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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Master LEA December classroom test

I have started marking your classroom tests. About half the students are quite a long way below a master's level in English. It is very important that you listen a lot to BBC radio ( on any subject which interests you) and that you read newspapers. Try setting the homepage on your computer to yahoo.co.uk.

If you read and listen, your vocabulary and comprehension will improve. Your grammar, however, will not improve automatically. Be honest : how many students have not opened their grammar book all year? Read two pages of your grammar book every morning, that's what the doctor says.

More specifically on the classroom test:

1) contractions are obligatory in spoken English, except in very formal circumstances. You should not use contractions in writing, except in very informal circumstances (emails to friends, for example). No contractions, then, in university written work.

2) One sentence, in university work and often in professional work, should not be a paragraph by itself.

3) When you give in your script at the end of the test, do not give in the subject, too. This gives the impression that you are still in high school and completely uninterested in knowing the answers to the questions.

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