Course EA10 Fluently in English will prepare you for the matriculation examinations. We will be practicing our writing, reading and listening skills in addition to learning techniques and a little grammar on the side. The matriculation examination vocabulary revolves around the following course themes: lifestyle, hobbies and the English-speaking world, cultural phenomena, society, politics, media, crime, nature, science, studying and work. Let’s take the bull by the horns and endeavor to excel!

Work SCHEDULES

10.4 Fluently in English

Finnish Sources

Ylioppilastutkinto – the Matriculation Examination Certificate
Abitreenit
Peda.net Englannin YO
Markku Perälä: Englannin kirjalliseen ylioppilaskokeeseen valmistautuminen

Senior Portfolio

The only course requirements is that you put together a GoogleDocs portfolio of your work which includes the following:

Create a cover page with a portfolio title, your name and the date.
Write a self-evaluation of yourself as a learner, what you could do to improve your skills, your goals in the matriculation examination and the requirements of your future place of study or work as far as English is concerned (100-150 words). Use the following sources in your essay: Edutopia Learning Styles Quiz, Adjectives to Describe Yourself, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, Ylioppilastutkintolautakunnan määräykset ja ohjeet
Read the poem “Desiderata” (Latin = desired things, 1927) by Max Ehrmann and translate the challenging parts in pairs. Copy the poem and the translations into your portfolio. Underline your own motto and learn it by heart. Study the vocabulary on Quizlet and choose words for your own Quizlet set or portfolio glossary.
List all the best tips on how to write a composition + write 2-4 English compositions, re-write them for your portfolio based on the teacher’s comments and copy the evaluations underneath. List any typical mistakes or new vocabulary into your grammar tips section or glossaries.
Do 3-5 of the online reading comprehension tasks, copy the article and your work into the portfolio.
Include vocabulary and grammar tips from your matriculation examination listening (2-5) and reading comprehensions (2-5).
Collect challenging words, phrases and prepositions by adding your own glossaries or a link to your Quizlet sets / Quizlet folder.
- Prepositions Ego4U, EnglishPage Prepositions
- Open Road 8 Quizlets
- EA10 Quizlets
- FreeRice.com (do charity while accumulating vocabulary!)
- Challenging English Words from the Matriculation Examinations on Quizlet
- British Council Vocabulary Games
- 100 Words to Impress the Examiner
Collect a list of your favorite idioms for compositions: Idiomsite.com, Idioms and Proverbs, and English Club Idioms.
Read these instructions: Markku Perälän ohjeet: YO-kuunteluihin valmistautuminen. Then practice your listening skills by doing these online listening tasks for the portfolio:
- Look for an online news report video about crime, politics or society (CNN or BBC) or a movie star bio and transcribe it in pairs. Make a glossary of the most challenging words and phrases (English-English). Then switch transcriptions and glossaries (with a link to the video) with another pair to check.
- Do a couple of the the exercises on Abitreenit: Puheenymmärtäminen, BBC Learning English News Reports or British Council Listen and Watch
- Listen to a short story audio by The Guardian or any TedXTalk and translate all the challenging words that you hear
First practice grammar with the help of the following links and then take The Ultimate Jedi Grammar Challenge. Collect your own grammar tips for the portfolio!