Teaching and Topics Guide IELTS Exam Preparationon Academic Direction Table of Contents CREDITS 2 INTRODUCTION 2 TEACHING AND TOPIC GUIDE 3 TOPIC ONE: HOW TO DRESS FOR AN IMPORTANT EVENT? 5 EXTRA CLASS: 5 TOPIC TWO: REVIEWING A PLACE OR EVENT AND RECOMMENDING IT 6 TOPIC THREE: YOUR BEST TRAVEL EXPERIENCE 6 TOPIC FOUR: HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ANIMALS? 7 TOPIC FIVE: FEELINGS 8 TOPIC SIX: POSSIBILITIES 8 TOPIC SEVEN: EXTREME SPORTS 9 TOPIC EIGHT: AUTOBIOGRAPHY 9 TOPIC NINE: ADVERTISEMENT 10 TOPIC TEN: WHAT IF? 10 TOPIC ELEVEN: WHO DO YOU LOOK LIKE? 11 TOPIC TWELVE: INVENTIONS 11 TOPIC THIRTEEN: WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT EDUCATION? 12 TOPIC FOURTEEN: ARE YOU A WORKAHOLIC? 12 TOPIC FIFTEEN: OUR ENVIRONMENT 13 TOPIC SIXTEEN: HOBBIES 13 TOPIC SEVENTEEN: HOW HEALTHY ARE YOU? 14 TOPIC EIGHTEEN: LIVING IN THE CITY 15 VERSION 202210-001 1 CREDITS Created by : Designed by : Sharon Elizabeth Ortega Machado Miguel Angel Martinez Duran INTRODUCTION This material was developed to provide a guide on the topics that should be used in the preparation sessions for IELTS exam. It is important to remember that the training has been developed in order to get a band score 5.5 – 6.5 equivalent to B2 MCER. The program is designed to distribute sixteen subjects in nine weeks, two subjects per week. Each week the student will be able to practice different English sections: vocabulary, grammar, listening, reading, writing and speaking. Any questions about the methodology or topics of the guide may be resolved by the academic coordination. At the end of these nine weeks the user will have the basics to present the test, it is important to emphasize to the user that only the practice and additional study that he/she carries out will be the main ingredient for a good result in his/her score. Remember the importance for our company of developing dynamic and fun classes, which give the user a session where he learns a lot and enjoys every moment. TEACHING AND TOPIC GUIDE The present document is meant to be used as a prompt for the English teacher preparing students for IELTS Certification. It is important that as a teacher you have clear the meanings and structure of said exam. There are four skills to be tested, the student has to show an upper intermediate level of proficiency in Speaking, Reading, Writing and Listening. It is also important to remember that IELTS has 2 types of exams: General IELTS and Academic IELTS. However, the sections and the band score are the same. Source: Published by IELTS TM Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1 VERSION 202210-001 2 Source: Published by IELTS TM Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2 VERSION 202210-001 3 TOPIC ONE: HOW TO DRESS FOR AN IMPORTANT EVENT? ● Aim: For the students to use a correct structure knowing the difference between an adjective and adverb with the correct understanding of the vocabulary to be used while improving their writing and reading skills. ● Grammar: Adjectives vs adverbs: The difference between them and usage. Present tenses review, it is of utter importance to mention the differences between the simple present tense and the present continuous tense and to clarify when to use them. ● Speaking part: Talk about clothing, favorite types of woven or fabric for each time of the year or for different events. ● Vocabulary: For this part is important to include the next word families: Clothes, footwear, jewelry, headgear, materials and appearance. Phrasal verbs with go that can be used with this topic in general: Go + (back, in, on, over, ahead, up, for) The next phrasal verbs can also be used in context or can be taught in general as a part of the class o Add to, keep up with, save up, slip on, stand out, take back, pull on, fit in with, put together, cut down, go out, dress up. EXTRA CLASS: ● Grammar: Comparatives and superlatives / not so___ as, not as ____ as. ● Vocabulary: Using what must have already been seen during the week for comparing clothing for the seasons or events. ● Writing and reading: Make the students talk about concerts, movies, books or activities they have enjoyed before so that they get into the comparison mood and ask them to write a review in which they can compare them while using the learnt vocabulary and grammar structures. Adverbs of degree that are commonly used with comparatives and superlatives ● Words to include during the classes: outrageous, comfortable, elegant, vibrant, practical. VERSION 202210-001 4 TOPIC TWO: REVIEWING A PLACE OR EVENT AND RECOMMENDING IT ● Grammar: Present tenses review, it is of utter importance to mention the differences between the simple present tense and the present continuous tense and to clarify when to use them. ● Adverbs of degree: Insanely, crazy, way too, too, completely, extremely, really, very, quiet, so, rather, pretty slightly, a little, scarcely, hardly. ● Vocabulary: Collocations usage like: solve, spend, reach, take with words like advantage, money, problems, interest, goal, crime, fortune, conclusion. Adjectives with suffixes and prefixes: colorful, mindless, unhelpful, favorable, hopeless, etc.… Verbs which do not have the continuous form. ● Words to include during the classes: fast pace, suitable for all ages, sophisticated, easy to get into, mood. ● Writing and reading: Ask your students to write a letter to a friend reviewing something and whether they recommend it or not. Informal language usage is needed and to let them know the proper way of sending an e-mail or writing a letter and the differences between them. Topic may change depending on the student’s interest. TOPIC THREE: YOUR BEST TRAVEL EXPERIENCE ● Grammar: Modal verbs for obligation, necessity and permission introduction: Need, should, must, have to. VERSION 202210-001 5 It is important to point out the difference between must and have to in this part of the class since it’s a very common mistake made in the B2 examination. ● Vocabulary: Prepositions of location: across, at, in, into, off, on. Word families: Transport, people, seaside, accommodation, movement. Word formation: Suffixes and prefixes addition practice is important in this part of the class. ● Words to include during the classes: Take, book, catch, board, get, go, permit, allow, let, can, forbidden TOPIC FOUR: HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ANIMALS? ● Grammar: Compound adjectives e.g.: four-legged, left-handed, bad tempered, etc.… Correct usage or the word nothing Difference between as and like since the Cambridge Corpus Spot has shown this to be a common mistake made in the B2 examination. AS: To refer to a person’s profession LIKE: For comparison or similarities LIKE AND SUCH AS meaning “for example” VERBS THAT CAN BE FOLLOWED BY “AS” E.G.: “People regard her as the most popular youtuber of all times” AS: normally followed by a verb or subject LIKE: normally followed by a noun or pronoun ● Vocabulary: Animals and their parts word family: beak, feathers, fur, horn, tail, wing, paw, claws, etc.… Expressions with time (notice that these can be used to talk about prehistorical animals or experiences with animals in the past) E.G.: Kill time, have a good time, VERSION 202210-001 6 tell the time, spend the time, pass the time, take time off, waste time, one at a time, in time, at times, ten times three, a time when, time for visiting the zoo/ relaxing, etc. ● Speaking: Make questions about knowing people using the adjectives above and include the vocabulary taught. ● Writing: In this class is important to teach the students how to replace words instead of repeating basic ones and to avoid single sentence paragraphs in their writing. Ask them to write an essay about wildlife. The topic depends on them. TOPIC FIVE: FEELINGS ● Aim: In this week the aim is to talk about childhood memories and the feelings it brought. ● Grammar: Past tenses review. The usage of the past continuous tense with the “while” and “when” must be clear! ● Vocabulary: Elicit ideas of why some adjectives combine with adverbs like totally and some combine with adverbs like really. Make students talk about positive or negative emotions like: delighted, pleased, satisfied, thrilled, anxious, uneasy, petrified, stiff, etc. ● Speaking: It is of utter importance to teach the students the different pronunciation of the ‘ed’ endings in this part of the class. ● Writing: Ask the students about their saddest or proudest moments in life and tell them to write 2 or 3 paragraphs about it. Give the students a paragraph with an open cloze activity and make the fill in the gaps and give it a nice title. ● Extra activity: Give the students a newspaper or book text and ask them to sort the words into the next categories. Adverbs, conjunctions, determiners, prepositions, pronouns, quantifiers and verbs. Remind the students that these types of words are commonly tested in the examination. VERSION 202210-001 7 TOPIC SIX: POSSIBILITIES With this topic the aim is for the student to become familiar with the possible topic. ● Grammar: Conditional, if, unless and passive voice. ● Vocabulary: Phrasal verbs with keep: keep down, keep in, keep up with, keep to, keep away. ● Speaking and writing: Ask your students about luck and possibilities, create a scenario in which they win the lottery. Use the conditional forms to prepare an essay or speaking task. ● Words to include: Because, because of, the reason for this, for example, for instance, such as, like, also, what’s more, as well, too. TOPIC SEVEN: EXTREME SPORTS For the student to feel confident talking about extreme sports and their risks. ● Grammar: Gerunds and Infinitives. - It is important to remind the student that some verbs and adjectives are followed by the “a” preposition and that the gerund form is usually used after them. (Verbs followed by “to” are also important) ● Vocabulary: Mention all kinds of sports and it is important to also know WHERE THIS SPORT TAKE PLACE E.G.: Go snowboarding: piste Go running: track Play football: pitch stadium ● Extra activity: VERSION 202210-001 8 Please remember that students should also be familiar with the structure of the B2 Cambridge exam. It is time to show them what an open cloze is and the correct way of solving these parts of the test. ● Speaking and writing: Ask your students about the type of sports they like to practice and the ones they would, mention the risks involved. TOPIC EIGHT: AUTOBIOGRAPHY For the students to learn the correct form of speaking about themselves. ● Grammar: The aim is to let the students know the differences between be/get used to doing and used to do, it is also part of the aim to highlight the differences between would do and used to. ● Vocabulary: Collocations, phrasal verbs with get ● Extra activity: Teaching students about the parts of an essay ● Speaking and writing: Ask your students about lifestyle in the past and make them do a comparison with their lifestyles, please mention the pros and cons of each. ● Words to include: As well as, furthermore, at the same time, in contrast, nevertheless, as a result, consequently. TOPIC NINE: ADVERTISEMENT With this topic it is important to make the students observe some advertisements about items used in daily routines. ● Grammar: Modals of speculation and deduction ● Vocabulary: Adjectives, nouns collocations ● Extra activity: VERSION 202210-001 9 The students must have no doubt on the order of the adjective’s usage. ● Speaking and writing: Generate a discussion about how fake advertisement can impact lives and economy, the topic may vary depending on the teacher. ● Words to include: cushioning, breathability, mesh, strength TOPIC TEN: WHAT IF? A general review is necessary for all the future tenses given that the students are going to talk about possibilities. ● Grammar: Will, may, might/ using would instead of will. ● Vocabulary: Nasa/ spaceships and planets vocabulary (talking about what would happen if we could travel to the moon as we do to other countries) ● Extra activity: Please make the students learn how to improve paragraphs and the difference between an article and an essay. ● Speaking and writing: Create a discussion about future possibilities, about ● Words to include: Space, future, possibilities, may, might, if, settlement, endlessly, affordable, scientific, commercial, inappropriate, achievement, willingness. TOPIC ELEVEN: WHO DO YOU LOOK LIKE? ● Grammar: Past and present participle tenses and WH questions with prepositions at the end. VERSION 202210-001 10 ● Vocabulary: Comparison and resemblance vocabulary. Describing personalities adjectives ● Extra activity: WH questions in all tenses and these questions can also be used to guide the speaking activity ● Speaking and writing: Make your students interview their classmates about the resemblance they find with some members of their family, physical and in personalities. ● Words to include: Witty, cheerful, optimistic, jealous, bossy, unpopular, unreliable, stubborn, impatient, bad- tempered, aggressive, competitive, loyal, lazy. TOPIC TWELVE: INVENTIONS ● Grammar: Passive voice in all tenses review ● Vocabulary: Technology and inventions ● Extra activity: ING replacing infinitives ● Speaking and writing: Using the passive voice, the students can talk and write reviews about inventions made in the past and nowadays ● Words to include: Scientist, Scientific, discoverer, decoder Inventor, Inventive, Invent, technologist/ technician, VERSION 202210-001 11 TOPIC THIRTEEN: WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT EDUCATION? ● Grammar: With this topic is important for the students to be able to recognize each tense they need to know at the B2 level. ● Vocabulary: Word families E.G.: educate, education, educated, educational, etc.… ● Extra activity: Allow students to talk about education. ● Speaking and writing: Reported speech is needed about what the classmate said ● Words to include: Useful language is needed now, linking, contrasting and paraphrasing are needed for this topic TOPIC FOURTEEN: ARE YOU A WORKAHOLIC? ● Grammar: Perfect tenses must be taught and corrected in this part of the class and the future perfect continuous and their usage must be emphasized. ● Vocabulary: Uses of a, whole and nothing. Career related words E.G.: experience ● Extra activity: Please, show your students an article and ask them to read it, it is important that you teach them how to skim it first (it is preferred to practice with previous exams exercises). ● Speaking and writing: VERSION 202210-001 12 Depending on your class, you can ask the students to create a job interview application letter, or spoken activities. ● Words to include: Confidence, handle pressure, don’t mind…, cope with…, etc.… TOPIC FIFTEEN: OUR ENVIRONMENT ● Grammar: Countable and uncountable nouns with the correct some, any and no usage. Point out the differences between few, little and small. ● Vocabulary: Nature vocabulary Expressions of quantity. ● Extra activity: For this activity it is important that the students have clear knowledge on dates and big numbers. ● Speaking and writing: Ask the students about their experiences at national parks, and ask them about the ones that exist in their countries. ● Words to include: Pollution, north, east, south, west, western, occidental, long, deep, chemical, surroundings, scientists, unwanted, electricity, poisonous, temperature. TOPIC SIXTEEN: HOBBIES ● Grammar: Relative clauses. Relative pronouns: Who, whose, whom. ● Vocabulary: Hobbies in general, including collectors and creators. VERSION 202210-001 13 Like and possession ● Extra activity: For this activity it is important that the students have clear knowledge on dates and big numbers. Books related topics are also important for this part of the class (To identify characters and their development E.g.: ambition, attitude, determination, enthusiasm, loyalty, manner, mood, reputation, sympathy, temper. Events E.g.: chaos, impact, incident, mood, theme. Mood and reputation can apply either in characters or events in books). ● Speaking and writing: Ask the students about their experiences at national parks, and ask them about the ones that exist in their countries. ● Words to include: Tedious, boring, costly, time-consuming, fiddly, trivial, dull, overpriced, expensive, silly. TOPIC SEVENTEEN: HOW HEALTHY ARE YOU? ● Grammar: Modals of advice and suggestion Get something done/ have to ● Vocabulary: Parts of the body, healthy food vocabulary and alternative medicine ● Extra activity: Hobbies review ● Speaking and writing: Ask your students to create a list of the hobbies they think can help developing a healthy life and the ones that don’t and ask them to discuss it in class with other classmates. Sports can be included. ● Words to include: Parts of the body and sports, habits and hobbies word families. VERSION 202210-001 14 TOPIC EIGHTEEN: LIVING IN THE CITY ● Grammar: Mixed conditionals ● Vocabulary: Buildings: Property value, construction work Leisure facilities: Art gallery, shopping mall, community center Services: Rubbish collection, road maintenance, street lighting. Transport: Traffic jam, congestion charge, residents parking. ● Extra activity: To talk or write about city problems the students can mention about their own ● Speaking and writing: Essay or discussion about life in the city and the differences with the countryside life ● Words to include: Government, planning, tower, suburb, out of town traffic, material, skyscraper. VERSION 202210-001 15