Sometimes students arrive at class after a long day, bereft of energy and motivation. In such situations, it’s best to hit the ground running, get them talking and ready for a lesson. This needs to be done before they pull out their mobiles and start concentrating on their cyberlife … after which time, they are lost to reality.
Therefore, before they can hit that ‘Post’ button, pair them up and make them ask each other various questions, demanding that the answers be as complex as possible, incorporating big words (‘Low-Frequency Words’), discourse markers and relative pronouns, along with appropriate expressions.
Example: Where would you most like to visit ?
Bad answer: Nowhere. Bad answer: New York.
Better answer:
Introduce your answer THEN state the location THEN explain why.
Ah, that’s an interesting question because I really need a holiday. However travelling now is not a good idea because of the COVID 19 which is an extremely serious pandemic. So, I have to think about after, when it is safe to go on holiday.
I have always wanted to visit Singapore, because it looks so clean and modern and, not forgetting, so many shopping malls. I love shopping, it is my passion. I would buy so many things such as clothes, makeup and presents for my family.
IELTS students should be able to add a number of idiomatic language to really spice up their presentation. I would expect to hear:
cost(s) an arm and a leg / prices (can be \ are) sky high / mouth-watering / world famous / ubiquitous / pristine / that’s a bit of a sore point (because we CAN’T travel) / such a wide array / shop till (I \ you) drop / overwhelming / spoilt for choice / retail therapy
Remember … there are some affordable shopping areas in Singapore although they tend to be away from the city centre but well worth a visit.
NOW … your turn
Questionnaire / Discussion
What kind of music do you like ? (do you play or listen ?)
Can you name any plays by Shakespeare ? (if not what writer do you like ?)
What time do you usually get up ? (weekdays and weekends)
How do you relax ? (do you have time or do you study, have family, work overtime ?)
Can you play a musical instrument ? (would you like to ? Why ?)
What skill(s) would you like to acquire ? (be creative here – what stops you learning ?)
What is the best thing about Sai Gon ? (or YOUR city)
However, this is not a one-way street. The person asking is expected to make small talk, to elicit – to encourage – the speaker to open up and expand on their answers.
Use small talk phrases such as:
Really ? That’s interesting // Tell me more // Why do you say that ? // Oh, me too // What do (did) you like best // Where is that (exactly) ? // I’ve heard about that // I haven’t heard about that, can you explain // Why do you say that ? // Oh, I get it // I’m not sure I follow.
And if your partner is stonewalling you (not talking), here’s a great idiom:
Fjord in Norway, north EuropeShopping mall in SingaporeDisneyland, USASt Petersburg, Russia
Name
Which site do you want to visit most
Why ?
What is the weather like there (use adverbs)
What can you do there ?
What could be a problem ?
I would like to visit all the sites. However, if I have to choose one, I will visit St Petersburg in Russia.
St Petersburg is a very beautiful city, with many amazing buildings. The city is very famous, and I have read about it in many books.
I think the weather is quite hot in summer, and also it stays very light, even at night. However, it can be extremely cold in winter.
St Petersburg has so many museums and galleries. I want to see all of them. Also it would be fun to walk around and take many photos.
I don’t speak Russian so that could be a problem if people can’t speak English. Also, it may be extremely cold, so I will need a lot of thick clothes. Finally, I will need to buy some Russian money.
A major problem for students is pronunciation and also, in some classes, it can be rather tricky to get the students talking. Obviously, many learners are scared of mispronouncing and ‘losing face’ by their mistake.
This activity helps with both issues.
Arrange the class in small groups and hand each member an card. The students have to read out the information, while the other write down what they hear. Many of my students feel that work is something to be done as quickly as possible, but that will not work in this situation.
Instead, the other team members will need to check what is being said. This encourages slow, clear and careful pronunciation. To assist, use expressions such as:
Can you speak slower, please.
Would you mind speaking slower, please.
How do you spell that ?
Could you repeat that, please.
Sorry, I didn’t catch the phone number.
Let me confirm …
Is that ‘b’ as in blue or ‘p’ as in pink ?
Teachers: adapt to suit the level of your class. Add email address, specific requests etc
NB: all images are taken from Google searches, (including ‘royalty-free images’) and the information is purely fictitious. As I have readers from around the world, I wish to reflect this diversity in the photos.
These blogs are for education use, and are not monetised. No copyright infringement or personal offense is intended at all.
If I have included your image, please accept my sincere apologies, and I shall remove the picture.
IELTS Mindset 1.Speaking lesson U2 – Places and buildings
English language, British culture – let’s kick off with two iconic parts of Liverpool, immortalised by The Beatles:
In case you are unaware of these classic songs, here’s ‘Penny Lane’, a song from 1967 which, amazingly, only reached Number 2 in the pop charts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-rB0pHI9fU
How much can you understand ?
A typical, run of the mill IELTS question will be about your hometown or about your neighbourhood.
First, some new vocabulary. I will expect you to learn these:
gritty / industrial
quite / safe / residential
boring / peaceful / suburban
bustling / vibrant / city centre
apparently – something you believe to be true
conversely – the opposite, on the other hand, however
actually – saying something that is surprising or is the truth
New idioms
bear with me – please wait a very short time
bit of a sore point – something that makes you sad or angry
like a madhouse – a place or area that is crazy, too noisy, too busy etc
run of the mill – ordinary, typical, unusual, boring
you take your life in your hands – doing something that is extremely dangerous
NOW … your turn
Tell me about your neighbourhood
Remember, give me a great introduction, have a positive point, a negative point and a short conclusion.
Use some of the new vocabulary
An apartment block in the Cat Lai area of Sai Gon. Artist’s impression.
The reality of living in Cat Lai, one of the busiest ports in south east Asia
Well, that question is a bit of a sore point with me because I live in a terribly noisy gritty industrial area. My apartment is near the Cat Lai port which is one of the busiest in Vietnam. Consequently, we have containers driving past, day and night which, as you can imagine, creates so much pollution.
However, allow me to talk about the good points. Firstly, it is significantly cheaper than, say, District 1 or 3, as it is quite far to the centre. The shops, also, tend to be on the cheap side. Additionally we have some street markets where I can pick up some very cheap food and fresh fish. We are well-served with several convenience stores although, in my opinion, Family Mart charges an arm and a leg.
Conversely, my friends avoid visiting me because it is so dangerous to ride a motorbike here, we really take our lives in our hands every time we go out. Furthermore, I love fresh air so I open my windows, yet I have to dust and clean every day because so much dirt comes in. Finally, we have open-air karaoke nearly every night and street wedding parties most weekends which means loud and terrible singing. It’s like a madhouse, I really detest this horrible noise.
I am lucky with my neighbours, and the apartment is really spacious. Having said that, the area is so bad that as soon as possible, I will leave and find somewhere cleaner and safer.
Objectives: review recent vocabulary, encourage more student-to-student talking, develop sentence building skills, practice the third person form with ‘he’ & ‘she.’
It’s early Sunday morning, so time to wake with Mr James Brown. Younglings … how do you feel ?
Tell me about these people. He is or she is …
She is ……….He is ……
He is very …..
She is very ….
The top cats are able to form basic sentences such as:
I can run however I can’t fly
New vocabulary included the five sense
s _ _ // h – – – // s – – – – // t – – – – // t o – – – //
Warm Up: What can he or she do ?
Ask your partner what he or she can do
What can you do ? What can’t you do ?
Here, my wonderful TA will ask me, then tell the class, in order to model how to answer
Ask Thay Paul – what can you do ?
I can play guitar however I can’t play piano
Tell the class:
He can play guitar however he can’t play piano
Next – using the new vocabulary in a sentence form. What can he or she do and what can’t they do ?
Example:
She can see a butterfly however she can’t hear a butterfly.
She can touch a butterfly however she can’t taste a butterfly.
She can __________ a pizza however she can’t __________ a pizza
He can ________ a guitar __________________________
Obviously, one of the best ways to learn English is to listen to native speakers, and I’m so lucky that one of my friends, Alex, who is a radio broadcaster, has agreed to share some of his videos to help you learn.
I’m sure you’ll agree, Alex has a beautifully clear voice, perfect for the radio, perfect for English-language students. These videos, however, are not from a studio, but are live ‘on the road.’
Alex is cycling to raise money for charity, namely the UK Sepsis Trust. Sepsis, basically, is when the body tries to fight disease, but in fact hurts the body. His charity webpage is:
Cycle4Sepsis meets 91.Hayes FM Broadcast4Sepsis 2020
I shall include more information, weblinks and a chance for you to donate, later in the blog.
So now, without further ado, my friend Alex. First, listen to the videos. Don’t be afraid about pausing and replaying. try to see how much you understand. I’ve added a transcript of the first video to help you, after the UK Sepsis photo.
Hello, boys and girls, welcome to cycle for sepsis live. It’s pitch black and I’m cycling. Yes, so I’m living a bit dangerously and that’s not just because it’s dark and I’m cycling but I’ve decided to … I’ve reached my target of fifty miles but I realised I didn’t challenge myself enough so Cycle For Sepsis is going that bit further and I’m going to cycle another fifty miles between now and Thursday so wish me luck.
Notice how most native speakers pronounce ‘going to’ in real-time – we say “gonna.”
Today we’ll turn our attention to Part 2: uninterrupted speakingfor up to two minutes.
Remember, you have a minute to write notes. Use the method which works best for you, but I suggest you write a keyword that will help you recall L-FWs or an idiom.
Part 2: What problems would you have with the food if you lived in the UK ?
You should say:
what UK food you know,
if you have ever tried it
if you have ever seen it
if you think you would enjoy it … and why (or why not).
Try to speak for the full 2 minutes. By now, you should know the formula: great introduction, some positive points, some negative, an anecdote, then a conclusion.
Well, that’s a very pertinent question because recently, I have been thinking about where I would like to study, and the UK is certainly top of my list. I am sure there would be some culture shock, especially when it comes to the food.
In class, we have seen some photos of traditional food such as toad in the hole, the full English breakfast and of course, the traditional Sunday roast. I think that British people have special food at Christmas time with … let me remember … turkey and vegetables then a special pudding which they set alight. I guess they use strong alcohol to make it burn. It looks tremendous fun.
I come from a small town, so I only had local food, but now I live in a big city, I can experience more western cuisine although we mostly eat fast food. So, no, I haven’t tried British food. Not yet, but the Christmas food looks mouth-watering.
Sometimes I watch a movie and I look out for what people eat. It looks very different from my country. Oh, of course, we use chopsticks here, as well as spoons, but they use a knife and fork in the UK. I tried once. My friend Jenny, who went to London on holiday, came back with a present for me. It was a knife and fork. I tried, I really tried but I couldn’t get the hang of it.
However when I see people eat in restaurants, I am a little nervous. They look so expensive. It must cost an arm and a leg to eat there.
Would I enjoy it ? I am not sure but I think so. My favourite food is chicken and sea food so I am sure I can get those easily. Maybe the food would possibly be bland compared to Asian food because we use lots of fresh vegetables and spices. On the other hand, new food is part of the new culture. Now I start to feel hungry !
Indeed … next week is the speaking test, so I get to interview the students, one-to-one, to see how much they have listened to me and retained the information.
For some students, the biggest test will be NOT using their phones for ten minutes. Be that as it may … No time for learning anything new, tonight will just be as many activities as reasonable, and then practice.
I shall offer my help to those that request it.
So, let’s kick off with the first game:
Two teams … on the board, single words. Teams have to complete the idiom and give the definition.
mouth // candle // cats // piece // arm // grindstone // sky // blue //.
Next, one team selects a word, then asks one member of the other team to use it in a sentence.
Moving on up: Complex sentences. I shall give the names of some famous companies and the teams have to compose a complex sentence using relative pronouns and discourse markers.
For example:
I have my heart set on buying a pair of Converse, which is an American company with a star logo, who make very fashionable, not to mention very cool, footwear.
The teams have to choose from:
Rolls Royce
McDonaldsOppo Chinese phone companyIkea Swedish furniture
Keep the ball rolling with a pronunciation game. I’ll play two clips of native speakers. The teams, one by one, have to copy using correct intonation and stress.
The following is a list of words and expression I’ve used, and blogged, over the course of this course. How many do the teams know … I want definition and an example in a sentence:
without further ado // tricks up your sleeve //inevitably // ace the test // pass with flying colours // pertinent // do yourself proud // you are in the driver seat // occur
Think on your feet
A classic excuse for British schoolchildren, when they haven’t done their homework, is to tell the teacher that their dog ate their homework.
I will give the teams some scenarios and they have to come up with a creative response:
You are late to class … why ?
You have been using your mobile phone the whole lesson, despite knowing the centre rules … why ?
You have been riding a motorbike with three people on it … why ?
You only got a 3.5 in your IELTS test … why ?
And now, it just remains to wish the teams all the luck they deserve.
See you next week … revenge is a dish best served cold
Thay Paul's Notes 