The CORPUS Wiki

The Students' English Corpus

The FCE Blog expands into a wikispace to enable new learning experiences.

In previous posts we have featured some of my student's best sample answers to illustrate parts of the exam.

I thought it would be a good idea to provide a collection of sample answers by sharing everything my students are doing in class.

Our learning formula derives from Einstein's
E = mc²
English is energy which requires a mass of practice at the speed of creativity.



What is this wiki about?
In a nutshell, lots of practice!

For a more detailed intro, find the section of your interest (whether you are a student or a teacher) directly from our wiki: About this Project.

Why would you be interested in reading it?
Because we will be building a guide, a corpus, of authentic Sample Answers. Mind you, not just examples of finished letters and compositions. Oh no! We believe writing is a process. We want to share the process of writing, our debates and the learning we have been gaining all along.

Wikis are learning gardens
A wiki is a kind of web page that allows for multiple users to upload and edit pages. Although it is similar to a blog, there are some differences.

Every wiki page has a Discussion tab and a History tab. That is precisely where the learning process is registered.

Huh? I do not get it...
Let me explain with an example.
Here is a sample letter of application written by Lucas.

1. Lucas wrote his sample answer following FCE rubrics for the task.
2. A group of five peer reviewers (i.e. classmates) produced a collaborative report on his work in class and posted it to the Discussion.
3. Lucas edited his first draft several times taking into account the report and the mistakes I had underlined.

If you click on the History tab, you will be able to choose two versions to compare. Here is Lucas first draft compared to the final version. The contrasting colours highlight the deleted mistakes (in red) and the corrections inserted (in green).

It might sound complex at first, but believe me working in a wiki is easy and fast. This Corpus wiki is a garden full of flowers. I think it will be difficult for us to pick out the nominees for the Awards!

Sample Answers Awards
The best samples produced will be published in The FCE Blog either as featured examples or as part of the Sample Answers Awards. Winners will be chosen by the whole FCE class, who will scrutinize their own work under Cambridge assessment rubrics. Tough job.

Can I take part in this?
Yes, you can. Your sample composition could be published in the wiki or the fceblog. Email me to ask for the participation rules.
fceblog (AT) gmail.com

The Corpus Wiki Editors
The edition of the wiki pages is only for wiki members -namely, my students. Of course you can always leave us a comment at the fceblog and let us know what you think.

Hope you enjoy digging into our learning ground.

Claudia Ceraso
Blog Editor
Wiki Gardener


Image source
http://www.hetemeel.com/einsteinform.php
via Desde Murcia