Teacher Area

If you are preparing students for the exam and you have any questions or difficulties, we are just a phone-call or e-mail away and welcome your queries.

 Some teachers find the idea of preparing for the test without specific materials a little daunting. However, we would like to emphasise that the absence of a defined syllabus means that TIE preparation can easily be incorporated into an existing course of study and the tasks presented in the test reflect the kind of authentic task featured in communicative language classrooms.

There are many downloads available to help teachers prepare students for the TIE exam.  You can download them here.

 Sample material is also available to download here.

On this page, you will find an overview of what candidates must prepare and what material they must bring on the day of the exam. Full details of all of the components of the examination are available in our TIE exam Handbook here.



LOGBOOK

Each candidate is required to keep a logbook which they must bring with them to the test. This is a notebook in which candidates record the information about the three tasks they are required to prepare. The logbook represents a record of each candidate’s learning during the process of preparation for the test. There is no prescribed format for the logbook, what is important is that it is in hard copy and that all the candidate’s work for the prepared tasks is included in it.


PREPARING FOR THE INVESTIGATION

A candidate needs to choose a topic for his/ her investigation. This is a piece of research or mini-project.

The candidate should select a topic which is of interest to him/ her. They should find as much information as possible, present it in an organised way and be prepared to explain and discuss it. It should be a topic that s/he is motivated to research, explore and gather information on. The topic can be related to his/her studies, or may be a topic of general interest to him/ her.

There is no prescribed format on how to present an investigation but candidates must have a PRINTED COPY. A candidate may use an A4 exercise book, A4 sheets of paper stapled together or a scrapbook, A5 exercise book, etc... Copying and pasting or printing pages directly from the internet is not an investigation and will be marked accordingly.

As you can see here below, the same topic can be developed and presented in different ways.


PREPARING FOR THE BOOK

Candidates need to obtain a book in English. The book should be selected by the candidate to ensure that it is of interest to him/ her, and can be on any subject that interests them. They have to read the book in English and take notes which should be included in the student's logbook.   

Please note that ELT textbooks, magazines, periodicals, comics, manga and religious text (i.e. The Bible) are not allowed for this task

Students must bring the actual book on the day of the exam. If this is not possible, then they must have a photocopy of the front AND back cover of the book.


A sample of what the candidate is requested to prepare and present on the day of the exam can be found here 

 


PREPARING FOR THE NEWS ARTICLE

Candidates should select a news story that they can follow over three or four days. It is recommended that candidates read more than one newspaper as each newspaper may present the story differently. They should choose a story that looks as if it may last for more than one day so that they can get plenty of information about it from different sources.  

The original news articles in English and own notes and comment must be included in the student's logbook and brought to the exam.  

A sample of what the candidate is requested to prepare and present on the day of the exam can be found here