I've just published a new video lesson at the bottom of this website.
In the lesson, I prepare vocabulary ideas for the topic area "Describe your favourite" in IELTS speaking part 2. I also give two full sample answers.
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I've just published a new video lesson at the bottom of this website.
In the lesson, I prepare vocabulary ideas for the topic area "Describe your favourite" in IELTS speaking part 2. I also give two full sample answers.
Look at the following statement from a question in Cambridge IELTS book 10.
The charts below show what UK graduate and postgraduate students who did not go into full-time work did after leaving college in 2008.
Now read an introduction written by a student (below). There are several problems in this introduction sentence - not only grammatical problems. Can you see them?
Introduction sentence:
The bar graphs give information and compare between the kinds of jobs opted by UK's undergraduate and postgraduate students who did not go for a full time job after completing their degrees in 2008.
Look at the following exam question that a student sent me:
As well as making money, businesses also have social responsibilities. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
When deciding whether to agree, disagree or partly agree, I suggest that you think about your two main body paragraphs. What would you like to include in your two main paragraphs, and which opinion allows you to do this?
Following yesterday's reading passage about 'etymology', here's an interesting presentation about the origins of some English words.
If you do a YouTube search for "etymology of English", you'll find lots more videos like this. This could be a nice way to improve both your vocabulary knowledge and your spelling.
Did you notice the paraphrasing that I used in Thursday's lesson?
and the comparisons that I made?
Did you note down these good phrases from Wednesday's lesson?
If you want to write at a band 7-9 level, vocabulary is the key!
I asked my students to plan some ideas for the 'happiness' question that you can see in this lesson (the students hadn't seen my full essay). We then wrote a band 9 paragraph together (see below).
Paragraph answering the question 'why is happiness difficult to define?':
Happiness is almost impossible to explain because it is an abstract concept with no definite meaning. It can mean or represent something completely different depending on a person's age, culture or background. For some people, happiness is a feeling of pleasure in a particular moment, whereas for others, it is a state of mind. Children, for example, are happiest when playing, laughing and having fun, while adults usually equate happiness with health, security, financial stability or success. In other words, we all have different views or requirements, and so we seek contentment in our own individual ways.
But what makes this a 'band 9' paragraph?
Can you analyse it in terms of the 4 criteria?
The video below isn't related to IELTS, but I found it interesting. The speaker gives some useful tips about how to have better conversations, and she uses plenty of good vocabulary.
If you have time, maybe you could note down the 10 tips and any good phrases that you hear.
PS. She speaks quickly, so use the subtitles to help you.
In which of these sentences is the passive used correctly?
People sometimes ask me whether the examiner will reduce their scores if they copy my vocabulary ideas, either from this website or from my ebook.
The answer is no, the examiner will not reduce your score! Everyone has to get vocabulary ideas from somewhere, whether it's from a teacher, a textbook, a dictionary or my website. Besides, I wasn't the "inventor" of any of the words or phrases that I use.
You can now watch my latest video lesson here. I hope you find it useful.
Have you prepared a description of your favourite film, book and website? I'm making a video lesson about these topics at the moment, and I'm trying to think of some vocabulary themes.
For the favourite website topic, I think we can say a lot about the features and the website's usefulness. For the film or book, we can describe the plot, but can you think of any other vocabulary themes for these topics?
By the way, my video lesson about the "describe an activity" topic will be ready later today. Because of the delay I'll make it free.
Here are my suggestions for correct, simplified versions of the sentences in yesterday's lesson:
Notes:
Can you see the mistakes in the following topic sentences?
Tip: the easiest way to improve these sentences is by simplifying them.
Today I'm working on a video lesson about the "describe an activity" topic. You might be asked to describe a hobby, sport or game, so it's a good idea to be ready for this topic.
My approach is to prepare ideas for one sport (e.g. swimming) and one game (e.g. chess). I start with a simple idea, such as "swimming is healthy". Then I search for good words and phrases related to this theme. For example:
"Swimming is healthy" theme:
Can you think of any more words and phrases for this theme?
When writing a main body paragraph, I usually recommend that you start with a topic sentence. To see a good example, look at paragraph 3 in this lesson. Here's the topic sentence again:
However, there are various steps that governments could take to tackle these problems.
But did you notice that I missed the topic sentence in paragraph 2 of the essay? Can you suggest a short, simple topic sentence that we could add to the start of this paragraph?
Someone asked me the following useful questions:
My answer is no. Although 'bring down', 'lessen' and 'cut down' can be used as synonyms of 'reduce' in some situations, most native speakers wouldn't choose to use them in the contexts above. In other words, 'reduce pollution' is a common collocation, but 'bring down pollution' isn't.
To see which verbs collocate (go well) with 'pollution' click here.
To see collocations with the word 'pressure' click here.
Did you analyse the essay in Wednesday's lesson? Here are some good phrases that you could try to use yourself:
Remember that 'topic vocabulary' is the key to a high score in writing task 2.
I've now published my latest video lesson (speaking lesson 6) at the bottom of this webpage. In the lesson, I look at 4 types of event:
Which type of event would you find the most difficult to describe? Can you think of any vocabulary 'themes' that could be used to describe any event?
Here's my full sample essay for question below.
More and more people are migrating to cities in search of a better life, but city life can be extremely difficult. Explain some of the difficulties of living in a city. How can governments make urban life better for everyone?
Cities are often seen as places of opportunity, but there are also some major drawbacks of living in a large metropolis. In my opinion, governments could do much more to improve city life for the average inhabitant.
The main problem for anyone who hopes to migrate to a large city is that the cost of living is likely to be much higher than it is in a small town or village. Inhabitants of cities have to pay higher prices for housing, transport, and even food. Another issue is that urban areas tend to suffer from social problems such as high crime and poverty rates in comparison with rural areas. Furthermore, the air quality in cities is often poor, due to pollution from traffic, and the streets and public transport systems are usually overcrowded. As a result, city life can be unhealthy and stressful.
However, there are various steps that governments could take to tackle these problems. Firstly, they could invest money in the building of affordable or social housing to reduce the cost of living. Secondly, politicians have the power to ban vehicles from city centres and promote the use of cleaner public transport, which would help to reduce both air pollution and traffic congestion. In London, for example, the introduction of a congestion charge for drivers has helped to curb the traffic problem. A third option would be to develop provincial towns and rural areas, by moving industry and jobs to those regions, in order to reduce the pressure on major cities.
In conclusion, governments could certainly implement a range of measures to enhance the quality of life for all city residents.
(273 words, band 9)