Tag Archives: language school

IELTS at ELA

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Hello, fellow lovers of language!

This week, we’ve asked one of our talented teachers here at ELA to speak about the IELTS Exam, a topic that we have frequent questions about. If you have more questions about this popular exam, you can visit the ELA website. You can also find great practice materials on the British Council’s  page. And, of course, if you have more in depth questions, or would like to know how to enrol, visit us here.

IELTS

And now we bring you Jonny’s introduction to IELTS:

What is IELTS?  Do I need it?

Well, there are two ‘parts’ to this English Examination, and students choose the exam based on whether they are doing Academic IELTS  or General IELTS.

Most students choose Academic IELTS, as they are preparing for an undergraduate or Postgraduate University course, either in Britain or abroad. Students choosing General IELTS usually require it as a VISA requirement or as a quick (but very appreciated) test of their English for an employer, or perhaps because they simply want to test themselves. In reality, the Speaking and Listening exams are exactly the same, while Writing and Reading are slightly different, but we’ll talk about that if you join the course.

You might ask what we do to prepare for these exams. The truth is that it isn’t all Exams Exams Exams.  To do well, you need to have a good appreciation of grammar and a wide vocabulary, while also possessing other skills and abilities, such as comprehension, written and fluency skills, with clear pronunciation, for example.  You also need to be able to understand the nature of Academic English.  So, yes, everyone does practice exams but it is much more than just exams.

At Edinburgh Language Academy, our classes take place from 13.30 to 15.30 every day, although we do intensive courses too – and, if you prefer 1-1 classes, we can be arrange this at a time to suit you.

Thank you for your interest in ELA! We look forward to welcoming you soon!

Grammar’s great divide

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1)      Try to decipher this hidden message:

 !  ,(  ()  :-;  (-

/<  :-; () \/\/

# () \/\/

(- ()

? “_” :-; (  (- “_” @ (- [- 

2)      Match the words and expressions with their definitions:

  1. multitalented
  2. conjunction
  3. to denote
  4. to do the job
  5. truce
  6. hair splitting
  7. squiggle
 a. be a sign of; indicate

b. (informal) achieve the required result

c. an agreement between enemies or opponents to stop fighting or arguing for a certain time

d. having many skills and talents

e. a short line that curls and loops in an irregular way

f. characterised by or fond of small and overfine distinctions

g. a word used to connect clauses or sentences or to coordinate words in the same clause (e.g. and, but, if)

3)      Full in the empty space with a word or expression from exercise 1:

a)      I have no clue what your doctor is trying to say in this note. It all looks like one giant ____________.

b)      David is certainly __________. He has appeared in several theatrical productions, is an accomplished sabreur, and can bake stunning cupcakes.

c)       No Greek state was allowed to fight during the ___________ proclaimed for the celebration of the Olympic and other Panhellenic Games.

d)      The council has carried out risk assessments on all restricted areas and has reopened nearly three-quarters of the pathways – a pink sign has been used ________a right of way.

e)      Parliamentary question time is full of wonderful examples of extended verbs, _______and prepositional phrases employed to evade answering a question.

f)       At times, the only way to win a legal battle is to indulge in a bit of ____________.

g)      If you suddenly find yourself without a door, a piece of board should _______until you manage to get a new door.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptM7FzyjtRk

 

How to Improve your English

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It doesn’t matter whether you are a foreign student or a native speaker, your English skills can always be improved. We would like to share several tips with you:

 

  • Watch films and TV programs and listen to any online radio. This will help you to improve listening skills and expand your vocabulary at the same time. If you decide to watch documentaries, films or TV programs, you can start doing it with subtitles turned on, then turn the subtitles off when the listening part of this activity becomes easier.

 

  • Read a lot: books, newspapers or journals, magazines, blogs, articles and other materials in English. Try to choose material that is slightly above your current level, use a monolingual dictionary if necessary (for example such dictionary as Cambridge online dictionary http://dictionary.cambridge.org/). This is also a great tip for improving your English in a technical or professional field. You need to spend only 15 minutes a day to improve achieve good results.

 

 

  • Record your monologues or answers to various tasks and keeping a diary. This allows you to use all your reading, listening and grammar skills that you’ve been practicing.

 

  • When you feel you are ready, surround yourself by English speakers and try to avoid using your native language as much as possible. There are many native speakers you can chat with via Skype or other programs.

 

  • If you do all the activities mentioned above, your progress will be great. And, of course, after such hard work don’t forget to reward yourself.

 

Enjoy learning English!