Welcome to the Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) Class at the VHS Bielefeld
Room allocation
We are currently in room 161 on the first floor of the Ravensberger Spinnerei – the room is ideal for small classes between six and eight participants.
Getting hold of the text book
It is vital that you have access to the textbook Objective Proficiency student book (with answers) 2nd edition as this book will be referenced for homework and a lot of the class work will be based on that book.
Please note that if we are using the textbook correctly we will develop a love/hate relationship with it so you will hear me in class be complimentary as well as very rude about the contents at various times.
Cambridge English: Proficiency Exam structure
The Exam is made up of four parts:
title | marks | time |
---|---|---|
Reading and Use of English | 40% | 1 hour 30 min |
Writing | 20% | 1 hr 30 min |
listening | 20% | circa 40 minutes |
speaking | 20% | circa 16 minutes |
You will find more information on pages 6 and 7 of the textbook
Note You will hear me use the terms “Cambridge English: Proficiency Exam” and “CPE” in class and some of the older posts in this blog reference CPE alone. It is the same examination but they changed the names of the Cambridge English Exams to “Cambridge English: Proficiency” a couple of years ago but I have been calling it CPE for a long time and occasionally call it by the old name.
My philosphy of doing homework
I will be setting some homework each week and I view that as a minimum amount of work other things that you can do to improve your English include:
- listening to English language radio like:
- downloading podcasts from a variety of sources – the BBC is a good starting point have a look at their podcasts and downloads page and if you are stuck for a podcast aggregator – try Gpodder which is free and works on Linux, Mac OS, Windows and many other operating systems for tablets and mobile phones.
- reading online newspapers regularly – here is a sample and remember there are newspapers all over the world in English not just the English-speaking countries:
- Some students (especially office workers) seem to like some of the help sites like:
flo-joe.co.uk which as a daily question upon which you can work at your desk in the lunch-break.
Getting into the habit of reading, listening to and writing in English is key to success in the Cambridge English: Proficiency exam in my experience.
Here is a page that I wrote sometime ago about my philosophy of homework that I have found works for you and me.
Introductory handout
Here is the introductory handout with information for you about me and some useful resources. It is a PDF file and you can download it here