0:03

Welcome back to My IELTS Classroom,

0:06

the podcast where two English experts

0:08

talk all things IELTS. I'm

0:11

still Shelley Cornick.

0:12

And I'm still Nick Long. And

0:14

today we are back first

0:16

and foremost and we are going to be discussing

0:20

if IELTS really prepares

0:22

you to study at university.

0:25

What skills does IELTS test? How

0:27

might you be able to use them at university?

0:30

But what other skills may you need

0:32

to develop to achieve

0:34

top grades?

0:39

Nick, it's been 84 years. I'm

0:46

now a pensioner Nick.

0:47

I'm good. I'm

0:50

very good. Oh, I'm good. It's

0:52

very nice to hear your voice again. Listeners,

0:55

I'm sorry that Nick and I

0:57

have been away for so long.

1:00

I feel quite bad actually, because in the last

1:02

few weeks in particular, I've received, I think about

1:04

five or six emails from listeners

1:07

who very kindly have just said, are you

1:10

okay? And

1:12

I've had to reply, I'm fine.

1:14

It's just Nick and I have both been extremely

1:17

busy over the last few weeks. So

1:19

Nick,

1:20

let's have a little catch up because I feel like our

1:22

listeners are our friends. What have you been up to? When was

1:24

the last episode we recorded? I

1:26

don't know. I think it was in August. Yeah. So

1:28

we've had a two month break. What has life,

1:31

where has life taken you in those two months? We partially

1:33

took a break because I went on

1:35

holiday for two weeks. Right.

1:38

Which you never do, do you? Three weeks. Yeah.

1:40

It was almost three weeks. So

1:42

that was great. We had a lovely time in Armenia for our

1:45

honeymoon. What was your highlight

1:48

of Armenia? The food. Really?

1:51

Yeah. Unbelievable. If you thought Georgian

1:53

food was good, wait till you try Armenian food. Really?

1:57

So what is Armenian food? but

2:00

a lot more bread and cheese. Oh

2:02

well, you can't get it wrong with bread and cheese.

2:06

So yeah, that was good. And then yes,

2:08

since we came back, beginning of October,

2:11

it's just been non-stop. I've

2:13

had so many groups

2:15

every week.

2:16

Yeah. Yeah, just finding time has been quite

2:18

difficult, hasn't it?

2:19

Well, I think so. I mean, I know for you, like,

2:22

September is traditionally the time when, you know, people

2:25

have a summer break, don't they? And then it's the start of the academic

2:27

year, and people come back. So

2:30

yes. I mean, that

2:32

is the same for me, kind of similar. So

2:35

essentially, I started a new job at

2:37

the beginning of September. I am now

2:39

teaching, not full-time. Obviously, my arts

2:42

classroom is still our

2:44

main focus, but I've got a job a couple of days a week

2:46

at a university.

2:48

So I

2:49

mean, it has been five

2:53

years, maybe, since I was actually working

2:56

in a school. And 15 years

2:59

since I was working at a university. So

3:01

it's been a big, I don't

3:03

want to say shock, because it's been positive, but it's

3:05

been a big change getting back in a physical

3:07

classroom. I mean, you'd appreciate that, Nick, right? Like,

3:11

we've been teaching online for a long time. So

3:13

to actually be a real person

3:16

in front of a class with real students is a big change. Also

3:20

teaching, you know, just is

3:22

now 2023. The needs of students

3:25

are different. We have digital, the

3:27

digital world. We've got AI. I'm teaching

3:30

at a university which is more a vocational

3:32

university. So the needs of the students

3:35

are academically a little bit different. So

3:37

I've had a lot of things to

3:41

get my head round, I guess. But I've

3:43

been seven weeks now. I feel like I've

3:45

settled in. I've got my routine.

3:48

So I feel like we're ready to

3:50

come back. Do you think we're going to manage

3:52

to do it weekly, Nick? Well, we'll see, won't we?

3:55

Hopefully. We'll try. So

3:57

I'm hoping that this is our return.

4:00

two weekly podcasts, if at the very least,

4:02

we, you know, every other week, but I

4:05

think we should try and do weekly. Nick

4:07

is much better than me at

4:09

this, to be honest. But because

4:12

I've spent the last seven weeks kind of immersed

4:15

back in university life, it's actually been really interesting

4:17

because, you know, we spend

4:20

so much time working with students, you know, who

4:22

are taking the academic module

4:23

to go to

4:26

university. So it's

4:27

been kind of interesting to be on the other

4:29

side of the door, in a way to

4:31

see sort of what actually happens once they arrive.

4:34

And you know, what does it really mean to have

4:37

a band six, for example,

4:40

or a 6.5 and

4:42

starting university? I

4:45

mean, Nick, from your sort of memories

4:48

of university days, and

4:50

you know, your knowledge of what a student

4:53

at band six or 6.5, you know,

4:55

intermediate, upper intermediate, would

4:58

you say that that's a level of English, which is

5:00

probably going to be enough for the students to survive

5:03

and thrive when they get to university? Or

5:06

do you think there might still

5:07

be work to do? I

5:10

think probably it's just

5:12

about enough for the first year. I

5:15

think that's a great and then I think

5:17

as the world, whether it's a three or

5:19

a four or five year course, as it progresses,

5:21

they'll obviously their English will improve, their academic

5:24

skills will improve. But I think IELTS

5:27

provides a good base for how to write an

5:29

essay or a report. And I also

5:31

think that it's just about enough

5:33

in terms of language 6.5.

5:37

And then obviously, as you have lectures

5:39

and meet people and get used to talking

5:41

about your subject in English, the

5:43

rest of your vocabulary

5:44

will come.

5:46

I think Nick has really nailed it there. I think

5:48

that's absolutely right. I think it would be a mistake to

5:50

think you've achieved the

5:53

final level required to

5:55

do your degree. I think you're absolutely right. It's just

5:57

about enough to get you in the door.

7:32

You're

8:01

going to be doing a lot of reading. Right.

8:04

A lot of reading. I agree.

8:07

Well, if you want to get a high mark, then you're going to need to do a lot of reading.

8:09

A lot of reading, yeah. So

8:12

you've gone, I think that is exactly

8:14

everything I had on my list. Like lectures, essays,

8:16

maybe exams as well. Exams also, yeah. Well,

8:19

actually it seems to me that in the UK we're sort

8:21

of moving away from

8:22

having final exams. I

8:24

did my bachelors from between 2007

8:26

and 2010, and in the whole three years we had one exam. Really?

8:32

The rest of it was essays, coursework and stuff

8:34

like that.

8:35

Right. So back in 1995,

8:38

Nick, when I started university,

8:41

every module had one essay, but it

8:43

was only worth like 20%. And

8:45

then a big 80% exam,

8:48

like a three-hour exam at the end of the module. So

8:50

that was like 10 years

8:51

before you, I guess. Right.

8:53

So that's a big difference. I think now,

8:56

you know,

8:57

those exams are almost completely faded out. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

9:01

So I think you already started doing it then, Nick. But

9:03

let's go through those things that students will

9:05

need to do, like when they get to university.

9:08

And let's think about, you know, if they are touched

9:10

upon at all in IELTS, or

9:13

if it's like a new skill which students are going to have to

9:15

develop. So let's start with listening, because I think

9:17

this is the easiest. So if we

9:20

think about, there's obviously four parts

9:22

to the listening exam. Mm-hmm. Parts one and two

9:24

are like real life things, aren't

9:26

they? Mm-hmm. Do you think they're any

9:29

use at all for sort of the move

9:31

to the UK?

9:32

Well, I guess with sort of the day-to-day,

9:34

it might help a little bit, I guess.

9:36

Yeah.

9:37

But in terms of like university, I've

9:39

maybe making friends or something. Maybe now. Well,

9:42

you're going to have to open a bank account, I

9:44

guess. There's often things about that, aren't there? Or join a gym. Mm-hmm.

9:48

I guess in part, I mean, if you think about

9:50

part three, you've got the three

9:52

students or two students and a tutor

9:54

talking together. What would that, do you think,

9:56

replicate? Well, that's kind of similar to a tutorial

9:58

or a seminar discussion. isn't it I guess?

10:00

It is, it is

10:02

and I think that is probably

10:04

the only part of the exam which

10:07

would actually help students in terms of

10:09

seminars which we'll come

10:11

to in a moment but I think it is useful like you know

10:13

you do have to identify in part

10:16

three not just what people are talking about

10:18

but how they feel about the topic which

10:21

I think is what you really have to do to

10:23

be able to take part in a seminar

10:25

and so I think that is quite useful and

10:28

I think part four also you know the basic

10:30

lecture following an extended

10:33

talk

10:34

is important but I think Nick

10:36

a moment ago you nailed it when you said what

10:38

is the major difference is

10:41

that there's no note-taking.

10:44

So that is something you know when I've been

10:46

looking at what's been happening in the listening

10:48

classes at the University where I'm teaching

10:50

is almost all

10:52

taking effective notes, being

10:55

able to understand what is the key information

10:57

in a lecture, what is just supporting

10:59

detail and you know now

11:01

the lectures are not four minutes, they're

11:04

like two hours. So

11:08

I would say I probably prepares

11:10

you to some extent for

11:12

the listening however

11:16

now this is why I don't know Nick because like the

11:18

other thing is almost all lectures and this is

11:20

very different for when I was a student, when I was

11:22

a student there was no technology at all so

11:25

once you left the lecture theatre your

11:27

notes were the only thing like the only

11:29

reference that you had. Now

11:33

almost every lecture is recorded.

11:35

So like there's a video recording

11:38

from the back of the lecture theatre and then that gets immediately

11:40

put up into the sort of course

11:43

what did like the online teaching sort

11:46

of module. If

11:48

you were a second language student

11:50

would you try to rely on that

11:52

recording? I mean is it necessary to make

11:54

notes in 2023? Is that an old

11:58

skill which you think is fading out? I think

11:59

I think it's more to do with how people

12:02

sort of store and organize

12:04

information. And I think if you're listening to someone

12:06

speaking and making notes at the same time,

12:09

you're much more likely to remember what was said.

12:12

So, yeah, you can watch the lecture

12:14

again two or three times and get

12:16

the same information. But if you

12:18

want to do it in the most effective way, then

12:22

I think making notes is probably the best

12:24

way to do it.

12:25

I mean, there's a lot of research

12:27

that shows that the actual is not... And

12:30

also not typing handwriting, though. The

12:32

physical act of handwriting is somehow

12:35

directly connected to our memory. So

12:37

by doing that, you've got a higher chance of

12:40

remembering things. I mean, I

12:42

think you're totally right. I also think that, you

12:44

know, how many times have I... I mean, I've

12:46

done this thing, go, oh, yeah, I'll listen to that later.

12:49

You know, are you really going to go back

12:52

and listen to a three-hour lecture again? Are you

12:54

going to have time to do that?

12:57

I don't think you are, really.

12:59

So I would say for

13:04

listening, I reckon I'll... You know,

13:06

in terms of like an introduction, I think

13:08

does a pretty good job of

13:11

at least exposing you to sort of different

13:13

types of language, I guess, or like

13:15

what you're going to be listening to.

13:17

However, if we go back

13:19

to speaking, like we've said, you know,

13:21

part three of the listening is a

13:23

bit like being in a tutorial or a seminar.

13:27

If we think about the speaking skills in

13:29

IELTS, so like part... I

13:31

always think of you, Nick, as a speaking specialist. If

13:34

you think about the three parts,

13:36

so part one... So what is that testing,

13:38

really, I guess, is... It's

13:41

your sort of basic ability to talk about

13:43

yourself, I guess, isn't it?

13:44

Yeah. So important because,

13:46

you know, I think one

13:49

massive factor of whether or not international students

13:51

perform well at university is whether or

13:53

not they make friends and they settle in. So,

13:56

you know, being able to talk about yourself is important.

13:59

But in terms of... sort of like academic

14:01

performance that's not really going

14:03

to be useful. What about part

14:05

two, the long term? What?

14:07

Well, as I said, it could help with presentations,

14:10

I guess. Yeah.

14:12

Yeah. Like just being able to

14:15

speak for a sustained amount of time. And

14:18

from what I've seen, most academic presentations

14:20

at universities are 12 or 15 minutes.

14:23

Yeah, not too

14:26

long. If you can talk for two minutes with

14:28

one minute preparation, and

14:30

no slides, I guess, you

14:33

know, being able to give a presentation

14:36

shouldn't feel too difficult. But obviously,

14:38

you know, given a presentation, what other

14:41

type of skills are the students going to have to learn which are

14:43

definitely

14:43

not included in IAM?

14:45

Well, you're gonna have to learn some PowerPoint skills,

14:47

aren't you? And management

14:49

like how to order information

14:52

and manage information and managing time as

14:54

well, I guess, maybe.

14:56

All of that. Exactly. Plus, you're

14:58

going to be not just in front of exam

15:01

an examiner, but in front of a group of people,

15:03

you're gonna have to think about, you know, body

15:05

language.

15:07

But there are certain

15:08

things, you know, like speed of speech, sustained

15:12

speech, which are kind of tested,

15:14

I guess, in part three,

15:16

in

15:16

part two, and then in part

15:18

three, where we've got the more

15:19

abstract questions.

15:24

I think that's probably going to be the most useful

15:27

section of violence, you think? Yeah, because

15:29

if you're in a discussion, or in a seminar,

15:32

then you are going to be asked questions, and you are

15:34

going to have to give your opinion, agree or disagree,

15:37

or, you know, make a comparison

15:40

and all this stuff. Yeah.

15:42

Yeah. And I'd say I think maybe

15:44

what I mean, I think that is what is different to

15:46

the UK education system to other system,

15:49

systems in other countries,

15:50

is that

15:52

it's not enough just to be in

15:55

the tutorials, right? You are all the seminars

15:57

you are expected to actively participate.

16:01

And if you don't, your score will be reduced.

16:03

So

16:04

I think having the confidence

16:06

to talk, like you say, to give your opinion

16:09

is really important. I guess the one thing

16:11

about IELTS, which is a bit different, if you

16:13

ever seen a

16:16

first certificate

16:17

or an advanced Cambridge speaking test.

16:20

Not the speaker. Is that the one where it's like

16:23

with two teachers or

16:25

two people and two teachers or something

16:27

like that? Yes.

16:28

So there's a teacher who's

16:30

kind of

16:30

just the voice who sort of

16:33

asks the questions and there's another teacher who's in the corner

16:35

giving the scores.

16:36

But as you said, there are two or three students.

16:40

And part of the score there is

16:43

not just what you speak, but how you

16:45

interact with the other

16:47

students. I do think that is an element which

16:49

is missing from IELTS.

16:51

I'm not sure why they don't do it because it's still a Cambridge

16:53

test. It is, yeah.

16:56

Am I right that there's two candidates in the life

16:58

skills test?

17:00

In life skills, yes, there is.

17:02

Yeah, that's right.

17:03

And are they interacting or are they just being asked

17:05

questions

17:05

individually one by one? No, they're interacting, but the life

17:07

skills is for lower level candidates.

17:10

It's A1, A1, A2 and B1, I think, life

17:12

skills.

17:16

So I think that is, I mean, I don't

17:19

know why IELTS doesn't do it, but

17:21

I would say the

17:24

simple thing about IELTS for a student is you're

17:26

asked a question and your job is simply

17:28

to respond, isn't it? But

17:30

if you're in a seminar, you need to learn

17:33

things like turn taking, you

17:35

know, when to speak, when to let somebody else

17:37

speak,

17:40

how to agree or disagree with people.

17:43

Right, so not saying that you agree or disagree with

17:45

a concept, but showing

17:47

that you agree or disagree with a person

17:50

in a non-confrontational way.

17:54

You are wrong. So

17:56

they're kind of skills which are definitely not...

17:59

touched on, even

18:01

interrupting people I guess you could.

18:05

Things that you would have to learn. I mean you kind of get

18:07

a little bit of that in the listening test I suppose

18:09

in part three but there's no practical

18:11

application

18:13

of those skills is there in the exam?

18:16

No and sort of like negotiating

18:17

things, sort of like you know,

18:19

group work, I'll do this, you do this, why don't

18:21

you,

18:22

suggesting things, recommending things. I

18:24

have to say I think that if you're a student who's got

18:26

a 6.5 or a 7 in speaking, I

18:31

think you might be able to do those things

18:33

naturally. Yeah for sure.

18:35

But they are interestingly things which tend to

18:37

be taught in advanced

18:39

books. If I think about sort of speak out, there's

18:42

often like a real world bit

18:46

at the end of each module isn't there? Where you get

18:48

to learn, you know you might listen to people, not

18:51

always at university but in a workplace environment.

18:54

It's a similar sort of thing isn't it? Like

18:56

given

18:56

your opinion.

18:58

So I would say, I don't know, how do you think speaking,

19:01

how much do you think speaking prepares

19:04

students? A little bit but yeah as

19:06

we've said not really that much in

19:09

terms of more advanced skills. Yes.

19:11

I think certainly for presentations that would be something

19:14

new and I think seminars.

19:16

To be a good seminar participant,

19:18

to know how to politely agree,

19:22

disagree, that type of thing. Could do some practice.

19:24

Again, I think you'll probably find that there are seminar

19:27

skills workshops at a university

19:29

that would help you do that. So

19:32

that's listening and speaking. If we

19:34

think about reading, I mean

19:36

what do you think Nick? If you think about the reading that you did at uni

19:39

and the reading that we do

19:41

in IELTS Academic, are

19:45

they similar, are they different? I

19:47

mean they are different obviously but there are some similarities

19:50

I guess between them. Because

19:53

you know sometimes you

19:55

just have to read a chapter of a book and

19:58

it might not be a... super long chapter

20:01

but at the same time you

20:04

want to be reading for detail and

20:06

reading for understanding so you might you know go over

20:09

it once to get a sort of general idea of what it's

20:11

about and then there might be parts

20:13

that you know you want to underline key information

20:16

and highlight specific points so

20:19

you've got that kind of similar kind

20:21

of skills to what you learn in reading in

20:23

IELTS.

20:24

Interestingly that type of reading

20:26

is often also connected to seminars. Before

20:30

a seminar you might be asked to read a chapter

20:33

and then you know when you're in the seminar

20:35

you'll be discussing that chapter thinking

20:37

about it giving your opinion so in

20:40

that circumstance you definitely want to read to

20:42

understand don't you so that you've got a good idea

20:45

of the concepts.

20:47

I think reading is interesting that's been the one

20:50

skill

20:50

that I realised that

20:53

I had maybe underestimated a little

20:55

bit because a lot of the time

20:58

devoted

20:58

to teaching academic skills

21:01

at the University where I am is academic

21:04

reading

21:04

and they use this word Nick which I think

21:06

is a bit confusing it's everyone's talking about

21:09

critical, critical reading, critical

21:12

writing which makes it sound you know

21:14

if I say the word

21:15

critical what's the first meaning that comes

21:17

into your head? Important.

21:19

Important right so

21:21

that is the correct meaning it's not negative. I

21:25

thought yeah okay yeah I see what you mean

21:27

I see like you're reading to criticise

21:29

essentially yeah?

21:31

Well no I think you're sort of reading

21:34

to do what you said I think I

21:36

think when I hear the word critical

21:38

my first thought is no it's

21:40

about being negative but actually it's what you

21:42

said it's about choosing

21:45

what is really important to

21:47

read so you know in IELTS we talk

21:50

a lot about skimming and scanning but we're

21:52

not really talking about

21:55

you know in IELTS you're only skimming and

21:57

scanning to answer a particular

21:58

question

21:59

Whereas at university, most

22:02

of what you read is because

22:05

when you're reading, you are looking for material

22:08

to put into an essay, aren't you? That's

22:11

right. Essentially. So it's

22:13

a lot more about,

22:15

you know, you've been given an essay question

22:18

and a reading list of 20

22:20

books.

22:21

Not every book on that reading list will

22:24

be useful for every essay question.

22:27

So a lot of what you need to do

22:29

is essentially analyze

22:31

all the time or sort of critically think

22:35

what am I looking for as I read,

22:37

essentially. So, you know, you need

22:39

to first of all, you need to think, is

22:41

this a good resource? So

22:44

it might be stuff like, you know, is it relevant?

22:46

Has it got the information that I need in it? Is

22:49

it trustworthy? You

22:51

can use the internet at university, but you're

22:54

not really going to be living on Wikipedia. You

22:56

want to be on university websites.

22:58

Nick, I've been blown away by how many incredible

23:00

resources you can now find on these. They're

23:03

like online libraries, basically. And

23:06

you just go on there and you put in the topic and then

23:09

you're just delivered thousands of journals.

23:11

When I was at university, you'd have to have gone and got each journal

23:14

and looked through the pages. One by

23:16

one. Yeah. Whereas now you can put in

23:18

like a research question and bang, here are all

23:21

the journal articles, but there'll

23:23

be hundreds. So you've got

23:25

to start thinking, is this exactly the

23:27

topic that I'm looking at? How

23:29

long ago was it written? All

23:32

of this stuff, which, you know, selection

23:35

of materials is nothing to do

23:37

with IELTS, is it? We're just given three passages

23:39

on random topics that we

23:42

have to read. So I think the kind

23:44

of selection, the sort of

23:47

independent selection of materials

23:50

is something that is very new

23:53

for students and culturally as well. In

23:55

many cultures, working with quite

23:57

a lot of Chinese students at the moment, in

23:59

China. you're told read this. Whereas

24:03

in English universities you're given a starting

24:05

point as a reading list, but

24:08

you're really expected to jump out from there

24:10

and

24:11

find your own resources.

24:13

So I think the reading is

24:17

very,

24:18

very different, essentially.

24:23

Yeah,

24:24

and just the amount that students have to

24:27

read as well, like our reading passages are what, 800

24:28

words? At the longest,

24:31

yeah.

24:31

Yeah, like a journal article would

24:33

be four or five thousand words. And

24:37

you know, maybe in your first year

24:39

in a 2000 word essay, you might be

24:41

expected to have six references,

24:44

right? So where you're referencing to six works,

24:46

by the time you're in the last year, you're

24:49

expected to have for each essay, 20

24:50

references.

24:53

So that doesn't mean you have to read the whole of 20 journal

24:56

articles, but you need to be able to go in and find the information

24:59

that you need. That's right. And that's why

25:01

you need to be critical. So I think reading,

25:06

although I think IELTS, the texts

25:08

are not easy in IELTS,

25:09

are they? Not necessarily,

25:12

no. I mean, some of

25:14

the section two and section three texts can be very

25:16

difficult.

25:17

Yeah, so I think sort of the level is quite difficult.

25:20

And also, you know, as you said

25:22

at the beginning, as you start to become more

25:24

of a specialist in your subject area, you're

25:26

going to start recognizing lots of vocabulary

25:29

and topics that's going to get easier. So

25:32

I think the texts are

25:34

a similar level in the exam. And I think

25:37

some of the things the questions

25:40

ask you to do, like a headings question,

25:42

is essentially checking, can you summarize

25:44

information, which is

25:46

something you are going to need

25:47

to be able to do. Go you need an university,

25:50

definitely. Yeah,

25:51

or find specific information if you're answering

25:53

a question, you need a quote. So there are,

25:55

I think, I do think that the skills they're

25:58

testing you on in IELTS definitely meant.

27:33

All

28:00

of those things which examiners

28:02

look for, that is exactly

28:05

what you're going to have to do at university.

28:07

You're just going to have to write many, many, many

28:09

more of those paragraphs,

28:12

and longer paragraphs, I guess, right?

28:15

Our paragraphs tend to be 100 words,

28:17

I'd say. Yeah, you can have shorter paragraphs

28:20

at university, but you're more likely to

28:22

be writing 200, 250-word paragraphs,

28:26

I would say. So certainly the length of

28:29

the essays is

28:31

definitely

28:33

vastly different. I also think it's

28:35

not just essays. I've been really surprising

28:37

it. Can you believe it? Some

28:40

of the students are assessed where I am on

28:42

writing blog posts. Wow.

28:44

Yeah, so they do have reports,

28:49

and they do have essays,

28:52

but yeah, blog posts,

28:53

what else? Is that kind of like

28:56

keeping a diary

28:59

of what's happening as you're going

29:01

through the course?

29:02

I think it's students who are doing a practical course,

29:04

and it is, you know, like, I went in today

29:07

to bake these cakes, and this is what happened.

29:10

Like, it was a disaster, or whatever, but I think

29:12

that's it. I think there's also things I've seen

29:14

like personal reflection writing. So

29:20

maybe you might

29:23

have

29:26

been asked to have just, you know, a

29:28

bit of a, that would be more like a diary, sort of like

29:30

to critically reflect on your time,

29:33

think if it was good, what was not good. So there

29:36

seems to be a lot more types of writing happening

29:38

at universities now. Business

29:40

proposals, that's another sort of thing. But

29:44

I would say in terms of essays,

29:47

the length is definitely different. And

29:49

what is the other huge

29:52

difference, and it's connected to reading between

29:54

an academic essay and an arts essay?

29:57

Connected to reading. Yeah. So to be honest, I think it's a very interesting question.

32:01

where I am, we've got a 47 page

32:03

book that helps you reference things. Because now,

32:06

it's not just journals and books you're

32:08

referencing, Nick, you're referencing things

32:10

from the internet. So if you found something

32:13

online, you have to say like, the

32:15

internet address you found it on, what

32:18

paragraph the information was in, and

32:20

on what date you accessed that

32:23

website in case it's been changed. But

32:26

you can do, you know, block

32:28

you can

32:28

reference podcasts. Yeah, I

32:30

guess. Yeah, it's incredible, like this

32:32

whole list of things that you can reference now. But

32:36

essentially, and I think this is where

32:39

this whole episode is coming to Nick is that

32:42

students in IELTS focus

32:45

a lot or ask a lot of questions about paraphrasing.

32:48

So I often when students make inquiries about

32:50

the course, are there lessons on paraphrasing?

32:53

I'm not very good at paraphrasing students are really focused

32:56

on this skill of paraphrasing. If

32:58

you think about IELTS essays, though, like how

33:01

useful is that skill of paraphrasing? Or where

33:03

in

33:03

the essay may it be useful? Well, we're

33:05

probably going to paraphrase the opinions if it's a discuss

33:07

both sides essay. Yes, paraphrase

33:09

the question

33:11

is literally that isn't it? It's going

33:13

to be in an IELTS essay, the only

33:16

place where we need to paraphrase is

33:18

going to be probably the introduction. Because

33:21

as you said, if it's a discuss both views, you're going to have

33:23

to paraphrase both views. If you're

33:25

asked if you agree or disagree, you're

33:27

going to have to paraphrase what you agree or

33:30

disagree with. If you've got a problem

33:32

solution, you're going to have to paraphrase the problem that

33:34

you've been given. Same for advances,

33:36

disadvantages. But really, it's just

33:39

the introduction and there may be topic sentences

33:41

as well, because you might have to reflect the

33:44

question in the topic sentences.

33:46

But really, in an IELTS essay, there's

33:49

quite minimal paraphrasing compared

33:52

to when you go to university.

33:56

And for that reason, I've always kind of said to

33:58

students, I don't really think focusing on and paraphrasing

34:01

is the most important or the best way to spend

34:03

your time because it's a tiny percentage

34:05

of what

34:06

we have to do. However, because

34:09

now I'm working with students who really do

34:11

need to have to paraphrase, I

34:14

as a teacher have built up my skill bank

34:16

of teaching paraphrasing

34:18

and there are new things which I had never

34:20

even thought of before. So

34:23

I think that next week we

34:26

should have a lesson where it

34:29

will be a basic introduction to paraphrasing

34:31

which if you're already at university or planning

34:33

to go is going to be super useful. But

34:35

more importantly it's

34:39

going to help us paraphrase in

34:41

our introduction and we will finally

34:44

have that missing jigsaw piece. So when people email

34:46

me and say, where is your lesson on paraphrasing?

34:48

I can point to next week's podcast

34:50

and say it is there and

34:53

now I'm going to make it in the bibliography. Exactly,

34:58

perfect. So

35:00

I would say then that's what

35:03

we're doing next week is paraphrasing. In terms of

35:05

writing I have to say I think

35:09

IELTS gives you an incredibly good

35:12

foundation for essay

35:14

writing if you've been taught well, if you've actually

35:17

learnt what topic sentences

35:19

are, what referencing is, what it means to

35:23

link ideas together using the correct

35:25

grammar structures although if that

35:27

kind of thing. I think you will be

35:29

ahead Nick not even

35:32

ahead of the other international students

35:34

but trust me ahead of the local students.

35:37

Well, it's that bad is

35:39

it? It is that bad. But

35:41

then you just need to write them longer

35:43

and you need to learn how to include these citations

35:47

and references and all that sort of

35:50

things. But if you can learn how to paraphrase

35:52

and you understand how to connect ideas

35:55

together like the straw man technique

35:57

which we teach as part of our course. you

36:00

know that is a huge academic skill which is

36:02

used all the time at university you

36:05

will be ahead. It's

36:09

nice to be back. It is isn't

36:11

it? It is, it is. This will be motivating

36:13

me to start again next week. So if

36:16

you are taking IELTS not to go to university,

36:19

if you're a doctor, if you are, I don't

36:21

know, off

36:21

to Canada,

36:23

thank you for listening and making it in your

36:25

heart. Next week's episode

36:28

will be much more useful but if you are going to university,

36:31

we did have an old episode years ago I think

36:33

about how to choose a good, do you

36:36

remember, starting in the UK we've got

36:38

an old episode about that. Do we?

36:41

I don't seem to remember that. I think it's how

36:43

to choose a good, how to choose

36:48

the university that is right for you I think.

36:51

I think we looked at like Guardian lists

36:53

and talked about different subjects are

36:55

good in different universities and anyway

36:59

have a look on the blog. I'm 99% sure unless I've gone

37:02

mad in the break that there is

37:04

an old episode on how to

37:06

choose the right university if you're

37:08

studying in the

37:08

UK but in any case

37:11

we will definitely be back next week. Thank you

37:13

for sticking with us in the break and

37:16

take care until then. Bye bye.

37:23

My IELTS Classroom Podcast

37:25

is production of My IELTS Classroom

37:27

Limited. Nick and I

37:29

do not represent IELTS and

37:32

everything you heard in this episode

37:34

is our own personal event. You

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can find the show notes and transcripts

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37:46

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38:00

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Have a great week, study hard

38:14

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38:17

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we'll see you next week.