Improving your reading and listening skills

I am a massive fan of keeping up to date with what is happening in the world, and I always try to convince my international students of the importance of reading and listening to the news.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that this is the very best way of improving your English, as well as giving you lots of ideas and information for writing essays and doing various types of academic speaking.  

The problem, for many learners, is that it's just too difficult - the news articles they find are too long and complicated, and they can't see any improvement quickly enough.  They just give up.

Today, however, I've made a great discovery.  Some of my lovely INTO students have been asking me to help them do better in Listening and Reading tests, and I was delighted to stumble upon this fantastic website while I was looking for useful online resources.  You can decide which level you are at (but I think it's probably best to start the first time at Level 1) and each news story is given at all 3 levels, using more vocabulary as you move up the levels.  If there is a video clip, the words which are spoken are written down for you to see.

There's a great story here - and it's about something which happened in China, which will be interesting for my current class, most of whom are Chinese.  Have a look at the 3 different levels, and decide which one is right for you.  

If you're struggling with your reading and listening, or disappointed with your test scores, why not work through one of these stories every day?

How reading the news can help you to get high scores in IELTS - or just improve your English in general

If you are serious about improving your English, especially if you are preparing for a test like IELTS or one of the Cambridge ESOL exams, you need to be regularly practising your speaking and writing - what we could call output.  But you also need to make sure that you are getting enough input - that you are taking in enough  of the right sort of English, through your eyes and ears.  

Although a large part of your exam preparation should be in the form of practice tests, you need more than that. Chatting with friends, both face-to-face and on the internet, is a great way of practising your informal speaking skills, but you need more than that.  Reading about your favourite fashions or sports on websites is an excellent way to improve your reading skills and give you the vocabulary you need to talk with your friends (and the examiner) about your everyday life and the things you love. But you need more than that.

To get really high scores in exams like IELTS, and to pass exams like Cambridge Advanced, you need to know a bit about the world.  Not just your world - you need to know about what goes on in the world as a whole.  I don't mean that you need to know and remember a huge number of specific facts about current affairs.  What you do need is a general understanding of other people's lives and experiences, so that you can talk and write about things of which you have no direct experience.  

I'll give you an example.  If you are reading this, you are a literate, educated person, but to write an essay about the problems of illiteracy you need to be able to imagine what it would be like to have little or no education, to be unable to read and write. It's much easier to write about the less familiar topics if you have got into the habit of thinking about what happens outside your own family and social life. Newspapers, or news websites, are the place to find this type of information.

I'm going to make two suggestions about how to read the news to improve your English (I'll talk about listening another day):

1. If you live in the UK, buy the newspaper called the 'i' every day.  It's only 20p, and is a shortened version of one of the high quality newspapers called the Indpendent.  I know that Metro is free, but the type of English used in Metro isn't as good as the language in the i.  The first two pages are full of very short articles (about 50 words each) on the hot topics of the day from around the world.  If you look through these and read about half of them, you will get lots of new vocabulary and ideas for essays (don't forget to add all your new ideas to your Ideas Book).  If you flick through the next 20 pages or so, you will find lots of longer news articles - and you could pick one or two a day and read them quite closely, making a record of the useful vocabulary and ideas.  After that there's pages about the day's television, fashion, technology, cars - all sorts of different 'general interest' topics.  Then come the business pages, so if you are studying for IELTS with a view to doing a Master's degree in Business, you can make sure that you are aware of all the latest developments.  Finally, there's lots about sport, and some great crosswords and other puzzles.  You don't have to read it all, but commit yourself to spending a certain amount of time on it, and do it regularly.
2. If you don't live in the UK, or don't want to buy the i, do the same but use the internet.  You can use websites by the Guardian or the BBC, or have a look at this website which lists the top ten news websites for English language learners. Read the headlines, and choose one or two articles a day to look at more closely. I do this for my German, using the German version of Yahoo. Sometimes I don't feel like it, but I always enjoy it once I actually start, and it's a good habit which has really helped me.

The most important thing is that you develop a daily routine (or at least a routine you follow on a few set days of the week) and follow it as regularly as you clean your teeth! You can make a real difference even if you only spend half an hour a day.

What not to forget on the day of your IELTS exam...

My students at Manchester Victoria College have their IELTS exam tomorrow - good luck!  Here are some of the reminders I gave them today:

• Make sure you know EXACTLY how to get to the IELTS test centre, and assume that the traffic is going to be very heavy (unless you're walking there!).  Plan to get there about an hour before the deadline - you can always have a cup of tea in a coffee shop if you get there quickly, and if the bus is stuck in traffic you won't be stressed.
• Be careful in your choice of clothing - you're not allowed to wear your coat, or a top with pockets.  Wear a few layers so you will feel comfortably warm but can quickly strip off if you overheat!
• If you're doing the whole exam in one day, bring some food and drinks - you won't know the time of your speaking exam until the day so you don't know how much time you will have to get some lunch.  
• And while we are on the subject of food, try to have some breakfast on the day.  I know that most people don't feel like eating when they are nervous about the exam, but your brain will work better if you give it some food first :-)  If you can't face your normal breakfast, maybe you could have some fruit and yogurt when you arrive at the test centre?
• In the Listening, don't waste time worrying about anything you miss - keep listening and try really hard to keep up with the questions, even if you can't get every answer.  Don't give up in Section 4 - yes, it's difficult, but there are always a few easier questions even in this part of the test.  At the end when you are transferring your answers, be VERY careful to check that you are putting the right answer against the right number on the sheet - I know it sounds insultingly obvious, but many students number their answers incorrectly, purely as a result of exam nerves. Don't leave any of the questions blank - you will get nothing if you write nothing, but a guess may just be right.
• In the Reading, don't panic and start trying out new strategies at this stage - use the techniques you've been practising in class.  Don't forget that each of the three passages has a mixture of easy and difficult questions - if anyone tells you that the whole of passage three is difficult, they are mistaken.  Spend twenty minutes on each of the passages, and transfer your answers to the answer sheet as you go - you don't get any extra time for this at the end of the test.  I personally know three students who got a Reading score of less than 2.0 because they forgot about this on the day, and one of the three tried to quickly carry on writing after the time was up and got into trouble with the invigilator. Again, don't leave any blank spaces on the answer sheet, especially if the questions were multiple choice.
• In the Writing, focus on being clear and as accurate as possible.  If the examiner doesn't understand what you are trying to say, you will not get a great mark.  Don't spend more than 20 minutes on Task 1, and don't forget that students who put in lots and lots of numbers without making comparisons and a summary/overview get low marks.  In Task 2, spend five minutes thinking and planning, and then put most of your effort into the main body paragraphs - your introduction and conclusion only need to be a couple of sentences each - if you run out of ideas try to include examples of what you are talking about.  Use the last few minutes to check for silly mistakes - like missing plurals or third person 's'.
• In the Speaking, smile and make eye contact with the examiner - they are only human, after all!  Don't forget to include the words if and because as these words will make you use more advanced language without even thinking about it.  Don't be afraid to say 'Sorry, I didn't catch that' if you didn't understand the question, and if they ask you a really difficult question you can say 'Hmm, that's a really difficult question'!  

I really hope that the exam will go well for you but if you feel it went badly, don't despair.  Very many people need to take the exam a second or even third time to get the score they need, and if you did very much worse than you expected you could even consider taking some extra lessons... :-D

Last minute IELTS revision

In my last post I talked about getting ready for IELTS when you still have a couple of months ahead of you.  Today I've been working with students who don't have anything like that amount of time available for revision - they are doing their tests within the next ten days.  

If time is getting short, you need to focus your attention very carefully on the most essential things.  It goes without saying that all IELTS teachers will have their own ideas about what is essential, but these are the things I think are worth doing in the last few hours of revision time.  

1. Speaking: IELTS-Simon quite rightly says that most of your focus should be on preparing for the second part of the test, by planning ideas and language for some of the very common topics - have a look at his advice here and act on it. However, if time is getting REALLY short, and you are down to the last few hours, I suggest that you make sure you are ready for Part 1.  True, it's not where you get the most marks, but it's a good idea to make a strong and confident start to the test, and it's not difficult to work through the typical Part 1 questions and get your answers ready.  If you make a mess of the answer to 'Do you work or are you a student?' it will knock your confidence and make you even more nervous.  There's lots of videos on YouTube which will give you a really good idea of the questions you will face - have a look at this one for a start.  Whatever you do, smile at the examiner, make eye contact with him or her, and don't forget that it's ok to say 'Sorry, I didn't quite catch that.  Could you repeat the question please?'  Finally, remember the magical power of if and because!
2. Reading: Try and find one IELTS Reading passage that you haven't seen before, or if you really can't find one have a look at the 'official' samples here (the downside of this is that the passage only has a few questions, not the normal amount).  In any case, have a go at your chosen passage - time yourself for 20 minutes if you have a proper passage with the 12 or 13 questions  (if you're using the samples don't bother timing yourself), then check your answers.  If you stop here you're wasting a massive opportunity to help yourself - as I said yesterday, the value of the practice tests is that you can learn so much from your mistakes.  What did you get wrong and why?  Is it something that can be quickly fixed - like not having read the questions carefully enough?  Compare the language in the question with the words in the text and remind yourself that the words will be related in meaning, but rarely are the same words in both.
3. Listening: If you still have access to a Listening test you haven't done before, do it - but make sure you use the transcript afterwards to really check where you went wrong.  Otherwise, try and find something interesting to watch in English on television or the internet, using English subtitles if necessary.  It's very important to 'tune in your ear' to English, particularly if you are not living in an English-speaking country and/or are living with people who speak the same mother tongue as you.  Relaxing with a really good film in English is actually quite a good use of your time!
4. Writing: This is where IELTS-Simon is really valuable - his advice is better than anything you'll read in a book.  Learn his Writing Task 1 four paragraph method - paraphrase the question, give an overview of the most important information, then add two paragraphs with some details.  You can find out more information about this here, where he talks you through his thinking process about how to approach a task.  For Task 2, why not think about adopting this quick and simple method for writing introductions and conclusions - a strong start and finish to an essay always make a good impression.  If you have time, read through as many of Simon's plans and sample essays as possible - they will give you lots of good ideas.

Only you can know exactly what your particular strengths and weaknesses are, so some of these things may not apply to you, but maybe some of the ideas will be helpful.  Good luck!

How to get the best out of your practice tests book - plus congratulations to Charline!

In my last post (here) I mentioned how one of the great things about being an English teacher is the huge pleasure I get when one of my students achieves their goals.  Today I was delighted to get an email from Charline in Switzerland who had some lessons with me and some of my fantastic colleagues, and has now passed her BEC exam with flying colours.  It really does make it all worthwhile!  Well done, Charline - you've made my day!

Today I've been thinking about exam practice tests - and in particular IELTS practice tests, as I'm helping a class and some one-to-one students to prepare for IELTS exams.  Lots of students buy books like this one: 

which are really quite expensive, and I feel that many people don't make the best use of the materials.  The most obvious thing to do is to work through the different Listening and Reading tests, checking the answers in the back as you go.  The problem with this is that you may not learn all that much from doing this - and there's a danger that you will get very depressed and demotivated if you don't get as many marks as you hoped.  Another problem with the way people use these books is that many students don't bother doing the Writing or Speaking tests, if they don't have a private teacher to give them a proper IELTS score.

If all that sounds like you, you've fallen into the trap of mixing up 'testing' and 'training'.  Unless you are doing the exam within the next couple of weeks, your focus should most definitely be on 'training', and in some ways you might be better off buying a book which contains more than just practice tests - there are hundreds of them out there, and if you email me I can make some recommendations.

However, let's think about how you can use a book like the one pictured above, to get as much value as possible for your time and money.  I'm going to assume that you have only bought one book of tests, and that you are taking the test in about two months.

1. There's more than one way to skin a cat, as they say.  Don't use all of the tests in the book in the same way - there are several different approaches you can try, and each of them will teach you different things.  With the Listening test, you don't have to do it like in the real exam, hearing it only once.  You can listen to each section again and again before you look at what the answers should be. You can listen once, check your answers, then keep listening until you can actually hear the correct answer.  The transcript at the back of the book is a also fantastic resource - you can read it at various points in the process (with or without the help of your dictionary) - after you've heard the recording once, after you've checked your answers, even before you listen for the first time (this is especially useful for building confidence if your level is lower than about 4.5, or for the difficult Section 4).   Perhaps the most important point of all is that you can use the recording, the questions and answers and the transcript as a source of information - about the topics which come up in IELTS, and about useful vocabulary and phrases which you can use yourself in your own writing and speaking.  Make lots of notes in your notebook.  It's the same with the Reading test - of course you need to do some of the tests with a time limit, especially if you've a tendency to be a slow reader, but you don't have to check the answers immediately - why not change to a different colour pen or pencil and give yourself extra time to see if you can improve your answers?  You'll be able to give yourself one score for the questions you got right in the time limit, and another for your answers that you got with extra time. You can also vary the point at which you allow yourself to look up words in your dictionary - of course we all know you can't use a dictionary in the exam, but you're not in the exam right now!  You're still at the learning stage, and it's fine to use a dictionary (but don't look up every single word or you'll go crazy).
2. Remember that an 'official' IELTS book will help you get into the evil minds (;-D) of the people who write the test.  Don't just do the tests without thinking - don't ever just accept the answer which is given in the back of the book (even if you got it right!) without analysing what the IELTS examiners were testing.  This insight is really, really valuable - even though you won't have time to analyse anything in the exam, you can learn such a lot at this stage.  Can you work out which types of questions you always get wrong? One incredibly useful thing you can do with both the Listening and the Reading tests is to make what IELTS Simon calls a keyword chart - I've adapted this slightly and called it a 'related language chart' (email me if you want an example).  If you do this, you'll see that looking for 'synonyms' is quite tricky - what is a noun in the question might correspond to an adverb in the text, and a lot of students miss this.  If you make at least one or two related language charts you'll start to see how the examiners use the English language to write the questions.  Once you start getting answers right, through careful analysis of how the questions relate to the answers, you are on your way to the score you need.
3. Don't ignore the Speaking and Writing tests - even if you haven't got a teacher who is prepared to give you a score.   You really will benefit from writing out the tasks, even if no one but you will see them, and if you know another learner who is doing IELTS, see if you can have a look at each other's work - it's so much easier to spot someone else's mistakes than your own!  By the way, you shouldn't be trying to memorise anything for the Speaking test - the examiners want to hear natural English and will mark you down if they think you are only coming out with sentences you have learnt by heart - but you can make notes and lists of useful words and phrases, as well as ideas about what to talk about.  
4. Don't write on the book in pen - at least not at this stage!  Ideally, do all your writing in your notebook for now, but if you really prefer to write on the actual pages, get a soft pencil and a really good rubber, so that you can easily rub out anything you write.  If you do that, you can easily use the book again just before the test if you need to.  It's a really good idea to re-do tests you did a few weeks ago - of course you'll probably get a much higher score than you would if you had never seen it before, but it's a great way to reinforce your learning.  

These are just a few thoughts I've had today about how to use the book - I'll add more as time goes on, but I'd love to hear your ideas.  Email me or leave me a comment!

IELTS Reading: confessions of an IELTS teacher

I've been teaching IELTS in Manchester on and off for about four years now, and although IELTS is in many ways a difficult and sometimes frustrating examination, I do enjoy preparing students to take the test.

However, it's time for a confession - in all those four years of teaching IELTS, I've always been very nervous about my own ability to get full marks in the Reading test, if I had to do it with a strict time limit.  I've never had any worries about the Listening, Speaking or Writing (well, maybe a few worries about Writing Task 1 until I discovered IELTS-Simon's wonderful method here), but I've always found a reason not to do a whole reading test under exam conditions, just in case I didn't get full marks in the time available.  I felt that I would be so embarrassed, even if no one knew about it except me....

Well, today was the day I faced my demons - I finally ran out of excuses and worked alongside my lovely students while they did a practice test themselves.  It took me 22 minutes in all (the students have 60 minutes), and I got full marks.    

I learnt such a lot from this experience, and will be a better teacher as a result.  The main thing is that I mustn't let my perfectionism stop me from doing things.  I felt that I would be a 'bad' teacher if I didn't get full marks in the test - so I let my fear of 'failure' stop me from having a useful learning experience, whatever mark I got in the test.  If I hadn't got a good mark in the test, it would have motivated me to improve my own reading strategies, and that would also have been really useful to me as a teacher.   As it is, I'll now be much more confident to share my own tips and strategies with the students - I was a bit hesitant before, as I'd not really tried them out under pressure. 

So, this is how I got full marks today in the IELTS Reading test - it worked for me, and if your own strategies aren't getting you the score you need, maybe it's worth trying it out:

1. I quickly read the whole text before I even looked at the questions.  
2. I didn't underline anything in the text at this stage, because I didn't know what would be important, but I did try to focus on noticing the key points in each paragraph.
3. I then looked at the questions one by one, and was fairly easily able to go to the right part of the text because I roughly remembered the main points of each paragraph.
4. I answered each question in turn, but when I got stuck on a question (three times in all) I did the rest  of the questions in that section and came back to it a few minutes later.  In each case, answering the other questions gave me a bit more useful information about the whole text and I was able to answer the difficult question correctly.

There are many other techniques and strategies which different people find helpful - you just need to find a way which works for you.

The joy of subtitles

I'm enjoying the last couple of days before I'm back at work after the Easter break, and I was very glad that today was a 'film study day' in the city centre which I had enrolled for.  The film we studied was called 'Good night and good luck', and it was a great film, definitely worth watching.  We had two very good teachers during the day, and they provided lots of interesting information between the different sections of the film over the course of the day.

I was very shocked, however, when I found I really couldn't understand the first 15-minutes of the film.  No, it wasn't in German, Spanish or any other language that I supposedly know.  It was in English - but it was American English, and the acoustics in the room were not great.  I thought I was the only person in the group who couldn't hear the dialogue, or who was not really understanding what was going on. Luckily, other people were also having a problem, and for the rest of the day the film was shown with the English subtitles as well as the audio track.  

What a relief!  It made the film so much more enjoyable, not having to struggle to catch every word which was said.  Of course, I did gradually 'tune in' to the American accent, so by the end I probably wasn't reading the subtitles very much, but it really took the pressure off.

As you know, I really, really recommend that language learners find television programmes which they enjoy, and watch them regularly.  As with reading, it's so important to find programmes which you actually like - although you may feel that you should be watching the news, or documentaries about politics or current affairs, if you don't enjoy them, you won't watch them - or won't watch them regularly enough to benefit from them.  If you are learning English in the UK and enjoy programmes which other people consider to be rubbish, like Britain's Got Talent, or Coronation Street, or Hollyoaks, ignore what anyone else thinks and watch them - but remember to turn on the subtitles (in English, of course), to make the whole experience more enjoyable and less stressful.  It also means that you can see how an unfamiliar word is written, and look it up in the dictionary.

If you don't have a television set, try watching English language movies on your laptop with the subtitles in English - or if you really think that is too hard for you, why not use subtitles in your native language for the first half of the film (until you know the characters, and what is going on), then switch to English for the second half?  

Remember, the most useful language learning strategies are the ones which you actually do - NOT the ones you think you SHOULD do, but never feel in the mood for!  Even if you are studying hard for IELTS or another language exam, you can still enjoy at least some parts of the language learning experience.  

I'd be really interested to hear your recommendations for good TV programmes and films for learners of English - please comment below, or email me: juliaenglish@hotmail.co.uk.

Language learning in Edinburgh!

Steve and I have just got back from our lovely holiday in Edinburgh.  We chose to go there so that we could see the newly-acquired pandas, but didn't realise that we needed to book weeks in advance and couldn't get any tickets....oops.  Luckily, there was a fantastic science festival on, so we went to four different events and had a great time.

However, the highlight of the holiday for me was our visit on Wednesday morning to the Yakety Yak Language Cafe - this is an organisation which arranges friendly and informal language speaking sessions, and Steve found out about the German in Edinburgh here.  We had to get up terribly early and walk an awful long way to get there for 9am, but it was really, really worth it.  It takes place in a German cake shop, and two groups of learners with different levels of German drink delicious coffee and chat in German with a native speaker.  Steve and I were in separate groups and both had a great time - I was very happy indeed to meet a lovely German guy called Christian who has lived in Edinburgh for nine years and works as a nurse as well as being a great German teacher!  I've been really enjoying my German reading and doing lots of it, but hadn't had the chance to talk to a real live German, so I was delighted to find that a lot of the fluency I had lost has come back to me. This proves that, for some types of learners at least, reading really is an easy and painless way to improve speaking, especially when you have forgotten a lot of what you had previously learned.  Why?  Because reading for pleasure in your second language really does remind you of a huge amount of vocabulary which you half know, or almost know, with very, very little effort on your part.  

It takes time to find the right books, magazines or websites - for me it has to be novels - but it's worth taking that time, because it really will make a difference to your vocabulary.  And, as those of us who work with IELTS know only too well, vocabulary, and lots of it, is the key to doing well in language exams - and all other situations when you need to use a foreign language under pressure.

Final thoughts (for now) about reading and vocabulary

I've now been experimenting for a week with ways of sneakily improving my German vocabulary by reading for pleasure.  I've learnt quite a lot - not just new words and phrases, but also quite a lot about the process of vocabulary learning.  Of course, I can only be sure that what I've learnt applies to me personally - we are all so different in the way we learn, and language teachers have to offer lots of different learning strategies to their students so that everyone eventually finds the way which is best for them.  But, for what it's worth, this is what I've learnt:

• I'm far more motivated to work on my German when I'm combining it with an activity I find really enjoyable - reading murder mysteries.

• I'm far more likely to read in German if I do it in 15 minute chunks rather than sitting down with the intention of doing it all evening.

• I like using a dictionary app on my phone rather than a paper dictionary.  For a start, the app is much more up-to-date than my dictionary and, more importantly, it means I can read on the bus or in bed without having to struggle with an enormous heavy dictionary.

• I like making a list of interesting words and phrases - some of them are new to me, but most are ones which I half-know - perhaps I understand them but wouldn't have been able to use them myself when I'm speaking.

• Although I believed that it was better not to write down English translations of the new words in my little notebook, by the end of the week I had changed that - now I write down the translation if it's not possible to write down a phrase which clearly shows the meaning.  German has lots of compound nouns - where two words join together to give a new meaning - and often I can guess what the meaning is when I see it. Sometimes, however, it just isn't obvious, and I've decided I was not using my common sense to write only the German and then have to look it up again and again. 

• I also like going through my random list of words and making a new list grouped more logically - see here.   

What I've been doing this week is similar to what is called (in the world of language teaching) 'extensive reading' - that is, reading long texts which are not too difficult for the purpose of understanding the whole thing.  The opposite is called 'intensive reading' and is more about reading shorter but more difficult texts - perhaps analysing fragments or seeking the answers to comprehension questions.  There's a good article about it here, if you're interested.

I haven't yet had the chance to try out any of my new vocabulary on a real German (and in any case they might think I was a bit odd if I started talking about post-mortem examinations and obituaries), but I have most definitely built up my confidence as a learner.  I have been pleasantly surprised by how quickly I am able to read my book (after a slower start at the very beginning) and so much of my forgotten vocabulary is coming back to me.  

I would love to hear from other people about their experiences of reading for pleasure in a foreign language.

More about vocabulary development

I'm still researching my own German vocabulary learning, looking for ways to improve my own learning skills and my ability to help my students.  I'm still loving the melancholy atmosphere of my Wallander novel, and amazed at how much I'm learning (without even trying very hard).

Today I sat down for 10 minutes with the teeny-tiny notebook which I made the other day from a sheet of photocopier paper, and went through the words I had listed. Quite a few of the words describe moody Wallander and his grumpy police colleagues, and I noticed how many of them describe 'ways of speaking' - words like 'abrupt', 'evasive' and 'angry'.  I decided it was time to start sorting out the words, and made a new notebook, this time called 'Interesting Vocabulary':

I then made headings for a few pages and copied out the words which fitted into my categories:

My first group were according to meaning, but later in the notebook I had some phrases using prepositions - I find them quite difficult.

I did actually break my 'don't translate' rule - but I wrote the translations in pencil, and I'm planning to rub them out bit by bit as I learn the German.  I'm experimenting with this - I still think it's better not to translate, but I'm still feeling tired and I was getting irritated by having to keep looking up the same words!  It's so important to be realistic in our study habits - if we make things too hard for ourselves we end up doing nothing - well, I do anyway.

I've been doing some more reading today (while my poor student Zoe was writing the most horrible IELTS Writing Task 2 ever) and have carried on listing the new and/or interesting words in the first notebook.  I'll sort those words out later or tomorrow.  

So, if you're struggling to get motivated about learning vocabulary when the sun is shining outside:

• Be realistic - a regular, less-than-perfect habit is infinitely better than a wonderful plan which you never carry out.

• Start TODAY - if you wait until you're in the right mood you may be waiting a very long time.

• Don't wait until you can buy a lovely notebook - use whatever you have already got in your house.

• I've said it before and I'll say it again (and again and again and again...) - READ SOMETHING YOU ENJOY!!!  If you start reading a book or website and are getting bored, read something else.  The most important thing is to get that language going into your brain.  

Good luck - and make sure you let me know your own ideas for improving your vocabulary learning skills - especially vocabulary for IELTS!

Vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary

IELTS really is all about the vocabulary.  When you look at the marking criteria for the Speaking and the Writing tests, you see that you really can make a lot of mistakes in grammar and spelling and still get really high marks.  Without a wide vocabulary, however, you are lost.  If you don't understand the questions you are being asked (in any part of the exam), you have little chance of giving an appropriate answer.  When we do practice Listening and Reading tests in class, as we did today at MVC, I always ask students afterwards why they felt they didn't get a higher score - to help them identify the areas they need to focus on, now that time is running short.  Every single time I ask this, they all say the problem is lack of vocabulary.

It's easy if you're doing an exam like PET (the Cambridge Preliminary English Test), where you can print out a vocabulary list from the exam board, and just keep going through it until you are confident with all the words listed in it.  IELTS is very, very different - there appears to be no limit to the range of words which are included in the test and must be understood to get the right answer.  Only today my students had to work out that 'weed out' was a synonym for 'eliminate' - hardly a phrase that native speakers use on a regular basis!  However, a student who reads widely, or who lives in the UK and maybe sees adverts for weedkiller on the TV or in the shops, could probably work out that there is a link between (unwanted) weeds in the garden and something needing to be eliminated.  Not easy, but not impossible.  

How on earth can you build a huge and flexible vocabulary, especially if time is short?  

• The most important thing is to start to NOTICE.  Notice the words you don't understand in a conversation and ask the speaker to repeat them. Notice the words which come up again and again in exam questions. Notice the words which trip you up and cause you problems in practice tests and homework exercises.  Notice the words which IELTS Simon uses in his model answers (and if you're doing IELTS but not checking out his website every day, you're crazy!).  Notice the words you always spell wrongly, or use in the wrong way.

• Then make sure you RECORD the words you have noticed.  If you don't have a vocabulary book, don't wait until you can go and spend a small fortune on a beautiful Moleskine one - make your own from scraps of paper stapled together.  Buy a dirt-cheap notebook from the supermarket, or find an out-of-date diary.  Don't buy a huge, heavy notebook - you won't want to carry it around - it's far better to have several small books instead.  Don't just write down the word you want to learn together with its translation into your mother tongue - it really isn't the best way to learn new vocabulary for most people.  Try writing down only in the target language - if you write the new word as part of a phrase or short sentence, you'll be able to work out the meaning in future AND you'll remember how to use the word.  If you're at all creative, use colours, pictures, spider diagrams/mind maps - anything to make your vocabulary records look visually appealing.  Try having a different heading at the top of each page and listing new vocabulary on the right page as you come across it - for example 'words about education', 'phrases for Writing Task 1', 'phrases for introductions to essays', 'synonyms' etc.  Most people find that grouping phrases logically helps them to remember them, and you'll also find the lists really useful when you are doing homework, or exercises in class.

• Finally, REVIEW.  Flick through your vocabulary book as often as you possibly can - instead of playing games on your phone, have a look through your vocabulary instead!  It's better to spend three or four minutes a day looking at your vocabulary, than a whole hour every couple of weeks. Really try to use your new words as often as you can, and make sure you can spell them as well as understand them!  

I'm off now - I need to find out how Wallander solves his first ever case....  And I've got my miniature homemade vocabulary book right here, to note down any interesting words.

I would love to hear YOUR vocabulary learning ideas!

Taking my own advice

Most teachers are guilty of telling students to do things when they don't bother to do them themselves - and I am no exception.

I am, however, starting to get excited about the prospect of three months in Berlin next year but at the same time feeling a bit nervous about how rusty my German has become.

So I've dusted down the German translation of one of the Swedish Wallander novels by Henning Mankell, and with the help of a German dictionary app on my iPhone and a teeny-tiny home-made vocabulary notebook (in which I note down interesting words and phrases in German only) I've been really enjoying a good murder mystery at the same time as brushing up my German.

Yes, I could read (and in the past have read and really enjoyed) a great classic by Thomas Mann, Goethe or Schiller, but I'm busy with work and tired because it's nearly the end of term and I'm still not fully over the flu.  Why make life more difficult than it needs to be?  Wallander is not great literature, but it's a real page-turner and it's surprising how many interesting words I've remembered.

So, if you're struggling to get ready for IELTS, or any other foreign language exam, do yourself a favour and read something you really, really enjoy.  Even if it's not 'academic', you'll still be doing wonders for your reading skills.

How to improve your vocabulary for writing without even trying...

I'm sure all the IELTS students around the world - and a lot of other people besides - would pay a vast amount of money for a magic pill which instantly made them better writers without having to sit for hours memorising words and phrases.  For that matter, I wish I could be the one to invent such a pill - I'm sure I'd never have to work again!

My recommended magic pill is, unfortunately, not an instant solution - but it is a way of improving your vocabulary for writing without too much conscious effort.  I'm sure some of you will be very disappointed when you hear what it is, or fed up with hearing me say it yet again....   Read, read, read, read, read.  Read on your laptop. Read on your smartphone.  Read on the bus.  Read at the bus stop.   Read fashion magazines, football websites, cereal boxes, Metro.  Read 'rubbish', read kids' books, read notices in shop windows - read ANYTHING.

Notice that I'm not telling you to read text books, IELTS revision guides, great works of English literature.  Of course I'd be absolutely delighted if you did read those things, but you don't need to do that to greatly improve your ability to write in English.

So why does reading for pleasure help your vocabulary (and your language development in general)?

• You meet the words and phrases you half know, and just about understand them, maybe with a bit of difficulty.  The next time you see them - you understand them a bit more easily.  The next time - you don't even think about it - you know them already.  No sitting with a vocabulary list, memorising.  When you come to write something, that word or phrase is fresh in your mind.

• You meet words and phrases you don't know at all, but you manage to work them out from the context, basically by making a good guess.  The next time you see them, you use the information from the new context to confirm your previous guess, or re-think your guess if it doesn't seem right.  You don't always need a dictionary.  Those words and phrases may not spring to mind when you next do your writing, but they are on the way to becoming part of your usable vocabulary.

• You meet words and phrases you have no idea about, and it becomes obvious to you (again, from the context) that these might be important, and you can't work them out on your own, so you look them up in the dictionary and maybe make a note of the meaning in your vocabulary book (you do have a vocabulary book, don't you?!!).  Eventually these words and phrases will also become more familiar to you, and before too long they will be available to you for when you want to write or say something.

Of course this is only one way to improve your vocabulary, but it's the way which has worked for me in my learning of German.  

What works for you?  Let me know in the comments below..

PS I also think that this type of reading is a pain-free way to improve your grammar, but I'll come back to that another day.