Daily lessons with Simon,
ex-IELTS examiner
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IELTS Reading: The Suzuki Method
Read the passage about a method for music teaching and decide whether the statements are true, false or not given.
Full essay: Learning a musical instrument
Here’s my full essay for the question about learning a musical instrument.
IELTS Advice: You don’t need a grammar book
Students sometimes ask me to recommend a good grammar book. And I tell them that they don’t need one. This lesson explains why.
Writing Task 1: Avoid these mistakes
Here’s some advice to help you avoid six common mistakes in writing task 1
Writing Task 1: Friend coming to stay
Here’s another band 9 informal letter.
IELTS Speaking Part 1: Laughing
Here are some speaking part 1 questions and my model answers on the topic of laughter.
IELTS Listening: Train tickets
Try this IELTS listening exercise about buying train tickets in the UK.
IELTS Reading: The Wright brothers
Try this gap-fill exercise about the inventors of the aeroplane.
Writing Task 2: benefits of learning music
In this lesson I’m going to show you my first main body paragraph for the essay question about learning a musical instrument.
Study Advice: Work on your weaknesses
This lesson contains some tips to help you to identify and work on your weaknesses.
Writing Task 1: Diet pie charts
In this lesson I describe three pie charts and use a variety of techniques and sentence structures to include all of the given data.
Writing Task 1: Letter to a tutor
The model answer in this lesson contains some great native-speaker phrases. Add them to your notebook!
IELTS Speaking: a full test
This lesson shows you what a full speaking test looks like. Try recording yourself as you answer the questions.
IELTS Listening: How to save money
Try this IELTS listening exercise about saving and spending money.
IELTS Reading: Penicillin
Try this gap-fill exercise about the discovery of penicillin.
The ‘Essay Skeleton’
I use the term ‘essay skeleton’ to refer to the main structural elements, or ‘bones’, of an essay. This lesson shows you an example.
Teaching IELTS: Building a materials ‘stash’
Here’s some advice for IELTS / English teachers on the subject of building a collection of lesson materials.
Writing Task 1: Daily activities table
This lesson contains a good example of a task in which the chart gives us too much information. I am forced to select numbers carefully.
General Writing Task 1: Extending an idea
If you want to get a band 7 or higher, you need to know how to extend your ideas. This is a key writing skill.
Speaking Part 2: TV programme or channel
This lesson contains an IELTS Speaking Part 2 task and my sample answer: Describe a TV programme or channel that you like.
IELTS Listening: 7 exam tips
Read my seven main tips for the IELTS listening test.
IELTS Reading: Stop skimming and scanning!
This lesson explains why I tell students to forget about skimming and scanning, and tells you what to do instead.
Three essay outlines: ‘musical instruments’ topic
Here are three different ways to answer the same essay question. The key is to have a clear central idea for each main paragraph.
IELTS Grammar: check the paraphrasing
A subscriber wrote 10 sentences that express the same idea in different ways. Are they all correct? Check the grammar and see what you think.
Writing Task 1: Acid rain graph
Here’s a good example of a line graph description, using my normal four paragraph structure.
Writing Task 1: Business partner
Read this band 9 informal letter in which I turn down a business idea. The lesson also contains a list of useful phrases.
IELTS Speaking Part 1: Musical instruments
Here are some speaking part 1 questions and my model answers on the topic of musical instruments.
IELTS Listening: Work advice
Listen to a speaker give advice about work, then answer the multiple choice and gap-fill questions.
IELTS Reading: Simple is Smart
This lesson gives you two things: some reading practice, and some great advice about how to become a better writer.
Writing task 2: ‘musical instruments’ topic
Should every child be taught a musical instrument? And how can we avoid repetition of “musical instrument” in our essays?