A talk looking at why doing exam practice tests is essentially a waste of time and also how the kind of teaching we give may have the wrong focus in terms of proficiency tests. First we look at the difference between progress and proficiency tests, then look at what is actually tested in proficiency tests such as FCE, show how we can get nearer that kind of language in materials, explanations and teaching, and correction of students. I also show how this can be related to exam skills and \'practice\' without have to go through practice tests.

1. Andrew Walkley University of Westminster / Heinle Better Exams Outcomes without doing endless exam practice

3. False memories of (bad) exams The flight ............... at 10 o’clock tomorrow. A is leaving B leaves C will leave D is about to leave

5. Hippies: I …… Paris! I’m going to Paris for the weekend. I’m off to paris for the weekend > It’s alright for some! So did you learn how to fly the planes? > You’re joking! We just cleaned the floors. > You must be joking! The nearest we got to flying the planes was cleaning the hangar floors!

7. Why do people go on strike? What happens when train drivers go on strike? Have there been any strikes recently? How did affect people? What was t he outcome?

8. Vocabulary Builder

10. 1 The government's made a huge difference since they came to power. They've done a lot to help the poor. 2 Crime is almost non-existent . You can leave your front door unlocked at night if you want to. 3 There's a recession . The economy's in a total mess. 4 They're soft on drugs. They should introduce stricter penalties. 5 A lot of companies have gone bankrupt recently, so unemployment's going up. 6 The economy's booming . Lots of new businesses are starting up and plenty of new jobs are being created. 7 With so little rain, there are a lot of water shortages so the government's investigating new policies to help. 8 Inflation has really soared over the last year or so. Everything's suddenly much more expensive. 9 Their policies are undermining national unity. It's made society less stable. They could destroy the country completely if they continue.

11. Write the sentences in your language. Translate them back into English. Compare your English to the original. They've done a lot to help the poor. They're doing a huge amount to fight corruption . They haven't done enough to boost the economy. They've done little to combat rising crime. They're not doing anything for young people. They've done nothing to improve women's rights.

14. REAL ENGLISH FOR THE REAL WORLD