What is IELTS? Presented by: Julia Hedges

Managing Director

Envision Language and Training Center

agenda

• What is IELTS? • Listening• Reading• Writing • Speaking

• Why do our students need IELTS?

• Reading practice & test strategies

IELTS

• International English language testing service

• English language placement exam

• Higher education and global migration

• Middle East, Europe, and now the United States

KWL

Know Want to KnowLearn

Test 4 skills

• Listening

• Reading

• Writing

• Speaking

Listening

• There are four sections

• You will hear the listening only once

• Approximately 30 minutes long

• 10 extra minutes to transfer answers

• Same for both general and academic IELTS

• Various question types

A few Strategies

• Read two questions ahead

• Read questions carefully

• Watch spelling

• Transfer answers carefully

• Make predictions wherever possible

• Understand you may hear something different than what you read

Reading

• Approximately 60 minutes (for both general & academic)

• 40 questions

• No time to transfer answers

• Three academic reading texts with 9-14 questions

• Shorter articles for parts 1 and 2 for general IELTS

• Various question types

A few Strategies

• Skim for main idea & skim questions prior to reading

• Scan for details or for a particular answer

• Look for synonyms in the text

• For paragraph matching, read the first and last few sentences

• Don’t read everything….you do not have time!

• Yes, No, NG, turn the statement into a question, look for key words and or synonyms

Quick comprehension quiz

• How many minutes is the IELTS reading?

• How many times can you hear the IELTS listening?

• Do you get extra time to transfer your answers for the reading?

• What is one reading strategy and one listening strategy?

• Which skill is different between general and academic IELTS?

Writing

• 2 writing tasks: report or letter (task 1) essay (task 2)

• 60 minutes for completion

• 20 minutes for task 1 (150 words)

• 40 minutes for task 2 (250 words)

• Grammar and vocabulary does matter for both

• Task 1 is different for general and academic IELTS

• Don’t be short on word count! It comes off your mark.

Writing band descriptors

Some examples from each of the 4 criteria based on a band 7

• Task Achievement • (Academic) presents a clear overview of main trends, differences or stages

The main trends show that…

Overall, the diagram illustrates…

• Coherence and Cohesion • logically organizes information and ideas; there is clear progression

throughout

• Lexical Resource • uses a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precision

• Grammatical Range and Accuracy • uses a variety of complex structures

Writing strategies

• Prewrite (web or an outline)

• Practice developing your ideas fully

• Write your essay using a clear framework• Hook or reword the question (introduction)• Thesis statement (introduction) • Topic sentences (bodies 1&2) • Supporting sentences (bodies 1&2) • Examples (bodies 1&2) • Summary (conclusion)• Opinion if needed (conclusion)

Task 1 example

• What is the overview? • We can see that• The main trend to notice is that• Overall, …• As an overview, the line graph shows

• Work in pairs

• Model given at end of presentation

Speaking

• 12-14 minutes

• Conducted with an examiner

• Three parts

• Part 1: general questions about you

• Part 2: given a topic that you must speak about for 1-2 minutes with 1 minute to prepare answer

• Part 3: continuation of part 1 with more general questions

Speaking examples

Part 1 (4-5 minutes)

Do you work or do you study? Do you live in a house or an apartment?

Part 2 (3-4 minutes)

Describe your favorite holiday

Part 3 (4-5 minutes)

How has tourism changed in your country?

Speaking criteria

• Fluency and coherence • Speak at length without noticeable effort

• Lexical resource • Use vocabulary flexibly to discuss a variety of

topics

• Grammatical range and accuracy • Use a range of complex structures with some

flexibility

• Pronunciation • Can generally be understood throughout

Ways to improve speaking

• Avoid repetition

• Rephrase appropriately

• Use a wide range of vocabulary (teacher, instructor, facilitator)

• Use signposts (well, also, actually, when I was younger)

• Speak at just the right pace (not too fast and not too slow)

• Practice your verb tenses

Tips for practice

• Speak into a mirror

• Watch speaking candidates online (band 7 and above)

• Read, read, and read in English to improve vocabulary

• Download AudioNote Lite (a free recording app)• Record yourself• Listen for errors• Go back and record again making changes

Quick Comprehension quiz

• How many minutes is the speaking exam?

• How much time do you get for the writing?

• How are you marked for the writing?

• How are you marked for the speaking?

• What is one way to improve your speaking?

Why do our students need IELTS?

• College

• Graduate school

• Some jobs require IELTS

• Government and private colleges might have different expectations (students need to check)

• Studying overseas (now accepted in the United States)

IELTS Resources

• http://www.ielts.org

• http://www.envisiondxb.com/what-is-ielts/ (basics of this presentation)

• http://www.ielts-exam.net/practice_tests/ (practice for all four skills)

• www.writefix.com (focuses on improving writing)

• http://www.dcielts.com (helpful IELTS blog with vocabulary and grammar practice)

KWL

Learn

Reading practice

• 10 minutes to complete questions (less than 1 section, which would be 20 minutes)

• Use your paragraph matching and Yes, No, NG strategies • Paragraph matching: read the first few sentences

and the last• Yes/No/NG: Turn statements into questions/Search

for key words or synonyms

• If time runs out, guess quickly

• Check answers

Thank you

julia@envisiondxb.com