Make short sentences using modal verb ‘like’ and ‘need’.
to practise // to dance // to study // to shop // to cook // to travel // to shout // to order // to book
I like to dance on Saturday nights
I need to study English
Adding information
Use adjectives (describe the noun) or adverbs (describe the verb)
I saw a man begging
I saw a poor old man desperately begging for money.
We heard a girl playing piano
He likes to walk in the park
She thought the museum was interesting
I hated the film
My cat eats fish.
Adding a reason
I hate coffee because it keeps me awake
I only eat healthy food because
Although I find Burger King very tasty, I avoid eating there because
(I find = I think something is //avoid= keep away from)
Internet cafes are very convenient but you should be careful because
Solar-powered cyber cafe in Nairobi, Kenya
To disagree:Formal with multiple reasons
Example: You can just use an internet cafe to book your ticket.
I disagree for the following reasons. Firstly,
I disagree for the following reasons. Firstly, I don’t think it’s a good idea to enter my personal data on a public server and secondly, I don’t know who’s watching me.
A sample of different speaking situations to help you practice:
Past simple
Idioms
Picture description
Going to a bank
Coffee shops
Talking about your children
Easter in UK
Simple Past
To kick off, two friends, Kim & Lyn are catching up, asking what they have done recently.
Kim Good evening, how are you ?
Lyn Very well, thank you. Long time no see.
Kim Yes, I’ve been out and about.
Lyn Really ? What did you do ?
Kim Well, I found agreat restaurant in District 1. I went there with Peter and Jenny. We tried food from England.
Lyn Yes, I heard about it. I got an email from Mary. What did you eat ?
Kim We ate roast beef and potatoes, and drank lots of hot, sweet tea.
Lyn Wonderful! Did you try the beer ?
Kim You know beer’s not my cup of tea !
Lyn How about Peter ?
Kim Oh, my goodness, he drank so much. He nearly fell over. What he didn’t drink, Jenny finished off.
Lyn I didn’t know she drank.
Kim She drinks like a fish. I spoke to Mary as well. She went to Thailand and brought back some gifts. The children loved them.
Lyn She is very sweet. I began to write her an email but then Peter phoned me. Would you like some tea ?
Kim Oh, now you are like an Englishperson.
Lyn Certainly !
Idiom: bear with me = wait a little time / a few minutes / a moment
Describe what you see in this photo. Use as many adjectives as you can.
I notice a lack of adjectives and adverbs in my students’ speech; they are able to complete abstract exercises, but I want to hear them incorporate what they’ve learnt into everyday talk, a natural feature. Therefore, the best way is practice … and practice.
Tell me what you see in the above photo. Adjectives can apply to what YOU think of the ladies (beautiful, gorgeous, plain, ugly), their age, origin, size, hair, clothes. However, I want to hear sentences.
Example: The gorgeous young Asian lady with the long black hair, is wearing a cute floral dress
(floral = flower pattern)
Now, verbs … describe their actions
Subject first; do NOT start with ‘She,’ or ‘They.’
Where are they ? What are they doing ? What have they been doing ?
How are they dressed ? How do they look (emotions)
What do you think they are talking about ?
Conversation practice Bank
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 want 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.
Cath Oh, I love your earrings. They are so cute. Mine are so ordinary !
Di No, yours are sweet. Mine look valuable but they are fake.
Cath Really ? They look amazing. A very unique design.
Di So kind. OK, have you finished your coffee ?
Cath Bear with me … oh, no … it’s started raining cats and dogs !
How many adjectives can you see ?
Speaking practice:
Pam Your daughter is gorgeous. Like an angel. She looks like you.
Uma Yes, but she takes after her father. She is very grumpy when she’s tired or hungry.
Pam My son is usually very good, he sleeps like a log, but now he’s teething.
Uma Ahhh, poor little thing but it will pass. Does he still keep you up at night ?
Pam Well, a little but not too much. I give up reading or watching films.
Uma I get it ! We have a reading group. Sounds good ?
Pam Hmmm … let me think about it and get back to you. OK, I must run … bye.
Speaking practice:
Bea What a day ! It was non-stop. No time to think. I need some coffee
Lyn Here you are. Tell me all about it, from start to finish.
Bea Firstly, I overslept, so I had to jump in the shower and skip breakfast. I was grumpy.
Lyn You ? No, you are always so sweet. Nearly always haha.
Bea Then I nearly got into an accident with some stupid Grabbike man.
Lyn Oh, some are so nice but others are total idiots !
Bea Exactly. Afterwards, my computer crashed at work and my boss yelled at me
Lyn What a terrible day. Now you need some coffee and a big piece of pie.
Speaking practice:
Nina Have you seen this western tradition ? They give chocolate eggs at Easter.
Eva Are you serious ? I adore chocolate. Who gives them ?
Nina Well, parents give to children, husbands give to wives, boyfriends to girlfriends.
Eva I haven’t seen them. Can you tell me about them ?
Nina Sure, it’s a large piece of chocolate shaped like an egg.
Eva I like the sound of that. A giant chocolate egg, sounds like heaven.
Nina That’s only part of it. Inside the egg, there are more chocolates.
Eva Ok, next year I am going to England. I will eat like a pig. A chocolate pig !
Today we’ll concentrate on building longer, more interesting sentences, altering sentence structure, and applying discourse markers and relative pronouns in order to be proficient in meeting the IELTS requirements.
Let’s kick off with some basic sentences, each containing one fact.
Park So-yeon is from South Korea. She performed under the name ‘Soyeon’. She was in the band T-ara from 2009 – 2017.
One possibility is to make a longer, main sentence (an independent clause) then break it up with some extra but not essential information (a dependent clause):
Park So-yeon, who performed under the stage name Soyeon, was a member of the South Korean group T-ara from 2009 until they broke up in 2017.
Here, I employed a relative pronoun (‘who’) to introduce the dependent clause, and altered the sentence slightly, adding some extra words.
Another, more advanced, option, which I recommend experimenting with as it will impress the examiner, is to start with a dependent clause. Allow me to demonstrate:
Performing under the name Soyeon, the South Korean singer Park So-yeon achieved fame as a member of the band T-ara, with whom she played from 2009 until 2017.
You will, no doubt, notice that the grammar may have to change, that is altering the verb form, by which I mean transforming the simple past into present continuous.
Now, you can guess what’s coming, it’s your turn to practise. I realise that not all of you are so enamoured of T-ara and South Korean women as I am, therefore, for that express purpose, I have selected three examples and you merely have to choose the person that most interests or appeals to you:
Daniel Craig is an actor. He is most famous for playing James Bond. His wife is Rachel Weisz. She is also an actor.
Thandie Newton is an English actress. She has three children. She studied at Cambridge University. She was in Mission Impossible II with Tom Cruise.
Tsai Ing-wen is president of Taiwan. The official name of the country is the Republic of China. She has been president since 20th May 2016. She was the first woman to be president of ROC Taiwan.
Next stage is to introduce some information and then offer up an alternate view, that is to say, a critical response which can be achieved by the use of appropriate discourse markers.
Let’s focus on the most recent Noble prize laureate ( Literature):
Peter Handke is an Austrian writer. His first novel was published in 1966. The English title is ‘The Hornets’. Handke was critical of the Noble Prize. In 2014, he called for the award to be abolished. Many people were critical of Hendke winning because he had supported the Serbia cause in the breakup of Yugoslavia.
There is a lot of information here, some purely factual (dates, nationality) some regarding the reaction to the award.
The Austrian writer Peter Hendke, whose first novel ‘The Hornets’ was published in 1966, was awarded the Noble laureate in 2019 despite his previous comments calling for the abolition of the award. Furthermore, there was a lot of criticism surrounded the announcement due to Hendke’s support of the Serbians during the Yugoslavian war.
Alternately:
Although there was a lot of negative critical reaction, Peter Hendke, an Austrian writer whose first book was published in 1966, received the Noble Prize for Literature in 2019 in spite of the fact that he had previously called for the award to be abolished. The writer, whose first book was titled ‘The Hornets’, had additionally expressed views supportive of Serbia which caused a backlash once the winner of the award was announced.
Your Turn:
Either write about somebody famous, somebody you admire or write something about yourself, making sure to include something positive and negative.
Next time, we can work on introductions, how to respond to IELTS questions by leading into the answer as opposed to simply answering directly.
Teaching Note: This could be used as a listening exercise. Read out the following information, then elicit answers. A simple test helps to build confidence, especially as IELTS listening can be very demoralising.
One of my favourite photos is of my friend Peter, who lives in Birmingham, England.
His wife took the photo last March. Peter is playing bass guitar in a studio. It looks like he is having fun. He plays in a band called ‘The Deep Six’.
I keep this photo on my computer in a file called ‘Music in Birmingham’.
What is the name of my friend ?
Where does he live ?
What guitar does he play ?
What is the name of his band ?
Where do I keep this photo ?
Photo 2
Activity 1: The student have to practice forming questions by asking me about the photo.
Activity 2: Read out the following information, then make a contest, who can answer first.
These are two of my friends, Mark and Tony. Mark is on the left, with the curly blonde hair and beard, Tony has short dark hair.
I took this photo last time I was in London, Christmas 2019 at my local pub.
Mark, who has tattoos on his arms, was in the army and now has a security firm (company) in the centre of London. Tony, on the other hand, lives from day to day, he does odd jobs, maybe some painting, maybe some construction, maybe some security work. He likes to gamble on horses, which is a popular activity in the UK.
I shot this on my iPhone and keep it because I live very far from my friends so can’t meet them very often.
As you can see, they are drinking beer, laughing and generally having a very happy time.
Photo 3
Now we progress, giving the information in a different order and with alternate vocabulary.
In this photo, which I was sent by email, we can see my London neighbour Arif and his sister Rita. It made me smile, because the T-shirts are ironic; they just don’t get on at all, in fact they fight like cat and dog.
Arif told me that their mother bought the shirts as a joke, and to make the point that living with them is driving her crazy. All the shouting and arguing, non-stop, 24/7.
Rita’s best friend Suzy was trying out her new camera, a Canon, and asked them to pose for her. The situation is getting complicated because Suzy likes Arif but Rita will be livid if her best friend starts dating her brother. I only received the email last week so I don’t know what is happening now.
I miss both of them, they are so friendly and funny. Arif always helps if I have a computer problem, as he works in IT, while Rita brings me special Indian food, knowing that I love spicy curry. Although she is a marvellous cook, she wants to be a business lady, a ‘mover and a shaker’. I’m sure she will do well, she is very determined and forthright. Maybe too much at times, she hates being contradicted or corrected.
Arif, who sent the email, informed me that after the photo, Rita left the room, changed clothes and threw the T-shirt away. That is so typical of Rita !
1 How did I get this photo ? // 2 Who sent it to me ? // 3 Who took the photo ?
4 Who are they and what is their relationship // 5 What is Arif’s job ?
6 What type of camera was used ? // 7 Describe Rita’s personality
8 If I wanted a physical copy of the photo, I would need to … what ?
Class exercise:
Ask students to bring in a photograph which can be talked about it in class.
We are currently using Zoom for online teaching, so students could share photos from their computer and then get a conversation going. Encourage students to elicit more information and to push each other to speak more.
Obviously, only suggest this, as some students may be shy about sharing personal information
This blog will teach you how to talk about plans – what you will do later in the day.
The grammar will be future tense, and I’ll show you standard English and some everyday expressions.
I will … after work OR After work, I will … (standard English)
Example: I will play football after work OR After work, I will play football
Try these:
watch a movie // cook for my family // go shopping // play computer games
When I finish work, I’ll (I + will = I’ll) … a contraction
Later, when I knock off work … (knock off = finish) a UK expression / phrasal verb
Practice:
Make sentences, using these phrases. I give you an example:
I’m going to // I will (I’ll) // I plan to // I intend to // I’m thinking of …
After work, I’m going to a restaurant
Try to extend the sentence by giving more information:
After work, I’m going to take my family to a restaurant.
When I knock off, my family and I will go to a fast food restaurant because my son loves fried chicken and chips.
Now your turn:
What will you do after work ? See how long you can make your answer.
Tell me what you see in the photos.
I have some answers at the end of the blog.
Sample answers:
After work, I plan to drink beer. // I intend to drink beer after work with my two best friends.
When I knock off, I’m going to stay home // After I knock off, I’m going to play computer games and eat junk food. // After work, I plan to watch TV and eat crisps, chocolate and cake.
Tonight, I’m thinking of singing karaoke. // Later, I’m thinking of meeting my friends and going to sing karaoke because it’s a lot of fun.
After work, I will take my girlfriend to a restaurant. // Tonight is special because I will take my girlfriend to a romantic restaurant. // This will be a special night because I intend to ask my girlfriend to marry me so I’m going to take her to an expensive romantic restaurant.
Life goes on as normal … or does it, indeed can it, should it ? The Scottish MP and First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, addressed the issue in a recent press conference. In her view, we all have to change our lifestyles and accept that there is a pandemic sweeping the globe.
The measures, including closing down restaurants and cinemas, are intended to stop the spread of Covid 19. The virus can easily spread in big cities such as New York, Tokyo and London.
Different countries have imposed different restrictions, and I’d like to focus on Vietnam where, as of 14.00 today, the 25th March, there are 134 reported cases but no fatalities. We shall examine what steps the Vietnamese government has taken, after a quick revision.
Remember, IELTS students have to be able to use these low-frequency words in order to pass the exam.
isolate // implement // significant // rely //
precautions // quarantine // regulations
Students are given three minutes to write three sentences using three of these words.
Now, once these words roll off the tongues of the students, we can move on; actions taken by the Vietnamese authorities.
Latest Updates from the Vietnam- Briefing.com website
What do you think about these measures ?
To what extent do you agree with them and why ?
As a resident of Sai Gon, do these measures make you feel more secure, or more scared ?
As of March 25, Vietnam’s Ministry of Health confirmed a total of 134 cases of COVID-19. The latest cases were all linked to international flights. 19 cases were announced on March 22 itself – the biggest single day total.
Ho Chi Minh City authorities have ordered the closure of all restaurants (with a capacity of 30 people or more), gyms, beauty salons, barbershops from March 24 to March 31.
Vietnam has stopped exporting rice from March 24 to ensure national food security.
All international airlines have been asked to stop transporting overseas Vietnamese to Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City from March 25 to March 31 to prevent overcrowding at quarantine facilities.
Vietnam has suspended the entry of all foreigners from March 22 to limit the spread of COVID-19. The measure will not apply to diplomats and officials as per Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The Prime Minister also ordered the suspension of all international flights, though it’s unclear exactly when this will take effect.
The Health Ministry has advised all arrivals from March 1 to self-isolate at home if they have not been quarantined in a centralized zone in the past 14 days.
Vietnam and Cambodia have closed their borders from March 20 to further prevent the spread of the epidemic. The measures do not apply to official and diplomatic passports.
The Vietnamese government is expected to unveil a credit package of US$10.8 billion and a fiscal package of US$1.3 billion in March for businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.
Thay Paul's Notes 