Re: Teaching B1 English
 

Exams | Cambridge English

Angie, work your way through the website....you will see example tests to judge the students levels - also what category the students fall in and exams that are suitable for the category and students needs...then you can work out the materials to use. For General English its better to use English books that teach through the range, eg...Language Leader, Cutting Edge etc...For some exams there are exam-specific books FCE, PET, etc....

Re: Teaching B1 English
 

How interesting this subject is. Angie you are doing a marvellous job by the sounds of it, so why do you suddenly need qualifications if they are learning well enough? Surely you are giving them the basics so that they can 'speak' English, should they want to communicate to a higher standard they can take their basic knwoledge learned from you elsewhere and pay for it!

This came home to us this week. Our grasp of spanish is quite thinn, we can communicate but not fluently and really do need to take that extra jump ourselves. We were in the bank as noted in other topics, and the manager is in the same if opposite boat! He wants us to spend a couple of hours each week with him at his home or ours, where talking to each other in english and spanish would improve the skills of us all.

Re: Teaching B1 English
 

That's a great idea. In these days of 'crisis' even the banker needs 'skills exchange' rather than parting with any money ;) And what better way of getting to know your wider community while controlling the pennies!

I'm now a bit swamped with work starting 2 more new classes tonight and 2 more on Wednesday, and yes some of my class members are paying for it through a local Academia and some through a local Formacion company. Within a couple of weeks I should have my paperwork sorted as 'regimen general' working for 2 different companies. What a relief. Those who know me from posts over the last year or 2 know that I fell fully into the honesty trap that the Brits can fall into when being Autonomos and that it got as far as Embargos. The darkest hour is just before the dawn though. It made me give up my Autonomo and look for work on Regimen General. I don't ever want to have to worry about my monthly National insurance payment again. I would never have thought of teaching English and only started helping out a few local parents with their kids. Now I find I rather enjoy it...but prefer teaching adults so I've asked the Formacion company to look for another teacher for the kids. I've put my creative head to it and am now designing games for facilitating conversation and motivating the de-motivated. Bri and Katee, The reason for wanting qualifications is because Spain is very qualifications conscious. Plus I really need to improve my own knowledge of grammar for the tricky questions like when the stroppy teenager who I'd asked to put her phone away the other day told me I was wrong about "Blue-eyed boy". And she knew because her other English teacher told her it was "Blue eyes boy". I couldn't explain why I was correct. Her other teacher is qualified ... therefore I am an idiot ;) I'm used to this though. I've even had to correct my own editor on my craft books, who
wanted to change my use simulate (correct) to emulate (incorrect). You have to be soooo patient when you don't have an English degree and they do! :lol:

Re: Teaching B1 English
 

Angie, haha, well on the boy with blues eye (grammatically correct) the student is either saving face, by blaming someone else, or their \teacher\ isnt any good.
Its a blue-eyed boy .....and always will be !!!

It cant be blue eyes boy...as I said above its the boy with blue eyes, or he has blue eyes..BUT not \blue eyes boy\

Re: Teaching B1 English
 

Ask stroppy teenager if she is a long, black hairs girl. And if she says 'yes' laugh and tell her that hairs is not the hair on her head.

Re: Teaching B1 English
 

:rofl: