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The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) workshops are designed for teachers who are preparing candidates for the IELTS test or who are planning to do so in the future. College councillors, admissions officers, exams administrators also find the participation useful, as they are the main IELTS stakeholders (apart from the exam takers) and are interested in recommending the test to their students.
The workshops focus on:
•Helping participants understand the content, format and assessment criteria of each paper
•Sharing tips and advice on candidate preparation
Feedback from participants in previous workshops: "(I left) better informed of fuzzy areas of the exam"; "Sarah was lovely"; "Q&A session with Sam was great"; "Good atmosphere & (I liked) the flexibility to take questions during the workshop"; "Well done!"
The first workshop for teachers in 2013 will take place on 24 April in Bern. The programme of the day will be:
13:50 - Welcome
14:00 - 14:45 General presentation of IELTS
14:45 - 15:00 Coffee break
15:00 - 16:30 The IELTS Speaking test with Sarah Fabel
16:30 - 16:40 Break
16:40 - 17:50 Blending speaking and writing skills for the academic version of IELTS and beyond (presentation followed by Q&As) with Sam McCarter (via Skype from England)
17:50 - 18:00 Farewell (and a glass of prosecco)
Sarah Fabel is an experienced IELTS teacher and teacher trainer, working with the British Council and IELTS for almost a decade. She will take an in-depth look at the test and its procedures, with reference to the Public Band Descriptors which is a freely available version of what is used when rating a candidate's performance. We will observe sections of a couple of speaking tests and you will get the opportunity to grade the candidates using the IELTS band score scale.
Sam McCarter is a successful author and teacher of ESP, EAP and IELTS (published by Oxford University Press and MacMillan). His presentation will look at various techniques for speaking skills that we as teachers can use to help reinforce writing skills for the academic version of IELTS. While the talk will focus on preparation for IELTS, the techniques covered will be applicable to other exams classes, including those in the Cambridge suite, and also to non-exam classes. Generating and organising ideas as a step towards creativity in writing will be examined and the concept of creativity in writing will be explored.
To register to this event, please email us no later than 17 April at ielts@britishcouncil.ch, mentioning your name, the name of your institution (if applicable), and your contact details (email address, telephone number, postal address). There is no fee for participation, but the number of places is limited.
We look forward to meeting you then!
Past British Council workshops:
Positive Group Dynamics in the English Classroom with Paul Davis, Pilgrims, 26 May 2012
"The learners in our classes have different levels of language, skills and ability. But we can overcome this if we can get them listening to each other and working well as a group.
My learners often (but not always) listen to me but they don’t always listen to each other. This wastes a lot of time. We did activities which train the learners to listen. Not to listen to language on tape or video but to listen to each other.
We also did activities which teach language but at the same time encourage the learners to work together, form a working group and perform better when speaking."
Paul Davis is a DELTA and CELTA trainer and has taught on the MA programme at the University of Durham. He is at present a freelance teacher, trainer and writer. He has co-authored Dictation, CUP, 1988, The Confidence Book, Longman, 1990, More Grammar Games, CUP, 1995, Ways of Doing, CUP, 1998 and The Company Words Keep, DELTA, 2012.
ETAS AGM Yverdon-les-Bains, 28-29 January 2012
Thank you for visiting our stand and for participating in our workshops and the plenary presentation:
Sam McCarter (plenary): “Technology – does it change the way we teach?”
Sam McCarter: Exam Preparation: Can the methodology be fun, and even exciting?
Paul Sweeney: M’s the word? An Overview of the World of 'Apps' for Language Learning
Paul Sweeney: Engaging with Authentic Materials in a Digital Age: English for the Olympic Games 2012
If you would like to share your impressions with us or to have the electronic copies of the presentations, just write an email to adrian.judele@britishcouncil.ch
IELTS workshop, Zürich 01 October 2011
We focused on the Listening part of the IELTS test. The programme of the day included:
- presentation: Introduction to IELTS
- practical workshop - How to prepare candidates for the Listening module of the IELTS test - Sarah Fabel
- projection: Sam McCarter's seminar "Producing materials for IELTS" - British Council London, May 2011.
- Qs&As with Sam McCarter, live from London
IELTS workshop, Bern, 18 June 2011
This event was built around the Writing part of the IELTS test, and as a novelty, a recording of a seminar which took place at the British Council in Manchester was projected:
Practical workshop – How to prepare candidates for the Writing module of the IELTS test - Sarah Fabel
Projection: Sam McCarter’s seminar “IELTS – Skills and techniques to link the academic Writing and Speaking modules”.
The British Council and Cambridge University Press 'IELTS - Reading and Speaking' events in Geneva and Zurich.
Wednesday 11 May 2011 (Geneva); Thursday 12 May 2011 (Zurich) - see photos to the left
Cambridge author and IELTS examiner Vanessa Jakeman along with Sarah Fabel from the British Council presented on aspects of the reading and speaking papers. After a short welcome the afternoon started with a session on the reading module from Vanessa Jakeman. Then two repeating sessions followed: one with questions and answers on the IELTS content and administration, with Vanessa and Adrian Judele, Exams Manager British Council , the other a talk on the speaking test given by Sarah Fabel, IELTS Administrator from the British Council, Bern. The afternoon ended with a glass of prosecco and a raffle for a Cambridge University Press book.
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