IELTS Listening: English as a global language

I occasionally re-post old lessons (to give the creative part of my brain a break!). Here's a lesson from 2010 that you might find interesting. I apologise if you've done the exercise before.

Fill the gaps in the sentences below.

1. How many people are trying to learn English ______? Two billion of them.
2. Learning English can give people the ______ for a better life, a job, to be able to pay for school, or ______ better food on the table.
3. With English you can become part of a ______ conversation, a global conversation about global problems.
4. English is becoming the language of ______ ______.
5. English represents hope for a better future, where the world has a ______ language to solve its ______ problems.

Comments

[Tayfun KURT]

Hi All,
1-world wide
2-opportunity
3-put
4-wider
5-problem solving
6-common
7-common

Thanks,

[Kai]

Dear Simon, my answer :

1- worldwide
2- opportunity - put
3- wider
4- problem solving
5- common - common

Can you give me some ideas about describing a map for IELTS Writing Task 1? I have read all your lesson about map but I can not take it easy.

[Faride]

Hi dear simon
Tanx so much for doing such a great work everyday. I've learned lots of thing and have made great progress in studing for IELTS.
I'd like to buy ur ebook, but there's no link on ur ebook page, so how can i try buying it?

[Tony]

Do you re-post this because of the cue cards I sent you...LOL

But I have to say the event(thousands students shouting English leaded by Liyang) was happened in the year 1995 and you could hardly spot it now in China.

Furthermore, Liyang-the teacher in the vedio-was proved a liar in last year because of his maltreating his wife and he married her only to test his theory in education.

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/07/171316582/american-woman-gives-domestic-abuse-a-face-and-voice-in-china

[ALİ]

My Answers,

1-worldwide
2-oppurtinity
3-put
4-wider
5-problems solving
6-common
7-common

Thank you Simon.

[huseyin]

hi simon;

1-worldwide
2 opportunity-put
3-wider
4-problem solving
5-common-common
thanks

[icecream]

i can check and brainstorm with your essays==> [email protected]

[Ranbir Mittal]

Hi all my answers are
1. world wide
2.opportunity
3.put
4.global,problem solving
5.common ,common.

[cherry]

1 world wide
2opportunity,put
3wider
4problem solving
5common, common

[thesinh]

1. world wide
2. Opportunity
3. wider
4. problem solving
5. common, common

[faisal]

1. worldwide

2. opportunity, to put

3. wider

4. problem solving

5. common, common

[Huu Nguyen]

1.worldwide
2. opportunity - put
3. wider
4. problem solving
5. common - common

[Jerry Chu]

I am a grade-10 Chinese IELTS candidate. Frankly, I do not agree the way that we learn English at school. It is true that English becomes compulsory since the 3rd grade.(Actually for me, it started in the 1st grade.) And it does account for a significant proportion in our university entrance exam. However, most Chinese students can only do well in grammar, because teachers hardly ever teach anything else besides grammar. By contrast, most Chinese students have difficulty speaking English. Admittedly, China is developing swiftly, but we ought to reconsider whether this kind of education is really beneficial for students.

[Quyentrinhthi]

Hi Simon
Here is my answers
1. worldwide
2. opportunity
3. put
4. wider
5. problem solving
6. common/common

[Nur]

Hi,my answers are
1.worldwide
2.opportunity
3.put
4.wider
5.problem solving
6.common
7.common

[Murko]

Hi Simon,

Could you please suggest how to write essay for the below mentioned topic.

--------------------------------------------
Some people prefer to live in a house, while others feel that there are more advantages to living in an apartment.

Are there more advantages than disadvantages of living in a house compared with living in an apartment?
--------------------------------------------

In advantages, disadvantages essay, usually we write advantage and than disadvantage. In this case should we write

1) Should the response be - advantage of apartment over a house and disadvantage of apartment over a house.

or

2) Advantage of living in a house and disadvantage of living in a house. Similarly for apartment.

[Bakr]

1- Worldwide
2- opportunity - To put
3- Wider
4- Problem Solving
5- Common - Common

[marja23]

worldwide
oppurtunity, put
wider
problem solving
commom, common

[Opal]

Hi,my answer is,
worldwide
opportunity
put
wider
problem-solving
common
common

[Tintin]

Hi Simon,
My Answers follows...

1.world wide
2.oppurtunity,put
3.wider
4.problem solving
5.common,common

[yoyo]

1. worldwide
2. opportunity, put
3. wider
4. problem solving
5. common, common

[mah]

I write some sentences of the pie charts as they are not clear.

Young students, aged 18 to 29, have reduced all dept except student loans.

The pie charts show average debt by category.

Student loans
Credit card
Mortgage
Auto loan
All other

[JK]

Hi Simon,

You need some rest too! I cannot believe that you have been posting a study material everyday! Everyone really appreciates your devotion.

[Maya]

1.worldwide
2.opportunity,put.
3.wider
4.problem solving
5.common.common
Thanks a lot Simon.It was easiest.

[Paula Cheng]

1.worldwide
2.oppournity,put
3.wider
4.problem,solving
5.common,common

[mah]

Hi guys,

I came across two pie charts while I was reading Yahoo News.

you can find the charts following the link below:

http://news.yahoo.com/generation-over-credit-cards-124800513.html

I write some sentences of the pie charts as they are not clear.

Young students, aged 18 to 29, have reduced all dept except student loans.

The pie charts show average debt by category.

Student loans
Credit card
Mortgage
Auto loan
All other

you can share your responses

[Simon]

CORRECT ANSWERS FROM SIMON:

1. worldwide (we write this as one word)

2. opportunity, put

3. wider

4. problem solving

5. common, common

Tony, no this didn't have anything to do with what you sent me. It's just a coincidence!

PS. I didn't post this video to say anything about English teaching or learning in China. I only choose videos based on the language contained in them, the clarity of speech, and whether or not I think people will find them useful and interesting.

PS. Thanks JK!

[Ekrem]

worldwide
opppurtunity
wider
problem solving
common common

[aziz]

1.world wide
2.oppertunity, put
3.wider
4.problem solving
5.common, common

[Thuy Nguyen]

1. worldwide
2. opportunity
3. put
4. wider
5. problems solving
6,7 common

[Merve Gerz]

worldwide
opportunity
put
wider
problem solving
common
common

Thank you.

[Prasad]

Hi Murko,

According to my understand this is a normal argumentative type essay. Therefore in here you can write your essay in both ways. If you think that there are more advantages of living in a house compared with living in an apartment, you can write your essay in such a manner that 66% of your arguments and examples are support to live in a house and 23% of oppose to it. ie. in your supporting part you can mention advantages of live in a house and disadvantages of live in apartments and in opposing part disadvantages of live in house and advantages of live in apartment.

Dear Simon,
Please correct me if i'm wrong.

[english]

1- worldwide
2- opportunity, put
3- wider
4- problem solving
5- common
6- common

[mohammad]

worldwide
opportunity
put
wider
problem solving
common
common

[Sarath Adiraju]

1. worldwide
2. opppertunity
3. put
4. wider
5. problem solving
6. common, common

[Nichi, QIAN]

Dear Simon,

here are my answers:
1. worldwide
2. opportunity; put
3. wider
4. problems solving
5. common; common

My teacher told me your website a few days ago, and I found it really useful. Thank you ~

[Cesar Iguaro]

1. world wide.
2. oppportunity - put.
3. wider.
4. problems - solving
5. common - common

[Zach]

Personally I don't see quite clearly the logic of this talk. The speaker emphasized a lot on the English learning maze at China - half of his talk if not more than - which sounds sarcastic. Yet his key point in the end is that English is becoming a world-wide language to solve problems, a common language for global citizens to solve common problems. Neutral, but rather positive than the impression I got from the first half.
Just my two cents.

[Zach]

Dear all, sorry about my type rush.
learning maze --> leaning craze
rather positive than --> more positive than

Yet still they might not sound very fluent. Please let me know of any better way of saying those.

I posted the above from a perspective of discussing the logic of the talk. Comments more than welcome.

Regards,
Zach

[kellking]

worldwide
opportunity
wider
problem solving
common
common

[Ngo Thi Bao Ngoc]

dear simon ,
Can you post transcript for this video ?

[Ellen]

hi all,

if you want to have transcript, you can use the drop-down list to select the transcript by different languages.

[Jack]

1.worldwide 2 opportunity put 3 wider 4 problem solving 5 common common

[jithu]

world wide
2.opportunity,put
3.wider
4.problem solving
5.common,common

[Bingkun Chi]

1,worldwide
2,opportuntity,put
3,wider
4,problem solving
5,commom common

[Ai Ling]

1.world wide
2.opportunity, put
3.wider
4.problem solving
5.common, common

[Yadong Qu]

1,worldwide
2,opportunity,put
3,wider
4,problem solving
5,common common

[BingkunChi]

1.worldwide
2.opportunity,put
3.wider
4.problem,solving
5.common,common

[Xuanhan Liu]

1.world wide
2.opportunity, put
3.wider
4.problem solving
5.common, common

[muathe]

worldwide
opportunity - put
wider
problem solving
common - common

[Icaro Chaves da Silva]

1.world wide

2.opportunity - put

3.wider

4.problem - solving

5.common - common

[Raed]

Mr. Bill, this my answer

1- worldwide
2- opportunity_put
3- wider
4- problem solving
5- common_common

[Bomyung Kim]

1.worldwide
2. ? , put
3.wider
4.problem solving
5.common, common

[jade]

how stupid the content of the video is, i mean the method of teaching English in China. As a Chinese student, I have to say the approach showed here can not reflect the main stream of Chinese situation, too stressful and too dumb,and I believe it only exist in certain part of China. Chinese authorizes are doing a lot effect to adjust its education system, but still have a long way to go.

[Simon]

Hi Jade,

I'm glad it's not really like that!