IELTS Listening: English Names

In IELTS Listening Section 1, it is common to be asked to listen for English names.

This lesson will test you on your ability to listen and write down English names. After the answers, I’ll give you a list of tips to help you understand how to listen for names in IELTS Listening Section 1.

UPDATE 2017:  Capital letters are not marked in IELTS listening or reading so don’t worry about them. See this page for more info: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-listening-25-essential-top-tips/

Are you good at spelling? Do you know your English names? Let’s see…

Listening for English Names

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Click below for more useful listening practice for IELTS:

IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Essay

Below is an example of a band score 9 IELTS writing task 2 model essay. The task is a direct questions essay which is quite common in IELTS. Read it carefully and pay attention to the structure of the essay, the linkers and the sentence structures.

Essay Question

Art is considered an important part of a society  as well as an expression of its culture. Do you think it is important for children to be taught art? Do you think children should be encouraged to focus on art rather than other subjects?

Model Answer

It is commonly believed that art plays a fundamental role in society as artists are able to express their thoughts and their culture in their work. In my opinion, children should definitely learn art because they can develop creativity and learn to express themselves in their art work but it should not be taught to the detriment of other subjects.

Firstly, art is an essential subject which children, especially young children, should learn in order to help promote their creativity and imagination. Without the development of imagination and creative thinking, children will struggle to grow into dynamic, individual thinkers when they reach adulthood. Furthermore, some children are particularly gifted in their creative abilities and studying art can help them nurture their talents.

Another important advantage for children when practicing art is that it provides a medium through which they can express their emotions and feelings. In other words, young children do not have the linguistic capabilities to put their ideas into language and thus communicate directly. Therefore, by using art, they are able to convey meaning through pictures and symbols. For this reason, many child psychologists often study the art work of children to gain an insight into what they think and feel.

Finally, however, regardless of how useful the study of art is for children, this should not result in more focus being placed on art rather than other subjects. Children need to have a balance of all subjects so as to facilitate a healthy development both mentally and physically. Thus, ensuring that there is a healthy balance of art, sciences, languages and physical education in the school syllabus is essential.

In conclusion, while art certainly helps a child develop creativity as well as express their thoughts, it should be taught equally alongside all other subjects. A school curriculum should offer a balance of subjects.

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Common English Tenses

Below is a list of common tenses that we use in English  as well as sentences in different tenses. Can you match the tenses with the sentences?

Tenses

  1. Present Simple
  2. Past Continuous
  3. Present Perfect
  4. Present Perfect Continuous
  5. Passive Voice
  6. First Conditional
  7. Second Conditional
  8. Third Conditional

Sentences

A.  If I had known there was going to be a storm, I would have stayed at home.

B.  The book was written by an unknown author.

C.  My favourite time of the year is summer.

D.  I’ve been learning English for over 10 years.

E.  If schools have more sports lessons, children will become healthier as a result of the exercise.

F.  The government has spent a lot of money on improving traffic safety.

G.  He was teaching a lesson on the language acquisition of children.

H.  If people ate a healthier diet, their health would improve as a result.

IELTS Tips

For a band score 6 and above, you should try to use at least 5 different tenses in both your IELTS speaking test and your IELTS writing test.

Answers (click below for answers)

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IELTS Graph Tutorial: Writing a Complex Sentence

Learn how to write a complex sentence for an IELTS line graph. It is common to be given a line graph to describe the main trends of the lines. This video tutorial shows you step by step how to write a complex sentence structure of over 25 words.

If you are aiming for band score 6 or above, you need to use complex sentences for your line graph description. This lesson will help you learn what information to put in your complex sentence. The complex sentence in this lesson is typical of a sentence used in a body paragraph.

Sentence Content

  • subject
  • verb
  • adverb
  • difference of amounts
  • numbers
  • dates

All sentences in the body paragraphs should be complex and must be supported by data. This means the sentences must have numbers and dates if you wish to get a high score.

IELTS Video: How to Write a Complex Sentence

How to form a complex sentence structure for IELTS writing task 1 line graph.

Sorry – this video has been removed in order to remake it. I hope to have it ready next year. Meanwhile, use this video instead: 4 Main Sentence Structures for IELTS writing task 1

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IELTS Speaking Part 2 Topic: A Place to Learn

Here is a topic card for speaking part 2. What place would you choose to talk about? Remember to choose a place that you know well and can easily talk about for 2 minutes. Make sure that the place you choose matches all prompts on the card.

a place to learn 2
Answers: click below to see some ideas of places you could choose

[Read more…]

Answers to today’s lesson

The answers have already been posted in the lesson. Please take a look: Paraphrasing Practice

 

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IELTS Speaking Part 2: A Friend you are Proud of

IELTS speaking part 3 topic about a friend you are proud of. I was recently asked by a student how to deal with this difficult topic in IELTS speaking part 2:

Describe a time that you felt proud of a friend.

Possible Answers

Below are some possible ways to answer this part 2 topic.

1. a friend who did well in their studies (for example, they did well in a test or project)
2. a friend who did well in work and received an award or was congratulated by their boss
3. a friend who had a difficult situation but dealt with it very well (for example, they were seriously sick or a parent was seriously ill)
4. a friend who experienced an unexpected event but fixed the situation (for example, they went on holiday and had their money stolen)
5. a friend who got a job they always wanted (for example, they did well in the interview and had worked hard to get the job)
6. a friend who defended you in a difficult situation
7. a friend who raised money for charity or did some volunteer work that made you feel proud

IELTS Speaking Part 2 Tip

It is often easier to talk about a family member that you were proud of because you know them better. So, if you get stuck, the best thing is to say “Although I have plenty of friends, I wouldn’t say that they’ve done anything to make me really proud but my cousin has. So I will tell you about him and what he has done that caused me to be so proud of him.” It is possible to adapt (not change) the topic as long as it still follows the prompts on the cue card.

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