Learn English

It is necessary to assess our present level of English and then find a programme to go to the next level. In teacher training courses it is necessary to assess the present level of language competence of the teachers and then help them with resources for improving their competence. A sample test is given here:

Test One

Language Competence

Name: .............................................. Marks: 50

1. Listening Competence 5

Listen to the conversation and choose the best answers.

http://youtu.be/QIVWoIuo8xQ

1.1. Who are the two people talking?

a] colleagues - working together in the same office

b] friends

c] family

d] boss and employee

1.2. She has sent an email to the boss. It was asking for

a] promotion

b] leave

c] increment

d] overtime

1.3. The man suggests she should go and work in UK because

a] he is unhappy with her work

b] he thinks she is unhappy with her work

c] her uncle is in UK

d] she is taking leave without permission

1.4. She thinks the boss might not see her email because

a] he is not tech savvy

b] he does not have an email id

c] he does not regularly check emails

d] he may not check early in the morning

1.5. Which statement is true?

a] The man does not grant her permission to go.

b] The lady accepts to have a cup of coffee with the man.

c] Her family is waiting for her at home.

d] She is going to the airport at 3 in the evening.

2. Speaking Competence 15

2.1. Tell me something about yourself, your family and the place where you live in.

2.2. Compare yourself with your students. Think of the time when you were a student. How different were you from the students you have now? Or do you think there are more similarities than differences.

2.3. Talk about a story you have read or a film you have watched. Tell me why you liked it or did not like it.

3. Reading Competence 10

Read the following story and answer the questions given below.

Once upon a time there was a lion that grew so old that he was unable to kill any prey for

his food. So, he said to himself, "I must do something to fill my stomach else I will die of

starvation."

He kept thinking and thinking and at last an idea struck him. He decided to lie down in the

cave pretending to be ill and then who-so-ever will come to enquire about his health, will

become his prey. The old lion put his wicked plan into practice and it started working. Many

of his well-wishers got killed. But evil is short lived.

One day, a fox came to visit the ailing lion. As foxes are clever by nature, the fox stood at the

mouth of the cave and looked about. His sixth sense worked and he came to know the

reality. So, he called out to the lion from outside and said, "How are you, sir?"

The lion replied, "I am not feeling well at all. But why don't you come inside?"

Then the fox replied, "I would love to come in, sir! But on seeing, all footprints going to your

cave and none coming out, I would be foolish enough to come in."

Saying so, the fox went to alert the other animals.

3.1. What did the lion do to catch the prey?

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3.2. Which word in the story is a comment on the lion’s plan?

a] pretending

b] wicked

c] practice

d] started

3.3. Who were the well-wishers? What happened to them?

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3.4. Which of the following is a general statement?

a] I would be foolish enough to come in.

b] The fox stood at the mouth of the cave.

c] At last an idea struck him.

d] But evil is short lived.

3.5. Why did the fox say, “I would be foolish enough to come in”?

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Read the paragraph given below and answer the questions given below. 10

You don't have to worry about a soft drink spontaneously overflowing its rim or shooting up and out of the straw from which you're trying to drink. That's because soft drinks are nothing like the superfluid helium shown in this video.

Researchers have known for decades that if you cool liquid helium just a few degrees below its boiling point of –452 degrees Fahrenheit (–269 degrees Celsius) it will suddenly be able to do things that other fluids can't, like dribble through molecule-thin cracks, climb up and over the sides of a dish, and remain motionless when its container is spun.

No longer a mere liquid, the helium has become a superfluid—a liquid that flows without friction. "If you set [down] a cup with a liquid circulating around and you come back 10 minutes later, of course it's stopped moving," says John Beamish, an experimental physicist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Atoms in the liquid will collide with one another and slow down. "But if you did that with helium at low temperature and came back a million years later," he says, "it would still be moving."

3.6. What does the author say that we need not worry about?

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3.7. What is the cooling point of helium? When did scientists come to know about it?

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3.8. What are the things the cooled helium can do that other liquids cannot do?

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3.9. What is the difference between an ordinary soft drink and the superfluid helium?

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3.10. Why does the ordinary liquid stop from moving around in cup after about 10 minutes?

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5. Writing Competence 10

5.1. Write a letter to your friend informing him / her about the teacher education programme you are going to attend. Write about what you expect to learn here, how you feel being part of this programme and how you think your life might change after the programme.

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