It’s New Year and a time for looking back and looking forward. Here is a selection of my favourite IELTS postings of 2009. They’re not necessarily the most read/popular posts, rather they are the posts I most enjoyed creating or for me are the most worthwhile.
As you read you will see that most of these posts are interactive in some way and one of my goals for 2010 is to make this blog ever more interactive.
1. My IELTS Band Score Calculator
Why this one? It took me a lot of time and trouble to learn how to do this (I’m really a beginner with computers) and I’ll confess I love to play with it. It is of course by no means perfect and I hope to bring out a new better version in the new year.
2. Planning an IELTS essay – the 10 minute solution
I’m happy to say that this is quite a popular post. For me it matters as good planning and clear thinking are the keys to successful IELTS writing. This is another post I intend to improve for 2010: the idea is good but I think I could express it better.
3. How would Lionel Messi prepare for IELTS?
While quite a few people do click on this post, I suspect that most of them are looking for something very different. The point behind it is that many candidates get the approach to IELTS preparation slightly wrong. Tips and tricks can only work if your core English skills are good enough already.
4. IELTS and Google News Timeline
This is part of my Little but Often/Daily exercise series. In many ways I believe that this is the most valuable part of this site. Not everyone likes computers but if you’re here you probably do. The point behind this series is to help you improve your language for IELTS in fun/interesting ways using ICT and the internet.
5. IELTS listening practice – how to listen for key words – a tip
This was one of my first home made interactive exercises. Again, this is another post I intend to improve but I am still quite proud of it and I believe it is worth a look. The message is simple enough: yes, key words may matter but focussing on the whole question is the way to get the answer right. If you just listen for key words, you will almost certainly make unnecessary mistakes.
6. IELTS listening – how to listen for numbers
This is another interactive exercise. I like this one because it gives some simple advice and focusses on a small detail: very often it is about getting the small details right.
7. IELTS speaking – a common mistake – training video
This was just fun to make: there are so many great tools on the internet – this was made with Xtranormal. It’s not just fun, there is a serious and valid message behind it. Do not memorise answers for IELTS speaking.
8. Spelling activities 6 – look cover etc etc
Okay so I am cheating here, this isn’t an IELTS post at all – or not yet. This is from one of my other blogs The Really Boring English Blog which I write just for the fun of it/when I am bored of IELTS and is if anything designed for teachers.
The post is worth looking at because it talks about how to really improve your spelling and spelling does matter for IELTS – perhaps too much. Just learning isn’t enough, you need to learn how to look at words. Try it.
