Extra Work Required for the KPG C2 Papers

For all the papers and exercises, make sure you have understood all the theory and completed all the exercises you are given every week. Check any wrong answersand learn from your mistakes. In addition to the work we give you, we also expect you to do extra work in your own time for each paper, as is explained below.

Paper 1 ReadingComprehension.

You must read as much English as possible . Books, newspapers, magazines and websites are all very good sources.We will recommend various sources throughout the course.

The following websites are a very good starting point:

The BBC site: www.bbc.co.uk

The ITN site: www.itn.co.uk

The CNN site www.cnn.com

These are all very large sites with extensive archive materials, which allow you to read, see and hear a huge range of articles about every subject you can imagine.

Also for more detailed information, and for research purposes, the online encyclopaedia wikipedia is absolutely fantastic. You can decide on a subject that interests you and follow links to other articles or links to other sites. It also contains a dictionary and Thesaurus.

Wikipedia(English) site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

It is a very good idea to buy two copies ofsome popular novels: one in English, and one translated into Greek. You can then read the novel in English, and if you get stuck, you can read the Greek translation. Conversely, you can read passages in the Greek version and practice translating them into English. Thisis a great way of learning English and enjoying the book and the experience too!

Paper 2 Essay Writing.

Read the corrections and comments from tutors when your essays are marked and returned to you. Apart from the essays you are given as part of the course, you should try and write as often as you can. If it helps you to think more clearly, write your essays first in Greek, and then translate them.

Carefully plan the content of your essays so that you cover all the main points you are trying to make clearly. The essays you need to write for the exam are quite short, but can nevertheless be structured to have a beginning (introduction), a middle section (development of ideas) and an end (conclusion). Individual paragraphs should be similarly structured.

Paper 3 ListeningComprehension.

Listen to as much spoken English as possible . Online sources, such as the BBC, ITN, and CNN websites mentioned above,have extensive collections of news items, archives of interviews, and special features. You can follow a particular subject by clicking on related links and study it more in depth and hear reports and reviews written by some of the best journalists and writers in the world. Other websites such as 'Youtube' can alsobe a great source.

Youtube website: www.youtube.com

Also watch lots of TV programmes in English. If possible record the programmes so that you can play back sections you do not understand. Try and watch both with reading the subtitles and without. Again the translations will help you to understand difficult passages. Learn from these and make notes for future reference.

Exactly the same is true for DVDs. Watch them both with and without subtitles. Some films may be hard to understand because the language used is very colloquial orthe actors are speaking with strong regional accents. The film may also contain a lot of background noise and sound effects, or the sound quality of the dialogue may be poor. This is all good for you as it simulates real life. Choosing films with more dialogue than action is preferable to begin with, as these often allow you to hear what is being said more clearly.

Paper 4 Spoken English.

You will have several sessions scheduled with tutors in order to practice spoken English. You will still be expected however to speak English as much as possible in between these sessions. This can be accomplished by you contactingf riends who speak English very well and spending time conversing with them.

You can also practice by reading out loud passages from the reading sources previously mentioned for paper 1 practice above. You may also practice by repeating phrases, sentences and whole passages from sources you listen when practicingfor paper 3.

Just repeating the words gives you confidence in pronunciation, meaning and context. It will also help you to develop your knowledge of English grammatical structures, idioms, collocations and so on.

If possible, record yourself speaking on any simple system, and listen to the playback. If it sounds wrong, try again improve it.

PLEASE DO ALL THE ABOVE TASKS REGULARLY!