PET Practice

Dear students,

It's practice time!!!! today you will practice for the PET (Preliminary English Test). Here are the links you will be working on:

Reading:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading1.htm
http://www.examenglish.com/PET/reading1.htm
http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading2.htm

Listening:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part1.htm
http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part2.htm

Vocabulary:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_vocab.htm

And some more:

Reading:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading3.htm
http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading4.html
http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading_part5.htm

Listening:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part3.htm
https://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part4.htm

Vocabulary:

http://www.examenglish.com/vocabulary/B1_vocabulary_topics.htm

Blog Session 7: Free Themed Blog

When I was applying to enter university I had many difficulties in deciding what to study, my teachers knew it was going to be a problem because I was a "good student", I did well in almost everything, and that was a problem, because I didn’t know what I wanted. However, one of my dreams was to become an actress, I did some acting in school when I was very little and everyone said I was good at it, so I told my father I wanted to study acting, he wasn’t very happy with the idea. He told me that I could study acting only if I entered Universidad de Chile, because he wouldn’t pay for anything else. So, I tried to enter, I had to do some acting tests, and when I got there, I realized that everyone had been acting all their lives, and for me it was just a distant dream. Of course, I didn’t get it, I was a nobody in the area.

The funny thing is that I entered my second option, which was translation, and my third option was English pedagogy, which turned out to be my professional career. I remember that I left it as a third option because my dad didn’t want me to be a teacher, but the joke is on him. I like teaching, being in the classroom with students is fun and it keeps me young, I also translate sometimes at home, I have one client, but I always think that entering an acting workshop would be fun.

_____________
Write about one of the following options:

What would you have studied if you weren’t studying your major?

-        - Write about your second option of major

-        - What it was

-        - Why you wanted to study that

-        - If you regret your decision

-        - Any other relevant information

Who’s your favorite scientist?

-        - Write about your favorite scientist

-        - Who it is or was

-        - Why this person is important

-        - Why you admire this person

-        - Any other information that is relevant

Word count: 230 words

Comment on 3 of your classmates’ blogs + 1 comment on your teacher’s blog

Blog Session 6: Postgraduate studies

Well, as some of you know I already have a Master’s degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages), which I got two years ago, and even though it is very difficult to get a Master’s degree I have considered getting a new one or even a PhD.

The thing is that I really like studying, I wasn’t a very good student at school, I mean, I didn’t kill myself studying, but when I find something interesting I read a lot about that topic to discuss it with my friends and teachers. I like studying because I like learning new things and challenging myself.

I’m not sure about what I would study, because I have many options, maybe I could continue with something related to teaching English, like a PhD on Education, or perhaps I could broaden my knowledge and take the leap to study linguistics in English, since I already learned it in Spanish, or perhaps something related to American or British culture, because I love that topic too. The options are many, the thing that holds me back though is money, it is very expensive to study, especially if I want to do it abroad, which is my goal. I could study online, but I would love to live abroad and live the complete experience in a different country.

____________________

Write about a postgraduate course that you would consider taking in the future. Include:

-        Reasons to do the course

-        Subject (s) you would like to study

-        Where you would like to study (Chile or abroad)

-        How you would like to study (distance learning, blended system, part-time course, etc)

-        Any other relevant ideas

Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on your teacher’s post

Word count: 220 words

Blog Session 5: My future Job

As some of you know, my first major was translation, when I thought about studying this I imagined a glamorous life of traveling around the world, going to conferences and interpreting for important people. However, the reality was far from my imagination. The real job of a translator is to translate written texts, the interpreters translate orally and you have to study a different major for that. The real life of a translator is being at home working non-stop on the computer with zero free time when you have work to do, and the rest of the time is finding work to do.

The life of a teacher is a bit different. I also spend some time on the computer, planning and preparing classes, but the most important part happens face to face, when I get to interact with students and have discussions with them (you) and learn from them at the same time they are learning from you. Another similarity is that I have to go and find work, not as often as a translator, but the reality is that in my case (and most university teachers) we need to look for work each semester, talking to the coordinators and finding enough classes to have the amount of money we need or want, and always remembering to have enough money to save for the summer, because we do not get a salary during those months.

What about you?

Write about your future job, include the following information:

- What kind of job would you like to have? How do you imagine it?

- Outdoors /indoors?

- Would you like to travel a lot in your job?

- What about the salary?

- What major are you studying / are you thinking of taking?    Explain why

- Add any other related ideas.

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on your teacher's post.

- Word Count: 210 words

Blog Session 4: My music

Music is really important in everyone’s life, I believe, and even though we don’t have a soundtrack of our lives like in the movies, I believe that there is a type of music or there are some songs that are really important to people.

I like a lot of different genres of music, but today I want to talk about some specific songs that are important in my life. “Fly me to the moon” by Frank Sinatra is one of my favorite songs of all time, and when I got married, a friend of mine gave me as a present dancing lessons for me and my husband, so we prepared a choreography to this song, and it was absolutely wonderful, so now when I hear this son it takes me back to that moment, my wedding.

Another song that brings me good memories is “Moves like Jagger” by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera. When I traveled

to the UK, this song was everywhere, we heard it on the radio, on TV, in the restaurants, on the street, everywhere. And even though I got bored of the song at one point, when I hear it now, I remember walking on the streets of England, being cold but enjoying every moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEPTlhBmwRg

__________________

Write about your favorite type of music or songs that are important to you. You need to include the following information:

-        What type of music you like or the name of the songs

-        Give examples of singers or bands who play that music

-        How this music/songs make you feel

-        Why you like them

Word count: 200 words

Comments: 1 teacher’s blog + 3 comments on other blogs

Blog Session 3: My favorite movie

I love the movies, since I was little I was fascinated by them, and I love almost any kind of movie, action, drama, musical, thriller, perhaps the ones that I don’t like very much are horror movies, but I still watch some of them.

It is very difficult for me to choose only one, but today I’m going to talk about “the Fifth Element”, this is an action, sci-fi movie set in the future where the planet Earth is in contact with other planets and now is threaten by an extraterrestrial force, so we can only be saved by the Fifth Element, who is a powerful woman called Leeloo, portrayed by Mila Jovovich, and an ex-military men portrayed by Bruce Willis.

I love this movie, because is funny, sad, it has action and a badass woman who knows how to fight; also, the bad guy of the movie is really bad, but at times funny, and he’s portrayed by one of my favorite actors ever, Gary Oldman.

I used to watch this movie a lot, every time that was on the cable. It is a movie from 1997, but because I believe that people can still enjoy it today.

___________

Write about your favorite movie. Include the following information:
- What is the movie
- What type of movie it is
- When it takes place
- Where it is set
- What it is about
- Who the main actors are
- Why you like it
Word Count: 180 words
Comments: 1 teacher's blog + 3 comments on other blogs

Blog Session 2: The best holidays/concert ever

I’ve been to many concerts, I love them, specially rock concerts, I’ve seen Black Sabbath, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Foo Fighters, Imagine Dragons, I also saw Queen when they came with Adam Lambert, so it’s very difficult to choose only one. However, this time I’ll choose the concert by The Killers.

The Killers is a rock band from Las Vegas, in the United States, they are very famous and have won several awards.

The concert was in the Movistar Arena, about four years ago, I had wanted to go to that concert for a very long time, but I didn’t have the money, so I thought “whatever, next time”, but on the day of the concert my husband calls me like two hours before the concert, it was a Tuesday, and he said “I won 2 tickets for The Killers, get ready”. I was so happy! The thing is that he won VIP tickets, we were so close to the stage that I could see the band very closely.

It was one of the best concerts, they sounded just like on the radio, Brandon Flowers’ voice was amazing and the concert had a bit of everything, lasers, smoke, balloons and confetti. I had the best time and I always thank my husband for it.

Holidays:

- when it was
- where they went
- how long it was
- people they went with
- things/activities they did
- why it has been the best so far
- any other relevant info

Concert:

- when / where it was
- the artist they saw
- a bit of info about the artist
- describe the atmosphere during the    event
- describe how they felt and why they  enjoyed it
- any other memories about it



>>Worcount: 170
>>Leave comments on 3 of your classmates' posts + comments on the teacher's post.