I want to share a piercing piece written by Timur Khamzin in my Creative Writing Club. Plain and honest, this story pierces my heart every time I read it. ❤️❤️❤️
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/10/fixing-starts-with-tap.html

https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/10/why-did-you-become-vegetarian-most.html
Tired of answering. The next time someone asks, they are in for a nice read. 🐷🐮🐑

In this post, I am sharing an activity you can use with Outcomes Advanced p.105-107 (and with many other text books if you adapt it). The activity is aimed at practicing similes. Your students will first work with my story and then write their own. 📝

What I love about this activity is, of course, that it involves creative writing, but also that it is effortless for the teacher - no need to spend three hours on a lengthy worksheet. Well, granted, I spent some time on writing the story, but you don’t have to. Feel free to use it (and I will be grateful if you cite me as the source too). 💙

https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/10/similes-and-outcomes-outcomes-advanced.html

Some people think that in #IELTS essays there is the "right" opinion, that is either the opinion the test makers have in mind (which you are supposed to somehow divine) or the socially accepted opinion that sounds righteous (e.g. we need to prevent climate change). This is not true. Any opinion works as long as it's argued well.

I want to share an essay that argues a very counterintuitive point of view - that too much time and resources are spent on protecting wild animals. The essay is written by my student Nastya. "You came up with very convincing arguments on the point of view I didn’t want to be convinced in," was my comment on the essay. She probably doesn't even support this point of view herself, but this is irrelevant. All that matters is it's a very logical essay that would get a very high score.

https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/10/too-much-spent-on-animals.html

Did you know that Outcomes has writing pages at the end of the book? I bet you didn't. Or if you did, I bet you didn't do them. This course is meant to address this injustice. Being based on pages 150-165 of Outcomes Advanced, this unique course includes even more writing tasks, both for exams and real life.

The course syllabus

📝 Module 1: Real life (4 classes)

File 5 + CV, cover letter
File 7 + applying for scholarships

📝 Module 2: CAE (6 classes)

File 8 + register and style
File 3 + CAE review
File 6 + introduction to CPE article

📝 Module 3: IELTS (6 classes)

File 1 + a real IELTS line graph
File 4 + sequencing language and a real IELTS process task
File 2 + paragraph anatomy, how to build an argument

Course duration: 16 classes, with classes meeting once a week
Class duration: 90 minutes

Writing: one piece a week, every week
Feedback: personalized, detailed feedback on every piece

Schedule
📅 Group 1: Monday 19:00-20:30
📅 Group 2: Friday 12:00-13:30

Price: 5,400 rub a month (4 classes)

This course is for level C1 and can be taken regardless of you your experience with the Outcomes course book. Message me to sign up and get a placement essay. 💌

Please note I won't be teaching the course myself, but I've invited a top-notch professional and I will be supervising. ‼️

https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_5043592%2Fquery

My brand new writing course "Writing through Reading" - a writing course based on academic articles and geared towards IELTS essays.

📝 What will we do?
- read and discuss articles from New Scientist or the like;
- work with lexis and sentence structures;
- work on cohesion, coherence, paraphrasing and all the things you need for a successful IELTS essay;
- After all that, you'll write an essay in the IELTS format based on the article.

📝 Who is the course perfect for?
- people who have taken IELTS and want to keep working on their academic writing skills;
- people who want to write focusing on the skill more than on the format;
- people who are considering taking IELTS in distant future.

The course is geared towards IELTS but is good for essays in most tests.

💃 Level: IELTS 7.5-8, C1+
📅 Tuesday 14:00-15:30 msk
📅 Course duration: about 9 months

Homework: one week - reading, next week - writing
Feedback: personalized, detailed feedback on every piece

📝 Price: 6,000 rub a month (4 sessions). Feedback included.

Message me to sign up or ask questions. 💌

https://vk.com/iralutse?w=product-47977221_5061302%2Fquery

Speaking is the skill that goes rusty in a heartbeat. Speaking for exams is almost an independent skill of its own. Join this course to boost your both.

It’s perfect for you if:
✅ you are preparing for IELTS or Cambridge exams;
✅ you wish to use advanced lexis naturally in your speech;
✅ if you want to discuss exam-type topics;
✅ you need regular speaking practice with peers.

🤷‍♀️ What will we be doing?
It's easy-peasy: we'll discuss articles and videos, work with advanced lexis, and practice exam format speaking tasks.
Well, it's not so easy-easy: there will be homework and independent work as well. Good speaking skills come at a price.

🙎‍♀️ Your host is Irina Nosova:
- degree in teaching;
- 10 years of teaching experience;
- CELTA A (CES Edinburgh);
- DELTA M23 (IH London);
- CPE A;
- A member of Toastmasters (an old international public speaking club) for several years with numerous “Best Speaker of the Day” awards.

Irina says, "When it comes to oracy excellence, I believe it’s confidence that helps you use your full potential to impress the audience, and confidence comes from practice."

Join this course to practice until your tongue turns silver.

📅 Tuesday 14:00-15:30 MSK
📝 Price: 5,400 rub a month (4 sessions).

📝 Level: C1, C1+, IELTS 7-8.
But if your level is above or below, message me - we will start a new group.

💌 Message me to sign up or ask questions.
https://vk.com/iralutse?w=product-47977221_5076667%2Fquery

My unique, long-awaited, and extended writing course. 🎉

This course is about finding your voice and sharing your message in writing. To hell with exams - it’s time to write for real!

☃️ What will you learn to do?
- hook your reader and keep them engaged
- write an effective noscript
- communicate your idea effectively
- write concisely and precisely
- use stylistic devices
- try out different organizational patterns
- write an effective ending
- format and punctuate

☃️ In short, the course if perfect for you if:
- you don't want to write for exams;
- you want to write to express yourself;
- you want to tell your true stories and share your real opinions;
- you want to write for real audiences.

☃️ Will you get feedback?
You bet! You will write one piece a week, which I scrutinize and comment on.

Price: 6000 rub a month (4 sessions). Feedback included (one answer a week).
Course length: 3 months
Class length: 90 minutes

📅 Schedule 2022: Saturday morning/ early afternoon (precise time to me decided on together)
📅 Starting on 5 February.

‼️ Please note by "blogging" I mean writing only.

💌 Pm me to sign up or ask questions.

https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_3696542%2Fquery

Coherence and cohesion - my only solace these days. 💔

I haven't been in the mood for posting recently - somewhat speechless over recent events. But I do keep teaching as usual - both my students and I find that classes are a good distraction and often the only time we don't doomscroll. Talking about coherence and cohesion does the job particularly well - they are so wonderfully impartial, peaceful, and sane.

I want to share a glimpse of our latest Writing Incubator session about coherence and cohesion. Here is a paragraph I wrote and some examples of cohesive devices. 📝

Topic: Factors of success in international English examinations

"Another factor that many people consider to be important is luck. They say there is always a chance that the topic will be one they have not prepared or do not fully comprehend. This reasoning is justified to some degree as it might indeed happen that a student has mastered 19 topics out of 20 and got the only one they had not. However, I would argue that the likelihood of an unfortunate topic is only a factor if the preparation is not exhaustive, which is the responsibility of the test taker, not the exam or some higher power. I therefore believe luck - or the lack thereof - is an excuse rather than a valid justification for low performance."

Cohesive devices:
- the classical linkers "However" and "therefore" (nothing wrong with using the classics, but note the position of 'therefore' in the last sentence);
- pronouns: they (=people), this (this reasoning = the reasoning from the previous sentence);
- "another": implies there was one more factor in the previous part of the essay;
- "indeed": shows agreement with the previous sentence;
- "which": joins the likelihood and the responsibility;
- "thereof": a fancy way to avoid repeating "luck";
- lexical cohesion: words that are in the same lexical field: luck, chance, unfortunate, higher power;
- the repetition of the word "factor" - yes, repetitions can be a cohesive device!

I told the participants of the session "I am not afraid of repetitions"! I'm so brave, aren't I? In all seriousness, repetitions should be handled with care - only use them if you know for sure you are using them for cohesion, not because you can't think of other words.

See, coherence and cohesion are beautiful, simple, and clear - an island of sanity in today's world. ❤️

📅 PS: All classes run as usual. Our next workshop is on 13 March.
https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_4475973%2Fquery

Register & style 👯‍♀️

👯‍♀️ Register: formal VS informal

Look at the pairs of the sentences below. Which one is formal and which one is informal? More importantly, in what situations will you go for which?

A I am available for an interview at any time which might be convenient to you.
B I’m down to meet anytime.

A Please do not hesitate to contact me, should you have any questions.
B Call me immediately if you have any questions.

👯‍♀️ Style: Denoscriptive, Narrative, Expository, Persuasive

What is style exactly? Why is it important? Styles serve different purposes. Look at the functions below. Which style does each one describe?

- creates a vivid picture of characters, settings and events in the reader’s mind;
- requires the writer to combine research and logical reasoning with an emotional connection;
- is used to inform, explain or describe something to the reader;
- follows a clear storyline and plot, such as a fictional novel, screenplay or memoir.

Our wonderful "Writing Outcomes Advanced" is starting their second module: CAE (6 classes).
- File 8 + register and style
- File 3 + CAE review
- File 6 + introduction to CPE article"

Find out more about the course and join this module or the whole course (or what's left of it). 👯‍♀️

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or call me immediately to sign up. 💌
https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_5043592%2Fquery

A brand new IELTS group - comprehensive, one-year prep for high-school students! 🎓

📅 Schedule: Friday 18:00, msk, 90 minutes
📈 Level: B1+
🧤Age: 16-17 y.o.
📅 Approximate exam date: next spring
📚 Course book: Mindset for IELTS, Level 2 + my additions.
💲Price: 6,000 rub a month (4 classes).

Message me to sign up. 💌

🦋 Join our Writing Incubator workshop tomorrow! 🦋

We will explore "tone" in C2 Proficiency Writing. What is tone anyway? Why is it important? What are some things people write in their CPE answers that can make a negative impression and decrease their score?

Find out more and join us this Sunday! 📅

https://vk.com/iralutse?w=wall-47977221_10568

A student of mine who took IELTS last Saturday says the line graph in Writing Task 1 was almost identical to the one in this old post of mine. Click the link below to read my step-by-step guide to line graph denoscriptions and a sample answer. (Based on a task from IELTS 7.)
#ieltswritingtask1 #ieltswritingtaskone #ieltswriting
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-step-by-step-guide-to-ielts-line.html

Today is St Patrick's day. 🍀
My love for Ireland is well-documented. To wit, two short stories - or rather, sketches - I wrote about Dublin:
1. True story, a walk down my memory lane "Good night, Dublin. Thank you for your wondrous gifts."
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/03/good-night-dublin-thank-you-for-your.html
2. A story in which I let my imagination run wild. "Good night, Dublin."
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/03/good-night-dublin.html
(Both were written for a contest, hence the repeated "Good night, Dublin.")
Enjoy! 🍀🍀🍀

Last August I presented at #YARCONF21 - and, quite frankly, I did a great job. I loved my topic, I loved presenting it, I loved how the audience reacted. 💜

And you know what? My talk made it to the top four talks of the conference! But the best news is you can now watch it for free, courtesy of Школа Дмитрия Никитина | Учителям. Click the link below to find out more. 🌻

https://yarconf.dnschoolinfo.ru/#lead

IELTS test centers have paused operations in Russia. Does it mean you should pause your #IELTS prep? 📈❓

I don't think so. Hear me out.

📊 An IELTS student told me last week, "This is not an English class. This is a logic class." IELTS classes boost your logic, critical thinking and analytical skills. These are always a good idea.

📊 Some Russian higher education institutions use IELTS for guidance. For example, the internal English exam in Higher School of Economics is in the IELTS format. (Because, honestly, IELTS is a great test!)

📊 I work with very high levels. When it comes to scores 7+, preparation periods are long anyway - upwards of one year. So not being able to take the test in the near future simply gives you more time for more in-depth preparation. High scores are about long-term perspectives.

📊 OK, testing has been suspended. But it will be resumed at some point. Let's say IELTS will be back in September. Who will be ready to take it then - someone who stopped preparing in March or someone who didn't?

📊 And, of course, English is English regardless of what exams you take, if any. Knowledge and skills never go to waste.

I think the only reason to stop IELTS preparation now is to start learning a more important skill or to do a more important activity. But stopping simply because you can't take the test right now - no, I don't think that's a good idea.

❓What do you think? Have you or your students dropped out or continued? Can you think of more reasons not to stop preparing?

❗️PS: If you aren't entirely convinced and don't want to invest into the IELTS format too much, join my "Writing through Reading" course. It's useful for IELTS (and academic English in General) but is not focused on the format as much. Find out more in the product denoscription and message me. 💌
https://vk.com/iralutse?w=product-47977221_5061302%2Fquery

Numbers VS percentages or is McDonald's losing a lot of profits? 📊🍔

McDonald's and many western companies have suspended operations in Russia. So these days I often hear, "It's really bad for these companies because they are losing a lot of profits." But I wondered if they actually are. To better understand this, I switched from numbers to percentages.

So McDonald's has 850 locations in Russia. It might look like a large number, but to better understand if it is, I compared it against the total number of McDonald's locations worldwide. According to statista.com, it's 39,198 (2020). What is the percentage of Russian locations - 850 - then? It's 2.2%.

So if McDonald's is closing 2.2% of its locations, is it really losing a lot of profits?❓

(Of course, the number of locations and the amount of profits are not the same thing as different locations might bring different profits. But I doubt the differences will amount to a significant overall difference, and we can safely assume 2.2% of locations bring approximately 2.2% profits. Also, the data from the website is two years old, but the number of worldwide locations has been growing consistently, so we can assume it is more or less the same now, maybe even a bit higher.)

I always tell my #IELTS students that numbers and percentages are not the same thing - they communicate different information. Sometimes it's a good idea to look at the former, sometimes it's a good idea to look at the latter.

The link below has a very boring bar chart showing the number of McDonald's locations worldwide from 2005 to 2020. IELTS pie charts are more fun. 📊

📅 My Wednesday IELTS Writing group is starting pie charts/bar charts/tables next Wednesday. Target 8, 16:00-17:30 msk. Pm me to sign up. https://vk.com/iralutse?w=product-47977221_3696544%2Fquery

https://www.statista.com/statistics/219454/mcdonalds-restaurants-worldwide/#:~:text=Global%20foodservice%20retailer%20McDonald's%20operated,for%20the%20last%2016%20years

We will be healthier! 💪🏻🍔🥒

This is yet another thing I hear as a reaction to the closure of McDonald's restaurants in Russia. And yet another thing I can't wrap my head around.

So McDonald's pauses operations for three months - and, supposedly, we will be a tad healthier. But then it will re-open - and, apparently, we will be less healthy again. And what exactly are we then - a spineless, weak-willed puppet whose fate is entirely at the mercy of the fast-food giant?

Personally, I will be equally healthy with or without McDonald's because I don't eat there - by choice.

We can talk about different ways the closure of McDonald's restaurants will affect different aspects of our lives. But health? Let's be honest - we will be healthier or less healthy not because the chain pauses or resumes operations, but because we make certain food choices. Or are we really a spineless, weak-willed puppet?❓

PS: I feel as if I am badmouthing McDonald's here. I'm not. I am making bigger points which are true for other fast food chains and life in general. McDonald's Cafes have really good coffee, btw! ☕️

Will Russian people keep taking IELTS?❓

In short, yes. IELTS is still available to us in nearby, visa-free countries. However, it will be extremely expensive and time-consuming to take it - you have to take several days off, buy tickets, and book accommodation.

Believe it or not, I see a silver lining here. I hope, maybe, this will make people take preparation more seriously. There is a whole cohort of people who take IELTS many times - by "many" I mean in the region of seven or ten. They are the people who need a certain score for each part - a high score - for emigration or studies. Why do they do that? Because it's cheap and easy, but preparing is long and hard.

In the past, when IELTS cost 20,000 RUB, many people in St Pete or Moscow could afford to take it every two-three months. So, there were people who instead of investing time into quality preparation, would do just that - take IELTS over and over again hoping for some lifehacks to work and for examiners to finally give them a higher score.

I specifically remember two students like that. They needed very high scores for emigration (getting 8 is no mean feat). Yet, they would come to class every week and answer "No" to all of my questions: "Did you watch that TED talk? Did you write that essay? Did you rewrite your old essay? Did you do anything in English at all?" But then they would ask their own question: "By the way, I read this lifehack on the internet. Would you say it's a good thing to do?" Since they could afford it, they simply kept taking IELTS - and not getting the scores they needed.

These students were by no means an exception. But the stakes have risen. Quality preparation has become more important. Relying on life hacks has become riskier. Is that a silver lining?❓

PS: You might also find this post interesting: "Should you stop or pause your IELTS preparation now?" https://vk.com/iralutse?w=wall-47977221_10603 🍒

We scratched our heads together and came up with a super-exciting project: Teachers Talk Teaching. 🎉🎉🎉

"Teachers Talk Teaching" is an ELT discussion club for teachers of English in English. There are so many contentious and underexplored topics in ELT. Why not discuss them in great company?

Is using L1 justified? Is translation a valid teaching technique? What is the teacher’s role in the 21 century? Is the lexical approach better than the communicative approach?

Aren't these great questions to know answers to? Know the answers you will as you'll listen to ELT podcasts, read ELT articles, and tap into each other's experience and expertise.

It’s perfect for you if:
✅ you are an English teacher (your credentials and experience don’t matter);
✅ you are C1 and above;
✅ you want to spend some quality time with your peers discussing professional topics on a serious level.

🙎‍♀️The club host is Irina Nosova:
- degree in teaching;
- 10 years of teaching experience;
- CELTA A (CES Edinburgh);
- DELTA M23 (IH London);
- CPE A.

Join to talk teaching until your tongue turns silver. Highly inspirational and CELTA/DELTA-friendly!

📅 Monday 15:00-16:30, Tuesday 14:00-15:30 MSK (two groups)
📝 Price: 5000 rub a month (4 sessions), drop-ins are 1300 rub per session
📝 Level: C1 and above

💌 Message me to sign up or ask questions. If the schedule is not convenient, message me too. We'll see what we can do.

Watch our live stream about using L1 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb-HnoiBI8L/. Where do we stand on L1? Where do you stand on L1?

https://vk.com/iralutse?w=product-47977221_5359333

How can teachers make the most of IELTS writing sample answers? See some suggestions by the wonderful Natalya Skachkova in the attached post. 📊

At the end of the post, you'll find seven links to excellent IELTS writing answers written by me and by students. 📊

https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2022/04/how-to-work-with-ielts-writing-sample.html