As Lunar New Year approaches, for some, it might be the perfect time for a bit of binge watching of Netflix. Therefore, I thought now might be a good time to share some of my thoughts on British TV dramas available that I’ve watched on Netflix. Although I’ve seen each episode of every series forContinue reading “Five British TV Dramas to Watch on Netflix (and practise your English!)”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
How to Use Sample IELTS Writing Answers
I have already shown how you can use IELTS reading and listening texts to help you develop your language skills to help you prepare for the IELTS test, and in this blog post, I will show you how you can use sample writing answers to help you prepare for the IELTS writing test. First ofContinue reading “How to Use Sample IELTS Writing Answers”
How to Use IELTS Listening Texts
In the previous post, I showed you a procedure for using the reading texts. Here, I will show you a similar procedure for using the IELTS listening texts for both practice and developing your language skills. The main difference between difference between the reading and listening tests is that when listening, you only have theContinue reading “How to Use IELTS Listening Texts”
How to Use IELTS Reading Texts
When doing practice IELTS reading tests, it’s important that you do not just to use them as test practice, but also to use them to help develop your language skills. Here is a suggested procedure for how you can use IELTS reading tests to help you both practice the test and also develop your languageContinue reading “How to Use IELTS Reading Texts”
IELTS – The Paper Based Test (PBT) vs the Computer Based Test (CBT)
One factor that you need to consider when doing the IELTS test is whether to do the paper-based text (PBT) or the computer-based test (CBT). Although both tests are the same (i.e. same questions in the reading, listening and writing) test, there are number of reasons why you might prefer to do one over theContinue reading “IELTS – The Paper Based Test (PBT) vs the Computer Based Test (CBT)”
Extensive Reading Recommendations
As I have shown in a previous blog post, doing extensive reading with graded readers is one of the most useful things you can do to improve your English. However, sometimes it can be difficult to know what book to choose that will be interesting. Since I mostly read non-fiction books for pleasure, I amContinue reading “Extensive Reading Recommendations”
Useful Websites for Vocabulary Learning – Medium Frequency ‘General’ Vocabulary
In the last blog post, I explained how you could use dictionaries and text checkers to identify useful vocabulary to learn and remember. In that post, I focused on the 3,000 most frequent words in English. However, to get to higher levels of English, achieve a high score on the IELTS and to be ableContinue reading “Useful Websites for Vocabulary Learning – Medium Frequency ‘General’ Vocabulary”
Useful Websites for Vocabulary Learning – Frequent ‘General’ Vocabulary
In the previous post, I mentioned how research into academic texts show that the majority of words in a text are words that are very common in ‘general’ English. This means that they are just as common in everyday conversation as they are in academic English, and they are not too specific to a particularContinue reading “Useful Websites for Vocabulary Learning – Frequent ‘General’ Vocabulary”
Useful Websites for Vocabulary Learning – Academic Vocabulary
In previous posts, I have explained the importance of developing implicit language knowledge in order to become fluent in English at a high level. We can do this mostly by getting the right kind of input (see here, here and here). By doing lots of reading and listening we are learning vocabulary incidentally (implicitly). InContinue reading “Useful Websites for Vocabulary Learning – Academic Vocabulary”
Should I apply for a remark of my IELTS test?
One conversation that I have had a few times recently is whether it is worth getting a remark (officially called Enquiry on Results) of your IELTS test if you feel that you got a lower score than you deserved. First of all, I should say that I don’t have any specific knowledge about this issue.Continue reading “Should I apply for a remark of my IELTS test?”
Self-Study English 