I have just uploaded a new lesson in the IELTS video series. This episode is on using collocations in IELTS Writing and Speaking as well as recognising them when you listen to an IELTS recording or read an IELTS text. I hope you will find it useful. Until next time!
Read more "IELTS Video Series – Collocations"For some of my students who are doing the IELTS tomorrow, here’s wishing you all the best for your test on 28 February! Don’t forget to go through your past lesson notes and videos, your task feedback, skills and strategies checklists, and useful expressions that we have covered in our lessons. But most importantly, try […]
Read more "Good luck to my IELTS students!"In my experience teaching either face-to-face or online, I have observed that many students seem to show a good understanding of grammar when it comes to doing controlled practice. Unfortunately, when it comes to applying this understanding to speaking (or sometimes writing), students tend to make plenty of errors. This can be quite risky in […]
Read more "Are you making these mistakes in IELTS Speaking?"Earlier this year, I wrote about the importance of demonstrating complex structures during IELTS Speaking, in this post. Part of this involves using conditional sentences. andronicusmax via Compfight Here are some example sentences that you can use to talk about regrets. Notice the structure: If + past perfect // would have + past participle […]
Read more "Using conditionals in IELTS Speaking"Sometimes candidates will need to talk about the future in the IELTS interview and to be able to do this well, they will need to show adequate vocabulary to refer to predictions or plans. For example, you may be asked a question like this in the essay task: We are becoming increasingly dependent on computers. […]
Read more "Talking about the future in IELTS Writing and Speaking"In an earlier post on adjectives, I talked about the use of –ed and –ing. In IELTS Speaking, particularly in Part 2, it would be a good idea for candidates to say how they feel about the topic given to them. Using expressions or adjectives to describe feelings, candidates might be able to attain a […]
Read more "Describe your feelings in IELTS Speaking"Candidates may be asked topics related to physical appearance and cosmetic surgery in either IELTS Writing Task 2 or IELTS Speaking Part 3. So it may be worth considering doing some research and developing an opinion on this. In fact, the IELTS essay question below appeared around this time last year: People try to change […]
Read more "Discussing cosmetic surgery in IELTS Writing and Speaking"If you take a closer look at the kind of topics that commonly come up in IELTS Speaking Part 2, you will probably notice something very similar. Quite often, you may be asked to describe a person, and questions around this theme actually appeared on several occasions like the examples given below: Describe a friend […]
Read more "Describing personality in IELTS Speaking Part 2"An important IELTS Reading task that candidates should not ignore is the sentence-completion task. Quite often, this is overlooked in favour of the more popular Yes/No/Not Given or Paragraph/Header Matching type of questions. Candidates are tested in their ability to: skim for general information read more closely for details understand paraphrases in the questions Fred […]
Read more "Sentence completion in IELTS Reading"If you are not already using a Google Chrome browser, it may be well worth trying. It comes with a free grammar check extension called Grammarly which helps you analyse your spelling and grammar when communicating online. Chris Becker via Compfight This may be a great place for you to start monitoring your own sentence […]
Read more "Improve your IELTS Writing with this FREE tool!"