Alister Widdowson
I've been involved with English language teaching for over 20 years and now I split my time between online courses, teacher training and various work with UK universities.
Location England
Activity
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Happy to help
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@MuhammadAmbalancheri That's great Muhmammmad, thanks for posting
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You are welcome
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Good luck getting to a nine!
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Exactly Edward, we need both styles of writing for different parts of our lives.
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HI Ahmad, You have divided up your writing into four part, intro, two body paragraphs and a conclusion which is the right way to go. You have answered the question by presenting your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing, again well don e for that. You need to think a little bit about your vocabulary. Rowdy dowdy is not commonly used and wild and nerdy would be...
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Alister Widdowson replied to Thomas Dieudonne Ngoue
Hi Thomas, scroll down to the bottom of this page to see the other British Council MOOCs you can do. https://www.futurelearn.com/partners/british-council
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That's right, the receptive skills need work as well but with reading and listening it is more the case that you just need to do them (a lot) and they will naturally improve. With writing you need to be much more active in applying what you have learnt.
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Alister Widdowson replied to Francis Akpan
Thanks for counting the words, yes, you art right, when we write more than is required we waste our time and we also have more chance of making mistakes. 160 words is ideal.
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HI Eriola, that's a very interesting post, I think that if you are used to working with more academic or scientific language these questions do become less difficult.
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@AliceWaiHaLAM Glad you like it Alice!
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Excellent, that's exactly what skimming is - you have successfully skimmed!
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Alister Widdowson replied to Alba C
The key really is to practice, Alba, the more we do, the easier it gets and the better we read.
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Wonderful!
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Alister Widdowson made a comment
What a great course! Thank you so much for your wonderful, supportive participation. We love working on the course and we would really like to see you again on the next Understanding IELTS or on one of our other FutureLearn courses. You can find a list of courses here https://www.futurelearn.com/partners/british-council
Thanks also to my co-educators,...
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Alister Widdowson replied to Ali Al-Qassab
Marvelous! I'm really pleased that the course has been useful for you.
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Alister Widdowson replied to Evelyn O. K.
@EvelynO.K. Lovely comment Evelyn, I'm so glad that you enjoyed the course.
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@JoyceSamuel Thanks to you Joyce and for your excellent comments and contribution during the course.
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@DiniMuthi'ahIslami Oh dear! Practice slowly and keep your vocabulary list open in front of you while you do it. You could try answering a question, first looking at the vocabulary then, say half an hour later, do the same question but this time without looking at the vocabualry, this might help you to remember the words you need.
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@MehediHasan Hi Mehedi, this link should hep with your question. https://www.ielts.org/what-is-ielts/ielts-for-migration/canada
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That's great Sekela, you can see a list of our Futurelearn course here https://www.futurelearn.com/partners/british-council
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That's a very good point Aghdas, practising without the pressure of the exam, when it really matters and the adrenaline is flowing is a different experience. For the speaking we can replicate that pressure a bit by practising with another person or even better with some people watching. If you have a group of people who are working towards IELTS then speaking...
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@sinaabdollahi Very happy to help!
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@RolinkaDubbelman Happy to help!
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Great post, Thanks for sharing Petra. Yes, I like your phrase 'block out your personal knowledge about the subject'. It might help you to answer the question but the writer might have a different view from yours.
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Exactly right Anna
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That's excellent advice, thanks Rita
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Alister Widdowson replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
It's excellent! have a look, I am sure you'll find something useful.
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There are very many indeed! The good news is tat in IELTS, the types of texts you get particularly in academic generally do not include phrasal verbs or at least not many of them .
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Yes
Yes
Yes
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Alister Widdowson replied to Zaida Tárano M
@RuxandraDragomir Lovely feedback Ruxandra
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Alister Widdowson replied to K M
Hi Kazhaw, yes indeed, every word is counted!
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Alister Widdowson replied to Fatima Ashir
or triple it!
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Alister Widdowson replied to Hana Abuzaid
The Archers is excellent practice, an everyday story of farming folk and its the longest running soap opera in the world.
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Alister Widdowson replied to Alaa Hawary
Excellent advice Alaa!
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Alister Widdowson replied to Dena Forensic
It is indeed! Learning 20 words a week will give you 2 or 3 hundred new words in a few months. Well worth the investment,
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Exactly right Elena and excellent use of the word 'advise'!
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A huge amount fo podcasts every day! I do that, at least five a day, particularly when I am driving and I really enjoy them.
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Alister Widdowson replied to Ping Mao
a little luck never hurts!
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Hi Sina, yes, I think it takes a long time to really develop reading and listening skills and months is much better than weeks if you ask me.
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Thanks Gayne for your kind comment, I'm really pleased you find it useful.
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What an interesting idea, 'I lke th id f qk shthdn wrtng' but you ned to be super careful not to use it on the answer paper!
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It is better to use general examples than personal ones.
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@JahanaraAkter Marvellous! Fantastic quote Jahanara, you are an inspiration to the rest of us,
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@JahanaraAkter All good ideas Jaharna
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@RolinkaDubbelman Well done Rolinka, persistence brings its own reward.
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@sinaabdollahi Excellent question Sina, the answer is that you need to include all parts of the answer to get the point I'm afraid.
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You are welcome! Good luck next time.
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Alister Widdowson replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]
That's great advice Tom, do all that and you stand a good chance of a good score.
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@RolinkaDubbelman Hi Rolinka, I am the same as you! I always write far too much and have to edit down. I think that Chidozie has the right idea, limit yourself to only two or three ideas per paragraph and don't go too far with examples and explanations and you should be able to keep the words down.
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Thanks Angeles, MOOCs are a fabulous way to get access to high quality education available to all.
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It is in deed a marathon (not a sprint). Study regularly in a targeted manner over the long term is the best way to get results in IELTS and also to learn in a deep and memorable way.
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rise, fall, go up , go down, climb, drop, peak, trough. Synonyms are really important
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Definitely
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That's very useful Sarah
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Thanks Yuly, good tips and an interesting link
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@KhaledShaheen This course is very suitable for you! We have all sorts of people with all language levels studying with us, the important thing is that you know why you are studying and what you need to learn from it Welcome!
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Good points Eleni, I think we all translate at times when we are trying to express ourselves in difficult or complex situations but we need to make sure that we don't just translate word for word from our first languages.
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Hope so. I think the thing to remember is that you need to have some good ideas quickly. If we sit down and think hard for an hour we will have some excellent ideas but we only have a few minutes thinking time in the test. As long as your idea re connected to the topic and you balance the essay as required (for and against, problem solution etc.) you should be...
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@RitaCicchino Indeed
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@JuliaPlewka HI Julia, the computer based one will have the answer sheet built into the test so it's nothing to worry about.
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Good summary there Nelda
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Alister Widdowson made a comment
Remember, we are looking for plans here! A lot of people are writing full answers but planning is a vital skill and you can practice in the comments in this step. If you have written an essay, why not reply to your post and put down the notes you used to write it?
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A lot of people are concerned about this but IELTS need to give a question an they try to make it reasonably intelligent but general enough for anyone to answer. Not easy! I think the trick is to read a newspaper or listen to the news every day and that way you will learn a lot about a wide range of topics and develop opinions accordingly.
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Alister Widdowson replied to Andrea Romo
I agree, we need to spend some time planning but we only have 20 minutes or 40 minutes to write and we need to get on with it! A simple plan which helps us to remember what to include in our paragraphs is enough
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Remember that the question asks you about who is responsible for solving the problem and you need to address this throughout your writing. You haven't really answered the question I'm afraid.
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Hi Marium, thanks for letting us see your writing. Make sure you really study the question next time. In paragraph one, you have written about the harmful effects of poor diet but the question is about who is responsible. You could argue that parents and schools are equally responsible or whether it is more parents or more school.
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Alister Widdowson replied to Alister Widdowson
@sinaabdollahi Glad to hear that and well done for using 'pieces of advice'!
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God idea there, I particularly like the idea of practising in front of a mirror, you can really learn a lot by watching people's mouths when they speak and then copying what you see
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Excellent advice Leidy!
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Alister Widdowson replied to Ayo Ade
@petraReichel That's great but learning from novels is a lot of work! Of course you will learn a great deal but if you are learning for study or work purposes you might find that you are learning a lot of words you don't really need. It's great that you speak English with your husband, no better way to learn than by using the language.
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@AlexandraShubina I'd say so, the four part structure will work for all the question types and make planning and proof reading easier.
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@SrinathK That's absolutely fine Srinath, whatever helps you to focus and improve your grade is the best thing to do. Remember, part one does carry a third f the marks which you don't want to lost so leaving enough time for that is vital .
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How nice! 'the spoken flies but the written remains'
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@MorenoPennacchioni thanks Moreno, we do sometimes think of language as this huge, difficult thing we have to study when really it can open up different cultures and help us connect with people all over the world.
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Alister Widdowson made a comment
A lot of people lose a lot of time overthinking the writing test. You need to have ideas which clearly connect to the question but remember it is a test of communication, not a test of your knowledge of education or the health service. Get used to having reasonable ideas quickly and not trying to have perfect ideas which take hours to work out!
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Alister Widdowson made a comment
One thing which you need to remember is that you shouldn’t copy out the question in your answer. If you include a sentence or phrase from the question then the number of words you have used will be taken off your word count. So if you write 250 words but 10 words were copied from the question then it would actually count as 240 words, not 250.
It is a good... -
Alister Widdowson made a comment
A lot of people think that general is easier than the academic module but I think that it depends on what you are used to. Some people learn their English in academic settings and for them the academic paper might be easier. If you learn English by using it in social situations then you might find the general one easier.
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Alister Widdowson made a comment
Getting ready for the last live event on the course - please join us and share your questions!
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Alister Widdowson made a comment
Welcome to week 6! Time really has flown on the course and we've had some wonderful contributions to the comments sections and our live events, thanks everyone for joining in.
For me the biggest problem with writing is making sure I stay on topic and don't write too much. I tend to write a lot more than I need to! To stay on track I make sure I plan my...
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Alister Widdowson made a comment
For me, I think the key word in all the tips on this step is CHOOSE. You need to decide which information is most important from the graph or chart you are given and then describe it clearly to your tutor. After you have described the overall trends you can focus on high points, low points, changes, things which don't fit the pattern and very importantly...
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@JuliaPlewka You will need to wait until the end of the test I'm afraid. I hope you manage to finish early but for most people the opposite is true! I always find that I finish pretty much exactly when the time is up. Don't forget the answer paper too.
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@VivianC Excellent! taking a long nap, well that's so true for me too
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I agree, to really develop reading and listening we need to practice a lot and learn as many words as we can! The good news is that for IELTS the vocabulary you really need is academic vocabulary. If you can learn all the words in the academic word list https://www.examenglish.com/vocabulary/academic_wordlist.html then it will really help with our writing,...
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Happy to help
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Rob knows what he is talking about!
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Not given catches a lot of people out, particularity when they are hard to distinguish from false answers.
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Excellent post Abdul, do that and you will definitely feel improvement after a few months.
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Don't be lazy for reading! Exactly right Abigail
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Alister Widdowson replied to Jehad Samir
@MuhammadImamFadhil Aha! I see. You develop a feeling for how long it is taking you but while you practice why not have a stopwatch to hand so you an time yourself on the whole text but also on each question
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I'd say we can skim through them. Skimming is all about find out what a text is about, getting the gist. It isn't about getting the fine details and that's how we can do it so fast.
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Alister Widdowson replied to Alister Widdowson
@SylvesterLau Well done for experimenting Sylvester
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Alister Widdowson replied to Alister Widdowson
@LailaMahmuda That's the way!
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You dictionary is your best friend! Excellent Martha
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Stories can be tricky as they are often written to be creative with language and intentionally use more unusual vocabulary to make it interesting for the reader. You can get simplified novels called 'graded readers' where they take the story and replace the less common words with easier ones. You can follow the story but there should only be a few words per...
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Alister Widdowson replied to Rhea Glover
Glad you like them Rhea
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But at least you know what you need to work on :)
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Hats off to you for your excellent advice!
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Definitely
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Alister Widdowson replied to Ayo Ade
Great advice there. Also, when you are looking for the key words, try to think of synonyms too as they might not use exactly the same word in the text and the question.
