HOLY WEEK IN MALAGA

Holy Week - Copia1

HOLY WEEK IN MALAGA

Guide for the Holy Week in Malaga 2010, Spain. All relevant information about processions, societies, routes and maps of the Holy Week of Malaga 2010.Time Schedule of the Holy Week of Malaga 2010.

http://www.semana-santa-malaga.com/english/holy-week-in-malaga-2010.html

FCE EXAM OVERVIEW

FIRST CERTIFICATE IN ENGLISH
Level B2 of the CEFR

The First Certificate in English (FCE) is the most widely taken Cambridge ESOL examination. Success at FCE enables learners to use their language skills for many practical purposes, including business and study.FCE is available in a computer-based format as well as paper-based tests. Candidates taking the computer-based version take the Reading, Writing, Use of English and Listening parts of the test on screen. The face-to-face Speaking test is the same for both the computer-based and paper-based versions of FCE.

Reading 3 parts/30 questions Time 1 hour weighting 20%

Writing 2 parts/2 questions Time 1 hour 20 minutes weighting 20%

Use of English 4 parts/42 questions Time 45 minutes weighting 20%

Listening 4 parts/30 questions Time approx. 40 minutes weighting 20%

Speaking 4 parts Time 14 minutes 20%

Exam Materials

All materials which relate to this exam:
Exam Handbook FCE Handbook (PDF, 3 Mb)

Sample Papers (key can be found in the FCE Handbook)
FCE Listening Test 1 Part 1 Recording (MP3, 9.3 Mb)
FCE Listening Test 1 Part 2 Recording (MP3, 5.8 Mb)
FCE Listening Test 1 Part 3 Recording (MP3, 5.8 Mb)
FCE Listening Test 1 Part 4 Recording (MP3, 6.8 Mb)
FCE Listening Test 2 Part 1 Recording (MP3, 9.3 Mb)
FCE Listening Test 2 Part 2 Recording (MP3, 6.6 Mb)
FCE Listening Test 2 Part 3 Recording (MP3, 5.6 Mb)
FCE Listening Test 2 Part 4 Recording (MP3, 6.6 Mb)

Exam ReportsFCE Exam Report December 2008 version 0100 (PDF, 219 Kb)

FCE Exam Report

FCE-COMPUTER-BASED PRACTICE TEST

These tests allow you to see what a full CB test will be like and show the types of questions that will appear in the live exam.

1. Save the attached file to your hard drive (C:\ drive on most PCs).

2. Double click on the file to run the test.

3. At the log in screen, click ‘Submit’. No candidate number or password are required.

4. Repeat the above process for each individual PC on which you wish to run the Practice Test.

View the system requirements and Practice Test instructions.

FCE Reading Practice Test (11.6Mb) FCE Reading Practice Test Answer Key (69Kb)

FCE Writing Practice Test (9.0Mb)

FCE Listening Practice Test (31.8Mb)

FCE Use of English Practice Test (8.8Mb) FCE Use of English Practice Test Answer Key (16Kb)

FCE-WRITING 2010

First Certificate in English (FCE)
Paper 2: Writing
Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Part 1 – Compulsory Task
For this part of the Writing paper, you have to write either a letter or an email based on some input material of up to 250 words. The input material will be a letter or an email with notes.
You have to write 120–150 words.

Part 2
In Part 2, you can choose one of the five options. These may be an essay, an article, a report, a review, a letter of application, an informal letter or a short story.

The last question in Part 2 is a choice of two options based on the list of SET BOOKS.
You should write 120–180 words.

Set Books
One or both of the following texts may be read as preparation for the two optional set text tasks:

Wilkie Collins: The Woman in White

Download the ebook from http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/34/72/frameset.html

Michael Crichton: Jurassic Park

Download the ebook from http://ineedfile.com/jurassic-park-michael-crichton-ebook

SPEAKING ENGLISH FLUENTLY

DESCRIPTION
Improve your speaking with some excellent advice. Here you will find the same principles that motivated the creation of this website.
This teacher offers us 7 rules to help you speak English fluently. This lesson explains rule number 1:
Always learn phrases, not individual words.Watch the other rules at LINKS.

Speak English fluently: rule 1

READING FOR A PURPOSE

DESCRIPTION

Several reading exercises to check your understanding of a text. There are two levels.

Reading for a purpose

HOMOPHONES

DESCRIPTION
Pair Words Game
Homophones are words that sound the same, but have different spelling and meaning, e.g. flower and flour. See a list of common homophones here. Then, do the game to practise and learn some of the common ones.
After playing with this activity, you may be ready to see how good you are at discriminating (distinguishing) homophones and choosing the correct one using this quiz produced by the BBC to help British students improve their spelling.

Homophones

TEXT TERMINATOR

DESCRIPTION
Text Terminator destroys texts, you have to reconstruct them. You'll see the text dotted, click on the first dot to listen to the text and then type the words to reconstruct it. Read the full instructions below.

Text Terminator

ENGLISH LEVEL TESTS (ALL LEVELS)

DESCRIPTION
You can choose a general test (choose the option TEST WITH ANSWERS if you want to know what was right and what was wrong).
You can also choose a test for one particular level: Beginners - Elementary - Pre-Intermediate - Intermediate - Upper-Intermediate - Cambridge Frist Certificate - Advanced.
The questions are different every time, so you can repeat the tests as many times as you like.
See below for more English tests.

English level tests (all levels)

VIDEO LESSON ABOUT PHONETIC

DESCRIPTION
This is a flash activity to learn and practise phonetics. There are 10 lessons, you can start at any lesson you want. To move on to the next lesson click on the link NEXT LESSON at the bottom of the flash presentation.

Phonetics in a flash

REAL ENGLISH VIDEO LISTENING

DESCRIPTION
When speaking, it is very important to use the correct level of formality. Intonation is also very important.
This activity will let you explore a bit the adequacy of the language and will give you some listening practice too.

Speaking clearly

MULTIMEDIA ENGLISH CLASSROOM

Learn Real English, prepare for real life
Practice 1
Sentences
Practise sentences of tenses and other grammatical constructions

Practice 2
Dialogues
Little dialogues to practise the language in context, covering many different situations

Practice 3
Situations
More dialogues in different situations

ENGLISH PHONETICS TRANSCRIPTION EDITOR

ENGLISH PHONETICS TRANSCRIPTION EDITOR
Here is a great page on phonetic resources where you can download PhoTransEdit , a free Windows tool created to help you typing phonetic transcriptions. The tool includes:
· Automatic phonetic transcription of English texts.
· A phonetic keyboard to edit/create phonetic transcriptions.
· Statistics on the number of times a sound is found in a transcription. A converter of IPA symbols into HTML code numbers.

Sample Images:

In PhoTransEdit you can also find links to other phonetic resources

LISTENING LESSONS WITH VIDEOS

Use the videos to improve your English.
Improve your reading.

As you watch the video, read the text by clicking the "TRANSCRIPTION " button. Practice reading in chunks rather than word by word.
Improve your speaking.

Turn down or mute the audio volume and try to shadow the speaker. Try to say their words at the same speed the speaker does. This is a great way to increase fluency and speaking speed.
Improve test taking skills.

As you listen, practice note-taking and summarizing. Listen to the videos and take notes of what the speaker said. Then try to summarize what they said and then check your summary with the full transcript by clicking the "TRANSCRIPTION" link. Try the “VIDEO QUIZ”.

http://www.elllo.org/video/index.htm

MINIMAL PAIR PRACTICE

Perfect your English pronunciation with Minimal Pair Practice, firstly in single words (minimal pairs), and then in a sentence. Listen and repeat the words and practice the sentence several times.

http://www.shiporsheep.com/page1.html

TONGUE TWISTER

SPEAKING PRACTICE
This lesson you will practice several sounds. To speak well, you must be able to speak quickly and smoothly. So we will practice “tongue-twisters”. Don’t worry if they’re hard. They are hard for native speakers too. Just say them as fast as you can.

ENGLISH SONG: MILOW - Ayo Technology

MILOW BIOGRAPHY

Miłów, whose real name Jonathan Vandenbroeck, was born on 14 July 1981 in Belgium. He noted during a competition organized by the Belgian magazine HUMO in 2004. If he does not win, however, he finally closed and opens doors to the professional world of music. Author-composer, Miłów will work to write his first album released in 2006: "The Bigger Picture". The single "You Do not Know" will meet with a success and help develop its Miłów pop-folk. His second album ( "Coming Of Age"), as the first self-released in 2008. New successes noted Miłów by a record company. Miłów's career exploded at an international level and his first album out. Containing titles of his previous two albums plus some new features like the amazing cover of "Ayo Technology" 50 Cent duet and Justin Timberlake. Miłów with his guitar and his beautiful ballads he opens wide the doors to a promising musical future.

PODCASTS, YOUTUBE AND MANY THINGS

Videos for ESL students. You can read the text while you listen.
http://www.manythings.org/b/e/

VOA Special English.(Listen and read along)
http://www.manythings.org/voa/rss/

English as a second language (ESL) PodCasts
http://a4esl.org/podcasts/

Texts to read and listen to, pronunciation practice, spelling practice...
http://www.cdlponline.org/

Listen and repeat
http://www.manythings.org/repeat/

American English pronunciation practice

http://www.manythings.org/pp/

Dictation

http://www.manythings.org/fq/d1/

Listen and answer

http://www.manythings.org/fq/1/6999.html

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 8th March

THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
International Women's Day, formalized by the United Nations in 1977, not only reminds us about the victories of women, but also invites us to reflect upon the role and status of women in the world at large. In one century women have achieved legal and legislative equality in most countries of the world. However, equality in actual fact remains a goal that has yet to be achieved.

ORIGINS

Just like other symbolic dates, International Women's Day came about due to several historical occurrences. It is the symbolic culmination of both the long public struggle for women's rights and the more private struggle waged everyday by women that have made the celebration of this day possible.

The main historical reference of International Women's Day is based on the strikes that were made by American female workers in 1857 and in 1911 in New York City. These strikes were a protest by the female workers against the miserable working conditions they were forced to endure. One event was particularly significant to these demonstrations. On March 25th 1911, a group of female workers, who were demonstrating in a textile factory in New York, died as a result of a fire. These women were not able to escape from the fire because the doors of the factory were locked. The doors had been locked in order to ensure that the workers would not leave before the end of the workday.

Another important historical reference is the Second International Conference of socialist women, which took place in 1910 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here, the German socialist leader, Clara Zetkin, proposed to create an international day for women, so as to recognize the struggle undertaken by women worldwide. In 1977, two years after the International Women's Year, The United Nations adopted a resolution inviting Member States to observe a day for the celebration of the rights of women and international peace. Consequently, March 8th has become a day of recognition of the rights of women in many countries in the World.

SONG: WOMAN by John Lennon


VIDEO MESSAGE WITH TRANSCRIPTION

http://www.un.org/en/events/women/iwd/2010/sg_video_message.shtml