1. TEACHING IELTS WORKSHOP 27 JANUARY 2014

2. THE IELTS TEST IS BROKEN DOWN INTO FOUR PARTS: Reading, Speaking, Listening and Writing. Each student will have different strengths…

3. SHOW THEM WHAT THEY ARE IN FOR! At the beginning of the course, in order to give them a taste of what they’re aiming for, start with a practice exam. Students should always be given honest feedbackStudents should always be given honest feedback as to what their levels are. Don’t give them false hope.

4. FOCUS SUPPORT ON THEIR WEAK POINTS Bring it all the way back to basics for them if need beback to basics i.e. get them writing simple sentences if they make simple errors.

5. ONE OF THE GREAT THINGS ABOUT TEACHING IELTS IS THAT MOST OF THE QUESTIONS ARE SIMILAR Even though they increase in level of difficulty throughout, they can all be written to a structure.

6. Achieving this formula is the half-way point to achieving a decent score.

7. TIMING IS EVERYTHING! After students have learnt the structure of the questions, it is important that they learn to complete the tasks within the set time limits.

8. PLAN, PRODUCE, PROOF – these are the keys to the writing section.

9. PROOF READING IS HIGHLY IMPORTANT Students will lose marks on silly grammar and spelling errors – both easy ways to lose marks.

10. LISTENIN G TIPS 1. Students can look ahead at the questions during the 1 minute and 30 second gap in the listening exercises. This should enable the students to use their power of prediction during the exercise itself.

11. 2. Students should listen out very carefully to ‘misspoken’ words. Perhaps the day, date or location is corrected by the speaker. For example, the speaker may say ‘So, we shall meet on Tuesday, oh no.. Wednesday’.

12. SPEAKING – IT’S WHAT’S NOT ASKED THAT COUNTS In speaking task one, students should provide as much information as possible.

13. Even for closed questions, the student should still provide as much information as possible.

14. WHEN IT COMES TO READING, TIMING PLAYS A VITAL ROLE.

15. ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO PRACTICE! - Watch television news - Read online articles - Watch documentaries - Read magazines - Listen to radio news - Listen to radio interviews - The list goes on…