Ann Foreman

Ann Foreman

I live and work in the north of Spain and have been teaching for over twenty years. I’m also the Social Media Manager in charge of the British Council’s global social media channels for teachers.

Location Bilbao

Activity

  • That's good to know, Tajudeen! Perhaps I'll see you on one of the next courses or on the IELT MOOC Study Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1612481695682158/

  • Great to hear that, Ana. Thanks!

  • Thanks for that lovely message, Mustafa. Good luck with your future studies!

  • Good luck with making your dream come true, Rieski.

  • Good luck with your future studies and with the test!

  • Ann Foreman replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]

    Hi Segunda,
    The answer is yes. You can access the course materials when the course ends and for as long as you want to. The only difference is that the educators won't be around to respond to your comments.

  • Hi Karma,
    You'll have to ask FutureLearn about that as they are the ones who offer and manage the purchase of the statements of participation. Have a look at their FAQ https://about.futurelearn.com/about/faq/?category=statements-of-participation and if that doesn't answer your question you can email them on feedback@futurelearn.com

  • Hi Debayan,
    I'm glad you enjoyed the course and I'm sorry that you find the statement of participation expensive. Perhaps you could make a portfolio of the comments you've made on the course so that you have some evidence to show for the work you've done.

  • Thanks, Aleksandra!

  • Hi Béatrice,
    I don't think that's crazy at all. With the knowledge you've gained and your motivation to keep on studying, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't succeed.

  • Good luck with the test, vanda!

  • Thanks, Anthony, for that lovely message.

  • That's really good to hear, Kamala!
    Good luck with your future studies.

  • HI Thandar,
    You'll find some practice materials on our LearnEnglish website http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/ielts and also on the TakeIELTS one http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-test/free-practice-tests
    Good luck with your studies!

  • That's great, Maha. I'm glad you are enjoying ours courses so much!

  • Good luck with the test, Clarissa!

  • I hope it met up to your expectations and that you enjoyed it!

  • :-)

  • Hi Timothée,
    As you'll be providing an interpretation of the data or information that you've been given in the question, it's not a good idea to use expressions such as 'I think'. More likely you'll want to use expressions such as 'it shows', 'it demonstrates', 'it illustrates' or 'it can be seen'. I suggest you take a look at this interactive exercise on our...

  • Hi Alaa,
    Yes, it's a good idea to keep the tips in mind and to put them into practice by trying to do as many test runs as you can of the Writing test. You can find one here http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-test/free-sample-tests/writing-sample-test-1-academic/writing-task-1 and see a sample answer to it here...

  • Hi Huong T T Nguyen,
    I think you should dedicate at least one sentence at the end of your answer summing up your findings from the information you've been given. You will see a sample answer to Task 1 in step 6.8 and the evaluation that a teacher makes of it in step 6.9. I also recommend looking at this sample answer on the TakeIELTS site...

  • That's very good to hear, Monica. I hope you enjoy the next course as much.

  • Thanks, Diego, for the thumbs up! I also hope that we continue to meet your expectations.

  • I'm really glad to hear you've enjoyed it!

  • Thanks, Mohamed. Wishing you the best of luck too with your future studies!

  • Hi Somayyeh,
    My advice is to read and listen to as much as you can in English. It helps you to both learn new vocabulary and to consolidate the vocabulary base you already have. You can find great reading materials on our LearnEnglish Teens website http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/reading-skills-practice where you can choose the language...

  • Thanks, Maria, for being such a champion of our websites and courses! It's great to hear people like you endorsing what we do.

  • That's great to know, Samuel. Good luck with your studies!

  • Thanks, Alicena. All of us educators have really got a lot out of this course too! As you say, it's been great being able to exchange ideas with so many people from all different parts the world.

  • Wishing you good luck with the test!

  • Great to hear that you've noticed an improvement with your English, Thanida. Good luck with your future studies and hope to see you on Facebook!

  • All of us educators have enjoyed the course tremendously too. Good luck with your future studies!

  • Thanks, Agatha! I'm really pleased to hear that. I hope to see you again either on Facebook or another one of our courses.

  • Ann Foreman replied to [Learner left FutureLearn]

    Yes, I agree with that, Segunda. Even a few years ago it would have seemed impossible and now I'm writing this from a tiny village in Spain where a satellite is beaming down to me all these lovely messages, like yours, about this course!

  • Thanks, Elena. It's been a really good experience for all of us too being able to interact with such motivated learners.

  • Thanks, Mohamud. It's been such a good experience interacting with so many really motivated learners!

  • Interesting question, rama. You will hear it pronounced with the 't' and without it. I know that I pronounce it both ways: sometimes with and sometimes without the 't'. If you listen to these recordings on Forvo http://forvo.com/word/often/#en you'll hear them both, although it's only the last speaker who sounds the 't'. I think Forvo is a great place to go...

  • Don't worry! This course is designed so that you can do it at your own pace and rhythm.

  • Glad to be of help!

  • Hi Zélia,
    Don't worry, all the course content will stay here even when the course has finished. The only difference is that we educators won't be around to help.

  • Good luck!

  • Good point, Elena!

  • Hi Bawk,
    That's a good start. Be careful to paraphrase rather than copying the exact words of the question. You'll also need to add some more points to back your arguments and indicate that you have considered what you think the responsibilities of schools and parents are for children eating healthy food.

  • Hi Chengyuan Li,
    I think that's a good, solid outline to start off with which should result in you achieving the task well.

  • Thanks, Indira. There's also a good video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQQE2hWrl98 about building your vocabulary for the IELTS test. It focuses on the speaking test but the ideas are equally relevant for the writing one. And I also recommend this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzjXIOvWVt0 which is full of good tips about how to approach Task 1.

  • Absolutely, Daniela. It's very good advice to plan your ideas carefully before beginning to write so as to make sure that you can express them coherently and structure them logically.

  • Thanks, Ольга. Good points. However, you will want to mention some details in order to give evidence for what you say. Our advice is rather to try pick out the key facts and not to overdo it by mentioning every single detail.

  • Don't worry too much, Mathew. We offer you an example of a Task 1 question with tips and advice about how to tackle it in the later steps this week. I also recommend looking at this interactive activity about explaining a bar chart http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/writing-skills-practice/writing-about-bar-chart which shows you what you need...

  • Hi Mohammmad,
    As long as you write something in the test that is coherent and related to the question, you will get a score. However, if you write under the required length, you will get a lower mark for task achievement. This is reflected in the band descriptors which you can check out here...

  • Thanks, Malarvishi for you help. If you'd like to see sample questions and answers for Task one, you can check them out here http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-your-test/free-practice-tests/writing-practice-test-1-ielts-academic

  • Yes, I think those are points that you could very well include in an answer. However, I also think the candidate did at least once make reference to a wider context when s/he talked about doing a job that you feel passionate about means 'they will not have to work a day in their lives'.

  • Hi Turkan,
    My recommendation for planning your answer is to first write down some key words. You can take them from the question and then add words that occur to you as a response. Try then to extend them to points and finally go on to sequence and organise them logically. I think the most difficult thing is to make a start, once you've got something down on...

  • That's really good to hear, Rupal. Keep up the good work!

  • Hi Turkan,
    As you work through the steps of this week you'll find lots of things that should help you plan and organise your ideas for Task 2. Check out step 6.10 and 6.11 to find a sample answer for Task 2 and a teacher's evaluation of it. There are also some useful links in step 6.12. And I recommend watching this video: Power Writing for IELTS Task 2...

  • Good tips, Yen Lin Ngaw. Thanks!

  • Good advice, Brian. Thanks. You might find this Academic Phrasebank useful http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/ for helping you build your academic vocabulary.

  • Very good tips! Thanks, Vanya.

  • Great advice, Rupal. I think if you set yourself manageable goals such as writing a little in English every day, you will really notice the progress you make.

  • Remember, romina, you don't have to look at all of them now. You can come back to the content on this course whenever you like, even when the course has finished.

  • Great, José. Thanks for the positive feedback!

  • It's good to hear that you're find them useful, Mussie. Thanks!

  • It's great to hear that you're finding them all useful!

  • Great! I'm glad to hear they're useful.

  • Hi Fadhel,
    I think if you look at the band descriptors https://ugc.futurelearn.com/uploads/files/0c/57/0c57b541-f8f2-435c-a589-b1ad4853ccc8/IELTS_task_2_Writing_band_descriptors.pdf you'll find that in the higher bands there is a 'postive' description of language you need to be able to produce.

  • Hi Nyunt,
    I'm not that I understand your question. If you are asking about if we are providing here practice and advice on the writing, speaking, listening and reading parts of the IELTS test, the answer is that we have covered them all in the previous weeks of the test.

  • Thanks, Yulia. What would you have liked to see as an answer to the second part of the question?

  • Hi Alicia,
    What did you find confusing?

  • Thanks for the feedback, Anna. I agree with the most of points that you make. However I only found a couple of mistakes in the text. Did you find more?

  • HI Araceli and WEI KE,
    What would you have expected to see as an answer for the second half of the question?

  • Interesting, Arturo. What would you have done to improve it?

  • Thanks for the feedback, Novia! I agree with the points you make.

  • Hi Svetlana,
    I think you're perhaps being a bit severe on the candidate! I thought that the writer did answer the question, s/he orgainised his/her ideas coherently and used language confidently and fluently. I could only see a couple of grammatical mistakes. Did you find any more?

  • Yes, I agree there were some problems with accuracy. However, there were also indications that the writer had a good command of lexical resource.

  • Yes, I agree, Yulia and Ivonne. However, we weren't allowed to use it. Sorry!

  • Hi Ivonne,
    I like this blog post by Svetlana Kandybovich http://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-help-english-learners-use-linking-expressions. It's specifically aimed at teachers of English but if you follow her links you'll find some useful information and exercises.

  • Absolutely, Jennie! Good point! Knowing how to use the right vocabulary in the right context is one things that the examiners are looking for in the band descriptor 'Lexical Resource'. However, as Neil points out in his comments, 'the attempt to use this language is a strong positive.'

  • Yes, Lucía, but I think if you check the band descriptors https://ugc.futurelearn.com/uploads/files/6f/c1/6fc1ecc1-02b2-4dad-819d-72a2669212bb/IELTS_task_1_Writing_band_descriptors.pdf against Neil's comments, you will see that the candidate we looked at would get a decent score.

  • Yes, Maria. That's why the candidate would lose some points for task achievement: his/her interpretation of the graph wasn't clear or detailed enough.

  • I'm glad to hear you found it helpful!

  • Great, Mei Zeng, that's just what we hoped would happen!

  • Hi Vinh Pham,
    Unfortunately we couldn't show you the graph that accompanied the question but we can imagine that it would show more points than 0. The candidate needed to interpret those points on the graph to give us more information about how house prices had varied amongst the different cities over the time scale that the graph covered. I'm sorry but we...

  • I'm glad you found it helpful, agatha!

  • Yes, raquel. The IELTS examiners are trained to focus on all the details of what a candidate writes. And the ability to use the right vocabulary in the right context is one of the areas – Lexical Resource – that they are looking at.

  • Hi, Fathelrhman. Why was that?

  • Hi Dinis. That's interesting. What did you find surprising?

  • Hi Vinh,
    I agree that the answer was on the whole well-organised. However, did you really get a clear idea about how house prices had changed in the different cities over the period of time?

  • Hi, Enoch, I agree. We didn't really get a clear idea about how house prices had changed in the different cities over the period of time.

  • Hi Agatha,
    You are required to write at least 150 words but you can write more if you want. Although it's not advisable to write very many more because of the time factor.

  • Hi Meritxell,
    The length of the answer is fine. Remember that it's 150 words minimum for Task 1.

  • Hi Vanya,
    Thanks for the feedback, I agree with most of it. However, did you really get a clear understanding of how house prices had changed from the information that the writer provided us with?

  • Very useful feedback on the answer, maia. Thanks!

  • I agree, Abdullah, that the text doesn't provide a clear overview of the data provided and this factor would bring the writer's final score down. However, what did you think about the coherence and organisation of the information included and the range and accuracy of the vocabulary used?

  • Good luck next time, Dascalescu! I hope after doing this course you will now have a clearer idea of what's expected of you in the test and what you need to do to get a high score.

  • Thanks for the reminder, waode eti. It's so important!

  • Hi raquel,
    Thanks for sharing that advice. I think it can be a really good way for people to plan and build up their answers.

  • Yes, sahar, that's very important. If you don't fully understand the question you won't be able to write a good answer. It seems that many people forget that or, in their nerves, read too quickly and then suffer the results!

  • Hi Anaclara,
    I think that's a good plan for your answer. Just be careful about making claims like 'it is common knowledge…' without having evidence to back them up. And anyway, you really want to give your own opinion in the first paragraph.

  • Hi Gurvinder,
    I think that's a good solid plan for your answer. Just remember to paraphrase the problem and outline your answer to it in the first paragraph.