APRIL 7

Paraphrasing, saying the same thing in a different way is an important skill for checking understanding.

You  can learn some phrases for verifying on BBC Six minute English

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/01/140116_6min_business_misunderstandings.shtml

There are examples on Page 38 of Insight into PET , exercises 1 + 2.

This skill is also tested in  Part 2 of the Reading test where you should underline key words in the question and find equivalent phrases in the text.( Pages 16 and 17 of Insight into PET.)


APRIL 6

Don't forget to regularly check out the articles on Breaking News English.

This article is about Mcdonalds

 http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1604/160419-all-you-can-eat-fries.html

In the article there are many examples of words that we usually put together - in addition to, make profit.

These are known as collocations and identifying and using them can help you to sound more natural in English.

You can read about them here

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIsleTE3ZDdtZXpzdGs/view?usp=sharing

There is also information about collocation on the Flo Joe website, which is very useful for exam practice, so explore!

http://www.flo-joe.com/preliminaryenglish/vocabulary/pet-collocations.htm

As it says collocations are very common in  PET Reading Part 5 and FCE Reading and Use of English Parts 1 + 2.

You can also read about collocations on englishclub.

https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/collocations-lists.htm

APRIL 30

In the speaking test, you have to discuss a problem with the other candidate, and try to find a solution. There is an example on Page 81 of Insight into PET , exercise 5.

This tests your ability to interact with another person, showing interest, agreement and disagreement and asking questions.

Before an important meeting or conversation, we can imagine what type of words or phrases we will hear, for example if you have an interview you can think about the questions the interviewer can ask you and you can prepare some answers. You can use the same skill for English.

Here you can read some information about how PREDICTION can help you to understand better.

http://www.hawaii.edu/eli/student-resources/sa-lis2-predicting.html

You can try out this skill on listenaminue.com.

http://www.listenaminute.com/a/autumn.html

Before trying the listening gap fill exercise you can guess which words may be missing from the text based on your knowledge of the situation or of grammar and vocabulary.

Then compare your answers with the tape script. You will understand that it is not always neccesary to understand all the words to understand the general sense.

There are some interesting elements in the text including the use of 'such' and the expression 'one of the + superlative adjective + plural noun.

You can practise these structures here.

http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/sosuch.html

http://www.azargrammar.com/assets/beginning/BEGTeacher-CreatedWorksheets/Worksheets16/BEGCh16UsingOneOf+Superlative+PluralNoun.pdf

The weather and the seasons is a common conversation subject in Cambridge exams.

You can also learn more words related to weather.

http://esl.about.com/library/vocabulary/blwordgroups_weather.htm

And consider the questions here

http://simpleesl.com/esl-conversation-questions-weather-seasons/

You can practise predicting and then listening on  Page 70 and 71 of Insight into PET .





APRIL 29

Thinking of synomyms for words that we commonly use is a great way to build your vocabulary.

When you learn a new word, think of words that are in the same family. Are there any related verbs, nouns, adverbs, adjectives, synonyms and antonyms?

Look at this example with the verb employ.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1_B2HZ_bIslWktZNUg0M3I1Qmc/view?usp=sharing

and try to do the same with the word friend.

Doing this can help you to identify some common prefixes and suffixes.

Understanding these can help you work out the meaning of new words.

Look here for some word formation exercises:

http://www.esl-galaxy.com/prefixsuffix.html

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/word_formation.htm