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First
Certificate
STAR
Teacher's Book
Luke Prodromou
MACMILLAN First
Certificate
STAR
Teacher’s Book
Luke Prodromou
MACMILLAN Macmillan Education
Between Towns Road, Oxford OX4 3PP
A division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Companies and representatives throughout the world
ISBN 0 435 26145 3
Text © Luke Prodromou 1998
Design and illustration © Macmillan Publishers Limited 1998,
First published 1998
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form, or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishers.
Designed by eMC Design
Cover photography by Magay Milner
‘The publishers would like to thank Sarah MacBurnie and.
Kevin McNicholas
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Martins the Printers Ltd, Berwick upon Tweed
2007 2006 2005 2004
1413 12 11 10 Contents
Contents map of the Student's Book
Introduction
1
3
4
Yabba dabba doo
In good company
‘The good, the bad and the unbearable
Culture shock
Review: Units 1-4
Comic genius
Talking sense
Leisure for pleasure
Sherlock Holmes
Review: Units 5-8
Mysterious monsters
What's in a face?
Meat: 10 eat oF not to eat?
‘The power and magic of dreams
Review: Units 9-12
Goodies and baddies
‘TV times
‘The end of intelligence?
Good luck, bad luck
Review: Units 13-16
Worth a thousand words
‘One small step
From rags to riches
Review: Units 17-19
‘An American dream
Potato races
Holidays are bad for your health
Review: Units 20-22
Revision tests
Revision tests answer key
Supplementary writing exams
16
22
29
40
a
32
58
64
6
a
76
102
107
m1
112
8
123
128
229
133
138.
4
145,
167
171 JF contents of the Student's Book
Unit Grammar Vocabulary Use of English
Sh Se. ae
ie To > Contents > Contents
Use of English
Review: Units 13-16 Student's Book page 142
Review: Units 20-22
Sulert’s Book page 194
6 > Contents wy is
~ Introduction
<4
FC Star Student's Book
FC Star has 22 units of eight pages. Each unit should take:
about four hours, so the course provides approximately
90 hours of teaching, All units contain work on grammar
and vocabulary and exam practice of the four skills; most
units also have Use of English exercises. Generally units
‘begin with the reading or speaking and end with the
‘writing section, but the order of other sections changes
from unit to unit to avoid monotony and to vary the focus
of lessons. It is generally recommended that the sections
of the units should be done in the order in which they
appear, On the other hand, most sections are free-
standing and therefore itis easy for you to use the
material flexibly to suit your particular needs,
Language
Grammar
Students who are preparing for the FCE are at an
intermediate level and will have already covered most of
the grammatical structures that are required for the exam.
What they need to do at this stage is t0 consolidate this
knowledge and develop their ability to use it accurately
and effectively. FC Star provides comprehensive coverage
Of the FCE language syllabus. Each grammar point (the:
is atleast one in every unid is presented in a box
explaining how it is formed and what itis used for. The
{grammar box is followed by practice, which often takes
the form of Use of English exercises
Vocabulary
If grammar at FCE level is essentially a question of
consolidation, vocabulary work involves both
consolidation and extension, Students need a wide
ranging knowledge of lexis to deal with the reading texts,
‘and Paper 3, Vocabulary is dealt with in a variety of
different ways in EC Star. Topic vocabulary (which
follows UCLES guidelines) is presented and practised
regularly and is often linked to language in the reading
texts, Attention is also given to word formation, essential
for Part 5 of the Use of English Paper. Every unit contains
explicit practice of two lexical features of English which
often cause problems for students: phrasal verbs and
words of similar meaning, FC Star holds to the belief that
there is no ‘magic’ way to learn phrasal verbs and that the
best way to approach them is through regular and
extensive practice, The phrasal verbs are grouped
according to the verb, the particle or the topic. The
dictionary at the back of the book contains all the phrasal
verbs presented in the course. The ‘words often confused’
‘exercises focus on groups of words that are frequently
used incorrectly by FCE students.
Skills
Reading
In the Reading Paper, students will haye to cope with four,
fuiely long texts taken from a range of authentic sources.
‘The exam aims to test different ways of reading, so
students will need to develop a flexible reading strategy.
‘The reading texts in FC Starare taken from authentic
sources and are the same length and level as those in the
exam, There is comprehensive coverage of the exam
‘exercises. Each Part is practised at least five times during
the course, At the same time attention is given to
developing good reading strategies. Generally a three
stage approach (pre-reading, while-reading, after-reading)
is used in order to practise the various sub-skills needed
for effective reading, To help you, the teacher, the
answers to the reading exercises often include the extracts
from the text that provide the answer
Listening
‘The Listening Paper tests students’ ability to listen to,
different types of spoken material and for a variety of
purposes, eg listening for gist, listening for specific
information and «leciding on the context of the extract.
‘The course provides practice of all four Parts of Paper 4
Listening is often difficult for students, so the listening
sections usually begin with a general listening task before
students practise the exam-type exercise, The UCLES
for the FCE state that the listening texts will
ety of accents. FC Star therefore introduces
students 10 4 range of different accents from both native
and non-native speakers of English, To help you, the
teacher, where a listening section requires students to,
listen to the text more than once, the text is repeated on
the cassette, so you do not have to waste valuable class
time struggling to rewind the cassette to find the correct,
place!
Finally, the course highlights features of spoken English
in three specific sections (see Units 7, 14 and 16) and in
the grammar review at the back of the book. One reason
why listening to native speakers is difficult for students is.
that ‘real life’ English is often very different from the
language that students have been exposed t0 in
coursebooks, ¢g contractions are the norm, words are
offen left out and idiomatic express
aim of the spoken English section: “shidents to these features of oral language in order to
‘help them in their listening; students should not be
pected to use them in their own conversations,
iting
Gifferent text types. Some of these (eg reports,
gizine articles) may be unfamiliar. Students are
ted 10 write answers that show not only that they
a firm grasp of grammar and vocabulary, but also
hat they are aware of and can use the appropriate
‘egister. FC Star includes practice ofall writing tasks that
‘bay appear in the exam
vwriting sections provide practice and guidance so
it students are fully prepared before they begin writing
“their answers, Many writing sections contain model and
“Slidents’ answers. The former are generally used to
‘highlight good features (eg appropriate style) and the
Bertie scklents practice in assessing and correcting
“written work (see the advice for Paper 2 below).
“Thorough planning is the key to a successful piece of
“writen work and pre-writing activities include pairwork
“asks, brainstorming and organizing notes. Attention is
ako given to words and phrases that students can use to
‘ike their work more effective through a variety of
exercises and regular ‘useful language’ boxes.
Speaking
ALFCE level, students are expected to be reasonably
accurate and fluent in speaking, The exam also puts an
“enphasis on students’ ability to cope with interaction
“With other people. To improve their spoken language,
‘students need plenty of practice, Each unit of FC Siar.
“includes opportunities for speaking practice integrated
with other sections, as well as specific speaking activities
Jopmctse the task types found in the exam. Most of the
4 ctvities explicitly practise the task types found
ithe exam, so by the enc! of the course students will be
-versed in what is expected of them. There are also a
‘dumber of information gap activities in the book, where
‘pairs of students are given different material (found at the
tack of the book) and can only complete the tasks by
sharing their information. Using conversational
“expressions will improve students’ performance in
Tiper 5 and there are regular ‘useful language’ boxes
“which students can use both forthe task at hand and in
the fnal revision stages hefore the exam,
Exam training
{Apart from consolidating and developing their language
knowledge and skills, students also need to be trained in
% Introduction
the specific requirements of the FCB, Fe Star fulfils this
need in two ways: by providing plenty of practice of
exam-type exercises and by giving students information
and advice about the exam throughout the course, The
‘outline of the exam found at the beginning of the Student's
Book can be used to introduce students to the BCE. The
“Twenty common questions’ section that follows is based
‘on feedback from UCLES and will be very useful for
students to read just before they sit the exam, FC Star
presents each Part of each of the five Papers through its
‘own exam information box. These boxes clearly explain
the exam requirements and give students helpful advice.
Finally, the Student's Book contains phorocopiable
samples of the UCLES answer sheets for Papers 1, 3 and 4
‘We recommend! that you use these answer sheets from
the beginning of the course, as filling them in correctly
‘can be difficult for students who are nor used to them,
Other features of the Student's Book
Review units
Every three or four units there is a two-page review unit
which takes the form of a shortened Use of English paper
Jour out ofthe five possible exercises are practised each
time), These review units therefore have two functions:
they revise the language and topics of the previous units
and they provide the students with further exam practice,
‘The reviews can be used in class under exam conditions
oras homework
Grammar review
‘The seventeen-page grammar review provides more
‘comprehensive explanations and examples of the
‘grammar in the course. It has its own contents list and is
alphabetically ordered to make it easy for students to use
itfor their own reference and revision. Italso contains
information on features of spoken English (see the
‘comments on listening above),
Phrasal verb dictionary
The phrasal verb dictionary contains all the phrasal verbs
presented and practised in both the Student's Book and
the Practice Book and the information is taken directly
from Collins Gobutld Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs, Useful
features include: a clear definition, an authentic example
sentence taken from Cobuile’s vast bank of English
language data and extra information on formal synonyms
and other phrasal verbs with a similar or opposite
‘meaning. Its important to point out to your students thar,
only the meanings of the phrasal verbs practised in the
course ate listed: these phrasal verbs can have other
‘meanings as well. % Introduction
FC Star Teacher's Book
© The contents of the Siudent’s Book units are
summarized at the beginning of each Teacher's Book
unis, providing a clear and quick reference.
* There are clear and easy-to-use teaching notes for all
activities, including suggestions for alternative
procedures, warm up and follow up activities.
+ Answers are given forall exercises, apart from those
that require students to think of their own ideas. The
answers 10 reading exercises often include references
to the parts of the text that provide the answers
© The tapescripts are integrated into the teaching notes
for ease of use, The parts of the text that provide the
answers to the exercises are underlined in the
tapescript, again to make your life easier. (Please note
that when a listening section requires students to listen,
more than once, the text is repeated on the cassette.)
‘= Background notes on the reading texts and the
photographs appear at regular intervals, These notes
include information on culturally specific reference:
the text and explanations of potentially problematic
words and expressions.
‘+ Eleven photocopiable revision tests can be found at the
vtck of the book, These are intended to be used after
every two units and provide revision of the grammar
and vocabulary that has been presented and practised.
Each revision test follows the same pattern: the first part
consists of 25 multiple choice cloze sentences, the
second part has 20 Part 5 Use of English transform=
ations, The answer key that follows the tests may also,
‘be photocopied if you want to use the tests for self
study,
+ There are also five supplementary Paper 2 Writing,
exams at the back of the book. You can use these as
they stand as mock exams or you can select individual
questions to give students further writing practice
during the course
FC Star Practice Book
The material in the Practice Book follows the order and
contents of the Student's Book and provides students with
the opportunity to consolidate and extend the language
they have practised, Each unit is divided into two
sections, The first deals with grammar and contains at
least three Use of English exercises as well as more
‘general grammar exercises. The second section focuses
10
on vocabulary. Exercises that revise and extend students!
knowledge of word groups and phrasal verbs appear in
every unit. There are also regular exercises on topic
vocabulary.
‘The Practice Book is ava
ke
lable with or without the answer
FC Star Cassettes
The listening texts for the course are recorded on two C90
cassettes
The First Certificate Examination
‘The First Certificate Examination is intended for students
at an intermediate level, ie who have studied English for
about 500 hours. In the series of examinations offered by
the University of Cambridge, the FCE comes after the
Preliminary English Test (PET) and before the Cemtficate
in Advanced English (CAE).
The FCE tests stuclents’ langy
through five papers:
age knowledge and ability
Paper 1 Reading (1 hour 15 minut
Paper 2 Writing (1 hour 30 minutes
Paper 3 Use of English (1 hour 15 minutes)
Paper 4 Listening (40 minutes)
Paper 5 Speaking (approximately 14 minutes)
Marking and results
Each of the five Papers is worth a maximum of 40 marks.
In order to obtain a pass, students need to get at least
60 96 (approximately 120 marks out of 200). A student's
final grade is based on the total score he/she has,
achieved in all five Papers. This means that students can
do less well in one Paper, but still pass the exam by doing
beuter in other Papers:
Paper 1 Reading
Timing: 1 hour 15 minutes
‘Number of Parts: 4
‘Total number of questions:
Marking: questions in Pants 1, 2 and 3 are worth wo
marks, Questions in Part 4 are worth one mark. ntences)
kills focus: reading for the main ideas of a paragraph
a Multiple choice
dents are given One text and seven or eight four-option
uiple choice questions.
focus: reacling for gist and for details, inferring
from the text, understanding lexical reference
‘What does ‘it’ refer to in line X?)
sare given a gapped text and six or seven
jences or paragraphs that have been removed from.
ext, They have to decide where in the text each
¥ of paragraph belongs.
nfs are given a group of texts that are on a similar
Shc Or one text divicled into sections, and between
anil fifteen questions, They have to decide which
telated t0 which question. Sometimes the la
a multiple choice question about the general
ing or purpose of the text/s.
reading exam aims to test students’ ability to read
ferent way's to suit different reading purposes.
desis, scanning for specific information,
ty common problem is that students think that they
to understand every word in a text in orcer to be
. give students an initial task that requires them
fea for gist and set a short time limit for this task.
Then elicit from the class what they have picked up
oot the text; usually they will be surprised at how
uch they have already understood and this will boost
irconfidence
> Introduction
+ UCLES aims to promote authentic reading, so many of
the texts they use are from magazines and newspapers
rather than books. Students need to be familiar with a
variety of text types, so encourage them to read as
widely as possible.
Efficient reading needs to have a purpose, so train your
students to read the questions first before they
approach the text. They will then have a clearer idea
about the information they are looking for:
imilarly, students should read the title of the text
before beginning to read because it can give them an
initial idea about the contents of the text. In class, get
into the habit of using the title to ‘warm up’ the
students to the topic. Write the ttle on the board and
brainstorm with stuclents what the text could be about.
‘Their initial reading of the text will then have @ purpose
as they can check their predictions.
Encourage your stuclents to underline what seems to be.
key information in both the questions and the text as
they go along, This will help them to eliminate options
in the questions that contradict the text and to decide
between two more probable options. When going
through the answers itis useful to train students to
justify their answers by referring to the text.
+ Part 3 requires students to know about how a text is
structured, so make sure you give stuclents practice in
analysing texts, eg ask students to identify reference
pronouns, linking devices and related lexical items
(Synonyms, words that belong to the same topic geoup
ete),
Iris vital that students allow time in the exam to check
their answers, Train them to do this by giving them five
minutes for checking after you have done a timed
reading exercise in class,
Finally, students need plenty of practice in using the
computerized answer sheets, They should make sure
they fill in the correct line for the question they are
answering, and if they miss out a question, they should
‘make sure they leave a space on the answer sheet.
Paper 2 Writing
‘Timing: 1 hour 30 minutes
‘Number of Parts: 2
Total number of questions: 2
Marking: both questions are worth the same number of
‘marks. Examiners give marks for: accuracy of the
Janguage; the use of a range of structures and vocabulary;
organization and cohesion of the work; an appropriate
1" % Introduction
register of language and the successful completion of the
task set, (Have the students answered the question and
included all the relevant information?)
Length of answers: 120-180 words
Part 1 Transactional letter (compulsory)
Students are given some kind of input (usually a text and
notes) and have to use this information to write a
transactional leiter (ie @ letter that has a practical purpose
nd requires a reply), A range of different kinds of letter
could come up in the exam, eg a letter asking for/giving
information, a letter of complaint, a letter of invitation,
Part 2 One writing task from a choice of four
The fourth question is always on the set teading texts and
students can choose between two task options, a orb.
The other three questions could include: an article, a
report, an opinion, narrative or descriptive composition
and a non-transactional letter (eg a letter of application or
an informal letter to a friend).
+ Perhaps the most important advice you can give to your
students, because itis a comment made year after year
by the UCLES examiners, is that they must read the
‘questions thoroughly and make sure they understand
what is required. Candidates are penalized if they do
‘not make their answer relevant to the question. (For
example, students quite often forget to include the
prompt sentence given in the narrative composition
option.)
In the transactional letter in Part 1, candidates will be
penalized ifthey do not include all the relevant
information from the input given. Students can avoid
this pitfall if they get into the habit of making a plan
before they begin writing the actual leter. When you
prepare a transactional letter in class, ask students to
read the input first and elicit all the points that need to
be included and write them on the board. Then,
working with the whole class, decide on how these
points can be organized into appropriate paragraphs,
«students will also be penalized in Part 1 if they copy
entire phiases from the input material, so do specifi
work on how students can say the same thing in a
different way Ge focus on synonyms and express
that have a similar meaning).
‘= Successful candidates allow themselves time to check
their written work for mistakes. To do this efficiently,
they need practice in identifying errors. You can do this
by correcting one piece of written work with the whole
class or by getting students to mark each other's work.
(These exercises will be made much casier if students,
12
double space their written work.) Encourage stuclents
to use a marking system (see below).
ALECE level, students are not only expected to use a
varicty of languge accurately, but also have to write in
an appropriate style. To use the correct register requires
an awareness of who the target reader is, so get into the
habit of asking questions, such as: Who are you writing
to/for? Do you know then Is the content of the writing
serious or more lighthearted What is the purpose of
the writing and how will this affect the style?
Another frequent criticism made by examiners is thata,
piece of written work is badly organized. This problem
caused by students not planning their work before
xy begin and not using structuring devices, The latter
can be helped by doing specific work on paragraphing
linking words and phrases.
Answers have to be between 120 and 180 words tong:
‘You should discourage stuclents from counting the
words in their answers in the actual exam because this
is a waste of valuable time, Instead, during exam
preparation ask students to do word counts on several
pieces of work and from this to calculate approximately
how many lines they need to write in the exam,
Many stuclents like the idea of learning a piece of
(ega ronmental
problems in their country) and then trying to aclapt itt
a question in the exam. Discourage this practice!
Students will inevitably find it difficult ro make what
they have leamt fit the question appropriately
Furthermore, examiners can easily recognize
regurgitated wwork and will not look on it favourably
ard essay one
Recommend to your students that they keep all their
‘written work in a separate file once it has been marked
Encourage them to look back at earlier pieces of work
before beginning a writing task to remind themselves o
the features of language, organization or style they
need to improve on.
Marking system for written work
word missing
unnecessary word
wrong word
grammar
tense
word order
spelling
punctuation Paper 3 Use of English
Timing: 1 hour 15 minutes
Number of Parts: 5
Total number of questions: 65
2 Open cloze (text)
idents are given a text with fifteen gaps. They have to
leach gap with one word. Sometimes there may be
3 Key word transformations (sentences)
jere are ten questions, Bach question consists of a
mp sentence, followed by a key word and a response
lence of which the beginning and end are given,
nudents have to complete the response sentence so that
ntence, using
Introduction
correct the errors they notice before you go through
them with the whole class. Do bear in mind that the
point of giving feedback is to highlight good uses of
language as well as problems, so make a note of
Particularly good uses of language as well (eg a word
‘or expression used appropriately).
* Conversational expressions are a very useful tool for
students to have, so do regular work on the language of
terrupting, agreeing and disagrecing etc
Furthermore, teaching your students ‘survival
expressions is very important (eg asking the examiner
to repeat something), Students will not be penalized if
they ask for repetition, but they will lose marks ifthey
carry on regarlless and therefore fail to do the task
correctly.
‘+ To be prepared for Part 2, stuclents need to get used to
talking for extended periods. A good way to do this is
to establish a regular slot in class time when a student
prepares and gives a talk to the rest of the class on a
topic of his/her choice.
‘+ Remind students that they can only be assessed on the
language they produce, so they must take the
‘opportunity to show the examiners what they can do.
For example, students should give as full an answer as
they can — yes/no replies to questions will not impress
the examiners,
‘+ Tum-taking is an important part of the interaction and
‘candidates who fail to involve their partner or who
interrupt and hog the conversation will lose marks.
15 A
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