Today's best IELTS tip is about how to practise for the IELTS Listening Test whilst you're relaxing.
So, how many of you feel guilty when you're watching TV; 'I should be studying', you think. Now, I'm not going to suggest you spend all of your free time watching TV but I am going to suggest you can make it part of your study plan for the listening test.
If you live in an English-speaking country, make sure you always watch TV in English. I've had too many students over the years who always watch TV from their own country via satellite. Now I understand that this is very comforting and that you want to stay in touch with current affairs and popular culture from your own country but it isn't going to help you very much with your English study.
When watching TV in English, turn on the teletext sometimes so that you can also see the written form of the words you are hearing; a good way to improve your vocabulary. Sometimes it's also a good idea NOT to turn on the teletext so that your comprehension depends totally on your listening skills.
Tryk to watch a variety of programs; documentaries, the news and yes, even soap operas sometimes!
If you don't live in an English-speaking country, you can follow the above tips if you have access to satellite TV.
Another ways to improve your listening skills is to watch movies on DVD; make sure you turn on the English language version; subtitles (in English) are also a good idea. You can also access movies and TV programs in English on the internet.
I don't particularly watch much TV but when I was living in Italy and Germany, I watched a lot! The main reasons for this was that when I first moved ot those countries, I didn't really have any friends :-( and then I realised how useful it was for practising my Italian and German!
For speaking test tips, why not download my free IELTS Speaking report; Speaking Test Tips from an IELTS Tutor. I'm sure you'll find it useful!
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Here’s to the best IELTS score possible!
Alanna
As a nonnative speaker, I swear by American cartoons as the one of the biggest influences on my ability to use English. So your post has a lot of truth to it.
ReplyDeleteHere's another listening tip that's helpful. http://www.passieltshigher.com/ielts-listening-test-whats-involved