St Giles College

Cambridge CELTA Language Awareness Task

Name
Section 1: Learning and Teaching
Here are some statements about English language learning and teaching. Indicate using the dropdown menu how much
you agree with them.
1 = disagree and 10 = agree

Example- Language is primarily about communication. 6

Grammatical accuracy should be the main

1
focus of English language lessons.
Good actors should be good teachers because
2
they are used to having an audience.
A good learner will expect to be corrected
3
every time they make a mistake.
A good teacher will know the answers to any
4
language questions that occur in a lesson.

Choose one of your above answers and, in the box below, write between 70
and 100 words to explain your answer.

Sentence number
Section 2: Verb Tenses
There are three pairs of sentences below. Only ONE of each pair is correct. Tick the correct sentence, name both tenses
(in bold) and answer the follow-up question – as in the example.

Example
a She's been eating five bananas.

b She's eaten five bananas. ✔

Tenses a Present perfect continuous.

b Present perfect simple.

Which of these verb forms refers to a completed action?

Answer Present perfect simple.

1. I’d love to come to your party on Saturday

a
but I’ll go to the theatre with friends
I’d love to come to your party on Saturday
b
but I’m going to the theatre with friends.

Tenses a

Which of these verb forms refers to an arranged future?

Answer

2.
a Where’s Fred? He’s doing the washing up.

b Where’s Fred? He does the washing up.

Tenses a

Which one describes an action in progress at the time of speaking?

Answer
 3. If I hadn’t gone to that party, we would
a
never have met.
If I didn’t go to that party, we would never
b
have met.

Tenses a

Now complete the following sentences in your own way (ie nothing about
parties or meeting!) so that they are correct English and make sense.
Answer

If I hadn’t gone

If I didn’t go

Section 3: Form and Meaning

As in section two, you have three pairs of sentences. Only ONE of each pair is correct. Tick the correct sentence
and give a brief explanation – as in the example below.

Example
a I like watching at old photographs.

b I like looking at old photographs.

‘watch’ isn’t followed by a preposition – you watch things, not ‘at’ them! But even without
the preposition, ‘watch’ would still be wrong in this sentence, because you watch moving
things/images e.g. T.V. programmes. A photograph is stationary, so you really need to
use ‘look at’

1 a How much milk is there in the fridge?

b How many milk is there in the fridge?
 2 a He works hard.

b He works hardly.

3 He robbed an old grandmother of her life savings.

a
b He stole an old grandmother of her life savings.

Section 4: Synonyms
In this section, there are three sets of sentences. You’re given two alternative words in each case. In some
sentences, both words may be possible, in others only one may be possible. Select those that are possible.
The first pair has been given as an example.

Example
slim ✔ thin ✔
She was a slim / thin girl with long red hair.
He was finally rescued looking thin / slim and pale after 10 days slim thin ✔
without any food.
Beware: Slim / Thin ice! slim thin ✔
Your chances of winning anything in the lottery can only be
described as slim / thin. slim thin
✔

1
Her husband was an idle / a lazy good-for-nothing who never lifted a idle lazy
finger around the house.
This government will not respond to idle / lazy speculation. idle lazy
The factory remained idle / lazy for several months until a new owner
was found. idle lazy
I sometimes enjoy an idle / a lazy Saturday morning lounging about
in front of the telly. idle lazy
2
Can you reach that file on the top shelf? It’s a bit too high / tall for me.
high tall
I watched the climbers until they were so tall / high that they appeared
as tiny specks against the clouds. high tall
The city skyline was broken by the silhouettes of tall / high thin factory
chimneys. high tall
I was never really tall / high enough to get into the school basketball
team. high tall

3
I just don’t know where to begin / start. begin start
He wants to begin / start his own IT company.
begin start
Can you tell me what time lessons begin / start in the morning?
The battery was flat but we managed to begin / start the car by begin start
pushing it down the hill.
begin start

Now, choose ONE of the pairs of words and write a brief explanation of the similarity and
difference in meaning . Here is an example about ‘slim’ and ‘thin’.

Both of these words mean ‘not fat’, but ‘slim’ has a more positive connotation – you’d be happier to be
called ‘slim’ than ‘thin’, because ‘thin’ suggests ‘unhealthy’. That’s why someone suffering from
malnutrition could only be called ‘thin’. When you’re talking about things, ‘thin’ is normally the opposite of
‘thick’ when you’re measuring something. A ‘slim chance’ is a metaphorical expression meaning that you
have very little chance of success.

Section 5: Syllable Stress

The word ‘banana’ has three syllables. The second syllable is stressed. Try stressing the other syllables
and hear how strange the word sounds. Select the number of the syllable which carries the main stress,
as in the example.

Banana 2 Understand Injure Geology Geological Matchbox

Democrat Democratic Demand Comfortable

Section 6: Vowels
The words ‘leak’ and ‘need’ have the same vowel sound (although they are spelt differently). Find 8 pairs that share
the same vowel sound from the following list and write them below. Then add another word which has the same
vowel sound. The first has been done for you as an example.

leak heard
leak need scene
bread bin
could dawn
put laugh
need heart
four friend
wash turn
pool hot
sill soup

Section 7: Professionalism
Teaching, more often than not, involves working for an organisation and working with colleagues. Briefly
outline what you believe to be desirable qualities in a fellow teacher and an employee in a school. (100
words).
Section 8: Written Assignment
Choose ONE of the essay titles below and write between 250 and 350 words in
normal academic prose (ie the type of writing you’d need to do for a university
assignment).

The benefits of learning a foreign language

The qualities of an ideal language teacher
The strengths and weaknesses of the education system in my country
An evaluation of a coursebook I have used (as a language student or teacher)
The reasons for the growing status of English as an international language

This is the end of the language awareness test. Please save the document and return it as an
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