CEFR: Practice with real textbooks

1. PRACTICE II, DIDACTICS OF ELT. Prof. ADJUNTO REGULAR Estela N. Braun.
Teacher Assistants: Prof. Vanesa Cabral and Prof. Johana Herran.
Name of the book: “English Unlimited”
Level of the book: A2 (elementary coursebook)
Macro skill: Listening
Students: César Rasilla, Lucrecia Corral, Camila Viñati

2. CEFR: Practice with real textbooks
1) Determine the level of English according to the CEFR Global Scale.
ENGLISH UNLIMITED
Level A2: At this level, basic users can understand sentences and frequently
used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g., very
basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography,
employment). They can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a
simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Also,
they can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate
environment, and matters in areas of immediate need.
2) Choose one of the macro skills. Read the descriptors carefully and select
five activities from the book and explain what students can do at this level.
Listening: Students can understand phrases and the highest frequency
vocabulary related to areas of most immediate personal relevance (e.g., very
basic personal and family information, shopping, local area, employment). They
can catch the main point in short, clear, simple messages and announcement.
 Communicative activities A2 level:
OVERALL LISTENING COMPREHENSION
 Students can understand enough to be able to meet needs of a concrete type
provided speech is clearly and slowly articulated.
They can understand phrases and expressions related to areas of most
immediate priority (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping,
local geography, employment) provided speech is clearly and slowly
articulated.
LISTENING TO RADIO AUDIO & RECORDINGS
 Learners can understand and extract the essential information from short
recorded passages dealing with predictable everyday matters that are
delivered slowly and clearly.
WATCHING TV AND FILM
 Pupils can identify the main point of TV news items, reporting events,
accidents etc. and can follow changes of topic of factual TV news items, and
form an idea of the main content.

3. OVERALL READING COMPREHENSION
 Learners can understand short, simple texts on familiar matters of a concrete
type which consist of high frequency every day or job-related language.
OVERALL SPOKEN INTERACTION
 Students can interact with reasonable ease in structured situations and short
conversations, provided the other person helps if necessary. They can
manage simple, routine exchanges without undue effort; can handle very
short social exchanges but is rarely able to understand enough to keep
conversation going of his/her own accord.
CONVERSATION
 Learners can establish social contact: greetings and farewells; introductions;
giving thanks. They can generally understand clear, standard speech on
familiar matters directed at him/her, provided he/she can ask for repetition or
reformulation from time to time. They can express how he/she feels in simple
terms, and express thanks; can use simple everyday polite forms of greeting
and address. Students can make and respond to invitations and apologies.
They can say what he/she likes and dislikes.
GRAMMATICAL ACCURACY
 Pupils use simple structures correctly, but still systematically makes basic
mistakes - for example tend to mix up tenses and forget to mark agreement;
nevertheless, it is usually clear what they are trying to say.

4. Introductory unit: “About you”
We chose an activity in which students have to complete an enrolment form
with personal information (mail, address, surname and postcode) about a girl
called Agata. At this level, learners have the necessary tools to develop this
kind of activity using basic personal information.

5. Unit 3: “Your time”
In activity 3 from page 27, learners show their understanding of familiar
topics ticking activities that Moira and Sam do in their free time after listening to
them. At this level, students can understand these phrases with simple
vocabulary of routines.

6. Unit 8: “What´s she like?”
In this target activity students have to listen to a girl talking about someone
she admires, and decide which of the photos fit with the person she is talking
about. This type of activities expects learners at this level to be able to catch
the main point of the description in short, clear and simple messages.

7. Unit 11: “Journeys”
In this activity, learners have to listen to several expressions said twice in
two different ways and after that, they have to decide which one sounds more
polite than the other taking into account the intonation used. The idea of this
exercise is to make students realize about the kind of intonation that people
use to express politeness.

8. Unit 14: “Choices”
In this activity students have to listen to a radio interview with a man called
Barry Cox talking about his personal life, more specifically his career. There are
five topics that students have to develop with the information that Barry
provides. At this level, learners have no much difficulty in understanding basic
vocabulary related to hopes and plans.

9. CEFR Self-Assessment.
Students at this level (A2) show understanding of phrases and the highest
frequency vocabulary related to areas of personal relevance (e.g. in the unit
“About you” the main topic is personal information but employment is also
mentioned. Moreover, in unit 3 “Your time” the book presents activities related
to family information. In the last units an increase of level of complexity is
clearly reflected because there, student can understand the main point in short,
clear and simple messages and use it to develop different activities.)