
1
3
Conversation __
2
x
Conversation __
3
2
Conversation __
4
1
Conversation __
Track 4
2 Read the statements and listen again. Circle T if the statements are true or F if they are false.
Conversation 1:
1 It is the professor’s first class of the year with these students. 2 The professor has just got back home from a trip with her family. 3 The professor is interested in what the students’ plans are now. T / F
T / F
T / F
Conversation 2:
4 The professor and the student have not met before. 5 Both the student and the professor are worried about the title of the thesis.
6 The professor thinks the project does not cover enough. T / F
T / F
T / F
Conversation 3:
7 The student is not familiar with ethical issues related to her research. 8 The professor is not worried about the reduction from ten to eight subjects.
9 The student did not intend to put the names of any subjects in her thesis. T / F
T / F
T / F
SPEAKING
In pairs or groups, talk about your social and leisure life at university - close friendships, other friendships, club memberships,
cultural activities, sports, etc. Which relationships and activities will you probably continue and which will you probably
drop in your remaining time at university?
WRITING
Write a brief proposal for a thesis project. Summarize your actual thesis project if you are doing one. Mention the topic
area, the specific problem or question you want to address and how you will/would go about it.
6
University life
READING
2 Again, have your students do the task individually before they compare and discuss their answers in pairs. All the
answers here are specific, based on the information in the text, so you can get the students to quote the relevant bits
of text.
3 This task works on the use of texts – we do not normally just read and understand texts, but we think about them and
relate them to our needs and interests.
LISTENING
1 You could ask students questions about the illustrations before you play the track and have them do the task.
Remember, this is listening practice, not a test. It will probably not be necessary to repeat the track for this first task, but
you can, if your students would find it helpful. Check the answers to this task before going on to the second task.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1 Professor: Hello, everyone. Did you have a good vacation? Yes? Good.
Student: Did you go away anywhere, Professor?
Professor: No. I just spent a quiet Christmas and New Year at home with my family. And I read a lot. Reading –
that’s something you should all be doing more than ever this semester.
Student: I read two books and several articles over the vacation.
Professor: Good for you!
Student: But one of the books was a novel.
Professor: Well, that’s good too. Before we get down to work, let’s talk a bit about your plans for this semester
and after. Is it going to be just another semester for you? Are you going to look for work afterwards, or
go on to a postgraduate course, or…?
2 Student: Professor Hayes?
Professor: Yes.
Student: Hello. My name’s Melissa Hill, and…
Professor: Ah, yes – you called me about being your thesis director and e-mailed me your thesis proposal.
Student: That’s right. I printed it. Here’s a copy for you.
Professor: Thanks. I’ve looked at it already. It’s an interesting topic area, but I’m not sure about…
Student: …the title? Yes, I’ve been worrying about that.
Professor: Well, I wouldn’t worry too much about the title at this stage, as long as it indicates the topic. But you
need to think more about the scope of the project. I think you need to reduce it.
Student: Ah, I see. Perhaps I should focus on just one or two of the questions I’m considering.
Professor: Just one, I’d say. They’re all quite broad questions.
3 Professor: Are you completely familiar with the ethics guidelines, Melissa?
Student: Yes, I am, Professor Hayes. There was a whole course on ethics in the Master’s. Is there something
wrong with the draft I sent you?
Professor: Yes, that’s why I’m asking you. Your thesis project is about the effectiveness of old and new
treatments for depression, and you’re focusing on ten cases.
Student: Well, actually, I had problems with two subjects and now I’m only working with eight.
Professor: That’s OK. The problem is that you give the names of three subjects in this draft of your thesis, which
goes completely against confidentiality.
Student: Oh, no! Of course it does! I’m sorry. I thought I had eliminated all the names. I’ll do it tonight when I
get home.
2 Give your students time to read and think about the statements before you play the track once more. Again, as this is
listening practice, not a test, you may want to repeat the track. When you check the answers to this task with the whole
group, you can play the track yet again, pausing at key points, so that the students can confirm the information in the
text, and explore the content of the conversations further.
SPEAKING
You could first talk about your own experiences during and after higher education. After the pair/group work, you could
then ask how similar or different your students’ experience and predictions are compared with yours.
WRITING
This applies the lesson topic to your students’ actual studies. Make sure most of them keep the text simple and short
(because of the limitations of their English), perhaps suggesting between 40 and 60 words as in Lesson 1, but allow
stronger students freedom to write more, and more ambitiously.
University life
6T
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Sentence structures and word order
Write sentences by putting the words into a correct sequence.
1 started / yet / thesis / I / not / to / have / my / work / on / .
I have not started to work on my thesis yet.
2 know / to / where / going / be / concert / is / do / you / the / ?
Do you know where the concert is going to be?
3 study / often / not / at / I / do / night / cannot / because / concentrate / I / .
I do not often study at night because I cannot concentrate.
4 is / a / student / conscientious / he / and / speaks / very / he / well / English / .
He is a (very) conscientious student and he speaks English (very) well.
5 was / who / with / the / were / man / you / talking / tall / ?
Who was the tall man you were speaking with?
6 took / the / to / hospital / they / boy / the / injured / .
They took the injured boy to the hospital.
7 strange / there / over / that / building / was / by / Canadian / designed / young / a / architect / .
That building over there was designed by a young Canadian architect.
8 never / as / have / I / worked / so / semester / hard / last / this / .
I have never worked so hard as this last semester.
2 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Present reported / indirect speech or thought
Match the two parts of sentences in the best, most logical combinations.
d
1 Most students say __
c
2 I must find out __
e
3 Our professor frequently tells us __
f
4 Do you know __
a
5 Jack thinks __
b
6 The manual advises students __
a that he can pass any exam without studying.
b to submit their theses at least four weeks before the deadline.
c when I have to submit my thesis.
d they get nervous before an examination.
e not to copy things directly from the Internet.
f if the graduation ceremony is next week?
Now complete the following direct speech or thought corresponding to a-f above.
copy things
c) When do I have to submit
e) Don’t
a) I can pass any exam
without studying
my thesis
directly from…
.
?
.
your
theses
at
get
nervous
before
b) Submit
d) I
f) Is the graduation ceremony
next week
least four weeks….
an examination
.
.
?
Complete the second sentence in each pair of related sentences.
1 Mary: I love swimming in the ocean.
she loves swimming in the ocean
Mary says ___________________________________________________.
2 John: I don’t study enough.
he doesn’t study enough
John thinks __________________________________________________.
3 Sandra: Do many Brazilians speak English?
if many Brazilians speak English
Sandra wants to know ________________________________________.
4 What time does this office open?
what time this office opens
Can you tell me ______________________________________________?
5 Complete the form in BLOCK CAPITALS.
to complete the form in BLOCK CAPITALS
The instructions tell you _______________________________________.
6 Do not leave your belongings unattended.
not to leave your belongings unattended
We advise you _______________________________________________.
3 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Speech and thought verbs
Underline the most appropriate speech or thought verb in each sentence.
1 The student told/thought/suggested she had eliminated the subjects’ names from her thesis, but she had not.
2 The author stressed/claimed/asked that her conclusions were only tentative and more research was needed.
3 The company believed/thought/claimed it had carried out extensive field tests, but it was lying.
4 Experts knew/predicted/told that there would be a cure by the end of last century, but there still isn’t one.
5 He said/told/mentioned us he had been working for a pharmaceutical company for nine years.
6 Until Copernicus, most people believed/stated/dreamed the sun went round the earth, and some still do.
7 In spite of the ridicule he received, he asserted/told/added repeatedly that science was destroying humanity.
8 She told/explained/agreed to us that the theory had not been widely accepted because of its complexity.
7
University life
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Sentence structures and word order
Word order is one of the areas of greatest difference between English and Iberian languages, and this exercise gets
students to decide on word order in a varied range of phrase and sentence structures. As usual, have your students
do the task individually first, then compare and discuss their answers in pairs. Be prepared to do extra work on any
structures that several (or many) students have problems with.
2 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Present reported / indirect speech or thought
This exercise focuses on different types of present tense reported (or indirect) speech – statements, questions and
commands. Your students should be able to handle them all, but be prepared to do extra work on any structures that
several (or many) students have problems with. As usual, have your students do the tasks individually and then compare
and discuss their answers in pairs.
In the first section, 1 and 5 are reported/indirect statements, 2 and 4 are questions (2 is a Wh- and 4 is an If question),
and 3 and 6 are commands (3 is negative and 6 is affirmative). After checking the answers, you could get students to
produce more, similar examples of the different types of reported speech.
The second section relates reported speech to the original direct speech. After checking answers, you could get students
to point out the changes between the direct speech (or thought) and the reported versions, and also ask whether there
are similar changes in the students’ native language (there are, of course, if their native language is Spanish).
The third section gets the students to work in the opposite direction, from direct to reported speech. Again, statements (1
and 2), both types of question (3 and 4) and both types of commands (5 and 6) are covered.
3 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Speech and thought verbs
Both semantic and grammatical aspects of vocabulary are involved here. For example, in 1, told is wrong because
it cannot be followed by she (a grammatical constraint), and, while suggested is grammatically possible, and
even semantically in an unusual context, thought is semantically and contextually much more likely. In 2, asked is
grammatically wrong, and stressed is semantically much more likely. In 3, it is a purely semantic matter, with claimed
going logically with lying. In 4, told is grammatically wrong, and knew is semantically wrong. In 5, both said and
mentioned are grammatically wrong. In 6, it is a purely semantic matter, and believed is clearly the best word in this
context. In 7, told is grammatically wrong, and asserted is clearly better in the context. In 8, both told and agreed are
grammatically wrong, and explain is right; this may surprise some students, and you may need to emphasize the use of
to after explain in English.
University life
7T
4 NEW FOCUS: Past reported/indirect speech or thought
Match the corresponding reported statements (1-6) and direct statements (a-g). Note that some past reported statements
can represent more than one direct statement.
g
1 They told us that they worked hard. __
a We are working hard.
a __
f
2 They insisted that they were working hard. __
b We worked hard.
c We will work hard
b __
d
3 They said they had worked hard __
d We have worked hard.
f
4 They thought they had been working hard. __
e We can work hard.
c
5 They promised that they would work hard. __
f We were working hard.
e
6 They claimed that they could work hard. __
g We work hard.
In pairs or groups, refer to the examples above and decide whether the grammar of
past reported statements is generally similar or different in English and your native
language. Generally similar in Spanish (affirmative)
What
was that
about?
I think
he said
he’d been
working
mostly
with
Chinese
pirates.
Now complete the following reported statements.
1 You will pass the test easily.
I would pass the test…
My professor said _______________________
2 I don’t buy many books.
she didn’t buy many…
Martha told me _________________________
3 They have changed the schedule.
they had changed…
Bill mentioned that ______________________
4 I can’t lend you the book.
he couldn’t lend me the…
Donald said ____________________________
5 I understood the whole lecture.
she had understood the…
Pat claimed ____________________________
6 We are learning a lot.
they were learning a lot.
They told me ___________________________
5 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: University / academic vocabulary
Complete the sentences with words from the box.
1 She wants to carry out
some innovative research
2 If you use a long quotation
from copyright
material, you should get permission.
3 University libraries give students access to a large
4 The
deadlines
intend
5I
6 The
scope
for the
of your thesis
involves
proposal
available
body
of
knowledge
.
of theses are strictly enforced.
to become a leading expert in the
7 A few scholarships are still
8 Your project
submission
on marine ecosystems.
field
of nanotechnology.
is too wide. You need to focus more.
, but the
requirements
human subjects, so follow the ethical
are very high.
guidelines
carefully.
6 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Individually, underline vocabulary and grammar you think are wrong in the following text. Then, in pairs, compare and
discuss what you have underlined. There are eight mistakes.
I am in my last year of university, and I am thinking on about what to do next. When I graduated,
I may look for a work job, or apply for a postgraduate degree, or other thing something else.
It is very difficult to decide. The m Most of my friends have already found a job or are looking
for one, so I will probably do the same. Of course, if I want a good job, I must to graduate first!
When you have agreed on what the errors are, correct them individually. Then compare your corrections with a
different partner.
8
University life
4 NEW FOCUS: Past reported / indirect speech or thought
This task moves from the review of present tense reported speech to focus on past tense reported speech, which many of
your students may not have worked with before. It is a recognition exercise only, and also, as the second task should lead
the students to conclude, the grammar of English past reported speech is generally similar to Spanish and Portuguese,
for statements, at least. Past reported questions are not involved here, but if you wish to work on them, you need to get
your students to see that they follow the same modification rules as in the present tense (interrogative structure changing
to apparently affirmative structure), with whatever tense changes the direct speech verbs require:
Direct: Where do you work / have you worked / will you work? etc.
Do you work? etc.
Reported: He wants to know where I work / have worked / will work. etc.
He wants to know if I work. etc.
He wanted to know where I worked / had worked / would work. etc. He wanted to know if I worked. etc.
The third task then requires production, applying the rules your students should have discovered, with your help, through
the two previous tasks. After the usual stages (individual work - pair work - whole group check), you could have your
students tell you the rules.
5 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Follow the same procedure as in Lesson 1 (see page 4T).
University life
8T
PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT 1
You are at a level of English now when you should aim to continually improve your communicative proficiency in the
language, not just try to learn a bit more grammar and vocabulary. In fact, while there is always more vocabulary for you
to learn, there is not much more essential grammar. You need to become more accurate and fluent in the grammar you
have already studied, and, above all, in communicative skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing.
From now on, you should also be prepared to take an international proficiency test, like one of the TOEFL or Cambridge
tests. These may be important for your professional ambitions, maybe as a requirement for a job or post-graduate study.
The tasks in this section, like those in the regular lessons in this book, help you consolidate your English and develop
your listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. They can reveal the strengths and weaknesses of your English. They
also indicate how you might do in an international proficiency test, and give you practice for such tests.
Most of the tasks here are based on TOEFL ITP, the most widely used proficiency test in institutions of higher education
in Latin America, but there are similar tasks in other international proficiency tests. Also included here are speaking and
writing tasks, which are not included in TOEFL ITP, but which are in TOEFL iBT and Cambridge tests, which you may
need if you want to do postgraduate study abroad and other professional activities requiring proof of advanced level
English.
TEST SECTION 1: LISTENING COMPREHENSION
Part
A
Track 5
In this part of the test you hear some short conversations between two people (in this practice test, four conversations).
After each conversation, you hear a question about it. Read the four possible answers to the question and choose
the best one (A, B, C or D). Choose quickly because the conversation and question are not repeated, and the next
conversation and question begin in twelve seconds.
Question 1
Question 2
A. He does not have a computer.
A. Genetics research seldom produces much.
C. He is refusing to lend her his computer.
C. She wants him to come in and talk about chromosomes.
Question 3
Question 4
B. His computer will not help her.
D. He does not like his own computer.
B. She completely agrees with him.
D. She disagrees and thinks the project is worthwhile.
A. He has read better articles on the topic.
A. She will meet with the man before lunch tomorrow.
C. He was impressed by her article.
C. She will wear formal clothes for the meeting.
B. He has not read her article yet.
D. She needs to read more on the topic
Part
B
B. She will explain why she cannot meet him.
D. She will call the man’s assistant tomorrow morning.
Track 6
In this part of the test you hear some longer conversations (in this practice test, two conversations). After each
conversation, you hear four questions about it. Read the four possible answers for each question and choose the best
one (A, B, C or D). Choose quickly because the question is not repeated, and the next question is asked in twelve
seconds.
Conversation 1
Question 5
Question 6
A. Study all day and every day.
A. In Mexico.
C. Spend time beside the ocean.
C. In Peru.
B. Stay in good hotels in Mexico.
D. Sleep a lot.
Question 7
B. In the north of the USA.
D. Near the coast.
Question 8
A. They are going to stay in Cancún.
A. Work in a big company.
C. By going with Linda and Jack.
C. Move to the south of the USA.
B. By graduating and earning a lot.
D. With cheap travel and accommodation.
9
Proficiency Assessment 1
B. Visit more of Latin America.
D. Live in South America.
PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT 1
This section of each unit has three main objectives:
1 To prepare your students for international proficiency tests, which your institution of higher education may require before
students graduate, or which many of your students will decide to take at some point in order to gain access to scholarships,
post-graduate courses, jobs, promotions, and so on. TOEFL ITP has been taken as the basis of the material we provide
here, since it is one of the most widely used proficiency tests. However, most proficiency tests have a lot in common
nowadays, so this practice can help students needing or planning to take a different test, and we have added speaking
and writing tasks, which TOEFL ITP does not have. Of course, if you know your students must take a specific test, you
can select from the material here and add material from the target test.
2 To give students practice in working with a wide range of unpredictably mixed grammar, vocabulary and discourse
features in communicative texts and contexts. That is the nature of all proficiency tests nowadays, making them very
like using language in real world communication and unlike the language exercises in textbooks that focus on a single
grammar or vocabulary point or area.
3 To give you, the teacher, opportunities to identify the language problems of your students, whether common to many
students or only a few, and do remedial work or consolidation practice with the students in question.
The material in this section can be used in many different ways, but we suggest the following:
Go through the introduction to Proficiency Assessment 1 (the one in this unit) with your students, and discuss it with them.
Emphasize that it would be a pity, having got this far, if they did not have proof of their level of English when an opportunity
requiring English comes up.
Use Proficiency Assessment 1 over several classes, integrating sections, or even separate exercises, into your lesson plan.
Give Proficiency Assessment 4 under exam conditions. By then (Unit 4), your students will have had practice in the
different types of tasks in the previous units. The tests here are reduced versions of TOEFL ITP, so you should give your
students much less time than in the actual test. Allow about 15 minutes for Section 1 (Listening Comprehension), 10
minutes for Section 2 (Structure and Written Expression), and 10 minutes for Section 3 (Reading Comprehension); with a
little time between sections, that will add up to about 45 minutes for the whole test. It will be longer, of course, if you want
to do the Speaking and Writing in the same class session. The experience should be enlightening for the students, and
should give you – and them – an idea of how they might do in the actual test.
Use Proficiency Assessments 2 and 3 in either way (over several classes, or under test conditions) as you consider best.
It would probably be a good idea to at least do Proficiency Assessment 3 in complete sections (Listening comprehension,
Structure and written expression, and Reading comprehension), and not break the sections up into separate exercises.
TEST SECTION 1: LISTENING COMPREHENSION
Part
A
Quickly tell the students what is coming and give them time to read the instructions and the possible answers. Play the
track right through, only once, even if some students are panicking. You could ask them to answer on a sheet of paper,
and collect them in so that you can check how the students did.
When you go through the exercises afterwards with the students, you can play the track again, more than once even,
stopping at key points and helping the students hear and understand anything they missed in the “test”.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Woman: Could I use your computer? Mine isn’t working. 2. Man:
The genetics project is getting nowhere.
Man:
Neither is mine.
Woman: Come on! We’re learning a lot about chromosomes.
What does the man mean?
What does the woman imply?
3. Woman: What do you think of the article I wrote?
4. Man:
Could we have a meeting at your earliest
convenience?
Man:
Best one I’ve read on the topic!
Woman: Sure. Tomorrow morning suits me.
What does the man mean?
What will the woman probably do?
Part
B
Follow the same procedure as in Part A.
See page 10T for the listening scripts.
Proficiency Assessment 1
9T
Conversation 2
Question 9
Question 10
A. To decide how to research and write an article.
A. Population growth.
C. To identify useful Internet sites.
C. Their city over the last half of the last century.
B. To agree on the topic of their project.
D. To decide who will do the project.
B. How to write academic articles.
D. The use of libraries.
Question 11
A. The woman and the man together.
Question 12
A. Write notes on what they have read.
C. The man.
C. Edit and correct the article.
B. They have not decided yet.
D. The woman.
Part
C
B. Read some books and articles together.
D. Decide on the structure of the article
Track 7
In this part of the test you hear some talks (in this practice test, two talks). After each talk, you hear four questions about
it. Read the four possible answers for each question and choose the best one (A, B, C or D). Choose quickly because
the question is not repeated, and the next question is asked in twelve seconds.
Talk 1
Question 13
Question 14
A. Natural events.
A. Thirteen.
C. Human activities.
C. Thirty.
B. A lack of responsibility.
D. Natural events and human activities equally.
B. Five.
D. Fourteen.
Question 15
A. Pollution from one place.
Question 16
A. Political, legal and other action.
C. Pollution that cannot be stopped.
C. Less human activity.
B. Pollution with no source.
D. Pollution from many places.
B. Fewer factories and farms.
D. Technical solutions.
Talk 2
Question 17
Question 18
A. It started some time ago.
A. It is a very famous painting.
C. This is the first session.
C. He feels emotional about it.
B. It is about nineteen artistic movements.
D. It is mainly about painting.
B. It illustrates an artistic movement.
D. It is an artistic symbol.
Question 19
A. In architecture.
Question 20
A. Critics liked them.
C. In Prague.
C. They were too short.
B. In painting.
D. In literature.
SPEAKING
For a minute, look at the
illustrations of two different
places to live.
Then, in pairs, discuss for five
minutes what the advantages
and disadvantages of the
accommodations and
locations may be, and where
you, personally, would prefer
to live.
10
Proficiency Assessment 1
B. They were well expressed.
D. They were confusing and strange.
Part
B
(continued)
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Listen to a conversation between two university
students who are talking about vacation plans.
Man:
We should be making plans for the
vacation. It starts in a few weeks. Have you
thought about what we’re going to do this
year?
Woman: I'm planning on sleeping all day, every day!
Man:
You’re kidding. Come on! It’s summer!
Another cold, dark Chicago winter will be
here soon enough – you can sleep a lot then.
Woman: Ha, ha! Of course, I’m joking. You know what
I really want to do this year? Go to the beach!
Man:
I was thinking about another trip to Mexico,
the coast this time. We could look for quiet
beaches in the Yucatan Peninsula – blue sky,
transparent water, few people.
Woman: Great! There are lots of cheap flights to
Cancún, and we can take buses south from
there. We could take camping equipment.
I can’t afford to spend much on hotels or
anything.
Man:
No problem, Liz. We can camp and stay
in hostels. We can also save on food if we
shop in the markets and cook, or go to cheap
places.
Woman: OK, agreed! Linda and Jack will want to
come along too, of course.
Man:
Sure. It will be great with the four of us. Look,
I’ve found some information on the Internet.
There’s a fabulous place for snorkeling and
diving, Xel-Há, and a great archaeological
site, Tulúm.
Woman: Yes, I’ve heard of them. I’m already excited
about it!
Man:
Me too. And, you know, some day, when
we’ve graduated and are making lots of
money, I want to go further south, to Ecuador,
Peru, Brazil…
Woman: Well, we may make a lot of money, but we’ll
probably be too busy to travel much.
Questions:
5. What does the woman want to do in the vacation?
6. Where do they live?
7. How are they going to save money?
8. What would the man like to do after graduating?
Part
2. Listen to a conversation between two students who
are discussing a project.
Woman: Do you have time now to discuss our project,
Ben?
Man:
Sure. It’s about the development of our city
from 1950 to 2000, right?
Woman: Yes. Did you know the population more than
doubled over that half century?
Man:
It grew that much! Yes, I guess it did. So
you’ve already done some research.
Woman: Yes, on the Internet. But there are also some
relevant books, articles and reports in the
university library and in the city library.
Man:
OK. You read some of them, I read others,
each of us writes a summary, and then we
integrate the two summaries.
Woman: That won’t produce a coherent article with
an introduction, a body and a conclusion,
or a consistent style. Shouldn’t we write
everything together, rather than individually?
Why don’t we take notes on different aspects
of the development of the city – you on
certain aspects, and me on others – and then
write the article together?
Man:
I don’t think I can work that way. I can’t
actually write a long text with someone else.
We need to divide the article up into sections
– introduction, different aspects of the city’s
development, and conclusion. Then we can
decide which sections you write and which
ones I write. We’ll need to edit and correct
the complete article when we’ve put it all
together. That will ensure it’s all coherent and
the style is consistent.
Woman: That sounds good to me. So, what we
need to do first is to plan the contents and
structure of the article.
Man:
Exactly. We can start that right now if you
like.
Woman: Sure!
Questions:
9. What is the purpose of their conversation?
10. What is the project about?
11. Who is going to write the introduction?
12. What are they going to do first?
C
Follow the same procedure as in Parts A and B. See page 11T for the listening scripts.
SPEAKING
Explain to your students that speaking tasks similar to this one are included in many proficiency tests, but not in TOEFL
ITP. If students need certification of their English for a postgraduate course abroad, a scholarship, etc., they will almost
certainly have to pass a test with a speaking component.
If you have a small group, you could get students to do the task, one pair at a time, in front of the class in simulated test
conditions (you as the examiner on one side of a desk and the two students on the other side, looking at the illustrations),
while the other students watch and listen. Start with the stronger, more confident pairs, of course. Don’t worry if the
weaker pairs later repeat much of what the stronger ones said. If you have a large group, you will have to get the
students to do the task simultaneously, and monitor as best you can.
Proficiency Assessment 1
10T
WRITING
Read the Internet advertisement and answer it. Write between 60 and 80 words.
Native speakers of Spanish and of Portuguese, preferably college graduates!
I’m soon going to be working in Latin America. I know basic Spanish and Portuguese, but I need conversation
practice – on Saturdays, Spanish from 12 to 1 p.m. and Portuguese from 3 to 4 p.m., or vice versa. If interested,
e-mail me with relevant personal details and any questions you have to ianxreilly12@tapmail.com.
TEST SECTION 2: STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION
Structure
In this part of the test you read some incomplete sentences. Choose the word or phrase below each one that best
completes it (A, B, C or D).
B
1. Excuse, me, is ______
C
2. Our science project must _____
C
3. “Hamlet” is a tragedy _____
A. near here a bank? B. there a bank near here?
C. it a bank near here?
D. a bank that is near here?
A. to be ready by Monday.
B. ready by Monday.
C. be ready by Monday.
D. by Monday be ready.
A. that wrote Shakespeare.
B. was written by Shakespeare.
C. written by Shakespeare.
D. which Shakespeare wrote it.
A a visa for the trip.
4. They told _____
D your vocabulary.
5. _____
D
6. Mars, _____,
was the god of war.
A. me I needed
A. Read can increase
B. that needs
B. Reading increase
C. me that needed
C. By read you increase
D. I needed D. Reading can increase
A. Greek equivalent was Ares
B. the Greeks knew as Ares
C. who knew as Ares the Greeks
D. known by the Greeks as Ares
Written Expression
In this part of the test you read some sentences, which have four underlined words or phrases marked A, B, C and D.
Identify the one underlined word or phrase in each sentence that must be changed to make the sentence correct.
7. The acronym BRIC stand for Brazil, Russia, India and China. 8. Human rights were formally establish after World War II.
A
B
C
D
9. The blue whale is the heavier animal on Planet Earth.
A
B
C
A
B
C
D
10. Herodotus, a Greek historian, he born in Halicarnassus.
D
A
B
C
D
11. The knowledge is the most valuable asset in today’s world. 12. Thousands of species no long exist because of humans.
A
B
C
D
A
B
C
D
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
In this section you read some passages (in this practice test, four passages), each one accompanied by some questions.
For each passage, choose the best answer to each question (A, B, C or D).
Passage 1
Line Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”, Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”
and Dalí’s “The Persistence of Memory” have more in
common than being wonderful works of art. They are
among a select group of paintings that many people
(5) worldwide recognize and can say who painted them.
And they are all painted with oil, a method that arose
in the 15th century.
Until then, most European painting used tempera,
pigment mixed with egg painted onto plaster, usually
(10) as a mural. Once oil painting began to be used, it soon
largely replaced tempera because of its vivid colors,
texture, versatility and durability. It is still very widely
used today, in spite newer materials and techniques,
like watercolors, acrylics and mixed media.
11
Proficiency Assessment 1
1. In line 6, what does they refer to?
A. People around the world. B. The three artists.
C. The three paintings. D. A select group of paintings.
2. Where in the passage does the author explain a method
of painting?
A. Lines 5-6. B. Lines 7-8. C. Lines 9-10. D. Line 12.
3. What does the author seem to be proposing?
A. A specific method of painting.
B. Famous paintings.
C. Three great artists who used oil painting.
D. Different methods of painting.
Part
C
(continued)
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Listen to a talk about pollution at an environmental
conference.
Although human activities are not the only cause of
environmental pollution, they are responsible for most of it.
Air pollution can result from natural events and processes
like volcanic eruptions, forest fires and pollen dispersal.
But they are usually nothing compared with emissions from
the burning of fossil fuels in factories, housing and motor
vehicles.
In the case of water pollution, thirteen of the fourteen most
common pollutants are the result of human activities. The
top five of that list are industrial waste, oil leakages, marine
dumping, urban sewage and fertilizer runoff.
For purposes of identification and control, pollution is
classified as point-source pollution and non-point-source
pollution. Point-source pollution is pollution coming from a
single place, a single source. Non-point-source pollution
is pollution coming from many places over a wide area.
Point-source pollution can usually be quickly located
and stopped or controlled, but non-point-source pollution
frequently cannot.
For example, industrial waste polluting a river can often
be traced back to a single factory – a point source – and
effective action can be taken. On the other hand, fertilizer
runoff in a river may come from many farms distributed
over hundreds of square miles. Such non-point pollution
may be very difficult to deal with, technically and legally.
We have the technical solutions to most types of pollution
resulting from human activity. The obstacles to stopping
or controlling pollution are now mostly political, legal,
economic and behavioral, not technical. How can we stop
that factory and all those farmers polluting a river? How
can we persuade or force people to buy hybrid and electric
cars instead of cars with internal combustion engines?
Questions:
13. What are the main causes of air and water pollution?
14. How many specific water pollutants are mentioned?
15. What is non-point-source pollution?
16. What do we need now to stop most pollution?
2. Listen to part of a session in a university course.
We’ve looked at the main nineteenth century literary and
artistic movements, and today we’re going to move on to
Expressionism. Look at this painting, which many of you
are familiar with, I’m sure. Yes, it’s “The Scream”, painted
by Edvard Munch in 1893. More than a scene, it’s the
representation of raw emotion. And that’s the essence of
Expressionism. It tends to represent the emotional world
within each of us more than the material world around us.
Expressionism had various precursors in the nineteenth
century, and before, in various artistic fields. Munch is a
link between nineteenth century Symbolism and early
twentieth century Expressionism. As an explicit movement,
Expressionism really began to develop a decade after
Munch painted “The Scream”. It began in Germany, most
strongly in the visual arts, especially painting, but also
in other arts, including literature, and even architecture.
Most of you have probably read Franz Kafka’s “The
Metamorphosis”. Yes, I thought so.
As you may know, Franz Kafka was born into a Germanspeaking Jewish family in Prague in 1883. Prague was then
the capital of Bohemia, within the Austro-Hungarian Empire
– it’s now the capital of the Czech Republic, of course. He
trained as a lawyer, but writing became his passion, though
little of his work was published in his lifetime.
Kafka began his writing career with short stories, and had
some of them published in literary journals. Most of his
early stories were quite incoherent and weird. They dealt
largely with inner experiences – imaginations, fantasies,
emotions – and can be considered Expressionist. The
first of his stories that many critics appreciated was “The
Judgment”, and I’m going to focus on that story first.
Questions:
17. What can you infer about the course?
18. Why does the teacher show the students a painting?
19. Where was Expressionism most prominent?
20. What were Kafka’s early short stories like?
WRITING
Have your students read the task, and ask them questions to make sure they understand the advertisement.
Unlike the writing tasks in the lessons, insist here on the 60-80 word limits, since such limits would apply in a proficiency
test (not necessarily 60-80 words). If you give grades for this task, work with the kind of grade components considered in
proficiency tests:
completion of task as specified (deduction of up to 100% if not fulfilled) effective communication language accuracy
Explain this approach to grading to your students: If they fail to complete the task as specified in a proficiency test, they
will automatically fail; language accuracy is important, but effective communication (which includes organization) is more
important.
TEST SECTION 2: STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION
Structure
The selection of the best options in this type of exercise principally depends on grammatical considerations, but it may
also involve lexical and contextual considerations.
Written Expression
The task here is not really written expression as such, which is not included in TOEFL ITP, but the revision and correcting
which writers should do before they give or send their texts to the intended reader or readers.
The corrections here would be: 7. stands 8. established 9. the heaviest 10. was born 11. Knowledge 12. longer
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
See page 12T
Proficiency Assessment 1
11T
Passage 2
Line From the earliest days of homo sapiens, techniques and
technology have been the engine of human progress.
While other animals have done almost everything
in the same way for millions of years, humans have
(5) continually found new and better ways and tools to do
things, including new and revolutionary things.
Other animals educate their offspring to survive and
do well in life, but their systems of education have
changed no more than their behavior. In contrast,
(10) human education has changed considerably over
time, especially in societies that are most open to
progress.
However, not long ago, educational technology
was blackboards and chalk, and pens and paper.
(15) It is only recently that technology has started to
really revolutionize education. Let’s look at what is
happening.
4. What does engine mean in line 2?
A. Product.
B. Machine.
C. Result.
D. Agent.
5. Which of the following statements is correct according to the
passage?
A. Technology has made education highly successful.
B. Humans are the only animals that educate their young.
C. An educational revolution is just beginning.
D. Our education systems have never changed much.
6. What will the next part of the passage be about?
A. Technical education.
B. Recent events.
C. Technology in education. D. Revolutionary education.
Passage 3
Line According to Gordon (2010), the competitive
advantage of a company results from its resources,
capabilities and core competencies, managed
together.
(5) Resources are the assets of a company, and they can
be divided into tangible and intangible resources.
Financial, organizational, physical and technological
resources are tangible – things like credit rating,
established systems, plant, equipment and patents.
(10) Human, innovative and reputational resources are
intangible – things like trust, knowledge, ideas,
inventiveness and perceptions.
Capabilities arise out of the integration and interaction
of specific tangible and intangible resources to
(15) achieve business goals. They are activities a company
performs exceptionally well, adding value to its goods
or services.
Resources and capabilities combine to create the
core competencies that give a firm its competitive
(20) advantage.
7. We can assume from the passage that the author
A. disagrees with Gordon’s theory.
B. has spoken with Gordon about the theory.
C. considers Gordon’s theory interesting.
D. totally accepts Gordon’s theory.
8. Which of the following is different, according to Gordon?
A. A company’s staff.
B. A company’s offices.
C. A company’s image. D. A company’s core competences.
9. Which makes a company’s products worth more?
A. Tangible resources.
C. Assets.
B. Competitive advantage.
D. Capabilities.
Passage 4
Line In 1995, UNESCO declared April 23 World Book and
Copyright Day. This date was chosen because it was
once believed that William Shakespeare and Miguel
de Cervantes Saavedra, iconic writers in the English
(5) and the Spanish languages respectively, died on
exactly the same day. That was, in fact, a mistake, but
they did die in the same year, 1616.
The reason for the mistake was that England and Spain
used different calendars at that time. England still used
(10) the old Julian calendar, while Spain had changed
to the Gregorian calendar in 1582. Shakespeare
actually died ten days after Cervantes, on May 3 in the
Gregorian calendar, which we use today.
10. The passage is about
A. a curious error in literary history.
B. why UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day is wrong.
C. who died first, Shakespeare or Cervantes.
D. the history of calendars.
11. In line 9, the phrase at that time could be replaced with
A. then
B. for a time
Proficiency Assessment 1
D. by then
12. Shakespeare and Cervantes died
A. on the same day.
C. just over a week apart.
12
C. next
B. in May, 1616.
D. at the same age.
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
In these reading comprehension tasks, different aspects of reading comprehension are tested: the identification of
paragraph and passage topics, the understanding of phrase and sentence meanings, the understanding of words in
context, and the identification of pronoun reference. You can point out these different types of question to your students
when you go over this section with them. You can also explore the topics and information in the texts, and the different
elements of language and discourse used, especially topic vocabulary. You could ask your students which passage or
passages they found most interesting, whether they learned some new English from any of them, and so on. Even tests
can be interesting and can contribute to language learning!
Proficiency Assessment 1
12T
UNIT
2
A
YOUR F UT URE L IF E
Lesson 1
Career plans and ambitions
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
Consider what is most important for you about the job you
would like to have ten years from now – A, B, C or D. Then, in
pairs, discuss your hopes about your future job, or jobs.
A The remuneration – you want to earn as much as you can.
B The work – you want very interesting, satisfying work.
C The conditions – you want job security, private health
insurance, a company pension, fairly short hours, etc.
.
D Other:
READING
1 Read the headings A-E and the article. Then match the headings with the sections of the article, 1-5.
A Communicate
B Network
C Use your strengths
TIPS FOR ACHIEVING
PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS
Many young professionals look at top figures in their field,
hoping to see the secret behind their success. But research
has shown that there is no single key or short cut to success.
In fact, the common denominator in almost all successful
people is dedicated hard work. However, there are some
basic principles that can help you be more successful. Here
are our Top Five Tips for ambitious professionals, and for
those that simply want to be as good as they can be.
1
As Steve Jobs said once,
Follow your passion
“you’ve got to find what you love”. If, when you graduate
from college you know that what you majored in is not what
you love, it is not too late to change. You can do a postgraduate
degree in another area, one you now know you prefer. Even
when you are working you can try to change your area of
work, moving from a specialist area into management, for
example, or from management into marketing.
Use your strengths
2
Identify what you are good
at and exploit those abilities. Are you good at coming up with
innovative ideas, or better at developing them? Are you an
analyzer, or better at implementing the results of analysis? Are
you a team player, or better working alone? Reflect on how
you perform in professional tasks, and listen to other people’s
feedback. You also need to attend to your weaknesses, which
often means letting other people do those tasks.
13
Your future life
D Be a leader
E Follow your passion
Communicate
3
The more successful you become
in any field, the more you are required to work with others, so
continued success depends on your ability to communicate.
Successful communication requires skills, which you can
develop if you do not have them naturally. You should not
only express your own ideas effectively, but also listen to and
take into account the ideas and opinions of others. Consider
your tone and body language as well as your words.
Be a leader
4
As success brings increased
collaboration with others (your coworkers, superiors and
subordinates, and perhaps suppliers and clients), leadership
skills become increasingly important. That means gaining
and maintaining others’ confidence in you. You may be
required to set out a plan for your team or for a project, and
demonstrate your ability to inspire and direct all the people
involved in it.
Network
5
It is important to cultivate a
network of contacts in your field with whom you maintain
mutually beneficial professional relationships. These
relationships can help you develop projects and resolve
problems, building your professional reputation, and
increasing your chances of moving up in your field.
While there are often other key factors behind a given
person’s professional success, from outstanding talent to
economic conditions, and even luck, it is very hard to be
successful nowadays without following the above principles.
UNIT
YOUR F UT URE L IF E
2
UNIT OBJECTIVES:
1 To maintain your students’ commitment to using English as the main classroom language.
2 To maintain your students’ commitment to communicative competence in English as the course goal, with
3
4
5
6
the development of communicative skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing).
To maintain your students’ awareness of the importance of English in their lives.
To consolidate and extend your students’ vocabulary for communicating about their future lives.
To consolidate and extend your students’ grammar, especially to:
- talk about changed intentions and plans (now adding future in the past – was/were going to…)
- communicate about career and personal plans, ambitions and hopes (now adding future perfect –
will have…)
- identify and correct errors.
To consolidate and develop Ss’ learning skills and autonomy.
Lesson 1
A
Career plans and ambitions
Developing your
communicative skills
Remember that this skills section (reading, listening, speaking, writing and integrated skills) aims to make communication
the first and main area of activity of the course as well as its goal. Students should communicate here principally with
the language resources they have accumulated over their years of studying English. If some of them use the new
language that is to be worked on in the Consolidating and developing your English language section, that is fine, but
do not interrupt the communicative activities to start working on that language in this section. In fact, there will probably
be no language in this book that is new for all Ss, given the different experiences of English they have had getting to
this intermediate level. Keep the focus strongly on communication, with some attention to problems students have with
language they are ‘supposed to know’ already, with creative remedial work.
SPEAKING
This activity aims to introduce the topics of the lesson – your students’ career plans and ambitions – and activate your
students’ existing repertoire of English. Keep the pair work fairly short unless your students are really enthusiastic and are
communicating well, and then get students to share with the class some of the thoughts they talked about in pairs.
READING
1 After your students have read the text and done the task individually, get them to compare their answers in pairs before
you check with the whole group. Checking answers in pairs can generate some useful discussion about the text.
Your future life
13T
2 Read the article again and answer the following questions about it. Suggested answers:
1 What do most successful people have in common?
5 What aspects of communication are mentioned?
They are dedicated, hard workers.
Expressing ideas, listening to others’ ideas, body language.
2 Are the five tips only for very ambitious people?
6 Why is leadership important in most professions?
No, also for people who want to be as good as possible. You need to collaborate, present plans, direct, inspire.
3 How can you “find what you love” after college?
7 How can networking help you be successful?
It can help you develop projects and resolve problems.
By changing to a different area of study or work.
4 What suggestion is made about your weaknesses?
8 What other reasons for success are mentioned?
Attend to them, or leave those things to other people. Outstanding talent, economic conditions, luck.
3 In pairs or groups, discuss the article. Do you agree with all of it, or only some of it? Can you think of other things that
have helped professional people you know be successful?
LISTENING Track 8
1 Listen to a part of a job interview and answer the four questions.
1 What is the job applicant’s nationality and age?
Mexican, 29.
2 What is his professional field, and his special interest within that?
Business Administration, International Business.
3 Why does he want to leave his present job?
He’s ready for a change.
4 What would he like to be doing five years from now?
Working at TeleComCo, leading or helping to develop a new project.
Track 9
2 Listen again and complete the following statements.
1 Roberto’s scores in two prestigious tests show he has
good English
.
2 Roberto’s first degree is from
3 His Master’s is in
International Business
4 He has worked in TelComCo for
pays
.
.
six years
next year
5 He will probably get married
6 His job at TelComCo
the University of Guadalajara
.
.
well, but it doesn’t
challenge him or offer opportunities for professional growth
7 He wants a job in this company because of its
8 Roberto wants to work in a company that does not
.
Which one is Roberto Silva?
international and progressive
vision.
follow
the market, but
leads
it.
SPEAKING
In pairs or groups, say what specific steps you have taken, if any, for after you graduate. For example, have you:
investigated internships or social service, or even made arrangements?
investigated postgraduate courses, decided on one, or even started the application process?
investigated the job market, started part-time work related to your field, or even applied for full-time work?
If you haven’t taken any steps yet, when will you, and what will they be?
WRITING
Imagine you have finished or are about to finish your major. Write a short cover letter to submit with your résumé in your
application for a job. Follow this format:
Paragraph 1:
Courses in your degree program you liked most / did best in, how they affected your ideas
about a career, e.g. The courses I liked most in my degree program were…, I liked ____
because…, I did particularly well in ____. I think…, etc.
Paragraph 2:
Practical / work experience, and how it affected your ideas about your career.
Paragraph 3
Why the above has led you to apply for the job you are applying for – your dream job!
14
Your future life
READING
2 This activity involves finding specific sections of text and quoting them, or paraphrasing them. Again, have your students
compare their answers in pairs before you check with the whole group.
3 This activity works on what we often do with texts that interest us and other people that we study or work with, apart
from just reading them: we often talk about texts, express our opinions about them, and refer to our own related ideas
and experiences. This is particularly true of professionals who work together.
LISTENING
1 Talk about the pictures with your students before having them listen and do the first task. Ask what they think of each
candidate. Remember that this is listening practice, not a test, so you can repeat the track if you feel that is necessary,
though this specific task is quite simple so it probably will not be. When students have answered questions 1-4, leave
the final checking of answers with the whole group until after the second task. Ask students which picture shows
Roberto Silva.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
Woman:
Roberto:
Woman:
Roberto:
Woman:
Roberto:
Woman:
Roberto:
Woman:
Roberto:
Woman:
Roberto:
Woman:
Roberto:
Come in and take a seat. You’re Roberto Silva, is that right?
Yes. Thank you.
I’ve seen your résumé, Roberto, but I’d like to hear you tell me a bit about yourself.
Well, I’m Mexican. I speak Spanish and English. I think my English is quite good – I have good TOEFL
and IELTS scores. Of course, I hope to improve my English more. I’m 29 years old. I have a Licenciatura
in Business Administration from the University of Guadalajara, and a Master’s in International Business
from the University of Birmingham, England. I’ve worked for TeleComCo for six years, and I think I’m
ready for a change. As for my personal life, I was going to get married this year, but we decided to wait
until next year.
Right. Do you want to have children?
Definitely, but my fiancée is a busy professional too. She’s a dentist.
I see. Why do you want to work for this company in particular, Roberto?
Well, working here would give me more experience in telecommunications, which has become my area
of special expertise. And I like your company’s international and progressive vision.
Why do you want to leave TeleComCo?
Well, I have to say I’ve learned a lot there about business and telecommunications. But they don’t really
look beyond Mexico. I want to work in a company with a more international and progressive approach.
And I’m stuck in a job that pays well, but doesn’t challenge me much or offer me opportunities for
professional growth.
I see. Tell me something significant that you’ve learned at TeleComCo.
I’ve learned all the basics of the telecommunications business, I think, but most significant for me is
some things not to do. For example, don’t follow the market, lead it.
Very true – at least in our line of business. How do you see yourself in five years?
I’ll be working at this company, helping to develop a new project. I hope I’ll be leading the project, but if
not, I’ll be contributing a lot to it.
2 Give your students time to read and think about the questions before you play the track once more. Again, as this is
listening practice, not a test, repeat the track if you feel that would be helpful. When you check the answers to the two
tasks with the whole group, you can play the track yet again, pausing at key points, so that the students can confirm the
information in the text.
SPEAKING
This task assumes your students are at least halfway through their degree program. If they have not reached that stage
yet, instead of the last question, ask them, “When will you take steps for after you graduate, and what will they be?”
WRITING
This task again assumes your students are nearing the end of their degree program, but since it requires them to imagine
they are about to graduate or have actually graduated, they can indeed imagine that for this task. The text structure
indicated should help them. As in Lesson 1, you can set a strict word range, e.g. 40-60 words, or leave it quite open,
e.g. 40-100 words, to give stronger, keener students space to explore their ability to write in English. After checking the
task, read out some of the best sentences or groups of sentences and comment on them to show the whole class what is
possible for them at this level.
Your future life
14T
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Noun phrases
In pairs, complete the sentences with the words in parentheses, adding
articles (a, the, etc.) and prepositions (of, beside, etc.) when necessary.
the tall woman by/beside the desk
1 In the picture, Sandra is
(woman / desk / tall).
the short man talking with her
2 Arthur is
(short / talking / man / her).
a big enough classroom
3 We don’t have
(classroom / enough / big) available.
a large order of fried shrimps
4 I would like
(large / fried / order / shrimps), please.
no single key to professional success
5 There is
all the other people
6 I wonder why
an old professor with a fantastic memory
7 Dr. Hill is
8 I can’t find
(key / single / success / no / professional).
(all / people / other / almost) have left.
(old / memory / professor / fantastic).
the book I bought in the museum shop
(bought / shop / museum / I / book).
2 REVIEW: Comparatives and superlatives
Complete the sentences with the adjectives in appropriate forms, and any other necessary words.
the most interesting
1 Dr. Miller gave one of
2 It was far
better
than
(good)
as old
3 And Dr. Miller is not
(interesting) lectures I have ever heard. It was excellent.
the other guest lectures we have had this semester.
as
(old)
the other guest speakers we have had – she is only 26!
a less stressful
4 Harold says he is close to a nervous breakdown, and he is looking for a
lower
5 Of course, he will probably have to accept a much
the most important
6 He says the salary is
(stressful) job.
than
(low) salary
he has now.
(important) thing for him – being happy in his work is what matters.
worse
7 But I think that if you are not very happy in your work, being poor is
happier
8 The promotion and raise I got last month certainly made me a bit
than
(bad)
being well-off.
(happy) in my work.
3 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Compound nouns, and noun + noun
Complete the compound nouns. Look at the words in the box below if you cannot immediately think of a completion. There
is more than one possibility in some cases.
h room 3 bed_r o_ o_ m
oo
n _o _t e_ book 6 guide b
k
1 class_r o_ o_ m
_ 2b
_ _a _t _
_ 4 text b
__
_ k_ 5 _
_o
_o
__
home/
black/
o _o _t _
h ache 8 head a
k shop 11 key b
a _r d
t _
e board
7 _t _
_c
_h
_e
_ 9 _t e_ a_ m
_ work 10 w
_ _o _r _
_o
__
_ 12 w
_ _h _i _
s_
s word
13 p_ a
__
19 a
_ _i r_ port
ache
name
14 user n_ a_ m
_ _e
d
20 boy f_ r_ i_e_ n_ _
air
note
ball
o _t note
15 _f o_ _
21 g
_ _i r_ l_ friend
basket
paper
b _a _l _l
16 foot _
pass
bath
port
a _s _k _e _t ball
17 b
__
a_
p _e _
r
22 news p
__
black
room
board
sky
23 s_ k_ y_ scraper
book
store
foot
team
friend
tooth
18 pass p
_ _o _r _t
r e_
24 drug _s _t o_ _
girl
white
home
work
In pairs, write as many noun + noun combinations as you can with the words in the box. For example, law school, law
degree, degree program, engineering student.
administration
degree
plan
15
application
engineering
postgraduate
Your future life
body
business
faculty
form
project
program
campus
interview
job
research
career
chemistry
laboratory
school
consultancy
language
student
law
university
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
Remember that this section provides you with resources for consolidating language which all your students should know
and use well by now (but which some may not), and for focusing on language which is probably new for many students.
You should create lesson plans that include exercises from this section, along with ideas and material of your own. These
ideas and activities may include additional language work, communicative activities, games, songs, etc. This is where you
can be a really creative, autonomous teacher!
1 REVIEW: Noun phrases
This task covers a range of noun phrase types and combinations. It requires students to actually construct the phrases,
which exercises their linguistic agility.
Discuss the illustration first, getting your students to tell you what they can about the two people; this may produce some
of the elements the students then need in the task, e.g. The woman is tall. The man is short. They are standing by/beside
the desk. They are talking. Then have the students do the task and check it with a partner before you check with the
whole group. Note that in 4, We don’t have a classroom that is big enough available is also possible, and be prepared for
other acceptable alternatives that your students may come up with, e.g. the book that I bought in the shop in the museum
in 8. Remember, language in use is not just a matter of right or wrong, but often of different acceptable alternatives and
unacceptable ones. Be prepared to do extra work on any things that several students still seem to be having trouble with.
2 REVIEW: Comparatives and superlatives
This task covers the whole range of basic types of comparative and superlative. Follow the usual individual – pair
– whole class procedure. Note the phrase in 6, the most important thing – a common error of speakers of Iberian
languages is omitting thing and saying only the most important. You may want to do some work on this, getting your
students to say what they think the most important/difficult/interesting/boring thing is for them, or about different
activities. This structure also applies to –est forms (the hardest/easiest/funniest thing) and to least (the least important/
difficult/interesting/boring thing).
3 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Compound nouns, and noun + noun
Compound nouns are very common in English, as are noun + noun combinations, so learners must get completely used
to them. They are, in fact, almost an open system and new combinations can be created freely, their incorporation into the
standard language depending only on acceptance by the English-speaking population at large.
The first task may be harder than it looks for your students. If so, have them do it in pairs. Note the alternatives in 9 and
12, and be prepared in case your students come up with more alternatives.
The second task allows, and encourages, the students to explore the potential of this word-formation system. Note that
the first noun modifies the second one like an adjective, and it behaves like an adjective, with no plural form. Here are
just some of the possibilities: business administration, application form, student body, university campus, career plan,
engineering faculty, business consultancy, degree program, job interview, chemistry laboratory, body language, law
school, postgraduate degree, research project.
Your future life
15T
4 REVIEW: Gerunds and infinitives
Complete the sentences with the appropriate forms of the verbs in parentheses.
1 When learning
skills of
listening
2 It is also necessary
speaking
(listen),
to learn
3 The first article is called “Tips for
to build
using
doing
5 You should make an effort
Learning
what
(write).
to develop
(communicate).
(do) little exercise”.
to look
(look) for a different
(change).
(develop) your ability
collaborating
(learn) business skills means
to do
writing
to communicate
(do) essential tasks in your job, it is best
hard to be successful at work without
6
(read) and
(lose) weight without sacrifice”, and the second one is called
doing
to change
one. It is never too late
reading
(use) the language
losing
(build) muscle
4 If you are not good at
(speak),
(develop) the communicative
(learn) the grammar and vocabulary, of course, but you can learn and
consolidate a lot of that simply by
“How
to develop
(learn) a foreign language, it is most important
learning
to work
(work) with other people. It is very
(collaborate) with others.
(learn) what
not to do
(not / do) as well as
(do).
5 NEW FOCUS: was/were going to + verb
Read the first part of a sentence and choose the best completion, A, B or C. Then, in pairs, discuss why you chose the
completion you did.
Roberto Silva was going to get married this year,
A and the wedding was in May.
B so he is no longer single.
C but he has postponed the wedding.
Complete the following sentences with the words in parentheses in the appropriate form and structure.
1 We were going to visit
2 I was not going to attend
3 Were you going to say
(we / visit) France and Italy last year, but in the end we visited (we / visit) only France.
I changed
(I / not / attend) the inauguration, but
(I / change) my mind and went (go).
(you / say) something?
No, no… well, only that
I agree
(I / agree) with you entirely.
In groups, talk about things you were going to do in the past, but did not do. Say why you did not do those things, and
what you did instead.
6 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Individually, underline vocabulary and grammar you think are wrong in the following text. Then, in pairs, compare and
discuss what you have underlined. There are eight mistakes.
Hi Sally,
It is really great that you come are coming to stay with me here. I want to return the hospitality that you and your family
gave me during my visit to you the last year. I want that you to enjoy your visit to my country as much as I enjoyed my visit
to yours.
I will be at the airport to meet you on Friday and carry take you to my home. Call me on my cellphone if there is a problem.
See you soon!
Miranda
When you have agreed on what the errors are, correct them individually. Then compare your corrections with a
different partner.
16
Your future life
4 REVIEW: Gerunds and infinitives
Again, this task covers a range of uses of gerunds and infinitives, many of them different from the uses of gerunds and
infinitives in Iberian languages. Note in particular:
Gerund after time connectors: when/while/after/before …ing (example in 1)
Gerund after prepositions: of/by/for/at/without, etc. …ing (examples in 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
Gerund as noun subject or object: Learning business skills means… (example in 6)
Negative infinitive: not to… (example in 6)
Have your students do the exercise individually and then check in pairs before you check with the whole group.
5 NEW FOCUS: was / were going to + verb
This compound tense, was/were going to, is the logical past of am/is/are going to, and it is not hard for speakers of
Iberian languages to recognize the structure and grasp the meaning. The first task here tries to facilitate that by using an
inductive (guided discovery or consciousness raising) approach.
The second task moves to guided production, based on the awareness arising from the first task. Follow the usual
individual – pair – whole group procedure. The third task moves on to personalized use of the tense.
6 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Follow the same procedure, or a similar one, as in this type of task in Unit 1.
Most of the corrections in this particular text are quite obvious in themselves, but you may want to do remedial work on
some items if many students fail to identify them or correct them.
Your future life
16T
Lesson 2
A
Personal plans and preferences
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
People have very different personal plans and preferences. What about you? Answer the questions.
What long-term living arrangement would you prefer?
Living alone.
Marriage with children.
Marriage without children.
Living with a friend or friends.
Where you would you like to live permanently?
Where I live now.
In a different part of my country.
In another country (emigration).
Moving around.
Where would you like to travel?
Nowhere.
In my own country.
In one or two other countries.
In many other countries.
(You could select two answers here – “In my own country” + another.)
In pairs or groups, discuss your answers to the questions, explaining your reasons and going into specifics.
READING
1 Read the article and, in pairs, discuss the differences between real lives and life stories in books and movies
LIF E STO RI ES
Sophia Allsopp
From traditional tales to modern movies, many
well-known stories are accounts of a single
person’s life. Some are fiction, invented stories
of invented people. Others are biographies
of real people, though, in books and movies,
the facts are often modified or manipulated,
sometimes a lot.
Literary and cinematographic life stories tend
to simplify and systematize what happens.
Real lives are usually much more complex,
inconsistent and confused than those in books
and movies, where heroes may be almost
entirely good and villains almost entirely bad.
However, we do have tendencies and key
moments of decision in our own lives similar
to those in books and movies. Our tendencies
may be largely positive or negative, leading to
general success or failure in life, or a mixture,
leading to success in some spheres and failure
in others. Our key moments of decision often
leave us with one of two feelings: jubilation (“I’m
so glad I did/didn’t do that!”) or regret (“I’m so
sorry I did/didn’t do that!”).
One big difference between our life stories and
those in movies is that movies have script writers
and directors guiding or forcing characters
along a determined route. Books have authors
doing the same even more dictatorially with the
protagonist and other characters. In our life
stories, you and I, the protagonists, are on our
17
Your future life
own, finding our way forward without a map or
GPS, sometimes getting lost. Before books are
published and movies are released, the ending
of the story has been established (sometimes
judiciously changed by the author or director
shortly before publication or release). Until late
in life, you and I can only guess at the ending of
our stories, and we certainly can’t determine it
absolutely, even less change it if we don’t like it
when we get there.
That said, we shouldn’t feel entirely at the
mercy of events or fate. True, we have certain
characteristics and tendencies written into our
DNA before birth, and then modified by our early
environment and experiences after birth. But we
have the choice of either letting them control us,
or working to understand and manage them.
And at moments of decision, we can either act
carelessly or on impulse, or we can think things
through and make a considered choice.
Of course, even considered decisions may not
work out as expected. In his early thirties, my
husband decided to emigrate from Peru to the
United States. I was born here, in Atlanta, but
almost decided to stay and settle in Peru at
the end of the year I spent there after college.
Ultimately, though, I came home. If either
Carlos or I had stayed in Peru, we would almost
certainly never have met – he lived in Iquitos
and I was in Arequipa. We would be living
different life stories now.
Lesson 2
A
Personal plans and preferences
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
Have your students answer the questions individually, and then do the pair or group discussion task. In the whole group
feedback, explore the biggest contrasts among your students’ different plans and preferences for the future.
READING
1 Once students have read and discussed the article in pairs, elicit from the whole group the general points that the
article makes: in books and movies, life stories tend to be clearer and less complex than real lives, and things are
manipulated, especially the endings, perhaps making them more adventurous, tragic, romantic, successful, etc., than
most real lives. You could also suggest that students discuss in pairs or groups what changes might be needed to turn
their own lives into novels or movies – and the actor that should play them in the movie version of their lives!
Your future life
17T
2 Read the article again and answer the following questions.
1 What often happens to real life stories in movies?
5 What can happen to the endings of movies and books?
The facts are often modified or manipulated.
They can be changed at the last moment.
2 What does the author mean by tendencies?
6 Why does the author mention DNA?
To say that we and our lives are partly determined at birth?
Ways we usually or often behave.
3 What can negative tendencies lead to?
7 What does the author say about considered decisions?
They may not work out as expected.
General failure in life, or failure in some spheres.
4 Why does the author mention GPS?
8 How could the author’s life have been different?
If she or her husband had stayed in Peru, they would not have met.
As a metaphor for feeling lost in life.
3 In pairs or groups, discuss the author’s comments on the following topics.
determinism (genetics, early environment and experience)
conscious self-direction (managing personal tendencies, taking considered decisions)
chance (meeting someone by chance, or not meeting them)
What do you feel about those different aspects of people’s lives?
LISTENING Track 10
1 Listen to a talk about identical twins and answer these questions.
1 What is “the big question” the speaker refers to?
How similar or different identical twins will be as adults.
2 What were Jill and Jackie like as children?
They were almost like two versions of the same person.
3 What changed when they were teenagers?
They began to dress, behave, etc., differently.
4 What did Jill do after college?
She married and had three children.
5 Where has Jackie lived for the last decade or so?
In Latin America.
Track 11
2 Listen again and complete the following statements.
1 Identical twins are of special interest to
2 There are
lots of
scientists
.
case studies.
3 People often confused
were children.
Jill and Jackie
when they
4 When they were teenagers, Jackie wore her hair
short
.
sporty
5 Jackie was the
tennis
6 Jill
one, and was good at
.
more and got better
studied
Psychology
7 Jill majored in
grades
.
at college.
8 After college, Jackie took a course in teaching
English
.
9 Jackie has lived in
countries.
10
Jackie
four/several
Latin American
is single.
SPEAKING
Consider how you think your life will be similar to your parents’ lives and how it will be different. For example, what do you
plan or hope to do that your parents have not done?
Then, in pairs or groups, discuss your predictions, plans and hopes.
WRITING
Write about your plans and hopes for your personal life. Don’t focus on work, but on things like those in the speaking
activity on page 17 – marriage and family (or not), where to live permanently (or different places to live), the possibility of
emigration (or not), leisure travel, pastimes, etc.
18
Your future life
READING
2 As usual, have your students do the task individually before they compare and discuss their answers in pairs. Most of
the answers here are specific, based on the information in the text, so when checking answers with the whole group,
you can get the students to find the relevant bits of text and quote or paraphrase them. The exceptions are 2, 4 and 6. A
definition that fits the word in the context is required for 2. An inference is required for 4, and students may come up with
different ones, which can be discussed. An inference is again required for 6, but a rather more direct and clearer one.
3 The topics of this discussion are complex and abstract, so monitor closely. If students are struggling with the language
needed to express their ideas but seem interested in the discussion, offer support. If they find the discussion both
difficult and unengaging, move on.
LISTENING
1 You could discuss the picture first. Then give your students time to read the questions before you play the track and
have them do the task. Remember, this is listening practice, not a test, so you may want to repeat the track for students
to complete or check the first task. You could check the answers to this task before going on to the second task, or
leave that until after the second task.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
My topic today is identical twins. They’ve always fascinated people, and especially scientists. They’re almost
identical in looks, but the big question is how similar or different they’ll be as adults. Will they have the same or
similar talents and tastes, and even illnesses, or will they turn out to be very different people?
There are lots of case studies, and I’m going to start by telling you about one, Jill and Jackie. As children, they
were treated almost as two versions of the same person by their parents, and even more by some other people.
They got used to being addressed as if it didn’t matter which one they were. People would say things like, “Come
and look at this, Jackie… or is it Jill?”
That began to change in their teens. They started taking different decisions about clothes and other things.
When their parents noticed that, they encouraged it. Jill and Jackie even began to plan and agree on some of the
differences. Jill decided to wear her hair long, Jackie short. Jackie began to wear more blue and green clothes,
Jill more red and yellow ones. Perhaps partly because of their increasingly different images and partly because
of their personalities, they were soon in different groups of friends, doing different activities. Jackie became the
sporty one, standing out at tennis, Jill the serious one, studying more and getting better grades.
The real parting of the ways came in and after college. Jill majored in Psychology and Jackie in Spanish.
Immediately after graduating, Jill got married and soon had three children. She’s been out of the States only once,
to Canada. Jackie took an English teaching course after college. Her first job was in Ecuador, where she lived
and taught English for three years. Since then she’s taught English in three other Latin American countries, and
she’s climbed their mountains and swum and dived from their most isolated beaches. She has many friends but no
partner and no plans to marry. Next year, Jill will have been a traditional American wife and mother and Jackie will
have lived abroad for a decade. A decade of strikingly different lives.
2 Give your students time to read and think about the statements before you play the track once more. Again, as this is
listening practice, not a test, you may want to repeat the track. When you check the answers to this task with the whole
group, you can play the track yet again, pausing at key points, so that the students can confirm the information in the
text, and explore the content of the conversations further. Note that the completions given here, except 9 and 10, use
the exact words of the text, but the students could put alternative completions with approximately the same information
in some cases.
SPEAKING
You could first talk about your own life compared with your parents’ lives, so far and what you expect in the future. Then
give your students time to think individually about their own lives and their parents’. In the whole class feedback session
after the pair/group work, elicit as much as you can from your students, including different views of the future.
WRITING
The task instructions give plenty of ideas for a short text (marriage and family (or not, etc.). Make sure most students
keep the text simple and short (because of the limitations of their English), perhaps suggesting between 40 and 60 words,
but allow stronger students freedom to write more, and more ambitiously.
Your future life
18T
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Tenses used for the future
Complete the following conversation between two colleagues at work. Use the words in parentheses in appropriate forms
and structures.
A: I hear you’ve applied for a promotion, Bill. What 1 will you do
(you / do) if 2 you don’t get (you / not / get) it?
I will keep
B: Nothing. 3
(I / keep) on doing my present job and wait for another opportunity.
Won’t you look
A: 4
(you / not / look) for a better job somewhere else, in another company?
I’m getting
B: No. 5
(I / get) married at the end of this year, and 6 I don’t want (I / not / take) any risks with my
work. Anyway, 7
they’re going to raise (they / raise) all our salaries again in January, so 8 that will help
they’re not going to give
A: Don’t count on it. I’ve heard that 9
the economic situation.
my fiancée will be working
B: Well, 10
have) an interview for a job tomorrow.
you’re not going to start
A: So 12
(that / help).
(they / not / give) us a raise next year because of
(my fiancée / work) soon. 11
She has / is going to have
(she /
(you / not /start) a family immediately, I assume.
we have
(both of us / work) for a few years first and save some money. When 14
we’ll start
(we / have) enough for a deposit on an apartment or house, 15
(we / start) thinking of children.
B: No. 13
Both of us will work
A: I see. What about a drink this evening after work?
I’m going
B: Sorry. I can’t. 16
(I / go) straight home after work today. It’s my birthday, and 17
everyone will
be waiting
(everyone / wait) for me for the party to begin.
you enjoy
A: Ah! Well, I hope 18
(you / enjoy) yourself. Don’t be late for work tomorrow!
2 NEW FOCUS: Future perfect
Read the examples (based on the talk you heard on page 18). Then complete sentences 1-4 using the words in parentheses
in appropriate forms and structures.
On this day next year, Jill will have been married for a decade, and on the following day her twin sister, Jackie,
will have lived in Latin America for the same amount of time. She left for Ecuador the day after her sister’s wedding.
the place of women in society will have changed
1 By the time my daughters are adults, I hope
of women in society / change) radically.
it will not have improved
2 Unfortunately, recent history suggests that
3 Fifty years from now,
much the same as now?
will many things have changed
(it / not / improve) very much by then.
(many things / change), or will the world be
technology will have replaced
4 It will almost certainly be a very different world. For example,
(technology / replace) people in many jobs and activities.
In pairs or groups, talk about your predictions for things that will have changed by 2050.
3 NEW FOCUS: Compound adjectives
Complete the compound adjectives with words from the box.
1 In business, long- term
short -term solutions.
planning is more important than
2 Some world- famous novels were not written by
3 He could only find a part-
time
job on a
six
well
-known writers.
-month contract.
4 Singapore is a
densely
old
5 Even
devices now.
-fashioned people use cell phones and high- tech
19
Your future life
(the place
populated country full of hard working
people.
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Tenses used for the future
This exercise covers the whole range of basic tenses for the future. Remember that the future allows more alternative
tenses than the present and the past so, while the most probable answers are given here, others are often possible. The
places where alternatives are most likely are:
5 I’m going to get
7 they’re raising, they’ll raise
9 they’re not giving, they won’t give
12 you won’t start
13 Both of us are going to work
2 NEW FOCUS: Future perfect
Have your students read the sentences about Jill and Jackie and think about them. Then ask your students questions like
these: How long has Jill been married? (Nine years.) When will she have been married for ten years? (On this day next
year.) When did Jackie leave the USA for Ecuador? (The day after Jackie’s wedding / Nine years ago.) When will she
have lived in Latin America for ten years? (On this day next year.) Then continue with this question: Is the equivalent of
the future perfect in your language similar to English, or different? (Similar to Iberian languages, in form and use, except
that the future of have is formed differently than the future of haber and ter – will have versus habré, etc. and terei, etc.)
The second task moves to guided production, based on the awareness arising from the first task. Follow the usual
individual – pair – whole group procedure. The third task moves on to free use of the tense.
3 NEW FOCUS: Compound adjectives
Your students will certainly have met many examples of compound adjectives in their years studying English (and using
it, we hope), but may never have focused on them. Compound adjectives actually have a lot in common with compound
nouns and noun + noun combinations, which we focused on in Lesson 1, and which can be used as (or virtually be)
compound adjectives, e.g. a classroom activity, a business administration course.
The compound adjectives in this exercise actually include one noun + noun combination, part-time (part and time both
being nouns), but they also include several other combinations:
adjective + noun (long-term, short-term, high-tech)
noun + adjective (world-famous)
adverb + past participle (well-known, densely populated)
number + noun (six-month)
adverb + present participle (hardworking)
adjective + past participle (old-fashioned)
Some of these word structures exist in Iberian languages, perhaps in a slightly different form, and you can ask your
students for native language equivalents of, for example, world famous, well-known, and densely populated. Don’t worry
about whether the adjectives are written as one word, hyphenated or as separate words – even educated native speakers
are often unsure, and alternative forms are given in reputable dictionaries.
It may be useful to focus on and practice the number + noun form as it is common in English, especially in English
for professions: A six-month / one-year / five-year… contract / project / plan / course, etc. A 2-liter / 4-cylinder / 200
horsepower… engine / motor, etc. A 4 hour / two week / 200 kilometer / five country… journey / trip / tour, etc.
Your future life
19T
4 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Adverbs so / such (... that …) and too / enough (... for … to …)
Complete the following sentences with one word on each line.
so
1 As children, Jill and Jackie were
similar
that
similar
for
most people could not tell them apart.
too
2 As children, Jill and Jackie were
most people
to
3 Now, they are
know who was who.
such
different people
to believe that they are identical twins.
4 Now, they are not similar enough
to
for
it is hard
strangers
realize they are identical twins, not just sisters.
5 Homo sapiens has had
Earth
that
that
such
a dramatic impact on
it is a very different planet from 1,000 years
ago, or even just 100 years ago.
6 Homo sapiens’ impact on Earth has been great enough
to
change weather patterns significantly.
7 Homo sapiens’ impact on Earth has been
that
so
great
it has changed weather patterns significantly.
8 The action taken in response to climate change has been
too
weak
to
make much difference so far.
5 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Post modification of nouns with participle and preposition phrases
Complete the sentences with words from the box, putting the verbs into the present or past participle form.
wearing a Mexican pink suit is a reality star.
1 The woman ____________
parked
2 The sports car ____________
by the rear entrance of the studio is hers.
with
3 Those people _________
photographs of her in their hands are fans.
signed by her as a souvenir.
4 They want a photograph ___________
on
5 The castle ______
the hill is over seven hundred years old.
built by the Christians as they reconquered
6 It is one of many castles ________
Spain from the Moors.
converted
7 The castle, now _______________
into a hotel, has been extensively
renovated, with all modern facilities.
talking
8 The man _____________
with the manager is the architect that did the
conversion. There have been a few problems.
6 REVIEW: Editing and correction
Individually, underline vocabulary and grammar you think are wrong in the following text. Then, in pairs, compare and
discuss what you have underlined. There are eight mistakes.
I am my parents’ biggest oldest child, the first of three children. I am twenty-two years old, and I have
recently graduated in Computer Science. I still live with my parents, but that will change the next year,
when I marry with my girlfriend. We plan to find our own place for to live. My brother and sister still are still
studying in college. I think my parents will be happy when we will all move out and become independent.
It is time for they them to stop being responsible for us and supporting us economically.
When you have agreed on what the errors are, correct them individually. Then compare your corrections with a
different partner.
20
Your future life
4 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Adverbs so / such (... that …) and too / enough (... for … to …)
This exercise focuses on adverbs and adverbial structures that indicate the quantity or degree of something and the
consequences. Note that there are alternative forms of expression: It is… so small that you can’t see it / such a small
thing that you can’t see it / too small for you to see / not big enough for you to see. Alternative forms of expression for the
same or very similar ideas occur in sentences 1-2, 3-4, and 6-7 in the exercise. Point these out to your students if they do
not notice and comment on them themselves.
You could explore some of these alternative forms of expression after checking the answers to the exercise. For example,
how can The action taken in response to climate change has not been… be completed with the same meaning as 8?
5 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Post modification of nouns with participle and preposition phrases
Three forms of post modification of nouns are practiced in this exercise, phrases beginning with a preposition (sentences
3 and 5), a present participle (sentences 1 and 8) and a past participle (sentences 2, 4, 6 and 7). After checking the
exercise, get your students to produce more examples of their own.
6 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Follow the same procedure, or a similar one, as in this type of task in Unit 1. You may want to do remedial work on some
items if many students fail to identify them or correct them.
Your future life
20T
PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT 2
Remember that the tasks in this section, like those in the regular lessons in this book, help you consolidate your English
and develop your listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. They can reveal the strengths and weaknesses of your
English. Take advantage of what the tasks reveal about your English. Work on overcoming any weaknesses you have, as
well as exploiting your strengths. The tasks also indicate how you might do in an international proficiency test, and give
you practice for such tests. Remember, having a recognized certificate of proficiency may make a big difference in your
professional development and career.
Most of the tasks here are based on TOEFL ITP, the most widely used proficiency test in institutions of higher education
in Latin America, but there are similar tasks in other international proficiency tests. Also included here are speaking and
writing tasks, which are not included in TOEFL ITP, but which are in TOEFL iBT and Cambridge tests, which you will need
if you want to do postgraduate study abroad and other professional activities requiring proof of advanced level English.
TEST SECTION 1: LISTENING COMPREHENSION
Part
A
Track 12
In this part of the test you hear some short conversations between two people (in this practice test, four conversations).
After each conversation, you hear a question about it. Read the four possible answers to the question and choose the best
one (A, B, C or D). Choose quickly because the conversation and question are not repeated, and the next conversation
and question begin in twelve seconds.
Question 1
Question 2
A. The proposal is a great idea.
A. He works in the same company.
C. He does not feel confident in his work.
C. The company needs more new products.
B. It may be hard for them to collaborate more.
D. They must work together more.
B. The new products are different.
D. The new products are not innovative.
Question 3
Question 4
A. She does not have any change.
A. The news is not so depressing.
C. She has a boat just like his.
C. The news also depresses her.
B. The man should apologize to the parking attendant.
D. She can lend the man some money.
Part
B
B. She keeps up with the news.
D. She stays up late watching the news.
Track 13
In this part of the test you hear some longer conversations (in this practice test, two conversations). After each conversation,
you hear four questions about it. Read the four possible answers for each question and choose the best one (A, B, C or
D). Choose quickly because the question is not repeated, and the next question is asked in twelve seconds.
Conversation 1
Question 5
Question 6
A. Exchanging goods or services.
A. Barter in the ancient world.
C. Selling goods or services.
C. Barter and taxation.
B. Using old money.
D. Getting things without paying.
B. The history of barter.
D. Barter in the modern world.
Question 7
Question 8
A. To write an introduction.
A. He has written most of the assignment.
C. To write more about countries like Venezuela.
C. He has written about the history of barter.
B. To ensure he knows what to do in assignments.
D. To ensure his assignments are general enough.
21
Proficiency Assessment 2
B. He has researched barter in the modern world.
D. He has taught Spanish at a language school.
PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT 2
Remember the three main objectives of this section:
1 To prepare your students for international proficiency tests, which many of them, if not most, may soon need to take.
2 To give your students practice in working with a wide range of unpredictably mixed grammar, vocabulary and discourse
features in communicative texts and contexts, which is very like using language in real world communication.
3 To give you, the teacher, opportunities to identify your students’ language problems, whether common to many or only a
few, and do remedial work or consolidation practice with the students in question.
Remember also the different ways this material can be used. For this second Proficiency Assessment we suggest you
use the material over several classes, either incorporating exercises into regular lesson plans or doing complete sections
(the whole section of Listening Comprehension, Structure and Written Expression, and Reading Comprehension) in testlike conditions. After or while checking the answers, you can examine typical features of tests and consider test-taking
strategies.
TEST SECTION 1: LISTENING COMPREHENSION
Part
A
Quickly tell the students what is coming and give them time to read the instructions and the possible answers. Play the
track right through, only once, even if some students are panicking. You could ask them to answer on a sheet of paper,
and collect them in so that you can check how the students did.
When you go through the exercises afterwards with the students, you can play the track again, more than once if
necessary, stopping at key points and helping the students hear and understand anything they missed in the “test”.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Woman: What about working together more this year? 2. Woman: What do you think of our company’s new range of products?
Man:
I’m not sure how we can in our line of work.
Man:
Not bad, but they’re really just more of the
same.
Question: What does the man imply?
Question: What does the man mean?
3. Man:
I don’t have any change for the parking
4. Man:
I get so depressed when I watch the
lot attendant. Could you lend me some?
news on television.
Woman: Sorry. I’m in the same boat.
Woman: I’ve given up watching it lately.
Question: What does the woman mean?
Question: What does the woman imply?
Part
B
Follow the same procedure as in Part A. For the listening script of Conversation 2, see page 22T.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Listen to a conversation between two Economics students.
Woman: How are you doing with the assignment, Pedro?
Man:
OK, but I don’t have much on barter in the modern world. I mean, the exchange of goods was the only way
to trade before money became the medium for buying and selling things. But now, in the modern world?
Woman: I’ve found a lot about barter nowadays. There’s more of it than you might think, it seems.
Man:
Really? Well, I must confess that I’ve hardly started to work on that. But I’ve finished the part on the history
of barter.
Woman: Me too, in my introduction. The assignment’s really about barter today. The historical stuff is just
background.
Man:
Oh, is it? Let me read the instructions again. I have them here. Uh… let’s see… yes, you’re right. Oh, no! I
just researched barter in general, and almost everything I found was historical!
Woman: Of course it was. That’s why you should read the instructions for assignments carefully, Pedro. It’s not the
first time you’ve worked on the topic in general instead of the specific aspect the professor indicated.
Man:
You’re right. I should be more careful. So, what have you found about barter today, Jenny?
Woman: Well, there’s barter and exchange of goods and services today at all levels, from individuals to companies
to countries. Venezuela’s an example of a country that has used barter a lot, exchanging oil for food
products, and for services, like doctors from Cuba. And barter between individuals and companies is
taxable.
Man:
Really? Even the Spanish classes I’ve been giving to my landlord’s children in exchange for rent?
Woman: Yes!
Questions: 5. What does barter mean?
6. What is the main subject of the assignment?
7. What does the woman tell the man to do? 8. What has the man done so far?
Proficiency Assessment 2
21T
Conversation 2
Question 9
Question 10
A. A documentary about action movies.
A. He has a good sense of humor.
C. A parody of action movies.
C. He can’t act seriously.
B. A typical action movie.
D. A psychological drama.
B. He laughs too much.
D. He took it too seriously.
Question 11
Question 12
A. She had read about it.
A. If it were more serious.
C. She had seen it before.
C. If he acted in it himself.
B. She likes action movies.
D. She is very serious.
Part
C
B. If the mistakes were cut out.
D. If it were more humorous.
Track 14
In this part of the test you hear some talks (in this practice test, two talks). After each talk, you hear four questions about it.
Read the four possible answers for each question and choose the best one (A, B, C or D). Choose quickly because the
question is not repeated, and the next question is asked in twelve seconds.
Talk 1
Question 13
A. Niccolò Machiavelli’s life.
B. A book.
C. The Italian Renaissance.
D. A prince.
Question 15
A. He was a typical Italian.
B. He lived during the Renaissance.
C. He wrote comedies and poetry.
D. He was good at many things.
Talk 2
Question 17
A. That Tchaikovsky invented ballet.
B. That Swan Lake was the first ballet.
C. That ballet was invented in the 1800s.
D. That there has been ballet for 600 years.
Question 19
A. They danced together.
B. They directed a new ballet.
C. They commissioned two ballets.
D. They influenced the development of ballet.
SPEAKING
For a minute, think about what you will do after
you graduate, for example, one of the three
possibilities illustrated.
Then, in pairs, spend five minutes discussing
what each of you will or may do and the
reasons for your planned or possible
activities.
22
Proficiency Assessment 2
Question 14
A. Political Science.
B. World History.
C. Philosophy.
D. Italian.
Question 16
A. Any head of state.
B. The Prince of Florence.
C. Himself.
D. The Pope.
Question 18
A. To marry a French prince.
B. To introduce ballet to France.
C. To visit the French Queen.
D. To escape from Italy.
Question 20
A. Florence and Paris.
B. Italy, France, Denmark and Russia.
C. Italy, France and England.
D. Italy, France, Albania and Prussia.
Part
B
(continued)
LISTENING SCRIPT:
2. Listen to a conversation between two people about the movie they just saw.
Man:
Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting at all. What did you think of it?
Woman: I liked it. What were you expecting?
Man:
An action movie, with the usual psychological elements – you know, different motivations and agendas, who can be
trusted and who can’t. And, to be frank, better acting.
Woman: There was quite a lot of action, and plenty of psychological stuff, though perhaps not what you mean. I think the real
thing about it was the humor.
Man:
Humor?
Woman: Well, satire, not laugh-out-loud comedy. I mean, it was a parody of action movies, wasn’t it?
Man:
Was it? I didn’t get that. I thought it was just an action movie with bad directing and acting.
Woman: Oh, no, I don’t think so. I read a couple of reviews and they both said it’s a brilliant parody of the terrible movies we get
so many of, packed with action, special effects and absurd drama.
Man:
Well, I didn’t see it that way. But perhaps that was because of my expectations. I was feeling too serious.
Woman: Remember the scene in the hotel?
Man:
Yes. Hm, I suppose that was quite funny – absurd, but funny. I’m beginning to see what you mean. And I suppose when
Jack shoots his mother-in-law by mistake…
Woman: Exactly!
Man:
I wondered why you laughed every now and then – often when I was groaning. But I’m beginning to see it now.
Perhaps it should have been funnier, more obviously funny.
Woman: Or perhaps you don’t have a sense of humor!
Questions:
9. What kind of movie did they see?
11. Why did the woman understand the movie better?
Part
C
10. Why didn’t the man like the movie?
12. How does the man think the movie could be improved?
Follow the same procedure as in Parts A and B.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Listen to the beginning of a lecture in a university course.
Today we’re going to look at one of the first books that is clearly
about the practice of politics, Machiavelli’s “The Prince”,
“Il Principe”. Let’s start with a bit about Niccolò Machiavelli
himself, and his times.
He was a classic Renaissance man, a man with expertise
in various areas. He wrote comedies and poetry. He was a
politician, diplomat and administrator, responsible at one time
for the Florentine Republic’s army. And he was a historian
and philosopher. All that was possible, not only because of
his ability and intelligence, but also because he came from a
wealthy family.
The last part of the fifteenth century, when Machiavelli was
born, and the beginning of the sixteenth century was a
particularly tumultuous period in Italy. Popes and the many city
states, like Florence, Pisa and Venice, continually fought one
another for power and territory, and there were interventions
by France and Spain. Governments – and princes – had to
deal with internal problems and conspiracies, and also insure
the survival of their state in the conflictive world around them.
It was a good time for a book about government.
The title of Machiavelli’s book didn’t refer just to traditional
princes or monarchs, but also to “new princes” or heads
of state. No matter how they became heads of state, the
challenge was to remain there and make the state stable and
successful. “The Prince” is about the art of government, often
a brutal art, then and now.
Now let’s look at what Machiavelli proposed in some detail.
You’ll see he has followers even today.
Questions:
13. What is the main topic of this lecture?
14. In what course is this lecture probably given?
15. Why does the speaker call Machiavelli a Renaissance man?
16. Who was Machiavelli referring to in the phrase “the prince”?
SPEAKING
Follow the same procedure as for the Speaking task in Unit 1.
2. Listen to part of a talk about ballet.
Many people think of ballet as an art form that was invented
in the nineteenth century by choreographers working with the
great ballet composers, like Adolphe Adam – who is known for
“Giselle” – and Pyotr Tchaikovsky – who is famous for “Swan
Lake”, “The Sleeping Beauty” and “The Nutcracker Suite”. In
fact, ballet has developed continuously over some six hundred
years, and it continues developing today.
Formalized dancing in the general style of ballet has its origins
in the courts of fifteenth and sixteenth century Italy, with
dances performed by and for aristocrats. In 1533, Caterina de’
Medici, of Florence, married the heir to the French throne, and
ballet seems to have gone to Paris with her. Later, as Queen
Catherine of France, she certainly promoted it, with ballets
commissioned for her daughter’s wedding in 1572, and for
Polish ambassadors visiting Paris the following year. Catherine
and her court musician and choreographer, Balthasar de
Beaujoyeulx, were among the first to direct ballet towards its
classic form, with music and dance telling a story.
In the seventeenth century, music academies in France began
to pay some attention to ballet. Towards the end of the century,
Louis XIV founded the Royal Academy of Music, or Paris
Opera. Many operas involved some ballet, and eventually the
Paris Opera Ballet arose as a distinct entity. This French period
accounts for most of the terminology of ballet, but it was about
to go outside France.
In the 1740s, the Royal Danish Ballet and the Imperial Russian
Ballet were founded. The words “royal” and “imperial” indicate
that ballet was still principally for royalty and aristocrats. But
that too would eventually change.
Questions:
17. What does the speaker say many people believe?
18. Why did Caterina de’ Medici go to France?
19. What did the queen and her court musician do?
20. Which countries are referred to?
Proficiency Assessment 2
22T
WRITING
Imagine someone recommended a book related to your studies, but you’ve
forgotten what it was. Write an e-mail asking about it. Ask for information about:
* the title of the book
* the contents of the book
You recommended a book the other
day, but I’ve completely forgotten
what it was. Can you remind me?
For a start, …
* the author’s name and reputation
* why your friend recommends it
TEST SECTION 2: STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION
Structure
In this part of the test you read some incomplete sentences. Choose the word or phrase below each one that best
completes it (A, B, C or D).
A in
2. The human species _____
Africa.
D chocolate helps people
3. _____
relax.
A. originated
B. was originated
C. were originated
D. were original
A. If they eat
B. Eat
C. Because they eat
D. Eating
A I hadn’t slept, I felt fine.
4. _____
D
5. I don’t know _____
D in cooking
6. Tomatoes _____
everywhere.
A. Although
B. In spite of
C. However
D. Due to
A. what was he was talking.
B. that he talks about.
C. about which he talked.
D. what he was talking about.
A. have used
B. are used
C. used
D. are using
C information.
1. This book has _____
A. an interesting
B. some interested
C. some interesting
D. any interested
WRITTEN EXPRESSION
In this part of the test you read some sentences, which have four underlined words or phrases marked A, B, C and D.
Identify the one underlined word or phrase in each sentence that must be changed to make the sentence correct.
7. The city’s centenary comes in the end of next year.
8. Only a little marsupials are found outside Australasia.
9. Before study Medicine, most students major in Biology.
10. A lot of people feels yoga reduces anxiety and stress.
11. Computer chips need a language for communicate in.
12. In 1608, the French founded which is now Quebec City.
A
B
A
B
A
C
D
C
B
D
C
D
A
A
A
B
C
B
B
D
C
C
D
D
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
In this section you read some passages (in this practice test, four passages), each one accompanied by some questions.
For each passage choose the best answer to each question (A, B, C or D).
Passage 1
Line A lot of children in Romania used to drop out of school
because of Math. The authorities noted the problem
and sought a solution. Eventually, they came up with an
unusual strategy – soccer. They began to teach Math
(5) on the soccer field instead of in the classroom.
The children have sums on the back of their soccer
shirts: additions, subtractions, multiplications and
divisions. They soon become very familiar with the
symbols and the basic mathematical processes.
(10) They have problems to solve each match, like: Andone
and Stancu scored 27 goals last season, Andone 9
more than Stancu – how many goals did each player
score? Alibec has run 296 kilometers in 19 games –
what is his average distance per game? It has proved
(15) to be a winning strategy.
23
Proficiency Assessment 2
1. In line 1, drop out of is closest in meaning to:
A. go to
B. stop attending
C. graduate from
D. complete
2. Where in the passage does the author say whether or
not the experiment has worked?
A. In paragraph 1.
B. In paragraph 2.
C. In paragraph 3.
D. Nowhere.
3. Which of the following statements is true according to
the passage?
A. The children wear soccer uniforms in class.
B. Soccer players teach the children Math.
C. Math teachers can beat their pupils at soccer.
D. The children do Math while playing soccer.
WRITING
Have your students read the task, and make sure they understand that they should continue from where the e-mail
provided leaves off. Give them a 60-80 word limit, and, if you have them do the task in class, a 15 minute time limit –
you could start the task 15 minutes before the end of a class, with students free to leave when they have handed in
the e-mail. If you give them a formal grade, consider their completion of the task as specified and their communicative
effectiveness, not only, or even mainly, their language accuracy.
TEST SECTION 2: STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION
Structure
Remember, the selection of the best options in this type of exercise principally depends on grammatical considerations,
but it may also involve lexical and contextual considerations.
Written Expression
The task here is not really written expression as such, which is not included in TOEFL ITP, but the revision and correcting
which writers should do before they give or send their texts to the intended reader or readers.
The corrections here would be: 7. at the end
8. a few
9. Before studying
10. feel
11. to
12. what
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
In these reading comprehension tasks, different aspects of reading comprehension are tested: the identification of
paragraph and passage topics, the understanding of phrase and sentence meanings, the understanding of words in
context, and the identification of pronoun reference. You can point out these different types of question to your students
when you go over this section with them.
Proficiency Assessment 2
23T
Passage 2
Line The first Olympic Games after the Second World War
(during which two Games were cancelled) were held
in London in 1948. And something else also began.
At the same time as the Olympics in London, 35 miles
(5) away at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where injured
soldiers were treated, 14 partly paralyzed men and 2
women took part in an archery competition. It was the
idea of Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, head of the hospital’s
Spinal Injuries Unit.
(10) The Stoke Mandeville Games were held annually after
that. In 1952, there were Dutch competitors as well
as British, making it the first international sports event
for the disabled. In 1960, the 9th International Stoke
Mandeville Games were held in Rome immediately
(15) after the Olympics, with 400 athletes with disabilities
from 23 countries. They were later called the 1st
Paralympic Games.
4. The main purpose of the passage is to
A. explain how the Paralympic Games began.
B. describe a hospital for the disabled near London.
C. explain how the Olympic Games developed.
D. promote the Paralympic Games.
5. In line 11, what does that refer to?
A. The Olympic Games. B. Dr. Guttmann’s appointment.
C. The World War. D. The 1st Stoke Mandeville Games.
6. What were the Games for the disabled in Rome in 1960
originally called?
A. The Rome Olympic Games.
B. The 9th International Stoke Mandeville Games.
C. The 1st Paralympic Games.
D. The 9th International Stoke Mandeville Paralympic Games.
Passage 3
Line Diet has become a big issue in the world today, as
rising obesity and other health problems are partly
associated with the consumption of junk food and
sugary beverages.
(5) Some nutritionists recommend special diets, and
others eating strategies such as “mindful eating”
(careful selection of what you eat and positive
attention while you eat). Research data showing
improved health or well-being is often cited to support
(10) a specific diet or strategy.
However, many nutritionists recommend traditional
diets, often associated with life-styles. “The
Mediterranean diet” is chief among these, and is
recommended by prestigious health centers such as
(15) the Mayo Clinic. The health benefits of this diet are not
just supported by small-scale studies, but by statistics
from populations of many millions.
7. In line 6, what does others refer to?
A. Diets.
B. Nutritionists.
C. Recommendations.
D. Some.
8. In line 9, the word cited is closest in meaning to
A. seen.
B. told.
C. invented.
D. referred to.
9. Which of the following statements is true about the
passage?
A. It tends to favor special diets.
B. It recommends junk food and beverages in moderation.
C. It tends to favor “the Mediterranean diet”.
D. It suggests that research on eating strategies is
strong.
Passage 4
Line Mauritius is a tiny nation in the Indian Ocean,
consisting of one main island and a few smaller ones.
The main island is over 600 miles east of Madagascar,
which itself is over 300 miles from the east coast of
(5) continental Africa.
The total land area of Mauritius is under 800 square
miles, and its population is only about 1,300,000.
Its location in an ocean meant Mauritius was
uninhabited until 1638, though Arab and Portuguese
(10) sailors visited it. That year the Dutch established a
settlement. In 1715 Mauritius became a French
possession, and from 1810, a British possession, until
its independence in 1968.
Before the Suez Canal opened, Mauritius was
(15) important for ships sailing between Europe and the
Far East. Today it is a vacation paradise for well-off
people.
24
Proficiency Assessment 2
10. In line 2, ones means
A. nations.
B. few.
C. islands.
D. oceans.
11. Why was Mauritius uninhabited until 1638?
A. Because it was far from inhabited land.
B. Because its population was very small.
C. Because of the Arabs and Portuguese.
D. Because it was not a European possession.
12. The main purpose of this passage is to
A. explain why Mauritius is not a colony now.
B. give a general description of Mauritius.
C. evaluate the importance of Mauritius.
D. promote Mauritius as a tourist destination.
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
(continued)
Remember, after your students have done the reading comprehension tasks, you can explore the topics and information
in the texts, and the different elements of language and discourse used, especially topic vocabulary. You could ask your
students which passage or passages they found most interesting, whether they learned some new English from any of
them, and so on. Even tests can be interesting and can contribute to language learning!
Proficiency Assessment 2
24T
UNIT
3
A
THE W O RL D AR OU N D U S
Lesson 1
The state of the natural world
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
Individually, answer these questions:
Which major cities in your country have most air
pollution and least air pollution? What do you think the
reasons are for each?
Can you think of any problems in your local area or your
country related to the contamination of rivers, lakes
or land?
Compare and discuss your answers in pairs.
READING
POLLUTION AND CONTAMINATION
These terms (and the verbs pollute and
contaminate) mean essentially the same: The
presence or introduction of substances that
make air, land, water, etc., impure. However,
pollution is normally used when there are
general harmful effects for humans and other
living organisms, and contamination is usually
reserved for the presence or introduction
of specific substances, like chemical waste:
The air pollution is worse today. This river is
contaminated with arsenic from the mines.
1 Read the article. Note what EPI is1 and which countries are top and bottom in EPI rankings2.
1 The Yale and Columbia University, World Economic Forum and Joint Research Center of the European Commission
evaluation of how well countries are dealing with environmental issues, grading performance on improving air quality,
water quality and ecosystems, and reducing negative impacts on human health.
2 Top countries: Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Demark. Bottom countries: Niger, Madagascar, Eritrea and Somalia.
NEW ATTITUDE TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION NEEDED
The first environmental protection agency was established in Sweden in 1967, and the first UN environmental
conference was held there in 1972. That led to the creation of the United Nations Environment Program, and
international agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, committing signatory countries
to action against environmental degradation. Current indications are that, while considerable progress has been
made by some countries (like Sweden itself, where more than half the country’s energy comes from renewable
resources), the situation in the world in general is serious.
The main source of information on this situation is the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), which evaluates
how well different countries are dealing with environmental issues. It was developed by Yale and Columbia
Universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Center of the European
Commission. The first EPI report was published in 2006, and there have been reports every two years since
then. The EPI grades performance on improving air quality, water quality and ecosystems, and reducing negative
impacts on human health.
The top four countries in the 2016 EPI report are all Scandinavian – Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Demark.
That reflects both a will to act and strong economies that can finance effective action. In contrast, the four lowest
ranked countries (numbers 176 to 180) are poor African nations – Niger, Madagascar, Eritrea and Somalia –
that have urgent issues of day-to-day human survival to attend to, including famine, disease and war. However,
it should be noted that Costa Rica, a middle income country, has been among the top nations in previous EPI
reports, based more on strong government policies than finance.
The world’s biggest developed economies are all in the top quarter of the EPI rankings – France at 10, the UK
at 12, Canada at 25, the USA at 26, Germany at 30 and Japan at 39. One might ask why the last four of those in
particular are not doing better, since several less wealthy countries are ranked above them. On the other hand,
the world’s two largest developing economies are far down the index, China at 109 and India at 141. Most other
large developing economies are also low in the EPI, though some are doing better (for example, Brazil is at 46 out
of 180 and Mexico is at 67).
25
Prioritizing economic growth over the protection of the environment is behind many of the poor or disappointing
performances mentioned in the previous paragraph. Economic growth is important, but if it is not ecologically
managed, it tends to damage the environment as it often involves more vehicles, factories, extraction of resources
and waste. Sadly, while signing environmental agreements with one hand, many governments sign commercial
and economic development agreements that go against them with the other hand. This must change. In all
countries, protection of the environment should be considered as important as economic growth.
The world around us
UNIT
TH E W O RL D A R OU N D U S
3
UNIT OBJECTIVES:
1 To maintain your students’ commitment to using English as the main classroom language.
2 To maintain your students’ commitment to communicative competence in English as the course goal, with
3
4
5
6
the development of communicative skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing).
To maintain your students’ awareness of the importance of English in their lives.
To consolidate and extend your students’ vocabulary for communicating about the natural world and the
human world.
To consolidate and extend your students’ grammar, especially to:
- talk about the natural world, ecology, etc., and about the human world, politics, economics, sociology, etc.
- add emphatic pronouns
- talk about getting/having something done
- add more prepositions, including after verbs.
To consolidate and develop Ss’ learning skills and autonomy.
Lesson 1
A
The state of the natural world
Developing your
communicative skills
Remember that this skills section (reading, listening, speaking, writing and integrated skills) aims to make communication
the first and main area of activity of the course as well as its goal. Students should communicate here principally with
the language resources they have accumulated over their years of studying English. If some of them use the new
language that is to be worked on in the Consolidating and developing your English language section, that is fine, but
do not interrupt the communicative activities to start working on that language in this section. In fact, there will probably
be no language in this book that is new for all Ss, given the different experiences of English they have had getting to
this intermediate level. Keep the focus strongly on communication, with some attention to problems students have with
language they are ‘supposed to know’ already, with creative remedial work.
SPEAKING
Go through the note on pollution and contamination with the students. Elicit some examples of sentences using these
words from your students.
This activity aims to introduce the topic of the lesson – the state of the natural world (relating it to your students’ own
country and local area) – and activate your students’ existing repertoire of English. Keep the pair work fairly short unless
your students are really enthusiastic and are communicating well, and then get students to share with the class some of
the thoughts they talked about in pairs.
READING
1 This task requires students to locate key information in the text. After your students have read the text and done the
task individually, get them to compare their answers in pairs before you check with the whole group. Checking answers
in pairs can generate some useful discussion about the text.
The world around us
25T
2 Read the article again and answer the following questions.
1 When did serious attention to the environment begin?
6 Why has Costa Rica also been high in the rankings?
In 1967 (just in Sweden), and then 1972 (internationally).
Because of strong government policies more than finance.
2 What are the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement?
7 Why does the author criticize some top countries?
International agreements against environmental degradation. They should be doing better – like several poorer countries.
3 Have they produced generally good results?
8 Which big economies are doing very badly?
China and India.
No, only in a few countries.
4 How often are EPI reports published?
9 What conflict is common in government policies?
Every two years.
Economic growth vs. protection of the environment.
5 Why are Scandinavian countries top of the EPI?
10 What new attitude does the author demand?
Making protection of the environment as important as
They have the will to act and the ability to finance action.
economic growth.
3 In the last paragraph of the article find everything the author says about economic growth and about the protection of
the environment. What is the author’s position on both? Compare your findings in pairs.
LISTENING Track 15
1 Listen to a conversation between two students at the
University of California, Berkeley, at the end of Earth Day,
and answer the following questions.
1 What are Leila and Eric studying at Berkeley?
Business Administration.
2 What was the main focus of Earth Day this year?
Trees.
3 Who is from Costa Rica?
Eric.
4 What Earth Day event did Leila find very interesting?
A documentary.
5 What do you think logging (in forests) is?
Cutting down trees.
6 In what way is Costa Rica an example for the USA?
In its policies and actions for the protection of the
environment.
Track 16
2 Listen to the conversation again and complete the
statements.
Costa Rica .
1 The documentary was mostly about
(and
the
environment)
2 In 1940, 75
% of the country was covered by
tropical forest
.
3 By 1983 that was down to 26% because of
uncontrolled logging.
4 Forest cover is now up to 52% because of
reforestation
.
5 The plan is to get it up to 70% by 2021 .
Carbon neutrality
6
is when all the CO2 produced is
absorbed.
7 The army was dissolved in 1948 and the money
saved was spent on social
environmental programs
8
50
and
.
% of the national income now comes from
tourism
.
SPEAKING
Look at the illustrations and, in groups, discuss the environmental issues depicted in relation to your local area and your
country.
WRITING
Write a Facebook post, tweet or similar online post about the environmental situation in your city or country. Begin like this:
In my city/country, __________, little/a lot of attention is given to the environment. Mention:
• the quality of the air in cities, and of the water in rivers, lakes and seas
• the state of the forests/jungles, and the wildlife in them
• the action you think is needed to protect the environment, or protect it better.
26
The world around us
READING
2 This activity involves finding many specific sections of text and quoting them, or paraphrasing them. Again, have your
students compare their answers in pairs before you check with the whole group.
3 This activity works on detailed interpretation and evaluation of a specific part of the text. You could ask your students to
write a summarizing sentence individually, e.g. The author clearly considers both economic growth and protection of the
environment important, and says that they need to be balanced, but currently more attention needs to be given to the
latter. Pairs of students can then agree on a summarizing sentence, which can be evaluated in whole group feedback.
LISTENING
1 Talk about Earth Day with your students. Is it celebrated in their place of study? Do they think it should be? Then give
your students time to read and think about the questions before you play the track. Remember that this is listening
practice, not a test, so you can repeat the track if you feel that is necessary, which may be likely for this rather
challenging first task. Leave the final checking of answers with the whole group until after the second task.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
Leila: So what did you think of today’s Earth Day events, Eric?
Eric: Great! I’m glad I’m doing my Master’s here at Berkeley. As Business Administration majors, we both need
to think about economic growth, but it’s good to be at a university that’s getting things done to protect the
environment, isn’t it?
Leila: It certainly is. Did you know that Berkeley is usually ranked first or second for Environmental Studies?
Eric: No, I didn’t, but it showed today. I particularly liked the focus on trees. My country is an example of how to
reverse deforestation, you know.
Leila: Yes, I do know that… now! The documentary they showed this afternoon was mostly about Costa Rica. It
must make you proud.
Eric: It does. I’m afraid I didn’t see the documentary myself. Was it good?
Leila: It was excellent. Apparently 75% of Costa Rica was covered by tropical forest in 1940, and by 1983 that had
gone down to 26% because of uncontrolled logging.
Eric: Yes, that was a bad time, but…
Leila: But the government had already got controls on logging established, and by the end of the century
deforestation was down to zero. Since then reforestation has taken forest cover up to 52%, and the plan is to
reach 70% and carbon neutrality by 2021. I didn’t fully understand what carbon neutrality is, but it sounded
important!
Eric: It is! It’s when as much carbon dioxide is absorbed, mostly by trees, as is emitted by vehicles, factories and
so on. We learn all about that at school in Costa Rica.
Leila: Really? That’s great. The documentary said Costa Rica has achieved great environmental results through
taking brave financial and other decisions.
Eric: That’s right. It started when the army was dissolved in 1948 and the money was used for social and
environmental programs instead.
Leila: Ah, yes – the documentary mentioned that.
Eric: And the environment is seen as an economic resource, with investment in it producing income…
Leila: …from ecotourism. Yes, they said about half of Costa Rica’s GDP comes from tourism.
Eric: So you see, we can teach the United States a thing or two!
Leila: You certainly can!
2 Give your students time to read and think about the questions before you play the track again. This task goes into very
specific detail, so you may wish to repeat the track, remembering that this is listening practice, not a test. When you
check the answers to the two tasks with the whole group, you can play the track yet again, pausing at key points, so
that the students can confirm the information in the text.
SPEAKING
As your students do this task in groups, note how they manage with environmental vocabulary and with comparatives.
Afterwards, do some consolidation or remedial work if needed.
WRITING
The structuring of this task should help most students to write something satisfactory. As in previous writing tasks, you
can set a strict word range, e.g. 40-60 words, or leave it quite open, e.g. 40-100 words, to give stronger, keener students
space to explore their ability to write in English. After checking the task, read out some of the best posts and comment on
them to show the whole class what is possible for them at this level.
The world around us
26T
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Different elements in sentences
Complete the following conversation between a biology professor and a student with ONE word in each space.
Student:
me
Did
are
Dr. Philips. 2________
you say that all the oceans and seas of the world 3________
Excuse 1________,
experiencing habitat loss now?
said
some degree of habitat loss.
Professor: No, I 4________
‘almost all’, but that means close to 100% with 5________
Student:
That
6________
for
is terrible! And I suppose we humans are responsible 7________
most of it.
but / (al)though natural causes account for some habitat loss. Hurricanes, tsunamis 9________
and
Professor: Yes, 8________________
can
it / this is usually temporary. The effects
volcanic eruptions 10________
cause considerable disruption, but 11________
more persistent.
much / far worse and 13________
of human activities are 12____________
Student:
Right. I’ve read
that
14________
environments damaged by natural events can often repair
themselves
15_________________.
Coral reefs, for example.
Professor: That’s right. At least one coral reef off Thailand damaged
by
16________
the 2004 Asian tsunami
has
17________
which are caused by human
largely recovered by itself now. Unfortunately, pollution and global warming, 18________
will
activities, 19________
probably limit or reverse that recovery.
Student:
must / should start behaving ourselves.
Obviously, we humans 20_______________
Professor: Ha, ha – that’s one way of putting it! Very good, Marion!
2 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Uses of -self / -selves pronouns (myself, yourself, etc.; ourselves, yourselves, etc.)
Underline the -self/-selves pronouns in the following sentences. Note the
position of the pronoun in each sentence. Then classify the use of each
pronoun as RV (reflexive after a verb), RP (reflexive after a preposition),
or EM (for emphasis – not strictly necessary). It may be useful to consider
what the equivalent sentences would be in your native language.
1 I didn’t see the documentary myself.
EM
2 I hope you enjoyed yourself at the party.
RV
3 John built his garage himself to save money.
EM
RP
4 Mary learned to play the piano by herself, without taking classes.
5 The government itself is not responsible for the gas shortage, but it will do
everything possible to solve the problem.
EM
6 We humans have done great harm to nature and to ourselves.
7 Come in everyone! Make yourselves at home!
RP
RV
8 Coral reefs damaged by natural events can usually repair themselves.
RV
Put -self / -selves pronouns in appropriate places in these sentences.
1 I cut myself badly while I was cooking, and I needed five stitches in my hand.
2 The President herself is going to inaugurate the exhibition instead of sending a representative as she usually does.
3 The school is only two blocks away, and the three López children walk there and back by themselves every day.
4 China imports a lot of oil because China itself produces very little.
5 At the beginning of the seminar, the moderator asked us all to introduce ourselves and say a few words about ourselves.
6 After winning the lottery, Mr. and Mrs. Brown bought a large car for themselves and a small one for their son.
27
The world around us
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
Remember that this section provides you with resources for consolidating language which all your students should know
and use well by now (but which some may not), and for focusing on language which is probably new for many students.
You should create lesson plans that include exercises from this section, along with ideas and material of your own. These
ideas and activities may include additional language work, communicative activities, games, songs, etc. This is where you
can be a really creative, autonomous teacher!
1 REVIEW: Different elements in sentences
This task covers a wide variety of language items in a dialogue – that is, a communicative text. It involves both
understanding the text and making detailed grammatical choices, which is what our brains do subconsciously in actual
communicative use of language.
2 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Uses of -self / -selves pronouns (myself, yourself, etc.; ourselves, yourselves, etc.)
Discuss the illustration with your students. Ask them why the man is building the garage himself instead of having it done
by a builder (because he enjoys this type of work, to save money, to prove he can do it, etc.). Then ask if any of them
have built or repaired something instead of having it done by an expert.
Have your students do the first task individually and compare their answers in pairs. Conduct feedback with the whole
group and ask your students what the equivalent of the English emphatic pronouns would be in their language.
Follow the same procedure for the second task. In the feedback, ask them to classify the pronouns: 1 RV 2 EM 3 RP
4 EM 5 RV, RP 6 RP.
The world around us
27T
3 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Environmental vocabulary
Complete the sentences with one word from the box on each line. Different words are possible in some cases.
air
ash
carbon
deforestation
levels
change
drought
logging
loss
renewable
emissions
neutral
storm
sustainability
.
5 Ocean
flooding
.
7 Gas and diesel vehicles cause
pollution
in cities.
flooding
pollution
sustainable
tides
habitat
quality
warming
global
reforestation
wind
habitat
loss
.
warming
.
air
and
13 The air
quality
emissions
.
carbon
in my city is not good.
14 We must use eolic energy,
15 Carbon
.
drought
11 Water is scarce because of a 3-year
12 Costa Rica has achieved
neutrality
.
rivers.
storm
economic development. 10 The coral reef was damaged by a
are rising and causing coastal
6 Humans contribute to global
climate
change
flood
currents
9 Factories and mines often contaminate
4 Forests are disappearing because of uncontrolled
logging
.
levels
pollute
contamination
energy. 8 Many species are threatened by
can seriously damage the
3 The world needs sustainable
contaminate
environment
neutrality
renewable
1 The sun is an important source of
ash
2 Volcanic
environment
climate
wind
power.
are absorbed by trees.
16 We can get energy from ocean
tides
.
4 NEW FOCUS: get / have something done
Read the text, look at the underlined sections and words in bold, and, in pairs, discuss any patterns you notice. Then read
the grammar note after the text.
Pressure groups around the world are trying to get more action taken to protect the environment. Green Peace
is just one of them. They want to have strict controls established on economic activities, like logging, mining and
manufacturing, and get environmental degradation reduced dramatically.
Grammar note: The pressure groups themselves cannot take the necessary action, establish controls and reduce
environmental degradation. Other people and institutions have to do it – governments, parliaments and authorities must
take actions and establish regulations, and companies must adhere to them.
Now complete the following sentences using an appropriate form of get or have and of the words in parentheses, and
adding any necessary words.
have/get solar panels installed
1 Everyone on my street has agreed to go ecological and ___________________________________
(solar panels / install).
had/got his hair cut
2 Daniel __________________________
(hair / cut) yesterday because he has a job interview today.
is going to have an environmental plan developed
3 Soon, the government ____________________________________________________
(environmental plan / develop) by a
group of scientists.
has/gets his house painted
4 Mr. Hill _________________________________
(house / paint) a different color every two years. He’s eccentric and rich.
5 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Individually, underline vocabulary and grammar you think are wrong in the following text. Then, in pairs, compare and
discuss what you have underlined. There are eight mistakes.
How is the environment doing where you live? Better that than where I live, I
hope. In my city we have a lot of smog, especially on in winter. It is an industrial
city and many of the factories are old. Some of them put its their waste directly
into the river. We don’t have no any big parks, and not many trees. I want to
move to a different city, but my whole family is here.
When you have agreed on what the errors are, correct them individually. Then compare your corrections with a
different partner.
28
The world around us
3 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Environmental vocabulary
Follow the usual individual – pair – whole group procedure. After checking the answers with the whole group, ask your
students if they can think of more environmental words. Teams of four or five students could write lists of words, which
you could then check to see which team produced the longest list.
4 NEW FOCUS: get / have something done
The pattern your students should notice is: get / have + something + past participle.
Discuss the grammar note with them. Then ask if they or their parents have had something done recently.
After your students have done the completion task and you have checked it, make the following observations:
Get and have are usually interchangeable in this structure, but get sometimes suggests difficulty, such as getting
something done against opposition (They campaigned for a year, but they couldn’t get the minimum wage increased),
while have sometimes suggests unopposed action (The Supreme Court had the conviction re-examined).
Get and have can be in any tense: They have / had / will have their house painted every year.
5 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Follow the same procedure, or a similar one, as in this type of task in previous lessons. You may want to do remedial
work on some items if many students fail to identify them or correct them.
The world around us
28T
Lesson 2
A
The state of the human world
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
In pairs or groups, look at the pictures. Discuss what you see and what you think about it.
READING
1 Read the article. What two international organizations are mentioned? When was each founded? Why?
The League of Nations (founded 1920) and the United Nations Organization (founded 10/24/1945). Both were founded
to resolve international disputes and prevent war.
HUMANITY’S BEST HOPE
Over 50,000 years ago, when groups of early humans wandered out of Africa into Europe and Asia, the members
of each group had to collaborate to survive. Contact with other groups was infrequent in the vast, wild spaces,
and when groups did catch sight of one another they usually went off in different directions to avoid conflict.
Human life was based on collaboration within groups and avoidance of conflict between groups.
Homo sapiens, our species, has come a very long way since then. On the one hand, we have developed amazing
civilizations, science and technology, largely through collaboration. On the other hand, we have become territorial,
competitive and belligerent. We have also progressed in military technology from sticks and stones to guns and
bombs. By the end of the nineteenth century, something much, much worse than any previous war was bound to
happen.
In 1914, the First World War began. By its end in 1918, 11 million military personnel and 7 million civilians had
died, and another 20 million had been wounded. In the Second World War (1939-45) there were over 60 million
deaths, more civilian than military. Where was humanity heading?
That question was asked urgently after World War I, and the League of Nations was founded in 1920. Its main mission
was to resolve international disputes and prevent war. There were 42 founding members, with membership rising
to 58 by 1934. But the League lacked the power and resolve to carry out its mission fully, though it did achieve
some good results. The United States never joined, considering war a largely European problem. Germany, Italy
and Japan withdrew in the 1930s, prior to World War II, and the Soviet Union was expelled. The League continued
to exist throughout the war, but largely in name only, and it was dissolved in 1946, a year after the war ended.
By then, the United Nations Organization had been founded (October 24, 1945), with 51 original signatories,
planning to assume the League of Nations’ functions, and more. The founding members included China, Britain,
France, the Soviet Union and, this time, the United States, where the headquarters were to be. Though the UNO
is regularly criticized, it has undeniably done an enormous amount of good work, not just in the prevention of war,
but in many other spheres too. The state of our world is far from what we would all wish it to be, but there has been
no Third World War, and the United Nations Organization, now with 193 members, is perhaps still the best hope
for humanity.
29
The world around us
Lesson 2
A
The state of the human world
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
You may want to specify clearly that your students should discuss what they see and what they think about it, one picture
at a time, and only then talk about all the pictures and the contrasts between them. You could repeat that procedure in the
feedback with the whole group: Tell me what you see and what you think about the first picture. Tell me about the second
picture. Now tell me about the last picture. Which picture illustrates your own situation best? Is there / Has there ever
been anything like the other pictures in our country? etc.
READING
1 Follow the usual individual – pairs – whole group procedure. Then get the students to continue to task 2.
The world around us
29T
2 Read the article again and answer the following questions.
1 What is the author’s point in the first paragraph?
6 Why didn’t the USA join the League of Nations?
Humans were once more collaborative and less belligerent. It considered war a largely European problem.
2 What good side of human development is mentioned?
7 What weakened the League in the 1930s?
Civilization, science and technology, through collaboration. The exit of Germany, Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union.
3 What bad side of human development is mentioned?
8 How is the United Nations like the League?
It assumed the League of Nations’ functions (and mission).
Competitiveness and belligerence.
4 Why was World War I so shocking?
9 How is it different?
Many more members, including the USA, and more functions.
Far more dead and wounded than in any previous war.
5 Which caused more deaths, World War I or II?
10 Is the author optimistic or pessimistic?
Optimistic (cautiously).
World War II.
3 In pairs or groups, discuss the article. Talk about whether you agree or disagree with the author, and any information
or ideas you would add.
LISTENING Track 17
1 Listen to part of a Politics lecture and answer these questions.
1 What does the professor do first?
An informal survey.
2 How many students think the state of the world is
generally bad?
About 1/3.
3 What does the professor tell the students not to do?
Include anything like his “research” in their assignments or theses.
4 What is political socialization?
The development of political beliefs and attitudes.
5 How can statistics about the state of the world be put
into perspective?
By comparing them with past situations or future targets.
6 What is the next part of the lecture going to be about?
Indicators (e.g. statistics) for poverty, now, 50, 100
and 200 years ago.
This country is a
disaster! I’m going to fix
it and make to make it
great!
This is a great country!
I’m going to fix it and
make to make it even
better!
Track 18
2 Read the following statements, listen to this part of
the lecture again and circle T if the statements are
true or F if they are false.
1 This is not the professor’s first lecture
with these students.
T / F
2 Approximately equal numbers of
students vote each way.
T / F
3 Half the students do not vote.
T / F
4 The professor assumes that all the
students who do not vote cannot make
up their minds.
T / F
5 The students are enrolled in a Political
Science major.
T / F
6 The professor thinks some of the
students should be more politically
socialized.
T / F
7 The professor suggests it is better to
T / F
compare the present with past situations
than with future targets.
8 The professor focuses on people in
poverty as an indicator of the state of
the world.
T / F
SPEAKING
Look at the illustration and, in groups, discuss the issues
depicted in relation to your country.
WRITING
The Americas have been a relatively peaceful part of the world for over a century. There have been some conflicts but,
since the Mexican Revolution, nothing like the international wars and civil wars in Europe and Asia. Write about the
country in the Americas you admire most because of its maintenance of peace, internal and external. Canada, Costa
Rica, Uruguay…? You will probably need to do a little Internet research.
30
The world around us
READING
2 Most of the answers are virtually quotations from the text, but some (e.g. 1 and 10) involve some inferencing.
3 You could extend this discussion by asking your students to vote for or against the proposition “The United Nations
Organization offers humanity real hope” (essentially the author’s position). You could then form groups containing some
students who voted for the proposition and some who voted against. This may generate more discussion.
LISTENING
1 Discuss the photo with your students. Ask them how they feel about their own country and which one of these positions
they identify with. Then give your students time to read the questions before playing the track and having them do the
task. Remember, this is listening practice, not a test, so you may want to repeat the track for students to complete or
check the first task. You can check the answers to this task before going on to the second task or leave that until after
the second task.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
Good morning. Let’s start today’s lecture with a little research. Consider the state of the world. Is it generally good
or bad in terms of social justice, peace, economic well-being and so on? Think for a moment. OK, how many of
you think it’s generally good? Raise your hands. Mm… about a third of you. And how many think it’s generally bad.
That’s right – raise your hands. Mm… approximately the same number. Presumably, the rest of you – another
third – either can’t make up your minds, or think it’s a mixture of good and bad. Yes? Right.
Now, don’t include anything like that as research in your assignments or theses! However, it does show one
thing: people have very different, even opposite, perceptions of the state of the world, or the state of their nation.
Even people like you – Political Science students. The reality is what it is, but people see it differently. As political
scientists, you should try to see objectively, but as people you tend to see subjectively. You have all been politically
socialized, in different ways. The agents of your political socialization – that is, the development of your political
beliefs and attitudes – may include your family, your community, your education, your experience and more. Your
subjective, politically socialized perception of the state of the world seems to be strong in more than half of you
here, though some of you have a positive perception while others have a negative perception.
As political scientists, we can look at statistics and facts, as far as they can be ascertained and agreed upon. But
the number or percentage of, for example, people in poverty, needs to be put into perspective, compared with
something. That can be past situations or future targets. Future targets may be, say, zero or near-zero poverty,
and current statistics may look bad against that until we have a utopia. So comparison with the past may be more
realistic and useful.
Let’s look at some indicators – actual statistics where available – for poverty, now, fifty years ago, a hundred years
ago and two hundred years ago.
2 Give your students time to read and think about the statements before you play the track once more. Again, as this is
listening practice, not a test, you may want to repeat the track. When you check the answers to this task with the whole
group, you can play the track yet again, pausing at key points, so that the students can confirm the information in the
text, and explore the content of the conversations further.
SPEAKING
You could go through the pictures with the whole group, eliciting what they can see in each and the contrast between
each pair of pictures. Then get the students, in groups, to relate the issues to their own country.
WRITING
You could have a general discussion with the whole group before the students work on their individual compositions.
As usual, make sure most students keep the text simple and short (because of the limitations of their English), perhaps
suggesting between 40 and 60 words, but allow stronger students freedom to write more, and more ambitiously.
The world around us
30T
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Adverb position in sentences
Put the adverb in parentheses in an appropriate place in the sentence. More than one place may be possible.
1 He did not get the job because he did not speak English well and he did not have a driving license. (well)
2 I took my sister’s children to the Natural History Museum yesterday, but it was closed. (yesterday)
3 You can always get something to eat in that mall, even after midnight. (always)
4 It does not often rain in here in January, but it rained a lot this year. (often)
5 Do you sometimes wish you had a fortune and didn’t have to work? (sometimes)
6 We invited all the professors, and we also invited the three guest speakers. (also)
7 Have you ever been up in a hot air balloon? (ever)
8 He took me seriously and was offended, but I was only joking. (only)
9 The traffic was terrible and we almost missed the plane, but it was delayed a little. (almost)
10 I will probably arrive a bit late, but don’t start the meeting without me. (probably)
2 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Prepositions
Complete the following sentences with the prepositions from the box, one in each space.
along
among
out of
1 The League of Nations existed
2 There were wars all
over
3 Peace must be maintained not only
4 There is little hope
Among
5
for
between
outside
by
throughout
until
throughout
between
out of
7 We must wait to see whether Britain will do as well
until
without
Africa
outside
by
without
the nineteenth century.
within/inside
each country.
an absolute prohibition of war.
along
into
the 2,000 mile border stands out.
Asia and Europe some 50,000 years ago.
the European Union as it did
Complete the sentences with words from the box.
peace
1 The League of Nations tried to maintain ______________
and
prevent
____________ war.
succeed
failure
2 It did not ____________
in that mission. Its worst ___________
was
World War II.
join
3 Almost every year, new nations __________
the UN, whose
membership
__________________ now stands at almost two hundred.
develop
beliefs
4 Our political ____________
and attitudes often begin to ______________
from an early age, a process known as political socialization.
developing
5 In the cities of most _______________
countries, deplorable
poverty
wealth
____________ and ostentatious __________
often exist side by side.
government
endemic
Corruption is an ____________
6 ______________
problem in _______________
and
public administration in many countries around the world, rich and poor.
survival
7 Early humans were focused on __________
and usually tried to
avoid
__________ conflict with other groups.
depressing
8 Although the state of the world may seem ________________,
there is
hope
__________
for us.
The world around us
over
1935, it had become ineffectual.
3 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Vocabulary for human activities and behavior
31
into
within
countries but also
the many Mexico-US problems, security
6 Early humans starting moving
inside
1946, but,
Europe
humanity
for
inside
the Union.
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Adverb position in sentences
Follow the usual individual – pairs – whole group procedure. After you have checked the answers with the whole group,
you could draw your students’ attention to the two patterns: well and yesterday (and badly, fluently, today, tonight,
tomorrow, etc.) at the end of the clause, and the rest (frequency adverbs like always and often, and adverbs like also,
only, almost and probably) before the main verb.
2 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Prepositions
This task works on a variety of prepositions, which are notoriously tricky because most do not correspond regularly across
languages, and have different translations according to context, e.g. at home, at one o’clock, laugh at something. Some
of the prepositions in this exercise should be solidly in your students’ repertoire, but others may not, and may be just for
recognition at this stage. Prepositions can only be learned progressively through extensive use, but this task can raise
the students’ awareness of some unfamiliar ones. Note that inside and within are often interchangeable, but inside is
almost always used for an enclosed space (inside the box, house, etc.) and within is used for more formal texts, and for a
broader space (within our borders), a time or distance limit (within an hour / a mile), or abstractly (within our power). After
checking the answers, you may want to compare/contrast some, like:
- between (two things) and among (more than two things)
- work until eight o’clock (time) vs. walk to the end of the street (place)
- get home by midnight (at the latest) vs. get home for dinner (purpose)
- work throughout the night (time) vs. walk along the river (place)
3 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Vocabulary for human activities and behavior
This task may help students consolidate some vocabulary related to this topic area. You could follow the exercise with an
antonym task, writing on the board:
corruption
depressing
hope
peace
wealth
failure
join (a club)
Opposite: h_ _ _ _ _ _ enc_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ d_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ p_ _ _ _ _ _
s_ _ _ _ _ _
l_ _ _ _
Answers:
honesty
encouraging
despair
war
poverty
success
leave
The world around us
31T
4 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Prepositions after verbs and past participle adjectives
Complete the following sentences with a preposition in the first space and then a concluding idea. Two different prepositions
are possible in some cases. Answers may vary. Possible answers include:
of
a world in which there was permanent peace
.
1 The founders of the League of Nations dreamed
2 At its foundation, 51 countries applied
for
membership of the United Nations Organization
.
to
3 In principle, to join the UN, a country must be prepared
totally renounce war
the countries in Europe
of
4 The European Union consists
almost all
new attitudes will achieve it
5 You can wish for
a war-free world, but only
education and opportunity
to
6 Poverty is usually related
a lack of
about
7 The UN Secretary General is very concerned
the situation in the Middle East
8 Many people have argued for / against United Nations intervention in
9 The United Nations Organization is absolutely committed
10 The elimination of extreme poverty depends
on
the
civil wars
the prevention of war
policies of governments
.
.
.
.
.
.
to
.
.
5 REVIEW: Verb tenses and structures
Complete the following conversations. Use the words in parentheses in appropriate forms and structures.
did you get
A: Hi, Pat! 1_________________
(you / get) my message about the new date for the exam?
it doesn’t leave
I did
B: Yes, 2_______________
(I / do). Thanks. 3_______________________
(it / not / leave) us much time to prepare.
I haven’t studied
A: I’m afraid not. And 4______________________
(I / not / study) at all yet. What about you?
I was thinking
I got
B: Me neither. 5___________________
(I / think) of studying when 6_______________
(I / get) your message, but…
are you going to vote / will you vote (you / vote) for?
C: Well, Sandy, just two weeks to the elections. Who 7____________________________________
you don’t know
I’m going to vote / I’ll vote
D: Come on, Jane, that’s private. But if 8____________________
(you / not / know) who 9___________________________
you haven’t been listening / you haven’t listened
(I / vote) for, it must be because 10_______________________________________________
(you / not / listen) to what
I’ve been saying
11______________________
(I / say) for the past three or four months.
who will be elected
C: Good! I’m sure that’s 12___________________________
(who / elect). I certainly hope so.
things are getting / have gotten
it seems
E: Well, 13_______________
(it / seem) that 14_________________________________
(things / get) better.
it does
Do you think
F: Yes 15_______________
(it). 16_____________________
(you / think) the economic crisis is over?
the Fed does not increase
E: No, not yet. But if 17________________________________
(the Fed / not / increase) the interest rates too soon,
the economy will soon recover / the economy should soon recover
18_____________________________________________________________
(the economy / soon / recover), in my opinion.
6 REVIEW: Editing and correction
Individually, underline vocabulary and grammar you think are wrong in the following text. Then, in pairs, compare and
discuss what you have underlined. There are eight mistakes.
When I consider the violence in Europe along throughout / during the past century, I
feel proud of be of being / to be Latin American. Among the many violent conflicts in
Europe, certain ones stand out because of the number of dead or the brutal genocide.
They include the World War I, the Russian Revolution and Civil War, the Spanish Civil
War, World War II and the Bosnian War. Latin America, on the other hand, has being
been relatively peaceful, with the exception of the Mexican Revolution. That does
not mean that there has been no violence. Latin America has had their (its) violent
dictatorships and other violence, but not on the same scale as in Europe.
When you have agreed on what the errors are, correct them individually. Then compare your corrections with a
different partner.
32
The world around us
4 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Prepositions after verbs and past participle adjectives
This exercise continues to work on prepositions as task 2 on the previous page did. The element of collocation (use
with other words and in certain contexts) was evident in that task, and it is even more evident here, with verb/participle
+ proposition pairings, often different than what your students might expect, e.g. dream of, related to. After checking the
answers with the whole group, you may want to elicit further examples of the use of these verb/participle + preposition
pairings from your students.
5 REVIEW: Verb tenses and structures
This once more activates your students’ knowledge (conscious or subconscious) of a wide variety of verb tenses
and structures.
6 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Follow the same procedure, or a similar one, as in this type of task in Unit 1. You may want to do remedial work on some
items if many students fail to identify them or correct them.
The world around us
32T
PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT 3
Remember that the tasks in this section, like those in the regular lessons in this book, help you consolidate your English
and develop your listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. They can reveal the strengths and weaknesses of your
English. Take advantage of what the tasks reveal about your English. Work on overcoming any weaknesses you have, as
well as exploiting your strengths. The tasks also indicate how you might do in an international proficiency test, and give
you practice for such tests. Remember, having a recognized certificate of proficiency may make a big difference in your
professional development and career.
Most of the tasks here are based on TOEFL ITP, the most widely used proficiency test in institutions of higher education
in Latin America, but there are similar tasks in other international proficiency tests. Also included here are speaking and
writing tasks, which are not included in TOEFL ITP, but which are in TOEFL iBT and Cambridge tests, which you will
need if you want to do postgraduate study abroad and other professional activities requiring proof of advanced level
English.
TEST SECTION 1: LISTENING COMPREHENSION
Part
A
Track 19
In this part of the test you hear some short conversations between two people (in this practice test, four conversations).
After each conversation, you hear a question about it. Read the four possible answers to the question and choose
the best one (A, B, C or D). Choose quickly because the conversation and question are not repeated, and the next
conversation and question begin in twelve seconds.
Question 1
Question 2
A. He knows what the fee is.
A. The man must do the rest of the report.
C. He doesn’t know how much it is yet.
C. The man has to finish the report at home.
B. He doesn’t want to tell her.
D. He has to leave her right now.
B. The man can stop working now.
D. The man must go and get the report.
Question 3
Question 4
A. They should wait a little.
A. Her opinion is the same as his.
C. They could have something to eat.
C. She is not sure, but she agrees.
B. They should hold a vote.
D. They should begin immediately.
Part
B
B. She feels angry.
D. She has a different point of view.
Track 20
In this part of the test you hear some longer conversations (in this practice test, two conversations). After each
conversation, you hear four questions about it. Read the four possible answers for each question and choose the best
one (A, B, C or D). Choose quickly because the question is not repeated, and the next question is asked in twelve
seconds.
Conversation 1
Question 5
Question 6
A. He’s not sure about it.
A. Improved old products.
C. It is not international enough.
C. The latest new thing.
B. It could be better.
D. It is generally good.
B. Revolutionary new products.
D. Realistically priced products.
Question 7
Question 8
A. Mumbai, where the convention is.
A. India is more varied.
C. India, but a long way from Mumbai.
C. India is more unified.
B. She does not say.
D. A country south of India.
33
Proficiency Assessment 3
B. Western Europe is more democratic.
D. Western Europe is more varied.
PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT 3
Remember the three main objectives of this section:
1 To prepare your students for international proficiency tests, which many of them, if not most, may soon need to take.
2 To give your students practice in working with a wide range of unpredictably mixed grammar, vocabulary and discourse
features in communicative texts and contexts, which is very like using language in real world communication.
3 To give you, the teacher, opportunities to identify your students’ language problems, whether common to many or only a
few, and do remedial work or consolidation practice with the students in question.
Remember also the different ways this material can be used. For this third Proficiency Assessment we suggest you use
the material over several classes, either incorporating exercises into regular lesson plans or doing complete sections
(the whole section of Listening Comprehension, Structure and Written Expression, and Reading Comprehension) in testlike conditions. After or while checking the answers, you can examine typical features of tests and consider test-taking
strategies.
TEST SECTION 1: LISTENING COMPREHENSION
Part
A
Remind your students of what is coming, and give them time to read the instructions and the possible answers. Play the
track right through, only once, even if some students are panicking. You could ask them to answer on a sheet of paper,
and collect them in so that you can check how the students did.
When you go through the exercises afterwards with the students, you can play the track again, more than once even,
stopping at key points and helping the students hear and understand anything they missed in the “test”.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Woman: How much is the registration fee
2. Man:
I worked all night, but I managed to finish for the convention?
the report. Here it is.
Man:
I’ll find out and let you know.
Woman: Thank you. Now go home and get some rest.
Question: What does the man imply?
Question: What does the woman mean?
3. Woman: Shall we start the meeting now or wait for
4. Man:
We really need to change our strategy
more people to arrive?
completely.
Man:
Let’s hold on just a little longer. Woman: I don’t see it that way.
Question: What does the man suggest?
Question: What does the woman mean?
Part
B
Follow the same procedure as in Part A. For the listening script of Conversation 2, see page 34T.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Listen to a conversation between two people at a digital technology convention in India.
Woman: What do you think of the convention?
Man:
It’s really well organized, and I didn’t expect so many exhibitors, lots of them from India itself.
Woman: Well, digital technology is one of India’s big things, digital technology and services. There are some very
interesting new ideas and products here this year. Some are very futuristic.
Man:
Well, yes, but I’m not sure how realistic that is, or how useful it is from a commercial point of view. People
say that everyone wants the latest new thing, but I think that a lot of the market is still quite conservative and wants established things that work better, like most of the stuff here, not completely new things, which
may or may not work.
Woman: Well, I’d say there’s a market for both improved old things and experimental new things. What do you think
of Mumbai?
Man:
It’s better than I expected. Mm… that sounds too negative! I mean, you can see the poverty, but most people seem to be busy working at something, trying to do better in life. And there are some wonderful things to see here, from the ancient to the ultra-modern.
Woman: Have you been to India before?
Man:
No, never. You’re Indian, are you?
Woman: Yes, but from the other side of the country and much further south, Chennai. In many ways, India is a collection of countries. There are bigger differences within India than within Western Europe – landscape,
climate, language, religion, development…
Man:
Yes, maintaining a real democracy here is an enormous achievement, a lesson for the world.
Questions:
5. What is the man’s opinion of the convention?
6. What does the man think the market wants most?
7. Where is the woman from?
8. How does the woman compare India and Western Europe?
Proficiency Assessment 3
33T
Conversation 2
Question 9
Question 10
A. To work in a university.
A. Dallas.
C. To do an MA.
C. The university in Dallas.
B. To visit different places.
D. To find a place to live.
B. San Antonio.
D. Austin.
Question 11
A. The composition of its population changed.
Question 12
A. It is fast and stressful.
C. All the African Americans left.
C. It is easy to make a living there.
B. The reconstruction made it very different.
D. It became a largely Latino city.
Part
C
B. It is not easy to describe.
D. It is more easy-going than other places.
Track 21
In this part of the test you hear some talks (in this practice test, two talks). After each talk, you hear four questions about
it. Read the four possible answers for each question and choose the best one (A, B, C or D). Choose quickly because
the question is not repeated, and the next question is asked in twelve seconds.
Talk 1
Question 13
Question 14
A. About 200,000 years ago. A. When humans started farming.
C. About 20,000 years ago.
C. When accurate guns were invented.
B. When humans first saw wolves.
D. When groups of humans started farming.
B. When wolves followed nomadic humans.
D. When dogs became pets.
Question 15
A. To sound the alarm and protect.
Question 16
A. To explain how dog breeds started.
C. There is no single use of dogs.
C. To give a general history of domesticated dogs.
B. To herd sheep and cows.
D. As animal companions.
B. To argue that dogs are economically important.
D. To explain how dogs have influenced humans.
Talk 2
Question 17
Question 18
A. About 38 degrees Fahrenheit.
A. About eighteen hours.
C. Extremely hot.
C. About eight hours.
B. Very unpredictable.
D. It should be nice.
B. At least six hours.
D. Over twenty-four hours.
Question 19
A. Its state capital buildings.
Question 20
A. Since 1610.
C. It used to be in Texas.
C. Since the 1830s.
B. It was founded by Mexicans.
D. Its history and traditions.
SPEAKING
For a minute, think about
public transport in and
around your city or town.
What is your personal
experience using it, and
what do you think needs to
be changed?
Then, in pairs, discuss your
experience and opinions for
five minutes.
34
Proficiency Assessment 3
B. For almost two hundred years.
D. Since the early twentieth century.
Part
B
(continued)
LISTENING SCRIPT:
2. Listen to a conversation between two people in Dallas, Texas.
Man:
So, you’re leaving next week, Nora. Have you enjoyed your time here in Dallas?
Woman: I have. The master’s program has been hard work, but it was great.
Man:
I’m sure it was, but I was thinking more about enjoying what Dallas – and the rest of Texas – have to offer.
Woman: Yes, of course, I’ve enjoyed that too. I liked Austin and San Antonio, especially the latter. But I have to confess that
the greatest memory I’ll take back with me to Colombia is not of Texas.
Man:
No? Don’t tell me you went somewhere in the States that’s better than Texas. That’s hard to believe.
Woman: Come on, Tony, you’re not even Texan yourself. You’re from Arkansas.
Man:
You mean you went to Arkansas and loved it? That’s even harder to believe.
Woman: Ha, ha! No, I went to New Orleans. I spent a week there. It was fantastic.
Man:
Ah, well, that’s different. I’m with you on that. I’m not sure I’d like to live there, but New Orleans is a cultural
treasure indeed. It’s wonderful for a stay of a week or more. After Hurricane Katrina, the city changed a lot. Many
African Americans were evacuated and some never returned, while a lot of Latinos went in for the reconstruction
work and stayed. But, in spite of that, New Orleans still has its unique traditional atmosphere – picturesque
streets, great jazz and food, and a whole lot more. It’s still “The Big Easy”.
Woman: It certainly is. They told me that nickname was invented by a journalist in the 1970s to describe New Orleans’
relaxed atmosphere. I could see why!
Questions: 9. Why has the woman been in Dallas?
11. How has New Orleans changed?
Part
10. Which place in Texas impressed the woman most?
12. Why is New Orleans called “The Big Easy”?
C
Follow the same procedure as in Parts A and B.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Listen to a talk about dogs.
Dogs – or wolves as they were then – were the first
animals that humans domesticated. The domestication
of wild canines was a slow process, beginning probably
some 20,000 years ago. It is thought that wolves would
sometimes follow groups of human hunters, and scavenge
the carcasses of animals the humans left behind. Very
gradually, the less aggressive and nervous animals would
approach the humans’ camps while they were cooking
meat, and the humans would throw them some scraps or
bones. Particular animals would then follow a particular
group of humans and a permanent relationship would
build up.
When some groups of humans stopped being nomadic
hunter gatherers, settled in one place and started farming,
the dogs that had followed them settled down with them.
Then, over thousands of years, dogs were bred for different
purposes, and the breeds we know today were produced.
They were almost all working dogs of some kind. Some did
very sophisticated work, like herding sheep and cows, or
finding and retrieving the birds and animals that humans
hunted, especially after the invention of accurate guns.
However, the most common work, or function, of dogs
was to sound the alarm when strangers or predatory wild
animals approached, and even attack them.
Though dogs are still kept for alarm and protection purposes
– on farms, in isolated homes, on car lots, at factories, and so
on – they are mostly now kept as pets, animal companions.
As such, they have become the indirect customers of
enormous, highly profitable industries – dog food, beds,
accessories, toiletry, health care, and even cemeteries.
Questions:
13. When did the domestication of dogs probably begin?
14. When did different dog breeds begin?
15. What is the commonest use of dogs today?
16. What is the general purpose of the talk?
SPEAKING
Follow the same procedure as for the Speaking task in Unit 1.
2. Listen to some information about a trip for a group of
foreign university students.
OK, so tomorrow we’re going to Santa Fe, the capital of
New Mexico. The bus will be leaving from the university’s
main entrance at 6 o’clock sharp, and if you aren’t here, it
will leave without you. We should be in Santa Fe at around
10 o’clock. The temperature will get very high, perhaps up
to a hundred – that’s thirty-eight degrees Celsius for those
of you who aren’t familiar with Fahrenheit – so wear suitable
clothing, including a hat. We’ll be getting back to Denver
after midnight, so be prepared for that.
Now, a little about Santa Fe. It’s a very interesting, and
attractive, city. The area was occupied by indigenous people
long before the Spanish arrived and founded a settlement
in 1610. Santa Fe is the oldest city in New Mexico, and the
oldest state capital in the United States. Many of you speak
Spanish, so you know that the name means “holy faith”.
The Spanish built a church as soon as possible for any new
settlement, and we’ll visit the first one in Santa Fe, the San
Miguel Mission church. It was begun the year the city was
founded, 1610, and completed in 1628.
Of course, Santa Fe – and everything from Texas to
California – was part of the Spanish colony of Nueva
España, and then independent Mexico, until the 1830s, so
there’s a lot of Spanish and Mexican tradition there. Then
there was a Texan and what you might call “Wild West”
period. New Mexico didn’t become a state in the Union
until 1912.
Well, more history on the bus tomorrow. See you all
before 6 a.m.
Questions:
17. What will the weather be like where they are going?
18. How long will the trip take, from departure to return?
19. What is interesting about the city they are visiting?
20. How long has it been a US state capital?
Proficiency Assessment 3
34T
WRITING
A foreign friend has asked you to recommend a good, modestly priced hotel to stay in during a business visit to your city
(or a big city near where you live). Write an e-mail describing two alternative hotels, mentioning:
location in relation to downtown
type (modern, traditional, etc.; large, small, etc.)
facilities (restaurant, bar, pool, gardens, etc.)
cost (of single rooms, with/without breakfast, etc.)
TEST SECTION 2: STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION
Structure
In this part of the test you read some incomplete sentences. Choose the word or phrase below each one that best
completes it (A, B, C or D).
A its scarcity.
1. Gold is valuable _____
D in the USA.
2. Possums are _____
B a virus.
3. The common cold _____
A. due to
A. only the marsupials
B. soB. the marsupials only
C. becauseC. the unique marsupials
D. result of
D. the only marsupials
A. cause is
B. is caused by
C. provokes
D. caused for
B the war, food was rationed.
4. _____
C
6. The staff were told _____
D
5. They wanted to know _____
A. WhileA. where had I worked.
B. DuringB. what I had worked.
C. WhenC. had I worked.
D. AlongD. where I had worked.
A. that they did not send personal e-mails.
B. they not send personal e-mails.
C. not to send personal e-mails.
D. they not send personal e-mails.
Written Expression
In this part of the test you read some sentences, which have four underlined words or phrases marked A, B, C and D.
Identify the one underlined word or phrase in each sentence that must be changed to make the sentence correct.
7. Several institutions claim be the USA’s first university.
8. The illiteracy is still a problem in many parts of the world.
9. Magellan was yet other foreigner who sailed for Spain.
A
B
C
D
10. Who invented the button and button hole was a genius.
11. The rules of soccer were first establish in England.
12. The company made staff to work overtime without pay.
A
B
A
C
B
D
C
A
B
C
A
D
B
A
C
D
D
B
C
D
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
In this section you read some passages (in this practice test, four passages), each one accompanied by some questions.
For each passage choose the best answer to each question (A, B, C or D).
Passage 1
Line Cholera suddenly hit European cities at the beginning
of the nineteenth century. The first epidemic in London
was in 1831-2, and caused over 6,000 deaths. People
believed cholera was caused by the “miasma” of the
(5) city, its foul-smelling air, thought to be poisonous.
Action was taken to clean up the city, make it smell
less foul and try to stop cholera.
However, there was soon another epidemic (1848-9,
causing over 14,000 deaths), and another (1853-4,
(10) causing 11,000). Some people, notably the physician
John Snow, had long argued that cholera was carried
by water contaminated with microorganisms coming
from human excreta, not by the air, but they had been
ignored. Eventually, the authorities accepted that
(15) explanation, built a vast sewage system to the sea,
and, this time, stopped cholera.
35
Proficiency Assessment 3
1. How many cholera epidemics were there in London in
the nineteenth century?
A. One.
B. Two.
C. Three.
D. Four.
2. In lines 5 and 7, foul is closest in meaning to:
A. poisonous.
B. very unpleasant.
C. very unusual.
D. perfumed.
3. Why did it take so long to stop cholera epidemics in
London?
A. The authorities took the wrong measures at first.
B. The air of London was too contaminated.
C. Nobody knew who John Snow was.
D. There was human excreta in the sewage system.
WRITING
Give the students a 60-80 word limit, and, if you have them do the task in class, a 15 minute time limit – you could start
the task 15 minutes before the end of a class, with students free to leave when they have handed in the e-mail. If you give
them a formal grade, consider their completion of the task as specified, and their communicative effectiveness, not only,
or even mainly, their language accuracy.
TEST SECTION 2: STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION
Structure
Remember, the selection of the best options in this type of exercise principally depends on grammatical considerations,
but it may also involve lexical and contextual considerations.
Written Expression
The task here is not really written expression as such, which is not included in TOEFL ITP, but the revision and correcting
which writers should do before they give or send their texts to the intended reader or readers.
The corrections here would be: 7. to be
8. Illiteracy
9. another
10. Whoever
11. established
12. work
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
In these reading comprehension tasks, different aspects of reading comprehension are tested: the identification of
paragraph and passage topics, the understanding of phrase and sentence meanings, the understanding of words in
context, and the identification of pronoun reference. You can point out these different types of question to your students
when you go over this section with them.
Proficiency Assessment 3
35T
Passage 2
Line Iceland is one of the most isolated and least populated
countries in the world. In an area larger than Austria or
Portugal, it has only 330,000 inhabitants, which means
it is the most sparsely populated country in Europe.
(5) Located where the North Atlantic Ocean meets
the Arctic Ocean, its weather is subpolar oceanic,
generally very cold and wet. The nearest countries
are Scotland (1,100 km), Norway (1,400 km), and
Denmark (1,800 km), with which it has its strongest
(10) historical ties.
From the late ninth century Iceland was settled by
different groups of Scandinavians, until an Icelandic
identity arose. It was a base for the first Europeans
to reach the Americas. Over the centuries, it passed
(15) from one Scandinavian king to another, eventually
becoming an autonomous Danish territory before its
independence as a republic in 1944.
4. Which aspects make Iceland very different from other
European countries?
A. The size of its population and its climate.
B. The size of its territory and its history.
C. Its distance from other countries and its population.
D. Its climate and its population.
5. In line 3, what does which refer to?
A. Iceland.
B. the least populated countries.
C. the area of Iceland. D. Iceland’s small population.
6. Which country has been most closely involved with
Iceland?
A. Scotland.
B. Portugal.
C. Denmark.
D. Norway.
Passage 3
Line Consider sand, an abundant natural material composed
of small grains of rock, mostly silica, created by the
erosive action of wind, water or naturally occurring
chemicals. Even that brief geological description can
(5) sound strangely metaphorical, and sand certainly
has a special place in human history and in human
consciousness.
Sand clocks, probably invented in ancient Egypt, were
among the first instruments for measuring the passing
(10) of time, a uniquely human preoccupation. The great
cities of our civilizations would never have been built
without sand, used to make bricks, mortar, concrete
and glass.
And poets have noted the lesson in sand for human
arrogance: civilizations have risen from sand, and
crumbled back into sand.
7. Who probably wrote this passage?
A. A geologist.
C. An architect.
B. A social historian.
D. A literary writer.
8. How many specific uses of sand are mentioned in the
passage?
A. One.
B. Three.
C. Five.
D. Seven.
9. What is the lesson referred to in line 14?
A. Sand is essential for building a civilization.
B. Humans should be proud of their achievements.
C. Human achievements are often ephemeral.
D. We must stop the spread of deserts.
Passage 4
Line Population aging is a worrying demographic tendency
in many developing countries around the world. It is
the result of rising life expectancy and falling birth
rates. With population aging, the mean and median
(5) age of the population increase, with an ever smaller
proportion of children and ever larger proportion of
old people.
The consequences of population aging impact the
economy of a country. With fewer young people
(10) working, government tax income tends to fall, as do
contributions to health services and pension funds.
At the same time, more people require pensions and
costly health and other care services in their old age.
Population aging can be offset by getting people to
(15) continue working up to an older age, and encouraging
the immigration of young people from other countries.
10. The main purpose of this passage is to
A. encourage immigration of young people.
B. help old people in countries with aging populations.
C. improve the economies of old countries.
D. explain a common demographic problem.
11. In line 2, it means
A. the world.
C. the result.
B. population aging.
D. a developing country.
12. Why does the phenomenon discussed in the passage
impact the economy of a country?
A. Because state income goes down and expenses go up.
B. Because people contribute to public services.
C. Because everybody wants a good pension.
D. Because young people do not want to work so much.
36
Proficiency Assessment 3
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
(continued)
Remember, after your students have done the reading comprehension tasks, you can explore the topics and information
in the texts, and the different elements of language and discourse used, especially topic vocabulary. You could ask your
students which passage or passages they found most interesting, whether they learned some new English from any of
them, and so on. Even tests can be interesting and can contribute to language learning!
Proficiency Assessment 3
36T
UNIT
U SES O F E NG L I SH
4
A
Lesson 1
English for academic and occupational purposes
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
Individually, check what you have done in English in the last twelve months related to your academic field:
Used an English language website.
Read an article, book extract, etc., in English.
Corresponded with someone in English.
Spoken with someone in English.
Attended a class, lecture, etc., in English.
Other: _________________________________________
Then, in groups, compare and talk about what you have done – and what you should perhaps do more.
READING
1 Read the back cover of a book entitled Language Learning Through Virtual Immersion and, in pairs, decide what the
main thesis of the book is. To become fluent in a language, people need lots of communicative use of the language,
like expensive bilingual education or a long stay abroad, and virtual immersion can now provide this cheaply.
Language Learning Through Virtual Immersion presents a new approach to the teaching and
learning of foreign languages. Very few people learn a foreign language well exclusively through
traditional classroom study and homework. Almost everyone needs much more communicative
use of the language to become fluent in it. The main ways people get that regular communicative
use are bilingual education, with the target language employed in many different school activities,
a long stay in a country where the language is spoken, and hobbies or other activities requiring
the use of the language. Only exceptionally motivated people engage and persist in hobbies and
activities that require the use of a language they do not already know fairly well. The other two
options – bilingual education and a long stay in another country – are expensive and not possible
for many people. However, now that we have interactive computer technology, people can have
realistic communicative use of a foreign language integrated into their daily lives. They do not need
to be exceptionally motivated initially, nor pay for costly bilingual education or international travel.
In Language Learning Through Virtual Immersion, three experts in different fields explain how
personalized, inexpensive, virtual immersion language programs can be set up to complement
classroom courses, or for independent learning.
THE AUTHORS
Reynaldo López is a professor
of Spanish at Georgetown
University, Washington. He
has a BA in English Language
Teaching from the Autonomous
University of the State of Hidalgo,
Mexico, and a Master’s in
Education from Georgetown
University. He taught English in
Mexico for six years, and has
been teaching Spanish for eight
years in the United States. He
has developed online programs
for Spanish as a foreign
language.
Tracy Morgan has worked for
more than ten years in web and
smartphone application design.
After graduating in computer
science from Georgetown
University, she worked on
software design and then began
to develop smartphone apps
and virtual reality programs.
She speaks fluent Spanish and
good Mandarin, which she has
learned mostly from the Internet
after taking a short introductory
classroom course.
Raquel Moraes has a BA
and a Master’s in Psychology
from the University of Curitiba,
Brazil, and a PhD in Educational
Psychology from Georgetown
University. Her doctoral thesis
focused on second language
learning. She has coauthored
another book in this series
with Jonathan Burton, New
Approaches to Second
Language Learning, and she is
leading a research project on
computer-assisted language
learning.
9 5654660 5145
37
Uses of English
UNIT
US E S O F E NGL IS H
4
UNIT OBJECTIVES:
1 To maintain your students’ commitment to using English as the main classroom language.
2 To maintain your students’ commitment to communicative competence in English as the course goal, with
the development of communicative skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing).
3 To maintain your students’ awareness of the importance of English in their lives.
4 To consolidate and extend your students’ vocabulary.
5 To consolidate and extend your students’ grammar.
6 To consolidate and develop your students’ learning skills and autonomy.
Lesson 1
A
English for academic and occupational purposes
Developing your
communicative skills
Remember that this skills section (reading, listening, speaking, writing and integrated skills) aims to make communication
the first and the main area of activity of the course as well as its goal. This approach is more important now than ever
before as students try to progress in the real world where effective communicative use of English can begin to make a
big difference in their professional studies and work. At the same time, be ready to help your students with any major
language problems they continue to struggle with (which may include solidly fossilized errors), doing creative remedial
work where appropriate. This work should as far as possible be inductive, helping the students to recognize what is
wrong and what is right for themselves.
SPEAKING
This activity aims to introduce the topic of the lesson – your students’ actual or potential use of English for their
professional studies and future work – and activate your students’ existing repertoire of English. Keep the pair work fairly
short unless your students are really enthusiastic and are communicating well, and then get students to share with the
class some of the ideas they talked about in pairs.
READING
1 After your students have read the text, you may want to have them do the first task in pairs from the start, considering
that the task is quite challenging, and that pair work may generate some useful discussion about the text.
Uses of English
37T
2 Read the back cover of the book again and answer the following questions.
1 What weakness of most language courses is mentioned? 5 What nationality do you think the authors are?
Insufficient real communicative use of the language.
López Mexican, Morgan American, Moraes Brazilian.
2 In what ways do some people learn a language better?
6 Where and how do you think they met?
A bilingual education, long stay where the language is spoken, hobby. At Georgetown University, while studying or working there.
3 Which way requires a positive attitude and determination? 7 Who is the most academically qualified?
A hobby.
Raquel Moraes, who has a PhD.
4 Which two ways are not possible for many people? Why? 8 What does each contribute to the book?
López language teaching, Morgan software, Moraes language
A bilingual education and a long stay abroad. They are
learning theory, and all of them language learning experience.
very expensive.
3 In pairs or groups, discuss which of the three authors you would most like to meet and talk with. Give your reasons and
say what three or four questions you would ask.
LISTENING Track 22
1 Listen to part of a linguistics seminar and answer the questions.
1 Is the seminar mostly about acronyms or initialisms, or equally
about both?
Equally about both.
2 Which are pronounced as words, acronyms or initialisms?
Acronyms.
3 Which way of referring to the United Nations Organization is
more common - UNO or UN?
UN.
4 Which pop group is mentioned?
ABBA.
5 Are acronyms an old linguistic phenomenon or a new one?
Old.
6 Do many students in the group speak Spanish?
Yes.
Track 23
2 Listen again and complete the following statements.
AIDS
1 The professor’s first example of an acronym is
CNN
2 His first example of an initialism is
3 Every letter of an
4 ASAP means
initialism
.
.
is pronounced separately.
as soon as possible
.
5 The professor’s example of a very old acronym is
6 The language of the complete phrase was
INRI
Latin
OMS
7 The equivalent of WHO (or W.H.O.) in Spanish is
acronyms and
8 The professor is now going to talk about
initialisms across languages
.
.
.
.
SPEAKING
Individually, make a list of some English words, phrases and expressions that seem to be common in your academic/
professional field. Then, in groups, compare and discuss your lists.
After working on your lists, discuss which person in your group is probably best at English in general, and which person
is probably best at English for their academic/professional field. Is it the same person for both, or different people? What
are your conclusions?
WRITING
Find a short article or text related to your academic/professional field. Write a summary of it, including:
1 The title or heading of the article or text and where you found it (Internet, journal, book, etc.).
2 The specific aspect or topic it deals with.
3 The main points it presents or discusses.
4 Any conclusions, recommendations, etc., that it presents.
38
Uses of English
READING
2 As usual, this activity mainly involves finding specific sections of text and quoting them, or paraphrasing them. Again,
have your students compare their answers in pairs before you check with the whole group.
3 As usual, this activity goes beyond the mere reading and basic understanding of a text, to what we may think, discuss
or do after reading it.
LISTENING
1 First talk about the illustrations with your students. Ask if they know what the abbreviations mean but don’t go into the
terms acronym and initialism or the distinction between them. Note: OK means right, agreed or similar, origin disputed;
IQ means Intelligence Quotient; aka = also known as; pm (p.m.) = post meridian or “after noon” (the half of a day that is
not am/a.m. or ante meridian); FYI = For Your Information; xxxxx = kisses; PS = post script.
When you play the track for the first listening task, remember that this is listening practice, not a test, so you can repeat
the track if you feel that is necessary, though this specific task is quite simple so it probably will not be. You may check
the answers before going on to the second task, or leave them until after that.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
Professor: Today we’re going to look at acronyms and initialisms. These are words or names created from the initial
letters of several words in a phrase. For example, AIDS, which comes from acquired immune deficiency
syndrome (A from acquired, I from immune, D from deficiency, and S from syndrome), and CNN, which
comes from Cable News Network (C from Cable, N from News, and N from Network). AIDS is an
acronym, pronounced as a word, and CNN is an initialism, pronounced as individual letters. Can you
give me more examples of initialisms?
Student 1: BBC.
Professor: Right – British Broadcasting Corporation. Any others?
Student 2: DNA. It comes from deoxyribonucleic acid.
Professor: That’s right. And what about some acronyms?
Student 3: UNO – United Nations Organization.
Professor: Right, but the initialism, UN, is more common. Another acronym?
Student 2: ASAP, for as soon as possible.
Professor: Yes, right – a business and Internet term. Good. So far we’ve had examples from medicine or science,
from companies or organizations, and from business and the Internet. That illustrates how widespread
acronyms and initialisms are. We even have them in popular entertainment – ABBA, from the four
members of the band, Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid – and in everyday speech – ID for identity
document. The words acronym and initialism are modern terms, but the linguistic phenomenon goes
back a very long way. Do you know what INRI means?
Student 1: It means Jesus – Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
Professor: That’s right – it’s from the Latin, Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum. That was 2,000 years ago, and there
are examples of acronyms and initialisms from before that. However, their use, and constant creation,
has exploded in recent times. It’s probably a matter of saving space and time in communications,
and also a matter of fashion, though I think it’s a fashion that’s here to stay. How many of you speak
Spanish? Mm – a lot of you. What’s AIDS in Spanish?
Student 4: SIDA.
Professor: Right. And DNA?
Student 5: AND?
Professor: Almost – ADN, ácido desoxirribonucleico. And WHO… or W.H.O – the World Health Organization?
Student 4: OMS – Organización Mundial de la Salud.
Professor: Good. And CNN?
Student 6: Um, CNN?
Professor: Right – it’s the same sequence of letters, but in Spanish. Now let’s look at acronyms and initialisms
across languages.
2 Give your students time to read and think about the questions before you play the track once more. Again, remember
this is listening practice, not a test.
SPEAKING
The second part may generate some interesting perspectives: it is common for the student who is best at English in
general to have had some special exposure to English (bilingual education, a stay in an English-speaking country,
etc.), and for the best at English for professional studies to be a conscientious student, going into English sources of
professional information.
WRITING
This task applies English to the students’ professional studies in a simple way, with a guided writing task. As in previous
writing tasks, you can set a strict word range, e.g. 40-60 words, or leave it quite open, e.g. 40-100 words, to give stronger,
keener students space to explore their ability to write in English. After checking the task, read out some of the best texts
and comment on them to show the whole class what is possible for them at this level.
Uses of English
38T
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Mixed verb phrases
Complete the dialogue using the words in parentheses in the
appropriate structure and form, and any other necessary words.
Meg:
So, where 1
do you come
José: Spain, originally, but 2
move) to Peru when 3
Meg:
Oh, 4
maybe. And how long 5
I would love
(you / come) from, José?
my family moved
I was
(my family /
(I / be) six.
(I / love) to visit Peru! Someday,
have you been doing
(you / do) your Master’s here at MSU?
José: Just over six months. 6
until November last year.
Meg:
In Economics, right? 7
I didn’t start
(I / not / start)
I was going to do
(I / do) Economics for my Master’s too, but 8
I changed
decided
(I / change) my mind and 9
(decide) to continue with Business Administration, my Has your thesis proposal been accepted
undergrad major. 10
(your thesis proposal / accept) yet?
I was working
I felt
José: Yes, it has. 11
(I / feel) very anxious about it while 12
(I / work) on it,
but, in the end, 13
my thesis director didn’t ask
(my thesis director / not / ask) me to change anything.
You’re / You must be
Really? That’s very unusual! 14
(you / be) lucky, brilliant or both!
I’ve never been
José: Just lucky, I guess. 15
(I / never / be) a brilliant student, just an average one. What about
Meg:
your thesis?
I’m still working
(I / still / work) on my proposal. 17 I’m going to submit
(I / submit) it in a week or two.
you are / you will be
I hope
José: Well, 18
(I / hope) that 19
(you / be) as lucky as me.
my thesis director never accepts
Meg: Thanks! But 20
(my thesis director / never / accept) proposals
Meg:
16
without demanding lots of changes. 21
He has
(he / have) a reputation for it!
2 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Phrasal verbs
Match the phrasal verbs (underlined) and verbs A-H that have the same or very similar meanings. Note that the one-word
verbs are usually more formal, but not always; sometimes the phrasal verb is the best option, even in formal texts.
1 The government is going to look into new ways of supporting low income university students. B
2 In the conclusion of their article, the authors point out the areas where more research is urgently needed. F
H
3 The experiment did not turn out as expected; in fact, it virtually contradicted my hypothesis.
4 The report is important in itself, but we need to follow it up with appropriate action. E
5 If you don’t know the technical terms, you can look up their definitions on the Internet now. A
6 I like your article, but I think you should leave out the bit about romantic love. It’s not relevant. G
7 I’ve finished my essay and I’m going to turn it in tomorrow. D
8 You don’t need to take detailed notes. I’m going to give out a summary at the end of the lecture. C
A seek
B investigate
C distribute
D submit
E continue
F indicate
G omit
H conclude
In pairs, decide which phrasal verbs can be separated (like turn it in) and which cannot (like turn out). Then write at least
six sentences using the above phrasal verbs, or other ones you know.
39
Uses of English
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
Remember that this section provides you with resources for consolidating language which all your students should know
and use well by now (but which some may not), and for focusing on language which is probably new for many students.
You should create lesson plans that include exercises from this section, along with ideas and material of your own. These
ideas and activities may include additional language work, communicative activities, games, songs, etc. This is where you
can be a really creative, autonomous teacher!
1 REVIEW: Mixed verb phrases
Follow the usual individual – pair – whole group procedure. This task covers a wide variety of verb phrases, in different
tenses, affirmative, negative and interrogative, active and passive. It should reveal how well your students are doing with
verbs in general, and what some may need to work on.
2 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Phrasal verbs
Follow the usual individual – pair – whole group procedure. This task works on the meanings of phrasal verbs, their
(usually more formal) single verb equivalents, and which ones are and are not separable. The phrasal verbs which are
separable are: point out, follow up, look up, leave out, turn in, give out. Note that turn out is also sometimes separable,
but not with the meaning used here. You may want to extend this work on phrasal verbs with more exercises and activities
of your own.
Uses of English
39T
3 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Connectors
Complete the sentences with an appropriate word or phrase from the box in each space. More than one option is
possible in some cases.
because
therefore
since
in order to
although
as
moreover
in spite of
so that
so
Since / As you’re doing your thesis on nanotechnology, will you give a talk on it at this year’s congress?
1 _____________
therefore
2 The populations of most countries are aging fast. It is vital, ____________,
to plan for this demographic change.
In spite of
3 _______________
suffering several serious illnesses as a child, she became a world champion athlete.
because
4 We can’t stay for the lecture ____________
we have an exam to take.
so
5 I can’t afford to pay for the Master’s __________
I’m going to apply for a scholarship and continue working.
In order to
6 ________________
practice as a doctor in the USA, you have to be licensed by a state certification board.
however
7 He had little academic success during his life. After his death, ____________,
he was recognized as a genius.
So that
8 ___________
you are prepared for the seminar, I’m giving you some things to read before it.
Moreover
9 Education helps young people get better jobs. ____________,
it helps them appreciate more things in life.
Although
10 _______________
he is qualified for the post, I think he needs more experience before we move him up.
4 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Vocabulary common in academic texts
Complete the sentences with words from the box. Different options
may be possible in some cases. Possible answers:
research
agree
1 After years of ____________,
most scientists now ____________
that the postulated particle does not exist.
field
2 In my academic ____________,
we are beginning to
develop
____________
radically new techniques and approaches.
relevant
3 The last two points are simply not ____________
to your
argument and you should omit them.
____________
review
4 Your ____________
of the literature is very complete, but you
discuss
need to ____________
some things more thoroughly.
framework
5 We need a _______________
of reference before we begin to
survey
work on designing the public health ____________.
accurate and, in general, they must
6 Your data must be ____________
support
____________
your hypothesis.
5 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: either / neither / both / or / nor / and, used alone and in combination
Complete the following sentences with the above words.
both
and
1 Sorry, but you need
qualifications
experience for this post, and you don’t have
2 In my opinion, we should not employ
3 Neither
Neither
4
Finnish
Jorge
nor
nor
either Alice
or
Philip. They are
both
either
.
too irresponsible.
Hungarian is an international language. Few people around the world speak either .
both
Carmen speaks Finnish, but they
speak English, so they will be fine in Finland.
6 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Individually, underline vocabulary and grammar you think are wrong in the following text. Then, in pairs, compare and
discuss what you have underlined. There are eight mistakes.
The research (that is) reported here focuses on the use of video games in the basic education. While video
games can promote many types of learning, they can too also be addictive and create bad habits. The research
indicates that it is best to use video games to promote specifics skills and techniques, and also persistence.
While we should not reject the use of video games, they should be used only in a carefully planned way.
When you have agreed on what the errors are, correct them individually. Then compare your corrections with a
different partner.
40
Uses of English
3 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Connectors
Follow the usual individual – pair – whole group procedure. After checking the answers with the whole group, you could
explore alternative ways to express ideas, e.g. express the idea in 2 beginning Because…, the idea in 3 beginning
Although…, the idea in 3 beginning We have…, etc.
4 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Vocabulary common in academic texts
Obviously, the range of typical academic vocabulary is enormous, and growing, and this is only a small sample.
5 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: either / neither / both / or / nor / and, used alone and in combination
These words can be used together in various patterns, sometimes offering alternative ways to express an idea, e.g. We
should not employ either Alice or Philip / We should employ neither Alice nor Philip. This exercise just explores this area
a little. If you want to explore it more, you can, but you probably should not expect complete mastery at this stage – more
exposure and use may be necessary for that.
6 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Follow the same procedure, or a similar one, as in this type of task in previous lessons. You may want to do remedial
work on some items if many students fail to identify them or correct them. Note that the first error has alternative
corrections:
The research reported here focuses on… or The research that is reported here focuses on…
Uses of English
40T
Lesson 2
A
English for personal and social purposes
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
You are in your hometown, at Isabel and Egon’s wedding
reception. He is from Hamburg, Germany, and speaks only
German and English. Some of you were invited by Isabel and
others by Egon (your teacher will tell you which you are). If
you were invited by Isabel, use your personal information. If
you were invited by Egon, establish your:
nationality (if not German, like Egon)
name
occupation
relationship to Egon (relative or friend)
impression of the place where the wedding is
plan for after the wedding (tourism or straight home)
Now enjoy the reception! Chat in pairs or small groups, always including at least one foreigner invited by Egon.
READING
1 Read the blog post. Then, in pairs, agree on the basic information you now have or can guess about the author and
Peter: nationality, age, occupation, travels, interests, languages, etc. Author: Brazilian, probably 22-24, psychologist,
a few trips in Brazil, speaks Portuguese and English. Peter: Australian, probably late 20s, non-profit organization
administrator, global travel, English, Portuguese and perhaps more. Both interested in development, etc.
MY
BLOG
MENU
HOW ENGLISH CAME INTO MY LIFE AND CHANGED IT
NOVEMBER 2016
I’m a very different person since Peter English, and his eponymous language, came into my life.
In spite of his name, Peter isn’t actually English, but Australian, from Perth. When he arrived in my
hometown, Aracaju, he was near the end of a two-year journey around the world. He’d already
travelled through southwest Asia and Africa and then from Angola over to Brazil. He’d spent six
months doing voluntary work in Sri Lanka and Kenya, and was about to do the same in Aracaju.
I was in my last year of Psychology at university, and was doing voluntary work in the children’s
home where Peter had arranged to work. He didn’t speak any Portuguese when he arrived and I
spoke a little, terrible English so, as we became friends, we communicated in English (Peter) and
Portuglish (me).
He soon began to pick up Portuguese but, by the time he was fairly fluent, English was established
as the language of our friendship, and my Portuglish had turned into surprisingly good English
– it surprised me, anyway! In the children’s home Peter worked in the office, at a computer and
telephone, attending to foreign donors and experts that supported the organization, using English,
while I worked directly with the children, using Portuguese. It was outside the home that we spoke
English together. And we spoke a lot! I don’t think I’ve ever spoken so much with anyone, even in
Portuguese. We would talk almost non-stop for hours. I should point out here that our relationship
was not romantic, but just enjoyment of each other’s company.
Obviously, Peter’s travels and experiences figured in our conversations. I was amazed by what
he told me, and Aracaju, which I had only left four or five times for trips to other places in Brazil,
suddenly shrank to a tiny dot on the planet. But then I saw that he was just as interested in
what I could tell him about Brazil, especially the situation of women. The voluntary work he had
done on his way had all been in children’s homes (he has an MA in Administration of Non-Profit
Organizations), so we also talked a lot about helping child victims of poverty and abuse.
Peter left Brazil a year ago, en route to Australia via Bolivia and Chile. After Peter English left my
everyday life, English remained a big part of it. My music, television, movies and favorite websites
are as much in English now as in Portuguese. And I’ve won a scholarship for an MA in Australia!
It’s in Sydney, a long way from Perth, but Peter and I will definitely meet up.
41
Uses of English
Follow me
Lesson 2
A
English for personal and social purposes
Developing your
communicative skills
SPEAKING
Have your students look at the illustration and ask if any of them have been to a wedding with a foreign bride or groom
and many foreign guests. If so, ask them what it was like and whether they spoke some English. Then get them to read
about the situation and the task, and ask questions to make sure they understand what they have to do. Decide which
students will play the role of foreigners and give them time and help to prepare their profiles (perhaps as homework).
Participate and help during the role-play of the reception. Afterwards, try to find out who your students think were the most
interesting foreigners at the wedding.
READING
1 The first task is quite straightforward. After your students have compared their answers in pairs, check with the whole
group and move on to task 2.
Uses of English
41T
2 Read the blog post again and answer the following questions.
1 What are the two uses of “English” in the title?
Surname and language.
2 Was Peter traveling east or west around the world?
West.
3 Why did he spend six months in two countries?
To do voluntary work in children’s homes.
4 Who spoke Portuglish, and what is it?
The author. It’s a mixture of Portuguese and English.
5 Why didn’t the author and Peter speak much at work?
They worked in different areas.
6 What did they talk about outside of work?
His travels, Brazil, situation of women there,
helping child victims of poverty, abuse.
7 How did Peter return to Australia from Brazil?
Via Bolivia and Chile.
8 How has English changed the author’s life?
Lots of music, TV, movies, Internet in English,
scholarship for MA in Australia.
3 In pairs or groups, ask and answer one or more questions about each sentence in the blog: Why is the author a very
different person since Peter came into her life? (sentence 1). Where is Peter from? (sentence 2). Where does the
author live? and How long was Peter’s trip around the world? (sentence 3), etc.
LISTENING Track 24
1 Listen to part of a conversation between Carmen and
Frank, a visiting American, and answer these questions.
1 Does Frank like the song they just heard?
Yes.
2 Does Carmen listen to music mostly in English?
No, 50/50.
3 What does Carmen’s brother do for a living?
He’s a lawyer.
4 Who sings along with songs while driving?
Carmen.
5 What is Frank doing to improve his Spanish?
Learning Luis Miguel songs.
6 Is Carmen’s English as good as Frank’s Spanish?
It’s better.
Track 25
2 Read the following statements, listen to the conversation
again and circle T if the statements are true or F if they
are false.
1 Carmen thinks most people in her country
like songs in Spanish more than in English.
T / F
2 Carmen’s brother has the same taste in
music as she does.
T / F
3 Carmen is a big Rihanna and Beyoncé fan.
T / F
4 Carmen likes many old songs and singers
who are no longer alive.
T / F
5 Carmen does not consider herself
old-fashioned.
T / F
6 Frank and Carmen agree about classic
old songs.
T / F
7 Carmen did not start listening to music in
English until she spoke very good English.
T / F
8 Carmen started listening to songs in English
only in order to learn English.
T / F
Frank Sinatra
My Way
Barbra Streisand
The Way We Were
Elvis Presley
Heartbreak Hotel
Whitney Houston
I Will Always Love You
John Lennon
Imagine
Cristina Aguilera
Beautiful
SPEAKING
In pairs or groups, discuss any experiences similar to the one described in the blog on page 41. Have you, or other
people you know, ever gotten to know a foreigner through English, and become “a very different person” because of that?
WRITING
Write an e-mail to an American, Australian, British or Canadian friend in response to an invitation to his or her wedding.
Thank your friend, but decline the invitation, explaining why you can’t go (lack of time because of studies or work, lack of
money, etc.).
42
Uses of English
READING
2 As usual, have your students do the task individually before they compare and discuss their answers in pairs. The
answers are all specific and clear.
3 Question forms – particularly word order – are basic language structures that many students struggle with, even at more
advanced levels, and which often become fossilized. Monitor this activity closely and, if your students are still making
mistakes with question forms, do some creative, inductive remedial work.
LISTENING
1 Have your students, in pairs, say what they know about the people in the illustrations, and then tell you about them.
Then give your students time to read the questions before you play the track and have them do the task. Remember,
this is listening practice, not a test, so you may want to repeat the track for students to complete or check the first task.
You could check the answers to this task before going on to the second task or leave that until after the second task.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
Frank:
Carmen:
Frank:
Carmen:
Frank:
Carmen:
Frank:
Carmen:
Frank:
Carmen:
Frank:
Carmen:
Frank:
Carmen:
That’s one of my favorite songs. Do you listen to much music in English, Carmen?
Yes, I do, probably as much as in Spanish.
Is that typical here?
No, not at all. Among more educated people, maybe. But even then, my brother’s a lawyer, and he and
his friends only play songs in Spanish. He’s a big Shakira fan. But I think most of my college friends
listen to a lot of music in English.
Which singers in English are most popular here?
Again, I’m not really sure. Some people seem to go for Rihanna, Beyoncé and singers like that. I prefer
Kate Perry and Adele. I listen to a lot of classics too – the Beatles, of course, and Whitney Houston,
Cher, even Johnny Mathis and Frank Sinatra.
Ah, so you’re quite old-fashioned then?
I wouldn’t say that. I like all kinds of music, and a lot of songs never get old. Or at least, they never get
sick and die.
Very true! Do you understand the lyrics when you listen?
That depends on the song, doesn’t it? There are songs in Spanish that I don’t understand. Anyway, I
know the lyrics of lots of songs in English by heart now – I often sing along when I’m alone in my car. I
didn’t understand much when I first started listening to songs in English, of course. I didn’t speak much
English then. I used to buy CDs that had the lyrics inside, and I’d read them and memorize them.
That’s a good way to learn a language. I’m doing it with Spanish – Luis Miguel.
Right. But I didn’t do it to learn English. I did it because I liked the songs. Of course, it did help improve
my English a lot.
Well, your English is fantastic now – as good as mine.
Don’t exaggerate! And don’t expect me to say your Spanish is as good as mine!
2 Give your students time to read and think about the statements before you play the track once more. Again, as this is
listening practice, not a test, you may want to repeat the track. When you check the answers to this task with the whole
group, you can play the track yet again, pausing at key points, so that the students can confirm the information in the
text, and explore the content of the conversations further.
SPEAKING
It may be better to do this task in groups since relatively few people are likely to have had such an experience.
Emphasize that the task refers to “you or other people you know”, which extends the possibility to relatives, friends
and beyond. If you get little from that, you could ask instead about hypothetical situations – what would your students do if
they found themselves in a situation like the one described in the blog?
WRITING
The structuring of this task should help most students to write something satisfactory. As in previous writing tasks, you
can set a strict word range, e.g. 40-60 words, or leave it quite open, e.g. 40-100 words, to give stronger, keener students
space to explore their ability to write in English. After checking the task, read out some of the best posts and comment on
them to show the whole class what is possible for them at this level.
Uses of English
42T
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Mixed grammar
Complete the conversation with appropriate words or phrases. There may be more than one possibility.
A: So, what 1
B: I think 2
Chicago 5
Have you
A: 6
do you
it’s
on/next
think of Cuzco, Robert?
could
wonderful. I wish I 3
stay longer, but I have to be back 4
at
work in
Monday.
been to Machu Picchu?
all the meetings. But I hope I 8 am/will be
able to go on Saturday.
we/that we
Arturo and Lola have promised 9 to take
me if we finish all the work 10
have to do on Friday.
go
when
than
A: You must 11
. It’s even more impressive 12
you are there 13
in photos
B: No, not yet. I haven’t had time 7 because of
and videos.
B: I’m sure it is. If I 14
don’t
get there this time, I 15
was
A: If you do that, I’ll go with you. You know, I 16
will come
back on vacation and walk the Inca Trail.
all
born here and I have lived here 17
my life,
but I have never walked the Inca Trail.
B: That’s typical, I guess. When I have visitors, I go places and do things in Chicago 18
done before. Have you ever been to Chicago, Salvador?
haven’t . I’ve only been 20 out of/outside (of)
A: No, I 19
that/which
I have never
Peru one time. I went to Toronto.
2 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Expressing ideas in different ways
Complete each second sentence so that it is different than the first sentence but means the same.
1 They play rugby in Argentina. / Rugby…
Rugby is played in Argentina.
2 There are four universities in the city. / The city…
The city has four universities.
3 I will help only if you pay me. / I won’t…
I won’t help unless you pay me.
4 The sun shone every day last week. / It…
It was sunny every day last week.
5 In spite of the rain, we had fun. / Although…
Although it rained/was raining, we had fun.
6 Toronto is bigger than Montreal. / Montreal is not…
Montreal is not as big as Toronto.
7 “I won’t do it,” she said. / She said that…
She said that she would not do it.
8 He didn’t work because he was lazy. / He was…
He was lazy so he didn’t work. / He was too lazy to work.
9 It’s hard to learn a new language. / Learning…
Learning a new language is hard.
10 The car is too small for all of us. / The car isn’t…
The car isn’t big enough for all of us.
3 REVIEW: Errors commonly made by Latin American learners of English
Find the error in each sentence and correct it.
1 My English teacher does not speak well Spanish well; he is American and he has not been here long.
2 Jane Hill is not the actual current/present director of this department; Patrick Dale took over at the beginning of this year.
3 Before going to the theater, we had a wonderful meal in the new Thai restaurant on the corner of Long Street.
4 I want that my country to becomes a really good place for my children and their children to live.
5 When he joined the company he knew he would need Mandarin, so he began to take particular private classes.
6 Please read the information sheet because it contains some very important advices for new employees.
7 Up to now, in most societies, the women have been second class citizens.
8 My wife works like as a teacher in the school where our children are studying, which can be a slight problem.
9 I have not decided yet what career major/degree course to study at university, and I must do so very soon.
10 They say the hospital where I was operated on is one of the best in the whole country.
11 It is very important that all new students assist to attend the induction course at the beginning of the semester.
12 It was one of the most boring lectures I have ever listened heard/listened to.
43
Uses of English
B
Consolidating and developing
your English language
1 REVIEW: Mixed grammar
This is yet another exercise that presents students with a challenge similar to actually using the language communicatively:
they have to take decisions on a wide range of grammatical details as a conversation unfolds.
2 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Expressing ideas in different ways
The ability to understand and express ideas in different ways is one of the things that distinguish intermediate level users
of a language from basic level ones. Previous exercises in this book have worked on this a little, but this one is explicitly
devoted to this ability. The alternative forms of expression include active / passive, there is / have, will… only if ... / won’t …
unless..., in spite of / although, …er than... / not as … as, etc.
3 REVIEW: Errors commonly made by Latin American learners of English
Knowing the languages our students speak (in this case Spanish or Portuguese), we can take into account the similarities
and differences between those languages and English, and thus facilitate learning. This exercise focuses on typical errors
of Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking learners of English, which can pass unnoticed and be reinforced because many of the
students continually make these errors. If many of your students fail to find or correct certain errors, now is the time to do
some solid work on them.
Uses of English
43T
4 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Vocabulary for social situations
Read the four conversations and match them with
the pictures. Then, without looking at the words in the
box below the conversations, complete them with one
word in each space. After that, revise your completed
conversations referring to the words in the box (there are
more words than you need).
1
must be her boss,
A: Hi, I’m Sandra’s husband, Fred. You ________
Miriam.
meet you, Fred. Come in and
B: That’s right. It’s nice to ________
join the crowd. Sandra’s already here.
________
2
3
Conversation __
Welcome
A: _____________
to the Netherlands, David! Did you have a good
flight
________?
glad it’s over. Eleven hours
B: Yes, I did, thanks. But I’m very ________
in the air is too much.
3
spend
A: Ah, so it’s your first visit to London. Are you going to ________
much time here?
sightseeing
B: Just another two days to do a bit of __________________.
Then
4
Conversation __
we’re going up to Edinburgh.
met fifty-one years ago, as students at
C: That’s where we ________
wedding
the university. It’s our ______________
anniversary next week.
marriage
Congratulations
A: Really! Fifty years of _____________!
_____________________!
time
Have a great ________
in Scotland.
4
enjoy your ________
stay
A: Well, did you ________
in Canada, Elvira?
myself so much.
B: Yes, I did, enormously! I’ve never enjoyed ________
care
A: Great. Well, take ________.
1
Conversation __
touch
B: You too, Scott. Keep in ________.
glad
enjoy
married
come in
fly
like
tourist
time
sightseeing
welcome
trip
careful
flight
wishes
stay
join
pleased
state
spend
me myself
care
unite
meet
touch
know
greetings
have to must
marriage wedding
connection
knew
met
congratulations
should
2
Conversation __
5 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Individually, underline vocabulary and grammar you think are wrong in the following text. Then, in pairs, compare and
discuss what you have underlined. There are ten mistakes.
I want to thank you for your hospitality and kindness while I was in Japan. I had a wonderful time. Obviously, the
purpose of my trip was the business, and we did a lot of that, and reached some important agreements. My
company will be very happy to continue collaborate collaborating with yours, to the benefice benefit of both our
companies. But I will have wonderful memory memories of my first visit to Japan for the rest of my life because
of the time I spent with you, your wife and your son. Please give to them my profound thanks once again.
When you have agreed on what the errors are, correct them individually. Then compare your corrections with a
different partner.
44
Uses of English
4 REVIEW AND EXTENSION: Vocabulary for social situations
After your students have matched the conversations and the pictures, ask what helped them decide in each case. After
you have checked the answers to the exercise, it may be useful to ask (and, if nobody knows, tell) your students about
some of the words in the exercise and in the box, e.g.
enjoy (normally enjoy something or enjoy oneself, but also used alone in the popular exhortation Enjoy!)
spend (time or money, not to be confused with pass, which is what time does, but not what we do with time, or waste,
either time or money)
married to someone (not with someone)
meet vs. know (I know Eric well. I met him at college years ago. Also: Let’s meet here in an hour.)
join a club / an association / us at our table, etc.
5 EDITING AND CORRECTING
Follow the same procedure, or a similar one, as in this type of task in Unit 1. Make sure your students realize that this
time there are ten mistakes, not just eight, as there were in the previous units. You may want to do remedial work on
some items if many students fail to identify them or correct them.
Uses of English
44T
PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT 4
Remember that the tasks in this section, like those in the regular lessons in this book, help you consolidate your English
and develop your listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. They can reveal the strengths and weaknesses of your
English. Take advantage of what the tasks reveal about your English. Work on overcoming any weaknesses you have, as
well as exploiting your strengths. The tasks also indicate how you might do in an international proficiency test, and give
you practice for such tests. Remember, having a recognized certificate of proficiency may make a big difference in your
professional development and career.
Most of the tasks here are based on TOEFL ITP, the most widely used proficiency test in institutions of higher education
in Latin America, but there are similar tasks in other international proficiency tests. Also included here are speaking and
writing tasks, which are not included in TOEFL ITP, but which are in TOEFL iBT and Cambridge tests, which you will
need if you want to do postgraduate study abroad and other professional activities requiring proof of advanced level
English.
TEST SECTION 1: LISTENING COMPREHENSION
Part
A
Track 26
In this part of the test you hear some short conversations between two people (in this practice test, four conversations).
After each conversation, you hear a question about it. Read the four possible answers to the question and choose
the best one (A, B, C or D). Choose quickly because the conversation and question are not repeated, and the next
conversation and question begin in twelve seconds.
Question 1
Question 2
A. The music distracts her.
A. She does not need her car until this afternoon.
C. Music isn’t allowed.
C. She needs her car this morning.
B. She likes all the music tracks.
D. She can work with the music.
B. She won’t lend him her car.
D. She does not want to borrow a car.
Question 3
Question 4
A. He feels very tired.
A. Take the package to Head Office.
C. He likes the woman too.
C. Give the package to the woman.
B. He also thinks Fridays are good.
D. He is agreeable.
Part
B
B. Ask the woman to call a courier.
D. Call a courier.
Track 27
In this part of the test you hear some longer conversations (in this practice test, two conversations). After each
conversation, you hear four questions about it. Read the four possible answers for each question and choose the best
one (A, B, C or D). Choose quickly because the question is not repeated, and the next question is asked in twelve
seconds.
Conversation 1
Question 5
Question 6
B. He is going to write his own résumé.
B. They must work for at least three months.
A. He read an article about them.
A. There are not many good ones.
C. The woman asked him about them. C. They are often rejected if nothing in their CV is recent.
Question 7
Question 8
A. Ability to work in a team.
A. Revise her whole résumé.
C. Slow improvement.
C. Read some articles about résumés.
D. He is interviewing the woman for a job.
B. Good relationships with other people.
D. Constant personal development.
45
Proficiency Assessment 4
D. Many of them are too competitive.
B. Do something new to put in her résumé.
D. Learn several languages.
PROFICIENCY ASSESSMENT 4
Remember the three main objectives of this section:
1 To prepare your students for international proficiency tests, which many of them, if not most, may soon need to take.
2 To give your students practice in working with a wide range of unpredictably mixed grammar, vocabulary and discourse
features in communicative texts and contexts, which is very like using language in real world communication.
3 To give you, the teacher, opportunities to identify your students’ language problems, whether common to many or only
a few, and do remedial work or consolidation practice with the students in question.
Remember also the different ways this material can be used. For this fourth Proficiency Assessment we suggest you use
the material over several classes, either incorporating exercises into regular lesson plans or doing complete sections (the
whole section of Listening Comprehension, Structure and Written Expression, and Reading Comprehension) in testlike conditions. After or while checking the answers, you can examine typical features of tests and consider test-taking
strategies.
TEST SECTION 1: LISTENING COMPREHENSION
Part
A
Remind your students of what is coming, and give them time to read the instructions and the possible answers. Play the
track right through, only once, even if some students are panicking. You could ask them to answer on a sheet of paper,
and collect them in so that you can check how the students did.
When you go through the exercises afterwards with the students, you can play the track again, more than once even,
stopping at key points and helping the students hear and understand anything they missed in the “test”.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Man:
How can you focus on your assignment with
this loud music?
Woman: It doesn’t distract me at all.
Question: What does the woman mean?
3. Woman: Thank goodness it’s Friday. I’m exhausted!
Man:
Me too.
Question: What does the man mean?
Part
2. Man:
Can I borrow your car for an hour or so today?
Woman: Not until this afternoon.
Question: What does the woman imply?
4. Woman: I have a package that has to be at Head Office
by three o’clock.
Man:
OK, I’ll have it delivered by courier.
Question: What will the man do next?
B
Follow the same procedure as in Part A. For the listening script of Conversation 2, see page 46T.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Listen to a conversation between two friends who are talking about applying for jobs.
Man:
Have you updated your résumé recently, Sally?
Woman: For job applications? No, I haven’t. Why?
Man:
Well, I was reading an article yesterday that said one of the main reasons given by employers for
rejecting job applications is a résumé or CV that hasn’t been updated in the last three months or more.
Woman: Why is that important? If you have the right qualifications and experience, they should consider you.
Man:
That was my reaction, but then I read on. It seems that in this economic climate there are so many
job applications that employers are looking for reasons to reject applicants, not just reasons for
hiring them.
Woman: That seems unfair.
Man:
The article cited a survey which indicates that in the experience of many business executives, a person
who doesn’t even keep their résumé up-to-date is much less likely to be organized enough for a
graduate level job.
Woman: What if you’ve done nothing worth putting on your CV in the last three months, or longer? Like me!
Man:
What the article seemed to be saying was that there’s such competition for jobs now that we need to
really stand out from the crowd. Showing you’re continuously improving yourself can do that. It’s one of
the things employers want to see.
Woman: I get it. And, if you’ve done nothing worth mentioning for three, or six, or twelve months, that suggests
something bad about you. I’d better do something, like start learning French.
Man:
Right. Though Mandarin might be more useful.
Questions:
5. Why does the man start talking about résumés or CVs?
6. What does the man tell the woman about job applicants?
7. What does the man say employers want to see in job 8. What will the woman probably do?
applicants?
Proficiency Assessment 4
45T
Conversation 2
Question 9
Question 10
A. They cannot find their seats.
A. An upgrade to business class.
C. Their seats are occupied.
C. Two flights a month.
B. There are no seats for them.
D. They have the same seat number.
B. A 50% discount for a year.
D. A year’s free flights.
Question 11
A. Move to another seat.
Question 12
A. Explain to the flight attendant.
C. Take a connecting flight.
C. Call for a flight attendant.
B. Wait for the next flight.
D. Move to another class.
Part
B. Change seats.
D. Have a snack and go to sleep.
C
Track 28
In this part of the test you hear some talks (in this practice test, two talks). After each talk, you hear four questions about
it. Read the four possible answers for each question and choose the best one (A, B, C or D). Choose quickly because
the question is not repeated, and the next question is asked in twelve seconds.
Talk 1
Question 13
Question 14
A. To illustrate how humans began to fly.
A. How will it affect humans?
C. To show that myths are wrong.
C. Will the vehicle fly?
B. Because she thinks the myth is true.
D. To suggest the risk in experimental flights.
B. Who will fly the vehicle?
D. What will the flight cost?
Question 15
A. Sending up animals.
Question 16
A. They have stayed there.
C. Sending up criminals.
C. Most have survived.
B. A hot air balloon.
D. Flying with the brothers.
B. They have all survived.
D. They have all died.
Talk 2
Question 17
Question 18
A. Movies of historical events.
A. Several movies with a similar story.
C. Mutinies as a movie theme.
C. People imprisoned in restricted spaces.
B. Some famous mutinies.
D. Famous male movie stars.
B. Ships, spacecraft and jails.
D. Different voyages of exploration.
Question 19
A. Two.
Question 20
A. The chief mutineer on The Bounty.
C. Four.
C. A famous movie star.
B. Three.
D. Five.
SPEAKING
Take a minute to think
about what type of work
environment you would
prefer. For example,
consider the two
possibilities illustrated.
Then, in pairs, discuss what
each of you would prefer
and the reasons for your
preference.
46
Proficiency Assessment 4
B. The director of the Mel Gibson movie.
D. The captain of The Bounty.
Part
B
(continued)
LISTENING SCRIPT:
2. Listen to a conversation between two airline passengers.
Man:
Excuse me, you’re in my seat.
Woman: I don’t think so. This is 77C and that’s what I have on my boarding pass. What number do you have?
Man:
77C too. Something’s wrong.
Woman: You can say that again. I fly with this airline all the time because it’s my only option and this is the third time in
a year they’ve double-booked my seat. Once I was asked to move – to business class, so I didn’t mind – and
another time they said the flight was overbooked in every class and I was asked to get off and wait for the
next flight.
Man:
No! You should have refused – or sued them!
Woman: I felt like it, but they offered me a year’s half-price travel, and as I fly this route at least twice a month for my work,
I got off and waited!
Man:
Even so, it must be very annoying. This is my connecting flight after eight hours across the Atlantic and I’m
exhausted. I’m definitely not going to wait for the next flight. Well, I suppose we’d better call a flight attendant.
Woman: Yes. I’ll press the button – there. They’ll have to find one of us another seat.
Man:
Yes. I don’t care where they put me – I just need a snack and some sleep.
Woman: I am sure you do. You look very tired.
Man:
Listen, I am happy for you to take the upgrade if they offer one.
Woman: That’s kind of you, but I only paid half-price, remember. Look – here comes the flight attendant.
Questions: 9. What is the problem the passengers have?
11. What will the man refuse to do?
Part
10. What did the woman get in exchange for waiting
for the next flight?
12. What are the two passengers going to do next?
C
Follow the same procedure as in Parts A and B.
LISTENING SCRIPT:
1. Listen to the beginning of a lecture about the history of
aviation.
Flying has probably always been a human dream. There
are many ancient myths of humans flying. Perhaps the
most famous is the myth of Icarus. It contains a warning, of
course – Icarus aspired too high, close to the sun, and fell
to his death. But his real problem, more than his aspiration,
was the technology and materials he employed. The sun
melted the wax he used.
Our technology has advanced enormously since Icarus –
or rather, since the beginning of the last century. We can
now fly quickly and safely, not only around the world, but
out of the world, to other worlds. But every big advance in
flying has been an incursion into the unknown, like Icarus’s
flight. The first big question about an experimental flight
is whether the vehicle will fly and land safely. The second
question is how the flight will affect humans. I mean, Icarus
would have died of oxygen deprivation long before he got
near the sun.
So what have the inventors and explorers of air and space
often done? They have used animals in their flying machines
before using humans. Louis the Sixteenth of France
proposed using two convicted criminals in the test flight of
the Montgolfier brothers’ hot air balloon in 1783. Instead,
the brothers sent up a sheep, a duck and a rooster. The
balloon rose to an altitude of about 460 meters, travelled
three kilometers, and landed safely. The animals were all
alive. Since then we’ve sent fruit flies, mice, rats, rabbits,
monkeys, chimpanzees and one cat up into space, and
some have died.
Questions:
13. Why does the speaker mention a myth?
14. What is the second question about an experimental flight?
15. What did the King of France propose?
16. What has happened to animals sent into space?
2. Listen to part of a talk about movies.
I’m going to look at movie themes today, starting with
mutinies. They can occur in any type of authoritarian
organization, but they’re particularly associated with
ships, and even more particularly with ships between the
sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. During that period,
there were many dangerous voyages of exploration,
colonization and war, and the crews usually included what
you could call “reluctant sailors”. Some were escaping
from problems on land, sometimes criminal justice. Others
were forced into service. Also, the officers were usually
obsessed with discipline, and often willing to take risks to
achieve fame or fortune.
On top of that, a ship in those days was a very restricted
space, and it might be at sea for weeks, or even months.
The people aboard got tired, sick, frightened, irritable and
worse. That type of situation – a mixed group of people
under authoritarian discipline in a restricted space – has
become a movie theme. The first movies were about
mutinies on sailing ships, and one ship in particular, The
Bounty. But there have been movies about mutinies on
spaceships and in prisons.
We’re used to remakes nowadays, but the story of the
mutiny on the Bounty is one of the earliest examples,
because the theme was so iconic. The first movie came
out in 1933, starring Errol Flynn, more famous than Mel
Gibson in his day. The next in 1935, starring Clark Gable,
ditto. Then there was a wait, until 1962, when Marlon
Brando starred as Christian, the leader of the mutineers.
And, in 1984, came the version with… you guessed it…
Mel Gibson.
Questions:
17. What is the topic of this talk?
18. Which similar situations does the speaker mention?
19. How many versions of a movie does the speaker mention?
20. Who was Fletcher Christian?
SPEAKING
Follow the same procedure as for the Speaking task in previous units.
Proficiency Assessment 4
46T
WRITING
A foreign friend is considering spending a year as an exchange student, and has sent you an e-mail asking about the city
where you study (or the nearest big city) and the university or universities in it. Reply with general information about the
city and the university or universities. Mention location, size, economic activity, and attractions in or near the city, and the
types and reputations of the universities, etc. Write between 60 and 80 words.
TEST SECTION 2: STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION
Structure
In this part of the test you read some incomplete sentences. Choose the word or phrase below each one that best
completes it (A, B, C or D).
B
D
A above
1. She was the oldest person _____
2. We do not know where _____
3. Absolutely no one _____
the law.
A. who should ever live.
B. that has ever lived.
C. to live ever.
D. which ever has lived. A. originated life.
B. does life come from.
C. the life is from.
D. life comes from.
A. should be
B. they considered
C. must be consider
D. are to be
C his guilt.
4. There is no way ______
A in Congress.
5. A new law is _____
D the election.
6. We had to wait _____
A. for proving
A. being debated
A. unless
B. proveB. been debated
B. since when
C. to prove
C. debatingC. while
D. that prove
D. to be debating
D. until after
Written Expression
In this part of the test you read some sentences, which have four underlined words or phrases marked A, B, C and D.
Identify the one underlined word or phrase in each sentence that must be changed to make the sentence correct.
7. Most couple had many children, but few lived long.
8. We must reduce global warming for avoid a disaster.
9. Hardly any areas in Earth have not been explored yet.
10. There is little that can be done about tinnitus at old age.
11. The largest birds’ eggs are them laid by ostriches.
12. Birds are thought to have descended of dinosaurs.
A
A
B
C
B
A
B
C
C
D
A
D
D
B
A
C
B
A
B
D
C
C
D
D
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
In this section you read some passages (in this practice test, four passages), each one accompanied by some questions.
For each passage choose the best answer to each question (A, B, C or D).
Passage 1
Line A recently developed computer analysis instrument
has provided an objective representation of the
structure and complexity of whale song, which
scientists have been researching since the 1970s.
(5) Lasting between six minutes and half an hour, male
humpback whale song varies according to the time of
year. It is used, for instance, to attract female partners
in the winter mating season.
A mathematical model for analyzing the “grammar”
(10) of whale songs has shown that whales are the only
animals apart from humans to use hierarchically
structured language. The hierarchical structure of
human language consists of words, which make
up clauses, which make up sentences. This type
(15) of structure enables us – and whales, it seems – to
construct different meanings through language.
47
Proficiency Assessment 4
1. In line 3, what does the word which refer to?
A. Structure and complexity. B. Objective representation.
C. Whale song.
D. Computer analysis.
2. The instrument for analyzing whale song was developed
in part by
A. marine biologists.
B. mathematicians.
C. grammar teachers.
D. musicians.
3. What do we learn about whale song from the passage?
A. It has something in common with human language.
B. It is not structured like human language.
C. It cannot communicate different meanings.
D. It is similar to the songs of many birds and animals.
WRITING
Have your students read the task, and make sure they understand what they should do. Give them a 60-80 word limit, and,
if you have them do the task in class, a 15 minute time limit – you could start the task 15 minutes before the end of a class,
with students free to leave when they have handed in the e-mail. If you give them a formal grade, consider their completion
of the task as specified, and their communicative effectiveness, not only, or even mainly, their language accuracy.
TEST SECTION 2: STRUCTURE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION
Structure
Remember, the selection of the best options in this type of exercise principally depends on grammatical considerations,
but it may also involve lexical and contextual considerations.
Written Expression
The task here is not really written expression as such, which is not included in TOEFL ITP, but the revision and correcting
which writers should do before they give or send their texts to the intended reader or readers.
The corrections here would be: 7. Most couples
8. to avoid
9. on
10. in old age
11. those
12. from
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
In these reading comprehension tasks, different aspects of reading comprehension are tested: the identification of
paragraph and passage topics, the understanding of phrase and sentence meanings, the understanding of words in
context, and the identification of pronoun reference. You can point out these different types of question to your students
when you go over this section with them.
Proficiency Assessment 4
47T
Passage 2
Line With content unrelated to hygiene or works by Mozart
and Puccini, the daily drama series first broadcast on
American radio in the 1930s, and later on television,
were called “soap operas”. The first part of that name
(5) came from the soap and detergent companies that
sponsored the daytime series, targeting an audience
of women doing their household chores. The second
part was because the series were usually very
melodramatic – like operas.
(10) The soap opera is still one of the most popular forms of
radio and television entertainment, with some running
for many years. A BBC radio soap opera about a
farming community in rural England, “The Archers”,
has been on the air since 1951. It is the world’s
(15) longest-running soap opera, and each episode still
has over five million listeners.
Passage 3
Line Some of the world’s oldest living organisms are
found in clonal colonies, that is, groups of genetically
identical individuals. They are plants, fungi or bacteria,
growing in a single location, all originating from a
(5) single ancestor.
Pando, a quaking aspen colony in Fishlake National
Forest in the State of Utah is estimated to be 80,000
years old. The individual tree trunks are all connected
underground via a single, vast root system. Some
(10) people have argued that the colony is a single tree.
However, if the roots were cut, the individual trees
would continue living.
Humongous Fungus, a clonal fungus colony in the
Malheur National Forest in Oregon, is between 2,000
(15) and 8,500 years old. It is also the world’s largest
organism by area, covering 965 hectares.
4. As used in line 2, what does broadcast mean?
A. Sung.
B. Transmitted.
C. Recorded.
D. Shown.
5. Where did the opera part of soap opera come from?
A. The music and singing in the series.
B. The work women did while listening to the radio.
C. The audiences were like opera audiences.
D. The type of content the series had.
6. Which of the following is NOT true about “The Archers”?
A. It can still be seen.
B. It has been going longer than any other soap opera.
C. It is on a British radio station.
D. Its first episode was in 1951.
7. Which of the following is TRUE about clonal colonies?
A. They are a single organism in a single location.
B. They contain the only very old organisms in the world.
C. The organisms in the colony are all genetically the same.
D. They are generally almost identical.
8. What is a quaking aspen?
A. A fungus.
B. A root.
C. A bacteria.
D. A tree.
9. In line 15, what does it refer to?
A. The Malheur National Forest.
B. A colony in Oregon.
C. Humongous Fungus.
D. The age of the fungus colony.
Passage 4
Line Auteur is the French word for author, and auteur theory
is an approach to cinema that arose in France in the
late 1940s. It emphasizes the unique creative vision of
good movie directors, like the vision or voice of good
(5) painters, novelists and composers, and it disparages
directors who just supervise the production of movies.
The intention of the first auteur critics and movie makers
was to raise movie directing from an organizing job to
an art form. To some extent they succeeded, making
(10) an impact on many directors and studios even in the
United States, the emporium of commercial movies.
However, movie making has become increasingly
complex, technical and very costly, and most people
now almost only see movies by “interchangeable”
(15) directors, and rarely see one by a distinctive director,
like Woody Allen.
10. In auteur theory, what is a good movie director like?
A. A French movie critic.
B. A technically competent stage director.
C. A person who sees visions.
D. A creative artist.
11. What did auteur theory proponents want to do?
A. Encourage movie directors to be creative artists.
B. Make movie directors better organizers.
C. Make an impact on American movies.
D. Create some new art forms.
12. Why does the author mention Woody Allen?
A. He is a director that the author likes.
B. He is an example of an “interchangeable” director.
C. He is a movie director with a unique style.
D. He is a director everybody knows.
48
Proficiency Assessment 4
TEST SECTION 3: READING COMPREHENSION
(continued)
Remember, after your students have done the reading comprehension tasks, you can explore the topics and information
in the texts, and the different elements of language and discourse used, especially topic vocabulary. You could ask your
students which passage or passages they found most interesting, whether they learned some new English from any of
them, and so on. Even tests can be interesting and can contribute to language learning!
Proficiency Assessment 4
48T
B1.2 VOCABULARY
UNIT
1
UNI V E RS I T Y L I F E
University / academic
vocabulary
bachelor’s degree
body of knowledge
bookstore
carry out
college
copyright
deadline
degree
investigation
issue
faculty
field
freshman / freshmen
grade
graduate
guidelines
UNIT
2
Speech and thought verbs
add – added
agree – agreed
ask – asked
assert – asserted
believe – believed
claim – claimed
dream – dreamed
explain – explained
know – knew
mention – mentioned
predict – predicted
say – said
state – stated
stress – stressed
suggest – suggested
tell – told
think – thought
YOUR FUTURE LIFE
Compound nouns, and
noun + noun
airport
classroom
basketball
bathroom
bedroom
blackboard
boyfriend
drugstore
football
footnote
girlfriend
guidebook
49
library
proposal
quotation
requirement
research
resources
scope
submission
staff
thesis
undergraduate
university
VOCABULARY
headache
homework
keyboard
newspaper
notebook
passport
password
skyscraper
teamwork
textbook
toothache
username
whiteboard
workshop
Compound adjectives
densely populated
hardworking
high-tech
long-term
old-fashioned
part-time
short-term
six-month
world-famous
UNIT
3
UNIT
4
T HE WORL D AROUND US
Environmental
vocabulary
air
ash
carbon
change
climate
contaminate
contamination
currents
deforestation
drought
emissions
environment
flood
flooding
habitat
global
levels
logging
loss
neutral
neutrality
pollute
pollution
quality
reforestation
renewable
storm
sustainability
sustainable
tides
warming
wind
-self/-selves pronouns
myself
yourself
himself
herself
ourselves
yourselves
themselves
Prepositions
along
among
between
by
for
inside
into
over
out of
outside
throughout
until
within
without
Human behavior and
activities
avoid
beliefs
corruption
depressing
develop
developing
endemic
failure
government
hope
join
membership
peace
poverty
prevent
succeed
survival
wealth
USES OF ENGLISH
Phrasal verbs
follow up
give out
leave out
look into
look up
point out
turn in
turn out
Connectors
although
as
because
however
in order to
in spite of
moreover
since
so
so that
therefore
Vocabulary common in
academic texts
accurate
agree
argument
develop
discuss
field
framework
relevant
research
review
support
survey
Phrases for social situations
Come in.
Congratulations!
Did you enjoy…?
Have a great time!
It’s nice to meet you.
Keep in touch.
Take care.
Welcome to…
You must be…
Vocabulary for social
situations
care
careful
congratulations
connection
enjoy
flight
fly
glad
greetings
know – knew
join
like
marriage
married
meet – met
pleased
sightseeing
spend
state
stay
time
touch
tourist
trip
unite
wedding
wishes
welcome
VOCABULARY
50
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The editor, coordinators and authors would like to thank all the people and the
different companies who have contributed to the creation of this book. Many
have provided useful suggestions which have helped us to develop this material
better, and others have contributed in the making of drawings, photos, and
audio material. They have all been essential to the development of this book,
which will, we hope, be a very effective learning tool for the students of the
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo.
We would also like to express our deepest gratitude to the teachers and learners
of English who piloted the book and contributed with their valuable feedback to
the completion of this work. Without their kind suggestions and comments, the
edition of this book wouldn't have been possible.
Our appreciation to those who helped us with the audios: Mareike Bader, Jesús
Barrera Anaya, Shyal Bhandari, Paul John Davies Beal, Norma Estefanía
Gayosso Benítez, Elisa Hafner, Jorge Alberto Hernández Téllez, Thabitha
Jonathan, Esthela Elizabeth Martínez Muñoz, Erick Alan Oropeza Jiménez,
Samantha Ximena Polanco Dávila and Ruth Elizabeth-Esther Storm.
A very special thanks to Cris Estudios.
Make It Real! Professional Teacher’s book B1.2
was printed at UAEH University Press in
December, 2016.
Print run 100 copies.
Sign up as a new user:
1
Go to http://platform.miruaeh.com
2
Click on Sign up and then select Teacher as your
type of user.
3
Fill in the registration form and in MIR! Book Code
enter the code located at the bottom of this tab.
4
Click on Activate and that’s it!
Download your audio material:
For your convenience, the recordings of the
listening exercises will be available in mp3* format.
Just follow these steps:
1
Log in with your account.
2
Go to Junior series or Professional series
(depending on the case) in the upper toolbar of
your level.
3
Now, you will see a list with all the available levels
of the series. Click on Download audio material of
the level you need and the download will start.
®
* The files will download as ZIP files. Remember that the
download speed depends on your internet connection.
MIR! Book Code
1
4926
®
MAKE IT REAL! Professional has been written
specifically for Hidalgo State University
students by English language teaching experts
with decades of experience in Mexico.
Because it has been written for a specific
learner population, MAKE IT REAL! Professional
considers:
• The life experiences and cultural backgrounds
of Hidalgo State University students
• The real uses of English they may currently
meet or seek outside the classroom
• The most probable uses of English in their
future lives (principally English for study and
work in Mexico, with visits abroad and use in
everyday social life for just some)
• Their native tongue, Mexican Spanish, which
facilitates and interferes with the learning of
English in certain ways
• Their general educational development, enabling
them to communicate in English (and Spanish)
about Mexico and other countries, their studies
and work, world situations and events, etc.
Because it has been written in Mexico, by ELT
experts, MAKE IT REAL! Professional also
considers:
• The general failure (with significant exceptions)
of ELT in Mexican schools, which calls urgently
for alternative approaches that are both
progressive and realistic
• The movement in professional ELT towards
approaches based on the best available research
and practice, which tend to be highly communicative
(content- and skills-based) and inductive
• The reflection of this movement in the Common
European Framework of Reference for
Languages,
which
recommends
highly
communicative, content-based approaches,
and in leading international proficiency tests
(Cambridge KET, PET, FCE, etc., TOEFL iBT,
TOEIC, etc.), which now test entirely through
text-based and skills tasks.
The MAKE IT REAL! Professional team hopes
this material will help English language teachers
and, especially, students in Hidalgo State
University achieve their highest potential in a
progressive, challenging world.
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