Introduction
to Teaching IELTS
Teaching
IELTS is a combination of English language training and the IELTS
examination requirements and procedures in order that when students
take this exam they are better able to produce their best
results. There is no magic remedy for getting a high band in the
exam. Students will still have to have a good knowledge of
English to achieve a band score which will make them eligible to enter
a University abroad. By taking an IELTS course students are
however much better prepared for questions types, exam format and good
time keeping. The teaching pages on listening, reading, writing
and speaking will discuss the types of questions and exercises which
can assist students to become more confident with taking the IELTS
exam. Most importantly students should still participate in the
process of English language practice and probably most important is
oral fluency coupled with the knowledge of what is required to do
their very best in the IELTS exam. There are many students from
Asia who have had 6 years or so English language training but
still cannot speak it, they can however quote nearly every grammar
rule in the book.
It
is very important to grade students before giving them IELTS training
and students should be at least intermediate level or approximately
band 4.5 and above after all they are trying to achieve maybe band 6 in IELTS
and it is a pointless exercise to allow them to train for IELTS when
they cannot possibly achieve it. Most students are very eager to
participate in an IELTS course and willingly work at any material
which has an IELTS label, however a diet of test material is not
on its own the panacea to success. It is a good idea to test the
students on entry to a course and give them a taste of the real exam
and in addition test them after a few weeks to monitor their progress
and give them tutoring and encouragement on their weaknesses. A
staple diet of test material can sometimes only serve to discourage
students when they see little or no progress or even achieve a lower
test score than previous thus making their learning more
difficult. Most Asian students are being pushed along by their
families ambition and are encouraged to achieve the impossible in a
very short time and for some students this can lead to a downward
spiral caught between their families aspirations and their own lack of
achievement.
It
is highly recommended that any person who is involved in teaching
IELTS should experience some of the stress and strains students go
through in the lead up and taking of the IELTS test. Actually
sitting the IELTS exam can give a teacher great insight into what test
day is like and is a good investment in their future career.
Even a native English speaker will be surprised how difficult it is to
achieve the band 9 score. Being able to share first hand
knowledge is of great benefit in the teaching process. When
teaching IELTS the teacher has to be extremely well prepared with the
resources and especially when proving answers, it is not enough just
to give an answer but it is critical to be able to show why and where
and detailed reasoning which relates to the answer. A good way
to do this is for a teacher of IELTS to take each of the practice
material tests before using them and thus better comprehend where
students might have difficulties and of course no peeking at the
answers in advance.
The
pages on listening, reading, writing and speaking are a guide from
personal experience and more comprehensive information can be found
at: http://www.cambridgeesol.org/teach/ielts/index.cfm
