MONÓLOGOS C1 ESCUELA OFICIAL DE IDIOMAS

A continuación tenemos los contenidos marcados para el exámen C1 de Escuela Oficial de Idiomas:

1. Identidad personal: dimensión física y anímica.
2. Vivienda, hogar y entorno.
3. Alimentación. Salud y cuidados físicos.
4. Relaciones personales y sociales.
5. Trabajo y actividades profesionales.
6. Educación y actividades académicas.
7. Ocio. Viajes, alojamiento y transporte.
8. Compras y actividades comerciales.
9. Bienes y servicios.
10. Economía e industria.
11. Gobierno, política y sociedad. Información y medios de comunicación.
12. Cultura y actividades artísticas.
13. Religión y filosofía. Geografía, naturaleza y medio ambiente.
14. Ciencia y tecnología.   

Para ir seguros al examen sería interesante que os preparaseis diferentes monólogos de los topics.

A continuación os dejo un modelo de examen con la información necesaria para prepararlo:

ESQUEMA DE UN MÓNOLÓGO

Para la parte oral disponemos de 10 minutos de preparación, tiempo en el que debemos estructurar el monólogo y el diálogo.

El monólogo debe constar de, al menos las siguientes partes:

• INTRODUCCIÓN que consiste en enumerar los temas que vamos a desarrollar en el monólogo. 

• DESARROLLO en el que desarrollaremos las dos, tres o cuatro ideas mencionadas en la introducción.
• CONCLUSIÓN en la que resumiremos nuestra intervención muy brevemente, dejando clara nuestra opinión sobre el tema.

EXAMPLE

INTRODUCTION

I am going to talk about EDUCATION.

I´ve divided my monologue in three main parts.
Firstly, I am going to talk about the differences between private and state schools.
Secondly, I am going to talk about the thing I would change in our present education system and finally, I am going to talk about my experience at school.

BODYOn the one hand, private schools ...

For example...
Moreover...

On the other hand, state schools ...
For instance ...
What´s more, ...

All things considered, I would change in our present education system ... because...

Furthermore,my experience at school was...

CONCLUSIONTo sum up, ...

MORE CONNECTORS

To state personal opinion:

 In my opinion, My opinion is , In my view, From my point of view, (Personally) I believe /think , I feel very strongly that, It seems /appears to me that, As far as I am concerned, The way I see it, As I see it, To my mind, I totally agree/disagree with you, I am totally against/in favour of/for…

To show attitude:

Strictly speaking (hablando con propiedad), Broadly speaking (en términos generales), Generally speaking, In general, Roughly speaking (aprox), Seriously speaking, To be frank, Frankly speaking, To be honest, Honestly, To be precise, Precisely, Admittedly, Understandably, To my surprise, Surprisingly, Personally (speaking), Naturally, Confidentially, Surely, Undoubtedly, Obviously, Perhaps, Maybe, Quite likely/probably, Apparently, Presumably (probablemente), (Un)Luckily,(Un)Fortunately,

To list advantages/disadvantages

 One / Another / An additional /A further / One other / One major / The main / The greatest /The first advantage of… / The first disadvantage / drawback of… The pros and cons of…

To show cause

 Because…, Due to the fact that…, Since…,/As…, For this reason, This is (the reason) why…, Therefore,

 To show purpose 

…to…, … so that…, … so as to / in order to…

To add more points. To show sequence. To conclude:

BEGINNING:
First(ly), First of all, In the first place, To start/begin with, 
CONTINUING:
 Secondly, After this/that, Then, Next, Thirdly, Moreover, Furthermore, What is more, Even more, Besides, Also, Apart from this, In addition to this, Additionally, In this way, Or rather (o mejor dicho), Better still, Worst still, As it was previously stated, too/as well.
CONCLUDING:
Finally, Lastly, Last but not least, All in all, Taking everything into account, On the whole, All things considered, In view of this, In all eventualities (en cualquier caso), Anyway, At any rate (en cualquier caso), After all, In conclusion, To sum up, To summarise, As a summary,

To give examples and to explain 

For example, For instance, eg., …such as…, …like…, In particular, especially, above all, particularly, Likewise, ie., That is to say, In other words, Namely, Indeed, In fact, As a matter of fact, Actually (de hecho),

To show contrast 

However, Yet, Nevertheless, Nonetheless, But…, Although…, Even though…, In spite of (-ing, the fact that)…, Despite (-ing, the fact that), On the contrary, Otherwise, Meanwhile, On the one hand,…on the other hand, On the positive side,…On the negative side,

To show consequence/result

 Therefore, So, Consequently, As a consequence, As a result, For this reason, Thus (así), This/That is why…, Because of this, In view of this, Finally, Lastly, Last but not least, All in all, Taking everything into account, On the whole, All things considered, In view of this, In all eventualities (en cualquier caso), Anyway, At any rate (en cualquier caso), After all, In conclusion, To sum up, To summarise, As a summary,

A CONTINUACIÓN, TENÉIS DIFERENTES ACTIVIDADES QUE OS DARÁN INFORMACIÓN Y REPASO DE VOCABULARIO ESPECIFÍCO PARA PODER ELABORAR EL MONÓLOGO.

Readings con información imprescindible para elaborar el monólogo:

READING 1:

Enlace para el siguiente reading.

What are some Alternative Punishments to Prison?

When considering the state of modern prisons in America, it’s easy to start thinking about alternative punishments for several reasons. In August 2013, The Washington Post reported that the United States prison population topped 2.4 million, and it cost about $21,000 per year to house a federal inmate at a minimum-security prison. At that time, federal prison costs were expected to take up about 30 percent of the Justice Department’s total budget by 2020. Housing criminals is expensive, time-consuming and arguably ineffective in the long run. Not every person who commits a crime needs to spend a decade or more locked away without recourse, and today’s prison systems are overcrowded at best in most areas. Is there a better way to deal with criminal activity?

Traditional Alternatives to Prison

Traditional punishment alternatives include restitution, in which responsible parties pay for damages caused by their actions; community service, in which a debt to society is paid through public works like picking up trash from the side of the road; and mental health counseling or rehabilitation, in which criminal offenders receive help in an attempt to reduce their desire to commit crimes. These and other similar methods work sometimes, but studies consistently show that most criminals continue to commit crimes once they leave prison. In fact, some prison inmates continue to commit crimes behind bars.

Education and preventive measures may be the answer. Some cities host youth prevention programs, which can reduce the likelihood that teens who commit juvenile crimes end up in adult prisons later in life. At the adult level, church ministries and other educational programs may help inmates understand the implications of their crimes so that they avoid them in the future. Offering inmates a way out and opportunities to stay on track could work to lower the crime rate. Additionally, reduced sentencing for minor offenses might mitigate the problem with today’s prison system. Punishments should fit the crime, but enthusiastic prosecutors combined with emotionally-charged situations can lead to excessive sentencing for first-time offenders.

Creative Problem-Solving

Traditional alternatives aren’t the only option when it comes to rethinking the prison system in America. One of the earliest forms of punishment actually serves as a creative alternative to traditional sentencing, rehabilitation and other methods for correcting criminal behavior: public shaming. According to Lawyers.com, the idea behind public shaming is “to teach wrongdoers a lesson through embarrassment or humiliation.” Back in the old days, wrongdoers were locked up in town stocks in the center of the village so that everyone could see and acknowledge the criminal and his crime.

Today, the stocks have been replaced with creative problem-solving. For example, a judge in Massachusetts forced a polluting riverboat company to advertise their crime in the paper. Public shaming is usually reserved for businesses because it has the biggest impact; assigning humiliating tasks and hefty fines to large corporations has the twofold effect of correcting the criminal behavior and warning others against similar actions.

There’s no clear answer for why some alternatives to prison work and why others fail. However, attempting to reduce the prison population not only benefits taxpayers, but it also helps people behind bars learn from their mistakes and move forward to become better members of society. Alternative punishments offer a win-win solution to the problem of expensive and overcrowded correctional facilities.

READING 2

Enlace para el siguiente reading.

You probably wouldn’t think of the legal system as a creative place.  Judges, however, have been handing out more unusual sentences these past few years. Such punishments have ranged from ordering a man to buy his wife flowers to forcing a young person to wear a sign outside a store he had stolen from. The latest case in this growing trend comes from Judge Scott Johansen, who allowed a mother to cut off her daughter’s ponytail in his courtroom in exchange for a lighter community service sentence for the thirteen year old.

The incident began when the daughter and a friend met a 3 year old toddler at a local McDonalds in Utah. The older girls then went out, purchased some scissors and then returned to forcibly cut the toddler’s ponytail off. The toddler’s mother, Mindy Moss, brought suit against the girls, who each received a sentence of thirty days in juvenile detention and two-hundred and seventy-six hours of community service. Judge Johansen then offered to lower the community service to one-hundred and fifty hours if Valerie Bruno, the thirteen year old’s mother, would use a court scissor to cut off her daughter’s ponytail in an “eye for eye” style of justice. A few days later Bruno filed a complaint over Johansen’s offer.

The case has stirred some discussion over the use of “creative” punishments to shame offenders, particularly juvenile offenders. Although the Constitution bans “cruel and unusual” punishments, most of these creative sentences handed by judges aren’t cruel. None of the punishments physically harm the offender, but they do publicly shame the person such that he or she might never do it again. In the ponytail case, the punishment emphasized to Bruno how the toddler felt at having her lock of hair forcibly cut off. Such creative sentencing may have a greater impact on defendants then a normal punishment would.

Opponents would counter that the implementation of such unusual punishments undermines the creditability of the legal system by giving the appearance of an abuse of judicial authority. Although creative sentencing like “ponytail for a ponytail” are legal, defendants may not recognize this fact and feel that the judge is singling them out for a particularly embarrassing punishment. Some criminals will receive regular sentences while others will not, a break from the equal protection of the law promised by the 14^th Amendment.

Since these imaginative sentences are handed out at the discretion of a judge, there aren’t many guidelines for such punishments. The defendant, even with the help of an attorney, will not be able to predict such a punishment is coming until it is announced. Although such penalties are presented as options, the courtroom is designed to enhance a judge’s prestige and authority. As Bruno stated in her complaint, defendants can easily be pressured and intimidated into agreeing with any absurd judgment.

Punishments in the criminal justice system are carried out because of two principles: retribution and rehabilitation. The former is the “eye for eye” approach which seeks to restore to the victim, or failing that, inflict an equal amount of loss on the perpetrator. Retribution also serves as a deterrent to other criminals, as the harshness of the punishment may force criminals to reconsider their actions. Rehabilitation however, seeks to educate the criminal so that he or she may understand why their actions are wrong. By doing so, criminals may become productive citizens again. Applying “normal” punishments like juvenile detention to every case may not yield the results of either philosophy. Designing a specific penalty for a specific crime may serve society better then throwing every rule breaker in prison.

Some equality is absent in the use of these sentences, but that loss of equality is based upon the specific crime, not factors such as race, gender or religion. Furthermore, the equality lost is in the aftermath of a guilty verdict, not the procedure. As long as the defendant is given a fair trial with all due process, the sentencing, as long as it’s not cruel and unusual, can be applied in a manner which furthers society’s interests. As to the use of judicial authority to intimidate defendants into accepting these bizarre castigations, defendants could be informed of their rights before a trial, in the same way that police officers read a person’s Miranda rights before an interrogation. Although some minor adjustments may be required, creative sentencing is an excellent way to carry out the criminal justice system’s goals.

FCE MODELO DE EXAMEN

Cambridge tiene un nuevo modelo de examen de FCE.


http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/first/

MODELO DE EXAMEN FCE FOR SCHOOLS

A continuación tenéis un enlace a un modelo de examen de FCE for Schools, es decir, sólo pueden presentarse a éste los menores de edad.


http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/cambridge-english-first-for-schools-handbook-2015.pdf

TALE OF TWO BRAINS

Uno de los  "topics" para el "speaking" tanto de B1 and B2 es:

Differences between men and women. 

How roles have changed for men and women?

Este divertido monólogo os inspirará para coger ideas!

CONECTORES ÚTILES PARA WRITING Y SPEAKING

WRITING AND SPEAKING FOR INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS

LINKING WORDS

• AND
• IN ADDITION, BESIDES, FURTHERMORE → Para añadir una idea a lo dicho: ADEMÁS.
• AS WELL AS: añadir ideas a otras anteriores: ASÍ COMO.
• BUT
• BECAUSE, DUE TO.
• SO, AS A RESULT: para explicar el resultado o la consecuencia de algo: ASÍ QUE.
• OR
• ON THE ONE HAND, ON THE OTHER HAND
• HOWEVER, NEVERTHELESS: SIN EMBARGO
• ALTHOUGH
• DESPITE THE FACT THAT, IN SPITE OF + NOUN or VERB in -ing, DESPITE + NOUN or VERB in -ing: A PESAR DE.

SEQUENCING

• FIRST, FIRSTLY (more formal), FIRST OF ALL: PRIMERO → para indicar el orden de situaciones, cosas o listados.
• AT FIRST → IN THE BEGINNING → cuando queremos hacer contraste:
• He called for help. No one heard him at first, but eventually one girl came to help him.
• THEN, NEXT, AFTER THAT: seguimos con la secuencia: ENTONCES, DESPUÉS.
• AS SOON AS: TAN PRONTO COMO
• BEFORE: ANTES O ANTES DE.
• AFTER: DESPUÉS DE
• LATER: MÁS TARDE.
• FINALLY, EVENTUALLY: FINALMENTE.
• AS A CONCLUSION, TO SUM UP: EN CONCLUSIÓN

SYNTAX TIPS

• Utilizaremos las oraciones de manera sencilla y construiremos por cada idea una oración sencilla.
• Utilizaremos la subordinación:
• Oraciones temporales con when y while.
• Oraciones de relativo.
• Oraciones condicionales.
• Reported Speech.
• Pasiva.
• Oraciones de finalidad con to.
• Oraciones causales: because, due to.
• Oraciones consecutivas: as a result, so.

USUAL MISTAKES

• Los sujetos no se suelen omitir.
• No se usan contracciones en escritos formales.
• Concordancia entre el sujeto y el verbo.
• Los adjetivos no tienen plural.
• Detrás de una preposición puede ir un verbo y éste irá en -ing.
• Evitar las repeticiones innecesarias.

PET EXAM

PET EXAM de Cambridge es un nivel B1.

Durante los meses de Junio y Julio podréis elegir dos convocatorias para obtener el título.

A continuación os paso enlace donde descargar dos modelos de examen con sus soluciones.


http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/preliminary/whats-in-the-exam/

SYNONYMS

Cuando estamos preparando un writing, del tipo que sea, nos damos cuenta del poco vocabulario que utilizamos o recordamos. Para ello es necesario hacernos buenos listados de sinónimos, pero además utilizarlos como chuleta en cada writing.

Aquí os paso algunas! ;)

WRITING FOR B1: A STORY

Os gusta escribir historias? Si es así, no dudéis en elegir a story en el writing de PET o EOI.

A continuación, tenéis un modelo de story con huecos, donde debéis elegir los siguientes conectores:

at the moment

desperately

especially

fortunatelly

in a panic

quickly

straight

suddenly

DAVID WOKE UP SUDDENLY AND LOOKED AT THE BEDSIDE CLOCK...

David woke up suddenly and looked at the bedside clock. It was 3.00 in the morning. "Much too early", he said to himself, and went ____________ back to sleep. He was a light sleeper when he knew he had to get up early, and today he was feeling ____________ responsible as he had the plane tickets for the football team, and they had agreed to meet at the airport at 7.00.

Suddenly David woke up againand looked at the bedside clock. It still sail 3.00. He ws just falling asleep when he noticed that sunlight was coming in through the curtain. "oh, no!" David thought, ____________ looking for his watch on the table. It said 7.00.

____________ the phone started to ring. "What happened to you?" a voice asked. "It´s 7.05. The planes leaves at 7.45". "I´ll be there as soon as I can", David promised. ____________, he put on the first clothes he could find, picled up his bag, which ____________ he´d packed the night before, ____________ took his car keys and ran out of the door...

David woke up ____________ and looked at the bedside clock. It was 3.00 in the morning. A nurse come over. "Where am I?" said David. "You´re in hospital, you´ve had a car accident... driving too fast, I´m afraid. Where you trying to catch a plane?

Para escribir una historia debéis pensar en el argumento previamente. Tratad de dividir la historia en tres partes:

• En el primer párrafo localizad la escena y describid la situación y los personajes.
• En el segundo párrafo contad dos o tres sucesos para que la historia tenga interés.
• En la conclusión contad cómo termina la historia y sus personajes.

A continuación escribid una historia que comience:

"When Andrea saw the car parked outside her house, her heart started beating faster..."

A " FOR AND AGAINST" COMPOSITION

Una opción para la Task 2 del Writing de B1 para EOI, puede ser una redacción sobre las ventajas y desventajas cualquiera de los temas especificados para este nivel.

Para los que estáis preparando Selectivo puede seros muy útil dominar este tipo de redacciones.

Os paso un modelo en el cual sólo debéis completar correctamente los huecos con los conectores siguientes:

as a result

besides

however

for example

in conclusion

the main advantage

on the other hand

what is more

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF BEING FAMOUS?

Nowadays the magazines that sell the most are ones like Hello magazine, which tell us about the lives of famous people. It seems that everybody is interested in them, and that most people would really like to be famous. ________________ there are advantages and disadvantages.

_______________ of being famous is probably the lifestyle it gives you. Most famous people are very rich and can afford big houses with swimming pools, and expensive cars.  _____________, they spend a lot of time travelling, visiting different countries, and staying in luxurious hotels.

_____________, there are disadvantages. Every time famous people go out they are surrounded by fans and photographers. _____________, it is very difficult for them to have a normal private life. ______________, they often can´t spend much time at home as they have to travel so much, _______________ if they are making a film or doing a concert tour.

_____________________, I think it is probably easier to be happy if you are not famous, in spite of all the money famous people have.

Para escribir una buena redacción de "for and against":

• Escribe cuatro párrafos: introducción, puntos a favor, puntos en contra y una conclusión.
• Utilizad lenguaje formal, sin contracciones o expresiones coloquiales.
• Haced una lista de pros y contras antes de empezar la redacción.
• Ofreced siempre razones y ejemplos a vuestras ideas.
• Utilizad los conectores apropiados para enlazar párrafos y oraciones.

Por último, lanzaos a escribir la siguiente redacción, utilizando como ejemplo la anterior:

Write a "for & against" composition. The title is:

"What are the advantages and disadvantages of the public health service in your country?"

PET READING AND WRITING EXAM

PET o Preliminary English Test  es un título de nivel intermedio o B1 de Cambridge.

Aquí os dejo un enlace para la parte de Reading & Writing.


http://www.consolacioncaravaca.es/ProgramaBeda/data/docs/PET/PET_READWRITE.pdf


Y sus soluciones:

http://www.consolacioncaravaca.es/ProgramaBeda/data/docs/PET/PET_ANSWERKEY.pdf

Recordad que el tiempo disponible es una hora y media!!!

WRITING FOR B1 APPLYING FOR A JOB

Un ejemplo de "Writing  for B1" para la Escuela Oficial de Idiomas o para PET sería el siguiente:

You saw this advertisement in a local newspaper and have decided to apply for the job.

St. George´s Primary School is looking for a young, energetic and experienced schoolteacher to join us in September. Must be a good organiser and keen on sports.

Please apply in writing to Mrs Hunter, giving details of qualifications, skills and previous experience and saying why you think you are suitable for the job. Closing date 12th May.

"Applying for the job" significa que debemos escribir una "Letter of Application" o carta de presentación.

Aquí tenéis un ejemplo de respuesta. Recordad que se trata de lenguaje formal! 

Dear Mrs Hunter,

With reference to your advertisement in Thursday´s edition of the Daily Star, I am interested in applying for the posotion of primary school teacher.

I m 28 years old and currently teaching in Margate. I have a BSc degree awarded by Glasgow University in 2007. I completed my certificate in Education at Preston Teacher Training College in 2008.

I have been working for Margate Education Department since 2009. During this time, I have enjoyed teaching a variety of subjects, including English and General Science.

I consider myself to be punctual, hard-working and fair. I enjoy working with children and have good organisational skills.

I enclose a reference from my present employer. I would be grateful if you would consider my application.I am available for interview any weekday morning. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Andrea Walker

Andrea Walker

LETTER OF APPLICATION FOR FCE

En Paper 2, Part 1, podrán pediros que escribáis una "letter of application for a job, scholarchip, or grant".

Aquí os dejo la posible pregunta de examen y su posible respuesta. ;)