My Personal Favourite Posts on the Blog So Far...

As you might notice, I've started to post again.  I've also noticed that there are a few more people visiting the blog.  So to all the new readers - welcome!

If you are new to this blog and you don’t know where to start then I would like to recommend these 10 posts that are my personal favourites.  I think these 10 posts are the most useful and most helpful articles for learners of English.

1. What is Cohesion & Coherence? (Cambridge Testing Explained)

This is a very popular post which explains one of the things that Cambridge examiners are looking for in your speaking and writing.

2. Accent vs Pronunciation

This looks at the difference between the two and provides some advice and links to a wonderful resource for listening.

3. Cudunagonbeda

If you are having problems understanding native speakers with their fast talking, or you would like to improve your speaking, this might be of interest to you.

4. How much time do I need?

How long does it take to learn a language and how much effort do you need to be successful?  It is different for each person, but there are a few general rules here.

5. Anybody having problems with the Present Perfect?

This takes a poem/song to provide a little exercise for listening to examples of the present perfect tense.  You might find it useful, but I've added it here because it was fun to make!

6. Thinking about Superman a.k.a. Imaginary Situations (Conditionals)

Talking about things we wish were true makes up a lot of our conversations, so these grammar points are explained clearly and with lots of written and picture examples.

7. How Green is your Internet (Working with Numbers in English)

This is another very popular post that takes a two minute video and gives you a small listening task to help you practise listening to English numbers.

8. Learning and Forgetting Vocabulary & No Magic Please

Did you know that forgetting vocabulary is actually a very important part of building your vocabulary?  These two posts explain one of the best ways I know to improve vocabulary quickly!

9. Using Tongue Twisters for Your Pronunciation

I honestly feel that practising little tongue twisters is a great way to improve pronunciation in another language.  It is also very impressive to people when you get it right!

10. How Useful is Translation? (University Preparation Tip #1)

I love Google Translate and I think it had become a very useful tool to help language learners.  But it can't replace learning a language.  This article shows the problems of using too much translation.

How do you approach an IELTS Writing Task 2 question? (guest post by Stephanie Furness-Barr)

‘Approach? What Approach?’ vs ‘Approach? Definitely!’

Here’s what my students say they do when they’re writing an IELTS Writing Task 2 essay. Which way do you think is best? Why?

1. "Approach? What approach? I only have 40 minutes to write a task 2 so I don’t waste any time. I read the question and just start writing what’s in my head. I have a general plan, like I do when I'm giving the answer to a question. I stop writing when the 40 minutes is done."
2. "Approach? Definitely! I only have 40 minutes to write so I don’t waste any time. I read and analyse the question, jot down some of my ideas, write a plan then check if the plan is going to help me answer the question. I check the question a lot because it’s so easy to answer it the wrong way. Then I write the answer, paying attention to grammar and vocabulary. If there’s time, I check the writing for spelling and punctuation mistakes."

Have you guessed which way is best?

Let’s look at the first approach. If you think about what you’re going to write and try to write with good grammar and vocabulary at the same time, you’re asking your brain to do too many things at once. This is often unsuccessful, even for native speakers. Why?

Your essay...

...might be ‘stream of consciousness’, in other words, unorganised and incoherent, and possibly repetitive.
...may not answer the question.
...may be too short
...may have a lot of unnecessary grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation mistakes
...might look really messy. This shouldn’t matter to an examiner – unless your handwriting is so bad he or she can’t read it - but you want to ‘put your best foot forward’* don’t you?

*do and look your best

If you said the second approach is better, you’re right! Here’s why:

1. Read and analyse the question	In these two stages you focus on WHAT you’re going to write
2. Brainstorm – write down any ideas (in notes – sentences take too long to write) you have about the topic and question.
3. Plan your essay – write a structure.	WHAT (ideas) AND HOW (organisation)
4. Write your answer.	In these stages you focus on HOW you’re going to write it. (e.g. grammar and vocabulary, spelling and punctuation)
5. Proofread your answer.

If you think about WHAT to write first then your brain will be able to concentrate on HOW to say it afterwards. This is more likely to result in an essay that...

...answers the question.
...is 250 words.
...is finished.
...is well organised.
...is written with the best grammar and vocabulary you can manage in the time limit

This is formally called the Process Approach to writing.

Demonstration

A question for the IELTS exam might look like this:

‘In some school systems, it is normal for students to have a sports lesson during the week. Some people say that this is a waste of time, while others say it is an important part of education. Discuss both these views and give your opinion.’

Below is a possible response to the question from a writer that didn’t follow the process approach to writing. What do you think of it?

• Does it answer the question?
• Is it 250 words?
• Is it organised?
• How much variety of grammar and vocabulary do you see?

Sports are really important. They are important because they keep us healthy and happy. Everyone should do sport in school, even though there’s not enough time to do them. If we don’t have sport we’ll get bored, and then we can’t get concentrated in classes because we want to go out and play all the time. Everyone knows that sports are good for you. The experts say this is important especially for boys. Girls don’t need to sport so much because they are better at their studies. Teachers should organize teams to play football. My school teacher was terrible at football but everyone loved him anyway.

Of course, school subjects are important too and we need to spend time with maths, language and science, sure but it is really good to be exercised and get fresh air. This is my opinion.

Now you try writing an answer to the question using the Process Approach!

Speaking Preparation for IELTS

I love, LOVE these videos from the British Council about IELTS Speaking.  They are funny and informative.  They provide excellent advice for the IELTS speaking exam as well as being entertaining.

To read what they are saying (the transcript) click here.

To read the transcript of this video click here.

To read the transcript when you listen a second time click here.

Click here for the transcript.

Hopefully, this will give you some useful information for you when you are doing your IELTS or any other Cambridge speaking exam. Big thanks to Andy Lewis and The British Council: English Online website for such great videos. Take a look at other great stuff on their website!

Interview with Lewis Richards, teacher and co-author of IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills

Mr Lewis Richards!

Two good friends of mine have just published a book to help students improve their writing skills for the IELTS.  The book is called IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills and the authors are Richard Brown and Lewis Richards.

Lewis kindly agreed to a small interview, answering a few questions about himself and the book.

If your students were to describe you with 3 adjectives, what would they be?  I hope they would say: fun, hard-working and passionate about teaching.  But some would say 'strict' as well, I think!

You’ve just finished writing a book together.  Why did you write it?  We've been teaching IELTS for about 15 years between us, and there are lots of good IELTS books available, but we couldn't find one book that had everything students need to pass the writing part of IELTS.  So we started writing our own exercises, and over the last few years we've written hundreds of exercises that we use in class to help our students get a good writing score.  We decided to put all our ideas into a book, and hopefully it will help lots of students to get at least 6.5 in writing.

Who is the book for?  Well, the idea of the book is to show students step-by-step how to get a good writing score, in particular 6.5 or above.  We wrote the book so that you can use it as a self-study book, or with a teacher in class.  We know that lots of people don't have time to go to a language school to study an IELTS course, so the book is designed so that you can study it by yourself if you want to.  For example, many nurses or doctors who want to work abroad need to get a 7.0 in IELTS, but maybe don't have time to go to a school because of their jobs.  This kind of student can use the book at home.  We think it's clear and easy to read, and helps you improve your writing step-by-step.   Of course, you can also use the book in a class with a teacher, and in fact this is one of the best things about the book - every exercise in it has been tried out in class by us many times, so we know that it works.  Hundreds of students in our classes have got high scores using our material, so we feel confident it can help many other students as well.

If you weren’t a teacher, what might your profession be?  It's hard to say, I've been a teacher for 13 years, and I love it, I can't imagine doing another job, but I really enjoy writing, so maybe journalism.

What was the last book/movie you read/saw, and what have you seen/read way too many times?  At the moment I'm reading a book called 'Solar' by Ian McEwan, which is fantastic, but the book I re-read all the time is 'Catch 22' by Joseph Heller.  It's the funniest book I've ever read.  If you haven't read it, I recommend it.

What do you like to do to unwind (relax)?  I play tennis a lot, which helps get rid of stress.  Drinking beer helps too!

Why are you an English language teacher?  I think learning a foreign language is a really beautiful thing, which helps you to understand other cultures and ideas, and also of course to be successful in your studies or job.   When I was 23, I lived in France for a year, and the experience of learning to speak in French was wonderful.  Also, I really enjoy working with people from different countries, and I feel really proud when my students improve their English, and do really well in IELTS, for example.

Final Questions

If there were one thing you could remove from the English language to make it easier for learners of English, what would it be?  Articles.  Most languages don't have articles, and you don't really need to use articles - people will understand you whether you use articles or not.

Where will students be able to buy your book?  In September it will be on Amazon.com and in all good bookshops, or you can look at the website of our publishers for more information about how to buy it in your country.

Thank you for the interview, Lewis.  I’m sure the book will be a great success and help many students around the world.  Here are the links to the various Amazon sites where the book is available now:

IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills on Amazon UK

IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills on Amazon France

IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills on Amazon Germany

IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills on Amazon Canada

IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills on Amazon Austria

IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills on Amazon Japan

For more information from Lewis about the book, watch this video:

Remember, English for exams is NOT authentic!

Basically, good English is not always good for exams. However, this is not a bad thing. Let me explain.  (Also, if you are not preparing for an exam, keep reading because not all of this post is about English for exams.)

What is authentic language?

Authentic language is real language. Authentic English language is unplanned and unchanged language from native speakers. It’s the language that is used between two fluent speakers in a natural conversation.

What is the purpose of an exam?

The purpose of an exam is to test and assess language ability. You have to show how much you can do with your English in short period of time for the speaking (11 minutes for IELTS, 14 minutes for FCE, 15 minutes for CAE, 20 minutes for the TOEFL speaking test) and a limited number of words in your writing (400 words for IELTS, 330 words for FCE, 480 words for CAE, 525 words for TOEFL).

So within this short period of time you really have to show off (meaning to demonstrate) your English and use all the different forms you know as well as a good variety of vocabulary.  Remember, if you don’t use the language during the speaking test then the examiner won’t know that you have it.

Good English does not always pass!

Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister
of Britain (1940-45, 1951-55)
(Picture from Wikipedia)

Here is part of a very important speech in British history.  This speech by Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Britain during most of World War 2, was incredibly important in motivating the people of Britain to continue fighting during a time when Britain was losing the war.  I don’t want to give you a history lesson but this speech was possibly the most important speech in Britain in the 20^th century.

However, this speech recently failed an English assessment!  Read and listen to the most famous part of the speech here.

listen to ‘Winston Churchill - We Shall Fight’ on Audioboo

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,

we shall fight on the seas and oceans, 

we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air,

we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be,

we shall fight on the beaches, 

we shall fight on the landing grounds, 

we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, 

we shall fight in the hills; 

we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."

The computer system that marked the speech didn’t like the repetition. The speech uses the phrase “We shall...” at least 12 times. The repetition was a very important and useful part of the speech, but for an English exam it is not good. Repetition is a tool that we use in spoken and written English to emphasise a point and it is used a lot in speech writing, especially by politicians. However, for English exams, it does not help you because it only shows a small part of your language knowledge.

Have a mental checklist

Make checklist in your mind for
your speaking and writing.
(Photo from Flickr)

So it is a good idea to have mental checklist.  A list in your head of things you should try to include when you are speaking and writing in the exam.  Here is a short list for you to start with (there are plenty of other things to add):

• Conditionals (e.g. If you learn how to use these different forms of English, you’ll have no problems in your speaking and written exams.)
• Passive Voice (e.g. This blog post was written to help learners of English understand and prepare for their English exams.)
• Relative Clauses (e.g. This blog, which started in February 2011, exists to help learners of English.)
• Adverbs (e.g. Both the teacher and the students were 'terribly pleased'* when everyone passed the exam.)
• Comparatives/Superlatives (e.g. The CAE test is definitely designed to be more difficult than the FCE test but the CPE is certainly the hardest test of them all.)
• Reported Speech (Gordon said that the CAE test was definitely designed to be more difficult than the FCE test but the CPE was certainly the hardest test of them all.)

So all of these are useful parts of English to use in your speaking and writing to show the examiner what you can do.

If you are not taking an exam, this is still useful

Yes, even if you are not doing an exam, focusing on these parts of English is still very important.  It is important for your accuracy to practise these parts of English separately sometimes.

Here are some videos to explain.  The first video shows a martial arts drill.  A drill is an exercise of repetition, where only one action is practised and repeated again and again so that the student can focus and improve on one specific area.  This is not an authentic fight but it is an important part of martial arts training.

You can see that this action alone would not be very useful in a fight.  However, when you put this action together with other actions then you can get something like this! (One of the most exciting martial arts fights I’ve ever seen! - Just click on play, it will start at the exciting part.)

So from this martial arts example, it is easy to see that the same rules apply to language learning. You've got to do the drills, practising your conditionals 'over and over and over' (meaning again and again and again), practising your use of passive voice over and over and over, practising your comparatives and superlatives over and over and over. This way they become better and better, you use them with more accuracy and fewer mistakes.

Then when you put them all together you get a grammatically accurate piece of writing or a grammatically great conversation.

* "terribly pleased" - Although 'terrible' is a negative word, we can use the adverb 'terribly' to mean 'very' in a positive way.  So this actually means "very pleased" and it is a positive sentence.  You can see the same use with 'awfully'.

What is Cohesion & Coherence? (Cambridge Testing Explained)

This post explains an important aspect of the marking structure of the IELTS exams.  Cambridge exams like IELTS, FCE, CAE and many others have strict guidelines about what makes a 5.5 or a 60%.  Here are the guidelines for marking/assessing IELTS Task 1 and IELTS Task 2 writing.

One of the columns is labelled Cohesion & Coherence.  This is one of the ways the writing is assessed: is the composition cohesive, is the composition coherent?  (Cohesion is the noun, cohesive is the adjective; coherence is the noun, coherent is the adjective.)  This is the focus on this post.

What is Cohesion & Coherence?

Cohesion and coherence aren't too difficult to explain.  Cohesion refers to connectivity in a text.  Coherence refers to how easy it is to understand the writing.

Cohesion & Coherence

"My favourite colour is blue.  I like it because it is calming and it relaxes me.  I often go outside in the summer and lie on the grass and look into the clear sky when I am stressed.  For this reason, I'd have to say my favourite colour is blue."

Cohesive AND coherent: Blue > Relaxes > Clear Sky > Blue (Photos from Flickr)

This sentence is both coherent and cohesive, but let's focus on the cohesion first.  I've highlighted the ways that each sentence is connected to the sentence before.

Cohesion with NO Coherence

Now, here is a sentence that has cohesion but is not coherent.

"My favourite colour is blue.  Blue sports cars go very fast.  Driving in this way is dangerous and can cause many car crashes.  I had a car accident once and broke my leg.  I was very sad because I had to miss a holiday in Europe because of the injury."

Cohesive NOT coherent: Blue > Sports Car > Fast Driving > Car Crashes > Broken Leg > Holiday in Europe (Photos from Flickr)

As you can see, there is plenty of cohesion here.  The sentences connect clearly together but if you read the paragraph, it really makes no sense - I start talking about blue and I finish talking about a holiday in Europe.  There is no coherence in this sentence.

Coherence with NO Cohesion

Now, let's take a look at a sentence that is coherent but not cohesive.

"My favourite colour is blue.  I'm calm and relaxed.  In the summer I lie on the grass and look up."

Coherent NOT cohesive: Blue - Calm & Relaxed - Looking Up (Photos from Flickr)

This is more difficult to understand but basically this lack of cohesion means a lack of sufficient connectors to join the ideas together.  If I try hard I can understand what the person is saying: a short answer, an explanation, an example; however the sentences don't fit together.

Cohesion & Coherence in Conversation

Are your conversations coherent?  Are they cohesive?

Now, in spoken discourse, the easiest example I can think of is a Cambridge First Certificate speaking exam, part 3: the students' conversation.  Two students are asked to talk about some pictures but if they do not respond to what each other is saying and make no attempt to reference each other then the conversation can be coherent but can completely lack cohesion.  For example:

A. "I think these people are having a good time."

B. "It appears these people are enjoying themselves."

A. "They seem to be on holiday."

B. "It looks like they are on vacation."

Obviously there is no connection between A and B in this conversation.  We understand them and they are coherent.  What is missing is cohesion.  They are not connected.  A is not listening to B and B is not listening to A.

On the other hand, take a look at this example:

A. "I think these people are having a good time."

B. "Time is difficult to manage.  I am always late for my social appointments like when I have a date with a girl."

A. "I like girls with long, dark hair and brown eyes."

B. "My dog has brown eyes and a long tail."

etc, etc.

This example shows that there is cohesion but the conversation makes no sense and therefore it is missing coherence.

Next time you are looking at a piece of writing; a newspaper, an essay you wrote, another student's essay, a web article like this one, you should consider the cohesion and coherence of the composition.  It is worth 25% of your IELTS mark and it is an important factor in the other Cambridge exams as well.

Hope this helps you.  Comments are welcome.

New IELTS Page

Since I know a lot of learners reading this blog are preparing for the IELTS exam, I've made a new page on this blog which has a list of websites and blogs that I think are very useful for IELTS preparation.  I will be adding more links and resources of my own over the next weeks and months so check it out and keep coming back for more help as and when you need it!

Take a look at my IELTS Help page.

Dominic Cole's IELTS Blog (Blog Recommendation #4)

Anyone studying for that exam should know about this website.

Dominic Cole's IELTS Blog

Dominic Cole has obviously put a lot of time and work into producing some excellent materials to help students prepare for the International English Language Testing System test.  Here is one example of 10 Top Tips for IELTS Reading.

Spend 10-15 minutes looking around this website and I promise you it will be "time well spent" (a good way to use your time).

You can also 'like' this site and follow it on Facebook or follow Dominic Cole on Twitter.

Book Recommendation - IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills

Two colleagues of mine (teachers I worked with) have written a book for IELTS students!  I look forward to it in September and I am sure it will be a great success.  More important that the success, I'm sure it will help IELTS students everywhere in one area specific area; advanced writing skills.

IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills is published by Delta Publishing and will be available in September 2011.  I will try to give lots more information about this book in the next few months but at the moment I know Richard and Lewis would really appreciate it (they would be grateful) if you showed your support and 'liked' their book on Facebook.

Here are the links:

Delta Publishing website page for IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills

Facebook page for IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills by Richard Brown & Lewis Richards

Well done guys!

EXTRA - Warming Up (a tip for IELTS and other exams)

My father helping me to get ready for the
Brighton Marathon last year (2010).

I was reading another blog recently and it talked about ‘warming up’. As a runner, I certainly understand the need for warming up – you need to get your body ready for the physical activity of running. When I was doing martial arts as a teenager, we probably spent the first 10 minutes of every hour session warming up. It’s very important.

It’s also very important for mental preparation as well. You need to warm up for your big language event: the IELTS exam, or FCE, or CAE or whatever. One of the suggestions that Aaron Myers gave was to use his travel to an interview to listen to a Turkish audio lesson. For the day of your big event, you don’t want to focus on anything new so choose a piece of listening that you are familiar with (a podcast you have listened to a few times already, for example).

This warming up is necessary to ‘switch on’ your English and get your mind ready for the task.

If you have an English exam soon, good luck!

IELTS Writing Help (Blog Recommendation #3)

If you want some more help and insight into IELTS writing then I highly recommend this blog!

A Teacher's Odyssey: Tips for Successful English

Miracel Juanta has produced a brilliant blog here that looks at IELTS essays from her different students.  She now has more than 60 "IELTS Writing Makeover" posts which show full essays from students.  The students have a variety of levels and the essays are on a variety of topics.

If you want to see more IELTS essay models, then you should look through this website.  If you want a better idea of what is good and what is bad, then you should look through this website.

Thanks Miracel!  Great website, keep it coming! :-)

Help for Exam & General English Practice (Blog Recommendation #2)

If you are preparing for the IELTS exam then you will be interested in these links.  If you are not doing exam preparation but want to improve you general English abilities, then I have other links you will be interested in.

But these all come from one source... so this is my

BLOG RECOMMENDATION - Rliberni's Blog


IELTS Help

So, if you are preparing for IELTS, I think you should look at Rliberni's Top 10 Tips for Improving IELTS Scores.  This blogger has been involved with IELTS since the mid-1990s (when it started!) so she has lots of experience and certainly understands what you need for the exam.

Vocabulary Help
The recommendations here are based on using, not losing your bilingual dictionary.  Generally I think it is better for learners to use an English to English dictionary but I think bilingual dictionaries are useful and I think the suggestions here are good ways to use them.  So, take a look at Rliberni's 10 Ways to Increase Your Vocabulary.

Speaking Help
These are some GREAT suggestions and I think I'll start using some of them with my Spanish!  I really like Rliberni's 10 Goofy Ways to Practise Speaking Skills.

Does Testing Help You Learn?

What do you think about exams and tests?  Please post your ideas and opinions below.

Many of you who follow this blog probably took IELTS or FCE or one of the other Cambridge exams.  Or perhaps you did the North American testing; TOEFL or TOEIC.

A lot of people learn English because it is the international language and if they want to work for the big companies (and even some of the smaller ones) they need to have English.   And how do we measure this English?... with the tests.

As a teacher, I have a love/hate relationship with these tests (yes, another love/hate relationship, just like with tenses).  The good thing for the teacher is that students preparing for a test are generally, generally well-motivated (not always).  The bad thing for a teacher is that it is sometimes difficult to keep learning fun when an important exam is ahead.

If I think as a learner (of Spanish), I feel that I need exams to motivate and guide me.  I am not taking a language course at the moment so if I really want to improve my Spanish I will need to have an exam to prepare for.  The exam will have specific points about language that it will test (think IELTS Writing Part 1: Graphs and Tables) and that means I know what I need to focus on.

But a big problem is that testing is generally stressful, can be expensive, and the English it tests can sometimes be very inauthentic, in other words, not like the English you will hear on TV or find in a native-speaking conversation.

Another problem is that we are not all good at taking tests or exams.  I will admit that I am not good at standardized tests.  I hated them at university and I actually failed some of them (there, my big secret is out in the open!).  I was also really bad at predicting if I did well in a university exam or not.  I remember there were a few times when I finished an exam and I thought that I had done very well (I hadn’t) but there were also a couple of exams that I thought I had completely failed (I passed very well, in fact).

So when I come out of an exam and then I am told that I failed it, does that mean I didn’t learn anything?  Did I learn anything from those courses?  Apparently, not enough.

What do you think about exams and tests?  I look forward to your opinions so don’t be shy. :-)