METU/SFL

Dept. of Basic English Fall 2016-2017

BEGINNER-A GROUP
Assignment for the Semester Break
Congratulations! You have made it to the middle of the year. Now, you deserve a good long break. However,
it is important that you do not forget English. How? Below, you will find some advice.
- Create your own self-study program. A good idea is to do at least one reading and one listening text per
day.
- Make sure that you go over all of the materials.
- There will be a quiz about these texts (reading and listening texts) in the second semester.
- Buy the following books from the bookstore: More to Read 1 & Reader at Work II.

Part 1. Reading. Follow these steps:

1. Start with the low challenge texts. Go onto to the medium challenge texs.
2. Answer the questions. Time your reading. For short texts, give yourself 10 minutes. For long texts, give
yourself 15-20 minutes.
3. Check your answers. The books have answer keys.
4. Read the text again. Now, read all of the sentences in the text carefully.
5. Underline difficult sentences: long sentences or new grammar structures. Analyze them and try to
understand them.
6. Underline the new words. Use a dictionary to find explanations for the words. Make a note for the words.
7. Cover the text. Try to write words/sentences that you remember from the text.

Low challenge texts Medium challenge texts

OLR0.5 - Texts 66, 67,68, 69, 70,71,72

More to Read 1 Texts 1,2,4,5,6,7,8, 9,10 Texts 11,12,13,14, 17,19
RAW 1 Texts98,99,101,105,106,108,109 Texts 113,116,117,118,119,120

NOTE FOR STUDENTS WHO WANT EXTRA STUDY MATERIALS:

You may want to do more practice. If you want extra practice you can do the following:
- Do not forget that simply answering the questions and checking the answer key will NOT improve your
reading skill. READ everything in the text. Spend a lot of time working on each text. Understand
everything in each text. Then, your reading skill will improve.
- Do all of the texts in Reader at Work 1.
- Start to work on Reader at Work 2. The texts in that book are really challenging.
- If you want to do extra practice from More to Read 1, you can work on the following texts:
Miscellaneous: Texts 20-27
Culture: Texts 28,29,32, 34,35
Food and Health: Texts 62, 63
Animals: Texts 141, 142,143,144
Recreation and Leisure: Texts 158, 159

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Part 2. Listening: Follow these steps: Click on the links to go to the page with the listening activities.
You will hear different accents. It is a good idea to try to understand different accents. Also, the speed
is realistic. It is a good idea to listen to the texts a few times.
1. Work on the online questions and tasks. Then, check your answers online. Listen again if necessary.
2. Do the difficult questions again.
3. Read the scripts.
4. Find new words and check them in the dictionary.
5. Underline difficult sentences: long sentences, new grammar structures, etc. Try to understand them.
6. Underline new words. Use a dictionary to find explanations for the words. Make a note for the words.
7. Cover the script. Try to write words/sentences that you remember from the text.
Listening practice materials online: Reload the pages to start the video/audio.
1. BBC – B1 Listening – “Celebrations”
Link: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice/celebrations
2. BBC - B1 Listening – “Difficult Situations”
Link: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice/difficult-situations
3. BBC – B1 Listening – “Favorite Things”
Link: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice/favourite-things
4. BBC – B1 Listening – “Important people”
Link: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice/important-people
5. BBC – B1 Listening – “Favorite film”
Link: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice/my-favourite-film
6. BBC – B1 Listening – “Sports centers”
Link: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice/sports-centres
7. BBC– B1 Listening – “Describing people”
Link: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice/describing-people
8. Exam English – B1 Listening – “Education”
Link: http://www.examenglish.com/B1/b1_listening_education.htm
9. Exam English – B1 Listening – “Accommodation”
Link: http://www.examenglish.com/B1/b1_listening_accommodation.htm
10. Exam English – B1 Listening – “Free time activities”
Link: http://www.examenglish.com/B1/b1_listening_free_time.htm
11. Exam English – B1 Listening – “Holidays”
Link: http://www.examenglish.com/B1/b1_listening_holidays.htm

Suggested other web sites for language practice:

 Self-Access Center – Exam Archive: www.sac.metu.edu.tr Choose:

Beginner or Elementary levels / Fall semester
Listening Quizzes & Mid-Term Listening Sections
 News for low, medium and high levels:
http://www.newsinlevels.com/
 Randall’s listening lab – low, medium and high levels:
http://www.esl-lab.com/
 Practice materials for Elementary and Pre-Intermediate levels (choose Reading, Listening,
Grammar and Vocabulary)
http://www.examenglish.com/B1/index.php
 Tips on Speaking Tasks (Click on the links):
https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/exams/speaking-exams/typical-speaking-tasks

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