Ingles Barcelona
Ingles Barcelona
Nivel Intermedio
If you want to improve your English for personal or professional reasons then you should, first of all establish your current level and fix your objectives. This can only be done by undertaking a short comprehensive test that covers the four essential linguistic disciplines: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
This test must be carried out by a qualified native teacher,
you will be required to write a few short passages about : yourself or your point of view on a particular subject. Then you will hold a short conversation, in which the questions will become gradually more difficult, the test stops when you have either difficulty understanding or responding. If you cannot find a qualified teacher then the alternative is a short computer based grammar test ,this consists of 15 questions ,if you get the first one right you go up to the next level or conversely ,if you get it wrong, you will remain on the same level ,if you get two consecutive questions wrong you will descend a level ,so that at the end of the test you will have a grade based on the European Reference of languages .There are six levels that range from beginnersA1,A2, through intermediary B1,B2, on to advanced C1,C2.If you like you can do this part of the test at home ,just click on this English TEST.
The results are then registered and you can discuss with your examiner the orientation of the course and your particular needs or goals. These results will be compared at the end of the course with those of a final exam
The course will be adapted to overcome any imbalance in your linguistic skills ,that means to say that if you have difficulty understanding native speakers but you have no particular difficulties in reading comprehension, the course will initially concentrated on bringing up to scratch your aural comprehension. The great myths about this capacity to understand is that it is either: a natural gift as with an ear for music or it can be attained by watching TV series. Besides the fact that the latter usually contain a very limited vocabulary, there is also the problem that you cannot possibly have the time to look up a word that you did not understand during the program. Of course if you watch the film several times you will benefit because you will be able to work out the meaning of the word in the context of the scene. This unfortunately never happens because nobody will see the same film three times if they already know the twist or the outcome of the film.
So how can you develop your ear and improve your listening skills, well it is very easy, it is only practise, where it is fair to say that some people learn quicker than others, everybody gets there in the end. The idea is to take a recorded text and translate the words that you do not know. These words are then recorded as is their translation into your own language and added on to the end of the text. You then listen to this recording as often as you need to. You will find that this is extremely helpful, this kind of exercise is to be found in most language audio courses but very few use it correctly. Why because not only do you need to recognise the spoken word in the context of the text but you need to be able to pronounce it perfectly. This is achieved by repetition of the text that is then corrected by your personal tutor. If you cannot attend the course at ingles Barcelona and would like to attain some of the course material free please contact us through the email.
The speaking skills are developed by talking about the text you have listened to thus helping you to remember the new vocabulary and grammar points. Once again the difficulty of the questions is based on your personal level, a rough guide line is that for beginners the questions are of a straight forward nature, they refer to some aspect of the text and the construction of the response can be made from the question ,leaving only the compliment to be added .The intermediate level ,which is based on harder texts ,consists of the student having to describe the text using the vocabulary that he has learnt during the listening. The advanced level consists of the student arguing his or hers point of view on the text in order to convince the teacher. The teacher’s role is to keep the conversation fluid but to note the grammar or pronunciation faults and correct them.
If you are unable to attend the courses you can do the lessons via Skype from any time between 9.30 to 21.30 gmt (Greenwich mean time) + 1hr. I hope this article has been of some use to you and if you would like more general information or about toefl or other official exams please do not hesitate to contact me on peterwroter@gmail.com
