Skill Builder – RevisionUpper- Intermediate

HEADING-MATCHING LISTENING

You will hear seven extracts. Read through the headings A-J before listening. For each extract 1-7 choose the heading that best matches the information you have heard. Then write the letter in the corresponding white box. There are two headings you will not need and an introductory extract as an example. Now read the headings.

NEWS ON THE RADIOListen to some news from different radio stations.

A. An apology

B. Christmas holidays for crews

C. Crime at sea

D. Genetic differences

E. Hope for reproduction

F. It’s too late

G. Making work more comfortable

H. Pollution on the increase

I. Proposing a solution in the UN

J. Reception for an important visitor

EXTRACT 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

LETTER B

SPEAKING TIME: What piece of news have you recently watched on TV that has called your attention?

REVISE ONLINE: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ LEVEL 5

MULTIPLE CHOICE LISTENING

Listen to the extract. For items 1-5 choose the option (a, b or c) which best completes them according to the extract. Then write your answer.

SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE

1. The presenter is talking to _____.a) a science correspondentb) an astronomerc) the founder

2. In 1960 Frank Drake was working _____.a) as an astronomerb) in a video shopc) for Apple

3. The interview is about a project to _____.a) look for life in spaceb) release classified documentsc) detect radiation on Earth

4. Frank Drake called his original experiment _____.a) Green Bankb) Ozmac) SETI@home

5. More than 5 million _____ are taking part in the project.a) volunteersb) studentsc) astronomers

6. In 2010 the project celebrated its _____.a) 20th anniversaryb) 40th anniversaryc) 50th anniversary

7. The main SETI@home servers are _____.a) all around the worldb) at the University of Californiac) in Germany

8. By the end of 2010 they _____.a) had found some indications of lifeb) had collected 5,000 messages from spacec) hadn't found any signs of life

REVISE ONLINE: http://www.esl-lab.com/ MEDIUM LEVEL

TRUE OR FALSE LISTENING

You will hear two parts of a programme. Read through the sentences below and decide if sentences 1-10 are True (T) or False (F) according to what you hear. Sentence 0 has been done as an example. Now read the sentences.

IMMIGRANTS: THE CALAIS PROBLEM

You will hear a programme about immigrants in Calais, a French town close to England.

T / F0 After the closure of the Red Cross camp, fewer immigrants come

to Calais F

1 The typical immigrant is a man in his twenties

2 Many locals tend to ignore them

3 The Afghan immigrants live hidden in a forest

4 The police have sometimes destroyed their homes

5 Immigrants receive food tickets once a week

IMMIGRANTS: THE STORY OF A MEXICAN IMMIGRANT

Listen to Ana, a girl whose parents immigrated to the USA before she was born.

T / F

6 Ana’s father crossed the border with part of his family

7 The whole family worked in the fields

8 Farm worker’s children often changed schools

9 Her parents migrated because they were persecuted in Mexico

10 She was the first person in her family to go to college

GAP-FILLING LISTENING

You will hear part of an interview. Read through the notes below and complete them by filling in gaps 1-5 according to what you hear. Now read the notes.

DEALING WITH A PHOBIA

Listen to an interview with Sally Mansfield about how she is dealing with a phobia.

One in five people are (1) __________________________________________

One in ten people (2) ______________________________________________

Many people decide to overcome their phobias for (3) ____________________

The method of “flooding” means people have to (4) ______________________ with what

they are frightened of.

Knowing about the subject and (5) ______________________________ are both good

ways of dealing with a phobia.

REVISE ONLINE: http://www.elllo.org/ LEVEL 5

HEADING-MATCHING READING

Read the following texts and match them to the most suitable letter from the list supplied. Each heading can only be used ONCE. There are 5 headings you will not need.

BRITAIN AND KNIFE CRIME

TEXT 0

Recently there have been a lot of articles in British newspapers about knife crime. The media interest follows an unusually high number of fatal stabbings involving teenagers, particularly in London, where so far in 2008 more than twenty teenagers have been killed by other young people in knife attacks.

TEXT 1

In some cases the victims were involved in disputes between gangs, but in others it seems they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, being stabbed during arguments that broke out spontaneously on the street. In a recent BBC documentary programme, the headteacher of a secondary school in England said that the number of pupils - mostly boys, but also some girls - caught with knives in his school has increased greatly in recent years.

TEXT 2

The British government is certainly worried, which is why it recently recommended that sixteen and seventeen year olds who are found by police officers to be carrying knives should be prosecuted and taken to court – previously this could only happen to people aged eighteen and over. It has also recommended that young people caught with knives should be made to visit stabbing victims in hospital, in the hope that seeing the injuries knives can cause will shock them into changing their behaviour.

TEXT 3

The problem probably has a number of different causes. In poorer areas of large British cities, where most knife crime takes place, some teenagers have said they carry knives in order to feel powerful or to get respect, while others have said they need the weapon as protection in case they themselves are threatened by someone carrying a knife.

TEXT 4

However, it is still true that only a small minority of young people in Britain carry knives. In fact, it might even be true that the problem is not getting worse. The statistics do not paint a clear picture; for example, while the number of people prosecuted for carrying knives has increased in the last ten years, an important survey suggests the annual number of stabbings in Britain has been falling since the mid-1990s – although that survey does not include victims under the age of sixteen.

TEXT 5

While the debate about knife crime continues, the big picture is that only a tiny percentage of people in Britain die in violent circumstances. Britain has a total population of around 60 million, and in the last ten years there have been fewer than 1,000 murders per annum.

A. New measures are being taken against teenage knife crime

B. The fact that the annual number of stabbings has been falling is not clear.

C. The number of teenagers caught carrying knives at school is on the up.

D. All secondary schools in England have a problem with pupils carrying knives.

E. All the young people killed in knife attacks in London this year were involved

in disputes between gangs.

F. Recently the number of fatal stabbings involving teenagers has been lower

than normal.

G. Figures show that there is a low percentage of fatal stabbings in Britain.

H. British media is interested in the subject of knife crime among young

people.

I. Some young people justify carrying knives

J. It is normal for young people in Britain to carry knives.

TEXT 0 1 2 3 4 5

LETTER H

MULTIPLE CHOICE READING

Read the following text. For items 1-5 choose the option (a, b or c) which best completes them according to the text. Then write your answer. Item 0 is an example.

BRITAIN RELEASES SECRET UFO RECORDS

The British government has released over 1,000 pages of secret files on UFO sightings to the public. It is the first time records on flying saucers and other unexplained objects have been made available.

Britain’s National Archives put the documents online following requests from members of the public. Britain’s freedom of information laws meant the documented reports could no longer be kept a secret.

Officials said that the names of many individuals who claimed they saw UFOs have been blacked out to respect their privacy. They also said that information that was vital to protect national security would not be released.

There is a lot of data from the 1970s and ‘80s, when the Cold War was at its height. In these two decades, Russian fighter planes were often mistaken for alien spacecraft. The reports do not say what people mistook little green men for.

Despite the secrecy of the documents, none of them contains any proof that aliens exist. UFO expert David Clarke said - "The Ministry of Defence doesn't have any evidence that our defences were breached by alien craft….They never found one, nor bits of one”.

There are a number of unexplained cases in the reports, but those in the know said that there are usually logical explanations for these sightings. "The most common things are aircraft lights, bright stars and planets, satellites…and things like that", explained another UFO specialist, Nick Pope.

One of the documents is a 1979 report prepared for British politicians that rubbished the idea of "UFOlogy”. It stated that - “Her Majesty's government has never been approached by people from outer space." There are many people who disagree. The archive site is full of drawings and reports that suggest we are not alone.

0. Britain’s government…

a. has put documents from aliens on the Internet.b. has made documents on aliens available to anybody.c. has recently published all UFO secret files.

1. Many British people mistook…

a. Russian fighter pilots for little green men.b. little men for aliens.c. Russian aircraft for spaceships.

2. The released documents…

a. show no proof of alien life.b. show some proof of alien life.c. show plenty of proof of alien life.

3. The British government…

a. never found any evidence of flying saucers.b. found certain evidence of extraterrestrial threats.c. found no evidence of life in other planets.

4. A government report said…

a. Britain may have been visited by aliens but it cannot be proved for certainb. Britain has never been visited by aliens.c. Britain has at some point or other been visited by aliens.

5. Many people…

a. believe there is evidence to suggest aliens exist.b. believe aliens exist even if there is no evidence.c. believe there is no evidence to suggest aliens exist.

TRUE OR FALSE READING

Read the following text. Read through the sentences below and decide whether sentences 1-5 are True (T) or False (F), or if the text Doesn’t Say (?).

CLIMATE CHANGE

The United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009 has been widely seen as the last chance to stop average global temperatures from rising by two degrees centigrade by the end of the twenty-first century.

Most of the world’s scientists agree that global warming is a serious problem, that it is being caused by a build-up of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere due to human activities such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation, and that a two-degree temperature rise will have a disastrous environmental impact in some parts of the world. There is much less agreement among the world’s politicians, however, about how the burden of cutting total emissions of greenhouse gases should be shared.

Many developing countries want the world’s richest countries to reduce their emissions to at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 – but the United States, for example, has been reluctant to make specific commitments, while the European Union aims to reduce emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 - and would aim for a bigger reduction if other countries made similar efforts.

It is undeniable that the world’s most developed countries, despite having only a small proportion of the world’s total population, have been responsible for a large proportion of greenhouse gas emissions, but fast-developing poorer countries with large populations are also contributing to the problem. China, in fact, is now the world’s biggest producer of greenhouse gases, with the United States in second place.

Unfortunately, Copenhagen conference has failed to produce an international environmental treaty in which countries adopt legally-binding commitments with regard to emissions cuts. There has just been some basic agreement that developed nations must make substantial cuts to their emissions, that developing countries must agree to limit the future growth of their emissions, and that rich countries must provide financial help to poor countries to help them achieve their targets and cope with the effects of global warming.

Time, of course, is running out. In fact, the most pessimistic scientists think it is already too late to stop global temperatures rising by at least five degrees by the end of the century. Because global warming leads to rising sea levels, some areas of land might

already be underwater by 2100. The Maldives, a group of low-lying islands in the Indian ocean with a population of about 300 thousand, are particularly threatened – a fact the president of the country recently drew attention to by holding a cabinet meeting on the sea bed, four metres underwater, with all the ministers wearing scuba diving equipment. It was a memorable publicity stunt, but will it have any positive effect?

T / F / ?

1. The United States is the world’s biggest producer of greenhouse gases.

2. There has never previously been an international environmental treaty involving legally-binding commitments with regard to greenhouse gas emissions.

3. Global warming affects sea levels.

4. The European Union has a specific aim with regard to reducing its emissions of greenhouse gases.

5. Most of the world’s scientists agree that a two-degree temperature rise will have a disastrous environmental impact everywhere.

6. The Maldives are mountainous.

7. Most of the world’s scientists are still not sure about the cause of global warming.

8. An international environmental treaty involving legally-binding

commitments has been recently signed.

CLOZE TEST

Read the text and complete each gap with ONE suitable work from the list supplied. Then write your answers in the boxes provided. Each item can be used only ONCE. There are five items you will not need. Gap 0 has been completed as an example.

DAREDEVIL GENE

Scientists discover why some of us are born to take more risks than the rest.

It could explain (0) ________________ some of us have a passion for activities such as rafting while others shake at the mere thought of (1) ________________ dry land. Scientists believe they have discovered (2) ________________ makes us daredevils or cowards and they say it is (3) ________________ in the genes. They have identified a “daredevil” gene which controls both the innate fear we are born with and the fear we learn over the course of our (4) ________________. The gene controls levels of the protein stathmin, (5) ________________ is normally found in a part of the brain that controls basic fear impulses.

In experiments on mice, it was discovered that (6) ________________ with an inactive form of the gene were almost (7) ________________, showing abnormally low levels of anxiety when confronted with dangerous situations. In (8) ________________ test, designed to evaluate instinctive fear, mice were placed on a platform. (9) ________________ of the platform had labyrinth-like walls, while the other half was completely open. The mice lacking the gene, (10) ________________ as “daredevil” mice, were happy to explore the larger area, while the (11) ________________ remained in the labyrinth area or close to the walls (12) ________________ avoid potential predators.

In a second test, to determine learned fear, the mice were exposed to a loud sound (13) ________________ by a brief electric shock from the floor. When the sound was repeated a day (14) ________________, the normal mice froze in fear while the “daredevil” mice hardly reacted.

Professor Gleb Shumyatsky, (15) ________________ led the research at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said it (16) ________________ one day enable people suffering from fear to be clinically treated.

The gene which controls stathmin levels is (17) ________________ the first to be associated with fear impulses. Three years ago, scientists at the US National Institute of Health conducted research on the human serotonin transporter gene, which has (18) ________________ been linked to autism and manic depression. The gene comes in two lengths and (19) ________________ was found that those with the shorter version were more (20) ________________ to feel scared or anxious.

ALL IT MUST TO

ALSO KNOWN NOT WHAT

FEARLESS LATER ON WHICH

FOLLOWED LEAVING ONE WHO

FOLLOWING LIKELY OTHERS WHY

FOR LIVES THE

HALF MIGHT THOSE

0. WHY

1. 11.

2. 12.

3. 13.

4. 14.

5. 15.

6. 16.

7. 17.

8. 18.

9. 19.

10.

20.

SCANNING READING

SPEAKING - MONOLOGUE

REVISE ONLINE: http://www.listenaminute.com/

SPEAKING – INTERACTION

WRITING TIPS

You will be evaluated on the following aspects:

1. COMMUNICATION

a. FORMATUse appropriate

greetings and endings in letters and e-mails.

Divide your text into paragraphs.

Indent paragraphs.

b. REGISTER Only use short forms in informal letters/e-mails to friends or relatives.

c. STYLE

ListsBrackets (…)

Colons (:)

commas (,)semi-colons (;)

d. CONTENT Do not write information you are not asked for Be polite Do not be strongly demanding. (I want > I’d like)

e. TEXT LENGTH (120 words approx)

Texts that aretoo short

ortoo long

are not valid

2. COHESION & COHERENCEa. IDEAS

Plan what you are going to write first.

b. SENTENCES English sentence structure - S V O A

(Subject + Verb + Object + Adverbial)

c. PARAGRAPHSAll paragraphs must have the same length (approx).

A paragraph usually contains a minimum of three sentences.

d. CONNECTIVES

3. RANGE & COMPLEXITY

a. INFORMATION -Cover all the points in the instructions.b. STRUCTURES

DON’T REPEAT YOURSELF!! Don’t repeat structures Don’t use many empty words (thing, nice…). Don’t repeat the same word in the same sentence or paragraph.

4. GRAMMATICAL & LEXICAL ACCURACY

BE CAREFUL!! Verbal tenses Subject/verb agreement (“s” in 3rd person singular!). Prepositions Collocations (e.g. make a cake, do sport) Spelling Punctuation

REVISE YOUR TEXT

ANSWER KEY

HEADING MATCHING LISTENING

NEWS ON THE RADIO

EXTRACT 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7LETTER B H I J G E A C

MULTIPLE CHOICE LISTENING

1. The presenter is talking to _____.a) a science correspondentb) an astronomerc) the founder

2. In 1960 Frank Drake was working _____.a) as an astronomerb) in a video shopc) for Apple

3. The interview is about a project to _____.a) look for life in spaceb) release classified documentsc) detect radiation on Earth

4. Frank Drake called his original experiment _____.a) Green Bankb) Ozmac) SETI@home

5. More than 5 million _____ are taking part in the project.a) volunteersb) studentsc) astronomers

6. In 2010 the project celebrated its _____.a) 20th anniversaryb) 40th anniversaryc) 50th anniversary

7. The main SETI@home servers are _____.a) all around the worldb) at the University of Californiac) in Germany

8. By the end of 2010 they _____.

a) had found some indications of lifeb) had collected 5,000 messages from spacec) hadn't found any signs of life

TRUE OR FALSE LISTENING

IMMIGRANTS: THE CALAIS PROBLEM

T / F0 F1 T

2 F

3 T

4 T

5 F

IMMIGRANTS: THE STORY OF A MEXICAN IMMIGRANT

T / F

6 F

7 T

8 T

9 F

10 F

GAP-FILLING LISTENING

DEALING WITH A PHOBIA

1. Afraid of flying

2. avoid flying completely

3. practical reasons

4. have contact

5. breathing exercises (learning to relax)

HEADING-MATCHING READING

BRITAIN AND KNIFE CRIME

TEXT 0 1 2 3 4 5

LETTER H C A I B G

MULTIPLE CHOICE READING

BRITAIN RELEASES SECRET UFO RECORDS

1. C2. A3. A4. B5. A

TRUE OR FALSE READING

CLIMATE CHANGE

- F- ?- T- T- F- F- F- F

CLOZE TEST

ANSWER KEY

0. WHY

1. LEAVING 11. OTHERS

2. WHAT 12. TO

3. ALL 13. FOLLOWED

4. LIVES 14. LATER

5. WHICH 15. WHO

6. THOSE 16. MIGHT

7. FEARLESS 17. NOT

8. ONE 18. ALSO

9. HALF 19. IT

10. KNOWN 20. LIKELY

SCANNING READING