Category Archives: EFL exams

FCE Speaking Part Two teaching materials section expanded and reorganised

Possibly the most difficult part of Cambridge First Certificate Speaking and certainly the weirdest (“I’d like you to compare the two photos” “Why???), now made much more manageable and fun: FCE Speaking Part Two games, photocopiables and videos

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New Cambridge First Certificate Writing Part One essays page

I’ve only managed to write one worksheet on this new part of the exam so far, but have tried to make up for it by linking to all of the few other updated resources online and my other relevant functional … Continue reading

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EFL characters

I can’t find any trace online of it now, but when I first posted this I swear it linked to a robot character representing IELTS. Honest! That wouldn’t be the first EFL mascot, with even people who had no interest in … Continue reading

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Have Something Done activities page just added

Couldn’t find much good stuff online, but have added five useful links to my own speaking games on the topic, one that Cambridge FCE examiners love for some reason: New have something done page

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Does IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 need a conclusion?

Opinions on this vary a lot. I have a quite strong and clear point of view on it, but not being an IELTS examiner I still have enough doubt about it that I’d like to hear other people’s thoughts. First of all, … Continue reading

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TOEFL to improve high school English?

The British government has finally learnt its lesson about dealing with ETS after many cock ups including the recent big fraud which means that TOEFL can no longer be used for immigration purposes, but that’s not stopping schools in Japan: … Continue reading

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IELTS Academic review lesson plan with classroom materials

Materials One copy of most of the worksheets below per student Cut up copies of some of the worksheets below, sometimes one per class but usually one set per group. One dice by group. At least one of each type … Continue reading

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Over 100 IELTS worksheets now easier to find

As part of the continuing reorganisation of my many worksheets pages, have added all the relevant index pages to my main IELTS games/ worksheets page, making it hopefully only two or three clicks from there to materials for just the task or … Continue reading

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Teaching Cambridge First Certificate Use of English Part Two

New article with tips on how to teach and practise the gap filling task in FCE, almost all also useful for CAE: How to teach FCE open cloze Worksheets page also expanded and reorganised, especially to include lots which introduce … Continue reading

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English tests for UK visas suspended after BBC reveals fraud

Seems being responsible for the awful TOEIC tests is the least of ETS’s sins: Students visa fraud exposed in BBC investigation Student visa English tests suspended over fraud claims More on ETS and their products on TEFLtastic: ETS is crap … Continue reading

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