Activities for English: Outside of the Classroom by Sean Harper

Listening to Podcasts (UK English)

seanharpereo — 2024-04-25 10:44:35 UTC

BBC Sounds: 100's of podcasts on different subjects and at various lengths. Free from advertisements.

Listening to Podcasts - U.S. news

seanharpereo — 2024-04-25 10:49:34 UTC

New York Times podcasts - 20-minute news items with transcript. Free from advertisements

Listening to Experts Present Various Topics

seanharpereo — 2024-04-25 10:56:32 UTC

Ted Talks: professionals give thoughts, opinions and solutions on every issue under the sun. Also includes transcripts.

Extra Practice Exercises with Advanced Grammar and Vocabulary (book 1)

seanharpereo — 2024-04-25 10:59:59 UTC

Self-Study book with answer key

Extra Practice Exercises with Advanced Grammar and Vocabulary (book 2)

seanharpereo — 2024-04-25 11:05:57 UTC

Extra Practice with Grammar and Vocabulary at C1 level

Actively using new phrasal verbs and idioms

seanharpereo — 2024-04-26 12:54:54 UTC

Write down new expressions you come across in class, from the course book, when watching films, reading books, articles, etc. Then select and try to incorporate at least 5 new phrases in your active English (e.g. speaking or writing) every week.

Spoken English: Being able to react naturally, gaining confidence and expressing yourself in the way you want.

seanharpereo — 2024-04-26 13:07:51 UTC

Accept that it takes time to express yourself fully in another language. One way to practise outside of class is to repeat conversations you've had in your native language in your head in English. If you can't find the right vocabulary, think of how your can paraphrase it. This practice will enable you to think in English and develop the skill of paraphrasing. It will also expose areas of language you need to work on.

CAE writing tasks - do them

seanharpereo — 2024-04-26 16:17:51 UTC

Regularly do writing tasks and submit them. You'll get valuable feedback and it's a great way to improve other skills, such as use of grammar, vocabulary and organising your ideas.

Improving writing skills in general: writing some passages in a journal

seanharpereo — 2024-04-26 16:24:17 UTC

Write a paragraph each week about a theme or a topic. It could be anything from your opinion on an issue to a personal anecdote. Revisit the passage later and check for grammar errors or ways to improve it. This is a good way to get into the habit of writing and it's also a tool to practise and actively use grammar and vocabulary.

Improving writing skills - posting on social media

seanharpereo — 2024-04-26 16:28:43 UTC

Write reviews, comments and personal anecdotes on appropriate sites in social media (e.g. comments on YouTube videos, reviews on Trip Advisor, etc). This will also improve your reading skills as you'll often be responding to other users. Don't worry if the English isn't perfect - most other comments will have mistake too. The main thing is to use English as a medium of communication and perhaps try out new vocabulary.

Writing for CAE - Reading other sample questions and answers.

seanharpereo — 2024-04-26 16:32:38 UTC

Before you write a task, it's a good idea to review other examples first. There's a writing section in the course book at the back with clear examples. Your can also browse this attachment for real answers to tasks and examiners comments using the assessment criteria. This will help you to become familiar with each writing type and how the writing will be assessed.

Getting to know writing for CAE - reading your classmates' work

seanharpereo — 2024-04-26 16:42:56 UTC

Read some of the previous writing tasks your classmates have submitted already (and my feedback below). You'll see the writing doesn't have to be perfect in order to do well in the exam :)

Read about Prague news and cultural events in English

seanharpereo — 2024-04-27 11:09:14 UTC

There are always interesting articles here and reading them will also help to expand your range of vocabulary.

Learning and acquiring new vocabulary: Use Chat GPT

seanharpereo — 2024-04-27 11:14:54 UTC

Using Chat GPT can be a quick way to learn vocabulary. Ask it to provide vocabulary on a certain subject and provide example sentences for context. Try to use a few of the expressions actively (e.g. 5 new phrases a week). Click on the link for an example.

Find foreigners or expat groups with which to practise English

seanharpereo — 2024-04-27 11:27:20 UTC

This could be either be in a discussion forum online or face-to-face. Ideally, select groups around your area of interest (e.g. book clubs) - there are many Prague-based groups on facebook, for example. I've put a link to one of them, which I highly recommend (based on personal experience). This will give you more opportunities to use English with other native and non-native speakers in a natural setting, and gain more confidence in speaking.

Watching short global news items in English

seanharpereo — 2024-04-27 19:11:00 UTC

If you're interested in news and global issues, then CNN, Channel 4 and many more TV channels have a presence on YouTube. My favourite is DW (click on the above). It's the German equivalent to the BBC, but this channel has an English-speaking version where they mainly use British presenters. The topics on offer are also much broader than their U.S. / U.K. counterparts. It's a great way to get used to different accents.

Writing - summarising short articles in your own words

seanharpereo — 2024-05-04 11:24:31 UTC

Doing this will not only practise your writing skills, but also help with acquiring new vocabulary, using synonyms and using different grammatical structures