A student preparing for an English language test like the IELTS has to attain a certain score on reading, writing, speaking and listening portions of the test.  Preparation for the IELTS can use several approaches discussed below (and there are others obviously I don’t know about).  For speaking practice, check out my blog post on that topic https://www.englishtutortoronto.net/post/preparation-exercise-for-speaking-tests-for-celpip-ielts-toefl-etc . You can take a similar app

I once spent several months with one student reading  A Midsummer Night’s Dream with one student as practice for analyzing Shakespeare. We didn’t rely on any outside notes or annotations. The goal was to use the text and only the text for comprehension. We read it in short sections, then tried to understand what the text meant. When we failed at understanding, we made notes of which lines in the scene made no sense, and then we kept reading. The next session, we came back to

Every ESL student struggles to comprehend English grammar and its application. Understanding 12 types of verb tense (I go to the store; I went to the store; I am going to the store;  I have gone to the store; I will go to the store; I will have gone to the store; I was going to the store; I had gone to the store; I will be going to the store; I have been going to the store; I had been going to the store; I will have been going to the store) and the subtle differences in their

Most ESL students that I’ve worked with start conversations with me during our consultation with “I need to improve my English speaking,” and then proceed to explain in detail and with complete coherence their issues at work that require them to speak better English. It is a strange situation when people whose language fluency is impressively good reach out for tutoring because they perceive their fluency to be poor.  Speech requires confidence, so students should practice bu

One way that I like to teach reading and writing skills is to assign ESL students (or really any student type - children, teens, post-secondary learners) different readings so that they can learn to write in that category genre.  There’s a variety of writing categories and genres that are part of them. Fiction as a category breaks down into short stories/flash fiction, novels/novellas, plays, comics/graphic novels, and poems (I may have missed something, but let’s say those a

A few years ago I tutored a grade 9 student in essay writing. I asked him to write narrative essays, persuasive essays, expository essays, and literary analysis essays on different subjects. After every completed essay, we would talk about the principles of good writing based on rubrics and essay samples I found online. I’d point out where I thought I saw deficiencies in his writing. Then I asked him if he’d like to try again or move on to a different essay type. Sometimes, h

A few years ago I tutored a grade 10 student who was in regular English classes but didn’t grow up in Canada. His class was working on reading indigenous literature, and we read Dead White Writer on the Floor (for his class) which featured some stories about residential schools and various indigenous film characters. For additional homework, I asked him to watch parts of shows and films (I gave him YouTube clips or links to access this media) that featured the characters from

As a student in high school, I remember submitting an assignment for a social science class and receiving a barely passing grade on it. I had spent a ton of time looking at it. It came back with lots of comments. I don’t recall reading them or understanding them. I only recall feeling like trying was pointless. That was in grade 9. There were many times throughout my time in high school and university where I completed assignments, did poorly and didn’t take the time to revie

Teachers use a combination of their assignment criteria and a rubric in order to grade you. Part of doing an assignment should always be analyzing the elements on this rubric.  A rubric accomplishes two things: it reminds a student of the basic writing principles necessary to achieve strong writing, and it provides information about a teacher’s specific essay requirements. If something seems ambiguously written on the sheet, the rubric will help a student be more certain abou

Many people (and myself) believe that to become a good writer in a genre, one must first read and analyze texts in that genre for inspiration. In the context of high school, if you want to learn to write good essays, you should first read good essays and analyze them. For me, the two important questions of essay analysis are: 1) what is the author trying to accomplish and 2) what writing techniques are they using to accomplish them. These are questions of theme and literary d

The concept of the 10,000 hour rule is the idea that it takes 10,000 hours of practice in order to become an expert in anything. While the kind of practice a person does matters, the general idea is there: you’re not going to become good at anything without putting some work in.  A lot of students come to tutors seeking answers, and that’s fine, but what is usually lacking is an effort being made to actually learn what they want to study. You want to learn how to improve your

Learners can use podcasts or saved radio recordings to improve their English. These are usually not captioned and don't have visual cues to help learners understand information. Choose an easy to understand podcast to start and work your way up, using Google and Google translate to support listening comprehension as you go along. Reddit can be a great source of information. Check out this thread for some podcast ideas - https://www.reddit.com/r/podcasts/comments/qi4shj/podcas

One fun way to improve listening skills, comprehension and appreciation of the English language is by listening to music. Listening to music with and without written lyrics is a fun, engaging way to learn new genres, improve attention. Just listen to a song, find lyrics online, and try to analyze them with Google's help. Example: Sail on Sailor ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx6dgEgbMNU ) Lyrics: https://genius.com/The-beach-boys-sail-on-sailor-lyrics Activity Listen to th

One way to prepare for English listening tests or study English is by using listening tests for IELTS or TOEFL on certain websites, YouTube or sites like https://elllo.org/english/levels/index.htm or https://www.esl-lounge.com/student/listening-intermediate.php which have collections of speech samples for learners to listen and answer questions about. These are great for honing a learner's sense of attention and teaching new vocabulary.

One way to improve English listening comprehension is to media. News, documentaries, science fiction and fantasy films, and others are sources of cultural knowledge that can enrich a learner's appreciation of English and the culture in which the language is spoken. Media exposes a learner to idioms and ideas at the same time as it builds listening comprehension. Watch media and take notes, watch it with and without captions, go over sections that you don't understand and use

For students seeking to learn basic English expression, I think that there are some very accessible YouTube videos out there that can help. This channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm65tx242MU in particular is quite good. Simply the channel and try to understand what the characters are saying (using Google translate to help along the way).

Some students are interested in improving their pronunciation, and for this issue, I believe that YouTube has some interesting channels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9_aaq2v3yc&list=PLZ44c0WXiNvTzDOmejVa9ee5c_DkT73cI . Go through the exercises on this channel or others like it to improve pronunciation. Also, Google translator has a function where you can type a word in and it's read out loud. Compare Google's voice pronunciation to your own to match the two up.

All ESL language tests with a speech component follow a similar process. The examiner asks the test-taker (learner/student) a question or series of questions or asks them to engage in a conversation with them, and then once the speech portion is over, the examiner will review the test-taker's answers on a rubric similar to https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/ielts_speaking_band_descriptors.pdf Test-takers interested in improving their English should check

English speaking is complicated by anxiety felt by the speaker. Many ESL individuals are perfectly competent at communication but worry about looking bad in the eyes of native English speakers. The purpose of this speech roleplaying exercise is to reduce a learner's anxiety when speaking. Activity (done in pairs) Choose an emotionally challenging scenario for learner A: Examples Apologizing to someone for something you did wrong Talking to a stranger in public and trying to s

Learning English can be exciting and frustrating at the same time—especially when small grammar details change the whole meaning of a...