Blog
'target culture(s)'? Free
I have been busy analysing and marking samples of the new SL Oral Individual Interview. This is in preparation for a suite of pages to be published shortly, illustrating the range of performances and...
Blog
Of blobs and difficulty Free
Writing a sample Listening exam (see the page Listening exam #1 ) has made me think about the ways ‘difficulty’ is structured and assessed in exams. For seven years, I had the job of writing Texthandling...
Assessment
Scaffolding skills for the HL Oral
...Laurie Holden teaches English at Strothoff International School, Dreieich . As David Ripley outlines on the recent page titled ‘Orals: what's expected?’: “What exactly will be involved in the new...
Assessment
Scaffolding skills for the SL Oral
. ...Laurie Holden teaches English at Strothoff International School, Dreieich As David Ripley outlines on the recent page titled ‘Orals: what's expected?’: “What exactly will be involved in the new...
Blog
Fashion & trend Free
The OUP Word of the Year award has been announced - and it's 'toxic'. It's a curious procedure, this 'Best of the Year' idea: why do we think it's worthwhile to nominate a Film of the Year, or a Van of...
Blog
Nowt s'queer as folk Free
When I was growing up in Yorkshire, the phrase above (Eng.trans: 'There is nothing so strange as people') was a commonplace, used as a coda to any tale of bizarre human behaviour. This bit of pithy wisdom...
Literature
The Handmaid's Tale Free
The empty vessel… Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is a unique, eye-opening narrative that chronicles the story of an future dystopian society where fertility rates amongst women have plummeted,...
Blog
Howards End revisited Free
I have just re-read E.M. Forster’s Howards End. I first read it at university, as part of the Cambridge LitCrit production line of 2/3 novels per week + critical background + essay + tutorial, and it...
Blog
The wit of Bojo Free
I find Boris Johnson fascinating ... well, make that ‘appallingly fascinating’, to be more precise. As an example of great intelligence and great charm, combined with an enormous ego and ruthless manipulative...
Activities
Cohesives & referencing
Back and forward referencing (anaphora and cataphora - what beautiful words!) are tricky techniques for anyone to master, let alone young learners of a foreign language. Native speakers create confusion...