Tie Handbook

TEST OF INTERACTIVE ENGLISH Teachers’ Information www.tieexams.gr

TIE is administered by The Advisory Council for English Language Schools and recognised by the Department of Education & Science, Ireland

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. What is TIE 2. Key points of TIE 3. TIE scale of Assessment and Appendix 4. Preparing for the Test 5. The Oral Test Duration and Format Marking and Assessment 6. The Written Test Written Test Components Marking and Assessment 7. The Prepared Tasks Preparing your Candidates for the Investigation A summary of the stages of the investigation Preparing your candidates for the book task Preparing your candidates for the News story 8. The Spontaneous Tasks 9. Ideas for Teachers: The three prepared tasks Task: the Investigation/Project Task: Reading a book Task: Following a News Story in the Media 10. Useful source websites for TIE 11. Sample logbook

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WHAT IS TIE? The Test of Interactive English (TIE) is administered by The Advisory Council for English Language Schools (ACELS), which operates under the aegis of the Department of Education and Science. ACELS is an organisation that was set up by government decision to assure the quality of English language teaching and learning in Ireland. The Council is responsible for the administration of an Inspection/ Recognition Scheme for English Language Schools on behalf of the Department of Education and Science. In accordance with its remit from the Irish government, the Council has developed a test – the Test of Interactive English (TIE) – to meet the needs of students taking English language courses. The Test of Interactive English (TIE) is designed specifically to meet the needs of all students wishing to learn and/or improve their English. It is intended for learners on either long or short courses, with the certificate issued within 10 working days of the test being taken. The test is designed to assess learners’ communicative and interactive skills in both predictable and spontaneous situations. It assesses the students’ level of language ability in speaking and writing, with the receptive skills (reading and listening) being tested indirectly through preparation for the test and through the skills required to interact effectively during the test. Candidates receive a certificate, which records their level of English using a scale based on the Council of Europe Common Scale (see Appendix). Success is measured according to whether the learner attains a level which correlates with his / her self-evaluation or that of his / her teacher. There is no fail grade as such because performance is measured by what the candidate can do and not according to what they are expected to be able to do. These ‘can do’ statements are printed on the back of the certificate and candidates will also be provided with a translation in their own languages TIE has been designed for students of all abilities and motivations following either long and short courses in language schools or other educational institutions. KEY POINTS OF TIE: • • • • • • • • •

the test reflects a task-based methodology; the test content is generated by the learner, i.e. the candidates choose which topics to work on in carrying out the TIE tasks; the tasks reflect situations from daily life so they are recognisable from the candidates’ own experience; TIE promotes the principle of testing for learning, i.e. learning opportunities are created for the candidate through this preparation, assessment and post assessment process; preparing for the test is designed to be a positive learning experience with as much support from the teacher as required by the candidate(s); during the test, the learner has primary control. This is intended to enhance learner independence and help ensure the test is a positive learning experience; self-awareness and responsibility are encouraged through self-evaluation and reflection on his/her learning; assessment follows the Council of Europe’s Common Scale of Language Proficiency; the TIE certificate is suitable for inclusion in a language learner’s portfolio as a record of the candidate’s abilities in English at the time of the test;

TIE is a learner-centred exam. It is flexible, designed to recognise and accommodate the needs and interests of each learner whatever their level of English, age, cultural or educational background. The test is task-based with the content chosen by each individual learner and can therefore be used to assess learners with the following needs and motivations: learners of English for general purposes; learners of English for business, professional or academic purposes; learners of English as a second language.

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TIE Scale of Assessment The TIE Scale of Assessment has been drawn up using the Council of Europe’s Common Framework Scale of Language Proficiency. The TIE Scale is made up of 6 basic levels and the addition of a + at A2, B1, B2, and C1 allow for ten bands:

Proficient User: Independent User: Basic User:

C2 C1, B2, B1, A2, A1

C1+ B2+ B1+, A2+

Appendix Description of the language user according to the Council of Europe 6-level Scale C2

C1

B2

B1

A2

A1

ƒ Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. ƒ Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. ƒ Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations. ƒ Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit meaning. ƒ Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. ƒ Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. ƒ Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices. ƒ Can understand the main ideas of complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation. ƒ Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. ƒ Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options. ƒ Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise while travelling in an area where the language is spoken. ƒ Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest. ƒ Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. ƒ Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography and employment). ƒ Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. ƒ Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need. ƒ Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. ƒ Can introduce him/herself to others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.

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TEST FORMAT TIE is in two parts – the Oral Test (30 minutes per 2 candidates) and the Written Test (60 minutes). All the elements of both parts are compulsory and are designed to build upon learners’ background knowledge, provide relevant language development opportunities to suit the needs of each student, and reflect tasks with which they will be familiar from the English language classroom and their daily lives. Both parts of the test must be taken on the same day. PREPARING FOR THE TEST In preparing for the test, the learners are required to carry out three standard, pre-specified tasks. These form the framework within which the learners select their own topics and materials, and decide how to develop each task. In addition, there are two spontaneous tasks in the test, which require the learners to respond in speaking and writing to unpredictable situations. Assessment is made according to how well each candidate performs in carrying these out. TIE candidates are required to do the following preparation for the test: • • •

the candidate needs to carry out an investigation/mini-project the candidate needs to read a book/graded reader in English the candidate needs to follow a news story

Candidates are required to keep a logbook, which they must bring with them to the test. This is a notebook in which candidates record the information about the three tasks (described above) they are required to prepare. Candidates are required to produce their logbook in the oral test. The logbook represents a record of each candidate’s learning during the process of preparation for the test. Although the logbook is not awarded a grade, the TIE certificate contains the following statement: ‘This award is supported by a logbook produced by the candidate in fulfilment of test requirements’ THE ORAL TEST For the TIE oral exam there is one examiner for two candidates. The Oral test requires candidates to take part in an interview lasting 25-30 minutes per two candidates; 40-45 minutes for three candidates. Candidates are required to bring the following into the exam: Their logbook* (and any other realia regarding their investigation as appropriate their book *if a candidate has carried out an investigation in a group he/she should bring in the part of the investigation that s/he produced. Important: candidates must bring their logbooks and books to the Οral test. Any candidate who does not bring the above is not eligible to take the test. Duration and Format The Speaking test takes 30 minutes. There are five components. The format and timing of the speaking test can be represented as follows: Component

Timing+

Task

Introduction (spontaneous) Investigation (prepared) *The Book (prepared) *News Story (prepared) Decision-Making Task (spontaneous)

3 mins

Personal introductions Exchange of personal information Presentation and discussion of investigations (both candidates) Presentation and discussion of book (one candidate) Presentation and discussion of News Story (one candidate) Candidates discuss the task between themselves and make a decision which they present to the interlocutor. The (dis)advantages, reasons for the candidates, choice are discussed and developed.

10 mins 5 mins 5 mins 5 mins

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*The oral and written sections of the exam are organised so that the book and the news story are referred to alternately in the oral test and the written test. For example, if a candidate has been required to do a task on his book in the oral test, he will then be asked to do a task on his news story in the written part, and vice versa. The candidates do not know beforehand which one will come up in which part of the test. Important: The examiner decides which candidate talks about their News Story and which candidate talks about their Book. In the introduction both candidates participate equally; in the investigation each candidate takes an individual long turn to describe his/her investigation with comments or questions from the other candidate(s) as appropriate. One candidate goes on to talk about his/her book while the other candidate presents his/her news story. The decision making task involves equal participation in the interaction Marking and Assessment Detailed performance descriptors have been developed based on the Council of Europe scale. They describe spoken performance at the six levels from A1 to C2. All criteria carry equal weight. Interaction refers to the candidate’s ability to interact with his/her partner and the examiner Communicative Effectiveness refers to the candidate’s ability to convey his/her message. Accuracy refers to the accurate and appropriate use of the candidate’s grammatical resources. Range and Complexity refers to the variety of language at the candidate’s disposal and his/her ability to select appropriately from it. Phonological Control refers to the candidate’s ability to produce comprehensible speech at word and sentence level to fulfil the demands of the test THE WRITTEN TEST The Written test requires candidates to produce two pieces of writing in an hour (approx. 30 mins. per text). There are two tasks on the Written test. There are two choices given for each task – the candidate is required to choose and write about one of the choices for each task. The texts are required to be a minimum of 100 words in length – 150 to 200 words is the recommended length as it allows time for the candidate both to produce the text and read it critically in order to make any corrections. Candidates may bring the following into the exam: • their newspaper article; • their book; • a monolingual and /or bilingual dictionary. Important: candidates may bring the above to the Written test but this is not compulsory. Borrowing will not be permitted. WRITTEN TEST COMPONENTS: Task 1 (prepared) Candidates are asked to write an essay about either their Book or News Story. Each candidate is asked to write about the task s/he didn’t discuss in the Oral test, i.e. if the candidate discussed his/ her book in the Oral test, s/he is asked to write about her News Story, and vice versa. Candidates can use their newspaper articles / books to help them respond to the essay title. Important: the newspaper article(s) and book are there to provide support but candidates should be aware that plagiarism or copying is penalised. The logbook may not be taken into the written test. Task 2 (unprepared) Candidates are asked to respond in writing to an ‘authentic’ task, e.g. writing an article to give information, a formal or informal letter, a report or a review. All tasks are derived from general personal experience. Please note that candidates are not graded on format, e.g. layout of an informal letter or email but punctuation and paragraphing are important.

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Marking and Assessment Detailed performance descriptors have been developed based on the Council of Europe scale. They describe written performance at the six levels from A1 to C2. All criteria carry equal weight. Production measures the candidate’s ability to produce clear, structured text. Task Achievement assesses how appropriately, accurately and relevantly the candidate responds to the tasks set. Accuracy refers to the accurate and appropriate use of the candidate’s grammatical resources. Range and Complexity refers to the variety of language at the candidate’s disposal and his/her ability to select appropriately from it. Orthographic Control assesses the candidate’s control of the conventions of layout, spelling and punctuation. THE PREPARED TASKS How can candidates prepare for TIE? In order to prepare for taking TIE, candidates need to do the following: 1. Decide on and select a theme for their Investigation. This is a piece of research or mini-project. The topic should be of interest or relevance to the learner personally. They should find as much information as possible, present it in an organised way and be prepared to present, explain and discuss it. Candidates record the findings of their investigation in their logbook. 2. Obtain a book in English (or bring one that they already own). The book can be fact or fiction, e.g., a graded reader, a novel, a guidebook or reference book. What is important is that the candidate has chosen the book. The candidate is required to have read all, or a substantial part, of his/ her selected book. The candidate is not allowed to select a magazine, periodical or ELT course book. Each candidate is required to produce the book at the oral test, and it should not be covered in translation notes. 3. Follow a News Story over 3–4 days by watching TV, listening to the radio, scanning the newspapers/ the internet. The candidates should take notes and take cuttings of articles and graphics that they can then put in their logbook. In the Oral Test they may be asked about the different sources of information or different media that they used to follow their news item. 4. Produce a logbook with the candidate’s preparation recorded in it. Each candidate is required to produce their logbook at the Oral test as it provides evidence of the candidate’s work. The role of the logbook is as an aide memoire and catalyst for discussion. There is no prescribed format for the logbook. A candidate may use an A4 exercise book, scrapbook, A5 exercise book etc. What is important is that all the candidate’s work for the prepared tasks is included in it. The logbook is not assessed. However, production of the logbook at the Oral test is compulsory. PREPARING YOUR CANDIDATES FOR THE INVESTIGATION A candidate needs to choose a topic for his/ her investigation. Selection: The candidate should select a topic, which is of interest to him/ her. It should be a topic that s/he is motivated to research, explore and gather information on. The topic can be related to his/ her studies, or may be a topic of general interest to him/ her. Some sample investigations: Given below is a sample of some Investigations that have been selected and carried out by candidates in the past. Creative students will certainly be able to come up with many more suggestions! For younger students many of the course books used in the early stages of language learning involve an introduction to project work so this is an opportunity to link coursework with exam preparation. 1.

Discovering something about Greece that they didn’t already know. Italian students have chosen football teams, places of interest in their own towns or cities, favourite pop or film 7

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

stars, Italian food etc Suggesting improvements to an aspect of the local environment / context; Visiting a local place of interest and producing a (new) leaflet; Researching a person of interest – historical or contemporary – and producing a biography or an interview; Finding out about hobbies – photography, cooking, football or other sports, theatre, cinema, music; Describing something unique to Ireland or their home country; Making something and talking about it, e.g. a model, something to eat; Comparisons between countries. Topics such as culture, food, education, landscape and weather are always popular.

Candidates need to prepare their Investigation. In class: Many classroom activities can involve students in writing or responding to questionnaires. Candidates can carry out an initial survey of available literature; design a questionnaire or elicit information that they need; decide when and where to administer it; analyse the resulting data; and present their findings to their classmates and teacher in both spoken and written form. In this way, candidates use the 4 skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in activities that are personally relevant to them; they prepare visual material for their logs; and they practise an important part of the Oral Test. As TIE encourages candidates to draw upon their background knowledge, they have the opportunity to be ‘experts’ using their own experience. Teenage candidates in the past have done such things as: • researched important historical buildings in their home city/ city of study, compared monuments in Ireland and their home country, • researched the rules of a sport / sporting event. • (in groups) written, rehearsed and produced dramas, learnt and performed folk/ traditional dances; • built models/ drawn maps/ diagrams of places, musical instruments, or machines. All these activities can be recorded in the candidates’ logbooks with photographs or pictures. There is no restriction on candidates working in groups, but they are required to keep individual logs to bring to the Oral test. A SUMMARY OF THE STAGES OF THE INVESTIGATION: 1. Planning: Teachers and students negotiate the themes, the activities, the timetable and the materials. 2. Investigating and gathering information: Students read books and newspapers; they visit interesting places and observe the art, architecture, scenery or atmosphere. They keep their logbooks up-to-date with brochures, leaflets, photographs and postcards, as well as their notes. One investigation may be conducted by a group of students, but each is required to keep an individual logbook. 3. Reflecting: The Council of Europe hopes that language learning will contribute to the personal and professional development of the individual. Reflecting on the personal value of the task as a language learning activity is an important element of TIE. Some suggestions of how to encourage this are - discussion in groups, pairs or with the teacher; keeping a diary of what they have done and how they feel about it; conducting a dialogue (written or spoken) between the teacher and candidate. 4. Presenting: The Oral Test is the culmination of the candidates’ activities and is their opportunity to show how well they can perform in English. Candidates need to be able to talk about their investigation. Taking part in the oral test: Below are a few examples of questions that the Interlocutor or the other candidate might ask. Please note, however, that, after the first question, the conversation will be contingent and reciprocal. In other words, each ‘turn’ will depend on what has already been said. The discussion is, therefore, guided by the material and not by a pre-set list of questions. Therefore, it is important that candidates listen to each other and respond 8

appropriately. • Why did you do this investigation? • What is this? (referring to an item of realia) • Describe your investigation briefly. • Did you find it interesting to do? Why/ why not? PREPARING YOUR CANDIDATES FOR THE BOOK TASK Candidates need to obtain a book in English. Selection: The book should be selected by the candidate to ensure that it is of interest to him/ her, and can be on any subject that interests them - fact or fiction, serious or light-hearted, business or leisure, original text or graded reader. Poetry, plays and collections of short stories are all acceptable, as are textbooks for all subjects other than English language. Please note that ELT textbooks, magazines and periodicals are not allowed for this task. Hint: the main publishers’ websites (CUP, Macmillan, Longman, OUP) all contain materials on their graded readers. It is useful to ask learners to log onto these to help in their book selection. There is also a lot of materials for teachers on these sites for using with graded readers. Candidates need to read their book. Preparation: Candidates should read all, or a substantial part of, their book. They should be able to talk about their book’s general content and have read and understood enough to be able to express an opinion about various aspects of it. When reading, they should take notes about their text. These can be put in their logbook and referred to during the test. Candidates should not write translations on the pages and they must bring the book to the oral examination. Candidates need to be able to talk about their book. Taking part in the oral test: Below are some examples of questions that the Interlocutor or the other candidate might ask. Please note, however, that, after the first question, the conversation will be contingent and reciprocal. In other words, each ‘turn’ will depend entirely on what has already been said. The discussion is, therefore, guided by the material and not by a pre-set list of questions. Therefore, it is important that candidates listen to each other and respond appropriately. General: • What book did you read? • Who wrote it? • Why did you choose it? • Tell me one thing you liked or found interesting. • Did you enjoy / Are you enjoying the book? Why / why not? Fiction: • Who are the main characters? • Where does the story take place? • Is it set in the time it was written?* • What type of story is it? • Did you finish it? If not, how do you think it will end? Fact: • What do you find interesting about this topic? • Did this book tell you any new information? • Is the writer an expert on this topic? Why do you think that? • How is the information presented – are there any graphics or illustrations? • Do you now want to read more on this topic?

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PREPARING YOUR CANDIDATES FOR THE NEWS STORY Candidates need to choose a News Story. Selection: Candidates should select a news story that they can follow over three or four days. To do this, they have to watch the news on TV or listen to the radio, and read newspapers. The Internet may also be used as a source. It is recommended that candidates read more than one newspaper as each newspaper may present the story differently. They should choose a story that looks as if it may last for more than one day so that they can get plenty of information about it from different sources. Students should be encouraged to follow the news for a couple of days and collect newspapers before deciding on the story they would like to cover to ensure that the story lasts for more than a day. Where time is short or access to sources in English is limited candidates must have at least two sources for their story. These may be two newspapers from the same day or a newspaper and radio or TV coverage, which the learner needs to be able to describe. The source of the media coverage should be acknowledged e.g. name of newspaper and date of issue or TV/Radio News edition with channel and time. Sources of information: • newspapers/ magazines; • radio and television; • Internet websites Important: Journals such as Newsweek and Time are not acceptable if they are the only sources of information, i.e. they must be used in conjunction with a selection of texts from other sources. Monthly magazines are also not acceptable as a sole source of information. Candidates need to prepare their News Story: In class: You probably already use newspaper or magazine articles in the classroom. Students are asked to follow a story. This means that classroom activities will necessarily extend over several days and may cover several stories before the candidates identify the one they will present for the test. Teachers should encourage students to: • look at the story and discuss the what happened and what they think of it; • compare the papers with radio and TV news programmes. Candidates need to be able to talk and/or write about their News Story. Taking part in the oral test: Below are some examples of questions that the Interlocutor or the other candidate might ask. Please note, however, that, after the first question, the conversation will be contingent and reciprocal. In other words, each ‘turn’ will depend entirely on what has already been said. The discussion is, therefore, guided by the material and not by a pre-set list of questions. Therefore, it is important that candidates listen to each other and respond appropriately. • • • • • • • • • •

What story did you choose? Why did you choose this story? What appealed to you about the story? How do you think it will / did it end? What do think will happen next? Why? What did you learn from this story? What sources did you use to find out about the story? Why did you like/dislike certain sources? How did these sources differ? Which sources did you find best/easiest to follow?

Candidates will be asked to write about their News Story or their Book. Each candidate will be asked to write about either the Book or the News Story. Tell your candidates not to do the following: • do not simply summarise the story.

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• do not copy sections from your text(s). The rubric will ask about their personal response or attitude to the story. A summary of the story may be appropriate, as part of the task but it should not occupy more than a few lines of the text. Candidates may consult their newspaper articles and copies of their books and may include judicious quoting, but ‘lifting’ will be heavily penalised. They may also consult any dictionaries that they have brought with them. THE SPONTANEOUS TASKS The Oral Test: Preparing your candidates for the Decision-making Task: In class: To prepare for this part of the test, you can put together collections of authentic or taken from textbooks materials. These can be used in the classroom as the stimuli for discussion (pairs, groups). Encourage students to relate the topic to their own lives, interests and experiences. For example, in the Oral test, candidates might be asked to recommend a ‘good day out’, and the materials they are given might include information about a place one of them has actually visited. This candidate is encouraged to talk about the experience, and the other candidate can ask questions of personal interest. This exchange of information is more important than actually arriving at a conclusion. Many candidates feel that, in this kind of problem-solving or decisionmaking task, there is pressure on them to reach an agreed solution as quickly as possible. This is not the case in the TIE, where the emphasis is on the process by which a conclusion is reached rather than the result itself. Candidates need to discuss and negotiate in order to come to a conclusion. The candidates will be given some pictures as prompts, and instructions from the Interlocutor. They are asked to use the pictures to solve a ‘problem’, give advice, come to a consensus, make a suggestion or choose between alternatives. This activity involves negotiation between the candidates. The Interlocutor will broaden the topic, prompting further discussion between the candidates. The candidates are required to present their conclusion to the Interlocutor with their rationales. In preparation for each stage of the oral test it is essential that candidates become familiar with a range of functional language appropriate to their level of English. This should be the level of language that is already in use in their English language classroom and reflects what has been introduced in their coursebooks. Students need to be encouraged to use standard phrases to: • • • •

express an opinion ask another student for his/her opinion agree or disagree ask questions (of his/her partner or the examiner)

The Written Test: Preparing your candidates for the ‘authentic’ Task: Candidates should be familiar with the following genres: • narrative – fiction or fact; • descriptions of people, places and events; • descriptions and personal responses to films, books and television programmes; • simple argumentation, i.e. expressing own and others’ differing opinions. Some sample ‘authentic’ tasks: • Write a letter thanking someone who helped you recently. • Write a letter/e-mail/fax to a friend or a member of your family describing a recent trip or holiday. • Write an article for a school magazine describing what you think is the best way to learn English. • Describe how you celebrate birthdays/ other festivals in your own country. Please note that candidates are not graded on format of the piece of writing, e.g. letter, email format. However paragraphing and basic punctuation are expected.

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Important: During the test, candidates may refer to their newspaper story and their book and are allowed to use a dictionary of their choice. Borrowing from other candidates is not permitted. Texts of fewer than 100 words are not marked and the candidate receives a DNF (Does Not Fulfil Requirements) for that task. Candidates must not ‘lift’ text from their newspaper articles or books or copy from them. Evidence of copying will have a negative impact on their final grade.

Ideas for Teachers The three Prepared Tasks: This section contains some information and a few possible ideas for teachers supporting the preparation of the TIE tasks in the classroom. Needless to say, they are only suggestions so please pick and choose from them as you see fit! TASK: the Investigation / Project The topic should be selected by each student depending on their individual needs and interests. Students can bring in pictures, notes, texts, realia etc in order to help them put their project together in their logbooks. Classroom activities may have a variety of focii drawing upon the material brought in / being worked on by each candidate. Projects may take any form to suit different types of learner e.g. may be a model, text, graphics, demonstration etc. There is no prescription about detail, length, topic type, and format re the student’s project. All three prepared tasks are recorded in the student's logbook. The logbook is not assessed but is used as a catalyst and focus for discussion. Each candidate must bring the logbook with him/ her as it is a pre-requisite of the test - both evidence of work done and of the self-directed learning that has been accomplished. TASK: Reading a book As you know, this can be any kind of book - the only prescription is not an ELT course book. We recommend that students choose from a range of books so that they can read a book of interest to them - e.g. any candidate has the possibility of choosing the type s/he likes best such as a love story, a thriller, a biography, a horror story etc. This also means that a range of books are being read by your learners which in turn lends itself well to real information/ opinion gap activities taking place between the learners in the classroom. Suggestions for pre-selection activities: 1A students write down 3 words to describe the type of book they like reading (don't tell anyone) on a piece of paper (and also copy the words into their exercise books) 1B students write down the title of a book(s) they have read which reflects the 3 words (it could be in their own language) on the same paper and give the paper to the teacher 1C the teacher writes up all the words on the board mixing them up and at random, ensuring that everyone understands each word as she writes it up on the board 1D as a class or in groups, students then describe their book (with title) and others listen, ask questions and decide on the 3 words on the board which the speaker gave to the teacher as best describing his/ her book. 1E after each description, the groups can check whether they were correct with the student, or by finding the paper with the title and student’s words on it. 1F the students ‘record’ the words on the board Rationale: to encourage the students to think about and discuss what they like to read. It also provides a set of words that can be used to describe a range of books/ stories. 2A A range of books are put on a table at the front of the class. 2B The teacher elicits from the students questions you may ask someone about a book they have chosen to read/ are reading. The questions can be graded according to students’ level.

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e.g. What type of story is it? When was the book written? Is it an old book or a new book? Who are the main characters in the story? Does it look like an interesting book? Why? Who is the author? How does the story / book begin? How many chapters are there? What do you think happens at the end of the story? etc etc The students write the questions in their exercise books. 2C Put students in pairs/ small groups. Each pair comes to the table and selects a book they haven’t read before which looks like one they would like to read (this means less selection for the last few pairs but they have to select from what is there). 2D Each pair/ small group has to look for the information to answer the questions from their book. They record their answers in their exercise books. You can give a set time for this task to be accomplished depending on the number of questions/ level of class (don’t allow too much time as you don’t want the students reading the books closely). 2E The pairs/ small groups report back to the class/ another pair on what they found out about their book. As an option, at the end, the class can vote finally on which book they would most like to read. Rationale: to encourage students to develop strategies for skimming a book and looking for relevant information before deciding if they want to read it or not. Suggestions for while reading activities This activity involves using the posters published and supplied by publishers, e.g. Cambridge, OUP, which are a chart with pictures of the front covers of their readers at the sides. Alternatively, each student can make their own poster (described below). 3A Each student is given a piece of A3 paper and writes the name of their book across the top of the sheet (the ‘long’ edge) and draws a horizontal line underneath it. 3B Each student draws vertical lines from the horizontal one – 5 or 6 – spaced a regular intervals to fill the whole sheet. 3C The student divides the number of sections/ chapters in his/ her book into the number of columns. S/he then gives each column a heading for each section and writes each one at the top of each column, e.g. Chapters 1-3; Section 4 – 6. 3D As the student reads each section/ group of chapters, s/he is asked to respond to the story on their poster. This can take any form the students likes, e.g. short written text on response to the section; a list of adjectives/ words expressing opinion about section; drawing/ diagram illustrating the section and their response to it; a poem etc. 3E At each of these stages, all the students can look at each others’ posters and ask questions/ comment on them as appropriate. This can take the form of pairwork activities, whole group, information gap questionnaires etc. 3F Once the book is finished, the posters can be used as records of students’ individual responses and understanding of the story. Rationale: to develop good reading strategies and a critical awareness of what they are reading. Again, there is no right or wrong answer but it is the process that is important. 4A Create silent reading periods in class (e.g 20 minutes) when students read quietly. 4B After each period of reading, students describe in one or two sentences maximum what they have just read about. Rationale: to reflect on reading and summarise their responses orally. Suggestions for post reading activities Here are some ideas provided by Phillip Prowse, ELT materials, coursebook and graded readers writer and editor, on some activities you can do with your students after reading. Imagining A Guess what the characters have in their pockets, handbags, desk drawers

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B Hollywood! What film stars would you choose to play which characters? C Flesh out the characters: make up a lot more personal details about them D Imagine you are in the story E Fill in events, which are mentioned but not fully described F If the characters were animals/trees/fruit etc. what would they be and why? G Think of a popular song/film/TV programme which would make a good title for the book H Mime episodes from the book Changing A Make up a new ending for the story B Give the story a new title/chapter headings. C Design a new cover Writing A Write letters of advice to the characters B Write a letter to the author C Keep a diary for a character D Make a wanted poster for a character or a character poster E Make a word puzzle from the character’s name F Write a letter from one character to the other G Write captions for pictures (if they don’t have any) H Write an introduction to the book for other students or a new blurb Speaking A Students role play interviews with the characters (3 questions each) B Students take the role of characters and answer questions from journalists at a press conference C Dramatise part of the story D Role play an interview with the author E Relate to personal experience: has anything like this happened to you? F One student pretends to be a character and the others have to guess who it is (yes/no questions) G Balloon debate H Make a ‘photofilm’ of all or part of the story I Retell the story using puppets J Retell the story changing the point of view (eg “ I ...” ) K Play the card game ‘Snap’ with names and quotations Listening A A listening cloze test: students listen to a recording and fill in missing words B Character bingo: names on the bingo cards, teacher reads out information about the characters Continuing A Make up a sequel to the story using some of the same characters B Expand on an incident in the story C What happens to the characters in five years time? Remembering A Who said what? Match pictures of characters and quotations from them B Create a time chart with days and times down one side and events from the story written in against them C Create a character adjective grid: characters from the story down one side and adjectives across the top. Tick which adjective applies to which character. D Guess which characters are being described from clues - eg clothes, possessions E Match characters and descriptions F Putting events in the right order G On what page are these events/people/things? H Clocks: what happens at these times? I Join sentences describing events and days J Put the characters in order of appearance/importance K Make lists of adjectives to describe characters

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L Who is this person? Draw the face in the empty bubble surrounded by statements and quotations N Draw the story O Make a collage telling the story P Use copies of the pictures from the book to tell the story Q Choose ten important (significant) words from the story Recording A Keep a reading diary showing your reactions as you read B Make a wall chart showing who has read which books with prizes (sweets or stars) for those who have read ten/ twenty/ thirty etc. C A railway train on the class wall with books each student has read written on to the coaches or a ladder D Bubbles: my thoughts about the book E Recommendations: if you liked this you’ll like... F Find someone who liked X/ didn’t like Y/ has read two books by the same author/ has read 6 thrillers/ likes science fiction etc. G In-book opinion forms: a slip of paper on which students write a grade for the book (1-5) and a one-sentence comment anonymously. H A reading fair at the end of term where students display posters they have made to persuade other students to read their favourite books. TASK: Following a News Story in the Media It is important that students know that they only need to follow the story for a few days, i.e. 3-4. When selecting a story, encourage candidates to select one which will generate hopefully more than one item in the news, i.e. it will either run for a few days and/ or will be reported by various newspapers and media. This is important because it means the candidates will have a rich resource to draw on for their story. Students can select articles, pictures, photographs, text and their own notes to record in their logbooks. We recommend using the Internet sites if possible – there is a list given at the end of this that students may like to try out and possibly select from. Ask students to bring in printouts, cut out stories, graphics of story into class. They may access information on the same story from a variety of sources or if not, just one source is fine. Suggestions for pre-selection activities: 1A Cut out a selection of headlines from news stories. Students select a headline of a story they know about/ would like to know more about. 1B Students highlight the key words in their headline. In pairs, students compare headlines and discuss what each article may be about. 1C Put the articles with missing headlines on a table. Using the key words as clues, students try to find the article to match their headline. 1D In pairs, students skim the headlines and articles and decide whether the selection was correct. If not, the article is put back on the table and the student reselects (they may have to wait for another pair to give back an article). 1E Put up the different types of story, i.e. comic, tragedy, political, human interest etc and students decide which category their story best fits into. 1F Students discuss what type of stories they most like reading/ hearing in the media and why. Rationale: to activate interest in news stories and how to get the main idea from the text using key clues. 2A Cut out a selection of headlines, articles and photographs illustrating each one. Put the photographs on a table. In pairs, students select a photograph, which interests them. 2B Students brainstorm possible stories that may be being illustrated by the photograph. Students use dictionaries and list useful vocabulary related to or useful for describing the photograph. 2C In pairs, students select which of the headlines may match their story. Each pair puts a news report together using their headline and photo.

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2D Put two pairs together to make a group of four. Each pair tells the other pair their story. The pair listening then asks questions about the report they have listened to (this could also be done as a class activity). The pair giving the report is required to answer. Option: distribute the matching article to each pair. They skim it and compare their news report to the written report. Rationale: to practise predicting text from clues, giving oral reports and asking questions. Suggestions for pre-reading/ listening activities: 2A Students select a news story. 2B Students can fill in a pro forma about their story in note form e.g.: TITLE: PEOPLE INVOLVED: TYPE OF STORY: CAUSE: OUTCOME: YOUR RESPONSE: 2C These can be used as the catalyst for some pairwork discussion, or for some writing activities - perhaps matching cause and outcome etc. Rationale: to direct the students to thinking, talking and writing about their own and others' news stories in a structured and participative way. Suggestions for post reading/ listening activities: See the suggestions for post activities for reading a book. Some of these may be adapted to suit this task. Useful source websites for TIE: General: - www.nationalgeographic.com - www.anthings.org/proverbs - www.yahoo.com/recreation/travel - www.thestoryteller.org - www.historychannel.com - www.howstuffworks.com - www.letssingit.com - www.biography.com - www.lyrics.com - www.film.com - www.hollywood.com - www.festivals.com - www.teachit.co.uk Re -

the media news task: www.newspapers.com www.newsdirectory.com www.guardianunlimited.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk www.yahooligans.com/content/news/ (especially for young students) http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/ (especially for young students) http://edition.cnn.com

Specially designed, as you may already know, is: http://www.onestopenglish.com/News/Magazine/News/news.htm Onestopenglish (Macmillan) with the Guardian Weekly bring you ready-made lessons each week. Based on an article from the Guardian Weekly these lessons come in 3 ready-made levels. Lessons normally feature a 'Before you read' activity; comprehension questions, a vocabulary focus, a grammar focus and some follow-up discussion.

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http://lc.byuh.edu/CNN-N/CNN-N.html This site links you to the CNN Student News. This is a 30-minute programme, which is broadcast Monday-Friday at 04.30AM Eastern Time (USA) on the regular CNN channel. It is free of charge to schools etc and here you will find activities to do that are connected to the programmes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/index.shtml The BBC World Service has a section called Learning English. Here one section is totally devoted to the news. The site is divided into 3 parts: Words in the News; Try this week and News in Britain. (for the 3 specially designed sites above, the information has been taken from an IATEFL Issues article by Adrian Tennant) Don’t forget to look on the main publishers’ websites (given below) for worksheets; graded readers sites; learner dictionary sites and much more! - Cambridge University Press – www.cambridge.org/elt - Macmillan – www.macmillan.com - Oxford University Press – www.oup.com/elt - Pearson Education (Longman, Penguin Longman Readers) – [email protected] - Thomson Heinle – www.elt.thomson.com - Express Publishing – www.expresspublishing.gr - Scholastic ELT Readers – www.scholasticeltreaders.com

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MY TIE LOGBOOK

INVESTIGATION:

My favourite place in Dublin

NEWS STORY:

Obama sworn in as President

BOOK:

……………………………..

PRESENTED BY:

……………………….

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INVESTIGATION: My Favourite Place in Dublin The National Gallery of Ireland I am very interested in Art and Art History. When I was in Dublin we visited the National Art Gallery. As you can see from the picture it is a very old building and very beautiful (shows first picture and goes through some of the information) It is in the same part of Dublin as the National Museum and the Houses of Parliament. When we visited we had a guided tour and it was very interesting even if I couldn’t understand everything! Here I have pictures of my three favourite exhibits (shows second set of pictures and goes through each one) I would really recommend a visit to the National Gallery!

The National Gallery of Ireland

• The National Gallery houses some 3,000 paintings, and approximately 10,000 other works in different media including watercolours, drawings, prints and sculptures. • The Gallery first opened its doors in January 1864. • Every major European School of Painting is extensively represented in the National Gallery.

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• The National Gallery has recently been renovated. On 21st January 2002, the impressive Millennium Wing of the Gallery was opened. Here are three of my favourite works from the gallery:

Roderic O’Conor(1860-1940)

School of Madrid

Francois-Marie (1736-1797)

La Rose du Ciel, Cassis, c. 1913

Portrait of a Spanish

Adonis, 1784

Noblewoman, c.1620

I chose works from three different periods and they are very different. The first is a landscape from 1913……….. The second is a portrait from about 1620…………….. The third is a sculpture from 1784…………………..

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News Story Barack Obama sworn in as the 44th American President Media sources: cnn.com, 21/01/2009 New York Times, 22/01/2009 Bbcnews.com, 21/01/2009 On 21 January Barack Obama was sworn as the 44th American President. Barack and Michelle Obama left the Capitol and attended the inaugural parade through Washington. 2.000.000 people from all over the United States attended the ceremony. The president and the first lady walked along Pennsylvania Avenue waving at the crowds who cheered with enthusiasm. The parade made its way to the White House. Security was tight during the whole day. The Obamas attended all 8 Galas and Balls in the evening.

*(Candidates can add photographs of their own choice)

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Gnosis Assessment

Διεθνείς Εξεταστικές Υπηρεσίες Κηφισίας 166 Α & Σοφοκλέους 2, 15126, Μαρούσι, Αθήνα Γραφεία εξυπηρέτησης: Κοζάνη, Λαρίσης & Παπατσώνη, 50100 Νάουσα, Δημαρχίας 13, 59200 Τηλ 801 11 22231, fax 801 11 22231 www.tieexams.gr [email protected]

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