IELTS Simon

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Read the following paragraph about 'minority languages'.

Minority languages are occasionally marginalised within nations for a number of reasons. These include the small number of speakers, the decline in the number of speakers, and their occasional consideration as uncultured, primitive, or simple dialects when compared to the dominant language. Support for minority languages is sometimes viewed as supporting separatism. Immigrant minority languages are often also seen as a threat and as indicative of the non-integration of these communities. Both of these perceived threats are based on the notion of the exclusion of the majority language speakers. Often this is added to by political systems which do not provide support (such as education and policing) in these languages.

Are the following statements true, false or not given?

1. Minority languages sometimes disappear.
2. Minority languages are simpler to learn than majority languages.
3. Minority languages are sometimes considered to be harmful.

IELTS Speaking Part 2: family celebration

Try preparing some ideas for this recent exam question:

Describe a family celebration that you remember. You should say

- what you were celebrating
- who was present
- what you and your family did to make the celebration special
- and why you enjoyed the occasion.

I'll share my ideas next week.

IELTS Writing Task 1: fill the gaps

The following sentences describe the bar chart on page 51 of Cambridge IELTS book 2. What words would you use to fill the gaps?

1. The chart compares the _____ of hours of free time that men and women had between 1998 and 1999.
2. It is _____ that men enjoyed more leisure time than women.
3. Unemployed males had just _____ 80 hours of leisure time per week.
4. The figures for retired men and women were exactly the same as _____ for the unemployed.
5. Housewives enjoyed the next highest _____ of spare time.
6. Part-time working women enjoyed only 3 extra hours of leisure _____ to those who worked full-time.

IELTS Writing Task 2: brainstorm then organise

I asked my students to brainstorm ideas for the question below.

Families who send their children to private schools should not be required to pay taxes that support the state education system.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Here are their ideas for a 'completely disagree' answer:

• difficult to calculate the tax reduction
• more government staff would be required for this process
• we all pay for public services that we may not need e.g. police
• poorer people would pay more tax than wealthy people
• state schools benefit the whole of society
• high quality state education leads to equal opportunities for all
• a well-educated workforce is the key to a prosperous nation
• companies need educated staff
• we should all be happy to contribute to public services

After brainstorming, we need to organise these ideas so that we have two paragraphs. There seem to be two main themes in the ideas above:

1. Reasons why we think the idea would not work, or would be unfair.
2. Reasons why everyone should pay taxes that support state education.

Next week I'll show you how we used these ideas to write a full essay.

IELTS Listening: 'train tickets' exercise

Listen to the following advice about buying train tickets in the UK, and answer the questions below.

Click here to listen

1. If you book 12 weeks in advance, you can get a return ticket to Manchester for £ ______.

2. Which website are you advised to use when paying for your ticket?

A) the East Coast website
B) thetrainline.com
C) the Ticket Alert website

3. Which TWO statements are true of the East Coast website?

A) You pay a £1.50 booking fee.
B) It can only be used for booking trains from London to Edinburgh.
C) You can use it to buy train tickets for anywhere in the UK.
D) You will not be charged for using a credit card.
E) You can buy a “Super Advance” ticket the night before your trip.

IELTS Reading: another keyword table

Here's the key vocabulary that helped my students to get the answers to reading test 2, passage 3 in Cambridge IELTS book 9.

IELTS General Writing: 'insurance' letter

Here's my full answer to last week's question:

(Click on the letter to enlarge it)

IELTS Vocabulary: collocations

I often talk about the importance of collocations (see Thursday's lesson). For a really clear explanation of what collocations are, why they are important, and how to learn them, visit this website. I also like the Online Oxford Collocation Dictionary, which you can find here.

If you like studying grammar, you could classify collocations like this:

Alternatively, you could classify them according to their IELTS use:

IELTS Writing Task 1: make a list of collocations

Collocations (explained in more detail in this lesson) are groups of words that are often found together.

I'm sure you already know several common collocations for writing task 1 (e.g. a significant rise, reach a peak), but why not make a list of as many as possible? Let's start the list by looking through my recent task 1 lessons.

Collocations for any topic:

• distinct stages
• final steps
• at the... stage
• a significant rise
• over a/the period

Collocations for specific topics:

• produce electricity
• the capture of energy
• take energy, convert energy
• global turnover
• sales figures, worldwide sales

See if you can add to the list. I'll give you some more advice about collocations this weekend.

IELTS Writing Task 2: 'strong opinion' answer

If the question asks whether you agree or disagree, you need to make your opinion very clear. You can either have a strong opinion or a balanced opinion. Let's try writing a 'strong opinion' answer for the following question:

Families who send their children to private schools should not be required to pay taxes that support the state education system.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

When you have a strong opinion, you don't need to mention the opposite view.
Here's my plan for a 4-paragraph essay:

1. Introduction: 1 sentence to introduce the topic, 1 sentence to make your opinion clear (e.g. I completely disagree...)
2. Main paragraph: support your opinion with a reason
3. Main paragraph: support your opinion with another reason
4. Conclusion: repeat/summarise your opinion

I'll continue with this topic next week.

IELTS Listening: 'non-ielts' practice

As well as doing IELTS listening tests, it's important to do as much general listening practice as you can. My advice is to listen to things that you find interesting. The Internet is the best place to look for videos, radio broadcasts, podcasts, films and TV programmes.

Here's a suggestion for people following the World Cup:
If you're a football fan, why not listen to match commentary in English on an Internet radio station like this one? If you're watching a match on TV, turn the volume down and listen to the commentary in English (warning: commentators speak quickly!).

IELTS Reading: vocabulary exercise

Read the following text about bad behaviour in schools.

The misbehaviour of children is common in all schools, although most schools manage to maintain tolerable standards of discipline. Low levels of indiscipline can result in a detrimental working environment for children, while poor disciplinary management within a school can cause a more general breakdown in order.

Problems with school discipline have also led to a reduction in the number of people willing to become teachers, especially in schools regarded as difficult. Student misbehaviour and rudeness is the leading cause of teacher resignations. In some areas and countries, this has led to a severe teacher shortage, with classes either not taught, or taught by an unqualified person. In some schools, a class may have up to a dozen different teachers in a single year, as the replacements decide to leave rather than deal with student behaviour. Many countries are now trying to offer incentives to new teachers to remain in such schools, but with very limited success.

Find words or phrases in the text that are similar to those in the list below.

1. sufficient levels
2. negative
3. resulted in
4. main reason for
5. serious
6. as many as twelve

IELTS Advice: two things to improve

A lot of people ask me what they should do to improve their scores. Generally speaking, there are only two things that you can do:

1. Work on your exam technique
2. Work on your English

I can often help students to make fast improvements by teaching them how to organise their essays, how to look for keywords in the reading test, or how to expand their answers in the speaking test. These are exam techniques.

However, exam techniques alone will not get you a band 7. You need a good level of English to get a 7, and that means you need to do the hard work it takes to gradually learn more words and phrases, improve your speaking fluency, and generally become a more confident user of the language.

Note:
Point 2 takes time. Don't expect your English to improve from 5.5 to 7 without a lot of work!

IELTS General Writing: 'insurance' letter

Here's a general writing task 1 question from Cambridge IELTS book 9:

The question tells you to begin with "Dear Sir or Madam", so we know that it needs to be a formal letter. After that, you just need 3 short paragraphs to cover the bullet points in the question, followed by a formal letter ending.

I'll write my sample answer for next week.

IELTS Writing Task 1: 'solar panel' process

Here's my full report for the solar panel process diagram:

The picture illustrates the process of producing electricity in a home using solar panels.

It is clear that there are five distinct stages in this process, beginning with the capture of energy from sunlight. The final two steps show how domestic electricity is connected to the external power supply.

At the first stage in the process, solar panels on the roof of a normal house take energy from the sun and convert it into DC current. Next, this current is passed to an inverter, which changes it to AC current and regulates the supply of electricity. At stage three, electricity is supplied to the home from an electrical panel.

At the fourth step shown on the diagram, a utility meter in the home is responsible for sending any extra electric power outside the house into the grid. Finally, if the solar panels do not provide enough energy for the household, electricity will flow from the utility grid into the home through the meter.

Note:
I've underlined examples of the two language features that make process diagram descriptions special: 'steps' language, and passive verbs.

IELTS Writing Task 2: timing

If you haven't seen my advice about timing before, here's a reminder.

You have 40 minutes for writing task 2, and I suggest that you:

• Spend the first 10 minutes planning your essay structure and brainstorming ideas for the two main body paragraphs.
• Spend 5 minutes writing your 2-sentence introduction.
• Spend 20 minutes on the main body (10 minutes for each paragraph).
• Spend the last 5 minutes writing your conclusion and checking everything.

Have a look through the lessons here on the site if you want to read about any of this advice in more detail.

IELTS Listening: almost any listening is good practice!

It's important to practise real IELTS listening tests (use the Cambridge books for this), but that isn't the only type of listening practice you can do. I advise my students to watch TV, films and online videos - the more listening you do, the faster your 'ear' will improve!

If you find a good video on the Internet, please share it in the "comments" below.

IELTS Reading: improve your vocabulary

Whenever you practise doing an IELTS reading test, you should treat it as an opportunity to improve your vocabulary knowledge. Look carefully at the phrases used, and the way ideas are expressed.

For example, did you notice this vocabulary in last week's lesson?

• pose a challenge
• a pressing challenge
• meet the growing need for
• more mouths to feed
• sheer population growth
• the spread of prosperity
• driving demand
• boosting pressure
• the double whammy of... and...

Try making your own sentences to practise using some of these phrases.

IELTS Advice: if you have a grammar question

If you have a grammar question, this website probably isn't the best place to find the answer. There are many dedicated grammar sites, so all you need to do is put your problem into a search engine (e.g. Google).

Example:
A student asked me to explain how to use "not only... but also...". If we do a Google search for "grammar not only but also", here's the first website that Google suggests: click here.

After reading the explanation of "not only... but also...", you could try making your own sentences about common IELTS topics, such as education, work or the environment.

IELTS Writing Task 1: process diagram

Last week I showed you the following question.

The diagram below shows how solar panels can be used to provide electricity for domestic use.

Let's start by writing the first two paragraphs: the introduction and overview. We'll look at the 'details' paragraphs next week.

Introduction: paraphrase the question as usual
The picture illustrates the process of producing electricity in a home using solar panels.

Overview: say two general things about the diagram
It is clear that there are five distinct stages in this process, beginning with the capture of energy from sunlight. The final two steps show how domestic electricity is connected to the external power supply.

IELTS Advice: books that I use

People sometimes ask me which books I recommend for IELTS preparation and English language study.

In fact, I don't think you need many books at all. If you have some of the official IELTS test books, a good dictionary, and access to the Internet, you have everything you need. Here are links to the only books that I regularly use myself:

For IELTS test practice
I only use the official Cambridge books e.g. Cambridge IELTS book 9.

Dictionaries
My favourite dictionary is the Collins Advanced (Learner) Dictionary.
I also use the Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English.