Chatting with Contessa – IELTS Instructors – From GLN IELTS Review Center

Q: You are a professional teacher in IELTS with many years of experience working with Filipino and Vietnamese students, what do you think are the similarities and differences between them?

 A: The main difference between Filipino and Vietnamese students is that the latter seem to be more eager to learn, more goal-driven. Not having had many opportunities to learn English, they welcome every little tidbit I share, asking a lot of relevant questions and enthusiastically doing their homework and other exercises I give.

Q.  What are the skills in which Vietnamese students need the most improvement?

A. Vietnamese students need a lot of practice in pronunciation. They seem to have a good foundation in grammar, especially in writing, but most of them can’t use the theories when they are speaking. A lot of my students do not enunciate the ending sounds of the words and sometimes it is very difficult to understand them.

Q. How can they improve these skills?

A: Practice makes perfect. They have to put themselves in situations where they can speak English --- befriend a foreigner, or talk to themselves, if necessary. It can also help to watch a lot of English movies so they can be familiar with pronunciation and stressing the correct syllables. They can also try recording themselves speaking and analyze what they are doing wrong.

 Q. What is the best way to prepare for IELTS?

A: They should try to enrich their vocabulary. The best way to do that is to read and read and read. And if they don’t have time for that, they need to practice context-clue reading, so they can guess the meaning of a certain word, even if they have never encountered it before.

They should enroll in a good IELTS course, especially if they are in a hurry to take the test. A good teacher will guide them on how to study more efficiently, point out their mistakes and provide them with a lot of practice.

 Q. Last year, you also participated in the IELTS exam and received an 8.5 overall Band Score. Can you share with us some tips that helped you achieve this score?

 A: To get an 8.5, depth, style, and complexity are needed. Even people with a good command of the language (accurate grammar and sufficient vocabulary) would not achieve an 8.5 if the sentences are not long enough or if the words used are common and repetitive.

 Q. What advice do you have for students prior to taking the exam?

A. Right before the exam, they need to be relaxed. They should sleep well the night before and not study anymore. They should prepare all the things they need (ID, pencils, eraser, etc.) well in advance so they don’t have to worry about it. Lastly, a good breakfast is imperative as the thought of the three-hour test can be daunting.

 Q. Many of your students have achieved high scores: 7.0 - 7.5 and even 8.0 in IELTS,  can you comment about these students? What do they share in common?

 A: It would be wrong for me to take all the credit. These students already had a very good foundation in English before they met me.

 However, what they have in common that sets them apart is a willingness to keep on learning. As the old adage says, you cannot fill a cup that is already full. These students are open-minded, smart and honest enough to know they are not perfect and that no matter how good they are, there are still things they can learn.  And they know they still need practice, a lot, to achieve the band score they want.

(Hop Bui)


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