Group Conferences

What do these «conferences» entail?

They consist in meeting and assessing one’s learning process. It’s an opportunity to critically reflect upon the work done, the effort made and the goals achieved. It’s an/other – and perhaps final – instance in which we can decide what we directly want to aim at so as to make further progress, either in the short or in the long run.

As these conferences entail self-assessment (i.e. evaluating yourself, your performance in the subject – or at school in general), it is very important to COME PREPARED.

Before meeting, it is essential for you to take the following steps:

  1. Collect all your pieces of writing.
  2. Organise them according to either chronological order or genre.
  3. Put together all the drafts corresponding to the same question.
  4. Read feedback. Find recurrent mistakes. How can you make up for them?
  5. Focus on paragraphing and sentence separation: How can they be improved on? Think of the following aspects: topics; development of ideas; punctuation; linking devices.
  6. Focus on vocabulary and make lists of the following items you are to use in your compositions: 5 linking devices, 5 different ways of expressing opinion, 5 reporting verbs, 2 expressions that trigger inversion, 3 words that express effect, 5 descriptive items.
  7. Reflect upon the genres you feel most comfortable with. What option will you choose in part 2 of paper 3?

So, get ready for Monday, October 28th. It’s the class right before you sit for your English Language IGCSE. You’ll be getting together with me and some of your peers.

Below you can peep into group formation:

Group 1: Mati, Cami, Juan, Lucía

Group 2: Mechi, Clara, Vicky, Cande, Juana

Group 3: Delfi, Lucas, Felipe, Valentina, Balta

Group 4: Diego, Tadeo, Abril, Julia, Santi

I’m sure you’ll make the most out of this experience as you’ll share your learning process with others and get to listen to them as well.

Getting ready for exams

As you all very well know, IGCSE’s are round the corner. It’s a moment of great anxiety, so we need to make the most of the time we have at hand.

Here are some tips that you might find useful:

  • get hold of all the written work done so far and go over it:

      What feedback did you get? 

                                      Are there recurrent mistakes?

                                                                     Have you respected layout and organisation?

                             Have you used punctuation marks appropriately?

Have you employed a wide range of linking devices?

                                                                 How could you improve on your pieces?

  • revise all the linguistic content covered along the year and choose between 10 and 15 expressions which you consider will enhance your output. Check their collocations, study them hard and make sure you include them in your compositions;
  • make lists of features that are typical of each gEnRe. What makes an article / narrative / discursive composition / etc. a good one? You can visit the BBC gcse website to help you with some ideas;
  • keep practising!

Regarding the last point, here go some files. Remember it is NOT compulsory to work on them. Nonetheless, it won’t hurt you to try one last time before the exam takes place.

I attach the marking scheme corresponding to each paper as well. The idea is that you check your responses against the assessment criteria. You can do this On yOUr OwN, with a classMATE and/or with ME. I strongly suggest you try all the options – and in that order. The more feedback you get, the more critical you’ll become of your own work and the better you’ll do.

PAPER 1

1 PRACTICE SELF ASSSSMENT 0500_s12_in_11 TEXT

1 PRACTICE SELF ASSSSMENT 0500_s12_ms_11 MARKING SCHEME

1 PRACTICE SELF ASSSSMENT 0500_s12_qp_11 QUESTIONS

PAPER 2

2 PRACTICE SELF ASSSSMENT 0500_s12_ms_22 MARKING SCHEME

2 PRACTICE SELF ASSSSMENT 0500_s12_qp_22 QUESTION PAPER

PAPER 3

3 PRACTICE SELF ASSSSMENT 0500_w12_ms_32 MARKING SCHEME

3 PRACTICE SELF ASSSSMENT 0500_w12_qp_32 QUESTION PAPER

REMEMBER: Those of you sitting for CORE will be completing PAPER 1 AND PAPER 3 while those of you sitting for EXTENDED will be completing PAPER 2 AND PAPER 3.

Do not hesitate to contact me should you have any doubts.