IELTS - The Future

How will ... change in the future?

Nobody has a crystal ball to see the future, so it may be difficult to think of ideas!

Luckily, the BBC website has created a new section called BBC: FUTURE which contains articles, movie clips and audio files about the future. The content covers a whole range of topics from EDUCATION to HEALTH to TRANSPORTATION, and how they might change in the FUTURE.

These ideas, as well as the vocabulary and phrases used, can be useful for both WRITING and SPEAKING. Not only that, but you can also practise some LISTENING and READING skills too!

Here are some of the articles I think could be useful:

Future of Education (article) : Can technology kill off the exam?
Future of Transportation (article) : Can a city go car free?
Future Health (sponsored article) : Treating patients 3000 miles away
Future Transportation (video) : New design for electric scooters
Future Entertainment (slideshow and article) : Virtual Reality's Puke Problem

Hope you find it interesting and helpful!

IELTS Integrated Skills

Review Writing, Speaking, Listening and Reading for IELTS

Although the IELTS test separates the 4 skills (L, R, W, S), we can save time when we prepare by INTEGRATING SKILLS. This means using all four skills TOGETHER

In this review exercise, you can improve your reading, writing, listening and reading skills at the same time.

Keep reading for the EXERCISE and TASKS....

IELTS Listening

Students often ask me "How can I improve my listening?"

Practice tests are a useful way of improving your skill at taking the test. In particular, you should make sure you clearly understand:

• the different question types
• the situations you can expect to hear in each of the four sections of the test
• the instructions

However, doing practice tests over and over again can quickly become boring and may not increase your score. 

Here are some more interesting ways you can include listening practice in your daily life.

Continue reading for some suggestions...

IELTS Listening

IELTS Listening Quick Practice - BBC

A great resource for Listening practice is the BBC website. BBC Words in the News is designed for English learners and explains the vocabulary of short news stories.

Here are three questions similar to those in the IELTS Listening test.

Listen to the report and answer the questions.

1. The shark
           
          A:    approached the Austrian beach
          B:    was seen on the coast of Australia
          C:    was in a film

2. The beachgoers
  
          A:    didn't run away from the shark
          B:    fled from the shark
          C:    took pictures of the shark on their cellphones

3.      The parents

         A:     were frightened by the children
         B:      were tourists
         C:     saw the shark in a small river

Continue reading for the answers and tips....