PET SPEAKING TEST EXAMPLE VIDEOS

You might find it helpful to watch these if you are still not sure about the format of the exam, or the level of English needed. These students would definitely pass the exam, but probably not get a top grade, they make some mistakes. 

Part One: 

Part Two:

Part Three:

Part Four:

MORE ABOUT THE PET


Click to download the powerpoint from Saturday's lesson. This has a lot of useful information about the PET and also some links to practise the different tasks. 

You can also download the writing practice activity  that we did in class (with answers).

Session 9, Friday April 20th 2012

This class was dedicated to two grammar topics: the passive voice, and reported or indirect speech. We also worked on writing/speaking skills relating to presenting opinions and arguments. 

None of these topics was on the end of course test (which we did on Saturday). However, they are all very important for the PET (which you will take later in the year). 

Passive Voice

The passive voice is a different way to construct sentences. First, let´s look at a normal, typical sentence:

Gugliermo Marconi invented the radio in 1895.

In this sentence, Marconi is the subject. He is the person who does the action. 

Invented is the verb. It is the action.

The radio is the object. It is the thing that he invented.

This construction is called the active voice. It is the most common way construct a sentence in English.

However, if you are writing a report about important inventions, you might consider the radio to be more important than Gugliermo Marconi. You could show this by changing the construction of the sentence:

The radio was invented by Gugliermo Marconi in 1895.

We have all the same things in the sentence, but this time we put the object at the beginning, which puts more emphasis on it. 

The radio was invented in 1895.

This is also useful if we don't know the subject...an active sentence must have a subject, but in a passive sentence it is optional. 


In a passive sentence, the verb is be+past partciple


Passive sentences can be in any tense: only the verb be changes.


The radio was invented in 1895.
Wine is produced in Chile.
Wine has been produced in Chile for many years. 
The project is being done by John and Steven.
The project will be finished in September.

Try an exercise to practice.

Reported Speech

When we want to describe a conversation, we sometimes have to report exactly what somebody says. We do this using speech marks: "...."

He said "the name's Bond...James Bond."

In this way, we repeat exactly what the person says. 

But sometimes, we want to report what they said, without repeating it exactly. Here are the examples that we looked at in class. 

He said that his name was James Bond. 

Don Corleone asked if he spent time with his family. 

Then he said that a man who didn´t spend time with his family could never be a real man. 

              

 He said that he would be back

• Notice how the tense changes when we report speech:

"The name is Bond" > He said his name was Bond. 
(Present Simple-Past Simple)


"A man who doesn´t spend time with his family can never be a real man" >  He said that a man who didn´t spend time with his family could never be a real man. 
(Present Simple-Past Simple, Can-Could)


"I´ll be back" > He said he would be back 
(Future Will-Conditional Would)

• Sentence structure also changes when we report questions:

"Do you spend time with your family?" > He asked if he spent time with his family


Notice how the question form (auxilliary-subject-verb) is not necessary in reported speech. We use the standard sentence construction (subject-verb). 

• There are some changes in the words we use:

"Bananas are my favourite fruit" > He said that bananas were his favourite fruit.


When we ask a yes or no question, we use "if" in reported speech. This is not necessary with more general questions.  


"Do you like it?" > She asked if I liked it 
"Where do you work?" > She asked where I worked. 


You can find the full list of tense and structure changes on page 142 of your book (9b) or here (with translations).




Try an exercise (with sentences)
Try an exercise (with questions)

Just to remind you...

• We will have a test on Saturday. This is not the PET, it´s the English 2 test. The content and the level will be similar, but the format will be different. 
• You will get a grade for the English 2 Test. However, your final grade for English will come from the PET.
• After the test on Saturday, we will do some revision with PET style questions. For this reason, it´s very important that you stay on Saturday afternoon.

If you have a question about the PET, ask in the Mining Institute.

If you have a question about classes this week, email me

 See you later!

PET PRACTICE


As you know, you will take the Cambridge PET (Preliminary English Test) exam some time after the end of the English 2 course.


The PET has three sections:



________________________________________________________________________
Reading and Writing (1 hour 30 minutes) 50%
Shows you can read and understand the main points from signs, journals, newspapers and magazines, and can use vocabulary and structure correctly.


Listening (30 minutes) 25%
Requires you to be able to follow and understand a range of spoken materials including announcements and discussions about everyday life.


Speaking (10–12 minutes per pair of candidates) 25%
Demonstrates your spoken English as you participate in conversation, asking/answering questions, and talking freely, for example, about your likes and dislikes. 
________________________________________________________________________



If you want to pass the PET, It is very important that you continue practising the grammar and vocabulary we learnt in class.


However, you also need to do some specific practice with PET questions, so that you will be familiar with the question format when you take the test. 


Below are some useful websites where you can find more information and practice for the PET. Click on the links to go directly to the correct section of each website. 


http://www.examenglish.com - This is a very good free practice site for the listening, writing and reading sections. Click on the exercises on the right of the page to practise the different parts of the exam. 


http://writefix.com - Another free site where you can practice speaking: it explains the different sections of the speaking exam and gives you examples and useful phrases for each section.


http://www.members.tripod.com/normainnes/PET%20mats/pet_materials.htm - good for writing practice, particularly the sentence transformation section. 


http://www.cambridgeesol.org - The official site for the PET exam, which gives you some information about the exam and the different sections. 

Session 8: Saturday April 14th 2012


On Saturday we talked about giving advice. Imagine your friend is having problems with their car. 


You could say to them:

"If I were you I´d get a new car"

That´s the second conditional, which we saw yesterday. We use it to talk about what we would do in the other person´s position. Notice that we always use "If I were" and not "If I was".


Or, you could use should / shouldn´t:

"You should talk to a mechanic"

"You shouldn´t drive it" 

Using should before a verb in the infinitive  means that the person speaking thinks it´s a good idea to do something. There is no obligation to do it. 


Should, might, may, can, could and would are called modal verbs. Here are some useful things to remember about moday verbs:

• There is no change in modal verbs for talking about he, she and it. It´s I should, he should, we should.
• Modal verbs also function as an auxiliary in the sentence. That means that we don´t use extra auxilliaries like don´t, doesn´t or do. The negative of should is should not/ shouldn´t, and the question is "what should I do?"
• Modal verbs are always used before a verb in the infinitive, without to: I might go, we should do our homework, I can speak English. 
• Many modal verbs have difficult pronunciation: would, could, should are pronounced /wud/kud/shud/ and might is pronounced /mait/.

Next, we looked at expressions with the verb to get. This verb is very common, and has many many different meanings. You probably already know about getting up in the morning, getting a job and getting married, and you might remember getting dressed from a few weeks ago. 

We talked about:

 Getting angry (get + adjective = to become)

Getting better (get + comparative = to become)

Getting to work (get + place = to arrive)

Getting on well with somebody (get + preposition=phrasal verb)

Click here to see a list of some more common expressions.

In the afternoon, we talked about fears and phobias...some people are afraid of wasps or spiders. Others are frightened of closed spaces. And some are terrified of English grammar. 

Then we reviewed the present perfect (see earlier posts). Another way we use the present perfect is to talk about the duration of something. 

"How long have you been afraid of heights?"

"I´ve been afraid of heights since I was a child"

A common mistake is to use the present simple to talk about the duration of something...this is not correct in English.

"I work here since 2006 "

"I´ve worked here since 2006"

Finally, we reviewed when to use present perfect, and when to use past simple.


We use present perfect when talking about an action or a time which continues until the present, and may continue in the future.

"Quentin Tarantino has directed many successful  films"

•  He is still alive, and will probably continue directing films in the present/future. 

But...

"Alfred Hitchcock directed many successful films"

• He is dead, he will not continue directing films. 
• Past simple is common with expressions like yesterday, last year, ....years ago, in the past.

Try this exercise to check your understanding of Present Perfect and Past Simple

Session 7: Friday, April 13th 2012


On this unlucky Friday the 13th, we talked about Murphy´s law: that is, 

"If something bad can happen, it will".

This is the law that tells us that:

If we clean the car, it´ll rain

If you meet someone you like, they won´t be single

We looked at how to make sentences to describe a possibility. In the part of the sentence after if the verb is always in present simple, and in the other part of the sentence the verb is in the future, with will or won´t + verb.


This form is called the first conditional.


Then, we looked at some of the most confusing verbs in English. We discussed:


Why you wear a coat and carry a bag...
Why the bank lends you money, but you borrow from the bank...(Try an exercise)
Why you earn money at work, but win the lottery...
Why you meet someone for the first time, but know them for many years...
Why you watch a football game, but look at a photograph...(Try an exercise)
and why you do the housework and an exam, but make dinner. (Read a list of expressions)


Next, we watched a  video of some frightened tourists who were attacked by a grizzly bear in the USA.


What would you do? 

Well, according to a survival expert, the best thing to do if this bear attacked you would be to lie very still and pretend to be dead!


Luckily, this is a very improbable situation, at least in Antofagasta.


Remember, when talking about an improbable situation, we use:


If (verb in past simple) I would (verb in infinitive)


So...

If I saw a bear, I wouldn´t run away

If I saw a crocodile, I´d hit it in the face

This form is called the second conditional. Not that you´d be thinking about grammar if a bear was chasing you!


Finally, we talked about how we make a decision. Some people are very indecisive and change their mind all the time. Others are decisive and make up their minds quickly. 


Remember, when we can´t decide, we use may and might. Remember, both of these modal verbs have more or less the same meaning: we use them to say "Maybe I will". May is more formal, and more common in writing. Might is more common when we speak. 

A: "Are you going to the party?"

B: "I don´t know, I might go, or I might not."

A: "And what are you going to wear?"

B: "I may wear a dress, or I may wear jeans."