(47 of 50) MODERN LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) & TAIWAN: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT

Analysing a Seriously Fake Teacher (i)

In the previous post, I mentioned about the worst sort of fake, who used the system described in Post 27. He operated via PTT for years, and managed to get huge amounts of money from naïve and gullible students. And he is still operating. But hopefully you are not gullible. Hopefully you know the signs. Well, now it’s time to analyse. Let’s put this fake through the ‘signs of being fake/not-real’ test and find out about the true person (and his DNA: hence, the picture above).

The Six Signs Of Being Fake/Not-Real

1. The teacher speaks mostly in Chinese.

This teacher spoke totally in Chinese. He actually didn’t even know English. This is truly unbelievable. An English teacher who couldn’t speak English! Wow!

2. The teacher uses memorisation, or use books and material that do this.

This teacher taught totally via memorisation, and used material (downloaded from the Internet) to do this. Student just copied down speaking and writing answers, and he told them what to copy.

3. The teacher/school makes claims of ‘guaranteed scores’.

This teacher every class guaranteed IELTS 7, and just kept guaranteeing it endlessly to make the students pay more money.

4. The teacher talks and ‘explains’ all the time in class.

This teacher did exactly that all the time – just explained (in Chinese) to the students (who then had to memorise).

5. The teacher advertises, ‘You only talk to me’.

Since the teacher couldn’t speak English, he probably didn’t do this.

6. The teacher claims (s)he can predict the answers in the IELTS test (whatever that means).

I have no information about this.

So, this person had at least four of the signs of being fake/not-real. Remember, just …

… one of these signs means they are a fake!

This person had four! The fact that he is a fake should have been immediately realised by everyone. The trouble is, so many students do not care about signs.

Okay, why don’t we continue the analysis, but this time use the ‘worrying signs’?

The Six Signs Which Should Make You (Very) Worried

1. The school or teacher does not allow observation.

I’m not sure if the teacher allowed this or not.

2. The school or teacher only uses a whiteboard.

This person didn’t even use a whiteboard. He just handed out downloaded material from the Internet, which he got students to memorise.

3. The IELTS course is short (or very short).

I’m not sure about this. While the students were willing to pay money, he just continued his fake teaching.

4. The teacher corrects IELTS Writing Assignments in class (and makes you write in class).

This teacher didn’t even correct! Students just had to memorise!

5. The teacher shows no TEFL qualifications, or no proof of TEFL qualifications (or just claims that they got an IELTS 9).

This person had no TEFL qualifications, and showed none.

6. The teacher says he is a ‘former’ IELTS examiner.

No, because he is Taiwanese, so no one could believe it.

So, this person had at least three of the worrying signs (2, 4, and 5). Remember, just one of these signs means you should be worried. This person had three!

Let’s summarise. The fake had four signs of being fake/not-real, and three signs that you should be worried. Remember, one sign of being fake/not-real means the teacher is a fake/not-real, and any worrying sign means that you should start investigating carefully.

Here’s my point.

Everyone! Put your school and your teacher through this test. Apply the ‘signs of being fake/not-real’ and the ‘signs you should be worried’ to EVERY teacher of English/IELTS you have!

If everyone did this, most of the schools and teachers would quickly go broke, and the ‘bushiban’ industry would eventually have to respond. Quality education, true learning, and the noble spirit (of actually helping others) would eventually emerge, and become the ruling ethic of the teaching industry. Wow! Wouldn’t that be amazing! And only you, the student, can make it happen!

Can you do this? Hmmmmmm.

Anyhow, the next post will summarise all the signs of being fake/not-real and signs which should worry you.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• to be naïve (adj)
• to be gullible (adj)
• an analysis (n)
• to go broke (v)
• ethic (n)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .

How to Use the Signs of Being Fake/Not-real & Signs of Worry

A Little Background

Do you remember what CELTA stands for? It stands for the Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults, and it is the basic TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) qualification.

Here’s an interesting fact. I am a CELTA-tutor, but I can’t work as a CELTA tutor in Taiwan. This is because Taiwan does not have any CELTA providers. It is impossible for anyone to do a CELTA course in this country. But you can do this course in Korea and Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. But not here in Taiwan.

When I arrived back in Taiwan 10 years ago, I contacted the British Council, where there was another CELTA tutor. This was because, to provide CELTA courses, you need two tutors, so I spoke to this other tutor about whether we could start CELTA courses here in Taiwan.

He told me that British Council had been considering this, but had realised that there was too little demand in this country for such a course. In other words, there would not be enough people interested in doing the course. A CELTA training centre would simply lose money, and eventually have to close through lack of customers.

Why is this so? The answer: because in this country, no one needs qualifications to teach. Students don’t ask about this, and students don’t care. Students don’t educate themselves about the nature of real language teaching, and don’t demand better from their teachers. Most students expect memorisation, are happy with memorisation, and anybody walking on the street or feeding pigeons in the park or sitting on a bus can give memorisation, so these people are happy as well.

Unfortunately, that is Taiwan. And that’s the background (and the problem) to everything, including the following warning story.

A Story // The Risks for You

Let’s put the signs of being fake/not-real and worry into practice. To do this, I need to first give a story of one egregious fake. He operated via PTT for years, and he used the method which I described in Posts 26 and 27. Go back right now and read these posts. That is exactly what he did.

I realised immediately that this person was a fake, and possibly a dangerous individual, and possibly mentally sick. But it is not my role to say anything; students have to learn for themselves. I did give my general warnings on my pixnet (which, unfortunately, so few students read) about how it is risky (particularly for young women) to visit total strangers in coffee shops, and just give them money, and that you should always check for the credentials of anyone who claims to know about IELTS. But unfortunately it never stops anyone.

The fake operated for years, and certainly made a huge amount of money. Then, one student went on PTT to say the truth about him. This student also mentioned his dangerous behavior, and possible mental sickness. Then another student added her comments, and then another and another, and suddenly this fake teacher was exposed.

By the way, this fake teacher re-emerged on PTT a few months ago (after a year of being quiet after his exposure); however, other PTT users immediately began warning people about him. However, I still feel he’ll be able to trick more students. He goes on other PTT boards, plays other roles, and keeps trying. And students will probably keep falling for it.

And that is the trouble. Students don’t think about the signs of being fake/not-real, and the signs you should be worried about. So, in the next few posts let’s show how these signs can be practically applied by using them to analyse this fake.

I’ll do that in the next post.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• to be egregious (adj)
• to emerge (v)
• exposure (n)
• a role (n)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .

作者samfff (山姆先生)

看板IELTS

標題

時間Wed Jul 4 13:23:19 2018

雅思一戰7.0

成績: L:8.5 S: 7.0 R: 6.5 W: 6.0

過去背景: TOEIC 925

補習: Andrew Weekday Courses (W&L 和 R&S都有上)

準備時間: 3-4週 (不包含補習的時候)

地點:台北車站附近

課程基本介紹: 主要將聽說讀寫分成聽&寫和說&讀兩個，可以依個人需求選擇想要上的課

程。Andrew是一個很用心的老師，從他的ppt可以看出他真的在這項考試中專研許久。老

師的課程很有規劃，為實用導向，基本上就是跟著老師的步調走，上課風格不無聊不會想

睡覺(我當時班上的同學沒人上課睡覺過)，純正澳洲口音(現在在外商公司實習，發現澳

洲同事也是這個口音)，平時會出一些作業，包含作文以及做一些 research。整體而言我

還蠻喜歡的，但為期一個月左右每天上課的確有些累人，建議同學如果時間允許且四科都

要補的話可以第一個月W&L第二個月R&S或相反，這樣可以讓自己在這段時間一直保持語感

，也不會那麼累，但一切還是要看自己的學習方式及時間規劃，以上建議僅供參考。

聽: 聽力的部分我個人認為其實挺看自己本身的實力，能準備的也就是熟悉考試方式，老

師在這個部分沒有著墨太多我想也是因為這個原因。在準備期間我在通勤時不聽音樂改聽

BBC Radio (iOS app名稱: iPlayer radio)，為英式口音，廣播內容主要有新聞、音樂、

時事探討以及民眾call in等。新聞的部分語速較快，比較適合英文程度較好的人們，新

聞每隔一段時間就會重複講述，第一次聽不懂還可以聽第二次。民眾call in會結合一些

時事和當地發生的事，我自己很喜歡收聽這個系列，本身模式就很像雅思的口說考試(只

是問題不一樣)，可以從中聽到一些他人回答的方式，包括停頓、語法、個人習慣甚麼的

，還蠻有用的。

說: 口說Andrew會教很多實用的技巧，像是一些轉折詞、發語詞(開頭)和一些語調的起伏

，目的就是要讓你講話更自然。問題主要是依據上課用的課本和ppt，而回答的方式則依

據個人經驗，沒有制式答案。老師很注重誠實原則，他認為只要講得多，講得流利，自然

而然同學便可以證明其英文能力。口說的準備我有另外下載雅思哥(與app名稱同名)，這

是班上一位同學推薦給我的，他說他的那場考試有八成的題目一樣，網路上也有不少人說

題目很準，然而不幸如我，我的那場口試題目並沒有太多雷同之處。

讀: 有爬過文或是看過題目的人應該有注意到，雅思的閱讀跟我們平常所熟悉的選擇題或

多益題目十分的不同。Reading的部分老師會教一些答題技巧，讓學生可以快速的找到答

案。我個人覺得老師的方式還蠻不錯的，在答題上真的有比較快一些，大多數人在應用這

個模式答對率也都有所提高。在閱讀的準備上，我就是一直練習題目，熟悉考試方式並且

計時，然後盡可能的背一些單字。

寫: 最後，想必這個項目是許多人的罩門吧！其實我本身也不例外。Andrew在這個部分有

非常完整的架構供學生可以在短時間內寫出一個像樣的作文，詳細的架構我就不在這邊多

做透露。在上課期間老師會出作文作業讓我們回家邊寫邊計時，並且在下一次繳交讓老師

批改，老師批改的很詳細，各種錯誤包括單字、文法、流暢、邏輯都會涉略，而他會要求

學生一定要更正過，且要先自己想過，不會的再問他。我還蠻認同這個做法，因為唯有自

己想過才能真的有印象。課程結束後，我自己還有多寫了約20篇的作文，題目主要就是IE

LTS Cambridge裡面的題目，但礙於時間緊迫，我沒有請人批改，所以主要就是在練習在

有限的時間內寫出超過規定字數的作文。課後我有私底下問老師有沒有幫忙改作文的服務

，是有的但要收費，我自己覺得收費稍稍貴了點，但我想也因為老師說會改的很詳細才會

收這個費用吧！

個人心得: 當初大三補雅思是想提早準備這門考試，好讓自己在未來申請國外研究所時不

會全部的事情都攪在一起，然而計畫趕不上變化，後來因為要申請學校交換學生計畫所以

原本從容的計畫變得十分倉促，在這樣的狀況下於是選擇短時間爆發式的準備，不到一個

月的準備時間老實說真的蠻趕的，畢竟有四個子項目要做準備。整體而言，我想以「為自

己塑造全英環境」來概之。除了跟家人朋友傳訊息、講話或是出門買東西，其他事情我能

把語言改成英文就用英文，以休閒娛樂為例，那段時間我只聽英文歌，休閒時看國外電影

或是劇集，且能的話就不開字幕或是開英文字幕，一陣子之後，你會發現你腦中會開始用

英文思考，所謂「語感」就是這樣獲得的。當然，我必須要說，每個人的準備方式可能會

因為程度、時間安排、習慣等個人因素有所不同，同一個方式絕對不會適用於全部人，這

也是為什麼要在文中提及過去背景及準備時間之類的重要指標。

另一個部分就是考試當下啦，我是去TICC考場應試，考試的規格真的很像電影模範生裡面

的考試場景。只能說「緊張」非常礙事，那些說考這種攸關未來且花了七千塊的考試不會

緊張是騙人的，但同時也要知悉，緊張會讓自己不能發揮得完全，我自己就深受其害。期

許未來考試的人們，做好心態上的調適，不管甚麼方式，真的要試著讓自己「盡量」撇開

緊張焦慮的情緒。最後，希望這篇花了一個早上打的文章能對讀者多少有實質上的幫助，

也祝福要考雅思的同學能夠順利過關！

————————

（以上為轉發的原文）

第一次發文+代PO獻給學長了

—

Sign That You Should Be Worried 6

The teacher says he is a ‘former’ IELTS examiner.

This is one which only western ‘teachers’ can use, not Taiwanese ones. And it’s becoming more common now. ‘Former IELTS examiners’ are now appearing more frequently. It’s really strange. Yes, your teacher says “I was a former IELTS examiner”, or the school says, “This teacher is a former IELTS examiner.” And that means you have to pay a lot more money for them. Because they are ‘former IELTS examiners’.

Hmmmm. Here’s the first question.

Did you ask for proof of this ‘former IELTS examiner’ status?

For example, you could ask for that teacher’s past IELTS monitoring records. You could ask for the letter from Cambridge informing that person he had passed the IELTS examiner–training course. If that person is saying the truth, then he or she should not mind doing this at all.

But even before you do that, ask yourself: why would anyone allow themselves to be a former examiner? Staying as a current and active IELTS examiner …

1. is good for business,
2. keeps the teacher in touch with IELTS,
3. gives the teacher the opportunity to earn money on Thursdays and Saturdays (when IELTS testing takes place),
4. earns respect from other people, especially students (hence Point 1).

Any serious professional and qualified teacher of IELTS Preparation stays as an examiner for all these reasons. So, here’s the second question.

So, why would any real IELTS examiner not stay an examiner?

The answer is, to become an IELTS examiner, you need to have REAL TEFL qualifications, and a very high standard of English. Cambridge will demand proof of this. This means that many ‘teachers’ out there could never become examiners, because they have no real TEFL qualifications. But anyone can say they were ‘former’ examiners, right?

So, when you hear this, it is a very bad sign, and you should immediately ask for proof of the claim.

Why do these people say this?

The answer: because so many students just believe what they hear, and pay them much more money.

The next few posts will show you how to use all the signs of being fake/not-real and reasons to worry in a practical way. It will begin with the story about a horribly fake teacher, and how he tricked everyone for years. You should know about it.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• status (n)
• to be reputable (adj)
• proof (n)
• to be solid (adj)
• to monitor (v)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .

(44 of 50) Six Signs Which Should Make You Worried About a ‘Teacher’: 5^th Sign [Part ii]

Let’s finish the 5^th sign: about the ‘I got IELTS 9 and I’ll show you how to do it’ person.

Here’s the truth about these magic ‘IELTS 9’ people.

IELTS is a test of your English ability, and someone who gets a high score gets that score because of their English ability. This ability doesn’t rub off magically onto other people. You have to work on that ability yourself. Whether your teacher claims to have IELTS 9 or not is irrelevant.

The teacher who claims, ‘I got IELTS 9 and I’ll show you how to do it’ is probably lying. You need to ASK FOR PROOF. If they can prove it, that’s a nice start. At least you know they are honest people. However, if they show no proof, they are people you should avoid. They only want your money, and they know how to get it, right? You, the student, run a very grave risk by listening to them.

However, as I mentioned before, it can get much worse than this. Remember, these ‘I got IELTS 9; I’ll show you how to do it’ people are usually not trained TEFL teachers. You give them all the money, and these people, in order to prove they are worth your attention, recommend dubious IELTS sources, bad advice and embarrassing ‘tricks’, and weird and unnatural spoken and written memorisation that they claimed ‘worked’, all of which can take your IELTS mark down!

Real Qualifications!

So, having an IELTS 9 (even if it is true) is not a ‘qualification’ for anything. The actual qualifications should be based on teaching, and it should be based on ….

Teaching English as a foreign/second language = TEFL or TESL

Of course, the self-proclaimed ‘IELTS 9’ teachers do not have these. But TEFL qualifications are a start. They are not a guarantee that the teacher is good, since many teachers …

• get the TEFL qualification from bad institutes [by the way, you can download them now!].
• get the TEFL qualification, then ignore everything they have learnt.
• get the qualification – for example, a Masters in TEFL – from a reputable institute, but don’t try hard at all during their studies, don’t learn much, but pass the course because, sadly, that is the way universities are, these days.
• lie about their qualification. They simply invent it all (‘degree in TEFL philosophy from Harvard’). This is happening a lot now. That’s why you should ask for proof.

Having said that, if the teacher has, and can show, TEFL qualifications – such as the Cambridge CELTA certificate – from a reputable source, then that’s a solid beginning. You need at least such a beginning. A better beginning is when they show proof. But most teachers show nothing.

This wouldn’t matter so much if there was a culture of honesty here, but unfortunately the motivation of the ‘bushiban’ industry here is that of a business, not that of education. In other words, their goal is to make money, not educate you – and thus, the industry uses anything to convince you to part with your money.

But I’ll say again something I have said before. Teaching English is a very special skill, requiring very special training and a lot of experience. Here are three examples to think about.

(1) If you had a medical problem, would you go to person selling sandwiches on the street asking for treatment?

(2) If you had a bad toothache, would you go to the person in the next apartment asking for him to look at it?

(3) If you needed financial advice, would you go to a person feeding pigeons in the local park?

The problem in Taiwan is that the (1) person selling sandwiches on the street, the (2) person in the next apartment, and the (3) person feeding pigeons in the local park can all ‘teach’ IELTS. They can even claim, ‘I have IELTS 9 and I’ll show you how to do it,’ and get away with it.

The weird thing is, none of these people have to prove anything at all. They just claim everything.

Why do these people do this?

The answer: because so many students don’t seem to care, and just give them lots of money.

The next post will consider the 6^th and final sign about a teacher which should worry you.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• to be grave (adj)
• to be reputable (adj)
• proof (n)
• to be solid (adj)
• to be financial (adj)
• a pigeon (n)
• to be weird (adj)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .

Six Signs Which Should Make You Worried About a ‘Teacher’: 5^th Sign [Part i]

So, let’s give the next sign which should make you worried. This sign comes in two parts. Here is the first.

5^th Sign That Should Make You Worried About a Teacher

The teacher claims they are IELTS 9 – and that’s the only ‘qualification’ they have.

[There’s no TEFL qualifications, or no proof of TEFL qualifications].

This is the old trick, and it’s recently come back again.

“I have IELTS 9. I’ll tell you how I did it. And by the way, if you pay me lots of money per hour, I teach you the ‘IELTS 9’ method. It worked for me, so it can work for you.”

They can reinforce this with,

• IELTS 9 seminars,
• IELTS 9 strategies,
• IELTS 9 books,
• IELTS 9 tips, and so on.

There are two problems with this.

Problem 1

Talk to any real IELTS examiner, and they will admit they give IELTS 9 once every few years, or simply never at all. IELTS 9 is a score native speakers of English might be able to get; not Taiwanese students. Even native speakers of English would probably never get 9 for IELTS Writing. [Writing is difficult!]

So, when the teacher says, “I got IELTS 9” or the school advertises, “All of our teachers are IELTS 9”, we have the usual problem: are you sure they are saying the truth? Thus, there are two important things which should happen.

• The ‘teacher’ who claims ‘IELTS 9’ should prove this claim.
• You, the student, should ask for this proof.

A simple photograph of the IELTS certificate, clearly showing the name, is good enough proof. But the teachers who claim IELTS 9 achievements (and it is happening right now on PTT) never prove it. They just claim it. And no one asks them to prove it. And that’s the problem.

Time to think everyone; think to think very very carefully.

Problem 2

Even if someone does have IELTS 9, does that mean anything? It actually means nothing that matters to you. This links to a two very early post I made on this blog, on the 4^th and 5^th of January 2017. They were called:

“I got IELTS 8; I’ll show you how to do it”.

At that time, people were claiming that they had IELTS 8. Well, now they have raised it to IELTS 9. You could go back and read these original posts, but I’ll show a shorter version right now.

Begin

Everyone has a right to proudly mention their success in IELTS. They have a right to speculate about why they got it, but that’s all. It is always just speculation. Remember that!

But whatever band score is achieved, it begins to get risky when the student says,

“It’s really easy. I just used …[dubious source] and [dubious source]”

… and it gets even riskier when they start saying,

“You only have to do [strange piece of advice]”,

… but when the student or a school starts saying,

“I can teach you all how to do it” 

… your reply should be simple: it doesn’t make any sense.

And when they begin to say,

            “Pay me lots of money to show you how to get IELTS 9.”

… your reply should be (as I said in Part i), “Before I give you any money, prove to me that you did get IELTS 9.”

Time to think

If I, Teacher Andrew, did the IELTS Test, I’d get IELTS 9 for Speaking, Reading, Listening, and probably for Writing, too. Can this ‘IELTS 9’ rub off onto you? Can I show you how to do it? Did I get this IELTS 9 from a secret ‘method’? A sneaky ‘trick’? A magic ‘key’? A special set of ‘IELTS Vocabulary’? Was it because of some discrete piece of knowledge which someone can easily pass onto you? Think about it. How did I get this IELTS 9? Could I put on my website and all my advertising,

Teacher Andrew will show you the famous IELTS 9 method?

Ummm, what was my method? Well, having spent the first 27 year of my life growing up in Australia, studying six years at primary school, six years at high school, and four years at university, probably helped a bit. Then the masters degree, and the predilection of mine to constantly read and study, and the many teacher-training courses I have done over the years probably helped. Of course, over 20 years of working as a teacher with the English language may have assisted just a little. And the eight books I have written (in English) and an ongoing interest in literature helped.

So how could you achieve what I would achieve in the IELTS test – an IELTS 9?

Well, one way to achieve that score is to simply do what I did – grow up and educate yourself in an English-speaking country for over 20 years! In short, become a native-speaker of English – and that’s the IELTS 9 method.

The next post will conclude the ‘I got IELTS 9 and I’ll show you how to do it’ issue.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• a seminar (n)
• to speculate (v)
• to be dubious (adj)
• to be sneaky (adj)
• discrete (adj)
• a predilection (n)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .

Six Signs Which Should Make You Worried About a ‘Teacher’: 4^th Sign

So, let’s continue with the next sign which should make you worried.

Sign That You Should Be (Very) Worried 4

The teacher corrects IELTS Writing Assignments in class (and gets you writing in class)

This is just inexcusable! It should NEVER happen. Remember, I’m a teacher trainer, and anyone who did this in a training course would fail immediately and be told NEVER do this again. Here are three reasons.

1. The teacher’s job is to correct outside of class. Class time is YOUR time, and you have paid for it. You are supposed to be learning in class, not sitting there waiting for something to happen.
2. The correction would be sloppy, superficial, and bad!
3. The correction would probably just be giving the answer to a few grammar, vocabulary, and structural mistakes. This correct doesn’t give you a chance to get involved with the grammar. [The CELTA method is to error-code the writing thoroughly, then give a planned and prepared feedback stage in class].

You as a student should never accept this! Correction should always be done carefully, thoroughly, and properly, at the teacher’s desk, and feedback is done in class. So, before you enter into any course, check the facts: ask about whether the correction is done in class. If it is, walk away.

Graded Correction? Huh?

On a related issues, some teachers charge for ‘special’ or ‘graded’ correction. In this system, you …

• pay a price for ‘basic’ correction,
• pay more for ‘better’ correction,
• pay even more for ‘full/superior’ correction.

This also is a worrying sign – a very worrying sign. A good teacher corrects everything fully. A good teacher could never accept ‘basic’ correction, leaving many serious errors in grammar, word-choice, and structure uncorrected. The instinct of a real teacher is to correct; the instinct of a businessperson and a fraud is to extract as much money out of you as they can.

So, think carefully about paying for this ‘service’. The very fact that it is offered is a very worrying sign.

Writing in Class?

On another related issues, should the teacher make you write in class? Hmmm. It depends, but if the teacher is getting you to write whole IELTS Task Ones or Task Twos, you should complain immediately (or better still, ask for your money back).

Again, getting students to write in class is very time-consuming, and it must necessary mean that the teacher will correct your writing (in class) afterwards – which is more worrying.

In short, writing in class is something lazy teachers do to fill in hours of teaching time (which you are paying for, and almost certainly paying far far too much!). You need that time to work on grammar, vocabulary, structure, and skills-work (such as pairwork speaking)!

It’s a very worrying sign, wouldn’t you say?

We can move on to consider the 5^thsign which should worry you, but I’ll do that in the next post.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• to be inexcusable (adj)
• to be sloppy (adj)
• to be superficial (adj)
• a fraud (n)
• to extract (v)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .

Six Signs Which Should Make You Worried About a ‘Teacher’: 3^rd Sign

So, after having carefully looked at the use of whiteboards (the 2nd worrying sign about a ‘teacher’), let’s continue with the next sign which should make you worried.

Sign That You Should Be Worried 3

The IELTS course is short (or very short).

You might read the advertisement: ‘Our IELTS Writing Course is only 12 hours long: quick, cheap, and convenient for you.’

Yes, quick, convenient … but cheap? Hmmmm? And what do you learn? Hmmmm. It’s time to start thinking everyone. You should realise that very short IELTS Preparation courses …

1  might seem cheap, but the courses can be very costly per hour,

2  must necessarily provide limited preparation for the IELTS test.

3  are often a trick to get you in the school. After you do this first short course, you are told that you need to do the ‘other’ courses to be fully prepared for IELTS. And those courses all have catchy IELTS names to attract you. For example, the …

• ‘find the answer course’,
• ‘IELTS advanced course’,
• ‘IELTS grammar course’,
• and the ‘IELTS vocabulary course’.

Hmmmm. So, that ‘IELTS course’ wasn’t as short as you had thought, right? Or as cheap! In fact, it is now incredibly expensive, long, and at the end of it all ….. well, many students have come to me admitting that they spend months of their time, wasted tens of thousand of NT, and learnt nothing. And they don’t get the IELTS mark they wanted. And they admit that they were tricked.

These IELTS courses are getting shorter and shorter – because students want it cheaper and cheaper, and easier and easier, and quicker and quicker. And it allows schools to just keep raising the hourly rate (but students don’t seem to want to do the calculations: [remember, just divide the total price by the number of teaching hours you get]).

12-hour IELTS Course! Wow, so quick! Covers all four skills, and I can finish it in no time. But wait a minute! It costs $12,000 NT. Huh? That’s $1,000 NT per hour! And they have over 20 students in the class! So …. how much is that teacher earning per hour? Wowwwww!!!!

And who is that ‘teacher’, anyway? What does (s)he claim such special knowledge about IELTS? Where does his/her expertise come from? They are just Taiwanese people, and not IELTS examiners.

And at the end of the course, you might be thinking, …

• Actually, I don’t really know much about IELTS.
• That ‘find the answer’ course actually didn’t help me find the answers. It just confused me more.
• Now I have to pay for the ‘special IELTS course’ – another $12,000. And then there’s another ‘IELTS Vocabulary Course’ – so, that will be over $30,000, and every course finishes so quickly (and that teacher is getting rich for doing very little indeed).

Now, let’s compare this to my IELTS courses at my studio. The ‘total’ preparation for all skills (Writing, Reading, Listening, and Speaking) consists of over 80 hours of direct teaching with the teacher, given in 25 individual lessons. In addition to this, there is homework in every lesson, consisting of Reading (of passages and tips from the book), IELTS Writing Assignments (9 pieces), and vocabulary exercises (from all the books), as well as independent research. This is a full and comprehensive course. There are no tricks or lies here. And you have to start at the beginning, since (particularly in the teaching of IELTS Writing), every class builds on the previous one.

It’s time to think, everyone. When a school or teacher offers very short courses, who are they really thinking about: what is good for you, or how to best get your money?

Why do these people do this?

The answer: because so many students like this, and give them lots of money.

The next post will consider the 4^th sign which should worry you.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• to be catchy (adj)
• a calculation (n)
• to divide (v)
• expertise (n)
• to be independent (adj)
• to be comprehensive (adj)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .

作者cindyann (背靠背的溫度)

看板IELTS

標題[心得] 驚喜一戰overall 7

時間Tue Jun 26 01:00:47 2018

感謝前輩提供資源與讀書方法 是時候來回饋惹

文長 以下為個人親身經驗分享 非業配 每個人情況不同 理性勿戰(?)

背景：

學測14 大四畢業多益裸考800 (聽力滿分)

國小到高中每星期都跟外籍老師接觸，習慣國外教學方式與外國人溝通

出國自助旅行可跟hostel室友聊半小時以上

但大學科系及工作都不常使用英文

弱點是單字量嚴重不足 字超級容易拼錯 閱讀速度不快 文法使用未達精確

準備時間：

全職準備三個月，含Andrew平日密集班五周

(只有上課時比較認真@@，其他時間其實頗鬆散，每天讀書時間不到6小時)

教材： Andrew教材ALL(R+S+W1+W2+Real test 1)+劍8-13

考試時間：

2018/6/6&7 北科集思口試+台大二活筆試

L:8/R:6/W:6.5/S:7/O:7

考題比想像中難不少

聽力填空字不友善

閱讀看不懂的生難字也多(但也許只是我單字太廢)

大作的題目不好發揮，寫完剛好時間壓線

口試更是碰上久仰大名超壓分亞裔眼鏡女考官…Orz

考完當下真的覺得自己GG要再考一次

所以對我來說這成績真的非常驚喜!!!QQQQQ

習慣外師上課風格與方法

對台灣填鴨式死背模板的學校跟補習文化頗抗拒

(如果你推崇背模板看到這建議可以直接左轉出去慢走不送)

看到版上推薦考官Andrew老師認真心動。

不過為了公平客觀起見(順便讓自己死心?)

還是跑了各大補習班詢問費用與試聽(菁O、時O、戴O、信義區的BO)

也去了大名鼎鼎菁O某老師2018年自己出來新開的家教班試聽(試聽還要收費 傻眼)

但發現以上幾乎都只是為了達到考試標準的「教你如何短期應考」標準台式準備方式，

實在不合胃口

最後聽完教概念與原理的Andrew老師決定報名平日密集全科班，

希望藉由每天接觸英文提升整體語感跟強迫自己讀書

另外報名的原因是因為老師的背景有說服到我

畢竟考官才會知道考官要看什麼/聽什麼

也提醒大家不要被很看起來很會行銷很會攏絡人心的老師呼攏

要先當鍵盤柯南查老師資歷什麼的

(只查學生評價會被工讀生洗得很慘，還好只被騙500)

好的老師讓你一次7，壞的老師讓你森77

不要浪費一堆錢跟寶貴時間RRR

======================以下讀書方法=========================

聽

沒特別看影集或電影

只聽BBC 6 min English，很生活化超推，絕對是考官想聽的內容

中午聽LBC Steve Allen瘋狂嘴砲

他講話超快超北七超靠杯，聽懂他靠杯你就可以聽懂考題(?)

當時剛好遇上皇室婚禮，聽他跟其他LBC主播們各種嘴和酸皇室莫名超紓壓XDD

劍橋題本練習時建議調1.2-1.4倍，多聽幾遍習慣速度，考試會比較適應。

考試寫字跟圈重點不要太快，因為很有可能跳進陷阱裡

題目看不完沒關係，抓關鍵字跟換字很重要

聽的跟看的字很常不一樣，不過一但抓到通常就是答案。

讀

最弱的就是讀，應該是因為單字量很爛看不懂，可能需要跟大家交流閱讀方法(?)

我的問題一直都是寫不完，正式考試時大約猜了10題

練習時準時寫完的次數不多，也很難回去檢查。

Andrew老師的方式是先花時間看文本抓段落大綱跟關鍵字，不要先看題目

這個方法遇到生難字沒這麼多的文本非常有用，可快速抓重點跟答案

但如果遇到看不懂的文本會浪費時間，這種狀況建議當機立斷看題目，不然很傷。

我沒有看其他補充網站，就是一直做劍橋題本而已

做完也沒背裡面的單字，非常懶惰，難怪只有6…QQ

寫

整個課程最推的就是Andrew老師的寫作課，非常有邏輯架構

加上老師本身就是考官，知道考官看的給分重點是什麼，也不是大家說的套模板

比較像是教你釣魚，而不是直接餵給你一堆魚

個人覺得雅思寫作是訓練思考一篇文章如何組成，也就是英文版本的起承轉合

所以知道為何要這樣架構非常重要，背模板以後要怎麼應用到以後論文寫作…?

我是有點難想像拉 哈哈哈

老師改作文非常細心，課堂上也會花時間讓同學訂正

幾個星期內逼你一周交兩三篇大小作文

課程結束突然不用寫的時候大家都瞬間覺得很空虛XD

但要說明，並不是上完課就一定能寫好作文

課的內容非常充實，需要超多時間消化，如果回去不複習幾遍跟練習那就真的等於白上。

當初上完所有課程花了快兩周才把大小作的書嗑完、練習完

無敵紮實，但真的非常有用

這部分也沒有去多補充別的網站或書，完全以老師的教材跟練習劍橋題目為主。

寫作就是瘋狂練習，我最多一天寫4篇，2大2小

大作壓30分鐘內寫完，小作壓15分鐘內寫完(但字都無敵醜)

考試當天因為比較緊張，整整花了20和40分鐘字美美的寫完，完全沒時間檢查

這個故事告訴我們，平常寫快一點很重要!!!

再來就是大作idea比什麼都重要，偏題用字再華麗也不會上7分記住啊大家!!!

最後花了點錢請線上改作文，當初改出來的成績大約都在6-6.5左右

實際考試雖然覺得寫得沒想像中好，但考出來也6.5

覺得滿具參考性的，有需要的可以站內信，可推薦網址，而且一篇不貴，滿划算的。

說

某種程度上算強項，除了文法時態之類的可能會用錯

用字也很日常，一點都不刁鑽或華麗

如果是不敢開口的人，Andrew老師上課會讓同學大量講話，不用怕沒機會練習

而且還會一直換partner，可以聽到超多同學的有趣故事XDD

外國老師的課還有個好處是上課都在學native speaker說話方法、口音跟語調

可能我從小就一直在那樣的環境裡，所以很習慣一些native speaker用語

過去都在台灣體系的同學可以試試全英文上課

不要怕跟老師對話，跟他對話就是在練膽量

你在用全班的上課時間單獨跟native speaker練口說欸，還不快多講一點!!!

也不要怕答錯，大家笑笑就過去了，沒什麼大不了。

唯一美中不足的地方是上課跟同學練習，老師沒辦法個別聽每個人的內容

但還是會點出一些剛剛大家講錯的部分共同學習

所以其實不知道自己到底講對沒

(所以才說要跟老師對話，這樣就會知道自己錯在哪XD)

但實際上考試重要的是敢講、有自信、不怯場

文法正確性跟複雜的單字倒不是這麼重要

幾乎都在跟考官閒話家常，跟在國外hostel的室友聊天感覺差不多

她有笑著點頭回覆跟附和我的回答，至少讓我考試當下安心一點 哈哈哈

再來就是建議大家絕對不要背整段寫下來的答案，口語跟寫作是兩種不同的用法

只要記列點式的大綱就好，例如有趣事件發生的人事時地物即可

因為每次講一定都不一樣，用背的考官絕對看得出來

而且以後跟別人聊天你根本沒有稿子可以背啊!!!

考試就當跟考官聊天，輕鬆一點，建議誠實回答

當下掰從來沒經歷過的事件用中文就會卡了，還要轉成英文更是件辛苦的事…

我沒有找人練口說，花在口說上的時間也相對少

考前一周自己看著電腦題目跟瘋子一樣對空氣講話

也沒有錄音跟照鏡子練習，考完之後同學問才想起這些方法XDD

最後，雅思哥口說真的神預測

當天考試的題目就是從裡面出，幾乎一模一樣

其他同學的考題也幾乎都是從裡面出

強烈建議考前一定要全部練過一遍，絕對大有斬獲。

劍橋題本建議做8以後就好

有買Andrew老師的真題題本，不過誠實說

老師的題目跟劍橋出的還是有點落差

建議時間緊的大家把劍橋系列好好做完即可。

考前一周一天做兩回劍橋+檢討，做完都虛脫QQ

=========================讀書方法分隔線=======================

Andrew老師一直強調雅思考的是英文程度，也就是說一切都是時間累積，沒有捷徑。

這點我很同意，畢竟不是入學前考到雅思門檻就一定能從學校畢業

出國會活用英文，聽懂課，考試會寫，作業交得出來，能交到朋友應該才是重點RRR

像我的單字量如此爛，立刻認知到單字在這短短三個月不可能累積多到哪去

就算背了一堆難字也一定考完就忘光光，毫無意義

不如就把幾個寫作跟口說這種需要自己產出的科目常用單字練熟

還有聽力會手殘拼錯的單字背好，其他就隨緣(看看隨緣的的閱讀分數…)

謝謝看完無敵落落長的碎念(?)

為了回饋雅思版

前面提到的改作文服務兩篇隨機送底下推文還在奮鬥的版友們

抽到會站內網站連結跟代碼(應該沒違反版規?有再跟我說Orz)

祝早日跟雅思分手!!!

—

Six Signs Which Should Make You Worried About a ‘Teacher’: 2^nd Sign [Part iii]

Sign That You Should Be Worried 2

The school or teacher only uses a whiteboard.

So, let’s continue with the third (and final) posts about the use of whiteboards versus PowerPoint. In the last post, I mentioned that the efficient and modern ‘powerpoint’ teacher can prepare a much more effective and thoughtful ‘CLT’ response on PowerPoint, together with pictures and interactive features to help students learn better.

There are two points about this you must also think about.

Point One

As I mentioned, such careful preparation on powerpoint allows much better teaching/learning in the classroom, compared to a sudden ‘talk and chalk’ on a whiteboard. Think about it. A planned and prepared response is much better by definition.

Point Two

If a teacher keeps doing this (and saving the PowerPoints on his computer or memory stick), then that teacher gathers an invaluable resource to answer any such future questions. That teacher can even proactively prepare for these future questions.

Then, as the years pass, the teacher will have an increasingly bigger and better resource to use for ANY questions that happens in the classroom, virtually every question that can be asked.

And by the way, I’ve been doing this for over 12 years. Click on the following links …

Teacher’s PowerPoint Slides

… to see some of my powerpoint presentations. You will see that there are ‘Index’ slides (Master Hyperlink Slide, Writing Task Two Index Slide, Writing Task One Index Slide), Grammar Slides (IELTS Grammar Issues Slide), and you will see the ability to put amazing pictures to help teach vocabulary, grammar, or just get speaking going.

Did you look carefully at the ‘index slides’? I just push any one of the buttons, and an amazingly detailed and wonderfully prepared explanation can be given to the students. Do any of your teachers have this?

So, if your teachers just ‘talk and chalk’, think: who do they care most about: the students, or themselves? Think about why they aren’t using the technology which has been available for over 15 years (or longer). And think about how much are you paying these teachers for the class? And think about whether you are actually learning? Finally, ask yourself the following questions.

• Don’t you think you deserve better than ‘talk and chalk’?
• Is that a real teacher in front of you?
• Are you sure?

It’s a very worrying sign, don’t you think?

Why do these people do this?

The answer: because so many students don’t care, and give them lots of money.

The next post will consider the 3^rd sign which should worry you.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• to be invaluable (adj)
• to be proactive (adj)
• virtually (adv)
• an index (n)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .

Six Signs Which Should Make You Worried About a ‘Teacher’: 2^nd Sign [Part ii]

Sign That You Should Be Worried 2

The school or teacher only uses a whiteboard.

So, let’s continue with the second posts about the use of whiteboards versus PowerPoint. In the previous post I talked about the three advantages of Powerpoint. The advantages are so incredibly obvious that every teacher should be using powerpoint. But so many teachers prefer to ‘talk and chalk’. Huh? What’s going on?!!!!

The obvious question is … why would a teacher not use PowerPoint? The obvious answers are that …

1. using PowerPoint takes equipment, and many teachers don’t want to pay for it. A whiteboard costs almost nothing.

2. preparing PowerPoint programs takes careful work and much time, and many teachers don’t want to do this. They are lazy.

3. the whole approach needs thinking and skill, and many teachers don’t have these, or are not prepared to use them.

4. the teacher has no method or approach, no plan or procedure, and thus doesn’t need any preparation or equipment or anything at all. For example, they just hand out material downloaded from the Internet, and get you to copy it again and again in class.

So, if a teacher doesn’t use a projector and PowerPoint, you have to wonder whether one, two, three, or all of these (1), (2), (3), or (4) points applies to them.

Well, the proponents of whiteboard-use would immediately get angry at all this. I wonder what they would say? How would they ‘defend’ their use of a whiteboard? Hmmm. I can only think of one thing.

The ‘Whiteboard’ ‘Talk and Chalk’ Teacher

“With a whiteboard, you can respond immediately to any question from a student, and flexibly write down words and grammar explanations to help the student immediately.”

Here’s my answer.

            The Efficient and Modern ‘Powerpoint’ Teacher.

You can also do this on a piece of paper in front of the student. But then if you want the whole class to get the explanation, then …

1. note the question down,

2. tell the students that you will answer the question in the next class,

3. prepare a more effective and thoughtful ‘CLT’ response on PowerPoint, together with pictures and interactive features which can REALLY help them learn,

4. in the next lesson, present the answer.

And, as an added advantage, you now have that Powerpoint program as a resource for that future question.

If you keep doing this, that resource accumulates, or grows bigger and bigger. [By the way, I’ll talk about this in the next post.]

Okay, let’s move on. The next post (and last of the ‘whiteboard/powerpoint’ posts) will draw some conclusions about the ‘powerpoint’ teachers, and sum up this issue.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• to be flexible (adj)
• to be interactive (adj)
• a proponent of [sth.] (n)
• to accumulate (v)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .

(38 of 50) MODERN LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) & TAIWAN: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT

Six Signs Which Should Make You Worried About a ‘Teacher’: 2^nd Sign [Part i]

So, let’s continue with the next sign which should make you worried. This sign goes very much to the philosophy and work ethic of a teacher, so I will need three posts [(i), (ii), and (iii)] to fully explore this. This is the first post of these post, Part (i).

Sign That You Should Be Worried 2

The school or teacher only uses a whiteboard.

It’s really simple. There’s no excuse for this anymore. Even in my early days of teaching, the classroom had an ‘OHP’ (= Overhead Projector) allowing plastic ‘transparencies’ to be placed on a machine on the table. This projected images onto a screen.

These days, of course, the projectors are linked to computers, and PowerPoint programs can be used. There are also ‘smart’ whiteboard; electronic whiteboards, and other pieces of technology.

So why is your teacher ‘talking and chalking’ on a whiteboard? It belongs to a TEFL world from 30 years ago. Those days were old and primitive. Things were slower and more inefficient. The technology has now moved on! Why haven’t the teachers?

Here are three reasons why using a whiteboard is bad.

1

Whiteboards are incredibly inefficient. They waste so much time as the teachers write. It is just too slow. And then it is all erased. Tick tick tick. So much wasted time. And can you even read the handwriting? And as the ink particles settle all over the place, and the room gets dirtier and dirtier, you might realise that in IELTS preparation, you need to learn a lot, and learn it quickly. The ‘talk and chalk’ approach doesn’t give you this.

2

Whiteboards don’t allow pictures to be easily shown, and such visuals are essential to good teaching. It is a key part of any TEFL training course.

Even in my early days of teaching (Bangkok, 1990), I at least held up magazine pictures all the time. I began collecting them in special folders. That happened when I first worked for British Council. Now of course, I just click a button, and the beautiful illustrative picture is instantly there, projected directly onto the screen. My lessons are full of such pictures. Pictures are interesting, engaging, and easily recognisable, and that helps your learn!

A classroom that doesn’t use pictures is the opposite, and whiteboards make it that way.

3

Whiteboards are static and still – a boring. On a whiteboard, nothing moves, nothing flashes, and nothing can be revealed piece by piece. There is nothing cute, nothing innovative and nothing dynamic. It is the very opposite to a controlled, programmed, and projected image. It is just bad.

The next post will consider this same issue of whiteboards versus powerpoint, and draw some conclusions about the ‘talk and chalk’ teachers.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• to project (v) // a projector (n)
• to be transparent (adj)
• to chalk (v)
• to be primitive (adj)
• a particle (n)
• to be visual (adj)
• to be illustrative (adj)
• to be engaging (adj)
• to be static (adj)
• to be innovative (adj)
• to be dynamic (adj)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .

(37 of 50) MODERN LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) & TAIWAN:

Six Signs about a Teacher Which Should Make You Worried: 1^st Sign

So, if you have read all these posts, you should be able to work out many of the signs that your teacher/school is not a real teacher/school, but instead just a person off the street armed with all the tricks to get your money.

But now I’ll move to six signs which should make you just ….. very worried about the teacher/school. These signs do not mean the teacher is a bad, not real, or fake, but they do mean you should think very carefully, and find out more.

You are advised to take these signs very carefully.

Six Signs Which Should Make You Worried: 1^st Sign

Sign That You Should Be Worried 1

The school or teacher does not allow observation.

No observation? Hmmmm. Why not? Is the school or the teacher hiding something? Do they know that if you did observe, you might see a reality which they don’t want you to see?

Let me ask you a question. Would you buy a car without seeing it? Would you buy a house without seeing it? What about a bicycle? A computer?  

Obviously, if you are going to buy anything which you need to rely on, you need to see it! If you can’t do this, you are going in totally blindly, and that’s dangerous. As I say on my website: ‘True gold is not afraid of fire.’ That’s a translation from a Chinese proverb, and it’s certainly true.

So why do students pay so much without even knowing what they will get? It does not sound like a good idea to me, and remember, after you pay, it can be very difficult to get your money back. How about at least asking questions such as …

1. Does the teacher have TEFL qualifications?
2. Can I see them? Are there certified copies on the wall?
3. What language does the teacher use in the classroom?
4. Can I see the coursebook which is used? [It’s not from mainland China, is it?]
5. Is an overhead projector used? [The teacher isn’t just going to write on a whiteboard?]
6. How will the teacher correct my written homework? [Not in the class, I hope!]
7. Can you explain the method the teacher will use in the teaching? [There is a method?]
8. Can you describe a typical class?

Also, be careful of videos of classes. The school/teacher would obviously show you a ‘model’ video of a classroom. It would be their ‘best’ teacher, and the students might be all be ‘fake students’, and it’s all just a performance. Also, be careful of video testimonies. These are often faked as well. [Trust me: I’ve seen it happening – for example, students giving video testimonies even though they had never been taught before, in order to get discounts on a course they want to do.]

To sum up, you need to see YOUR teacher, and you need to see a REAL class – the sort of class you are actually paying for. Remember, sometimes you are paying a lot of money for this.

The next post will consider the 2^nd sign which should worry you.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• a reality (n)
• to be blind (v)
• a proverb (n)
• to be certified (adj/V3)
• a projector (n)
• a model (n)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .

Hi 我是LUKE

首先附上人權 : L>8.5 R>7 W>6 S>6.5

我不知道為什麼這次作文會掉下去因為平常都是6.5的，印度人真的是hen嚴格，但是過了

我也不打算再複查，終於要出國，一路上要感謝的人太多，在此回饋一下版上，也希望版

上的大家都能金榜題名如願上自己喜歡的學校。

我今年29歲高中指考英文43分，畢業之後想當然爾就沒再接觸英文了。希望我的成績能夠

給大家一點自信，原來你也可以!

首先，好的老師或補習班真的能夠讓你比較好進入狀況，如果你是像我一樣很久沒有接觸

英文或者上班族沒太多時間。看了版上的推薦我選擇了補習Andrew作文班來加強自己的弱

項，因為之前考過了幾次都是5-5.5收場，沒想到 ! 補習之後考了還是5.5！千萬不要覺

得太訝異，因為還沒有完全領悟老師的奧義。在我重複閱讀老師的書以及回想老師提到的

作文架構，發現原來雅思作文還是有脈絡可循。思考老師提過的重點並抄寫老師的範文，

老師不希望同學死背內容，但架構是死的，跟論文一樣，從：背景>動機>目的>方法>結論

每個人研究的都不同但是架構永遠不變 按照老師的架構 開頭語、連接詞，段落轉換起

承轉合，穩穩地寫最後讓我後來一直都維持在6-6.5，我知道沒有很高但對我來說真的夠

了。老師的名言就是：要有耐心！ 沒錯的，慢慢來比較快。謝謝老師

BTW我不4在工商，都是我ㄉ過程，我覺ㄉ老師很不錯經驗豐富課程紮實在此推薦給大家。

個人體悟的雅思應考密訣就是：自信應考

以下是強拚90天的操作方式歡迎服用，內容有點長但我覺得看完不會後悔。 =============================================================================

聽力部分 :

穩定的持續練習精聽泛聽，然後*重複*做考題即可達標。重複做考題有太多

的好處特別是可以了解自己的弱項，然而在重複解題的過程中能夠慢慢地找到屬於自己的

解題方式並且最重要的是重複做考題可以增強自信心，自信心對於考試真的太重要了，真

正的考試絕對不容許猶豫，所以重複做考題讓自己有會考很好的錯覺，就絕對會考好這我

敢保證。接下來進入題目：最高指導原則就是自信解題，考試的過程中務必盡量抓空檔寫

每道問題的中文意思，然後不要太過於專注聽導致腦筋打結，放空放鬆自然能夠變通，翻

開題本後先快速掃過每道題型讓自己有個底，翻到第四大題開始閱讀，看清楚填空題題型

最多要你填幾個字先圈出來，然後把每道空白的左右邊上下文關鍵字標記出來，要你填什

麼答案當下就可以先猜看看了，中文寫下應該是要填入：東西、錢、動詞、時間、等等；

這是放諸四海皆準的包括其他大題的填空甚至閱讀也是一樣。第三大題的對話選擇題是比

較難以快速閱讀的因為字很多，關鍵在讀每道題目，兩個人在說話，是誰說的相當重要要

圈出來，填寫答案時記得使用刪去法，聽到不對的就不要客氣直接劃掉這樣就可以幫助你

鎖定正確答案，記得雅思聽力經常回馬槍先講Ａ然後後面才說但我覺得Ｂ是最好的選擇，

要不然就是一開始就已經講正確答案Ａ了，後面屁一堆沒意義的ＢＣＤ干擾你做答；這就

是放空放鬆的價值所在，慢慢聽保持一定的專注跟抽離就可以選到最正確的答案。最後，

考聽力只有一個關鍵性的策略，只要能夠達到保證6.5以上就是：自信作答

自信作答實在太關鍵了，每個答案都珍貴在有限的時間內必須確保你的準確率唯一的方法

就是自信寫下每個答案，把時間拿去做反覆檢查確定題目的要求跟拼字有無正確比著墨一

兩題花費太多時間好太多了，寫了就寫了不要後悔導致下一題沒有聽到或浪費時間

閱讀部分 :

穩定的持續練習閱讀各種素材包括外國報紙等等，考雅思需要大量的單字量

對於我來說我自己是比較難背單字的往往在背單字的過程中一定要搭配句子並且抄寫一次

才會比較好背，有人說過：你只要重複在不一樣的地方看到背過的單字20次你就會永遠背

起來，所以閱讀大量的文章對我來說不僅僅可以練習閱讀速度也是我最主要背單字的方法

；然後一樣*重複*做考題即可達標。重複做考題有太多的好處特別是可以了解自己的弱項

，然而在重複解題的過程中能夠慢慢地找到屬於自己的解題方式並且最重要的是重複做考

題可以增強自信心，自信心對於考試真的太重要了，真正的考試絕對不容許猶豫，所以重

複做考題讓自己有會考很好的錯覺，就絕對會考好這我敢保證。接下來進入解題：最高指

導原則就是自信解題，自信解題在閱讀測驗中尤其重要，經過我個人實測，專注著墨在每

道題目的準確率一題一題慢慢做的成績跟我自信寫過去最後再回頭檢查的成績一樣甚至更

低因為寫不完或太趕，考閱讀的過程中不必理解每道題目的完整意思，看題目找答案依舊

是不變法則；雅思很人性，因為題目都按照順序。雅思很人性，當你意外的從第二段開始

讀照順序把題目全部解完但發現怎麼最後一題答案找不到，不用多想不用緊張直接回頭看

，答案一定在第一段。雅思很人性，當只有3題T/F/NG你已經寫了T跟NG也很確定就是這個

答案那沒問題，剩下最後一題原則上都是F。雅思很人性，假設在閱讀填空題中你覺得第

一題答案應該填入animal但你卻看到第二題的題目問句中有animal，這時候請放心的把第

一題animal擦掉重新找，因為絕對不是animal。在讀閱讀測驗的過程中從頭到尾一定一定

一定要專注不能放空，因為不小心放空時間就過去了，考閱讀沒有最後10分鐘的填答案時

間所以必須在過程中就要把答案寫上去。總共三篇40題通常第一大題簡單給你暖手用的最

後一篇通常最難但每個人的難易理解不同因為單字涉獵範圍的關係有所出入，基本上是第

一篇最容易，翻開題本後先快速掃過每篇的大標題讓自己有個底，選一個你感覺順的寫，

通常有填空題或問答題的寫最快，因為有太多參考點可以讓你鎖定答案，就我的經驗來說

最快解完的題目組合就是：問答或填空+T/F/NG這種二合一的題型，通常都很好找而且都

會照順序排，這種題型原則上都會出現在第一大題然後15分鐘以內就可以解決讓你信心大

增，我在寫閱讀填空問答題的過程中會在題本上把答案圈出來方便之後檢查然後直接填入

答案券因為寫單字太浪費時間，只有T/F/NG我會標在題本上方便確認，但基本上我寫完一

題就會填在答案卡上了，節省時間而且要預判可能沒機會再回頭確認。最後，考閱讀只有

一個關鍵性的策略，只要能夠達到保證6.5以上就是：自信作答

自信作答實在太關鍵了，每個答案都珍貴在有限的時間內必須確保你的準確率唯一的方法

就是自信寫下每個答案，確認答案就馬上填在答案卡上不要等，把時間拿去做反覆檢查確

定題目的要求跟拼字有無正確比著墨一兩題花費太多時間好太多了，寫了就寫了不要後悔

，回來再檢查才不會導致沒有讀完浪費時間。閱讀時間很重要而且考官報時實在很煩，搶

時間！當考官說：還有40分鐘！你已經讀完1/3的第二篇相信我你會很愉悅，保持自信與

愉悅的心情考閱讀，才會快。快就贏！我的紀錄是寫完還有15分鐘而那次我的閱讀7.5分

寫作部分 :

最高指導原則就是自信寫作，TASK2考過的題目很多但其實有脈絡，因為雅思

很人性，所以題目都跟人有關舉凡：科技的進步是否會讓貧富差距加大還是靠近、大眾傳

播對於人的影響、引進大量外國資訊是否會衝擊本土產業、觀光對於本國人的影響、建立

完善的鐵道系統好還是公路系統、有些人覺得研究過去資料是浪費時間不如投注心力在未

來的防範你覺得怎麼看、傳統文化這麼死板不如去放棄去追求新的流行你怎麼看。以上都

是雅思考題，都跟人、環境、科技進步之後的未來有所關聯。所以重點來了就是

Technological development (evolution)幾乎都可以當作最開始的兩個字想下展開，原

則上分四段，第一段背景 絕對要確立你站在哪一方，不管背景屁再多在第一段結束之前

In my opinion 後面接立場，這樣才會有分數。再來就是二三段起承轉合自己舉例切忌不

管再扯都要堅持自己的論點不要寫一寫倒戈那就完了，最後一段就直接將In conclusion

漂亮的寫出來然後唬爛結尾，所以平常背很多漂亮的句子很重要，可以讓開頭或結尾有一

些美麗的句字架構或詞彙出現，建議多背。有些人說不要背模板因為雅思討厭，我完全同

意，但要背架構！一些好用的連接詞跟好的架構能夠讓你很快建立寫作的茅點，所以我建

議找一個簡單的架構TASK1 TASK2都一樣分別找到一種4段式的架構就可以幫助這兩篇作文

順利的發展內文，我所謂的架構是每段的開頭，而不是那種華麗且無意義的詞彙堆疊。關

於那個150跟250字數根本就是笑話，我的文法與單字量非常的爛，就我的經驗來看TASK1

起碼要破170字，TASK2 起碼要破300字才有機會進6分，在我沒寫到這個字數的那幾次不

管我自己為寫得再漂亮都只有5-5.5，所以請相信以字數170跟300作為練習的最低標準。

考試破6絕對沒問題。這些都是我在Andrew上課內化跟自己練習與實戰的體悟！

口說部分 :

最高指導原則就是自信口說，關鍵的口說 TASK2考過的題目很多但其實有脈

絡，因為雅思很人性，所以題目都跟人有關舉凡：你最喜歡的企業家、你最喜歡的植物、

你最喜歡的一項禮物、你最喜歡的季節、你平常都做什麼維持你身體健康、你覺得科技對

人的影響、你認識的人做過一件事情你一直都很想去做的。以上都是雅思考題，都跟人、

環境、科技進步之後的未來有所關聯。口說只有一個秘訣 : 拼命講講到他要你停！

還有，聽力閱讀答案一律使用大寫，好用不騙

以上 再次祝福各位考生金榜題名 英國見

—

So, let’s continue with the last sign of being fake/not-real.

Sign 6 of a Fake/Not-Real Teacher

The school or teacher makes the absolutely impossible claim: “I can predict the answers in the IELTS test.”

I could link this to Sign 3: the claims of ‘guarantee IELTS 7’. The same logic applies here.

But let’s look more specifically at “I can predict the answers.’ This is the new trend in Taiwan right now as I write. Fake students are putting messages on the social media about how their teacher ‘knows the answers in the IELTS test.’ Why is this claim a sign of fakeness?

Because saying this is an outright and blatant lie. And a real teacher – one who cares about your learning – would never lie like that. Your first questions should be …

What do you even mean by ‘know the answer’?

Do you mean just a vague prediction such as ‘Task One will be a bar chart’ or ‘It will probably be a map’? If that bar chart has ‘change over time’ – that is, a time axis, for example, 1980 to 2000 – then this item is actually equivalent to a line graph (with the bars holding up the lines). The same logic applies to pie charts (one for 2005 and one for 2010). If it doesn’t have change over time, then it is all about comparison, but every single task is different to every other task. I have seem hundred of IELTS Writing Tasks over my teaching career, and they are all different! So, even if the teacher is lucky to guess the general type of writing task, does such an ambiguous prediction mean ‘predicting the answers in the IELTS Test?’ If it does, it is next to useless to you, the test-taker.

In other words, all IELTS Task Ones and Task Twos are unique, different, and need individual thinking (rather than memorisation). The real teacher prepares you with the thinking skills, and grammar and writing skills, to deal with IELTS. The teacher doesn’t boast about ‘predicting’ things.

If these people claim anything more specific, the next question is what magic knowledge do they have to make this prediction? Do they have paid spies in IDP and British Council and the IELTS Asian Regional Management Centre? Do these people slip them the real questions the day before the test? Is such behavior ethical? Is it the sign of a professional teacher? Is it the way you are supposed to have your English tested?

I have worked in the IELTS industry for 20 years, and I don’t pretend to be able to predict the questions. Consequently, I don’t say I can predict the questions. But I am an honest (and real) teacher of IELTS preparation. Even if I could predict the answers with some degree of certainty, I don’t think I would give this information. As I mentioned, it is actually quite meaningless

Anyhow who says they can predict the answer is NOT. Got it?

Well, that’s the end of the ‘six signs of fakeness’. Here’s a summary.

The Six Signs Of Being Fake/Not-Real

1. The teacher speaks mostly in Chinese.
2. The teacher uses memorisation, or use books and material that do this.
3. The teacher/school makes claims of ‘guaranteed scores’.
4. The teacher talks and ‘explains’ all the time in class.
5. The teacher advertises, ‘You only talk to me’.
6. The teacher claims (s)he can predict the answers in the IELTS test (whatever that means).

Now, let’s move to signs that should make you worried about the school or teacher.

Some of these should make you very worried indeed. The signs don’t mean the teacher/school is necessarily bad or not-real or fake, but …. well … to repeat, you should be worried, and investigate further. The next post will consider the first of these signs.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• to be blatant (adj)
• to be vague (adj)
• to be equivalent (adj)
• to be unique (adj)
• to be ambiguous (adj)
• to be ethical (adj)
• to investigate (v)

Hi everyone. Due to the beginning of the new teaching term, I was busy, and put a few other posts here, but now it’s time to continue the series about CLT and Taiwan. We are up to Post 35, which continues to look at that murky and fraudulent world of ‘magic IELTS’ teachers. There’s more of them coming all the time, so for your own benefit, you really need to know and read the signs.

Six Signs of a Fake/Not-Real Teacher of IELTS/English: 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th Sign

Okay, I used one posts for the 2^nd Sign of being a fake/not-real teacher. Now, I’ll use one post for the next three signs. Here we go.

Sign 3 of a Fake/Not-Real Teacher

The teacher/school makes claims of ‘guaranteed scores’ or ‘special techniques’.

If you ever hear claims such as:

• I don’t teach you English; I just teach you how to get the answer in the test.
• My method gives you IELTS 7.
• This is a guaranteed IELTS 7 course.
• I got IELTS 8 in the IELTS test; I’ll show you how to do it.
• This course shows you how to get all the answers.
• I have special IELTS techniques.

… the people saying this are lying to you. All these claims are based on a ‘magic’ or ‘guarantee’ theme, and it is an obvious fact that there are no guarantees and no magic in IELTS. IELTS is based on English abilities; and no matter how good a teacher is, your IELTS results will depend on …

1. your starting level of English,
2. your work ethic (that is, willingness to work hard),
3. your attitude to learning,
4. your intelligence,
5. your ability to learn languages,
6. practical realities, such as the time you have to study, how busy you are, how stable your life is, your ability to attend every class, and arrive on time,
7. some degree of luck.

If a teacher or school makes any claim of ‘guaranteed answers’ or ‘special techniques’, it simply shows the teachers or schools are dishonest. They are saying what you want to hear in order to get your money. It’s that simple. Do you think that sounds like a good beginning? Are they people you should trust? 

Sign 4 of a Fake/Not-Real Teacher

The teacher talks and ‘explains’ all the time in class (and it’s usually in Chinese).

This is the ‘traditional’ approach, the approach a non-teacher, or someone who doesn’t know anything about TEFL teaching, might first think about. A TEFL-qualified teacher should know better, and should be more concerned about helping you learn. A not-real teacher might do this, simply because they don’t know the truth.

I don’t need to talk about this. Just read posts 3–25 of this series, and everything is explained in detail. Also, think again of the simple analogy: learning a language is like learning to drive a car. You can be ‘explained to’ for years about how to drive a car, but you won’t be able to actually drive it until you sit in the seat, and try. The TEFL-trained teacher takes every opportunity to put you in the seat and try (= practise English).

This also explains about the next sign of being fake/not-real below.

Sign 5 of a Fake/Not-Real Teacher

The teacher/school advertises that “You only talk to the teacher”, or “Pairwork speaking is not important”.

This is a new trend in Taiwan. Wow! It is simply mad! No real TEFL teacher would ever do this. Ever! They would immediately fail the observation in any TEFL training course. If you kept doing this, you would fail the course. If you only talk to the teacher, then you don’t practise English much at all. You don’t sit in any ‘seat of that car’, and you never try. It is the very opposite to what is supposed to happen in an IELTS/English class.

TEFL professionals talk about ‘student talking time’ (STT), and ‘teacher talking time’ (TTT), and one of the most basic rules in a class is to ….

…. maximise STT and minimise TTT!

TEFL professional should live by this rule, but it takes effort, preparation, thinking, and skill. It also takes experience, and as the serious TEFL-trained teacher gets more experience, (s)he develops better and better techniques for following this rule more effectively and efficiently (for example, through the use of PowerPoint: See Posts 37 – 39). So, remember, you students always have to ‘drive the car’.

I’m a Cambridge-accredited teacher trainer, with over 20 years experience, so you can imagine how shocked I am when I hear schools or teachers boasting, ‘You only talk to the teacher’. Wow! Unbelievable! Taking Taiwan back 50 years into the past, back to the horse and cart. Is this a modern nation? It is NOT when it comes to the teaching of English/IELTS. And that’s why the standard is still so low in this country; that’s why the average IELTS writing score remains 5.5. Because the teaching remains the same.

Why do these people promote such a backward and awful claim?

The answer: because so many students accept this, and give them lots of money.

Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).

• murky (adj)
• a guarantee (n)
• ethic (n)
• to be blatant (adj)
• an analogy (n)
• an observation (n)

If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .