IELTS Teachers

Welcome to our page for IELTS teachers. We’ll be adding lots of free resources to help you with your IELTS Speaking classes over the coming months. For the time-being, we’ve listed below three different teaching contexts with suggestions on how to integrate materials on this website into each situation.

• Classroom with no Internet access
• Classroom with Internet-connected data-projector
• Computer room or students using mobile phones with Internet access

Classroom with no Internet access

Here are some pre- and post-lesson activities that will enable you to use several of our online resources in a blended learning or ‘flipped classroom’ modal.

1. Download our weekly IELTS Speaking Task Sheet. Before the lesson, direct the students to the accompanying vocabulary page which contains examples of the words listed in the Task Sheet with definitions. For example, if the topic of the task sheet is ‘Relationships’, (Task Sheet 2) tell your students to look at this page before the lesson.
2. In class include some form of vocabulary revision by working through the words and expressions on the left of the Task Sheet.
3. Focus attention on the IELTS Part 2 task in the Task Sheet and work through the suggested activities. Tell students they will be practising the talk in class and if they wish, will have the chance to record themselves online for homework.
4. For homework ask students to listen to other students who have recorded themselves attempting IELTS-style Speaking tests on our Practice Test page. For example, here’s the ‘Relationships’ Practice Test page if you are working with Task Sheet 2. Invite your students to record themselves as well if they wish.
5. If you would like your students to focus on particular functional language or grammatical forms, before recording themselves, point them towards the appropriate lessons in our 5 Minute Functions, or IELTS Grammar pages.

Tip: As there are a large number of recordings in each of our tests it might be hard to locate the ones your students have made. If you wish to listen and give feedback on their talks, why not set up your own Voicethread page with similar practice tests?

Classroom with Internet-connected data-projector

This activity could be used to analyse student-responses to IELTS Speaking tasks. This could be to demonstrate good practice or to focus on error correction. Students can then carry out the IELTS Speaking task themselves.

1. Download our weekly IELTS Speaking Task Sheet. Before the lesson, direct the students to the accompanying vocabulary page which contains examples of the words listed in the Task Sheet with definitions. For example, if the topic of the task sheet is ‘Relationships’, (Task Sheet 2) tell your students to look at this page before the lesson.
2. Before the lesson check out the relevant Practice Test page on this website. For example, if you are working with Task Sheet 2 on Relationships, look at this page. Identify any student recordings you think would be useful to listen to in class. It might be that one offers a good example of a Part 2 talk or perhaps could be used to identify errors in grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation etc. Make a note of which recording(s) you plan to use.
3. In class distribute the IELTS Speaking Task Sheets and include some form of vocabulary revision by working through the words and expressions on the left of the Task Sheet.
4. Once you have completed the vocabulary revision exercise, go to the relevant Practice Test page on the data-projector. For example, the ‘Relationships’ practice test is available here. Play the recording(s) you have chosen and ask students to listen out for the language areas you have chosen to focus on. In addition to the ideas above (2), students could decide if the task has been answered fully, or listen to see if any of the vocabulary in the task sheet has been used.
5. Continue with the tasks in the Task Sheet in preparation for students doing the talk themselves.
6. If you would like your students to focus on particular functional language before doing their talk, load the appropriate video in one of our 5 Minute Functions page.
7. For homework invite students to practice further by recording themselves using our Practice Test page. You could also point them towards our IELTS Grammar page for revision they might need.

Computer room or students using mobile phones with Internet access

This activity would give you the chance to raise awareness of the marking criteria for the IELTS Speaking exam. It could be carried out in a self-access room or in a class where students have access to internet connected mobile phones.

1. In the lesson prior to your self-access class give students a copy of the IELTS Speaking band descriptors. This can be downloaded here. Their homework should be to read through this and evaluate their abilities in each of the 4 skills: ‘Fluency and coherence’, ‘Lexical resource’, ‘Grammatical range and accuracy’ and ‘Pronunciation’.
2. At the beginning of the self-access class and before going on the computers, ask students to sit in pairs and discuss their evaluation of their Speaking skills using the band descriptors.
3. Ask students to go to the IELTS Speaking website and locate the Practice Test page you want to focus on. This will probably be on the same subject as that in the Task Sheet you are using or planning to use in class. For example, if you are focussing on the subject of ‘Relationships’ which appears in Task Sheet 2, the relevant Practice Test page is available here. Tell students they will be working in pairs or groups of four. Each pair or group should identify one particular recording to evaluate. Having decided, they should listen to the speaker and use the band descriptors to grade the person. Students working in pairs should focus on two band descriptors each, students working in a group of four should focus on one band descriptor each.
4. Having listened and graded the speaker, students can reform into their pairs of groups and share their opinions. Having listened to the same speaker it will hopefully lead to an engaging conversation.
5. If you would like your students to focus on particular functional language or grammatical forms, before recording themselves, point them towards the appropriate lessons in our 5 Minute Functions, or IELTS Grammar pages.
6. Students can then be given the opportunity to record themselves trying the same practice test.
7. As a follow on activity, students could listen to one of our Language Lab lessons where we offer feedback on a student recording.