📈 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.

📝 Effective examples in IELTS Writing Task 2 📝

I always teach a class on examples as there seems to be some huge misunderstanding as to what examples are for. As with everything else in an IELTS essay, examples have to serve a purpose and that purpose is supporting your argument.

Some arguments need more support than others. Yesterday, I gave my students a paragraph without any examples and asked to add them where necessary. One student added two. Which one is effective and which one isn't?❓

📝 Claim: Making sugar-rich foods and drinks more expensive is effective in reducing people's consumption of sugar

📝 "Second, to keep the familiar products sweet but cheap, the manufacturers will adjust to the regulations. One adjustment they might make is the reduction of the actual sugar content in their products or of the product size. 1️⃣ For example, chocolates and ice-creams might be made smaller in size. Another measure might be substituting sugar with healthier alternatives which add the saccharine taste but are significantly less harmful. 2️⃣ Stevia is one such ingredient as it is both natural and sweet. Whatever steps are taken, be it these two or similar ones, they will all result in a reduced sugar intake among the population, which means the goal of the price regulation will be accomplished."

The first example is useless - it adds nothing to the argument. The reader is capable of understanding the concept of a smaller product size without an example.

The second argument, however, is begging for an example as the reader might not know what those healthier alternatives are. I would also write "stevia plant extract" rather than just "stevia" because I suspect some people might not know what stevia is. 🌱

And then all hell broke loose when we started discussing if agave is a good example of a healthier alternative to sugar... Is it?

"How do you present your writing to your students if you suspect it might not be perfect?"

A student, who is also a teacher, asked me recently.

I write a lot with and for my students. I write most tasks I give them and I am not afraid to share. How?

1. I assume my writing is not perfect nor can it ever be because "perfect" does not exist.
2. I have a lot of IELTS answers that I've rewritten and edited many times, so I know they are good quality. It's easier to share those.
3. I have unedited IELTS answers written to the time limit. When I share those, I make sure to add this piece of information.
4. Sometimes I might say, "I've written this answer to demonstrate how cohesion works, so nevermind the lexical choices." (If this is what I've done.)
5. Sometimes students ask good questions or even point out mistakes. This is great because I make corrections, so the next group gets a "more perfect" answer.

The majority of students treat my writing with respect and ask real questions or provide well-justified criticisms.

There are rare occasions when someone just wants to relish the fact that my answer is not perfect or to argue about my writing choices. But that happens very rarely. And, living the life I do, I've grown a thick skin.

This is how I present my writing to my students regardless of its perfection level. 🦋

IELTS essays: should you go for intuitive or counterintuitive ideas?

I was consulting someone on IELTS writing recently, when they asked me, "I heard in one video online that it's best to stick to obvious ideas in IELTS essays. Do you agree?"

No, but maybe it's just because of my argumentative nature. (Just kidding.)

On a more serious note, there are two things to keep in mind:

1️⃣ The overwhelming majority of IELTS-related content online is made for scores 6-7 because this is what most people need. For these scores, indeed, obvious ideas are good ideas because they save time and are easy to write about. People at these levels struggle with language already, why add one more struggle?

2️⃣ At higher levels, I think counterintuitive ideas work better because they can give you more opportunities to develop them in depth. Since you expect people to disagree, you will need to explain a bit more. More explanations = more depth and more good language. And if you go for a predictable idea, sometimes all you can write is a bunch of clichés that you think are self-explanatory - and this is a surefire way to lose the proverbial depth.

I have written many a counterintuitive essay because of my argumentative nature. Should the main goal of science be improving people's lives? Of course, not. Will reducing the gap between the rich and the poor make society happier? Hell no. Is improving education a better solution to crime than prisons? Clearly, it isn't.

On an even more serious note, I've written many essays in two versions: one "agree entirely" and one "disagree entirely." Because how else will you know which works better if you don't try both?

🦩 IELTS essays: use abstraction in moderation 🦩

One huge problem I see in my students' IELTS essays is too much abstraction. I will tell you right off the bat - it is bad for Task Response. But how do you know it's too much?

📝 Look at this piece:

"Studying a foreign language is beneficial. When people study languages, they improve their cognitive performance as well as their memory. Additionally, people become better at problem solving and at switching among multiple tasks."

Substitute "language" with "mathematics" and the paragraph still works. This is how you know there is too much abstraction in it.

📝 Now consider these two sentences:

1. “If you study languages, you can communicate with foreigners and read content in the original.”
2. "Studying mathematics improves your memory because you have to memorize formulas and the multiplication table."

If you try to substitute "languages" or "mathematics" with something else, the sentences won't work. This is how you know the sentences are not too abstract and are instead topic-specific.

Abstraction is necessary. But use it in moderation and supplement it with topic-specific ideas.

IELTS classes with me: something I get asked a lot about

- I personally don't teach below 7.5.
- I personally don't teach IELTS General Training.
- I personally don't work one-to-one. *

While I don't personally do that, I am working with the wonderful Anna Skopina who does. Anna:
- teaches IELTS writing below 7.5;
- teaches IELTS General Training;
- works one-to-one (including, but not limited to).

* I do give one-to-one consultations in extremely rare cases - when the question seems interesting and requires unique expertise. Something I can give insights into: IELTS writing, writing a grant/scholarship application or a personal statement, creative writing, teaching writing. One session is 5,000 RUB (60 minutes).

You can message me at @iraluts. 💌

ELEX now open! A two week fully-funded program in the USA for teachers!

If I amassed a fortune, I would establish a grant or a scholarship because I have benefited from getting some myself. 💎 and ELEX are two prime examples - two awesome, all-expenses-paid exchange programs in the US I am extremely grateful to have been a participant of.

ELEX applications are now open. And they have two cohorts this cycle!

Please apply for the TESOL track and win - I will be presenting, so I hope to see you in Florida! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Find out more: https://www.elexprogram.org/

How about a live stream on writing the ELEX application? Would you listen to one?❓