Job Discussion Forums

[erracht]

I have been teaching FCE and CAE preparation courses for some time now. When I stared doing this, I was given a coursebook and simply went through it from begining to end. The students were satisfied with this approach in my classes last school year. This year however, I have been getting requests for supplementing material with different things. I have had requests for more grammar practice in both FCE and CAE (not surprisingly for the latter, as our book has relatively little grammar) and at the same time, a request for more conversation in FCE. In short, the students do not consider the books' approach (which is mainly practice of test-like questions, albeit not without considerable, if somewhat random vocabulary and grammar review).

So I am interested in how other people think it best to approach FCE and CAE preparation classes. Do you find the books to be enough or do you supply a lot of your own material? Do you drill students in grammar?

[Chasgul]

Which books are you using? I'm currently teaching with CAE Gold (by Longman I think) and they are full of drills and some overly easy listenings. I usually push the students to get through the dull exercises quicker and then have discussion time. The other thing is to check whether their writing is up to scratch: where I am they all have problems with the written paper and I have resorted to teaching them essay-planning from the absolute beginning.

The more cynical approach is to point out that the interview is only 15 minutes and the rest of it several hours, then ask if they want a certificate or to speak english freely. Usually gives them food for thought and then you can ask for ideas - of course that assumes they can think rationally.

[Justin Trullinger]

It depends a lot on who your students are, and why they're studying. Also, are they serious about these exams, or are they just taking the courses becuase they're the next level offered in your school? For example, in Spain, where I used to work, the FCE is the "must have" English qualification. Everybody wants it, and it's the only post intermediate course that a lot of schools offer. So everybody does it. (Or tries to) But in Ecuador, where I am now, these exams are relatively unknown, and the few prep courses we offer for them tend to be taken by people who want the certificate for a specific reason. (Study in Europe, job with British company, work in England...)

In any case, students, in my experience, will get bored with a course that is ONLY exam prep. And yet, if they really want the cert, and have limited time and are not that close...sometimes, in order to succeed, they have to tolerate a bit of boredom.

But in general, if the need to force the exam structure down their throats isn't too pressing, I figure 60% of class time spent on book is a safe maximum.

And use the internet. There are a great many resources for FCE and CAE prep which are neither book nor boring...

And my random tip: I've seen too many students have problems on the exam because the teacher didn't do his or her homework. The structure and format of these exams is extremely important. Make sure that you know it well, so you can pass it on to your students.

Regards,
Justin

[erracht]

Good points, guys. I am now using the Oxford Universty Press "New Success at First Certificate" and the Cambridge University's "The Cambridge CAE Course".

You are right that some of my students are are taking the courses just because they cannot take another course. They properly don't belong in an FCE-CAE course and it does complicate matters.

[Chasgul]

You may already know this but...

Don't forget that the CAE now includes a 'proposal' in the writing formats and that the 'review' can be of a website.

On topic: given that your students are the 'I'm here to improve my English, not to get a cert.' type, then I'd agree with Justin on the amount of time to dedicate to the book/exam prep. Cut down on the book-work and spend more time on speaking. You can also use games or debates to lighten things up. Dig stuff up online or else look for teachers' resource packs. For CAE you can get them to write limericks/short poems in class to push their vocab/writing.

Just my tuppence.

[erracht]