A new class, so I have to assess their ability, motivation and potential.
Let’s kick off with a Family Fortune game – I give writing boards to the class, arranged in small groups, and ask for four answers to basic questions.
Example : Four places I’ve been to in Viet Nam / Four things I love about Viet Nam / Four things I hate / Four instruments I can play / Four languages I can speak. To test general knowledge, Four countries in Asia or capital cities / Four countries in Europe / Four cities in the USA
Next up, I want to get the class speaking as soon as possible so, they can interview each other asking basic questions. No one speaks alone, so this helps to cover any shyness as all the class are speaking at the same time.
Why are you studying IELTS ? /
Do you think IELTS will be difficult ? / Why ?
Do you use English at school or work … how ? /
What do you do in your free time ? /
What do you do or what do you study ? / Would you like to live in USA or UK ?
Moving on, time to explain the importance of sentence building. We would expect new IELTS students to be able to speak quite fluently, in reasonable long sentences. If students answer in four words or under, or even single words, then the teachers know we have a ‘difficult’ class.
To give an example, I’ll introduce a standard IELTS-style question:
Where would you like to visit in Viet Nam (or your own country) and why ?
Example Answer:
I show them a plan:
Introduction / First good point / second good point / something bad / conclusion.
I choose Hoi An
Introduction: DON’T answer immediately but introduce the answer by repeating or rephrasing the question:
Vietnam has many beautiful places but my choice would be Hoi An.
First Good Point:
Firstly, Hoi An is a historical city with a wonderful Japanese bridge and lovely old shops. At night, the shops use romantic lanterns.
Second Good Point:
Hoi An is close to Da Nang, so I can fly there easily and quickly. There are many things to see and do in the local area.
Now, something negative
However, Hoi An is very small and can be extremely crowded in summer. Maybe it will be difficult to find a hotel or a table at a good restaurant.
Conclusion
In my opinion, Hoi An is a very special place to visitbecause it is a town of Vietnamese culture.
How to build sentences:
Use adjectives to describe nouns (beautiful, historic, romantic)
adverbs to describe adjectives and verbs – give more information (very, easily)
opinion phrases (in my opinion)
linking words to connect positive to positive or positive to negative – discourse markers (however)
reasons why an action is being done (because)
Now – your turn:
Where do you want to visit ? This can be in Vietnam or anywhere.
At IELTS level I would expect the students to form basic sentences such as:
“In my opinion, he is … “
“For me, he looks like … “
“He seems to be a … “
It will probably be a mixed-ability class, so I shall encourage the top learners, asking them to describe the photos, using as many adjectives and adverbs as they can.
I like to play guitar // I love to listen to music //
I + like + verb+ing + object: I love playing guitar
NEVER – I like to listening to music
Tell me about yourself:
At university, my major was accounting and I have worked for 8 years.
Boy = son Girl = daughter.
I have one son, who is 3 and one daughter who is 1.
My manager is a lady (or woman) and she is professional, very friendly and nice. She has short black hair and an oval-shaped face. Usually, she wears a short black dress. My manager, whose name is Dung, always helps and supports me.
Pho is the traditional food of VN. It is soup with noodles, meat (beef, chicken), vegetables and herbs. It can be spicy if we add chilis. It comes with fresh herbs, vegetables and lime.
New idiom: bear with me= please wait a very short time.
My friend is a 29 year-old man. He has an oval-shaped face and short black hair. He is not very tall, he is quite short. However, he is very friendly and funny.
Adjectives– size then colour.
He has a large black bag. She plays a big brown guitar
adverbs– very, (a lot) quite (a little)
London is very expensive. Bangkok is quite cheap
exterior / interior = outside / inside
I went on holiday to Singapore with my friend. We went to a shopping mall and visited some museums and enjoyed the food. Seafood at Singapore is very cheap compared to Viet Nam and it was very delicious. I bought some clothes and shoes for my baby. We stayed for four days and the flight took two hours. I will return and revisit the shopping mall.
Shopping mall, Singapore
Dialogue
Two friends are in a coffee shop
Cath This is a great cup of coffee ! Ok, what shall we do next ?
Di I have to run to the bank. I need to deposit some money.
Cath Good idea, I wanted to use an ATM. I also need to buy some dollars.
Di You can check the exchange rate at my bank. It’s not far, we can walk.
Quick questions: How was your weekend ?
My weekend was quite fun.
How about (tell me about) the evening ?
We watched TV and listened to some music. I like V-Pop
I like K-pop very much OR I really like K-pop.
Directions
Where is the bank? Where’s the bank ?
How do I get to the park?
Is there an ATM nearby ?
Go straight
Turn left or turn right
turn around
keep going until you …..
take the second turning on your left
cross the road / street by the ….
go as far as the …… then ….
It’s opposite the …
We are at the bus station and we need coffee !
Is there a coffee shop nearby ?
Yes, turn left then go straight and keep going and it’s on your left.
Excuse me, where is the hospital, please ?
Yes, go straight and then turn left on second avenue keep going straight , the hospital is opposite the park.
Answer these two questions:
I have finished work at school. I need to go to the police station but I don’t know the area.
Xin loi, sorry, I don’t speak Vietnamese. I must go to the police station but I don’t know this area.
Adverbs
so / very / extremely / incredibly
It is hot = it is so hot !
What did you do ? Past tense
On Saturday I drank beer and ate seafood for example, I had shrimp (prawn), octopus, fish, squid. We had lots of fun. Some people drank about six beers but I only drank a little.
Travelling to Thailand
In Thailand, the food is extremely hot (spicy) because they use a lot of chilis.
My Sony camera is very good (excellent) because the picture quality and colours are very clear.
The lens can zoom in 50 metres. The camera was reasonably-priced however, if you buy more lenses, the price increases.
I’m going to take pictures NOT I’m going to taking pictures
An exercise for lower-intermediates. Help to use basic verbs, and to build long sentences.
We can see five people:
Andrew, Fiona, Helen, Mark and Tina
We see what they eat (dinner), their job (occupation), what they do in their free time (hobby) and what that do on Saturday and Sunday (the weekend).
For example, Andrew likes to drink beer, Tina like to do karate
What do they do ?
Name // dinner // occupation // hobby // weekend
Andrew
steak and chips spaghetti
brewer
football & beer
sports & cinema DOESN’T like shopping
Fiona
tuna salad soups
accountant
reading driving
visits family & shopping DOESN’T like sports
Helen
sushi Korean BBQ
marketing
yoga & keep fit craft beer
exercises & cinema DOESN’T like loud clubs
Mark
fish and chips kebabs
civil servant
cars and bikes sports
fixing cars & drinking beer DOESN’T like loud clubs
Tina
pasta pizza
dentist
karaoke clubs
shopping and meeting friends DOESN’T like beer or sport.
Andrew likes to watch football but his girlfriend does not (doesn’t)Fiona is an accountantHelen likes to eat sushiMark likes to ride a bicycleTina likes to do karate
Make sentences
Use so does with positives, neither does with negatives.
EXAMPLE:
Mark eats chips and so does Andrew.
Helen doesn’t drink beer neither does Tina.
Tina likes shopping …
Mark doesn’t like loud clubs …
Make questions
EXAMPLE:
Who likes beer ? Who eats Italian food (pizza, pasta, spaghetti) ?
A chance to review recent adjectives, and to practise constructing longer, more detailed sentences. There are some repeated words and phrases along with some new ones.
Look at my friends – tell me what you think about them ?
What kind of people are they ? What jobs do they have ? Why do you think so ?
Personality adjectives
postive
kind / sweet / generous / nice / reliable / hard-working / friendly / dependable / life and soul (of the party) / compassionate / a good sport / trustworthy / honest / solid as a rock
negative
arrogant / unkind / nasty / mean (1 nasty, 2 not generous) / unfriendly / unreliable / aloof / pompous / bossy ( tell people what to do) / awkward / /difficult / hard to please / thick as a brick (very stupid) / obsequious / lazy /a screw loose (little crazy)
Now it’s time to put the work of previous lesson together in order to come up with more rounded character descriptions.
You can tell me what people are wearing by using adjectives (what we think of the clothes, the size, colour, pattern, material, country of origin).
Additionally, you should have enough vocabulary to tell me what a person looks like (length, type and colour of hair), height, age, what they look like.
Furthermore, I expect you to remember some personality adjectives.
If we put all these together, we have some very detailed descriptions, as well as having the opportunity to use relative pronouns (who, where, which, whose) in order to develop sentence-building which is absolutely essential for IELTS students.
And so, without further ado:
Describing people
What do they look like ? What are they wearing ? What kind of person are they ?
As always, I’ll give you an example of what I want, then it’s your turn:
Billy Office manager 32
Works staff very hard. Never gives pay rises
Buys clothes and electronics. Never gives to charity
Becomes angry after beer. Member of a gym.
Not many close friends. Does not like kids
Billy, who is 32 and an office manager, is a very strict boss. He is very serious and also very mean because he doesn’t give his staff more money. Furthermore, he never gives money to charity so he is selfish.
Although he is only 32, he is almost bald. However, he has a neat beard and moustache. He has brown eyes, and he doesn’t like to smile. Billy stands with his arms across his chest, so he doesn’t look very happy.
He wears a bright and expensive cotton shirt with a white collar, but with red, white and blue stripes. Furthermore, he wears an extremely expensive watch.
In his free time, Billy goes to the gym, and also likes to drink beer. However, after too many beers, he can become aggressive. He is a loner, not having many close friends. He spends his money on himself, buying clothes and gadgets. He has no plans for a family as he doesn’t like children.
NOW … YOUR TURN:
Tell me about Ji-yeon and Kofi
Ji-yeon singer 24. Kind to her musicians. Shares money with band. Gives money to family. Performs free shows. Just drinks 1 beer. Uses Instagram & Twitter. Wants 2 children
Kofi civil engineer 37. Very professional. Buys his team lunch. Helps his brother study. Gives money to UNICEF.
Likes to dance and sing. Meets friends weekly.
Goes jogging and diets. Loves swimming. Loves all children.
To make the lesson come alive, have the students act out scenes or give them a set time to make up sentences containing as many phrasal verbs as possible.
Same as Shakespeare … English is meant to be USED and SPOKEN … not just studied in a dry text book.
So, without further ado:
Phrasal Verbs
Put
the cat out / the fire out / up with it (something unpleasant) / on a happy face
it in your own words / up or shut up ! / it away / it another way
Get
well soon / over it ! / on with it / away with murder / on the bus
stuffed ! (impolite) / with the program (US) / some fresh air
Make
a career move / your move a pig’s ear of something / a wish /
up for lost time / the best of something / fun of someone /
Do
the right thing / away with that old technology / your best /
a funny walk / the dishes / your hair
Bring
it on ! / it to me / “my bow of burning gold” (poem) / about change
it up at the next meeting / a smile to my face / up children well
Take
turns speaking / it up with the manager / up my trousers a little /
a good look at yourself / a hike ! / medicine / a deep breathe
phrasal verbs:
look after/ think about / wear out / give up / grow up / takes after
tell off / look up to / hang up / go for / passed away
Phrasal verbs work like normal verbs, so they can be used in the infinite (look,think), the past tense (I wore out, I looked up to ..) and in continuous (I am hanging up now).
Make sentences using phrasal verbs in:
present tense
past tense
present continuous
Examples
I need to think about that for a while. (present)
He gave up smoking ten years ago (past)
We are looking after our niece today (present continuous)
Phrasal verbs
verb + particle e.g. find + out = find out (learn something)
The verb can be present, past, future or continuous:
I give up
I gave up
I’m finding out about HCM City.
I will (I’ll) find out about the cost.
buy out / up
call off
carry out
give up / away /
CLUE: first identify what tense is being used
They were __________ free samples
The computers are down; we have to ________ the meeting
A soldier has to _______ orders
The company was ______ by a Japanese company
The stocks are very low, we should ________ as many as we can
Don’t ________ on your dream 🙂
Make sentences with these phrasal verbs:
take care of // hold on // move on // take over // think it over
Phrasal verbs:
look after // think about // give up // grow up // takes after // tell off // look up to
Which phrasal verbs fits here ?
She really …………. her father, they are so alike.
I can’t go out, I have to ……….. my nephew.
Mandarin is too hard, I just …………. (past tense verb)
Many Vietnamese ………………. Uncle Ho
I’m not sure which bank is best. Let me ………. it and get back to you.
I had to ………….. my son because he ate all the cakes.
My manager is very immature. He needs to ………… and quickly !
Phrasal verbs
give up / go for / grow up / hang out with / hang up / look after / look up to / tell off / passed away / takes after /think about / wears out
Izzy is talking to Kate on Skype. Izzy can’t go out on Saturday because she has to
____________ (take care of, be responsible for) her little sister, Georgie. Izzy says she’ll __________ (consider) bringing Georgie too. Georgie interrupts, and Izzy has to
_____________ (end the phone/Skype conversation). Georgie’s hamster has ________
(died) and she’s upset. Izzy says she loves her little sister but she __________
(makes her tired).
Meanwhile, Sam is wondering why Izzy doesn’t want to _____________ (spend time with) them. He thinks Izzy should bring Georgie to the cinema, but maybe Izzy won’t ________
(like, agree to) the idea.
Izzy is annoyed because her sister is trying to look like her, but Kate says it’s sweet that Georgie _____________ (respects and admires) her big sister. Izzy disagrees that they are similar; Georgie ______________(is similar to an older relative) her dad, whereas Izzy is more like her mum.
When Georgie asks Izzy to get her a hamster, Izzy gets angry. She tells her sister
to ________ (become an adult). Georgie says their dad will _______(Izzy)_______
(speak angrily to Izzy because she’s done something wrong). In frustration, Izzy says
“I __________ (admit defeat)!”. Fred and Sam take Georgie to look at some kittens, then they all go to the cinema. Georgie is the only one who isn’t scared by the film.
Now – let’s get down
(have a dance and a great time)
What songs can you find that use phrasal verbs ?
Lighten up, it’s the laid-back sound of 70s California
Thay Paul's Notes 