Looking around it seems there is no such course, so what is the best way to prep to teach such classes, to get qualified to tutor them?
TIA
Best Way to Get Certified in IELTS , TOEIC or TOEFL
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Sally Olsen
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I was looking for IELtS courses and stumbled across courses at our local university to prepare teachers to mark the IELTS. It is a good paying job. If you know what the markers are looking for you can teach towards the exam.
I also met with (and paid for an hour of their tutoring time) several IELTS tutors whose names I found on student boards at schools that taught the courses and asked for their input on what to teach and what kinds of things were necessary.
Then I sat in on lessons of the teacher I thought had the best approach and she gave me worksheets and more tips.
Finallly I taught with an expert. He recommended that I go to the IELTS site and download the "what we are looking for" section and then teach to that.
There are some good hints in books designed to teach the IELTS and you can look through them at any good ESL bookstore. There are a ton of sites on the Internet to help the students.
I found that one of the main things is the timing. I taught the writing section and listening section. I got them to write the required time every day. That little piece of writing has to be packed full of information, vocabulary and variety in sentence structure. You can gradually take the student from one level to the next by correcting one idea each time. Connecting words are highly valued it seems.
For the listening section, I made sure they had a paper copy of the listening test to follow along for the first month or so and we broke it down as to the structure of English listening. You will find that there are definite patterns to how they write the listening sections. Then I made sure they could scan the questions quickly before they heard the section to pick out words like names that would be difficult for them to hear for the first time and to guess which answer might be correct, what the piece might be about just from the answers and what alternate vocabulary they could use for the difficult words.
But in the end, the students who did well were the ones that really went after all aspects of English learning and were good at it. That is the purpose of the test and in my opinion, it is probably the best test so far I have seen to really judge if a student can function in English at a high enough level to go to a foreign university.
What is missing are the social practices of that country and that is something you have to provide separately but in my mind, are just as important.
I also met with (and paid for an hour of their tutoring time) several IELTS tutors whose names I found on student boards at schools that taught the courses and asked for their input on what to teach and what kinds of things were necessary.
Then I sat in on lessons of the teacher I thought had the best approach and she gave me worksheets and more tips.
Finallly I taught with an expert. He recommended that I go to the IELTS site and download the "what we are looking for" section and then teach to that.
There are some good hints in books designed to teach the IELTS and you can look through them at any good ESL bookstore. There are a ton of sites on the Internet to help the students.
I found that one of the main things is the timing. I taught the writing section and listening section. I got them to write the required time every day. That little piece of writing has to be packed full of information, vocabulary and variety in sentence structure. You can gradually take the student from one level to the next by correcting one idea each time. Connecting words are highly valued it seems.
For the listening section, I made sure they had a paper copy of the listening test to follow along for the first month or so and we broke it down as to the structure of English listening. You will find that there are definite patterns to how they write the listening sections. Then I made sure they could scan the questions quickly before they heard the section to pick out words like names that would be difficult for them to hear for the first time and to guess which answer might be correct, what the piece might be about just from the answers and what alternate vocabulary they could use for the difficult words.
But in the end, the students who did well were the ones that really went after all aspects of English learning and were good at it. That is the purpose of the test and in my opinion, it is probably the best test so far I have seen to really judge if a student can function in English at a high enough level to go to a foreign university.
What is missing are the social practices of that country and that is something you have to provide separately but in my mind, are just as important.