Over the last decade B2 First for Schools has become a household name in Greece amongst ambitious secondary-school students and parents alike. It’s the most popular Cambridge English Qualification in the country, as it’s set at B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), the level that thousands of Greek teenagers aspire to and for many...
Can high-quality lesson content reinforce L2 learners’ self-confidence? Can demanding subject matter contribute to learners’ long-term establishing of self-esteem? Solid language foundation is a long-term development and so is the quality of self-belief, at least for a respectable number of second language learners. The two entities are inherently...
Nick Saville, Director of Research and Thought Leadership, Cambridge Assessment English
Greece has always played an important role in English language assessment and has become a hotbed of research and discussion in our sector. But what does the future of assessment hold for Greece and beyond?
In many ways the restrictions we’ve all faced this year as...
One of the significant challenges educators face in their writing classes today is motivating students to write compositions for high stakes exams when the reason they write is unclear or is lacking in interest. What if we could take this so-called tedious and mundane task and turn it around just enough to stir up some curiosity and meaning?
By Dr...
By Katherine Reilly - Teacher Trainer and Author
Procrastination is a trait most people are familiar with. How many times have you been faced with a challenge you would inadvertently or purposely delay because you couldn’t find the energy or desire to accomplish it? Lack of motivation is usually the cause and this is a concern most teachers aspire to...
Constructs are powerful entities, casually considered self-evident. A set of constructs is bequest and left to drive our decisions, attitude and conduct. They are omnipresent, pervasive and often unrecognized as such; thereby, they are risky because they can hijack our ability for good judgement. Compatibility, the sense of familiarity and increased...
“Weighing the pig won’t make it fatter. Feeding it will. ”
In Greece we’ve been experiencing this dystopic, unprecedented situation, where teenage (or even younger) students collect “degrees” in foreign languages. We’ve got special names for them, unique to us, with the ‘Lower’ being the most prevalent among them. Parents and teachers’ pride and joy is...
New era, new standards, new challenges, new me, new students, new everything. Or not really?
In my country the question of whether online education is the way to go during lockdown has been hot. Burning hot. And there have been two answers. Clear, distinct, vociferous: yes and no. Funny, right? In reality, the question boils down to yes or no to...
By Anthony Antonopoulos, BA & MA EFL Teacher specialized in ICT- Vlogger
A year or so ago, I met my partner in a conversational class while I was teaching in Scotland. Ever since, we’ve been continuously exchanging languages. She’s learning English and I’m learning Italian. We’ve spent hours talking about English and Italian grammar, vocabulary...
