IELTS Letter Writing

I have recently been watching a few of RebeccaESL's online lessons and they are great! Here is her take on the IELTS letter writing section of the exam...

Neat virtual online test

Hi everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates recently.

As I was trolling the internet, I came across this neat virtual online test. It test the reading portion of the IELTS exam and even has a small countdown timer to ensure you complete the task within the alloted time!

Check it out by clicking here.

Tips for the IELTS speaking section

Here are some helpful tips for the IELTS speaking section of the IELTS exam. The YouTube user is 'voxguru' and he has a number of helpful videos that you might also want to check out (click inside the video window to go to his YouTube user's page).

A nice message to my YouTube account

A very nice message from 'kakosuranosx' on YouTube:

Hey Ryan! Hows going?
My friends and I miss your video lessons a lot. I hope you back to post soon. We like your lesson a lot. We always visit your site on Internet. We think you are a great English teacher. I had a english test last week, and I couldn't believe it when I saw my grade. It was awsome. My teache spoke good things about the text. Your videos helped me a lot. I am very happy. Thank you. Please, post more videos so that we can learn more about composition with you. :)

Thanks for the message!

IELTS exam section 1 vocab booster resource

Here are some helpful videos that can help strengthen your vocab, particularly for section 1 of the IELTS exam. Clicking inside the video box will take you to the corresponding YouTube page.



Check out some other lessons of this type at www.businessenglishpod.com

Doing well in the IELTS speaking section involves stressing words where appropriate...

I am sure I have posted her lessons before, but Jennifer's teaching has helped numerous speakers develop their English and speak much more like a native speaker. She has a number of videos on the importance of stressing words in your sentences and I find them particularly helpful for my students. Here is one of them. For more, please visit her YouTube page at

Real IELTS course (dubbed version)

Someone in China uploaded and ENTIRE IELTS oral course on the internet! Here is the first video. The instructor speaks very quickly, but I watched the first lesson (about one hour) and found a number of good tips that will also be helpful for you. The instructor occasionally refers to some textbook. I am not sure what textbook this is but I do not feel it is necessary to have this to understand what she is talking about.



For the rest of the videos (over 8 hours), check out - http://www.youku.com/playlist_show/id_819090.html

Sozoexchange - Speak English like a native speaker

These videos provide a good resource you may wish to use to improve your speaking. The team behind them uploads a new video daily, so there is always a lot of fresh material.

You can find more pronunciation videos at Sozoexchange's YouTube website (click inside the video box to visit).

Good luck!

I love receiving emails like this!

Hi Ryan,

Your youtube course videos helped me score 8 out of 9 in IELTS writing section.

Thanks a lot.

Kumar

Helpful little video with grammar tips for writing

I like this guy's videos! The tips might be a little basic for most students preparing for the IELTS or TOEFL exam, but they act as a good review none-the-less.

Check out this YouTube user's other videos on his YouTube page by clicking inside the video window below:

Some general writing tips

I came across this very helpful vid on YouTube. Some great tips that many students unfortunately fail to make note of prior to their IELTS exam.

Fixing problems in your essay

Just a small video on how to fix some common problems in your IELTS essay.

Help with IELTS reading

I came across this helpful video describing how to better understand the vocabulary in your IELTS reading.

How to start the sentences in your essay...

Here's a couple of short vids I put together outlining some suggestions to help start the various sentences in your IELTS essay.

IELTS reading skills

Here is a nice video I found that summarizes the different reading skills you will need for the IELTS exam - skimming, scanning and reading in detail.

The new IELTS-IELTS.com page!

Hi,

I have decided to use blogger.com to help me keep this website organized.

Using blogger.com, I will be able to update this page much more regularly. I hope this will make it more useful to you as an English student.

Please also feel free to leave comments on my blog posts and to visit my other website at www.englishryan.com.

Have a great week!

Ryan

How to write an argument essay thesis

A few nice messages I have received

From AngelArif:

Dear EnglishRyan:

I've scored 8.5 in writing section of IELTS...I was greatly benefitted by the style you showed in your videos...I wish your best from my heart... May Allah help you and be successful in this world and next.

From musicloverboi:

Thank you very much for posting such superb videos. Because of it, I scored a band 8 for IELTS with an individual score of 8 as well for the writing module. =D

How to decide what type of essay to write

A small vid I put together on how to decide what type of essay to write.

Scoring on the IELTS exam

A very nice summary of the IELTS exam

Here is a brief video that summarizes the different versions of the IELTS exam and their purposes nicely.

Writing an IELTS discussion essay together...

Here is a small video series I put together a while ago demonstrating how to write a mock IELTS essay. I think the whole thing is around 30 minutes or so.

IELTS discussion essay tutorial

Some helpful IELTS prep downloads...

Here are a few helpful files with example exams and responses. Teacher comments are also provided. If you are preparing for the general level IELTS exam, I suggest checking out the writing section. It has a pretty thorough overview of what you are expected to do in response to the graph given.

Good luck!

IELTS Writing Prep

IELTS Speaking Prep

IELTS Listening Prep

IELTS Reading Prep

Writing an IELTS argument essay

3 videos demonstrating IELTS exam letter writing

2 videos outlining how to structure your argument essay

Another essay video

Hello!

I finally got around to making another essay video and will try to make another couple this week.

Bye for now!

Ryan

Cold again in Shanghai

I finally got around to updating the www.ielts-ielts.com page I created a few weeks ago and also wrote two lessons for www.englishryan.com.

Besides that, just spent the weekend relaxing and eating 'zong zi'. Zong zi is a Chinese food made of rice wrapped in a leaf, and it tastes awesome!

It's cold (again) in Shanghai, so I spent most of the weekend studying Chinese. I am now trying to learn the characters, but it is REALLY difficult. For example, check out this video:



Argh!

Laundry list of apologies

Maybe I should entitle this blog the 'apology' blog seeing as that is all I ever seem to write in it. :D But sorry that there have been so few updates. I spent the weekend outside with some friends, taking advantage of the awesome weather (t-shirt time!)

Last week, I taught some lessons on how to express yourself when you are annoyed by something. We used phrases like:

It bugs me when...

I find it irritating when...

My pet peeve is...

I am just sitting down to make lesson plans for the coming week and thought perhaps an interesting topic would be how to express yourself when you like something. So here are some phrases you can try out:

I love it when...

It's awesome when...

I find ... ... very pleasant.

----------

Have a great week!

Ryan

Active forum

I came across this forum http://www.usingenglish.com the other day. It is a great resource and is always active with both teachers and students. If you have any English related questions, check it out!

Ryan

Some new updates

Sorry again for the lack of updates. I wrote and recorded a few new lessons today and will get them up after work this evening.

Ryan

IELTS page up

I have finally put together a page dedicated to IELTS prep. There is not much on it now, but I will get some more vids up this weekend. Check it out at - http://www.ielts-ielts.com

Good luck!

Ryan

I love Shanghai

Beautiful day here in Shanghai! Going to hit the bund (Shanghai waterfront) later

Hope you are having a nice day, too

Ryan

Upcoming topics...

Thanks to those of you who sent me the kind comments (you know who you are).

I am running dry on audio lesson ideas, so if you can think of any interesting topics, pass them my way!

I just finished a small article on the comic book character Tintin (will record, edit and upload it tomorrow).

Wan an (Goodnight)

PS - Spring has finally arrived in Shanghai!

A few small updates...

I am sorry that I have not been posting new lessons as regularly as I should. I have been trying to make some small changes to the website. Tonight, I will be posting:

- a link to an English forum on Alibaba.com that I frequent (visit often). So if you would like to interact with me and some other great English teachers, check it out!

- a new audio lesson

- a new game lesson

All the best!

Ryan

New lesson posted

Just posted a lesson about the world's wealthiest women. It is 6:15 am here in Shanghai, and I am going to bed. :D

I wanted to get a few game posts up and an extra post, but it is just too late. I do not have any classes booked tomorrow, so I should have time to do it then.

Goodnight

My first blog post...ever!

Hi, this is Ryan from EnglishRyan.com. I put together this blog so that I could let www.EnglishRyan.com visitors know what was going on with the website and when they can expect posts to occur (and to share a little information about my life in Shanghai) :D

I have been trying to get at least 2 audio posts up every week, one video post every month and random postings in the 'game lessons' and 'extra lessons' sections. Sorry my posts have been a little slow lately. I have been so busy with work and trying to encourage EnglishRyan.com ranking on Google that I have not had much time for anything else (although I did make it to the city of Hang Zhou on the weekend - it was so beautiful!)

Please let me know what you think of the website and what you think could be improved.

Have a great week!

Your friend,

Ryan