Cambridge English Preliminary

For the first time, our school opened a new PET course during the afterschool program. The class meets once a week for two hours and focuses on preparing our 5^th and 6^th graders for the Cambridge Preliminary Test. This tests shows that the students have mastered the basics of English and now have practical language skills for everyday use.

The test itself last for 2 hours and 20 minutes and is divided into several sections:

Reading and Writing (1 hour 30 minutes) which shows that the student can read and understand the main points from signs, newspapers and magazines, and can use vocabulary and structure correctly.

·         Reading is divided into 5 parts and a total of 35 questions.

·         Writing is divided into 3 parts and a total of 7 questions.

Listening (45 minutes) which shows that the students can follow and understand a range of spoken materials including announcements and discusses about everyday life.

Speaking (12 minutes) which shows how good student’s spoken English is as he or she takes part in conversation by asking / answering questions and asking, for example, about their likes and dislikes.

The test is conducted face to face with one or two other candidates and two examiners. This makes the test more realistic and more reliable.

During our lessons we focus specifically on one test every 2 weeks as well as all the vocabulary needed for this level. So far, the course has a great start. A total of 10 students enrolled in the class and they are very diligently working each week on a test. 

PET Class Spring 2016

April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day (sometimes called All Fools' Day) is celebrated every year on 1 April by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. The jokes and their victims are called April fools. People playing April Fool jokes expose their prank by shouting April Fool. Some newspapers, magazines, and other published media report fake stories, which are usually explained the next day or below the news section in small letters. Although popular since the 19th century, the day is not a  public holiday in any country.

Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1392) contains the first recorded association between 1 April and foolishness. Yup, there is a connection! Maybe I should assign the students to read Chaucer and find the first ever published April Fools’ joke J

Well, I have thought of playing several “funny” jokes on my students but Bronchitis has kept me at home…no, not April Fools’ Day, I am not coming to class, really!  Hence I personally can’t play any pranks on any of you dear students and colleagues, I will let you browse through the best pranks of 2016 so far. Enjoy! 

APRIL FOOLS' DAY PRANKS OF 2016

St. Patrick’s Day

Bet you didn't know: St. Patrick's Day

Every year on March 17, the Irish and the Irish-at-heart across the globe observe 

St. Patrick’s Day. What began as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland has become an international festival celebrating Irish culture with parades, dancing, special foods and a whole lot of green.

We did our own St. Patrick's Day at Educanet :-) The Spririt was everywhere! Good Job! 

Combating the Inevitable Exam Stress

Finals and midterm stress is virtually universal among high school students. In fact, if you're in the throes of finals, a little stress may be inevitable. Hectic study schedules, exam anxiety, and feelings of overwhelm are common around this time. And, because stress can make it more difficult to think clearly and remember facts easily, heavy levels of stress can be counter-productive for students. Given that our graduating class is now counting down days to the “school leaving exams” and all of our other students are franticly scheduling all mid-term exams, I can easily say that the school is walking on “egg shells.”

Fortunately, there are things students can do to effectively manage this stress--or make things worse! Cigarettes and beer make it worse – trust me… J Be sure you're doing the right things to keep stress at bay.

Often students ask me what is the best way to study and study well… my answer is: Learn What Works For You. Combating test anxiety, getting enough sleep...

But the most important things is to avoid all kinds of possible self-sabotage. Students often unwittingly make things more difficult for themselves by making common mistakes when studying for exams. Knowing what works, and what might make things more difficult, can help you avoid common pitfalls that make finals stress a larger obstacle than it needs to be. Stop pulling all-nighters, pounding the caffeine, and...budget time wisely

Am I guilty of all of those? Oh, yes. I was a student once (actually all teachers were – it is a prerequisite to being a teacher. ) My freshmen year at the University of Kansas I actually managed to stay up all night for two nights in a row studying for my ‘Logics’ and ‘Western Civilization’ class. I passed, do I remember anything from it? Nope. Once, I even managed to write a 10-page paper on the Albanian Civil War…I got a C out of it – not something that I am very proud of.

So, having ‘said that’ and ‘been there,’ I can only give my students once piece of advice before the upcoming midterms and final exams – open your book during the semester and not just the week / night / hour before the test.

 

Crunch time - Maturita Time

G4 /C4 - our graduating class of 2016

Matura  is a Latin name for the high-school exit exam or "maturita diploma" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine. 

It is taken by students (usually aged from 17 to 20) at the end of their secondary education, and generally must be passed in order to apply to a university.

The official term for Matura in the Czech Republic is maturita or maturitní zkouška. In 2010 the Czech Republic introduced a system of state exams which divided the previous system into two parts. The first is the state exam which consists of two compulsory subjects: Czech language & literature and a foreign language and, voluntarily, mathematics (the combination is chosen by students). The second part consists of school subjects which varies between schools.

The state part of the exam is supervised by CERMAT (formerly Centrum pro reformu maturitní zkoušky, "Centre for Maturita Reform; now Centrum pro zjišťování výsledků vzdělávání, "Centre for Detection of Education Results"), a state managed company. CERMAT issues final tests for the state part of the exam, documentation and practical tests, holds training for teachers who correct essays and supervise the students during the exams.

The examination itself is also divided between written and oral parts but not all subjects require both written and spoken input (for example math is formed by a written test only). Usually both the written and the oral part of the exam are set in late spring. The state part of the written exam is set to one day in which students in the whole country write identical tests, different tests are always issued on the day the exam takes place. The school part is always different and is based on requirements of the school which issues the test so it may be both written and spoken, but it can also be only one of the options.

If students fail in one subject they have the option to repeat the subject, if they fail more than one subject then they have to repeat the complete set of exams including the written part. All students have a maximum of three attempts to succeed in this exam, if they fail to succeed they end secondary school without the maturita and are unable to apply for college or university. 

So what does all this mean for our students (and as it happens, for my older son)? It means that those young men and women have finally came to a conclusion that they  must start studying. That the life of fun and "I forgot my homework"" is long over. Suddenly, they show up in class. Suddenly, they ask questions and some of them have even found the local library. 

With few months to go, I would like to wish our graduating class all the best and good luck on the upcoming Maturita Exams :-) 

Maturitní ples or Prom as it is often called in the United States of America is a social event and traditions, which starts the end of the secondary education with a final graduating Maturita exam. This event is often organized by students who are graduating that year and it usually takes places sometime between January and March.

It is often a very formal event which requires the young ladies and gentleman to actually dress up and even wash and brush their hair J

Many of them take it so seriously that they even take “ball room” dancing lessons – after all, they wouldn’t want to embers themselves in front of all family and friends.

This year, our school organized one such “ples” a few weeks back. For me, it was even more special as it included my own son who (no preferential treatment here) looked very spiffy.

The event was wonderful and the students did a terrific job organizing it. It was a pleasure to talk to them all and their parents and see them look like adults… many of them unrecognizable without sleepy eyes and torn up jeans.

 

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition

Without a doubt, there are images worth a thousand words…one of them is the image of the sinking Titanic. 

Yesterday, we took several classes to the educational and  appropriate for all ages, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. It took us on a journey through the life of Titanic. Along the way we learned countless stories of heroism and humanity that pay honor to the indomitable force of the human spirit in the face of tragedy.

Upon entering Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, we were drawn back in time to April 1912, when the Ship embarked on its maiden voyage.  We received replica boarding pass, assumed  the role of a passenger and followed a chronological journey through life on Titanic – from the Ship’s construction to life on board, the famous sinking, and the modern day efforts to recover and conserve the wreckage for future generations. 

Unfortunately, I (or rather Ms. Jane Carr) did not survive the journey and died among the other couple hundred of passengers from the second class.

Although, as any exhibition, we were introduced to many facts and new information the overall feeling was that of a „small disappointment“ among the students. In a way, we all felt that we were a bit cheated out of the „real experience.“ After watching so many movies on this exhibition, we felt that it was missing many of the things we really were looking forward to seeing.

In a way, it felt like it was a smaller and cheaper version of some other grander exhibition….parts just were missing.

And in a way, that in itself is educational. After all, it is lovely to see students‘ faces when they realize that they know more than what  is in front them… It is lovely to see that in addition to praise they can also express their critical opinion – after all giving constructive criticism can be as hard if not harder than spilling out compliments.