You are on page 1of 18

[


(http://www.atheneum.gr/english/). , tests, , :

http://www.atheneum.gr/english/

: username: kkouvel password: kkouvel


, , .

General Information for the State Language Certificate


The State Language Certificate (KPG) is an examination program, which focuses on the certification of different levels of knowledge in a foreign language. In other words it examines the level of ability of understanding that a person has developed in writing and speaking the particular language. Those who are eligible to participate in these examinations are Greek citizens or expatriates, European Union citizens, or foreigners who are legally staying in Greece. The KPG examinations check and evaluate the knowledge of different foreign languages particularly among Greek users. Therefore, they take into consideration the social circumstances of the language used and measure communication and negotiation skills from the Greek language to any other foreign language. This contrasts with other evaluating systems which design the examinations in only one language, independent of the user and the environment in which it is used. The design of these examinations was based on: a united framework of programmes for all languages and common specifications set by examination boards for measuring the understanding and production of written and oral language. The evaluation system was designed on the basis of international experience. The knowledge levels that are certified were determined by the scale of the learning levels specified by the European Committee Report on the Common Framework for Languages. The KPG is not in competition with other international awarding bodies, which provide language certification in Greece on the behalf of other foreign organisations. However, the KPG has no commercial interest and does not operate for profit. It is not system of certification that has been developed for financial gain. It is supported and subsidised by the state, so the cost of participation for the candidates is nominal. The Ministry of Education and Religion Affairs has entrusted a Central Examination Board for the design, preparation and supervision of the examinations. The Board is comprised of experienced and specialist University lecturers. The educational support is undertaken by the department of Foreign Languages and Literature at the Universities of Athens and Thessaloniki. The educational responsibility for the course content of every language is overseen by a recognised and validated member of the two universities mentioned above. The KPG exams which are organised by the Department for Certification of Foreign Language Learning, part of the Ministry of

Education and Religion Affairs, are held twice a year (in May and November)and are well-supported by the fully - equipped tertiary education system. In the first phase of the KPG system in (April2003) examinations were designed and implemented at 'upper intermediate' level (B2 on the European Council System) in 4 languages: English, French, German and Italian. In 2007 B1 level 'Intermediate' was introduced and in May 2008 a combined exam for A1+A2 ('Beginner + Elementary') was introduced. In November2008 'full mastery' C2 level will be examined for the first time in Spanish. The full expansion of the system has already been designed so that very soon all 6 graded levels will be examined and certified. The educational and administrative support for these examinations by experienced and specialised personnel, contributed to the direct award of this new institution, which is now considered a particularly competitive and reliable system of certification language learning. Thus it is already recognized as evidence of knowledge of a foreign language in most Institutes of Higher Education in this country. It is also recognised by ASEP. It is included in the all bilateral education agreements that are contracted by the Ministry. A concerted effort is being made to inform the appropriate institutions responsible in all EU countries, and brief them about the KPG.

Introduction to the KPG C2 Course


Prerequisites for the KPG C2 Course
Before starting the course, it is assumed that you already have a good command of the English language. This should be at least up to B2 level on the scale of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. This is the same as Cambridge Level 3 (Lower) or the equivalent qualification. The level of difficulty and knowledge of English you will encounter in the early part of the course should therefore be similar to your current ability. In the next 12 months this course will take you from B2 level, through C1 (Advanced) and onto C2 (Proficiency).The whole course is taught entirely in English.

We strongly recommend that before starting the course, you review and revise the English you already know. Find your old text books, exercise books, notes etc... and read them again. You should already be familiar with their contents, but having another look at them will help you a great deal. It will reinforce what you already know, and refresh your memory for things you may have forgotten. This will serve as both a solid foundation, and a bridge between your current knowledge and the rest of the C2 programme. Study Time Self-discipline is by far the most important criterion for the successful completion of any course. This is especially true of this programme. You must be very rigorous with your study plans, and find the time to work on the course every week. You must complete the weekly programme, which we give you as an absolute minimum requirement. In addition, we expect you to read books, newspapers, magazines, and view internet sites in English. You should also watch TV programmes and DVDs both with and without subtitles. The more you do this the better you will get at understanding, speaking and writing English. You should spend at least 5hours per week dedicated to learning English using a combination of these methods. Please read the section called "Specific work for C2 papers" which explains this in more detail. Student Forum As an aid to encouraging student participation and integration, an online forum is provided through which both students and tutors may interact. This may be used for general discussion, guided debates, general chat or simply as a means of making friends with other students on the course. Course Monitoring. Your progress will be constantly monitored all the way through the course by the tutors, who are all native English speakers. The platform on which the course is designed permits the tutors to see which exercises you have completed, and the grades you have achieved. It also allows them to give you written feedback in the form of corrected essays and useful comments. In order for you to gain practice and experience with your spoken English, additional face - to - face aural tutorials are also regularly scheduled.

Many of the exercises are automatically marked by the platform, giving you instant results. If you have difficulty answering a question, hints are provided, and of course the correct answers may also be viewed. When calculating the grades for the exercises however, the system will take into account the number of correct answers, mistakes, requested hints and attempts, and will calculate your score accordingly. Your score then represents a true reflection of your current ability in performing the particular task. The Course Format. The 12 month course starts with a full-length B2 exam, which designed to check your current level of English. If you have already previously achieved B2 level, or equivalent, you will find this exam fairly straightforward. The main course itself then begins and is split into two main parts. Part 1 consists of 28 weeks of theory and exercises. These increase in difficulty as the course progresses, leading up to C2 level. Included in the exercises each week is a sample of one of the papers in the KPG exam format. These are only half- length papers to start with, but build up to full-length later in the course. At regular intervals in the course we will also give you full-length C1 exams for you to complete. This gives both us and you the opportunity to further measure your progress at the level between B2 and C2. In part 2 of the course you will complete a full-length C2 exam every week for 20 weeks. These will all be done under exam conditions. This will prepare you very well for the actual C2 exam which you should take shortly after completing the course. If you do everything we recommend, you should be able to not only pass the C2 exam, but also get a good grade too! There will naturally be short breaks from the course for Easter, Christmas and a longer break for the summer holidays.

Study Requirements
Below is a list of recommendations and a lot of good advice which you must not ignore. We want to you get the most out of

this course and to reach the level required to pass the KPG C2 exam. Please do not ignore any of the following points.

STUDENTS MUST DO ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:


1.Log in to the course EVERY WEEK, using your username and password, and complete all the exercises and other tasks required. 2.Read the list of theory topics for that week are on the left of the page. Begin at the top and work your way down. On the right of the page you will see the theory explained in simple terms with plenty of examples. Read this carefully and understand it. 3.After every few topics covered, there is a short test for you to complete based on the topics. These tests come in a variety of formats. Read the instructions carefully and then answer the questions. 4.The final test each week is a small sample of one of the exam papers. These will get longer and more complicated as the course progresses. 5.There is usually an example completed for you at the beginning of each test. If you are having difficulty with a particular question, you can ask for a hint to help you. If you are still unable to answer the question, you can ask for the full answer. Assessment 1.The system tells you which questions you have got wrong and calculates a final mark for you after every exercise. You should attempt the wrong questions again, and try to get the correct answer. The final mark will improve if you do this. However the system will know the number of times you have attempted the question, and will not give you some, but not full, marks for it. If you ask the system to give you the answer or fail to answer, you will not get a mark for that question. 2.You may also try the whole test again as a new attempt. 3.The tutors will check the system to see which sections you have viewed, and what marks you obtained for each test. In this way we will be able to monitor your progress regularly. 4.The exercises and exam questions for Paper 1(Reading Comprehension) and Paper 3 (listening Comprehension) will be marked automatically by the system. Essays for paper 2 will be marked by the tutors and returned to you with comments. We will be meeting you regularly for speaking practice for Paper 4.

Tips for Studying 1.Allocate yourself enough time in your schedule every week to sit somewhere that is peaceful and has internet access. You can then concentrate on reading and understanding the weekly theory and completing the exercises and exam questions undisturbed. 2.Develop a system for making additional notes which best suits you. These may be grammar rules, syntax, examples of collocation, vocabulary, idioms, or phrasal verbs. In other words, anything you find useful to reinforce what you are learning from both the platform and also from other sources. 3.If you make mistakes, learn from them! 4.Sometimes you will be given research tasks to perform in addition to the exercises. This will normally require you to find more examples of words or expressions relating to a particular subject. You must try and do the research. In the process of further exploring the particular subject, you will learn more vocabulary and become familiar with other sources of information. You may wish to share these on the forum with other students. 5.You must have hard copies (i.e. books) of the following: a) A good English Dictionary b) A good Greek - English / English - Greek Dictionary c) An English Thesaurus Dictionary d) A Book of Phrasal Verbs e) A Book of English Idioms 6. Any textbooks containing advanced English grammar are also very useful. These will all be extremely helpful for you in every aspect of the course, and are items which you will keep for ever afterwards. It is worth investing in them! Books published by Oxford or Cambridge University Press are especially good. Learn how to use them effectively, and do so regularly. You may even occasionally just browse through them for fun. You will be surprised how much you can learn just by doing this! 7. Microsoft Word has a spell-checker (F7), a Thesaurus (Shift +F7) and can also have a translation option installed. In addition there many internet sites which do all the above and also offer grammar tips.

For all the papers and exercises, make sure you have understood all the theory and completed all the exercises you are given every week. Check any wrong answers and learn from your mistakes. In addition to the work we give you, we also expect you to do extra work in your own time for each paper, as is explained below.

Paper 1 Reading Comprehension.


You must read as much English as possible. Books, newspapers, magazines and websites are all very good sources. We will recommend various sources throughout the course. The following websites are a very good starting point: The BBC site: www.bbc.co.uk The ITN site: www.itn.co.uk The CNN site www.cnn.com These are all very large sites with extensive archive materials, which allow you to read, see and hear a huge range of articles about every subject you can imagine. Also for more detailed information, and for research purposes, the online encyclopaedia wikipedia is absolutely fantastic. You can decide on a subject that interests you and follow links to other articles or links to other sites. It also contains a dictionary and Thesaurus. Wikipedia(English) site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page It is a very good idea to buy two copies of some popular novels: one in English, and one translated into Greek. You can then read

10

the novel in English, and if you get stuck, you can read the Greek translation. Conversely, you can read passages in the Greek version and practice translating them into English. This is a great way of learning English and enjoying the book and the experience too!

Paper 2 Essay Writing.


Read the corrections and comments from tutors when your essays are marked and returned to you. Apart from the essays you are given as part of the course, you should try and write as often as you can. If it helps you to think more clearly, write your essays first in Greek, and then translate them. Carefully plan the content of your essays so that you cover all the main points you are trying to make clearly. The essays you need to write for the exam are quite short, but can nevertheless be structured to have a beginning (introduction), a middle section (development of ideas) and an end (conclusion). Individual paragraphs should be similarly structured.

Paper 3 Listening Comprehension.


Listen to as much spoken English as possible . Online sources, such as the BBC, ITN, and CNN websites mentioned above, have extensive collections of news items, archives of interviews, and special features. You can follow a particular subject by clicking on related links and study it more in depth and hear reports and reviews written by some of the best journalists and writers in the world. Other websites such as 'Youtube' can also be a great source. Youtube website: www.youtube.com Also watch lots of TV programmes in English. If possible record the programmes so that you can play back sections you do not understand. Try and watch both with reading the subtitles and without. Again the translations will help you to understand

11

difficult passages. Learn from these and make notes for future reference. Exactly the same is true for DVDs. Watch them both with and without subtitles. Some films may be hard to understand because the language used is very colloquial or the actors are speaking with strong regional accents. The film may also contain a lot of background noise and sound effects, or the sound quality of the dialogue may be poor. This is all good for you as it simulates real life. Choosing films with more dialogue than action is preferable to begin with, as these often allow you to hear what is being said more clearly.

Paper 4 Spoken English.


You will have several sessions scheduled with tutors in order to practice spoken English. You will still be expected however to speak English as much as possible in between these sessions. This can be accomplished by you contacting friends who speak English very well and spending time conversing with them. You can also practice by reading out loud passages from the reading sources previously mentioned for paper 1 practice above. You may also practice by repeating phrases, sentences and whole passages from sources you listen when practicing for paper 3. Just repeating the words gives you confidence in pronunciation, meaning and context. It will also help you to develop your knowledge of English grammatical structures, idioms, collocations and so on. If possible, record yourself speaking on any simple system, and listen to the playback. If it sounds wrong, try again improve it.

12

13

14

15

16

17

atheneum@otenet.gr Atheneum Liberal Studies 2011

18

You might also like