Best English Language School Mandalay, Myanmar/ Burma

TOEFL vs. IELTS

Question:  here is my question. I took both the TOEFL and IELTS tests. My TOEFL score was quite good but my IELTS score was below average. Why do you think I got a lower score on IELTS? What can I do to get a better score? Thanks in advance for you answer! From Johnny Johnson.

Answer: Hello Johnny Johnson. I like your name. It has an interesting rhythm to it! The TOEFL and IELTS tests are very different types of test. On the one hand, the TOEFL tests your knowledge of English. The questions are focussed on very specific language and so it is possible to get a good score by preparing carefully. On the other hand, the IELTS test is a test of English proficiency, which means it tests your ability to use English successfully. Knowledge is not enough. You need to be able to use your knowledge under a variety of circumstances.That is much harder to prepare for.

So, what can we do to get a higher score on the IELTS? First of all, my students have discovered that special classes do not help them with the IELTS in the same way they do for the TOEFL. Teachers in IELTS classes talk about specific “tips” for succeeding on the IELTS test, but the tips didn’t help my students get a higher score. Rather than focus on special “tips”, students must help themselves be more “proficient” in using English. Successful students must do whatever they can to improve their English proficiency. In other words, they must listen to and read as much English as possible. This is the best way to be ready when the test comes.

To prepare for the IELTS, students can also work to improve their English proficiency under test conditions. That means doing lots and lots of practice tests! My most successful students did at least one full practice test every day before the test, for at least two weeks. Doing a practice test, using a timer, is a form of experience. Remember, experience is the best teacher!

Become a confident speaker

How to improve your English speaking skills, so that you can communicate more easily and effectively.These tips will help you to become a more confident speaker. Practice where you can, when you can. Any practice is good - whether you speak to someone who is a native English speaker or not. It’s important to build your confidence. If possible, use simple sentence structure that you know is correct, so that you can concentrate on getting your message across. Try to experiment with the English you know. Apply words and phrases you know to new situations. Native English speakers are more likely to correct you if you use the wrong word than if you use the wrong grammar. Experimenting with vocabulary is a really good way of getting feedback. Try to respond to what people say to you. You can often get clues to what people think by looking at their body language. Respond to them in a natural way. Try not to translate into and from your own language. This takes too much time and will make you more hesitant. If you forget a word, do what native English speakers do all the time, and say things that ‘fill’ the conversation. This is better than remaining completely silent. Try using ‘um’, or ‘er’, if you forget the word. Don’t speak too fast! It’s important to use a natural rhythm in speaking English, but if you speak too fast it will be difficult for people to understand you. Try to relax when you speak, and you’ll find that your mouth does most of the pronunciation work for you. When you speak English at normal speed, you’ll discover that many of the pronunciation rules, such as word linking, happen automatically.

Final tips…

- Try to become less hesitant and more confident. - Don’t be shy to speak - the more you do it, the more confident you’ll become. - Remember to be polite - use “please” and “thank you” if you ask someone to do something for you.

Improve Your English Speaking and English Pronunciation Skills

The first rule of speaking English is to speak clearly, concisely and use simple vocabulary. KISS - keep it short and simple.

Remember you probably won’t just speak to native speakers. There are roughly 380 million native speakers, but as many as a billion people speak it as a second language. So it’s a good idea to avoid idioms and slang (I always say learn it, but don’t use it). It might sound clever to say “You’re barking up the wrong tree,” but if you misuse it or if the other person doesn’t understand you, you’ll only look silly when you try to explain what you meant to say, or what it actually means.

There’s also a saying in English “Have you swallowed a dictionary?” It is applicable to anyone who uses long, complicated words when a shorter word will do. Short sentences are just as good (if not better) than long explanations. The value in what you have to say is what you say, not how clever you look or sound when you say it.

Pronunciation skills

Accents don’t matter, but pronunciation is important

Here are some more things you can do guys. 

• Join an English course (and attend regularly).
• Do your homework.
• Read a book a month.
• Learn a new word every day.
• Visit an English speaking forum every day.
• Read a news article on the net every day.
• Do 10 minutes listening practice  every day. (from a coursebook  or listen to the VOA and BBC english for learners programs )
• Watch an English film at least once a month.
• Follow a soap, comedy or radio or TV drama.

Well , as the title says I’m going to suggest how to make your English better.

Okie dokie, here we go !

1.       Read this blog regularly ! And look for spelling mistakes in it !

2.       Join a library ( The BC or British Council centre at the SY buildings btw:           30th x  31st,   77th x 78th is a good place to borrow books, listen to tapes    and        stuff,   use their internet for free, read 2-3 day old newspapers and  watch movies.

The guy/librarians  at the desk are two of the most handsome guys in MDY , tell them you know me USL . ( and they might throw you out …….. just kidding )

The airconditioning is nice and cold too, so it’s  a great place to pop into when the sun is too bright and you have an hour or two free.

The students there are encouraged to speak English , so start conversations with other guys there . Don’t be too Burmese ! Introduce yourself to a total stranger there ( your own age and sex  is better but …… just joking). Talk to anyone .

 Ask them if they know USL from BEST. Then start criticizing me if it will start a conversation. Or the etenally fresh intro line ” Have I seen you somewhere before  ? You look very familar ! …” and  so on and so forth.

Or just ” Hi , I’m _____. You come here often ?”

3.   Talk to anyone who speaks English in ” English “. Ask them lots of questions .( Memorize at least 20 questions/ tell me about ….. type starters to use )  

I’ll give you a list too , but make your own first.

4.   Try to THINK in the language

5.   Try to get as much general knowledge as possible  and keep up with the current news or you   won’t have anything to say or discuss when you do meet people .

Find out /learn about Myanmar in English , so you can explain, give advice , lie about  your beloved country etc   to the foreigners you happen to meet.

6.    Attend as many seminars and presentations given in English as you can.Especially the the ones recruiting students, Ask a lot of questions at their Q & A sessions.

7.   Watch movies with English subtitles, then watch them again with the words plastered over.

8. Take the TOEFL or the IELTS tests just for fun to see how good or how …. you are.

9. Don’t blame yourself or your genes if you are a slow learner   or are unusually shy.USL is also a shy person too.. LOL LOL

So try not to be shy. Bite your lip before you talk to someone , pinch your self , pretend that the person you are talking to is a baby or a poodle .

10. Smile and try to be friendly. It’s sometimes not an English /language  problem you know. Also always try to make friends with smiling ,friendly people.

11. Don’t ever ever be worried about making mistakes. And don’t care about what people think of you or your English. Be a GODZILLA. Have no fear of the puny earthlings !

12. Join an English language chat room and practice there. There’s one for students in the links .  Go to the English language practice websites on the links page and start practising listen ,grammer etc.

Don’t just chat in Burglish ( Burmese written in the roman alphabet) in those  MIRC chat rooms . Or do both at the same time !

13.  Learn as many songs as you can in English and sing them from memory.

14. Read every packet /packaging/ pamplet in English that you can get your hands on .Read all the signs, signboards written in English and try to figure out their meanings. ( But not while you are riding your motorcycle or bicycle )

15. Guess the meaning of all those words in English that you see , read and hear. It doesn’t matter if you’re wrong , it’s not a final test or anything. You can always check in a dictionary or ask someone later. 

16. Write down a list of your own opinions about everything that comes to mind in English.  And tell people your opinions/ what you think in English . Being direct in English is OK most of the time.

16. Keep it in mind ( remember ) or keep saying to yourself ” Learning a lanuage is not as difficult as nuclear quantum chaotic biomolecular astrophysics ”.

17. Have faith in yourself . I have faith in you , OK !

COME EVERYONE !  I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT ! 

More to come …..

Everyone ,

Give me your opinions on the following stuff in the comments section below OK ?

1.The best computer training school in MDY & Yangon

2. The best internet cafe shop in MDY & Yangon

3. The best teashop for  younger people in MDY & Yangon

4. The best big. medium sized and big hotels in MDY& Yangon

5. The best Myanmar ( Burmese)Indian , Chinese , Yunnan barbeque,

        Western  style restaurants   in MDY & Yangon

6. The best computer game center/arcade in MDY  & Yangon

7. The best bookshop in MDY & Yangon

8. The best things to do in MDY & Yangon

9. The best place to go shopping/ window shopping in MDY & Yangon

10. The best places for foreigners to go to ,in and around MDY &Yangon

11. The best place to go early in the morning /evening  in MDY & Yangon

12. The best Shan noodle shop in MDY&Yangon

13. The best night / evening market in MDY & Yangon

14. The best place to buy fresh  fruit in MDY & Yangon

15. The best place to have a beer in evening in MDY & Yangon

And don’t forget to add the places’ addresses/whereabouts and  the reason why you think it’s the best  in MDY & Yangon.

( And to avoid confusion and tears I want to clarify that I mean the best places for “ each” city, not the best in both cities ) 

Thanks a million

Hi everyone,

Don’t forget to click on the links cos they’re good and interesting ( Read the “guide to the links ” page too ). Right now they’re about learning English ,finding jobs ( abroad) and studying in Singapore . Lots of new stuff is going to be added soon.

 If there is any topic you would like me to write about , tell me . I’ll do my best and write the piece. If your topic  concerns ,interests everyone, ever so much the better.

 And I do invite suggestions to make this blog better. If you’re English isn’t that good , use the chatroom Burglish in your comments and questions . No problem . But not all the time guys, OK !

I’m still fiddling around with the layout and stuff. Of course I’ll change it if you find it a bit too ” cool & relaxing “. I  also want to stick some cool moving stuff onto the blog but as  I’m working alone without any knowledge of what the heck  an “avatar” and so on , so I guess it’ll take some time for the blog to look super  ,can’t ask the intenet cafe guys for advice either , they  are as  baffled and inexperienced as me about  such things . Well ,don’t forget to write your commments and questions here too , Just click on ”  comments” below and start writing . I’ll answer any questions you might have in my next post.

Bye for now

One of the those seminars today, for TMIS ( Tourism Management Institute of Singapore) the Singaporean presenter  guy was OK , I guess , cool fellow. About  100 people  came. Most of the audience was not too bored and asked some good questions although I had to prod them a bit to produce.  The kids got some good listening practice but how much they understood of his Singlish I really have no idea.(when I say Singlish, I do not mean to be derogatory in any way, for me it just means English in a Singaporean accent) ,They were nodding their heads sometimes so I guess the gist got through or they totally misunderstood him . But anyway, a good day !

Well tomorrow I’m back to teaching lessons , the woeful  (  LOL   LOL )   TOEFL , I may call it that but I actually like teaching that class. I’ve got some good new ideas how to teach writing . Pity that the TOEFL textbooks are so boring . Well ,it’s my responsibilty to make them at least digestable if not tasty for the students. 

I also have to  think about what I’m gonna write in this blog too.  I’ll be posting stuff in Burmese too before long . I’m having someone type in the Burmese stuff cos I don’t know how to type in that language.(That is if I can figure out how to do the fonts etc…)

 The weather here in Mandalay is ” searing ” hot.My skin feels like it’s peeling off like a banana skin . The heat is so , so….aaaaaarrrrrrghhhhhhhh …….., it kind of  seeps into your pores and microwaves your innards and more critically the ” bean “  aka ” the brain”.

Thank goodness we have the elec supply for 12 hours starting from 5pm this evening . Last night ,I was sweating like a p…g and woke up lathered in sweat or should I be polite and say “pespiration”?

The students and I  will be writing comments about the good ,the bad and the ugly about this town we live in ,  in following posts, so drop in once in a while .

And another thing….. in this blog will have various and at times nutty observations and info about learning languages, getting by in school , life and so on and so forth , anything that happens to strike our fancy. But the stuff will be interesting, we’re sure ( or more like ,we hope )

Thanks for dropping by. Ciao /Sayonara /Cheers for now!

USL

(and later on  his students ) 

Anyway the summer school for kids has filled up nicely, and the wifey is V V busy and herds them along quite well ,I think.