A thread on how to improve your English with some tips if you’re planning to set for a qualifying exam like IELTS or OET. The whole thread is based on my personal experience, I’m not an English instructor or tutor. Kindly, if you found the thread useless, just scroll down ~ 1
There’re 4 skills you need to improve simultaneously; listening, reading, writing, and speaking. I will cover all of them throughout the whole thread. Also, you will find that improving one skill will help you improve another one in a way or another, like reading and writing~2
1- Listening.
Two things helped me improve this skill; first one is watching movies and TV shows with English subtitle. Initially, you will find difficult to quickly read the subtitle but it gets easier with time so, don’t give up. Second one is YouTube videos, think of topics ~3
Two things helped me improve this skill; first one is watching movies and TV shows with English subtitle. Initially, you will find difficult to quickly read the subtitle but it gets easier with time so, don’t give up. Second one is YouTube videos, think of topics ~3
you’re interested in such as science, history, tech, food, sports and so. Subscribe to channels that make videos on these topics in English then get into the habit of one hour of listening each day. Since, you’re watching something you’re interested in, it won’t be boring ~4
To monitor your progress and to test your listening skills in an exam setting, download IELTS Cambridge books even if you aren’t planning to set for IELTS, each one of these books has 4 official IELTS test. Try to do a listening test each two weeks and mark it for yourself ~5
English language tests are an intense way to test your language skills. Definitely, by doing a listening test every now and then, you will enhance your listening skill and get yourself ready at anytime to book a Language test if you need it for whatever reason. ~ 6
2- Reading.
To improve reading, you need to read, it’s as simple as that. Again, use the same trick, read articles on topics you’re interested in to avoid getting bored. Download apps such as Google news, then get into the habit of reading at least one article or two each day ~ 7
To improve reading, you need to read, it’s as simple as that. Again, use the same trick, read articles on topics you’re interested in to avoid getting bored. Download apps such as Google news, then get into the habit of reading at least one article or two each day ~ 7
if you passed by a new word, expression, or idiom, don’t memorize it. Instead, search for its meaning in English, put into a sentence then forget about it. Later on, you’ll find yourself using it spontaneously. Again, we will use another great IELTS resource, IELTS Liz Blog and~8
YouTube channel because the reading exam is somehow different than reading articles. There is no time at all to actually read and understand the provided article then answer questions. You need to do the other way around, read the questions first then skim through the article ~9
skim not actual reading, to learn how to skim an article, watch and read everything provided on IELTS Liz. If you’re planning to set for OET you can use E2OET YouTube channel for tips on the reading exam instead of IELTS Liz ~ 10
3- Writing.
What makes a writing task good or not depends on the complexity of grammar used, variety of vocabularies, coherence of ideas which means your ideas are developed and built upon each other throughout the whole essay and obviously accurate spelling of words ~ 11
What makes a writing task good or not depends on the complexity of grammar used, variety of vocabularies, coherence of ideas which means your ideas are developed and built upon each other throughout the whole essay and obviously accurate spelling of words ~ 11
The problem is that we haven’t been taught how to write an essay in school. Regarding this, study all IELTS Liz writing lessons; the basic and advanced ones. These lessons will teach you the basics of writing essays, an essential writing skill we all need to acquire ~ 12
there is another type of reading that help you enhance your writing skills, reading and studying a sample essay, you’ll find samples for IELTS writing tasks everywhere. Use these samples to understand how tenses or active and passive are used, how linking words are used, ~ 13
how ideas are connected throughout the whole essay, then try to write one. You don’t have to find an instructor to mark it for you, you may do this only if you’ll take an exam soon. Just practice writing, this will also help you recall the new words you have recently learnt ~14
4- Speaking.
Well, what helped me improve speaking is talking to native speakers during the time I traveled abroad. Talking to natives is a quick way to improve your speaking skill but if this isn’t available for you, I can recommend another way to do so ~ 15
Well, what helped me improve speaking is talking to native speakers during the time I traveled abroad. Talking to natives is a quick way to improve your speaking skill but if this isn’t available for you, I can recommend another way to do so ~ 15
practice speaking with yourself by using movies or TV shows, pick a dialogue you like, find the script for it, then break it down and try to practice to speak it in front of a mirror or your laptop webcam, watch this videos to understand this exercise~16
youtu.be
youtu.be
I know Rachel’s English is teaching an American English but it’s still a great resource to use. I can guarantee that in language exams they aren’t looking for a British or American accent. They’re looking for correct pronunciation, like can you pronounce “P” and “B” correctly~17
Can you pronounce “th” correctly? Stuff like that and pronunciation accounts for only 25% of your total mark for speaking. The rest goes to complexity of grammar you use, range of vocabularies you have, and the coherence of your ideas and thoughts ~ 18
Practicing speaking by using dialogues will help you in interviews as well because interviews are like a communication exercise, you need to practice the way you talk and communicate, your body language and facial expressions. So, by practicing with a mirror or webcam ~19
you’ll enhance all of this. You can practice dialogues with a friend if you will enjoy something like this. Lastly, use YouTube to watch real IELTS speaking test to find out how candidates are assessed and try to pause and answer when the examiner ask a question ~ 20
Lastly, thank you for reading till the end of thread, I hope you find it helpful. The order in which I wrote about each skill doesn’t mean that one skill is important than the other or you should start with one before the other, it’s just their order in the language exams.
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