Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[alexwest]

Hello,

I wanted to share some advice that recently helped me to do very well on my IELTS test. My English was fairly good in terms of writing and reading, but my listening and speaking was poor for a long time. I haven't had much of an opportunity to talk with native speakers and my use of slang was terrible.

I have found what really helps is listening to podcasts (downloadable mp3 files that you can put on an ipod, other mp3 player, or listen to on your computer) Many free English learning podcasts are available and are totally free and you can get written material to go along with the podcasts with the key words and phrases often. My favourite one is from

http://www.china232.com Two brothers make this one and I think it is funny. They also offer a blog and a business English section http://www.china232.com/business_english/ This one is great for slang and real spoken English.

Also the one through this website is good

http://www.englishmeeting.com. Good for learning about topics.

Alex

[EnglishRaven]

If you're looking to practice your IELTS interview skills, you might also like to try this:

http://www.onlinenglish.net/IELTS/live_interview_practice.html

This is a live online practice location with access to five full sets of IELTS interviews. You can meet other IELTS test takers online there and practice the interviews together with live audio and video link up.

Hope it helps,

- Jason
_________________
http://www.onlinEnglish.net
http://global-english.lefora.com

[Corey]

I have used china 232 podcast for some classes - I like them in general however i find they tend to say "um" and "uh" and laugh a bit too much. They also go off topic frequently.

But that's just my 2c

Corey
_________________
Niagara Summer Programs

[PeterAlex]

How to prepare for the IELTS test

IELTS measures your reading, writing, listening and speaking skills, and assesses your ability to communicate for work, study or life in an English-speaking country.

The first step is to make sure you understand the IELTS test format. You need to know what will be expected of you on test day.

Understand the IELTS test format

Study the test format to make sure that you know what to expect.
Look carefully at the content of each part of the IELTS test: listening, reading, writing and speaking.
Get to know the different types of questions that you may be asked in each part.