B2 Cambridge Certification

These resources for you to practise

Blog de Natalia: 

tests and resources

B2 resources

Blog de Cristina:

B2 Lesson plans

Cambridge resources:

Activities

British Council:

Skills

Breakout English:

First (FCE) - Exam Preparation Materials - Breakout English

Useful expressions: speaking

Creativity in the English Class

Global Culture

It goes without saying that globalization can be felt every nook and cranny of the World. David Rixham (the speaker for the last session of English for Success Course) also mentioned same hints on Glocalization. A global product is altered in some manner in order to meet the appeal to local consumers. (wikipedia). For example a burger called the Maharaja Mac in India, and even a McSushi burger in Japan. The expression is very much used within the business world.

In terms of Global Language the debate around English leads us to question us on language associated with modernity, divergences from the Standard, and the reasons why it is predominant.

The classification that refers to the ESL/EFL has been put forward by Kachru (1985). This is the ‘three circles’ model.

The Inner Circle refers to the traditional cultural and linguistic bases of English. The Outer Circle represents the institutionalized non-native varieties (ESL) in the regions that have passed through extended periods of colonization . . . The Expanding Circle includes the regions where the performance varieties of the language are used essentially in EFL contexts.

The study of World Englishes consists of identifying varieties of English used in diverse sociolinguistic contexts globally and analyzing how sociolinguistic histories, multicultural backgrounds and contexts of function influence the use of English in different regions of the world.   Models of World Englishes  Wikipedia.  IAWE

Let´s work on that: English in our world (unidad didáctica ) de mecd.gob.es

The question is: Is control of English shifting away from British and American native speakers? Professor David Crystal video shows some examples where in the end the influence is enormous now that we are living in an Internet world.

The boundary of correction makes us think about to what extend sometimes we –as teachers-should admit some divergences from what it is known as the standard.

David Rixham put forward  some questions to reflect on

Do we perceive or foresee cultural assimilations affecting future behavior patterns in Education

?

 Following the Second World  War, English replaced French as US became the dominant global power. What next?

Living in a Digital World. 3rd session English Language Course CFPIdiomas

Georgina Lovatt -an expert on Digital World- ended the session with the question: What´s  the lack of absence? What does it mean? A kind of loss of lack...

The End of Absence by Michael Harris tries to explore our lives in order to find out parts of the earlier world (before Internet) we do not want lose forever. The author reclaims what we have lost in a world of constant connection.

This reflection leads us to have a look at the world we are living in. And the kind of users- as far as Tecnology concerns- we are: foreigners, settlers, immigrants or native

Georgina presented the questions:

What will the next step in brain Evolution be by reading the article  entitled The Next Step in Brain Evolution (Sunday Times)

And what are our students´expectations?

Georgina Lovatt  also suggested two videos about Digital Natives by Marc Prenski and about Creativity and Education by Sir Ken Robinson

We can also suggest the book Teaching Digital Natives by Marc Prenski

This third session of English for Success Course provided us not only lots of reflections on our lifes and World surrounded by gadgets but also the way our students are aware of the life they are living.

A digital world connects all of us and set the pace and determine the course of learning and definitely living.

Teachers involved in this Course showed abilities to cope with digital natives learning and proved themselves being  digital settlers or immigrants. Thank you!

PHOTOGRAPHY AND US: ENGLISH FOR SUCCESS

Living in a world where smart phones and other devices allow us to inmortalize every tiny space and moment , it is our perception what really counts.Photography can show the world the way we are looking into. It can start up a different idea of the same topicCreativity by images is not only a language but also a way of understanding the conjuction among Humans, Enviroment and Cultures.   A junction among languages . Expressing ideas byphotography can show the World from another dimension.Education contains all these elements and they are offered for us to express, to communicate.Probably many ideas arise after watching and going in depth during the session, the video and the resources presented at the course: thanks to an expert , David Lott  who helped broaden our minds

HUMAN PLANET by  expert photographershttp
IDIOMS IN PICTURES. THINK by Joe Eitzen

Another interesting session we enjoyed last Tuesday (10th Feb). Thanks for attending it. Thank you to David Lott. Lots of ideas to explore

HEALTHY BODY, CLEAN MIND: ENGLISH FOR SUCCESS COURSE

In order to develop  specific language resources for  implementing precise and natural communication in English in the classrooms and also for updating the understanding and communication processes properly in specific communication situations, teachers are being trained through ENGLISH LANGUAGE FOR SUCCESS, a course devoted to deal deeply with 4 different interesting topics connected toHEALTH AND SPORTS, PHOTOGRAPHY, DIGITAL WORLD AND GLOBAL CULTURE

The first session ended with a wonderful applause for the great ideas Petrina Moir gave us. Always welcome!

CENTRO DE FORMACIÓN DEL PROFESORADO EN IDIOMAS. WELCOME!

Welcome to our framework blog to share English language resources at all different levels. 

It is devoted to our Castilla León teachers indeed but also to teachers and students all around the world. 

We hope you enjoy it and use it for your lessons and to improve your language competence.

Thank you so much for choosing us to help you!