November 2016
BRITISH COUNCIL
STUDENT MAGAZINE Doctor IELTS the man with the answers
www.britishcouncil.co
What we do
find out more about our activities
Who we are
Meet our teachers and staff behind the scene
2nd Edition
CONTENTS Getting
to know you - Teachers - Students - Office staff
Doctor
IELTS the man with the answers
Joke
of the month
Website
English Idiom
of the month Interactive
of the month
Spanglish Crossword
competition
A WARM WELCOME Hello, and welcome to the second edition of the British Council Student Magazine. We are already in the final term of 2016 – can you believe it? It feels like yesterday that I was writing the welcome to our first edition. I guess it’s true what they say - times flies! Many thanks for your interest in and feedback on the first edition of this magazine. In fact, some of you have expressed an interest in writing articles for the magazine, which is not only great to hear but also a fantastic way to practise your English! Please get in touch if you would like to get involved. Since the last edition we have had the British Council Pub Quiz in La Villa, which was a great success once again. Students and staff came, answered questions about UK and Colombian culture and enjoyed a few drinks. Together we raised 320,000 Pesos which has been donated to Oxfam International. This edition includes more interviews, tips and more to satisfy your English-learning needs. As always, thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy your classes this term.
Best wishes, Alex and The Student Magazine Team 2
British Council Student Magazine
TEACHER INTERVIEW
RICHARD MAYNE Where exactly are you from?
What do you like about your job?
Milton Keynes. It’s a city near London. It’s famous for having lots of roundabouts and concrete cows.
It’s a great job. You get to meet interesting people and provide a service that genuinely helps them in life.
What do you like the most about Colombia? The music. I started listening to Bomba Estereo and Pernett years ago, and it got me interested in Colombia.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time? Watching the most glorious football team in the world (Liverpool) What do you miss about your home country? I suppose I miss some food that it’s difficult to get here (nice tea, gravy, cheese etc). Apart from that I don’t really think about it too much.
Concrete cows - Milton Keynes
British Council Student Magazine
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Foto: La obra Dead Dog in a Suitecase(and other Love Songs) participó en la pasada edición del FITB gracias al British Council.
LA LABOR CULTURAL DEL BRITISH COUNCIL
MUCHO MÁS QUE UN INSTITUTO DE INGLÉS Desde que el British Council abrió sus puertas en nuestro país, no ha ahorrado esfuerzos para afianzar las relaciones entre Colombia y Reino Unido a través de un serio y comprometido intercambio cultural. Tom Miscioscia, nuevo director del British Council en Colombia, es el encargado de continuar con esta tarea.
Muchos colombianos nos hemos acercado a las instalaciones del British Council con la intención de aprender uno de los idiomas más hablados del mundo, o con el ánimo de obtener el diploma requerido para ingresar a universidades angloparlantes. Lo que no muchos saben es que, en realidad, el British Council es mucho más que un instituto en el que se enseña inglés, y que su labor en Colombia (que cumplió ya 77 años) ha tenido un enorme impacto en el ámbito cultural del país. Para entender realmente en qué consiste esta organización y la razón de su presencia en más de 100 países en todo el mundo, es necesario remontarse a sus orígenes. En medio del conmocionado inicio del siglo XX, casi 20 años después de la Primera Guerra Mundial y ad portas de la Segunda, los Británicos comprendieron que la defensa de su cultura y de sus tradiciones no podía darse solo en el terreno militar. Siguiendo el ejemplo de varios países europeos, la Corona Británica creó en 1935 el British Council, una organización independiente que tiene como objetivo dar a conocer la cultura británica y consolidar las relaciones entre Reino Unido y el resto del mundo. Cinco años después, el British Council abrió sus puertas en Colombia. Por supuesto, la enseñanza del inglés era un componente fundamental de su misión en el país: se contaron más de 400 alumnos en sus instalaciones en su primer año. Pero su labor trascendió el aspecto meramente idiomático, pues esta entidad participó activamente en la creación de varios colegios colombo-británicos en Bogotá, Cali y Medellín. Además, como se lee en las primeras páginas del libro que conmemora los 75 años del British Council en Colombia, el impacto cultural de esta organización se hizo sentir desde sus inicios con la creación de una biblioteca y con las proyecciones de películas británicas. Las cifras son contundentes: “En 1948, el Centro de Recursos en Bogotá reforzó su ya abultada colección con la llegada de 3.000 volúmenes nuevos. Las películas se proyectaban para todo público, llegando a la sorprendente cifra de 15.000 espectadores al mes en un momento que Bogotá no llegaba a los 700.000 habitantes”. Veinte años después, la biblioteca contaba con cerca de 10.000 volúmenes, 1.700 afiliados, y más de 1.000.000 de personas asistieron a las sesiones fílmicas.
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British Council Student Magazine
Desde entonces, la promoción de la cultura y el arte británicos han sido prioridad en la agenda del British Council en Colombia. Ni siquiera durante los difíciles años ochenta y noventa ha disminuido el ímpetu por apoyar las iniciativas artísticas y culturales en nuestro país. Esta organización ha acompañado el icónico Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogotá desde su fundación en 1988, un evento cultural de una magnitud sin precedentes en el país y que, dadas las circunstancias en las que vivíamos en esa época, su realización era “un acto de fe” (como lo afirmaba su primer eslogan). Más recientemente, en 2010, el British Council, en Colombia, estableció una sociedad con el Hay Festival, lo que ha permitido que cada año Cartagena (sede del Hay Festival en Colombia) sea anfitriona de lo mejor de la industria editorial y las letras británicas. Además de apoyar estos eventos, el British, como popularmente se conoce en nuestro país, apoya iniciativas como el intercambio de experiencias para apoyar la industria musical del país, a través del Bogotá Music Market; festivales independientes de cine como In-edit o ferias de arte como Barcú. A esto podría sumársele la transmisión de uno de los programas radiales más sofisticados de Reino Unido, que tiene el ánimo de descubrir nuevos músicos, como The Selector, que se transmite en la emisora Radiónica, de la Radio Nacional de Colombia. Así, a lo largo de estas siete décadas, la trayectoria del British Council en términos de arte y cultura se ha consolidado [...Ver todo el artículo en la url abajo.] 2016/10/26 / By: Francisco Giraldo Jaramillo / Bogotá Taken from: http://www.revistaarcadia.com/periodismo-cultural---revista-arcadia/articulo/el-british-council-en-colombia/57216
PREMICACIÓN INTERVIEW WITH As part of the activity lead the our Teaching Centre in the Bogotá Music Market 2016, we supported our Art department, the bands involved and the general public that attended this event with free English courses at any of our branches. The official price give away took place last week, and we would like to congratulate:
Andres Duque, Attendee Alfredo De la Fé, Band/Musician
British Council Student Magazine
In the picture from left to right: Alfredo De La Fé, Magally Sanchez, Sylvia Ospina (Directora de Artes del British Council), Andrés Duque, Julian Neale (Gerente del Teaching Centre)
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Doctor IELTS is here to help you with your IELTS-related questions. Doctor IELTS has been diagnosing exam-related problems for several years but wishes their identity to remain anonymous.
DOCTOR IELTS How can I prepare for the test, so I don’t get any surprises on the day? The key here is knowing the test lay-out and the kind of questions that come up. You can access hundreds of past papers online, so make sure you study the test format and get an idea of the different types of texts and recordings that come up in the reading and listening sections, and what kind of topics and questions come up in the writing and speaking sections. You should also practise under timed conditions – one of the biggest downfalls can be losing track of time in the exam. If the examiner says the time is up before you finish, you could lose lots of marks, so make sure you’re used to completing each section within the time limits! Writing is my biggest weakness…how can I improve? There 6
are
useful
online
resources,
like
www.ieltsbuddy.com, which list past writing tasks and real answers from people who took the exam and got a good grade. Pay attention to the specific language the authors use when answering the question, and how they structure their answers. It’s a good idea to try one of the writing tasks first, and then compare your answer to the model answer. You can then pick up on what you could have done differently, and apply that the next time you practise. It’s also a good idea to list useful language from the model answers. For example in Writing Task 1 (Academic), you will need lots of language for describing trends, so it’s a good idea to keep a glossary of words and phrases that you can use with different types of questions. You can do the same for Writing Task 2. The key is to be aware of the type of language you need to write the answers to both tasks, and make sure you know how to use that language in a sentence. British Council Student Magazine
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM INTERVIEW WITH
SOPHIA Tell us a bit about yourself. I grew up in North London and I’m half British, half Greek Cypriot. I’ve always been fascinated by Latin American culture, especially the diversity of Colombia, which is why I came here 7 years ago as a British Council Language assistant. I worked at a university in Boyacá for a year, teaching English to university students. It gave me the opportunity to travel around Colombia, and I fell in love with the country! After that I went back to the UK to finish my degree, worked in London in a recruitment company, and then spent some time in Athens, working in Sales and Marketing. Then, I came back to British Council Colombia as an intern for a UK project. It was a fantastic experience as I got to do lots of interesting things, like working at the Hay festival in Cartagena. I decided to apply for a more permanent role as Office Coordinator – and I got the job! I’ve been in this role for three years now. What does your job involve? I do a variety of things as Office Coordinator. I mainly support the country director in organising their agenda and setting up meetings with external stakeholders, I organize visits and agendas for management staff travelling to meet with our partners across Colombia or visiting other British Council offices for regional or Global meetings and I organize visits for partners and visiting British Council Student Magazine
colleagues to Colombia. I also set up and run internal training sessions on systems we use to measure the impact and scale of our work, as well as organizing internal staff events on a regular basis. I am also the EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) coordinator for British Council Colombia. This is an extra role which has the main aim of mainstreaming EDI – this involves running staff engagement workshops and EDI activities, ensuring that all colleagues are aware of their responsibilities in relation to EDI and that they are upheld in everything we do. What’s the best thing about your work? I really love the fact that I can work with people from all over the office – it gives me a real insight into all of the areas we work in and our stakeholders. I can interact with all of my colleagues in this role. What do you enjoy doing in your free time? I love cooking with friends, hiking in the mountains, visiting areas of natural beauty, going to the gym. I also love going out for drinks with friends every now and again, particularly somewhere where there’s salsa or Mexican food! 7
STUDENT PROFILE
Why are you studying English? I’m studying it because I like learning languages and I’d like to study a postgraduate course in English. English is a good skill to improve your career prospects. I’m also learning it because I speak to authors as a part of my job – I’m the only person in the office who can speak English!
How long have you been studying at the British Council? Well, I first started at the British Council in 2009. I studied for ten months before taking a break for a few years and I came back last year.
What do you enjoy about studying English?
Name: Sandra Contreras Level: Upper-intermediate Profession: Press Manager Hobbies: Swimming, reading, writing, eating out and chocolate Teacher: Alex Cade
I enjoy playing games in class and learning about words which have different meanings in different contexts. I love communicating in another language, especially when I’m on holiday abroad.
How much of your free time do you spend learning English? I use the Oxford Online Skills Program every evening to get extra practice. I enjoy challenging myself outside of class and chatting with my foreign friends in English. I also do BBC online quizzes and play games on a pronunciation app on my smartphone.
What recommendations would you give to other students?
“You have to be persistent to learn
You have to be persistent to learn a foreign language. Like any kind of learning, becoming proficient in another language is a process. You’ll always have set-backs and disappointments but you should keep trying. Don’t get frustrated!
a foreign language. Like any kind of learning…”
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British Council Student Magazine
Film Review: The girl on the train By Sandra Contreras
Photo taken from IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3631112/mediaviewer/rm1231545344
FILM REVIEW: THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
You don’t know her, but she knows you… This is a gripping and remarkable thriller, which will leave you breathless. This film is about Rachel´s story but it could be anyone’s story. She knows one thing that no one else does: the truth. She knows what happened that day, but will they believe what she saw? The girl on the train is a film based on the book written by Paula Hawkins. This film has a good pace and keeps you in suspense, as well as being better than the book. 5 millions copies of this book have been sold the United Kingdom and the USA. This book is also a best-seller in Colombia; it has been top of the charts since August 2015. The movie was released on October 7. It is directed by Tate Taylor and it stars Emily Blunt as Rachel Watson, who plays as a divorced and unemployed alcoholic, who commutes by train every morning at 8:04am, sitting in the same seat looking out of the same window. From her seat, she always stares at the same house, where she can see a happy couple who will change her life, because she saw something no one else did. In my opinion, this movie has a really good cast, production and it is a really good adaptation of the book. There are strong descriptions of Rachel´s life and the end is the most exciting part of the movie. This a film that is definitely worth watching; the story has twists and we can feel the guilt that disturbs each of the characters. British Council Student Magazine
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GETTING TO KNOW YOU
DEBORAH SCHAAP Where exactly are you from? I’m from Australia and the US. I was born in Kentucky to an Australian mom and a dad from New York. At the age of 11 I moved to Wisconsin, but I had always visited Australia as a child – in fact I took my first steps there! I moved to Australia when I was 20 for university and I stayed there for 10 years.
What do you like most about Colombia? The music and dancing, all of the different places you can visit and the warmth and friendliness of the people.
What do you like about your job? I love helping people and giving people another language to express themselves. I became a teacher after living in a village in Thailand where everyone said English was so necessary for getting a job. When I went back to Australia I did my English teaching course. I had a Colombian student there who also told me that English was essential for getting a good job – so that confirmed my desire to help people by teaching them English. I also love teaching children, because of their creativity.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
at the moment and I’m a certified diver so I go diving as much as possible. I just got my Advanced diving certificate!
What do you miss about your home country? For both countries I miss family more than anything.
I’m learning poi, which is an art where you dance spinning two cords in the air. There is a fire variant of it too where the cords are set alight. I also love dancing in general, knitting and gardening. I’m learning to play the guitar 10
British Council Student Magazine
How much of your free time do you spend studying English?
STUDENT PROFILE
Every day I listen to music in English, as well as watching TV series, but with subtitles. I also read the news in English every week and sometimes read technical documents en English, as this is sometimes necessary for my job. How long have you been studying at the British Council? I started here in 2013 or 2014 – I don’t remember exactly. My first level here was Elementary 4 and I stayed until completing Pre-intermediate 2, after which I spent a year in India doing an internship with a software company. It was great because it meant I could practise my English, and my level ended up improving a lot while I was there. Now I’m back and in Upper-Intermediate. Why are you studying English? Mainly because I’d like to travel and study abroad in the future. I really want to do an MSc in Software Architecture somewhere like Singapore, or possibly Australia or New Zealand. I’m planning on doing the IELTS exam soon so that I can start applying for courses. I thought about doing a course in the UK too, but most of the courses there are a year long, and I’d really like to do a two year course. What do you enjoy about studying English? I love having a chance to practise my English at the British Council, I really enjoy constantly being able to improve my skills, and learning new things from other students and teachers. I like how there is always a wide variety of topics in each course, as it makes the classes interesting.
Name: John Diaz Level: Upper-intermediate Profession: Systems Englineer Teacher: Rhiannon Lambe
What recommendations would you give to other students? Practise, practise, practise! I was really shy when I first started at the British Council, because I was really worried about my pronunciation. I knew the basic structures but I was too scared to speak! I lost that shyness here because the classes are so communicative – you have to speak in each lesson. My advice to other students would be to take advantage of that opportunity. Speak whenever you can as much as you can!
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MONTHLY MADNESS JOKE OF THE MONTH Teacher: Did your father help you with your homework? Student: No, he did it all by himself.
IDIOM OF THE MONTH
The ball is in your court This means it is the responsibility of someone else to make a decision because you have already given your advice or your opinion. “I gave you my advice and now the ball is in your court.” “I made them a good offer for their house and now the ball is in their court; they have to decide whether to accept it or not.” Do you have a similar expression in your language?
SPANGLISH Spanish speakers often say: “I want to know Europe” or “I want to travel and know new places.” These are incorrect. There are a few alternatives. You could say, for example: - I want to see Europe. OR I want to visit Europe. - I want to travel and experience/visit/see new places.
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British Council Student Magazine
ENGLISH AT HOME Website of the month
‘Appy English
Want to listen to things you are genuinely interested in but in English? Go to www.bbc.com/podcasts. There you can find a huge range of BBC radio programmes that have been edited to be downloaded to your smartphone, tablet or computer. You can download them and subscribe on your mobile phone via app stores.
One way to improve your pronunciation in English is to be able to differentiate between the different sounds in the language. A great app for this is Sounds – The Pronunciation App by MacMillan. It’s free and you can listen to all of the sounds by touching the interactive phonemic chart on your smartphone or tablet. You can listen to the sounds in isolation and as a part of a word, as well as access a vocabulary wordlist.
Categories include arts, business, comedy, culture, drama entertainment, music, news, religion, sports, and many more. In the ‘learning’ section you will also find podcasts specially produced for people who are studying English. Podcasts are a great way to listen to authentic radio programmes in English on a regular basis. And the best news? They are absolutely free!
You can even design your own practice activities by choosing the sounds you find difficult and the app will generate sound discrimination exercises specially for you! The app can be found www.macmillaneducationapps.com/ soundspron
NEXT PUB QUIZ /
here:
Christmas Special !
SO YOU THINK YOU’RE WISE We invite you to join us at our next fun filled Pub Quiz. When: Saturday 3rd of December 2016 Where: La Villa Bar, Cra. 14A # 83-56 Entry: 15,000 COP (which includes entry into the pub quiz, two drinks, the cost of the prize and money to a charity) Quiz teams: - Six people per team - Teams can include students, friends of students and teachers - You can invite up to 2 friends Please register by telephone 3259090 or at the front desk British Council Student Magazine
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TIPS FOR LEARNING Make a glossary After every lesson, make a list of the new words you learnt. It’s a good idea to put them into categories (verb, adjective, noun etc.), write down the the phonetics and then try to use them in different sentences. You can also write down the Spanish translation, just be careful – the word may not be used in the same way as in a Spanish sentence. You can also do this whenever you read an article in English, watch a movie or TV show, or listen to a podcast. Make use of English subtitles and audio scripts to enrich your vocabulary. Start by looking up the definition of a word, practising its pronunciation (you can listen to the word on most online dictionaries) and then writing an example sentence. Talk to people
Colloquial English To “be up” for something / doing something
Any chance you get, use your English in conversation. There are lots of opportunities to meet English speakers and other students learning English in Bogota through language exchanges. We have a social event every term too, which is a good chance for you to practise and meet other students, and to chat to the teachers. There are also free classes here such as Conversation Club and Book Club. Make use of them! The more you practise the better you get.
We use this expression when we ask another person if they want to do something with us, for example: Are you up for going to the cinema? – Would you like to go to the cinema with me?
Are you up for football? – Would you like to play/watch football with me? 14
British Council Student Magazine
STUDENT CROSSWORD COMPETITION!
*Terms and conditions apply.
...Fill in this crossword, and hand it in at reception for the chance to win a mystery prize*! Across
Down
2. You ________ money from a bank when you want to buy something.
1. off an aeroplane does this to leave an airport.
6. the sound a duck makes 7. November comes _______ December. 10. a person who constructs houses
2. an adjective to describe very hot weather or water 3. A Halloween vegetable 4. The opposite of far
12. a baby cat.
5. when you are angry with someone you might _______ with them.
14. You eat soup with this.
8. another word for a robot
16. the crime of destroying property
9. a synonym of ‘gift’.
18. the past tense of feel
11. The organs that you breathe with.
19. A place in a home where people cook food.
13. The past of teach.
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VISIT OUR BRANCHES Nogal Main Centre, Carrera 9 # 76 - 49, piso 5
Cedritos Colegio Anglo Colombiano, Avenida 19 # 152A - 48
Salitre Business Centre, Calle 26 # 57 - 41, Torre 7, Piso 5
Niza Montessori British School, Calle 128A # 72 - 59
Telephones: 325 9090 / 325 9091
Email: servicioalcliente@britishcouncil.org.co
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