Daily lessons with Simon,
ex-IELTS examiner
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Academic Writing Task 1: Fall or reduce?
These two words are often confused by students. Let’s look at how to use them correctly, specifically for writing task 1.
General Writing Task 1: Holiday feelings
In this lesson you can read my description of a holiday activity, and we then move on to describing our feelings about the holiday.
Speaking Part 2: Describe a team project
This lesson contains an IELTS Speaking Part 2 task and my sample answer: Describe a team project that you worked on.
IELTS Listening: Handedness
Try this multiple choice listening exercise about ‘handedness’ (being right-handed or left-handed).
IELTS Reading: The tutorial method
Read the passage about the ‘tutorial method’, then decide which paragraph contains the given information.
Writing Task 2: ‘Climate’ essay skeleton
Today I’m sharing my essay skeleton for a balanced opinion answer about the benefits of hot and cold climates.
IELTS Advice: One problem with formula phrases
I don’t usually recommend that you learn ‘formula phrases’. There are several reasons for this, but today we’ll just look at one reason.
Academic Writing Task 1: Rise or raise?
These two words are often confused by students. Let’s look at how to use them correctly, specifically for writing task 1.
General Writing Task 1: Holiday activity
In this lesson you can read my description of a holiday destination, and we then move on to describing a holiday activity.
IELTS Speaking: If you don’t know (2)
Here’s some more advice about answering questions when you don’t really know what to say.
IELTS Listening: Studying dolphins
Listen to a talk about research into dolphins, and fill each gap in the summary sentences with one or two words.
IELTS Reading: Biometrics
Read the passage about biometrics, and decide whether the four statements below it are true, false, or not given.
Writing Task 2: 13-sentence outline
Let’s practise essay planning by writing a 13-sentence outline for a ‘discuss both views and give your opinion’ question.
IELTS Advice: A bad mix!
What happens when a beginner tries to play an advanced piece of music?
Academic Writing Task 1: Useful phrases exercise
Here are some useful phrases to describe the table in last week’s lesson. See if you can guess the missing words.
General Writing Task 1: Holiday letter outline
Last week I asked you to write a beginning and ending for a ‘holiday’ letter task. In this lesson we move on to the first paragraph.
IELTS Speaking: If you don’t know
How do you answer a question when you don’t know anything about the topic? There are two things that you can do.
IELTS Listening: Why is the sky blue?
Listen to a talk about light waves and the sky, and fill each gap in the summary sentences with one word.
IELTS Reading: Choose the title 4
Read the passage and choose the best title.
Writing Task 2: Idea generation
This lesson contains five tips about the following problem: How can we come up with good ideas for an essay?
IELTS Grammar: Describing age groups
This lesson contains a quick exercise about the different ways to describe age groups.
Writing Task 1: Waste table
Read my model answer for a task that compares waste production in six countries. Then answer five questions to analyse my answer.
Writing Task 1: Holiday letter task
Let’s start work on an informal letter task. It’s a letter to a friend describing a holiday.
IELTS Speaking Part 3: Home life
Here are some part 3 questions with my band 9 sample answers. Make a list of the ‘less common’ vocabulary that I used.
IELTS Listening: Keywords
I often talk about the importance of looking for keywords in the reading test. The same advice applies to the listening test.
IELTS Reading: Arthur Schopenhauer
Read the passage about the daily life of a philosopher, and decide whether the four statements are true, false, or not given.
Model essay: Free nursing courses
Note: The quality of vocabulary in this essay is particularly high – above band 9.
IELTS Grammar: Punctuation
Here are some simple rules to help you with punctuation for IELTS writing.
Writing Task 1: What’s wrong with this sentence?
In this lesson we analyse a student’s sentence in terms of writing style and grammar / vocabulary mistakes.
General Writing Task 1: Minor accident letter
Here’s my band 9 answer for the ‘minor accident’ letter task. You’ll also see a list of the wide range of vocabulary that I used.