Everything you need to know about our brand new IRCC approved general English Test.
These sessions aim to provide institutions, teachers and agents with the opportunity to explore PTE Core, our brand-new General English test which is accepted by the Canadian government for all economic visa categories. Find out more about how PTE Core assesses all four skills and how you can support test takers to achieve their desired scores.
From 12th June until 18th September 2024.
In 2024, we want to take our annual teacher training program further and offer a deeper dive into effective preparation for PTE Academic.
The "Around the World with PTE Academic 2024" is a series of eight webinars designed for PTE teachers and preparation providers.
These sessions aim to provide the audience with advanced knowledge into some of the most challenging and important aspects of PTE Academic and cover developing advanced skills to maximise the chances of test takers achieving their desired scores.
From March 11 until October 10, 2024.
Pearson English Assessment
Our primary objective is to inspire and encourage educators to discover, experiment, and gain knowledge about our exceptional testing solutions including Pearson English International Certificate, the Level Test, Benchmark Test, and English Benchmark Young Learners.
Moreover, our sessions offer substantial opportunities for teacher development and provide exposure to our ELT courseware that can be used in exam preparation courses. In 2022, we launched our first Teacher Training Academy, and this year we aim to elevate it further.
From March 28 to November 21, 2024
Everything you need to know about our new IRCC approved General English test. Explore this new test with our experts to find out more about what the test involves, explore the question types and formats and find out more about what test takers can expect when they take PTE Core.
This session will provide practical exercises, expert tips, and personalized approaches to help educators work with test takers’ pronunciation and oral fluency for the PTE Academic test. By offering support in developing natural and fluent oral expression, teachers will enable test takers to navigate the speaking section with confidence and precision.
Back by popular demand, we are running this free webinar across two time zones to provide you with the knowledge you need to be able to support your customers with their preparation for PTE. Explore our free resources and official test prep products, and pick up some top tips for helping test takers achieve their desired scores.
In this session, we will discuss our experience with employing digital placement solutions to meet students’ needs and improve learning outcomes.
Learn advanced practical exercises, mnemonic techniques, and context-based learning to enhance PTE Academic performance.
We will uncover effective strategies for expanding learners' lexical repertoire and show how to seamlessly integrate advanced vocabulary into exam responses
In this webinar, we will focus on the different question types in the PTE Academic framework that are commonly assessed in classroom settings. We will provide practical methods and insightful techniques that will enable educators to seamlessly evaluate students' speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills. Our goal is to present tips that will help educators deliver constructive feedback and facilitate improvement in their students' performance.
Imagine a class of English language students aged 8 – 9 taught by a dynamic teacher they love. The young learners sit together for two hours, three times a week to learn English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The vibe they bring with them to the class, plus the dynamic teacher and the creativity she develops in her lesson plans, is fantastic.
I have been observing trends in teaching EFL to young learners, and it is clear to me that school directors, syllabus generators, teachers, parents and learners are all satisfied with this image… “Hooray! Young learners sit together for two hours, three times a week to learn English as a Foreign Language. And the teacher is able to manage the class. Bravo!” But is it enough?
It all begins with the coursebooks. If you take a coursebook for young learners and thumb through the ‘Scope and Sequence’ pages, you’ll see holistic definitions of language input in each unit. The school authorities then design a course based on the coursebook, and the snowball effect happens, whereby they design a course without specific details on what exactly to focus on.
It is the teacher’s turn now. The creative and dynamic teacher provides an excellent classroom experience through which young learners can learn English together. She also assigns a piece of homework: write an email to a friend and tell her about your last holiday.
When the teacher reviews the emails, she smiles as she finds many uses of the simple past tense—both in affirmative and negative forms. She then drafts an email thanking everyone and praising them generously. She includes a link to a PDF of other exercises to reinforce the grammar (the next day in class, they will review the completed handouts).
This hardworking teacher tries to blend her style with digital literacy and applies creativity along the way. Everything seems perfect in her class, and she regularly receives emails from parents thanking her. Nevertheless, some questions remain: What was the task? What was the learning outcome? Which learning objective should have been tracked?
Let’s reconsider the task – this time with our critic’s hat on – and analyze what has been taking place in this class. It is very nice that young learners sit together to learn English, and the teacher is able to manage the class successfully, but having fun and ease alone is not enough. We should aim for “fun, ease and outcomes”.*
*Assessing Young Learners of English: Global and Local Perspectives, Dr Marianne Nikolov, 2016.
The assigned piece of homework said: write an email to a friend and tell her about your last holiday. However, what actually occurred was a shift from this task to the students’ best performance in producing simple past-tense sentences. There are other important dynamics that have migrated out of the teacher’s focus. Did the students begin their emails appropriately? Was the tone appropriate? Did they pay attention to organizing their thoughts into sentences and paragraphs? Was the punctuation correct? Did they end their emails in the right way?
If the coursebook had been equipped with clear and concrete learning objectives, the course directors would have employed them while designing study syllabuses, and the teacher would have used them when lesson planning. Consequently, the student’s formative and summative progress would have been evaluated against those detailed learning objectives rather than according to what some did better than the average.
With the Global Scale of English (GSE), publishers, course designers, teachers, and even parents can access a new world of English language teaching and testing. This global English language standard provides specific learning objectives for young learners that can be applied to tasks.
For example, for our task, the GSE suggests the following learning objectives:
By applying language learning chunks – learning objectives, grammar and vocabulary – and identifying the can-do mission each one is supposed to accomplish, teaching and testing become more tangible, practical and measurable. Going back to my original scenario, it is excellent that young learners sit together for two hours, three times a week to learn English as a Foreign Language – provided that we know in detail which learning objectives to focus on, which skills to grow and what learning outcomes to expect.
The ways we approach employee engagement are rapidly evolving and changing. For HR professionals and global business leaders, understanding these trends is essential to encourage a motivated, productive, and loyal workforce. A key yet often overlooked aspect of this engagement is the role of language learning and cultural understanding. Failure to adapt to the international market doesn’t just hinder growth—it can lead to significant financial losses.
This blog post will delve into current employee engagement trends, provide suggestions for improvement, and talk about the importance of language learning and company culture in fostering a thriving global workforce through an effective employee engagement strategy.
Language learning can often feel daunting, with its endless vocabulary lists, grammatical structures and pronunciation rules. However, incorporating dance and movement into your study routine can transform this challenge into an engaging, enjoyable experience while significantly benefiting your overall wellbeing. This unusual approach is not only effective for language learners of all ages but also enriches the learning process with fun and physical activity.
Engaging in movement and dance can substantially impact mental health, as evidenced by various studies and academic research. For instance, a notable study published in the American Journal of Dance Therapy highlighted that dance, particularly in structured environments, can reduce anxiety and improve mood among participants. This connection between dance and mental health improvement can be attributed to the release of endorphins, often referred to as happiness hormones, which occur during physical activity.
