Websites to practice your English

Here are some student websites from Cambridge University Publishers that you can use to practice your English.

• Interchange Arcade - 3 levels
• 
  
• Touchstone Arcade - 4 levels
  
• 
  
• Connect Arcade - 4 - levels

These sites were requested by Hamza, a student in Mrs. Khadija's KET Preparation class.

Thank You Hamza!

IELTS Workshop

Yethreb staff and IELTS preparation students attended a workshop at the British Council. The workshop was presented by Sue O'Connell, author of the book Focus on IELTS as well as other exam preparation books and focused on the grammar and vocabulary necessary for students preparing to sit the IELTS exam.

A resource suggested by Ms. O'Connell was the Academic Word List. The most frequent word list can be downloaded as a PDF file: Most Frequent Words PDF

There are also some online exercises available for each sublist.

You can find them here: Academic Word List exercises

We'd like to thank the British Council, Tripoli for allowing us to attend the workshop and thank you to Ms. O'Connell for sharing with us her knowledge about English and IELTS.

English Exam Preparation Courses

Preparation courses for Cambridge University English as a Second Language (ESOL) as well as preparation for IELTS are offered at Yethreb Institute. Below is an overview of the exams and some practice tests. For information about enrolling in exam preparation courses please drop by the office or call us 360 4565.

• Cambridge Key English Test (KET)

Difficulty level: 1 elementary
The Key English Test is the easiest of the Cambridge exams.

Who is it for?
Do this test if you want to know your studies have started well and you have a basic knowledge of reading, writing, speaking and listening.

What is the KET test like?
The test has three sections:

1. Reading & Writing - 70 minutes
2. Listening - 25 minutes
3. Speaking - 8-10 minutes

You can do these free practice tests: Grammar Test, Vocabulary Test


Yethreb Institute offers Cambridge University KET preparation courses. For information about enrolling in courses please drop by the office or call us 360 4565.

• Cambridge Preliminary English Test (PET)

Difficulty level: 2 low intermediate
The Preliminary English Test is one of the Cambridge exams.

Who is it for?
Do this test if you want to know that you have an intermediate level of English. With this level of English you will enjoy holidays in English speaking countries. You should probably continue studying once you have passed the PET exam.

What is the PET test like?
The test has three sections:

1. Reading and Writing - 90 minutes
2. Listening - 30 minutes
3. Speaking - an interview, 10 minutes

You can do these free practice tests: Reading Test

Yethreb Institute offers Cambridge University PET preparation courses. For information about enrolling in courses please drop by the office or call us 360 4565.

• Cambridge First Certificate of English (FCE)

Difficulty level: 3 upper intermediate
The First Certificate in English is the most important of the Cambridge exams.

Who is it for?
Pass this test and everybody knows you have an acceptable level of English. You can operate effectively in a business or social context.

What is the FCE test like?
The test has five sections:

1. Reading - 75 minutes
2. Writing - 2 essays, 90 minutes
3. Use of English - 90 minutes
   
4. Listening - 40 minutes
   
5. Speaking - interview, normally with another candidate, 15 minutes

You can do these free practice tests: Use of English Test, Listening Test, Writing Test


Yethreb Institute offers Cambridge University FCE preparation courses. For information about enrolling in courses please drop by the office or call us 360 4565.

• IELTS, the International English Language Testing System

Designed to assess the language ability of candidates who need to study or work where English is used as the language of communication. IELTS is required for entry to university in the UK and other countries.

Who is it for?
IELTS is recognised by universities and employers in many countries, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. It is also recognised by professional bodies, immigration authorities and other government agencies.
More than 700,000 people a year take the test.

What is the IELTS test like?
You can choose between the Academic or General Training versions of the test. All candidates do the same Listening and Speaking sections.
The test has four sections:

1. Listening - 4 sections, 40 questions, 30 minutes
2. Speaking - interview, 15 minutes
3. Reading - different for Academic or General Training - 3 sections, 40 questions, 60 minutes
4. Writing - different for Academic or General Training - 2 pieces of writing, 60 minutes

You can do these free practice tests: Listening 1, Listening 2, Reading 1, Reading 2, Reading 3, Writing 1, Vocabulary 1, Vocabulary 2

Yethreb Institute offers IELTS preparation courses. For information about enrolling in courses please drop by the office or call us 360 4565.

IELTS - Academic Reading

Here is a website that has some IELTS reading tests to practice online: IELTS SELF ACCESS

A Video Quiz!

Watch a video about the smallest restaurant in the world and then answer the questions. The video is funny and interesting. You will find it by clicking on the picture above or on this link: The Smallest Restaurant in the World

Topic Specific Exercises

The topic this week in the IELTS preparation class is ENVIRONMENT. You can find many English exercises about the environment at The Web Language Lab. They also have exercises about other topics that we'll be studying about in the IELTS preparation course.

Take some time over the holiday and see how many of the exercises you can complete. When we return after the break we will continue with the topic GM foods (genetically modified). There's an exercise about that topic too: The Web Language Lab

Enjoy your holiday!

Feeling Vocabulary Exercises

Here are 15 exercises using vocabulary about feelings. To visit the webpage click on the image above or on this link: Feelings

At the movies

The FCE (First Certificate English) students are discussing movies in Unit 8. Here's a fun website that will help you improve your English using movie trailers.

What's a movie trailer? A movie trailer is a commercial for a film.

On this website you can watch many different trailers and work on English exercises about each film. It's lot's of fun! - Click on the image above or on this link: http://www.english-trailers.com/index.php to visit the English Trailers website.

More Practice for FCE students

Here are some links to websites that have exercises relating to things you have been working on in class.

Indirect Questions

Wh- Questions

Easier Wh- Question exercise

More Wh- Questions

Yes/No Questions

Intonation Exercise

BBC Arabic site for English learners

The BBC has a wonderful site for Arabic speakers who are learning English. It's full of interesting things to read and listen to. There are many activities to help you learn. To visit the site, click on the image above or on this link: BBC Arabic for English Learners

Pronunciation & Phonetics

This is a fantastic interactive site to help you with pronunciation and phonetics!
Using this website is a fun way to learn!
Click on the image above or on this link: Pronunciation & Phonetics

Daily Quiz

There is a new quiz every day at GetTOEFL. The quizzes are useful for students who are planning to take the TOEFL test but they are also useful for IELTS, FCE, Upper Intermediate and Advanced level students.

Here's the link: GetTOEFL

Passive Voice

Here's a simple explanation of Passive Voice with lots of exercises for practice and revision. Click on the image above or visit the site with this link: English Grammar Online 4U - Passive Voice

Passive Voice is found in Unit 11A of the FCE students' course book.

Making Sentences

Try this exercise just for fun. How many sentences can you make? Click on the image to play the game or on this link: Silly Sentence Game

English, baby!

Here's a website that has a different English lesson everyday. The lessons are fun and interesting. Each lesson has reading and listening - two skills that all the students need to improve. There are also vocabulary quizzes in each lesson. Click on the image above to visit the site or click on this link: English, baby!

Irregular Past Simple Verb Exercise

Here's an exercise to help you practice the past simple forms of irregular verbs. Click on the image above or on this link: ESLgo irregular verbs

PET & FCE - Practice Exercises

The deadline to register for the upcoming Cambridge University English exams is on October 29th. If you are interested in taking any of these exams you will need to make sure to register as soon as the Ramadan break is finished.

To help you prepare for the exams here are some online exercises:

PET Paper 1 - Reading Test

FCE Exam Practice: Word Formation (Paper 3 Part 5)

Cooking Verbs Vocabulary Exercise

Here's a fun exercise to keep you busy this Ramadan. How much do you know about vocabulary for foods and verbs used for cooking? Click on the image above to work on the exercise or on this link: Cooking Verbs

The Learning Edge

Here's a fun website that has lots of activities. Click on the articles in the newspaper and listen and read, then click on:

at the bottom of the window to work on the exercises related to that article.

Click here to get started: The Learning Edge

Unforgettable - Song Exercise

Here's a music video with a gap fill exercise. Click on the image above to visit the site or on this link: Unforgettable

Be patient - it may take a while for the video to load. But after that you can listen to it over and over again, and do the exercise at the same time.