Use my method for learning vocabulary and speak properly from the start. How can students use my recommended method to learn new words they come across in written form? Suppose a student sees the phrase graduated interval recall and wants to understand the meaning of this phrase. My solution is to use technology as follows….
English Pronunciation – wrongly stressed words have completely different meanings
If you are often asked to repeat words, it could be because you are stressing the wrong syllable. If you stress the correct syllable when you say a word, a host of other sins can be forgiven and the meaning of the word will still be able to be understood. For example, if you…
IELTS: Practice Exercises for Improving Vocabulary and Paraphrasing
One of the best way to improve a skill is with deliberate practice. Deliberate practice was coined by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and science writer Robert Pool, the authors of the best-seller, Peak. The authors believe that “the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance…
IELTS – using outlines to create great answers
What is the trade secret for delivering great information in English? The best strategy for creating winning answers is to outline your ideas first and deliver from the top down. You have one minute to plan an outline. This is similar to the method professional communicators, like journalists, use which is known as the Inverted…
IELTS Band 7 – Paraphrasing tips
It is important to be comfortable paraphrasing questions and sentences to show that you’ve understood them, and to give an overview of what you are about to discuss. This is a simple method for practising paraphrasing in order to produce language (speaking or writing) in particular for IELTS exams. Step one: Break down the question…
I had an idea yesterday (Past Simple Tense)
I had the idea for this lesson yesterday. When I was a child I liked writing stories. I had been the best writer in my class when I was in primary school. Sometimes my stories started with “It was a dark and stormy night. The wind was whistling outside the window”. I wish it was…
The easiest way to learn new vocabulary
Pronunciation. Form. Meaning. I now prefer to teach pronunciation of new vocabulary well ahead of teaching meaning and form, in a similar way to the Pimsleur method, as I describe below. I use interleaving of new words in a graduated way with clear breaking down of sounds from the end to the front of the…
Protected: Conversation – The Office Comedy Sketch
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.