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Manual

PC Proulex Certificado Inglés

v 2.3

Just Right for ProulexManualPC Proulex Certificado Inglés

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“Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.”Gail Godwin

This manual provides all the information teachers need in order to teach efficiently the four PC levels. It is very important that teachers follow all procedures carefully to make all Proulex sites work at the same pace and apply the same criteria. New teachers need to read this manual, read the introduction in the Teacher’s Book, take the PC Briefing Session with their academic coordinator and take the quiz to be eligible to teach the PC course.


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Justification This course has been designed to fill the gap between Proulex Diploma Universitario (PDU)

and a more solid command of the English language at a upper intermediate level that learners need outside the classroom.

The need to have a better bonding between the new PDU and the PC course having motivated students by the interesting thematic approach and challenged by the lexicon, listenings, readings, and grammar presentations.

More reasons for the implementation of a new course book:• A coursebook life expires after a period of use.• The trendy educational currents in the ESL/EFL. • Psychological factors. • Opportunities for the teachers to grow academically. • Fertile soil is provided for creativity and effective teaching. • A language is dynamic.

Teacher ProfileTeachers giving this course should be...• fluent (Speak and write native, or native-like.)• creative (Someone who can manage grouping well, who can adapt activities to make them more relevant to the current group, and who can deal with mixed ability groups.)• organized/responsible (This class isn’t a kickback class; it implies organization and preparation. Teachers also need an awareness of lesson planning, of the importance of lead-ins, of introduction questions, of brainstorming, of preteaching, of sequencing, of gradation of activities, etc.)• patient (Not all students will react to all activities in the same way or with the same enthusiasm.)• well-educated/well-versed (The teacher should be able to speak/write intelligently on a wide range of topics.)• self-confident (The teacher can’t allow himself/herself to be intimidated by students.)• conscientious (The teacher needs to be a guide, not a star; class should be very student-centered with 80% student talking time a MUST!)


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Profile of Upper Intermediate Students’ LevelStudents at this level have reached a plateau in their learning. They have been studying for around 480 hours in which they have learned the basic grammar structures, and have developed an active vocabulary of approximately 2,500 words. Still, they need to extend their mental lexicon, work on sociolinguistic aspects of language (style and register), increase their knowledge of grammar and work on supra-segmental features of pronunciation which will allow them to understand the emotional overtones of utterances and improve their writing skill. Learners at this level are eager to speak, but often can’t articulate themselves at the level they so desire. More importantly, they have lost the freshness and excitement that comes with initiating studies in a language.

This level is often referred to as the ‘take-off’ level. Students are ready and willing to rise from the plateau where they find themselves and reach new heights. The problem is that if they don’t receive adequate guidance and motivation, they will either fall off and drop out of the course, or become fossilized.

General ObjectiveTo provide the students with practice in the development of the four linguistic skills as well as in upper intermediate grammar structures and lexicon.

Specific Objectives• To teach learners to use language in chunks, and encourage them to “get personal” with words.• To draw on learners’ existing knowledge as well as offer them new information.• To instruct learners to cope with a variety of written formats which will train them in skills they need for reading specific and general texts.• To expose learners to a wide range of speaking styles in order to acquire the skills necessary to extract Information from what they hear in a variety of situations.• To rehearse the spoken language for communication students have learned and test their own ability. • To teach the processing skills needed to aid the language acquisition process itself.• To draw learners attention to a variety of pronunciation features.• To encourage learners through writing practice to process their knowledge and give them a chance to produce work that they can take pride in.• To provide learners with the tools required for performing and succeeding in the Trinity College ISE I examination.


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Tips for Course Teachers

• Maximize time by using as many items from each activity as needed. • Employ only the necessary steps from the suggested ones in the Teacher’s Book for each activity. • Implement collaborative learning principles (groups working on different activities with the same purpose). • Arrange pairs/groups with regards to their abilities, learning styles, intelligences in order to speed up the learning process and bring variety into class management.• Implement discovery techniques. • Vary the activities and the pace. Students need pauses in which to assimilate ideas and information, as well as activities that challenge them.• Use the Mini-grammar and Audioscript booklet to accelerate grammar explanations and to promote subsequent study or for students who are having particular trouble. • Develop critical thinking skills.• Find ways of making learners aware of their progress.• Give individual help.• Develop in learners a positive attitude towards errors and error correction.• Don’t sidetrack nor allow idle chatter. Learners need to take full advantage of class time.• Personalize activities or tasks by putting them into learners’ context to awake more interest.• Recycle language through warm ups, wake ups, cool downs, and wrap ups.• Keep in mind the format of the ISE I to provide useful practice and feedback in a transparent and natural way throughout the course.

Video The coursebook does not include a video component. Nevertheless, video viewing is an important learning activity because of the combination of visual clues and verbal features. Video viewing refers to short video clips or sections of a video not longer than 10 minutes such as TV commercials, music videos, news items, short documentaries, movies, trailers for movies, etc.

Video clips with the following contents are not allowed: surgery scenes, violence, cursing language, sexual scenes an/or nudity, and controversial topics handled in an offensive manner like religion, politics, stereotypes, illnesses, war, etc.

It is suggested to do a 30 to 50-minute video lesson per level. A video lesson plan will need to be submitted for approval before implementing it. Your coordinator will provide you with a Video Lesson Plan Form.

For more information on using a clip, advantages of using video clips, possible problems, choosing a clip and exploiting a clip refer to the following link from the British Council:

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/online-video-elt


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Coursebook Components• Teacher’s Book with Class Audio CDs• Student book with Mini-grammar and Audioscript booklet • Workbook with Audio CD with Answer Key Booklet for in class use at discretion of teacher

Course Division and Grading Criteria

TestsUnits covered

ScoreAdministration

time limitPC1 PC2 PC3 PC4

Quiz 1 Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 8 Unit 11 15 30 minutes

Quiz 2 Unit 2 Unit 5 Unit 9 Unit 12 15 30 minutes

Final Exam (including

listening and reading)

Unit 3 and bits of units

1-2


4-5


8-9

Unit 13 and bits of units 11-12

35 1 hour

Writing Assessment

Units 1-3 Units 4-6 Units 8-10 Units 11-13 10 30 minutes

Speaking Assessment

Resembling ISE I (See Topic Form Guideline page 8)

2010 minutes per

student

Portfolio (See Portfolio Guideline page 6) 5

1 hour for the presentation in PC1 and take

home for the rest

Final Score 1005 hours

approximately

80 is the minimum passing grade. The policy for attendance is stated in the Teachers´ Rules and Regulations and applies for any course. The criteria for marking the exams and assessments are in the teacher’s answer key in the exam binders.

Note: Units 7 and 14 are optional for any level if time allows and their contents will be not tested.


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Portfolio Guidelines for PC LevelsStudents will create 2 Portfolios: the Proulex Portfolio and the Trinity Portfolio in order to strengthen their writing skills and prepare for the Trinity ISE I exam.

Proulex Portfolio1. The Proulex Portfolio will contain 2 pieces of writing that will come from the student’s book or the workbook as the course develops, as determined by the teacher. 2. Each piece of writing will include at least 2 drafts: the first draft with teacher’s feedback and the edited draft(s).3. For this portfolio, teachers will give formative feedback by means of different techniques, e.g. using the correction symbol chart, underlining, highlighting, writing comments for reflection, and so on (EXCEPT making corrections).4. 1 point will be docked, for every piece of writing not submitted, from the Writing Assessment’s score. This means that a student can be docked up to 2 points for not turning them in. 5. Half points may be docked as well for not demonstrating improvement in the edited draft regarding mechanics, structure and vocabulary, late submissions, and so on. 6. Students must be encouraged to type their Portfolio Tasks in WORD using the correct combination of capital letters and lower cases, and double spaced to allow space for teachers’ feedback. If students insist in writing them by hand, teacher must only accept tasks written with clear handwriting, capital letters and lower cases, and black or blue ink. 7. If teachers and students have access to technology and feel comfortable using it, it is recommended to carry out e-portfolios. The feedback can be done electronically as well, and by this means, a large amount of time can be saved. 8. Students should be encouraged to gain insight by writing a journal entry on the edited draft (one or two sentences long), in English or Spanish at any level, reflecting on the feedback they had received from their teacher: what they think of the teacher’s feedback, how they felt about it, what helped them or what confused them, what they learned from editing the first draft, and so forth. 9. Set a word count of 110-130 words per piece of writing. It is greatly recommended that students self-evaluate their portfolio before submitting it with the checklist below. If they mark at least one No, they should revise their writing again. If not, the portfolio will be incomplete and will lead to partial points being taken from the writing assessment.

Proulex Portfolio Checklist YES NO

A. I checked that the word count is right.

B. I used the correct language: formal for articles, informal for writing to a friend.

C. I included all the necessary elements: title for articles, greeting and closing for letters, bullets and/or date for reports, etc.

D. I read, understood and followed the instructions to complete the writing task.

E. I included in the Portfolio: 1. The Portfolio checklist. 2. The first draft with my teacher’s suggestions. 3. The last draft(s) with my reflection about my teacher’s comments.


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Trinity Portfolio1. The Trinity Portfolio will consist in selecting 3 tasks (one from each section) from the Portfolio Tasks for ISE for the current year. PC1 teachers must explain to students the portfolio procedures. PC2, PC3 and PC4 teachers must review the procedures as well but not in depth.2. Before students start the writing process, take some time to inform them the expectations. This review could be done by using a current writing task from the course book. Include a mini-lesson on common mistakes prior students have made and how to avoid making the same error. 3. Feedback for the Trinity Portfolio must only be given once a level with the Student Portfolio Feedback Form. Each task requires a Feedback Form.4. Nevertheless, it is also highly suggested that students self-evaluate their Trinity Portfolio, before turning it in with the checklist below. If they mark at least one NO, they should revise their writing again. If not, the portfolio will be incomplete and will not obtain a satisfactory score.

Trinity Portfolio Checklist YES NO

A. I checked that the word count is right.

B. I used the correct language: formal for articles, informal for writing to a friend.

C. I included all the necessary elements: title for articles, greeting and closing for letters, bullets and/or date for reports, etc.

D. I read, understood and followed the instructions to complete the writing task.

E. I included the Portfolio Cover Sheet and I filled it out completely.

5. The Trinity Portfolio has a value of 5 points which are distributed as follows: • 1 point for each task submitted on the day that follows Quiz 2. Total: 3 points. Deduct half points each task for late submissions. • 2 points for including cover sheet. Deduct half points if cover sheet is not completed properly. 6. Each student must submit the Trinity Portfolio (3 tasks and cover sheet) the day that follows Quiz 2 if the class has 10 or fewer students, or upon entering the classroom the day of the oral assessment if the class has more than 10 students and the students are scheduled throughout the course. Note: This means that some students have to turn in their portfolios before others. Make sure students understand that the distribution of work on the Proulex and Trinity portfolios will all come out even in the end. 7. Pay careful attention that students fill out the Portfolio Cover Sheet completely. 8. Students must be encouraged to type their Portfolio Tasks in WORD using the correct combination of capital letters and lower cases. If students insist in writing them by hand, teacher must only accept Tasks written with clear handwriting, capital letters and lower cases and black or blue ink. 9. The Correction Symbols chart will be used only for marking the writing activities from the Proulex Portfolio. Do not use the Correction Symbols chart for the Trinity Portfolio (or Writing Assessment).10. The Trinity Portfolio produced in PC1 will be used in the following PCs receiving feedback from every teacher (unless Trinity College changes the topics). That same portfolio will be turned in the day of the Trinity Controlled Written Examination including only the Feedback Forms given by the PC4 teacher. 11. For the syllabus and more information on Trinity exams: www.proulex.com/cei.


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Note: Teachers must inform students that a line will be drawn if they exceed the number of words permitted. The rest of the words will not count, which in turn will affect the fulfillment of the task. If the instructions say: “Write approximately 150 words“, 10% over 150 words (165 words) or 10% under 150 words (135 words) is acceptable. If the instructions say: “Write 70-80 words“, the minimum limit is 70 and the maximum is 80.

Tip 1: One line written by hand has approximately 10 words and a line typed by computer usually has 15 words.

Tip 2: Give each student 3 Feedback Forms and ask them to fill it out with their name, the date they will turn it in and the task/section. This will save you a lot of time.

Topic Form GuidelinesPC1 teachers must explain to students the Trinity oral exam procedures. Teachers of levels PC2-PC4 must review the procedures as well but not in depth.

1. On day number 4 of the intensive course and day 2 of the Saturday course, students must start filling out the Topic Form which includes the topic title and 4 points.2. Give instructions to fill out the topic form at home.3. Make a list of the topics they chose. Persuade students with the same topic to change it for another one.4. Verify that topics are not too general and will allow the use of the required language.5. Revise that the 4 points in the topic form are not longer than a phrase, sentence or question each. The words “introduction” and “conclusion” are not acceptable as topic points. 6. Revise the Oral Assessment Teacher Answer Key for more details related to the format and procedure.

Placement Test•Places students before PC 1 (requiring them to then take the PDU placement exam to determine exact level), in PC 1 or in PC Advanced 1.•Evaluates newcomers or students whose grade has expired.• Includes 40 multiple choice items, short writing task, plus oral performance.


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Key for recording grades on the attendance list

Code Test

Q1 Quiz 1

Q2 Quiz 2

F Final Exam

W Writing Assessment

S Speaking Assessment

P Portfolio

Intensive Course Daily Planner Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Unit* 1/4/8/11

Check learner needs

Explain grading criteria

Unit 1/4/8/11

Induction to Trinity ISE I (in PC1)

Unit 1/4/8/11 Unit 1/4/8/11

Review grading criteria and Trinity ISE I (all levels)

Unit 1/4/8/11

Hand out Topic forms (all levels) & ISE packet (PC1)

Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10Quiz 1 (Unit 1/4/8/11)

Unit 2/5/9/12 Unit 2/5/9/12 Unit 2/5/9/12 Unit 2/5/9/12

Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15Unit 2/5/9/12 Quiz 2

(Unit 2/5/9/12)Unit 3/6/10/13

Collect Portfolios

Unit 3/6/10/13 Unit 3/6/10/13

Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20Unit 3/6/10/13

(Oral assessment)

Unit 3/6/10/13In PC2, unit 7 optional.In PC4, unit 14 optional.

(Oral assessment)

Unit 3/6/10/13

Writing (submit revised portfolios) & Oral assessments

Final exam (Unit 3/6/10/13 and bits of previous units)

Oral assessment

Grade handout

*The first number refers to PC1, the next one refers to PC2, and so on.Note: Units 7 and 14 are optional for any level if time allows and their contents will not be tested. Activities selected from the units to be determined by teacher, taking into account students’ needs and interests.


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Saturday Course Daily Planner(8 five-hour sessions)

Week 1 Week 2

Unit* 11/4/8/11

Check learner needs

Explain grading criteria

Induction to Trinity ISE I (in PC1)

Unit 1/4/8/11

Review grading criteria and Trinity ISE I(all PC levels)

Hand out Topic forms (all levels) & ISE packet (PC1)

Week 3 Week 4

Quiz 1 (Unit 1/1/4/8/11)

Unit 2/5/9/12

Unit 2/5/9/12

Week 5 Week 6

Unit 2/5/9/12

Quiz 2 (Unit 2/5/9/12)Collect Portfolios

Unit 3/6/10/13

Week 7 Week 8

Unit 3/6/10/13In PC2, unit 7 optional.In PC4, unit 14 optional.Writing assessment (submit revised portfolios)

Final exam (Units 3/6/10/13 and bits of previous units)

Oral assessment Hand out grades

*The first number is refers to PC1, the next one refers to PC2, and so on.Note: Units 7 and 14 are optional for any level if time allows and their contents will not be tested. Activities selected from the units to be determined by teacher, taking into account students’ needs and interests.

pc proulex certificado inglés › recursos › academicos › pc-manual_09.pdf · pc proulex...

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