Don’t take my word for it; here are some stills from a Korean film:
The film is ‘House of Hummingbird’ from 2019
So, do you want to be a house-owner or a housemaid ?
Roll up your sleeves, put your nose to the grindstone, burn the midnight oil, burn the candle at both ends, turn over a new leaf, hit the books, get down to it.
At every opportunity, read, speak, write English. Then, after you graduate, you can party !
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To pass IELTS with flying colours you need to use low-frequency words, idiomatic language, discourse markers AND speak with natural intonation, stress and rhythm.
This means PRACTICE, PRACTICE & PRACTICE
So, without further ado, complete these idioms:
Once in _______________
Put (my, your etc) _______________ to the ______________
Burn (ing) __________________ at ______________
It’s raining _____________________
It costs ___________________________
Piece ________________
Now use them in a sentence:
A 4star hotel in Singapore _______________________ (very expensive)
Wear boots and a coat; it’s been ____________________ (very bad weather)
He parties all day and night! He can’t ________________ forever. (doing something for too many hours)
She is not academic, she’ll read a book ______________ (hardly ever).
If you are serious about IELTS, you’ll need to _____________________ (start working much harder).
Now – give me an adverb and a low-frequency word
EXAMPLE:
Teaching unmotivated students is terribly tedious.
Thai food is ______________ _______________
(very tasty)
After failing her test, she was _________ _________
(very sad)
Marvel films are _____________ _______________
(very popular)
My poor old grandma is getting ___________ _______
(very forgetful)
Practice saying these for correct intonation
Speaking Practice – use discourse markers to extend your speaking and to link ideas.
Try to use: although / consequently / therefore
Describe something you own which is very important to you.
You should say:
where you got it from
how long you have had it
what you use it for
explain why it is important to you.
You will have to talk about the topic for 1 to 2 minutes.
You have one minute to think about what you’re going to say.
You can make some notes to help you if you wish.
Rounding off questions
Is it valuable in terms of money?
Would it be easy to replace?
This could be a physical object, a memento with sentimental value, or an abstract noun such as health, happiness etc.
Small talk …. Try to talk for as long as possible – then change subjects:
your home town / your favourite holiday / family / favourite hobby / a great place to visit in your city / some terrible things about your city /
Thay Paul's Notes 