What You Say in English!

This time, I had a student of mine from a C2 Proficiency group answer some questions that would be appropriate for the discussion section of the speaking exam. C1 students would also benefit from listening to her answers, as she uses a wide range of structures and vocabulary. She also used intonation effectively to enhance the message she was trying to convey. The questions were:

1. Do you have much opportunity to travel? Where would you go if you had the choice?
2. How would you feel about a round-the-world trip?
3. What are your expectations of a job and salary?
4. How important to you is it to do well academically?
5. How do you feel about the idea of becoming an entrepreneur?
6. What would your priorities be if you were bringing up children?

She did amazingly well, and I'm sure you can get a few pointers to improve on your skills. Also, stay tuned for future episodes as I have a few things prepared.

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First of all, I'd like to apologize for the audio quality. I didn't have the right audio equipment (the one I usually use) and I was at another location and I had to amplify Ben's voice so you could hear it. Despite that, I hope you can get to hear him share his knowledge and expertise as a teacher and exam trainer. We talked about our shows, our students and our impressions on what matters most when preparing for exams. Ben's channels are To The Point, English with Ben (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzxHbqh9Pxk9sV4W66jIbjA) and English Matters with Ben Gill (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCprMnRKhvk5HLRPpjEVmdKw).

I hope you enjoy this.

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Something that sounds very enticing to English learners is that they wish to speak English with a native accent. Apart from being a difficult goal to reach, in today's world, it's probably becoming less and less important. There's also the problem of selecting a native accent to imitate... native from where? Today I'm giving feedback to Elaph, an English learner from Iraq. Although she's a very fluent speaker, she feels she would like to "reduce her accent", because she feels that it would boost her confidence. Indeed, it is a major boost when a non-specialist native speaker compliments your English. So, in the spirit of keeping her motivation, I accepted to interview her and tell her about the tiny little things that might give away her origin. Again, I don't think it's necessary to do this, but anybody can choose how they wish to be seen and how they wish to interact with others. I understand that feeling accepted is important for most of us. Also, by the end of today's episode, I talk about a new service that I'm offering, so stay tuned.

Remember that I'm always here. You can ask your questions, send messages or opinions to [email protected]

--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/whatyousayinenglish/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/whatyousayinenglish/support

Something that sounds very enticing to English learners is that they wish to speak English with a native accent. Apart from being a difficult goal to reach, in today's world, it's probably becoming less and less important. There's also the problem of selecting a native accent to imitate... native from where? Today I'm giving feedback to Elaph, an English learner from Iraq. Although she's a very fluent speaker, she feels she would like to "reduce her accent", because she feels that it would boost her confidence. Indeed, it is a major boost when a non-specialist native speaker compliments your English. So, in the spirit of keeping her motivation, I accepted to interview her and tell her about the tiny little things that might give away her origin. Again, I don't think it's necessary to do this, but anybody can choose how they wish to be seen and how they wish to interact with others. I understand that feeling accepted is important for most of us. Also, by the end of today's episode, I talk about a new service that I'm offering, so stay tuned.

Remember that I'm always here. You can ask your questions, send messages or opinions to [email protected]

--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/whatyousayinenglish/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/whatyousayinenglish/support

It's been a long time since I've done anything IELTS related. Well, here I am, doing a mock speaking with a great candidate who wishes to get a 6.0 in his exam. Mohd Farook is from India. He contacted me through Facebook and we recorded this a few days back. He received the video version of this mock. I hope you enjoy it.

The card he used for part 2 goes as follows:

Talk about a polluted place you have seen.

• What is this place and where is it?
• Why is it polluted?
• How does this affect life there?
• What could be done to reverse this pollution and who needs to do it?

I also want to thank Marta for her lovely message and the rest of you out there, who make this podcast possible. If you listen through Spotify, you can answer this episode question.

Remember to use my discount code, WYSE, to get an extra 10% discount at TakeIELTS.net. That way, you'll help me make more episodes like this one.

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You may not know this, but today is my birthday! And as a special treat, I bring this full mock speaking for C1 Advanced with two incredible candidates: Sindo and Suzy. We recorded this a while back and I was planning never to post it, but Sindo contacted me to let me know that he'd passed the exam (now he can say he's got the advanced level, officially), which makes me very happy. All success stories call for a celebration. The visuals for this exam:

• Part 2, candidate A: shorturl.at/vMSU3
• Part 2, candidate B: shorturl.at/qGLU4
• Part 3: shorturl.at/yCIVW

Also, special thanks to Isabella, from Brazil. Your message is what keeps me going! Thank you.

Remember that more things are coming. Whether you're a student or a teacher and would like to share your tips and advice with others, feel free to use my podcast to tell the world how much you've learned and taught others.

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Believe it or not, English only has, strictly speaking, two tenses: present and past. Of course, if we only consider the changes in the verb. But that doesn't mean we can't express different concepts to talk about the future. For such purpose, we can use different "tenses" (or verb forms) that can do the job as well as in your first language. I will try to dispel any confusions regarding the future in English and I hope my explanations come across as easy as possible for you. Remember that speaking about the future is important in parts 1 and 3 of the IELTS exam, and parts 1, 3, and 4 of the Cambridge exams. So, get on board and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to send me an email to [email protected].

Also, if you're subscribed to my podcast on Spotify, you'll be able to answer a poll and a question (in writing) after you listen to the episode. 

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Due to all the downloads the previous episode got, I decided to cover an aspect of pronunciation that usually leads to confusion: word stress. Take out your notebooks because this will be a very eye-opening class that you may wish to revisit in the future. I speak about different aspects of word stress, how confusing it may be, and how we can better predict how words are said just by looking at how they're written. Remember to support the channel by sharing the episodes on your favorite social sites. Also, share my code for TakeIELTS.net with anyone you know who's preparing for the IELTS exam. In this episode, I also share a friend's podcast, Learning Forward, India Foundation. In the words of the host, Sandeep Dutt, "You will love the stories shared by our happy teachers and passionate educators. We grow the capacity of your people to improve student achievement and transform your school into a culture of trust and collaboration in less time with fewer resources. Each person in your school contributes to the culture of your school. School culture is built on the actions and interactions of the people. You make your school stronger by adding value to others and making others feel valued." His podcast can be found at https://anchor.fm/learningforward and from there, you can use the provider of your choice. 

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One aspect that complicates things whenever a non-native speaker of English and a native speaker of English communicate with each other is how the latter joins words together. This could be a problem for English learners, especially at the beginning of their learning journey. Today, I'm covering some of those problems, trying to explain what makes them difficult at times. It's not my intention that you produce these sounds, but if you want to, I promise you that people will start complimenting your English. Secondly, I want to thank Cesar from Zaragoza, who sent me an incredible voice message through the Anchor website. He's preparing for the C1 advanced exam, and he's definitely on the right track. Cesa, if you ever want to speak at length in my show, my doors are open. Finally, I want to introduce my listeners to Stephen Green's Podcast: English with Stephen. He aims to bring you everything you need to learn English in under 10 minutes. Stephen has been an English teacher for over 25 years. He tells stories about words, talks about the history of English and presents different learning strategies every week. All the episodes come with a free transcript you can read to help you learn and understand more. You can find the podcast on his site, https://englishwithstephen.com/, or on any podcast app. Stephen's other social media pages are:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/englishwithstephen/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EnglishwStephen

Check him out! I'm sure you'll love what he's doing.

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After analyzing Penelope Cruz's incredible English, thus time, as suggested by a listener, I'm talking about what I think of Vanessa Paradis' English. She's a French singer and actor who started her career at 14/15 years old, and since then, she's done a lot of interesting things. I selected 4 clips that illustrate how much she has learned over the years. It is interesting to hear how she sounded at 15 and what she's like now. You have to remember that she was married to Johnny Depp and had a daughter, Lily Rose, with him. Vanessa as a perfect example of what an English learner can accomplish in their process of learning English. Let me know what you think! And remember to share this episode with anyone who is interested in improving their speaking skills.

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