Aptis for Teachers 1 con Consejos y Respuestas B2

Aptis for Teachers Speaking 1: Consejos y Respuestas B2

Este es el guión del vídeo.  El nivel es B2.

Part 1

Tell me about your favourite teacher.

Piensa en lo que hacía especial a ese profesor y explica por qué te gustaba. Di cómo te hizo sentir. Intenta utilizar una variedad de estructuras y vocabulario. Aquí tienes algunas ideas para empezar:

• The best teacher I’ve ever had was … (my English teacher).  She loved her job, and she’d always try to get the best out of her students
• What I liked about her was … (her enthusiasm for her subject, how approachable she was, the way she made lessons fun …)
• She made me feel … (like my opinions mattered, that I could do well in class, that I wanted to study and pass my exams …)

What kind of lessons do students like?

No todos los estudiantes son iguales, así que considera diferentes grupos. Piensa en tus propias clases o en tu experiencia como estudiante. Intenta incluir vocabulario específico de las clases.  Por ejemplo:

• Well, it depends on … (the age-group, how motivated the students are, whether they need to pass an exam …)
• My own students love … (being active in class, learning through doing, having fun while studying, doing interactive exercises using technology, playing games …)
• In general, I’d say what they like most is … (having a good variety of activities, working in pairs and groups with their friends as well as individually …)

Please tell me about your first experience of teaching

Si aún no has dado clases, habla de tu experiencia como profesor en prácticas. Intenta incluir una serie de tiempos verbales, así como expresiones y vocabulario relacionados con la educación. Por ejemplo:

• I’ll never forget my first experience. It was with … (young learners, children, teenagers, adults … in a nursery/infants/primary/secondary school, college …)
• I had to give a class on … (maths, PE, science etc … ), and I’d prepared every detail of my lesson plan …
• There was one particular moment when … (I went completely blank, the technology wouldn’t work, I went bright red, the students started talking …)

Part 2

Describe this picture.

Tienes que describir a las personas, lo que están haciendo, lo que llevan puesto (si es útil; por ejemplo, podría decirte algo sobre el tiempo), pero lo más importante (sobre todo en B2+) es especular sobre dónde están y cómo se sienten. Da razones que apoyen tus ideas. Céntrate en el lenguaje útil de la especulación y la deducción. En esta parte te damos ejemplos de respuestas B2.

This is a children’s classroom. It looks as though it’s in an Asian country – it could be Japan – because all the children have black hair. They look about four or five years old, and they seem happy. They’re wearing school overalls, and they’re dancing, or maybe playing a game. The teacher looks European, so it’s probably a language school. In the background some women – maybe the mothers – are filming the activity, so it might be an end-of-course show.

How are foreign languages normally taught in your country?

Esta es su oportunidad de utilizar mucho vocabulario para la enseñanza de idiomas. Intenta incluir también algunas formas pasivas.

Language classes in Spain follow quite a modern methodology now. There used to be more grammar and writing than speaking and listening, but nowadays there’s a lot of emphasis on communication and teachers aren’t so worried about students making mistakes. Younger learners are often taught through songs and games, and technology is used a lot with older children and teenagers. Students use tablets in class for interactive exercises.

Do you think that all students should be taught foreign languages?  Why?  Why not?

Aquí el examinador te pide tu opinión: intenta darla de varias maneras. Razona tu opinión. Intenta incluir verbos modales. Recuerda utilizar el gerundio (la forma ‘ing’ del verbo) si quieres utilizar un verbo como sujeto.

I think students ought to learn at least one foreign language, because we all travel a lot (in normal times!) and being able to communicate is so important. I know we’ve got Google Translate now, but in my opinion that’s not the same! People respond better when you try to speak their language, so we should all make more effort. I believe that studying a foreign language opens students’ minds, and language teachers must try to encourage this.

Part 3

Tell me what you see in these two pictures

Aquí el examinador te pide que compares y contrastes dos imágenes. Tienes que asegurarte de que cubres las dos fotos, así que no te pases con la primera. A menudo es mejor comparar sobre la marcha, utilizando palabras como while y whereas:

The first picture shows a very old-fashioned, formal classroom, while the second photo was taken in a modern classroom with new technology. In the first picture all the desks are in rows, and the students are separated from each other, whereas in the second the desks are pushed together in a semi-circle. In the first room the teacher’s desk is on a raised platform, while in the more informal class the teacher’s on a level with the students.

How has teaching/learning changed over time?

Asegúrate de utilizar el presente perfecto para describir los cambios. Contrasta el presente y el pasado, por ejemplo, utilizando used to or would.

Well, I’d say the biggest change has got to be the use of technology in the classroom. We used to spend hours in the library looking things up in encyclopaedias, but that’s all changed now. Most of us have instant access to all the information we need, and that’s made a real difference in teaching and learning of every subject. Students have much more autonomy now. And having multimedia classrooms gives teachers far more choice.

How do you think that classes will change in the future?

Esta pregunta te da la oportunidad de utilizar formas de futuro y condicionales, así como el lenguaje de la opinión. Aproveche esta oportunidad.

It’s often said that with all the new technology, teachers will probably disappear from the classroom.  If that happened, I think we’d lose a lot.  There’s already been a lot of online teaching because of the pandemic, but most teachers and students have really missed being at school.  I imagine there’ll be more hybrid classes in the future – a mix of face-to-face and distance learning.  But students will always want that personal touch, if you ask me.

Part 4

Aprovecha el minuto que te dan para tomar notas sobre lo que vas a decir. No intentes escribir frases completas. Divide tu papel en tres columnas, para asegurarte de que incluyes cada uno de los tres puntos. Tus respuestas no tienen que tener la misma longitud; por ejemplo, la parte sobre cómo te sentiste será probablemente la más corta. Pero debes responder a todas las preguntas, así que asegúrate de incluir algo en cada columna. (Recuerda que la foto es sólo decorativa, no la describas).

Tell me about a special occasion in your childhood.

Esta parte te da la oportunidad de utilizar una variedad de tiempos y formas narrativas (pasado simple, used to, would, past perfect, pasado perfecto).  Aquí tienes algunas ideas para empezar:

I’ll always remember the time when … (my sister was born, I got a bike for my birthday, I saw the sea for the first time, I was in the school play, I got my first pet …)

I must have been about four years old …

The most memorable occasion was when …

I remember spending hours playing with my friends …

We would meet every day/play in the park …

How did you feel about it?

Intenta incluir adjetivos y expresiones imaginativas y coloridas:

I’d never felt so excited/surprised/delighted! I was over the moon! I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was the best day of my life! I thought I was the luckiest child alive!

Do you think children have enough time to play?

Intenta utilizar esta vez diferentes formas de dar tu opinión. Aquí tienes otro ejemplo de respuesta B2:

As I see it, children today don’t have as much free time to play as we used to have. There are so many extra-curricular activities, not to mention all the private classes so many kids have to do if they fail their exams. It makes me wonder if parents place too much importance on school, and not enough on having time to play. That could have something to do with the fact that in so many families, both parents have to work, and it’s often cheaper to enrol your children in an after-school class than to pay for a babysitter. But play is so important in a child’s development. We should all play more, in fact!