inlingua School of Languages Preparatory Course for IELTS ... · 1/1/2015 · IELTS is accepted by...

inlingua School of Languages

Preparatory Course for IELTS

FULL-TIME

TEACHER KIT inlingua School of Languages 51 Cuppage Road #10-12 Singapore 229469 Tel (+65) 6737 6666 Fax (+65) 6737 6007 Email [email protected]

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Preparatory Course for IELTS Full-time Teacher KIT Version Updates Total number of pages: 17

Version Updated on Changes Approved by

V2.0 01/01/2015 N/A A.Siew

Quality, Professionalism and Service Page 1 of 17 V2.0_20150101

OVERVIEW

The IELTS exam

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an examination that tests English ability in academic contexts. It is an examination for candidates wishing to study at undergraduate or postgraduate levels, and for those seeking professional registration. IELTS is accepted by most English-speaking academic institutions and various professional organisations. It is also a requirement for immigration to some countries.

What is the IELTS test like?

The IELTS tests come in two formats: Academic tests a person’s ability to study in English at undergraduate or postgraduate level.

General Training this module is suitable for people who are going to an English-speaking country to work or train

at below undergraduate level. It is also used for immigration purposes to Canada, Australia, the UK and New Zealand.

We have chosen the Academic module for our Preparatory Course for IELTS. This is because most students in

Singapore decide to sit the IELTS test to enter University and it has therefore proved to be the most popular module.

There are differences between the Academic and the General training: all candidates take the same Listening and Speaking modules but different Reading and Writing modules. Listening, Reading and Writing must be completed in one day. Depending on the test centre, the Speaking test may be offered on the same day or up to a week before or after the other parts. See on the right for a diagram of the test format.

We will focus, from now on, on the Academic module format.

Level and Scores

The examination is multi-level. Students get a score between 1 and 9. Half scores such as 6.5 are possible. Universities often demand an IELTS score of 6 or 7. They may also demand a minimum score in each of the 4 sections. Please refer to the Band Scores section for a full description of the abilities at each level.

Scores and marks are calculated quantitatively (number of correct questions) in the Listening and Reading tests or qualitatively (accuracy and relevance of answers) in the Writing and Speaking tests. Please refer to the Marking Criteria

section of this handbook for more detailed information.

When, Where and How

IELTS is one of the most widely available English language tests in the world. It is offered up to four times a month in more than 125 countries. In Singapore, it is offered twice a month in 4 different locations. The cost of taking the test is set locally, payable in local currency. Results are usually issued just 13 days after the test. There are no restrictions on retaking the test. If the required score is not achieved, candidates can register for another test as soon as they feel they are ready. inlingua School of Languages offers IELTS registration services through IDP Singapore.

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TESTS

IELTS Academic Reading Description

Paper Format Three reading passages with a variety of questions using a number of task types.

Timing 60 minutes

No of Questions 40

Task Types A variety of questions are used, chosen from the following types; multiple choice, identifying information, identifying writer’s views/claims, matching information, matching headings, matching features, matching sentence endings, sentence completion, summary completion, note completion, table completion, flow-chart completion, diagram label completion, short-answer questions.

Sources Texts are taken from books, journals, magazines and newspapers and have been written for a non-specialist audience. All the topics are of general interest. They deal with issues which are interesting, recognisably appropriate and accessible to candidates entering undergraduate or postgraduate courses or seeking professional registration. The passages may be written in a variety of styles, for example narrative, descriptive or discursive/argumentative. At least one text contains detailed logical argument. Texts may contain non-verbal materials such as diagrams, graphs or illustrations. If texts contain technical terms then a simple glossary is provided.

Answering Candidates are required to transfer their answers to an answer sheet. Candidates must transfer their answers during the time allowed for the test. No extra time is allowed for transfer. Care should be taken when writing answers on the answer sheet as poor spelling and grammar are penalised.

Marks All questions carry 1 mark.

A detailed look at the paper with links to related resources can be found here:

www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org/ts/exams/academicenglish/ielts/academicreading

IELTS Academic Writing Description

Paper Format There are two Writing tasks and BOTH must be completed.

Timing 60 minutes

No of Questions 2

Task Types In Task 1 candidates are asked to describe some visual information (graph/table/chart/diagram), and to present the description in their own words. They need to write 150 words in about 20 minutes. In Task 2 candidates are presented with a point of view or argument or problem. They need to write 250 words in about 40 minutes.

Answering Answers must be given on the answer sheet and must be written in full. Notes or bullet points in whole or in part are not acceptable as answers. Candidates may write on the question paper but this cannot be taken from the examination room and will not be seen by the examiner.


www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org/ts/exams/academicenglish/ielts/academicwriting

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IELTS Listening Description

Paper Format Four sections, each with ten questions. The questions are designed so that the answers

appear in order in the listening. The first two sections deal with situations set in everyday

social contexts. There is a conversation between two speakers in Section 1 (for example

a conversation about travel arrangements) and a monologue in Section 2 (for example, a

speech about local facilities). The final two sections deal with situations set in educational

and training contexts. In Section 3 there is a conversation between two main speakers

(for example, two university students in discussion, perhaps guided by a tutor), and

Section 4 is a monologue on an academic subject. The recordings are heard once only.

They include a range of accents, including British, Australian, New Zealand and

American.

Timing Approximately 30 minutes (plus 10 minutes' transfer time).

No of Questions 40

Task Types A variety of questions is used, chosen from the following types: multiple choice,

matching, plan/map/diagram labelling, form/note/table/flow-chart/summary completion,

sentence completion, classification and matching.

Answering During the Listening test candidates write their answers on the question paper as they

listen and at the end of the test are given 10 minutes to transfer their answers to an

answer sheet. Care should be taken when writing answers on the answer sheet as poor

spelling and grammar are penalised.

Marks All questions carry 1 mark.


www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org/ts/exams/academicenglish/ielts/listening

IELTS Speaking Description

Paper Format The Speaking test consists of an oral interview between the candidate and an examiner. All Speaking tests are recorded.

Timing 11-14 minutes

Task Types There are three parts to the test and each part fulfils a specific function in terms of interaction pattern, task input and candidate output.


www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org/ts/exams/academicenglish/ielts/speaking

As you may have noticed, Marks for both Writing and Speaking tests are not indicated. This is because the marking criteria are kept confidential. However, Band Descriptors are public (see the Marking Criteria section) and teachers

follow them when marking Test papers.

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MARKING CRITERIA

Listening marking criteria The candidate receives one mark for each correct answer. Marks are not deducted for unanswered questions or incorrect answers. The candidate's mark, out of 40, is looked up on a band score conversion table and a band score awarded accordingly. These tables are confidential and are specific to that particular version of the exam so may vary from test to test. Questions must be answered according to the instructions. If not, they are marked wrong even if it is clear the candidate understood the recording. Incorrect spelling or grammar will also result in a question being marked incorrect. Teachers use the following table to calculate an approximate Listening Band Score:

Band Score

9 8.5 8 7.5 7 6.5 6 5.5 5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5

Score / 40

39-40 37-38 35-36 32-34 30-31 26-29 23-25 18-22 16-17 13-15 10-12 8-10 6-7 4-5

Academic Reading marking criteria

The candidate receives one mark for each correct answer. Marks are not deducted for unanswered questions or incorrect answers. The candidate's mark, out of 40, is looked up on a band score conversion table and a band score awarded

accordingly. These tables are confidential and are specific to that particular version of the exam so may vary from test to test. Questions must be answered according to the instructions. If not, they are marked wrong even if it is clear the candidate understood the passage. Incorrect spelling or grammar will also result in a question being marked wrong.

Teachers use the following table to calculate an approximate Listening Band Score:

Band Score

9 8.5 8 7.5 7 6.5 6 5.5 5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5

Score / 40

39-40 37-38 35-36 33-34 30-32 27-29 23-26 19-22 15-18 13-14 10-12 8-9 6-7 4-5

Academic Writing marking criteria

The examiner uses strictly defined marking descriptors to assess the candidate under four criteria. The four criteria are: Task Achievement (Task 1) or Task Response (Task 2)

Task Achievement assesses how appropriately, accurately and relevantly the response fulfils the task. Task Response assesses how well candidates formulate and develop a position in relation to the prompt. Coherence and Cohesion

This assesses how clear and fluent the message is. Organisation, the logical linking of ideas and the use of appropriate cohesive devices is important. Lexical Resource This refers to the range, accuracy and appropriacy of the vocabulary used. Grammatical Range and Accuracy This criterion assesses the accuracy of the grammar used by the candidate and whether they have used a wide range of structures. The marking criteria are not the same for both tasks. Even where the criteria are the same, the descriptors, i.e. the definition of how a candidate fits the criteria, can be different. The marking criteria are confidential. The following are the public versions of the IELTS Writing Band Descriptors.

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Writing Task 1 Band Descriptors

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Writing Task 2 Band Descriptors

Please note that these are not the actual descriptors used by examiners but are a reasonable approximation of them. A downloadable copy of the Writing Band Descriptors can be found here:

www.ielts.org/researchers/score_processing_and_reporting.aspx

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Speaking marking criteria The examiner uses strictly defined marking criteria to assess the candidate under four criteria. The four criteria are: Fluency and Coherence Fluency is to do with speech continuity, that is if the candidate is able to speak at normal rates, without having to stop or hesitate to find words or grammar. Coherence is the candidate’s ability to link sentences together in a logical sequence using appropriate cohesive devices. Lexical Resource This refers to the range and precision of the vocabulary the candidate uses. Grammatical Range and Accuracy The examiner is looking for a wide range of grammatical structures used accurately and appropriately. Pronunciation This assesses the candidate’s ability to produce understandable speech i.e. the amount of strain caused to the listener. The marking criteria are confidential. The following is the public versions of the IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors. Speaking Band Descriptors

Please note that these are not the actual descriptors used by examiners but are a reasonable approximation of them. A downloadable copy of the Speaking Band Descriptors can be found here:

www.ielts.org/researchers/score_processing_and_reporting.aspx

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RESULTS

The following is a description of how the IELTS result is calculated. Listening and Reading

Listening and Reading answer papers are marked in the same way. An administrator uses a list of correct answers and simply marks each question as right or wrong. The number of correct answers is then totalled and a conversion table used to determine the band score. Scores are reported as whole or half bands. There is no subjectivity involved and there is little room for examiner error. Writing and Speaking

The writing and speaking modules are marked by examiners who use a set of descriptors to establish which band the candidate falls into for each of a number of criteria. The final band score for each Writing task is a rounded average of the scores for each of the criteria. The overall Writing module score is calculated using a weighting of one third of the overall band score of Task 1 and two thirds of the overall band score of Task 2 and is reported as a whole or half band. The Speaking module score is calculated using a rounded average of all criteria and is reported as a whole or half band. The criteria and descriptors are designed to make the marking of the speaking and writing modules as objective as possible. However, there is much more opportunity for variation between examiners than in the case of listening and reading. Candidates should bear this in mind if they fail to achieve the IELTS result they need and are considering asking for a re-mark, or Enquiry on Results. Overall Score

The overall IELTS band score is calculated by averaging the scores for each of the modules and rounding to the nearest half band. The overall IELTS score will therefore be reported as a half or whole band. For the avoidance of doubt, the following rounding convention applies; if the average across the four skills ends in .25, it is rounded up to the next half band, and if it ends in .75, it is rounded up to the next whole band. Thus, a candidate achieving 6.5 for Listening, 6.5 for Reading, 5.0 for Writing and 7.0 for Speaking would be awarded an Overall Band Score of 6.5 (25 ÷ 4 = 6.25 = Band 6.5). Likewise, a candidate achieving 4.0 for Listening, 3.5 for Reading, 4.0 for Writing and 4.0 for Speaking would be awarded an Overall Band Score of 4.0 (15.5 ÷ 4 = 3.875 = Band 4.0). On the other hand, a candidate achieving 6.5 for Listening, 6.5 for Reading, 5.5 for Writing and 6.0 for Speaking would be awarded band 6 (24.5 ÷ 4 = 6.125 = Band 6). Test Report Form

IELTS results are given to candidates on a Test Report Form (TRF) available from the thirteenth day after the written examination. Test Centres are not allowed to divulge IELTS results over the telephone, by fax or email so every TRF is posted to canidates, or can be collected it in person. Test Report Forms are also sent to any receiving organisations candidates listed on their application form. As well as the overall band score and scores for each module, the Test Report Form contains details that identify the candidate, including name, date of birth and a photograph. Test Centre information is also included on the form. These details, together with a unique Test Report Form Number, allow Receiving Organisations to verify the authenticity of the TRF. IELTS Test Report Forms should be kept safe. Candidates only receive one copy and it cannot be replaced. However, candidates can ask for up to five additional copies to be sent direct to Receiving Organisations if they do so when they apply for the IELTS test.

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BAND SCORES

The Test Report Form contains the IELTS result. This is reported as a separate band score for each module together with an overall band score. On the reverse of the Test Report Form candidates can find a description of what each band score means. The 9 Bands are as follows:

Band 9- Expert user: has fully operational command of the language: appropriate, accurate and fluent

with complete understanding.

Band 8- Very good user: has fully operational command of the language with only occasional unsystematic

inaccuracies and inappropriacies. Misunderstandings may occur in unfamiliar

situations. Handles complex detailed argumentation well.

Band 7- Good user: has operational command of the language, though with occasional inaccuracies,

inappropriacies and misunderstandings in some situations. Generally handles

complex language well and understands detailed reasoning.

Band 6- Competent user: has generally effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies,

inappropriacies and misunderstandings. Can use and understand fairly complex

language, particularly in familiar situations.

Band 5- Modest user: has partial command of the language, coping with overall meaning in most

situations, though is likely to make many mistakes. Should be able to handle

basic communication in own field.

Band 4- Limited user: basic competence is limited to familiar situations. Has frequent problems in

understanding and expression. Is not able to use complex language.

Band 3- Extremely limited user: conveys and understands only general meaning in very familiar situations.

Frequent breakdowns in communication occur.

Band 2- Intermittent user: no real communication is possible except for the most basic information using

isolated words or short formulae in familiar situations and to meet immediate

needs. Has great difficulty understanding spoken and written English.

Band 1- Non user: essentially has no ability to use the language beyond possibly a few isolated

words.

Band 0- Did not attempt the test: No assessable information provided.

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PREPARATORY COURSE FOR IELTS – Full-time

Overview

The Preparatory Course for IELTS is for candidates wishing to study at undergraduate or postgraduate levels, and for

those seeking professional registration. The course is a specific preparation for the IELTS – the International English

Language Testing System – Academic module. It covers the four basic language skills (Speaking, Listening, Reading and

Writing) required to master in order to take the IELTS examination. During the course the students will practice the four

skills above-mentioned using IELTS course books and IELTS practice tests (refer to Materials for more information). The

syllabus includes generic topics such as Life & Leisure, Diet, Health & Exercise, Tourism & Travel, The Natural World,

Space, Planets & Weather, Economy & Employment, Education & Research, Body & Mind, Globalisation & Transport,

Media, Arts & Literature, Environment & Natural Resources, Architecture & Design, Feelings, Crime & Punishment,

Technology, Languages and covers grammar structures such as Present, Past and Future Tenses, Active and Passive

Voices, Adjectives and Adverbs, Modal Verbs, Reported Speech, Relative Clauses, Verb + verb patterns. Participants get

familiar with real exam practices during every lesson and sit an entire mock IELTS test at the end of each week. Students’

performances are recorded at the end of each lesson and grades based on the IELTS scoring system are given at the end

of each week to keep track of progress and areas of improvement.

Course Duration and Frequency

4 weeks (full-time). A student may enroll for all or part of the course. 20 hours per week, 5 days per week, 4 hours per day

for 4 weeks.

Learning objectives

To teach the course participants the basic Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing skills needed to take the IELTS

examination. By the end of the course the participants will have acquired the necessary knowledge to confidently sit the

IELTS test. According to the 9-band IELTS scoring system, the participants will be given grades based on their

performance in each part of the test, thus producing an Overall Band Score.

A detailed description of each lesson’s Learning Objectives can be found in the Syllabus Outline section.

Entry Requirements

The course is for participants who have been tested as having an Intermediate (1) or above Level of English.

Teacher Student Ratio / Mode of Delivery

Face-to-face classroom-based teaching (1 trainer with up to 15 course participants per group). Use of electronic

equipment such as cd, dvd, computer.

Timetable The following is typical weekly timetable in which participants cover a whole unit of the course book and practise one Test

Paper every day from Monday to Thursday and sit an entire mock test at the end of the week on Friday. Course starting

dates are published throughout the year on our website.

Day/Time MON TUE WED THU FRI

09.00-12.00 or

14.00-17.00

1 Unit of the Course book




IELTS Practice Test (all Papers)

12.00-13.00 or

17.00-18.00

IELTS Practice Test (1 Paper only)




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SYLLABUS OUTLINE – Full-time

Schedule Topic Listening Reading Writing Speaking Grammar IELTS Test

Our Ref.*

Day 1

4 hrs

Life & Leisure

Working out the topic Short-answer questions

Introduction to skimming and scanning

Introduction and tone of letters Salutations and endings of letters Opening and closing of letters

Introducing yourself Talking about hobbies and interests IELTS Speaking Part 1

Present tenses Adverbs of frequency -ing and –ed adjectives Irregular plurals Really, so, very

Listening (all sections)

SUI Unit 1

GFI Unit 1

VFI Unit 4

CMI Unit 2-3-4

CI5 Test 1

Day 2

4 hrs Diet, Health & Exercise

Working out the situation Short-answer questions

Skimming and scanning short extract Short-answer questions and multiple matching

Expressing likes and dislikes Using facial expression, intonation and word stress Giving a full answer

Nouns and adjectives too + for / to so / such … that Past continuous for change of plans

Reading (all sections)

SUI Unit 2

GFI Unit 2 (1-2)

VFI Unit 3

CMI 23

CI5 Test 1

Day 3

4 hrs Tourism & Travel

Understanding description IELTS Section 1 – Form filling

Getting the gist IELTS Summary completion

Describing a process or a diagram

Organising the information into paragraphs

Use of the passive

Speaking (all sections)

SUI Unit 3

GFI Unit 22

VFI Unit 7

CMI Unit 19-20

CI5 Test 1

Day 4

4 hrs The Natural World

Skimming for main ideas IELTS Sentence completion

Analysing charts

Describing diagrams and pictures

Writing a paragraph

Expressing preferences

Comparative and superlative adjectives While, whereas, on the other hand

Writing (section 1)

SUI Unit 4

GFI Unit 11 (1)

VFI Unit 9

CI5 Test 1

Day 5

4 hrs Revision and IELTS Practice Test 1 (all parts) CI6 Test 1

Schedule Topic Listening Reading Writing Speaking Grammar IELTS Test

Our Ref.*

Day 6

4 hrs

Space, Planets, & Weather

Understanding opinions and reasons Note completion

Describing tables Using comparatives to describe trends and highlight details

Expressing feeling – word and syllable stress Agreeing and disagreeing

Joining different ideas Conjunctions Linking expressions Verbs after adjectives and prepositions


SUI Unit 5

GFI Unit 23

VFI Unit 10

CMI Unit 12

CI5 Test 2

Day 7

4 hrs Economy & Employment

Identifying trends Multiple choice graphs

Following a sequence of events IELTS flow chart / note completion

Trends and verb tenses Describing a bar chart using the correct tense / verb form

Tenses for Writing Task 1 Countable and uncountable nouns Quantifiers

Speaking (all sections)

SUI Unit 6

GFI Unit 7

VFI Unit 17

CMI Unit 26-27

CI5 Test 2

Day 8

4 hrs Education & Research

IELTS Paragraph headings

Forming ideas Brainstorming opposing ideas Writing paragraphs

Pronunciation check: -ed endings Talking for one minute

Narration and past tenses Used to + infinitive


SUI Unit 7

GFI Unit 2 (3)

VFI Unit 5

CMI Unit 24

CI5 Test 2

Day 9

4 hrs Body & Mind

Listening for specific information IELTS section 2

Describing the data using noun phrases

IELTS Speaking Part 2

will / would (conditionals 0, 1 and 2) can / could Noun phrases

Writing (section 2)

SUI Unit 8

GFI Unit 17

VFI Unit 2-3

CI5 Test 2

Day 10


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*Please note that in these tables Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking and Grammar refer to the Learning

Objectives of each lesson.

Schedule Topic Listening Reading Writing Speaking Grammar IELTS Test Our Ref.*

Day 11

4 hrs Globalisation & Transport

Recognising the structure of a passage IELTS True/False/Not Given Summary with box

Comparing data Describing bar charts Highlighting significant features

Expanding your answer – giving reasons Part 1 review

Noun phrases Listening (all sections)

SUI Unit 9

GFI Unit 12

VFI Unit 13

CI5 Test 3

Day 12

4 hrs Media

Reading ahead Listening and note taking

Dealing with longer passages

IELTS Picking from a list True/False/ Not Given Global multiple choice

Expressing and justifying views Part 2 review

Tense revision Simple Past, Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous as long as, provided

Writing (Section 1)

SUI Unit 10

GFI Unit 4

VFI Unit 19

CI5 Test 3

Day 13

4 hrs Arts & Literature

Identifying main and supporting ideas in paragraphs Multiple choice questions

Paragraph building

IELTS Speaking part 3

Adverb formation and use Comparative adverbs


SUI Unit 11

GFI 10-11 (2)

VFI Unit 20

CMI Unit 22

CI7 Test 1

Day 14

4 hrs

Environment & Natural Resources

IELTS Section 3 Short answer questions Selecting a word from a list Matching

Balancing your views

Discussing abstract topics Pronunciation check: /pr/ and /v/

Infinitives + to / -ing

Writing (section 2)

SUI Unit 12

GFI Unit 16

VFI Unit 15-16

CMI Unit 11-13-14

CI5 Test 3

Day 15


Schedule Topic Listening Reading Writing Speaking Grammar IELTS Test Our Ref.*

Day 16

4 hrs Architecture & Design

IELTS Section 4 Note completion Picture multiple-choice questions

Analysing the question IELTS Writing Task 2

Comparing and contrasting Supporting a view Pronunciation check: contractions

Relative clauses Speaking (all sections)

SUI Unit 13

GFI Unit 20

VFI Unit 11

CMI Unit 7

CI5 Test 4

Day 17

4 hrs

Feelings

Crime & Punishment

Recognising feelings and identifying views

Dealing with search-based texts

Summary

IELTS Matching people to statements

Expressing feelings and opinions

Modal verbs

Writing (all sections)

SUI Unit 14

GFI Unit 13-14

VFI Unit 18

CMI Unit 10

CI5 Test 4

Day 18

4 hrs Technology

Following the writer’s argument

IELTS Locating information in paragraphs

Referring back Checking an answer

Talking about the future Predicting and speculating Pronunciation check: word stress

Future tenses Listening (all sections)

SUI Unit 15

GFI Unit 5-6

VFI Unit 12

CI5 Test 4

Day 19

4 hrs Languages

Understanding the writer’s views

IELTS Yes/ No / Not Given

Task 2: For and against Organising your answer Writing a complete answer

Language quiz Expressing certainty or doubt Indirect statements

Reported Speech


SUI Unit 16

GFI Unit 15

VFI Unit 6

CMI Unit 30

CI5 Test 4

Day 20


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MATERIALS

The materials chosen for the Preparatory Course for IELTS by the Academic Board are all published by Cambridge University Press and all up-to-date with the latest versions of the actual examinations.

The following is the list of books teachers can use to conduct their lessons:

Book Our Ref.

Main Course book : Step up to IELTS by Vanessa Jakeman and Clare McDowell SUI

Grammar book : Grammar for IELTS by Diana Hopkins and Pauline Cullen GFI

Vocabulary book : Cambridge Vocabulary for IELTS by Pauline Cullen VFI

Test Practice books : Cambridge IELTS 5, Cambridge IELTS 6, Cambridge IELTS 7 CI5, CI6, CI7,

Additional books : Common Mistakes at IELTS Intermediate by Pauline Cullen CMI

COURSE DEVELOPMENT

Reading Developing General Reading Skills

There are many ways of helping students to develop their reading skills in English. A few ideas are listed below:

Some students are convinced that only test practice will really help them, and want to do test after test. This can be discouraging, as they do not see the rapid progress they would like. Encourage students to read widely, e.g. newspapers, journals, magazines and books, and regularly use materials from these sources in your classroom activities.

Train students in different reading skills including skim-reading, scanning to locate specific information, understanding detail, opinion, implication and attitude, and also encourage them to read faster by timing them. Discourage them from trying to understand every word and from focusing on unknown words, and also give them plenty of practice in guessing meaning from context. Discourage them from looking up every unknown word in the dictionary.

Give students practice in recognising synonyms, key words, etc. to help them locate information. Encourage them to underline key words and phrases when they read, as well as paying attention to key words in the questions. Encourage students to scan for key words, or paraphrases of key words, in the extracts or the reading passage that match the items.

Give students practice in suggesting different ways of expressing the same ideas or information in a question or in a text.

Give plenty of practice in looking at coherence and cohesion of texts. Help students to recognise a wide range of linguistic devices which mark the logical and cohesive development of a text – for example, words and phrases indicating time periods, cause and effect, exemplification, contrasting arguments, repetition, concordance of tenses, pronouns, etc.

Preparing Students for IELTS Reading In addition to helping students with their reading skills in general, make sure they are ready for taking the IELTS Academic or General Training Reading paper. A few specific tips are listed below:

Make sure that you and your students are familiar with the format of the Reading paper and know how to fill in the answer sheet.

Give students practice in filling in the answer sheet under timed conditions.

Set time limits for tasks, both in class and when setting homework.

Give plenty of practice in the full range of task types. Take time in class to discuss the differences between task types and the skills that are being tested.

Encourage your students to try out different approaches to tasks, and to discuss the different approaches together. Such discussions may help students to find out which approach suits them best.

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Train students to read the instructions carefully, as each task type can have variations, so the instructions may be different from what they have practised. Encourage them also to pick out key words in questions and to predict the type of information they are looking for.

Remind students which task types have questions that follow the order of information in the reading passage.

In the task types where the information is located in order in the text, train students to avoid returning to the beginning of the text for each question.

Make sure students learn the correct spelling of words, and give them regular spelling tests.

Advise students to take care when copying a word or words from the text onto their Answer Sheets. Copying incorrectly will lead to loss of marks.

When checking answers in class, ask students to justify why they have chosen a particular answer. This encourages them to refer to the text to locate the answers and discourages them from choosing an answer which might reflect their own opinion or on the basis of similar vocabulary alone. For multiple-choice questions, ask them to consider each distractor/option and to say why they eliminated the distractors as well as why they selected the correct answer. For matching tasks, ask your students to discuss why they have selected a particular word or heading. This will help them to check their choices carefully.

Writing Developing General Writing Skills

There are many ways of helping students to develop their writing skills in English. A few ideas are listed below:

Make sure that your students are at the right level before they attempt the academic writing tasks. lower level students will not be able to complete these writing tasks in which case you may want to develop their general writing skills.

Make sure that you focus in the writing process as well as on the testing process.

You can help to improve your students’ writing skills by focusing on writing when you are working on other skill areas. This will help to make your course a truly integrated one. For example, when looking at a reading passage, encourage your students to notice new vocabulary, cohesion or referencing or how the text or argument has been organised. When you are working on listening and speaking skills, you can draw your students’ attention to the difference in style between the spoken and the written form of the language.

It also helps to vary the focus of your writing lessons. You may want to focus on any of the following areas at different times: fluency in writing; accuracy in writing; using new vocabulary; paragraphing; introductions and conclusions; organising your ideas; planning an essay; using the correct style; checking and correcting your own work.

Another way to vary the focus of your lessons is to achieve a balance between 1) writing at the sentence level, 2) paragraph building and 3) producing whole texts. Train your students to actively participate in their own learning by telling them which areas they will be working on and why. Point out what they can gain from practising a particular activity.

Try to provide a balance of activities so that you do not always focus on grammatical accuracy. While accuracy is important, it is equally important to develop planning skills, organisational skills and fluency and coherence in writing. This will also ensure that your lessons are more balanced.

Encourage students to adopt new language learning strategies. For example, you can encourage them to take an active approach to learning vocabulary by recording new words and ensuring that they attempt to actively use them as often as possible.

Increase your students’ motivation to write by making their writing more important. You can do this by ‘publishing’ their work around the classroom or in a class journal. You can also vary the reader of their work by swapping essays with a different class or with their classmates, or showing them to a different teacher.

To do well in an exam situation, students need to perform independently of their teacher. If your classes are usually teacher-centred then you may need to train your students by organising more student-centred activities. Make sure that you encourage your students to actively participate in their own learning process.

Explain the importance of considering the audience and purpose of a piece of writing. Give students practice in varying the content and style of their writing using a range of audiences.

Train your students to be aware of the benefits of using a clear structure when they write, and make sure they are aware of how to do this by teaching the typical layout of letters and essays, the structure of a paragraph, topic sentences and signalling phrases.

Make sure students understand and are familiar with the terms coherence and cohesion. Coherence in IELTS is shown through: logical organisation; the conventions of essay writing and letter writing; i.e. a beginning or introduction is followed by the body then the ending or conclusion. Cohesion can be taught through highlighting, and checking understanding of cohesive devices such as conjunctions, pronouns, lexical sets, articles and possessive adjectives.

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Make it clear from the start of your course how many pieces of writing you expect your students to produce. Tell them when they will be due. If you set this into their weekly timetable, they will develop an expectation to be writing at a particular time. You can also get each student to commit to this at the start of the course.

Vary the class organisation. They may write individually, in pairs, or as a group. You may choose to produce one whole essay as a class onto an OHT. You could ask them to write ideas onto large sheets of paper, in a poster format, to put around the classroom, or they could write onto OHTs so that the ideas may be discussed as a class. Any means you can use to get your students writing will help.

Giving Feedback

Explain exactly what will happen to the writing they produce. Will they be given feedback one or two days later or will

this take longer? Will they be expected to re-write their essays? Decide where, when and how you will handle marking, correction and feedback and let your students know what to expect.

Encourage your students to build up a portfolio of their writing and to look back at their progress from time to time.

Think about where, when and how you will give feedback on accuracy to your students. If you cannot discuss their mistakes individually, you could make written comments and give general feedback to the class. If you have a large class, it may help to adopt a marking scheme, though you will need to make sure you explain this to your students.

Students often make the same mistakes. One way to deal with this is to highlight the mistakes which are often repeated in a particular colour. Do not correct them. When the essays are handed back, your students should count up how many of these mistakes there are and keep a record. They should aim to reduce this number as much as possible throughout your course. Point out to your students that these mistakes are the careless mistakes that they should be checking for in the last few minutes of the exam.

When they have completed an essay in class, ask your students to swap with a partner and ask them to check for common mistakes. It is often easier to spot mistakes in someone else’s writing.

Vary the focus of your correction to teach your students that factors other than grammatical accuracy are important. In your feedback, you should make sure to include comments on: the use of arguments, ideas and evidence; planning and organisation; coherence and cohesion; communicative quality; task completion.

If your class size is very large, it may be helpful to get your students to write on paper which is pre-printed with a feedback section at the end, such as the following: Task Completion / Good use of... / Areas to improve next time.

Make sure that you focus on the positive aspects of their writing as well as areas that need to be improved. Preparing Students for IELTS Writing In addition to helping students with their writing skills in general, make sure they are ready for taking the appropriate IELTS Writing paper. A few specific tips are listed below:

Make sure that your students are familiar with the format of the Writing paper and the answer sheet.

When students are familiar with each task, discuss with them which part takes longer to complete. You can then work out possible timings with them.

Give your students writing tasks appropriate to their level. Lower level students will not gain anything from tackling the full writing tasks before they are ready. Break down the tasks and focus on developing their skills.

Make sure that you focus on the writing process as well as on the testing process. You can do this by giving students essays to write in their own time at home as well as timed essays in class under exam conditions. It is important to develop their writing skills as well as to give them exam practice.

Timed writing practice is essential for your students to be able to do their best in the exam. They need to develop a feel for how to plan, write and check their answers within the time allowed. Timed writing practice can be done in class and also for homework so that your students become less dependent on you telling them to stop one task and begin the next.

Train your students to use a checklist for content. When checking their answer at the end they should be sure to carefully re-read their answer to check that 1) they have addressed the task fully and no important details are missing; 2) their ideas are well-organised with sufficient supporting evidence; and 3) their writing communicates well.

For Academic Writing Task 1, it is important that students become familiar with a wide range of types of data (table, bar chart, pie chart, graph, diagram, process, etc.) and that they can quickly understand and extract the key trends and features of them. Give plenty of practice in this. Emphasize that they should describe some of the more significant information in detail but it may be difficult or impossible to describe every detail given the time limitation.

For Academic Writing Task 2, make sure students are aware of the appropriate level of formality and style for essays and the patterns of order of organisation for the various types of discursive writing (e.g. discussing advantages and disadvantages, evaluating evidence, giving their own opinion).

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Listening Developing General Listening Skills

There are many ways of helping students to develop their listening skills in English, for example:

Give students plenty of opportunity to develop their listening skills in the classroom through listening to and interacting with the teacher and other students.

Use a variety of media to develop students’ listening skills more formally through listening to recorded materials.

When using recorded materials, make sure you have a range of accents, recording lengths, number of speakers and topics.

Always provide students with sufficient information about the context and purpose before they listen, so they can activate their existing knowledge. This could be done by playing the first few seconds of a recording.

Use pre-listening activities to remind students of what they already know about the topic and the related language before they listen.

Give students plenty of practice with a variety of texts – e.g. monologues, conversations, lectures, etc.

Give students practice at the different task types – e.g. multiple choice, sentence completion, labelling a diagram, etc.

Select listening tasks on topics related to the students' knowledge and interests to increase motivation and accustom students to using their real-world knowledge.

Don’t neglect using opportunities for listening in a range of non-exam formats – e.g. songs, videos, news broadcasts, real-life speakers – with tasks aimed at developing confidence and motivation.

Integrate listening with reading, writing and speaking as much as possible so that students become accustomed to using more than one skill in English at the same time.

Encourage students to work on their listening outside the classroom. There is an increasing number of opportunities for students of English to listen to different varieties of English through leisure and educational activities on video and TV, through songs or computer and internet activities, as well as through interaction with other speakers of English.

Give students plenty of practice in writing information while they are listening, to develop the ability to handle two skills at once.

Preparing Students for IELTS Listening

Always allow students time to read the instructions and questions before starting the recording so that they can focus

on the relevant parts. Make sure that students are quite clear about what they have to do for each task type, and the type of listening required.

Train students to use the time at the beginning and end of each section usefully (either to read through the questions or to check their answers).

Train students to pay careful attention right at the beginning of each section so that they hear all the useful information about the situation and the speakers. They can use this information to activate their existing knowledge about the topic area by thinking about what the listening text might contain.

Give students practice in listening to recordings once only.

Emphasise that students should try not to panic if they miss an answer, but should instead look ahead and carry on listening carefully for the following questions.

Give students ample practice in transferring their answers to the answer sheet quickly and accurately within the 10-minute time limit. Train them to pay attention to spelling and grammar in their answers.

Allow plenty of time for checking and discussion of answers, and give students access to scripts at this stage.

Also remind students that they can expect that the information required to answer each question will be found in the same order as the questions themselves.

Speaking Developing General Speaking Skills

There are many ways of helping students to develop their speaking skills in English, for example:

Make sure your students always speak English in the classroom, and as much as possible outside it. Use English yourself at all times with your students: - when checking answers - when giving feedback - outside the class - before and after class.

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Integrate speaking skills into other class work. This will improve students' confidence and 'loosen their tongues', as well as give them practice in using their grammatical and lexical knowledge in context; e.g. use topics and lexis from reading and listening texts to set up discussions or related tasks.

If your students are reluctant speakers, get them involved in a 5-minute discussion in pairs or groups at the beginning or end of every lesson on a current event or issue. When they are used to doing this, you can slowly introduce other longer and more directed speaking activities and tasks.

For Part 2, train students to study the question carefully: does it relate to a past event, a present habit, or an imaginary situation? The tenses and verb forms they use in their answer should consistently reflect the requirements of the question.

Train your students in pronunciation both as part of a speaking activity and independently. There are many short activities which focus on discrete sounds, stress and intonation patterns. Also give plenty of good models of correct pronunciation either yourself or from recordings. Allow students opportunity to practise their pronunciation alone, through drilling, or by encouraging them to use a recording facility.

Encourage students to practise speaking on their own. Even though there is no response or feedback, simply speaking gives them the opportunity to try different ways of saying things, which can help to increase confidence. Describing what you see around you and what is happening in the street when you walk or drive somewhere, predicting the events of the day in the morning and then remembering them at night, even telling yourself what you need, and why, as you walk around the supermarket; all these give additional practice in expressing ideas in English and ‘loosening the tongue’.

Be aware yourself of how much and how often your students are speaking to each other in the classroom outside specific speaking activities. Where appropriate, give feedback or pick up on any good or weak aspects you notice, even when the main focus is on another skill.

Discourage students from giving one word answers unless it is appropriate. Giving Feedback

Give feedback of some kind every time students do a speaking activity. Feedback should be positive as well as

negative – tell your students what they do well, as well as what they are getting wrong.

Vary how you give feedback: to the whole class, to small groups or pairs, or to individuals.

Always have paper and pen in hand when monitoring, so you can note things down. Make two columns, one for things your students are doing well and the other for mistakes. Try not to write when your students are looking at you – it will put them off and they will start to focus more on your pen than on what they are talking about. And don't feel you always have to be up close to monitor – once your students know that you are going to give feedback, they won't mind where you are in the room. They know you are listening!

Focus your feedback on different things. Sometimes this should be on the IELTS Speaking assessment criteria, sometimes on a specific structure or lexical set they have recently studied, and sometimes you can just focus in general on how they perform.

Make sure the students are clear about the corrections. Writing them on the board or on sheets of paper is effective. Don’t always give all the corrections yourself; get your students to correct themselves or each other too.

Don't overcorrect.

Organise weekly individual tutorials, where you can discuss strengths and weaknesses more discreetly, and set objectives for the student to work on, reviewing and praising progress in subsequent weeks, as well as setting new targets.

Preparing Students for IELTS Speaking

Make sure students are aware of the different sections of the test and the assessment criteria.

For Part 1, give students plenty of practice in speaking about themselves.

For Part 2, train students to respond quickly and fully to a variety of written tasks.

For Part 2, train students to think about and organise what they are going to say in 1 minute.

For Parts 2 and 3, give students practice in talking about a wide range of topics.

For Parts 2 and 3, encourage students to use discourse markers (first, second, finally, etc.) and train them to keep their ideas going by asking themselves question words: Why? When? How? etc.

To practise Part 3, give students ample opportunity to discuss ideas amongst themselves.

For any other information concerning the IELTS test format, the Preparatory Course for IELTS Contents and Objectives, teaching techniques and additional material, teachers are encouraged to approach any member of the Academic Board for assistance and guidance. Additional information can also be found at: www.ielts.org or www.teachers.cambridgeesol.org

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inlingua School of Languages 51 Cuppage Road #10-12 Singapore 229469 Tel (+65) 6737 6666 Fax (+65) 6737 6007 Email [email protected]

inlingua School of Languages Preparatory Course for IELTS ... · 1/1/2015 · IELTS is accepted by...

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