Teaching for exam preparation

English teaching at the United Nations
I work in a small team preparing international civil servants for the United Nations English Language Proficiency Examination. With this certificate, they can prove that they can work successfully in English. The level required is therefore quite high. They have to be able to function well in all the skill areas.
http://www.un.org/exam/lpe/welcome/main.asp
Only people working at the United Nations and other agencies are able to sit this examination.

The benefits range from being able to get a more interesting job where English proficiency is required, to getting a supplementary allowance for having additional languages or going up the salary levels faster.

The examination is quite similar in level to the Cambridge Advanced English or Proficiency level. The exam format is quite similar to the TOEFL. The content is more aligned to the work of the United Nations.

To prepare for the examination, students have to be comfortable reading and listening to English without reference to a dictionary. Students have to be able to write in a time limit of 50 minutes. The topic may be work-related - such as writing a memo requesting something of a superior - or an essay of a general nature. The speaking part is a recorded interview about the candidate's work and free time interests.

As a teacher I use a mixture of Cambridge examination preparation coursebooks and authentic newspaper articles from the Guardian Weekly on topics of interest for UN people and podcasts from news sites like the BBC. I also encourage them to watch documentaries on sealife, wildlife, topics of general interest from sites where there is also a transcript. Such programmes can be found on ABC Catalyst website or Foreign Correspondent. Students will also succeed well if they start reading books in English without a dictionary. Advanced level graded readers can do the trick, but best of all are real books.

Writing skills

Carol Waites Writing skills teacher
In my post I also teach writing skills to those who are working in English. The course aims to inform staff members about the resources available, good style, the dangers of false friends as we work in a multi-lingual environment, and how to be clear. My focus is on writing reports and editing one's own and others' work.

The format we use is a combination of workshops where we share ideas and introduce good resources, and personally tailored feedback on the participants' own writing.

Editing tools for writers at the United Nations

Some good editing tools for UN writers
Editorial Manual Online - good for checking use of capitals, abbreviations, rules of spelling, using numbers, dates etc and a host of other information.
Go to www.dgacm.org

Click on link to "Editorial Manual" (you may wish to bookmark this page).

There is an online report-writing course on this website.

Some good advanced blogs from United Nations teachers

http://www.unepd.info/Units.htm

Action through words

This 12 unit blog teaches you advanced English using themes from the United Nations. It teaches all the main skills - grammar, reading, writing, and listening.

English pronunciation links

http://www.unejn.org/documents/Pronunciation2_links.htm

Staff Development and Learning Section

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