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neverheardofem · Joined: 29 Feb 2012 Posts: 100

Hi,

I've been teaching general English for a few years now, and would love to gain experience with exam classes, especially IELTS. I've done a few cover classes, and know from my own reading, attending workshops etc. about the exam and what it consists of. However, I feel the best way to learn is through actually teaching it for a decent period of time.

However, the schools I have worked for either have not had any IELTS classes, or pass them to the experienced IELTS teachers.

So, IELTS teachers: How did you gain experience and where/which schools?

hochhasd · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 422

LarueLarry · Joined: 05 Jul 2013 Posts: 32

[quote="hochhasd"]

HLJHLJ · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 1218 Location: Ecuador

Exam classes should, for the most part, focus on exam skills, not on the language. Personally, I did practice tests, (lots of them) and marked them strictly according to the marking guides in the test practice books. That gave me a good feel for the exam.

The important thing to be aware of with IELTS is that they stick to the letter of the rules and instructions. If it says 2 word answer and you use 3, it's wrong. If it's a mid-sentence gap fill question and the answer is capitalized, it's wrong. Following the instructions is a large part of the tests, and it's where many candidates lose a lot of marks.

That, and not checking which side of the answer paper they are using for multiple choice. You'd be amazed how often people get that wrong too.

Other than that I observed classes by more experienced teachers and chatted with an examiner about what they thought students needed to know (in very general terms, not in relation to a specific exam).

MuscatGary · Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 11:29 am Post subject:

I taught it with high-ranking Kuwaiti officers on a full-time course, we covered the four elements for four days and then tested two elements at the end of each week except at the end of the month when we ran a full practice test.

We covered the language AND the test strategy but I accept that these were very lucky students with enormous input ( 5 hours a day from two teachers) and only about six to a class.

They needed good grades to qualify them to go to the UK for further study prior to desk jobs so fairly well motivated and they tended to do well with the system we employed.