LEVEL: UPPER INTERMEDIATE
Listening
The first block (Listening) teaches students to recognize general gist, details, function, purpose, attitude, opinion, relationship, agreement or disagreement and other functions, using learning materials and tools that apply to all four parts of the FCE Listening Paper (Multiple Choice, Sentence Completion, Multiple Matching and Multiple Choice
Speaking
The second block (Speaking) prepares students for the FCE Speaking Paper. This paper consists of four parts (Interview, Long Turn, Collaborative task and Discussion), each of which focuses on different aspects of speaking, such as general interactional and social language, the organization of a larger unit of discourse, expressing and justifying opinions, suggesting, speculating, evaluating, negotiating, agreeing, disagreeing, and so on.
Use of English
This class prepares students for the four parts (Multiple choice cloze, Open Cloze, Word Formation and Key Word Transformation) featured in the FCE Use of English Paper. This block provides students with lexical and grammatical skills which not only prepares them to answer test questions on the corresponding test paper, but also enhances their structure and vocabulary knowledge which they need to successfully complete all other FCE Papers. Verb tenses and forms, prepositions, subordinate clauses, the use of gerunds and infinitives, conditionals and passive voice are some of the grammar points that will be taught in this block. The lexical component of this block will enhance the students’ knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, phrasal verbs, word changes and compounds, increasing their flexibility and resourcefulness in the use of English language.
Reading
The fourth block (Reading) teaches students to recognize main idea, detail, opinion, tone, purpose, meaning from context, text organization, reference, coherence, and other skills necessary to successfully complete the three parts of the FCE Reading Paper (Multiple Choice, Gapped Text and Multiple Matching).
Writing
Writing class prepares students for the two parts of the FCE Writing Paper (Compulsory Task and Chosen Task). The compulsory task requires students to write either a letter or an e-mail, whereas the chosen task allows students to write one of the following: an article, an essay, a report, a review or a story. The focus is on advising, apologizing, comparing, describing, expressing opinions, justifying, persuading, explaining, expressing opinions, and recommending. Both formal and informal writing styles are featured
Testing
Every Friday students will take a complete FCE mock test, which will be thoroughly reviewed and discussed with the instructor, who will point out the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate, and offer advice and additional resources to help overcome the weaknesses. Upon completion of the three-month program, each student is guaranteed a seat in our official Cambridge FCE testing facility. Students can take the course at any time, although it is strongly recommended that they start as early as possible into the three-month program, ideally starting in week one.
