Lesson 58 – building fluency

By Berni | November 8, 2012

Lesson 58 – Building fluency

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  • If you have received lots of emails and information from me already you will know that I am a great champion of getting really good at English before you can expect to get a high IELTS band.

     

  • IELTS poses no problem much for me because I am a native speaker – it is my language ability which helps me in the test exercises NOT the amount of IELTS practice I do

 

Let’s begin with some tips and advice

 

  1. If you want to do well in the IELTS exam then get good at English first this means exposing yourself to English as often as you can.
  2. Many people tell me that they watch English films all the time – this is good and a good way to relax and learn – but it isn’t enough on it’s own.
  3. Other students tell me that they listen to English songs – this is also good and you can sing along but again – it isn’t enough on its own.
  4. Remember that the IELTS exam is applying English to tasks so you need to be able to use the language, understand it in detail and be able to manipulate it is speaking and writing.
  5. Allowing English to wash over you in films (at least use the English subtitles so that you can check words you don’t know) and music is a great start but you need to go further and actually study the language words, sentence relationships, linkers, grammar to understand more how the language works and how you can use this knowledge to improve your own usage of it and ultimately your application to the IELTS tasks.
  6. You are all full members of Gapfillers and every day there are 4 exercises to try in Gapfillers latest – these are designed to help you go deeper into the language and apply your knowledge to various tasks – if you are not doing these daily exercises then START NOW!
  7. This will give you practise in listening and reading as well as improve your grammar and help you enrich your vocabulary. I have explained how you can post your writing in the Facebook Group – why not try this – post one of your IELTS essays and ask other Step by Step members to comment (I will too).
  8. There are so many English sites on the web – look for ones that you enjoy and that are challenging – do at least half an hour every day of general English practice.
  9. Get a speaking partner – a few of you have given me your Skype details to pass on – I will do this in then next couple of days. Only 5 people have given me these . If you need a speaking partner and haven’t passed me your Skype details then do it now.
  10. So now that you have many ways to improve your fluency and use of English there are no excuses – get out and start pushing your English to the next level – by doing this you are also pushing your IELTS to the next level.

 

If you don’t use English every day then consider finding a speaking partner here on Gapfillers. I have a Skype group and some of the people in the Facebook Group have now joined this and they meet to practise speaking and also talk about other parts of the IELTS Test. If you want to be a part of this group then just post a message on Facebook or send me a message and I’ll add you to the group.

 

Key skills to develop:

 

Here is some advice about building fluency for speaking:

 

https://onlineteachersuk.com/speak-english-fluently/

 

A few more tips:

 

https://www.englishclub.com/learn-english/oral-fluency.htm

Don’t forget, if there is anything you don’t understand or can’t find send a message via Contact us

 

Now let’s try some exercises

 

Today there is only one thing I want you to do and that is to go to the Gapfillers site and find the Daily practice and DO IT.

If you have done it already and usually do it then go to the archives and choose 3 more exercises in any areas and do these!!

 

Don’t forget, if there is anything you don’t understand or can’t find send a message via Contact us

Now you’re done!

Good luck and let’s make great progress with IELTS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in IELTS Step by Step