FAQ

What is this course?

This course is equivalent to an EOI classroom-based course, but it is

mostly taught online.

Will I get a Certificate?

Not by just doing and passing the course. You will only obtain a valid C1
Certificate after successfully completing summative assessment
referenced against CEF descriptors (C1 Certification Exam). You will
need to score at least 60% of the marks for each skill (L, W, S, R) to
obtain the Certificate.

How do I sign up for the Certification Exam?

C1 students will need to register separately to do this Certification
Exam.

How do I pass the course?

In order to assess your learning, we follow a process of

continuous/formative assessment, by which students will need a
minimum of 60% of the total marks, which are calculated as follows:

80% Assessment Exams:

60% 2 Online Exams with: Written Comprehension (CE), Oral
Comprehension (CO), Written Expression (EE).

10% Unit Progress Tests (10 Units).

10% Participation. (Google +)

20% Oral recordings, or class participation (Oral Expression) (EO):

(Audio Files, Links in Google +)
- 3 Monologues

- 3 Dialogues

What materials do I need to do this course?

To do this Course you will need to obtain this pack before starting the
course:
Advanced EXPERT, Coursebook and Student's Resource Book (with
key). PEARSON.

Other recommended materials:

A good monolingual dictionary, like Collins COBUILD Advanced
Learner's English Dictionary, Collins COBUILD, 4th Rev. Ed.
edition (2003)
A comprehensive grammar, like Grammar for First Certificate(this
one has got exercises), Cambridge University Press or Practical
English Usage (no exercises, but an extraordinary resource!),
Oxford University Press
A pronunciation guide for reference and practice, for example
English Pronunciation in Use Intermediate, by Mark Hancock,
Cambridge University Press
Other supporting materials:
o English Vocabulary in Use (Upper Intermediate), by Michael
McCarthy & Felicity O'Dell; Cambridge
o Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English (very
useful for writing)
o Collins COBUILD English Words in Use: A Dictionary of
Collocations(very useful for writing)
o Collocations in Use; Cambridge (very useful for writing)
Other resources
You can also make use of whatever resources you may come across,
like Internet dictionaries, blogs, webpages, etc. The links provided on the
right column of the Moodle main page (especially the Language Links
section) represent a good selection.

How do I study this course?

Detailed instructions on what to do will be appearing in the middle
section of the Moodle screen on a weekly basis.

1. Work on the textbook materials (coursebook, workbook, CD-ROM and

audio CD's).

Do one lesson per week. You are strongly advised to follow the
sequence of activities as they are presented in the coursebook, paying
attention to all the instructions:

vocabulary and grammar: do the activities and check with the

excellent Language Summary at the back of the coursebook; if still
in doubt, you can get help from your mates or your tutor on the
Google Community.
reading and listening: do the tasks and check with the texts and
scripts.
do the lesson's workbook exercises.
prepare the speaking activities and either join the conversation
tutorials online (timetable here) or set up your own conversation
practice group (meet in person or on-line).
do the lesson's activities in the CD-ROM

2. Send in your exam practice, your writings (Moodle), your oral tasks
(Google+) and other assignments on-line for correction and marking.

Every three weeks you will have completed one unit. Next you must:

1. Do either one oral or writing assignment. The writing assignment is

included in the third lesson of every other unit. For the oral
assignment follow the instructions of your tutor.

3. Take part in our Google+ community as part of your interaction in

English with your course mates.

4. Take part in the online video conversation practice sessions every

week or adopt an alternative method of practising conversation.
5. Take one online progress test after every two units, which will be
marked automatically by the system.

6. Take two online practice exams (February and May).

What is Moodle?
Moodle is a learning management system (LMS) for online courses. We
use it as our virtual classroom, and you are advised to visit in everyday.

It is through Moodle that ...

you will get detailed instructions from your tutor concerning what,
how and when to do the different activities, both online and offline,
you will send in assignments and will get feedback,
you will send your practice exams,
your work will be assessed and marked; this includes the practice
exams, the online progress tests you will take after every unit and
your assignments (both oral and written).

Moodle is a very user-friendly system that allows students to access all

virtual course materials and activities in one common location. Moreover,
it enables synchronous and asynchronous communication among all
classroom members, encouraging learning interaction and thus
promoting the exchange and growth of knowledge.

As you will see, using Moodle is quite easy. You may explore and
navigate through the whole classroom environment without any fears.
You will always see where you are if you have a look at the Navigation
Bar / Path (upper left corner of the page). You can also open more than
one browser window.

Important technical notes:

You may have to allow pop-ups in your browser (for the site http://
www.eoicastello.es/eoionline/) for access to many course
resources and to be able to use the chat properly.
We recommend you to use Mozilla Firefox as your browser, as it
has proved to work better with Moodle.

What about conversation practice?

At present, online courses are getting better and better for learning
languages and help you work on every aspect of the language..., except
for one: conversation. We are quite aware of this and suggest a number
of ways you can compensate for it.

The best choice, of course, is for you to join the Google Hangouts
conversation sessions held on Google+ once a week (check the
timetable here). Apart from these "regulated" sessions you can meet for
private video-conference sessions with your group mates.

If you can't make it to those sessions, then, how can you do the activities
in the book that ask you to ... 'talk to five other students and find out ...', '
work in groups; take turns to tell each other about your ...' , etc? Well,
one idea we have come up with is posting in our Google+ Community.
Of course you won't be really speaking, but it will be your voice and you
can comment as much as you feel like. Every week your tutor will post
something in the community, usually materials dealt with in the
conversation sessions, so that all students can have access to them.

What help can I expect from my tutor?

Apart from organising the whole course, conducting the online
conversation sessions, monitoring and occasionally posting in our
Google+ Community, checking, marking and sending you feedback on
your work and your practice exams, your tutor will be accessible in two
ways:

Private channels: e-mail and Moodle internal messages.

Collective channel: Google+ Community and Hangouts.

Note that private channels should only be used to discuss specific

matters concerning your personal learning situation.

Also note that your tutor will NOT answer the following:

a) questions which are already answered elsewhere in the system (EOI

Castell main
website http://mestreacasa.gva.es/web/eoicastello/eoicastello or EOI
Online Moodle http://www.eoicastello.es/eoionline);

b) questions about certificates, enrolment, etc, which are the domain of

the EOI's administration services (Secretaria): info@eoicastello.es.

Good luck and have fun with the course!