🌼 Another great IELTS paragraph 🌼

Irina sharing two great paragraphs written by students in a row? Granted, this is unprecedented. But credit is due, so I am happy to give it.

Topic: "Some people think that a lot of scientific research today is a waste of time and money. To what extent do you agree or disagree?"

🌼 Student's second body paragraph, as is:

"Another reason why spending money and time on research is rarely meaningless is that even unsatisfactory outcomes can be turned to advantage. There are, indeed, studies whose findings are disappointing; this does not mean, however, that investing in them may not pay off. Take, for example, medicines whose inefficacy or adverse effects are revealed in trials. Even though they cannot be put into production right away, the information received in the course of their development is likely to facilitate further scientific progress, or they can be repurposed, as has happened to the popular medicine called Viagra, originally aimed to help patients with angina. All this proves that although effort put into a research project may initially appear futile, it is still possible to reap rewards from it."

By Ekaterina Kuznetsova

This one is great too, isn't it?

📈 Three times more. Three times less. 📈

Many people, myself included, think that neither is correct. Nor are: N times higher, larger etc. Or: N times lower, smaller etc. (The latter is an absolute no-no if you ask me.)

I know, I know, you might encounter phrases like this even in reputable news outlets - don't be throwing links at me with articles you've encountered this in. Read this one instead.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/the-mathematical-phrase-that-melts-my-brain/

Are you a pedant like me or the author of the article? Or do you say "three times less" without batting an eye? ❓

📈 IELTS Writing Task 1: What mistakes do you see first? 📈

Take a look at this paragraph written by a student. This is a body paragraph describing the task in IELTS 9 Test 4. What mistakes do you see first?

📝 "When it comes to the renewable sources, namely nuclear, solar/wind and hydropower, the consumption was equal at the beginning. The trend took place for about 5 years before it changed, with nuclear sources starting to grow, solar/wind sources starting to fall, and hydropower remaining at almost the same level. From 2010 to 2025 all the numbers stayed the same, with nuclear sources being the highest, solar/wind coming second and hydropower being the lowest."

When I showed this paragraph to my students, they immediately pointed out some awkward phrasing like "The trend took place for about 5 years" or "From 2010 to 2025 all the numbers stayed the same." And this phrasing is indeed awkward or even wrong.

But before I see or even care about any of this, I see a different mistake - there is no data in this paragraph at all, not a single piece! This is a major Task Achievement blunder.

Russian teachers (and my students are mostly teachers) are very good at spotting grammar and vocabulary mistakes, but when it comes to TA or CC - less so. But these criteria are as important as, or even more than, grammar and vocabulary. Can't overlook them.

Pop quiz:

Without looking at the band denoscriptors, can you say the TA denoscriptor for what band contains the following sentence: "There may be no data to support the denoscription."?

Great news! Chevening is open to Russians! 🇬🇧

What is more - this is a dream come true - Chevening Scholars from Russia are exempt from the requirement to return home for two years at the end of their award!

What does it take to apply? A lot of writing, clearly. (Remember - writing is your foot in the door.) More specifically, five essays, 100-500 words each. Child's play, right?

Find out more: https://www.chevening.org/scholarship/russia/

📝 IELTS Writing Task 2: Task Response case study 📝

Two of my groups are writing their first IELTS essays - and making good mistakes (= mistakes we can learn from). 💜

Take a look at the paragraph below. Can you spot what's wrong?

📝 Topic: "Because some children do not seem to have a natural ability to learn another language, schools should not force those children to study a foreign language. Do you agree or disagree?"

📝 Student's original paragraph:

"As we now live in an increasingly interdependent world, speaking a second language has become a part and parcel of many professions. Nowadays, it is a common practice for companies to extend their markets by opening subsidiaries overseas, which makes them in need of bilingual employees. Professionals, who speak a few languages have a greater number of available jobs, thus, they can climb the career ladder much faster. Children who have not acquired any second language will feel as if they are lagging behind the competition."

What's wrong is that the paragraph is not really about children without abilities learning languages at school. It's about professionals who speak foreign languages having a competitive advantage on the job market. The connection between the two is really vague and distant.

Also, the paragraph mentions bilingual people and those who speak a few foreign languages - do such people really qualify as those who do not seem to have a natural ability to learn another language?

So, where do you stand on this? Should children who do not seem to have a natural ability to learn another language be forced to take a foreign language class at school? What would be your reasons?

📝 IELTS Writing Task 2: Not all arguments are created equal 📝

Let's take a look at two more arguments on the topic from the previous post. They are bad, but some students thought they were good, so an explanation is in order.

📝 Topic: "Because some children do not seem to have a natural ability to learn another language, schools should not force those children to study a foreign language. Do you agree or disagree?"

Position: schools should not force

1️⃣ People who don't do what they hate are more satisfied.

This argument doesn't work because first, the topic is specifically about children, not all people in general, and second, the topic has nothing to do with hate. Having or not having an ability does not necessarily imply hating the subject. As a result, the argument is not connected to the topic at all.

Position: schools should force

2️⃣ People who speak foreign languages have a lower risk of dementia.

Well, this might well be the case, but children and dementia are a whole lifetime apart. Besides, the school's job is to give children a general education, not to protect them from diseases (especially ones that happen very late in life).

Your turn. Are these arguments good ones?

📝 Position: schools should not force

3️⃣ It's better for children's mental health not to be in a class they struggle to succeed in.
4️⃣ If schools force, students will drop out.

📝 Position: schools should force

5️⃣ Schools are the authority that children must obey.
6️⃣ Children benefit from learning even if they don't have an innate ability.

Share in the comments.

🧘‍♀️ Is all gratitude created equal? 🧘‍♀️

Gratitude is one of those concepts that are thrown around left and right these days. And one of those concepts I fail to fully fathom.

Every Monday morning I do yoga. Every yoga class ends with the following instructions from the teacher:
1. Thank yourself for this practice;
2. Thank this space that made the practice possible;
3. Thank the people around you who shared the practice with you;
4. Thank all your yoga teachers.

Sounds good, right? But I have questions.

1️⃣ Should I really be grateful to myself for every single yoga practice? To be brutally honest, sometimes I drag my feet just because I have a non-refundable membership card. And sometimes -- often, really -- during practice I think about my classes rather than my breathing (like I'm supposed to). Why should I still thank myself for this atrocious betrayal of the spirit of the practice?

2️⃣ Isn't thanking a space a weird thing to do? It didn't do anything.

3️⃣ Why should I be thankful to those I shared the practice with? A yoga class is a silent class. No one speaks (but the teacher). I barely even see the other participants (or I see them from weird angles, like from my downward facing dog). I don't think I will recognize them if I see them in the street. And yet, I should be grateful to them. What is more, they should be grateful to me too despite my utter indifference to them.

4️⃣ My yoga teachers... I haven't had many. I am grateful to all of them. But one absolutely stands out -- Anna. She made a difference. Should I be thanking her only? Or should I be thanking all of them to different extents? Should I be thinking: I am somewhat grateful to Viktoria, very grateful to Nikita, and eternally grateful to Anna? It feels counterintuitive to assign different gratitude values to different people, but lumping them all together is unfair to the teacher who stands out (or is it?).

5️⃣ Finally, is it real gratitude if it is given on cue? Is automatic, mechanical gratitude still better than no gratitude?

Being grateful sounds like a great thing to be. And I am - for things that helped, for things that mattered. Not all gratitude is created equal.