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    MC IELTS's IELTS ADVICE

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    Thành Sơn
    The document provides advice on practicing English through reading news sources, listing several websites for English news that are helpful for language learners preparing for IELTS exams. It emphasizes that pronunciation is the most important criteria assessed on the IELTS speaking test for Vietnamese test takers. Useful links are also included for improving English pronunciation skills.

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    MC IELTS's IELTS ADVICE

    Uploaded by

    Thành Sơn
    91 views4 pages
    The document provides advice on practicing English through reading news sources, listing several websites for English news that are helpful for language learners preparing for IELTS exams. It emphasizes that pronunciation is the most important criteria assessed on the IELTS speaking test for Vietnamese test takers. Useful links are also included for improving English pronunciation skills.

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    Mc IELTS’s IELTS ADVICE

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    The document provides advice on practicing English through reading news sources, listing several websites for English news that are helpful for language learners preparing for IELTS exams. It emphasizes that pronunciation is the most important criteria assessed on the IELTS speaking test for Vietnamese test takers. Useful links are also included for improving English pronunciation skills.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    91 views4 pages

    MC IELTS's IELTS ADVICE

    Uploaded by

    Thành Sơn
    The document provides advice on practicing English through reading news sources, listing several websites for English news that are helpful for language learners preparing for IELTS exams. It emphasizes that pronunciation is the most important criteria assessed on the IELTS speaking test for Vietnamese test takers. Useful links are also included for improving English pronunciation skills.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 4

    Mc IELTS’s IELTS ADVICE

    Practice your English through the News


    The more you listen to or read English news, this is what happens:
    • You start to recognize more vocabulary words and phrases and in different contexts
    (situations in how the word is used)
    • You start to recognize different sentence structures
    • You learn more about common topics that are useful for your exam. You learn about different
    viewpoints that you can use in writing your essays, or on the speaking test.
    Here are some good news websites:
    • Voice of America and their special 30 minute news report in slow English
    https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/everyday-grammar-thinking-about-using-ing-
    words/4282670.html
    https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/uss-carl-vinson-makes-visit-to-vietnam/4281195.html
    https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/jeff-bezos-first-100-billion-dollar-man/4284705.html
    • BBC Radio
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csvrh8
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0608mnd
    • Al Jazeera English podcasts and videos
    https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/teachers-180306133156256.html
    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/trump-accepts-invitation-meet-north-korea-kim-jong-
    180309050306499.html
    https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/qa-reality-free-education-ghana-
    180219070207774.html
    • CNN Student News - there are 10-minute commercial free news reports with transcripts
    available
    https://edition.cnn.com/cnn10
    https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/05/cnn10/ten-content-tues/index.html
    https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/30/cnn10/ten-content-weds/index.html
    • BBC – Learning English
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2014/09/140918_6min_lond
    on_skyline.shtml
    60+ episodes of practical English at work:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/englishatwork/
    Practice your grammar, set a higher limit on your vocabulary and improve your pronunciation:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/
    • Time magazine
    http://time.com/5193818/florida-governor-rick-scott-school-safety-bill/?xid=homepage
    http://time.com/longform/donald-trump-immigration-policy-splitting-families/
    http://time.com/time-health/?iid=HB_time_TFH
    • Google News retrieves news from numerous newspapers and magazines
    Google Headlines: https://news.google.com/news/headlines?ned=us&hl=en&gl=US
    http://wgno.com/2018/03/09/playstation-4-update-lets-parents-boot-kids-from-playing/
    http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-water-in-diamonds-20180308-story.html
    • National Geographic
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/latest-stories/
    https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/animals-dogs-emotions-pets-evolution/
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/asia/japan/sponsor-content-japan-national-
    park-adventures/
    • Breaking News English
    Main Link: https://breakingnewsenglish.com/
    Constantly updated reading lessons: https://breakingnewsenglish.com/speed_reading.html
    • The Guardian – Learning English
    https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/mar/26/english-language-support-uk-schools
    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/mar/08/cycling-keeps-your-immune-system-young-
    study-finds
    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/mar/09/invest-time-as-wisely-as-money-oliver-
    burkeman
    • Another useful tool is Google Alerts. Set up alerts to specific topics or words/phrases that come
    up in the news or blogs and it will send you an email about it.
    These are just a few news sites especially catered for English language learners. If you know of other
    sites that are useful, please let the class know.
    So have a go and make it a habit to read and listen to news every day, even for 10 minutes a day.
    Take note of anything new that you’ve learned. This could be a vocabulary word, or an idea or
    viewpoint about a popular topic as you might be able to use that idea in your essay writing
    WRITE OTHER GOOD ENGLISH LEARNING WEBSITES OR OTHER SOURCES BELOW
    FOR YOUR RECORD
    What’s the most important category of criteria on the speaking test for most Vietnamese?

    As you probably know by now, there are four categories of criteria to judge your speaking score that
    are on the speaking band descriptor sheet. They are Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource
    (vocabulary), Grammar, and Pronunciation.
    You may wonder if one category is more important than the others in Vietnam. My answer is YES.
    Although each category is equally weighted at 25% of your score and you are supposed to be judged
    separately and equally in each area, nonetheless, one area is still more important than the others. That
    area is PRONUNCIATION.
    That is because all the language you produce comes through pronunciation. You can imagine that
    pronunciation is a type of filter that all the language must pass through. If the filter is clean (good
    pronunciation) then anything and everything that comes through it, be it good or bad (e.g. error free-
    grammar or grammar with lots of mistakes), sounds a little bit better (cleaner).
    However, if the filter is dirty (bad pronunciation), then anything and everything that comes through
    it, even good grammar or vocabulary, sounds a little worse (dirty).
    No doubt, a dirty filter lowers your overall IELTS speaking score more than any other criteria.
    And let’s be aware of something else about the importance of English pronunciation and how it relates
    to jobs with English speaking companies:
    Having a high IELTS, TOEFL, or TOEIC score is good and will ‘get you the interview,’ but it won’t
    get you the job. Once you are in the interview, it’s your ability to speak and be understood
    (pronunciation), and your ability to understand what the interviewer is saying (listening), that will
    truly help you get the job.
    Mc IELTS management and teachers have met with countless foreign company owners and managers
    who are looking for competent Asian staff. And no doubt, the one thing we have heard over and over
    again from these company owners/managers is that they want to find a candidate that they can
    understand when they speak, and they want that candidate to understand them when they speak (ask
    questions or give directions). Too often in Vietnam foreign managers get frustrated because they
    have some trouble finding a qualified candidate who can speak English clearly.
    We assure you that Vietnamese who can speak English clearly (or mostly clearly) have a distinctive
    edge over others.
    Therefore, we strongly recommend working hard at improving your pronunciation for both a
    potentially higher IELTS score and a better chance at a job with a foreign company.
    GOOD LUCK from the Mc IELTS TEAM
    USEFUL PRONUNCIATION LINKS

    Marsh Chan is great. She is an American born (from California) PhD in linguistics and an expert in
    teaching pronunciation. Read the Marsh Chan article titled English Pronunciation for Chinese and
    Vietnamese Speakers on her blog at https://marshaprofdev.blogspot.com/2017/03/english-
    pronunciation-for-chinese-and.html (and follow her links in the article).

    Also, go to professor Chan’s YouTube channel -- you can join an online course of hers for a fee or
    watch a lot of her free videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/PronunciationDoctor

    Dictionary.com is easy – just type in a word to get the definition and click the speaker symbol if you
    want to hear it pronounced. www.dictionary.com

    Forvo allows you to simply type in a word and hear how a native speaker would say it.
    www.forvo.com

    Sounds of Speech is an invaluable app for anyone learning phonemes. It animates the different mouth
    movements required to make each sound. http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/

    British Council Phonemic Chart allows you to see and listen to all of the sounds of English.
    https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/phonemic-chart

    Or go to the first post pinned ([MATERIALS] IELTS BOOKS COLLECTION) at the top of the Mc
    IELTS Facebook Group named Học IELTS cùng chuyên gia at
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/643559425737713/ There are dozens of useful links in this post,
    including pronunciation.

    You can also scroll down to the bottom of the Mc IELTS website main page and see dozens more
    options for free English material and links at www.mcielts.com

    Also, go to the Mc IELTS YouTube Channel and watch the 16 useful episodes of STUPID IELTS
    STUFF ON THE INTERNET https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChW-
    73BTXvXzAeRUomZ2LAw

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