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williamtdphillips
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 6
Location: China
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 Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 5:59 pm Post subject: Teaching IELTS |
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I am teaching IELTS and would like any suggestions on some tips for doing it. My students are really keen on passing it. Right now it appears that they know much more about the IELTS exam than me. They keep on asking me about IELTS strategies, how what their IELTS score is, etc.
Any help would be appreciated? |
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baxbore
Joined: 14 Jul 2008
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 6:06 pm Post subject: IELTS tips |
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| They are all kinds of IELTS websites that can help you. For IELTS writing help I recommend my students to go to ieltshelper.com. Since I do not know which IELTS score to give, A IELTS tutor (at ieltsehelper.com) can mark students IELTS papers and give them predicted IELTS score. They are pretty accurate. |
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williamtdphillips
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 6
Location: China
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 6:08 pm Post subject: Thanks for the IELTS help |
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| Thanks for recommending IELTShelper.com. I will check it out. I really hope my students can get an idea of their IELTS writing level, as well as their speaking. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:13 pm Post subject: |
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You can explain test taking strategies.
ex.
Answer everything (if there is no penalty for wrong answers).
Show them how to guess (eliminate obviously wrong answers just to get the percentage of guessing up).
You can explain how to study for such tests.
ex. Go to listening sites like Voice of America. Listen first. Then listen and read at the same time. Then listen again without reading.
ex. Understanding what the questions are. Have students read interview questions to each other, and the person who answers must repeat the bulk of the question just to show comprehension in his answer. (Q. "On the weekend, where do you usually go to relax?" A. "On the weekend I go to the beach to relax.")
You can explain the grammar. (This obviously takes more effort.)
ex.
Phrasal verbs.
Articles. |
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Marcoregano
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 872
Location: Hong Kong
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 12:20 am Post subject: |
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| I've been a regular IELTS examiner for six years. IMO, just knowing what to expect in the exam is worth half a point. Mock exam practice will help them a lot, and also serve to expose their weaknesses. |
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kinlij
Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 15
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:25 am Post subject: Re: Teaching IELTS |
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I've been an IELTS examiner for around 6 years and have taught IELTS prep classes for about 4 years, so here goes:
| williamtdphillips wrote: |
| My students are really keen on passing it. |
There is no pass or fail in the IELTS test. They get a band that shows their English proficiency. Most candidates want to get a 6.5 because that's the band most universities require for entrance.
IMO at the end of the day they're going to get a score that equates to their proficiency level. No amount of preparation is going to get a candidate a 7 if their ability is not a 7.
What you can do though is make sure they don't get a lower band because of unfamiliarity with the test.
Reading:
One of the biggest problems is time. They have one hour to do 3 readings. Do lots of timed readings so they get used to completing 1 reading in 20 minutes, etc.
Look at question types. What do they need to do to answer this set of questions? Where do they need to look in the text to find the answers to this set of questions? Most of the time they don't have to read the whole text to find the answers. Get them used to examining the keywords in questions to predict what paragraph the answer will be in.
Get them to read the instructions carefully. If the instructions say 2 words or less and they answer with 3 words, their answer will be wrong.
Writing:
Again, time is the problem. Get them used to doing timed writing - 20 minutes for task 1 and 40 minutes for task 2.
Task 1 - Teach the vocabulary for graphs. Make sure they just describe the graph and don't try to explain it. Make sure their description includes comparison of the data. Make sure they include an overview of the main trends in the graph. Get them to look at model answers and analyse what makes it a good answer, and how they can make their own writing more like that. (Teach the same for processes, although this is included less often in the test)
Task 2 - They must include their opinion and show an argument to support it. Read the instructions - do they have to show both sides of an argument, or just show to what extent they agree/disagree with a topic? Failure to answer in accordance with the instructions will result in a lower score.
I spend a lot of time in class on brainstorming ideas. Most students have never thought about some of the topics, so get them used to having an opinion and a position on possible topics.
Teach them paragraph structure and how to organise their ideas into a paragraph. Again - look at model answers.
Speaking:
Part 1 - make sure they answer at a sentence level, not just 'yes' or 'no'. Get them to give reasons. Lots of practice of Part 2 - using the one minute to take notes and then speaking for 1- 2 minutes. Part 3 is the hardest. Again, they have to give their opinion on topics they may have never thought about, so practice this. Get them used to answering at length here, not just 1 or 2 sentence answers.
Listening:
Examine the questions types and what they need to do to answer them. Get them used to a variety of question types. Practice the 10 minute transfer time - spelling counts so get them used to accurately transferring their answers to the answer sheet.
But both you and your students should remember that an IELTS prep course is not really going to improve their English proficiency, it's just going to familiarize them with the test. They should be working on their proficiency in addition to practicing the test, and this is something that takes time and, I feel, is something they need to be responsible for.
For example, when students ask me how to improve their reading score I always ask them how much they read outside of class time? To get a good reading score you need to be a good reader, and this means reading extensively in their own time, not just in class. Doing a few practice tests and learning a few reading strategies with me is not going to get them a good score if it's the only reading they do. |
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Marcoregano
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 872
Location: Hong Kong
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:35 am Post subject: |
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| As kinlij says, there's no magic formula that's going to give a candidate a high score overnight, but I do believe (I have also taught IELTS prep courses) that familiarisation with the test format and briefing the candidate on certain aspects e.g. time awareness, avoiding yes/no answers, and so on, can boost a candidate by half a point. Beyond that, as kinlij says, it's all down to hard work and improving your all-round English proficiency in the four skills, which takes time. I know of candidates who haven't got the score they need for university entrance (or whatever) come back and try again after a couple of months - and get the same score. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:16 am Post subject: |
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I have taught similar test (TOEIC, TOEFL) prep. Marcoregano and kinlij are doing what I do.
Once they see their weaknesses, you have to overcome them.
Also, as marcoregano wrote, "it's all down to hard work and improving your all-round English proficiency in the four skills, which takes time". Once a student acknowledges this simple yet time-consuming part of study, you are halfway home. The other half is GETTING the student to actually put in an hour or so every day. |
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william wallace
Joined: 14 May 2003
Posts: 2869
Location: in between
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:18 am Post subject: |
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| Get them to practice common/familiar and relevant areas to "describe" and "explain" ie: Describe your hometown/favourite activity/memory/sport/music/movie etc.. To do these will require command of fluency,vocab,grammar,pronunciation.If they can use idiomatic expressions(naturally) ,then they are tending towards the upper band scores,assuming the aforementioned(F,V,G,P) is good. |
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kinlij
Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 15
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:50 am Post subject: |
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| Marcoregano wrote: |
| I do believe (I have also taught IELTS prep courses) that familiarisation with the test format and briefing the candidate on certain aspects e.g. time awareness, avoiding yes/no answers, and so on, can boost a candidate by half a point. |
I totally agree with you! I think by knowing the test format they are able to really show their proficiency level. By being aware of time constraints, for example, they can make sure they finish the reading and writing modules. It doesn't matter how great a writer they are, if they don't write the required number of words in the hour they'll get a substantially lower band.
I get frustrated sometimes when students expect me to give them some magic 'trick' to get a higher IELTS score. There is no trick! If they want a higher score then their overall proficiency needs to improve.
I think I read somewhere that it takes 6 months of study to show an increase of half a band. I'm not sure how correct that is but it seems the right amount of time needed to get that increase in proficiency. And that's not 6 months of continually retaking the test in hopes they'll get lucky (as I've had some students do). It's 6 months of working hard on their skills. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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| kinlij wrote: |
I get frustrated sometimes when students expect me to give them some magic 'trick' to get a higher IELTS score. There is no trick! If they want a higher score then their overall proficiency needs to improve.
I think I read somewhere that it takes 6 months of study to show an increase of half a band. I'm not sure how correct that is but it seems the right amount of time needed to get that increase in proficiency. And that's not 6 months of continually retaking the test in hopes they'll get lucky (as I've had some students do). It's 6 months of working hard on their skills. |
I deal with my TOEIC prep students the same way. First day, I tell them that they will NOT improve from their previous score (if it was fairly recent) unless they put in at least 100 hours of intensive study. My course has them for 15 90-minute classes. Do the math.
I do it for them openly on the board. That shows them how much they have to study on their own, minimum!
I also explain to them that since their score is a range, they have to get higher (or lower) than that range to show a difference from test to test. In the case of TOEIC that means 35 points difference. Less than that means their ability has not changed. Then, I tell them why the score is a range and not a definitive value:
they might be tired
they might get distracted
they might have a headache
the room might be cold/hot
their meal that day might not have been sufficient
they might not have gotten enough sleep
they might have felt cramming the last week was enough |
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