Okay. 1
Welcome to the first IELTS 2
Step-by-step course. 3
This one is dedicated to mastering vocabulary for the IELTS exam. 4
Now this, as I said, is the first of the courses. 5
There will be five others. 6
So reading, writing, listening, speaking, and grammar 7
coming up later, 8
but this is the first of them. 9
Now, before I continue with this introduction video, I have a little task for you: 10
an IELTS-style listening task. So if you look at the top left hand corner of your Udemy site, you will see 11
it says: 'introduction to the course', 12
Section 1, which is where you are now. 13
And then just below it, it says IELTS-style Listening for Introduction Video. 14
I would like you to download that PDF, 15
and I would like you to fill in the answers as we go along in this introduction video. 16
Okay? So it's a little bit of a test for you see how your listening is, but also to check if you're really 17
paying attention to what I'm saying because some of the things that I tell you in this introduction 18
video is very, very important for the rest of the course. 19
Okay? 20
So it looks like this: 'Introduction to the Mastering Vocabulary Course'. 'IELTS-style Listening'. 'Questions 21
1 to 9' for Section 1. 22
Okay? 23
Now can you remember how many other courses are there in this? 24
IELTS Step-by-step 25
suite of courses? 26
And remember you have to include the one that I'm talking about, now so the answer for this one is: 6 27
Okay? 28
So, you can—if you want—pause the video now, give yourself some a chance to read through the questions— 29
certainly for questions 1 to 9, and then I would like you to resume the video until... when you 30
are ready. 31
Okay, let's continue talking about this Mastering Vocabulary Course. This course is made up of over 1300 32
words and phrases. 33
Now, let me just stop you there. 34
Did you see that box that just came up? That box came up when I said 'made up of'. 35
This happens in all of the videos throughout the course. 36
When I think a word or a phrase is useful for you to know or be able to use in the IELTS exam, it comes 37
up in this box over here. 38
Usually, the box only stays for 4 seconds. At the moment, it's staying around for us to be very kind, 39
and we can read it. 40
But in all the other exam... all the other videos, you only have 4 seconds to look at it. 41
That's why you need to be ready to pause the video, read the text, and then resume when you are ready. 42
And then you've got the word 'resume' again. 43
Okay. 44
While we were on the subject of technical things like this, I also want to talk about the subtitles that 45
are available for every video in this course. 46
So if you're finding it difficult to follow my speed, or my... use of some of my words in this course please 47
turn on or switch on the subtitles so that you can read and listen at the same time. 48
And while I'm talking about the speed of my voice, I'd like to mention something. In this course, I could 49
speak to you like this. But is that really going to help you in the IELTS listening? 50
Do they speak that way in the IELTS listening? 51
No, they do not. 52
So I'm going to speak to you in a natural speed that you will expect to hear on an IELTS listening 53
test. 54
And I also use high-level vocabulary and phrases—the ones that I think are useful for the IELTS exam 55
come up in the box. 56
In fact, all of the ones that I use will be useful in the IELTS exam, 57
otherwise I wouldn't use those words or phrases. 58
So I use high-level ones so that you can use the words in the box if I don't use them in the box, 59
it's because they have already been said before by me in a previous video, and you need to go back and 60
see if you can find that word or phrase. 61
Okay. 62
Now, where did I get all these words and phrases for the Mastering Vocabulary 63
Course, you may be asking. Well, there are two sources. 64
The first source is from analysing and studying the IELTS exams since 2005 until now. 65
There's a lot of exams if you realise that one IELTS exam is done every three weeks or so. 66
So that's a lot of exams! And analysing those exams and looking for high-level, advanced words that 67
come up relatively frequently... 68
So we've taken all of those words plus the famous Oxford Academic Word List and combined... decided which 69
words of those are useful for everybody, 70
which words are useful specifically for the IELTS exam, 71
Which words are useful for General Training students, 72
which ones are useful for academic... students who are doing the Academic IELTS. 73
And we've combined them into this course. 74
So over 1300 words, split up into 23 themes—themes and topics. 75
Now those 23 themes have been carefully selected so that they encompass every possible text... 76
text type that you might get in the IELTS exam: all the reading and the listening texts, as well as being 77
able to answer the questions that come up in the IELTS writing and the IELTS speaking. 78
So 23 different topics, and you can have a look at them on your screen now. If you want to pause 79
the video you can look at all the different themes that are available in this course. 80
Now, the aim of the IELTS Step-by-step courses is to get you a 7 and above in the IELTS exam, even 81
if you're at 5.5. now. 82
The idea is that eventually you'll be able to get 7 and above, or 7... or 8 even. 83
But that means that you need to complete all the activities, watch all the videos and collaborate with 84
each other. 85
And I'm going to talk about collaboration later on in this video and why it's so important. 86
So, some of you may know me from my YouTube channel. 87
It was very popular—my videos about listening and reading—were very popular on that course. 88
And you may be wondering why I've decided to go with a vocabulary course before all of the others. 89
It's a good question. 90
But behind me is a sign that will be displayed in every single video in the... in this course, 91
and all of the courses just to remind you something. 92
And it's a sign that is related to a poster that was put up around London in the Second World War and 93
it was to remind people to have a stiff upper lip to... to continue and continue trying 94
and don't worry about the bombs falling from the German airplanes. And it's a very British thing. And it's probably 95
quite a famous poster, even outside of London and outside of the U.K.. 96
And this is very easy to say but difficult to do and that phrase to say that is 'it's easier said than 97
done.' 98
Now, I know that some of my students are finding it difficult to get to the level that they want because 99
there is a lot of pressure on them—maybe from their parents, maybe from themselves, maybe from the community 100
that they live in—to get that IELTS score so that they can go and study in an English-speaking country 101
or go and live in an English-speaking country to collect money to send back to family members, to... to 102
start a new life. 103
There's a lot of pressure on you to succeed in the IELTS exam. And it's easier said than done to keep 104
calm and keep trying 105
when you know that there's pressure from yourself and from other people. On top of that, I'm also aware 106
that some of the people that are listening here are not particularly wealthy. 107
And each time you do an IELTS exam and don't get the grade that you really want, you have to start again, 108
that's an enormous amount of money for some of my students watching. 109
And so, there's this added pressure. How do you keep calm and carry on if you have all this pressure, money 110
pressure, pressure from family; pressure from yourself? 111
The answer really is to be prepared. 112
That is the only way that you are going to be able to keep calm under those conditions. 113
Of course in the exam itself imagine you've failed... "failed"... 114
imagine you haven't got the grade that you want. 115
And this is the third time you are trying and you haven't got that much money left— 116
imagine the pressure on top of that. 117
So this is why these courses are coming out. 118
And the most important course—of all of the six courses—is this one. And that is why I'm opening or starting 119
all the courses with the Mastering Vocabulary—because if you understand the text, if you understand the 120
words in the text, if you understand the phrases in the text, if you understand the idioms in the text, 121
and you know how to use them in your reading—sorry, and your speaking and your writing—you can still 122
stay calm because all the tips and techniques and tricks that I... that you learn from... there're like 123
'standing on the shoulders of giants'. Your 'giants' are your list of vocabulary that you know in English 124
and you're standing on the shoulders of giants with your tips and tricks and techniques, and you can 125
get that grade that you want. 126
Okay. 127
What I'd like you to do now is to go to Section 2 of your PDF—of the IELTS-style listening. 128
You can pause the video now if you want, and you can... 129
you can read the questions there. When you're ready, 130
press... press 'play' on this video and you can listen to section 2 of this introduction video. 131
Okay. 132
So, my name is James Castleden 133
and, as I said, some of you may know me from my YouTube channel. 134
I have been teaching for—I think—16 years now. And I have an M.A. (a Master's Degree) in Applied Linguistics 135
and TESOL all from the University of Leicester, and I have a diploma in English language teaching from 136
the University of Cambridge. 137
I am also an ex-examiner for IELTS. And an examiner means—in this case—that I was marking writing scripts 138
and I was doing oral exams—speaking exams. 139
But I think one of the... the thing that really helped me to put these courses together is the fact that I 140
used to be—and I still am— a 'YouTuber'. 141
I have about 60000 followers on YouTube, and some of you have been asking: 'where... where are you? 142
Where have you disappeared to?' 143
Because I used to release more and more videos. 144
Well now you know—this is what I look like; 145
this is my face. And now you know why I have not been posting recently. I've been putting all my effort 146
into making these courses. And in making those YouTube videos I ended up doing IELTS exams. 147
So, some of you who have seen my videos on YouTube will know that I take, for example, a reading exam that 148
I have never seen before. 149
I have never read anything. 150
I don't know what the questions look like. 151
And I put it in front of my computer. 152
I use a digital pen and I 153
make a screenshot of what I am doing and I complete the task... or the tests—sorry—in exactly the same 154
conditions that my students would. 155
So, a reading is one hour (60 minutes), 156
so I set a timer, and I start going. And I film myself doing this 157
and students follow... follow along. 158
They can download the PDF and follow with me if they want to. 159
In doing that, I've been able to do more than 35 IELTS exams—full IELTS exams—readings and listenings, 160
of course, not the writings and the speakings. But combining my knowledge of reading and writing from those 161
35 IELTS exams that I've done, as well as being an ex-examiner— 162
those really have helped me to really produce the best course that you can possibly get online. 163
And certainly—I think—that the 35 IELTS exams that I have done has really made a big difference. 164
In fact, I don't know many IELTS teachers—people that have been doing IELTS exams for many, many years— 165
I don't think I know anybody who's done more than one or two IELTS exams. And they've... they've 'tried 166
one out', 167
maybe, when they first started teaching an IELTS a class. I've done 35, so I really know the exam now. 168
And on top of all these other things, it's helped me to produce a really good course, I think, for IELTS 169
students. 170
Okay. So, let me just talk about my previous experience quickly. In my previous school, students would come 171
from all over the world to London and they would pay approximately £30 per hour to 172
be in my class. 173
That's about $45, AU$45 to be in my class. 174
That's a significant amount of money. 175
And that also includes the costs of travelling from their country to... to London and then living expenses 176
in some of the most... in one of the most expensive countries in the world. 177
So, all of this combined I... I looked at my students and I thought: it's a little bit unfair, I think, that 178
if you've got the money you have the opportunity to go to really good school and to get some really 179
good quality training in a environment where there's only 12 people in the class, and you can work together 180
and collaborate with other students. 181
And the exercises are designed for everybody to help each other. 182
And I thought: that's not very fair, because there are people in the world who deserve as much of this 183
opportunity as somebody who's got lots of money. 184
Usually it's their mother and father who sends them or gives them money to come to London and study. 185
So that's why I decided that, in September 2018, I would quit my job. 186
I still work part time a little bit there, but most of my time is spent putting these courses together, 187
and they are using all the skills and techniques that I learned in that school and in the previous schools, 188
plus my work in the diploma and the master's degree—all of that is combined to putting up a really good 189
course, I think. And it is unique in its way of presenting the vocabulary in the way that I want you to 190
think about the vocabulary as well. 191
Okay. 192
And something I mentioned before and it came up in a box over here: 193
the word 'collaboration': working together. 194
And that's something that I'm going to try and recreate in this class. 195
So a lot of the reason why people would spend a lot of money coming to London was for the chance to 196
collaborate with people from other countries, people that would speak a different language to them. 197
So they were forced to use English to communicate. 198
And that's something that I would like to recreate in this environment. Now, of course—geographically— 199
I can't bring you all together in the same place. 200
We need to work on this from a distance. 201
But the amazing thing about the Internet and some of the free resources that are available to connect 202
people makes it possible for us to do this. 203
And so I'm going to ask you to be pioneers in this regard. 204
I want you to be people who are one of the first in the world to really collaborate online and help 205
each other online to build this course into what it should be: a true collaboration of ideas from people 206
from all over the world. 207
In fact, I've even got two videos that show you how to make your own activities so that you can share 208
those with other people who are also doing the same theme or the same activity or the same task. And 209
you are going to learn how to make them not only to test yourself but to give other students a chance 210
to do your task—to do your exam, to do your exercise online, wherever they are, at whatever time of day 211
it is in their country. 212
And there's one more thing I'd like to talk about. 213
And these are called the Learner Training videos. 214
Now these Learner Training videos... there are 23—so they appear in the themes and topics as well— 215
so these learner training videos are designed to give you the skills that I have already as a teacher. 216
So there are some teachers— 217
most teachers are quite reserved about sharing their skills as a teacher, 218
they've they've spent a lot of time thinking about how to do something, and they don't really want to 219
share—with their students—their techniques and what's going on in their mind. 220
Well I don't think that's good. 221
I want to share all the skills and knowledge and resources that I know with you so that you can continue 222
learning—not just in this course but afterwards, because—remember—the IELTS course is the first step 223
in your academic career or if you're doing General Training in your life in another English speaking 224
country. 225
And so there's no point just being ready for the IELTS exam— 226
All these [Learner] training videos will give you a chance to be ready for university, to be ready to work 227
in an English-speaking job, and to be ready for general learning. 228
It doesn't need even need to be language learning—the things I will teach you here will help you in 229
all sorts of different scenarios. 230
So please watch the Learner Training videos. 231
They will really help you to expand your knowledge—not just of the English language, but your knowledge 232
of learning and the learning process. 233
Okay. Now, we're on to Section 3 of your PDF of your IELTS-style listening, so you can pause the video 234
now, and then you can look at the questions and when you're ready, resume the video. 235
Okay. 236
So in this section this third section of this introduction video, I'm just going to show you how each 237
section of the course is broken down. So you'll see that this is Section 5—it's a random choice. And this 238
section has got 'Life and Leisure' and then + 'Recording New Vocabulary'. 239
This is the name of the theme that you'll be looking at and after the + is the the topic of the 240
Learner Training video. 241
Okay. 242
So let's just have a look at this one. So here's the introduction to the theme. 243
And it's in this theme that you will be introduced to the idea of the theme, 244
what it really means, 245
and you also have a chance to activate your 'world knowledge' about this theme. And I'll explain in the 246
first introduction video (in Section Two) exactly what that means—what it means to 'activate your 247
world knowledge'. 248
But this is getting you prepared to learn... to learn verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs and other 249
phrases that are useful related to Life and Leisure. 250
Okay. I'm going to ignore this because it comes up down here, 251
so let's go onto this— 252
this one here. And it says: 'What's the best way to learn new vocabulary that I've learned?' 253
Now, this is the title of the Learner Training video. 254
And there's... these two things here are connected. 255
So in the video I'm going to be asking you to look at this link. 256
And, as I said, Learner Training videos are designed to help you to improve your skills as a learner. 257
And then down here in the discussion space and this is where you will have a chance to discuss with 258
other students who are also doing the same learner training video. 259
If you have any ideas, if you get confused about anything, 260
this is your discussion space over here. 261
Now, the next one is the 'New vocabulary'. 262
This is where you will actually learn the new vocabulary. 263
And if we go to it, I'll show you what it looks like. 264
So this is the new vocabulary for Life and Leisure, 265
and it looks like this. 266
Here's the nouns, adjectives, verbs, verb phrases, and phrases with 'life or living' that you are going to 267
learn about in this course. 268
Of course, you can click on anything. So, if we click on 'attitude', for example, it will take us to the meaning 269
of the word—you listen to the pronunciation—'attitude' even the word in a sentence: 'as soon as they found 270
that I was a doctor their 271
whole attitude changed'. 272
Okay. 273
Now, as I will say before... as I will say again in another video—it's not necessary for you to look at 274
all the meanings of all these words before you start doing the vocabulary practice. 275
You are quite welcome to... to go straight into the Vocabulary Practice (after you've done your 'Show Your 276
Progress'—that I will talk about later) but you can go straight into this without looking at the meanings 277
and definitions of these words. 278
The idea is that you will have a chance to 'guess from context' the words—you'll see them, how they fit 279
in the context and use your mind, your knowledge, your creativity to get the meanings of those words in 280
these vocabulary practice exercises. 281
So this might be different to what you are used to in other courses where they will give you the word 282
then you act... passively accept the word. 283
That doesn't help you to learn anything! 284
That is why these vocabulary practices are like this and let's have a look for example and one of them 285
said let's go to Exercise 286
Number Two the one about collocation. And I'll talk about that in the next video. 287
The third video, I think, is all about collocations. 288
Okay, so we're gonna go to this one here. And it goes to a website called 'LearningApps.org', which 289
is specifically designed for this type... these types of activities. 290
And you've got a picture. 291
And it says here: 'choose the correct phrase with "life" or "living" to complete the sentences.' 292
Now, remember you've already done Exercise One, 293
so we're going to Exercise Two, 294
so you've already had some practice with it here, and this is just recapping or revision. 295
So, for example, 'going to Egypt I'm seeing seeing the pyramids... pyramids was a...' 'once in a living time'? You 296
choose which one you think it is. And let's see what happens if... I know that this is wrong, 297
so I'm gonna click the little blue... and that says: No. It's red. 298
Let's try this one. No. And let's try this one. No. So it can only be 'lifetime'. And it turns green. 299
Now let's go back... let's go to one where you have to fill in the words. 300
So let's try Exercise One. 301
And it says here: 'Listen to four people answering these questions and type in the word in the box that 302
describes each speaker.' 303
Now, let's just have a look at the top here. 304
You will see that this is a listening exercise. 305
So when it says: Now listen...' Your listening is always at the top of the page. 306
This is because people who are using mobile phones when they are doing this course will find it easier 307
to access the audio. 308
And that's why I've put it at the top. 309
Okay. 310
So I want to show you what happens if we make some mistakes. 311
So, Speaker... let's listen to the first one. 312
'Do you think people work too much nowadays?' 313
'Not really. 314
I think people have always worked hard for a living. 315
I mean, it's never been easy for anyone, has it? You have to work hard if you want to achieve anything in your 316
life. 317
That's just the way it is.' 318
That's just the way it is. 319
That's the keyword. 320
You have to do it whether you like it or not. 321
It's just the way it is. 322
Now, I'm not going to give you. 323
I'm not going to be teaching you anything today of course. 324
But the answer is 'realist'. 325
If someone says 'that's just the way it is; 326
that's the... that's the way life is', 327
then they are a realist. 328
But I want to imagine that we spelt it wrong. 329
So what happens? Okay, it's still red. 'Re-a-list', 're-lal-ist' And now watch happen... 330
What.... 331
Watch what happens on the third try. 332
Now a little black question mark comes up and it gives you the answer. 333
So if you're really stuck and you really can't find the answer then type it in three times incorrectly 334
and the answer will come up for you. 335
Okay? 336
They are different types of activities in this. 337
This is the most common type. 338
The one where you have to fill in the answers with... type in the answers, and the one that you saw before 339
where you choi... 340
choose from a group of words or phrases. 341
There are a few others, but they are self-explanatory. 342
You shouldn't have any trouble understanding how to complete them. 343
If you do, please work as a... in a collaborative way: 344
first ask the question to people on the Reddit group (which I'll talk about later) or, if they... if no one 345
is answering, then you can use this down here: It says 'Browse Q&A'. At the moment it says 'Browse', 346
but that's because I am in the 'teacher mode' here. 347
But if you click that it should say something like: 'ask a question' or 'submit a question', and you can use 348
that to ask a question and will come to me, and it will come to other students who are also doing the 349
same task. 350
The reason I don't use this one as much as the Reddit forum, which I will show you later... in fact, I will... 351
I'll show you now. 352
Let's go to the 'Discussion space'. 353
This is what it looks like. This... remember, this is about the Learner Training video (because I clicked 354
on the one above). 355
And. 'Do you guys know how to blah blah blah blah blah?' 356
and you would fill in that sentence and... that question and you click 'comment'. 357
And if people like this... this question, and they think it's a relevant question, they will click 'up' the 358
up arrow. 359
If they think it's a stupid question, unfortunately, they might click the down arrow and it goes to the 360
bottom of the page, and you get minus points for this. 361
And that is why I've chosen to use Reddit rather than the Browse 362
Q&A on Udemy because these questions... you might have a fantastic question, 363
but that question ends up at the bottom of the page because it is arranged chronologically and—there 364
there's a word for you, and you can think about how that how that works— 365
so, if it's arranged chronologically, it ends up at the bottom and a really good question might not be 366
answered properly. 367
And that is why I've decided to use the Reddit, /r/IELTSStepbystep sub-Reddit. 368
Okay. I'm going to just delete this quickly because I don't need it. 369
Okay. Now, let's go back up to this one here. 370
So that's where you're going to learn your new vocabulary. 371
And, 372
here I want to just talk about Show Your Progress. 373
This is connected to the last section down here. 374
This section is where you will complete a reading— 375
sorry— 376
you'll complete a speaking or a writing task (or both 377
if you are a motivated student). This was some... This is something you will do before you study any vocabulary 378
to show you where you are battling, 379
show you where there are gaps in your knowledge. And then, down here, right at the end—at the bottom of 380
the cou... of the topic, you will then repeat that—same questions, and notice the improvements that you 381
have made because you have studied all this vocabulary and you'll be able to answer the questions because 382
you've got a lot more vocabulary to use. 383
Okay. 384
So that is connected there. 385
I would just want to talk about... the... we looked at the Discussion space. Remember, 386
that was for the Learner Training video but it also appears here. 387
'If you would like to discuss anything related to the theme of Life and Leisure, then you can click here.' 388
So this is for the theme of Recording new vocabulary, and this is for the theme of Life and Leisure. 389
In fact, let's go and have a look at this one. 390
Okay... 391
'Mastering Vocabulary | Life and Leisure.' 392
'Use this post to discuss... 393
remember to upvote comments that are useful or helpful.' 394
Okay. But, there's also an option for you to voice chat. If I click on that, it will take me to 395
a website called Discord. And this website is actually for the gaming community. 396
So some of you who might be gamers would know this website, and you can talk about strategies—even while 397
you're playing a game you can talk to other people all over the world in near real-time speed and be 398
able to discuss things. 399
It's a bit like Skype but only for... without the video and so that's why I've set this up for people 400
on this group. 401
If you want to discuss anything in real-time and practice your speaking with people from all over the 402
world (in English, of course), then you would use DiscordApp. 403
Remember this is an app as well. 404
So at the moment I'm using a mobi... 405
I'm using a computer, so I'm using the web version. But I can also download the program itself onto my 406
computer and it's available on mobile phones, as well as iPads and things like that. So it's a very powerful 407
app— 408
take full advantage of it if you want to improve your fluency in speaking. Remember, fluency: 409
the speed at which you are speaking. It doesn't matter about accuracy, because you are just talking to 410
people of the same level of English as you are. But it's... fluency is very important to practice anyway. 411
So even if you are making a few mistakes and your listening partner doesn't notice, it's not a problem. 412
You want to be able to speak more fluently. 413
Use this. And of course, it's also to discuss and communicate with each other about something you're not... 414
you're a bit confused about, for example, and one of the vocabulary practice tasks. And there's one other 415
thing that I wanted to show you. In the /r/IELTSStepbystep... 416
if I get rid of this—if I go to the main page (so just www.reddit.com/r/IELTSStepbystep), 417
just under the word 'moderators' here is—okay, 418
finally it came!— 419
a chatroom. And here, 420
If you click on it, it will take you to the chatroom and you can ask questions by text. 421
So if you don't want to talk, or you don't have a microphone and an headphones, you can use the chat on 422
Reddit to talk to people on this sub-Reddit. A sub-Reddit is a r/IELTSStepbystep, so on this sub-Reddit 423
you can talk to people who are interested in whatever you want. 424
So this is for the general r/IELTSStepbystep, but you can ask people to talk about specific things. 425
If you say: 'okay, I'm talking about Section 5...' 426
(Remember, Section 5 is here: 427
Life and Leisure) and I'm asking about Exercise 4: 'do you... do you know what the best way to say this is?' or 428
'do you notice there's a mistake?' 429
And if there is a mistake—I might have made a mistake— 430
the answer might be... not might... not match with the question. 431
Please let me know, of course, or let somebody else know and they can contact me if you don't know how 432
to contact me. 433
One more little technical thing please. 434
If you are going to use DiscordApp on the web only. There are two little symbols at the top. 435
This is Google Chrome. 436
Now Google Chrome works very well and it may... 437
this may be a problem for people on Safari, or people on Firefox, or Internet Explorer but I just 438
want [you] to to be aware of this. 439
If you click on that it says: 'The microphone is allowed'. 440
Of course, you want your microphone allowed 441
because you're going to be talking to people. 442
Okay? 443
At the moment I'm connected. I can disconnect over here if I want to. 444
Okay, 445
'voice connected' but there's something else that a lot of people are having problems with. 446
If there's a little red icon next to this, click on it, and it says: 'Sound was muted on this page', 447
please click on that press 'done', 448
and you should be able to... let me refresh it. 449
Okay. 450
Now, he will be able to hear people. 451
So you might be having issues with not being able to hear other people talking— 452
it's because of this little icon on the top right of the URL bar. 453
Okay. 454
Now there's one more thing I want to get onto—in this one it's Lecture Number 19. 455
It will be different in other themes, but it's called the 'IELTS practice'. 456
In this case it's the IELTS listening practice. 457
And this is a chance for you to practice an IELTS exam that is related to life and leisure. 458
So let's click on that, and see what it looks like. 459
Okay. Let's read carefully: 'the audio track is available on the top of this online test. 460
Complete the answers there (if you prefer you can print out this PDF and answer the questions 461
on paper.' 462
I understand 'it's easier to take notes on paper.') 463
So some people prefer paper. 'After you have finished, 464
transfer the answers to the online test to check them.' 465
Okay? 466
And it's exactly the same: when you've... when you want to check the answers, 467
you press the blue button—not here, but on the online test. 468
So let's click on 'online test'. 469
Okay, there's the directions of how to fill it in. 470
You see it's a listening because of the listening tab at the top, and you can fill in all the spaces 471
over here, and check. 472
Okay? 473
So you might want to use paper, 474
that's this... 475
that's the reason why there's a paper version; 476
You might be happy to do this all online and then check the answers [with the blue button]. 477
And I think that's everything, really, for this one. 478
Remember then it's your Show Your Progress: 479
you repeat those two tasks, or at least one of them, to show that you have made progress. 480
So that's about it for my introduction video. 481
I know it's gone on quite long. 482
What I would really appreciate is for you to leave a review at the end of the course because I can then 483
take the comments that you leave from that review and improve on this. 484
Remember this course is for life—any Udemy course is available for you as long as Udemy exists. 485
Let's hope it stays available because it's a great platform. 486
And so anything that... any feedback that I get from you in the review will be put back to improve this 487
course. 488
And so, of course, it's useful for you not just, as I said, to pass the IELTS cour... IELTS exam, but for 489
the rest of your life: the skills and the resources that I have here are useful for you way after you 490
complete the IELTS exam and get that 7 or 7.5 or 8 that you need to get into 491
your... the country that you want to, or get into the university that you deserve. 492
Okay. 493
So, thank you so much for paying attention. After this—a little break— 494
we're going to check the answers of the PDF, if you would like to check and get the answers. 495
Okay, so I'll see you in a few seconds. 496
Okay, so here we are on the Introduction Video — Welcome. 497
And we said that there are 6 courses in the suite. 498
So this one is the Mastering Vocabulary course, 499
and then there's reading, writing, listening, speaking and grammar. 500
Okay. 501
The Mastering Vocabulary Course has more than 1300 words. 502
Okay? I said 'over 1300 words', so 'over' in this case is the same as 'more than'. 503
Useful vocabulary will pop up in that box on the screen for a maximum of 4 (four) seconds. 504
So that's why you need to pause the video if you want to read what's written in the box. 505
Let's just erase that because I... just need this here. 506
Okay. 507
And then, over here 'there are also ...... for each video so that you can read and listen at the same time.' 'Captions', 508
or 'subtitles', 509
also called 'captions', so if you put 'captions' as well capt- 510
i-ons — both of them are acceptable. 511
But notice you need 's' because they are for each video and there are 23 videos... well, there are— 512
sorry— 513
there are more than 50 videos, actually, because there's Learner Training video and a video for 514
introducing the theme. 'The difficulty and speed of the videos is deliberately high to prepare you for...' 515
the IELTS listening. 516
And IELTS listening... you can leave it as... if you want, 517
or you can say listening exam, and I also accept listening test. 518
Okay? 519
Now 'the vocabulary for the course was chosen from...' two... two sources: 'the advanced lexis....' 520
Now, this is where another word—a more academic word for vocabulary and phrases. 521
Vocabulary tends to be single words, phrases tend to be groups of words. 522
And if you combine them all together they're called lexis. 523
So 'advanced lexis that frequently comes up in the... real exams' and you don't have to put 'real', you can say 524
'the exams' in the 'IELTS exam', as well— 525
sorry— 526
why am I doing that? 527
I... 528
so you can put real or IELTS exam or exams—all of them will be acceptable. 529
The next one there are 23 themes and topics that cover every possible text and question type in the 530
exams. 531
Okay. You can't say all because I need an 's' here: 532
'all possible texts', 533
So 'every' 534
is always with a single noun. 535
SN: single noun. 536
OK. 537
The aim of the IELTS Step-by-step courses is to help you to achieve a score of 7 or above. 538
You can also say 7 or over, and 7 or more 539
and I would also accept 7+ if you decided to use the + there. 540
Okay. 541
And only knowing the tips and tricks of the exam is unhelpful you need to know and use a wide range 542
of vocabulary. 543
If you use the word 'lexis' here, 544
that's great. 545
'lexis'... 'a wide range of lexis'. 546
So very good. 547
I cannot use 'vocabulary and phrases' because remember it says... I can't read it up there, but it says: 548
'two words and/or a number'. 549
So, if there's two words or a number then 'vocabulary and phrases' is three words and therefore it's not 550
possible. 551
Okay. 552
So that's for the first part. 553
Section 1. 554
Let's look at Section 2. 555
Here we are about knowing your tutor. 556
Now hopefully you know who I am. 557
So James (me) I believe that his... that my courses are uniquely powerful because: yes, 16 years of experience 558
helps. 559
Sure. 560
Yes, he's an ex-IELTS examiner, 561
that's useful. 562
Yes, he has masters and a diploma from Cambridge University. 563
But the main reason is that he's done more than... so 35 564
I said... more than 30 full IELTS exams. 565
And that's really helped me to understand how the examiners think. 566
Number 11: 'James has set the price of his courses lower than other similar courses because': 'he used to 567
teach wealthy people; he didn't like it.' 568
That's not true. 569
'He wants to motivate students from poor countries.' 570
Well... but that's not the main reason. 'He thinks that it's unfair that money determines your chances of 571
studying and/or living in an English-speaking country.' 572
There is your answer. 573
'He wants to have as many students as possible enrolled.' 574
No not necessarily. 575
'...as many'. 576
That's not poss... that's not true. 577
So, for Number 11 it's C. 578
Let's move up a little bit to Number 12 now. What does James think about collaboration? 579
'It's important because students can learn from each other and not just the teacher.' 580
Yes. 581
Possible. 582
Let's have a look at... 583
We'll... we'll look at that one. 584
'It's necessary because the peak teacher will not be available to answer questions.' 585
And that's not true. 586
I said that I might be able to answer questions. Maybe not at that on that day or at that moment, 587
but of course I can answer questions. 588
'It's preferable because if you learn by yourself your IELTS speaking result will below.' 589
Not necessarily; 590
there are some people who are still able to do it, but that's not a reason. 591
'And it's the best way to study because you never really teach something until you learn it.' 592
I know the phrase 'learn something until you teach it', and that means you... 593
that's one of the reasons why some people... if they really don't understand something, they try to teach 594
it to somebody. And then, through the teaching process, they start to understand it. 595
But because this phrase is mixed up, it cannot be possible, so the answer is A: 'students can learn from 596
each other and not just the teacher.' 597
Okay. 598
And 13: 'Why does James include 23 learner training videos?' 599
'He needed to make the course longer.' 600
That's rubbish. 601
'Videos provide students with skills to help them continue to learn— 602
sorry—to con... continue to learn long after the course has been completed.' 603
Yes, that's possible. 604
'He wants to make himself redundant so that he can move on to a different career.' 605
Rubbish! 606
I enjoy teaching, and 'generally teachers are very protective of their teaching knowledge and this should 607
be respected.' 608
No, I think the teachers should share their teaching knowledge. 609
So the answer for this one is B. Okay, 610
now this is just checking Section 3, Questions 14 to 19 and then finally Question 20. 611
Okay, 612
so let's go to the first one 'demonstrate to...' sorry— 613
'In which part of each section 614
will you do the following:' 'demonstrate to yourself that you've learned something'? And that is Show Your 615
Progress. So you demonstrate that you have made some progress. 616
Next one: 'collaborate with other students.' 617
This is here, your discussion space—you'll be collaborating with them. In this case, it's the Reddit sp... 618
Reddit.com/r/IELTSStepbystep (no spaces), but there's also a chance to collaborate 619
on the Discord 620
App which is available as an app or on the web. 621
So 15 is C: 622
'Learn new vocabulary'. 623
Of course this is over here: 624
'New vocabulary', and all the practice exercises will be in that section. 17: 'practice exam-style reading, 625
listening, writing, or speaking tasks.' 626
This one is—in this case we're using the listening practice— but it'll be IELTS writing, IELTS speaking, 627
IELTS 'something' practice, so it must be E then, for this one here. 628
'Prepare yourself to learn vocabulary for a new topic', and that happens at the introduction of the theme. 629
It's where you practice—or sorry—you 630
you activate your world knowledge related to that theme so that's A. 631
And then the last one, 632
'learn the skills needed to teach yourself.' 633
That's the Learner Training video, so that's alway... always coming after the introduction. 634
And that's in B. 635
Okay? 636
And the last one here, 637
Question 20: 'when you have finished the course you should leave a "review" so that James can make the necessary 638
improvements to it' (to the course). 639
Okay, so I think that's it. 640
I want you to enjoy this course. 641
I want you to have fun on this course. 642
I want you to learn on this course. 643
I want you to collaborate with me and other students on this course so that you can have a great experience. 644
And please let me know if you have any questions. 645
I'm available on Reddit, mostly, also on the Browse Q&A on Udemy. 646
I don't really have time to answer any questions on the Discord App, so use that really to talk to other 647
students. But Reddit is the best place to find me. 648
Okay, thank you very much for all your attention in this introduction video. 649
Good luck, and keep calm and carry on!