Speaking with New Scientist - my speaking course based on articles from the "New Scientist" magazine

I don't teach a lot of speaking courses (my passion for writing is well-documented). But I do have a couple of groups - we can get a respite from writing, while still discussing deep, thought-provoking, IELTS-y topics.

📝 The course is very rich in language too. To wit, here is a typical worksheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tqn0xkQ38AtbiixHA9hHSfrHvMPT3P16IDOwOuSBSjQ/edit

Schedules, testimonials, and other details at (you don't need an account to view): https://vk.com/market/product/speaking-with-new-scientist-47977221-5911089

💌 @iraluts

Patterns and sentence structures 📝

I am a huge fan of patterns and sentence structures that sound awesome and complex, but also natural and unique - not as if they were taken from a grammar section in a text book.

Here are some sentences like this from the "New Scientist" magazine:

1️⃣ "Right now, garment workers, as well as being underpaid and overexploited, are also producing an inefficient and downright bonkers amount of clothing." (as well as + ing)

2️⃣ "You might want to control any malicious feelings of envy you have and cultivate benign envy, so that another person’s success motivates you to achieve more rather than making you try to undermine them." (rather than + ing)

3️⃣ "Left unchecked, loneliness can have a physiological impact as detrimental to longevity as smoking or obesity." (reduced clause - left unchecked)

4️⃣ "More surprising is the fact that as the country has ascended to the top of the well-being charts, its economic development has remained remarkably flat." (inverted word order: more + adjective + is + subject)

5️⃣ "If pills aren’t necessarily the answer for people with insomnia, neither are overly simplistic behavioural interventions." (If + negative + neither.)

These sentences can almost go straight into your IELTS essay, can't they? 💜

My view on writing is that it is such sentences that give your answer beautiful complexity, unlike, say, the infamous inversion.

If these are the types of sentences you want to use in your writing, join my my "Writing with New Scientist" course. It's a writing course based on articles from the New Scientist magazine and geared towards IELTS, but with much less pressure and much less format than in a traditional IELTS writing course.

Find out more in the product denoscription below (you don't need an account to view):

https://vk.com/market/product/writing-with-new-scientist-47977221-5061302

💌 @iraluts

The pesky "it": a common writing mistake 📝

You know I love good mistakes (= mistakes you can learn from). Here is one from today's IELTS writing class. Can you spot it?

"Regarding paper, it can be seen that it experienced a steady growth from 4 million tonnes in 1980 to 12 million tonnes in 2000."

The mistake is: "it" is used in two different meanings.

1️⃣ In "it can be seen," "it" is the dummy subject in a passive structure.

2️⃣ In "it experienced," "it" means "paper."

But the reader's brain will perceive the first "it" as "paper," so the sentence will read: "Regarding paper, it = the paper can be seen ..." This is confusing.

All "it"s in one sentence must refer to the same noun. 💜

The fix? Simply delete "it can be seen" - this phrase is absolutely empty anyway. It contributes nothing but confusion. I'd also say "paper production" rather than just "paper."

Did you spot this mistake? Do you use phrases like "it can be seen"? ❓

"Irina, people won't be afraid of you any more if you share this story."

A student told me today.

(Wait, what? People are afraid of me? Let me know in the comments.)

Anyway, here is the story.

I am super-organized and focused. But today I screwed up big time - I scheduled an interview with a potential student and didn't show up because I simply forgot about the interview.

Forgetting is normal, of course. That's why I put all my arrangements and commitments on Google Calendar. But today, for some unfathomable reason, I didn't open it in the morning. I only realized I had forgotten when the student messaged me on Telegram.

Reactions to screw-ups are even more important than screw-ups.

Here is what I did:

1️⃣ I apologized profusely and told the person the truth: I forgot. (Which I always do. If I forgot, I say, "Sorry, I forgot." I don't make up "personal emergency" excuses.)

2️⃣ I wrote this story because stories like this are supposed to make me appear more human. (I take pride in appearing to be a robot, but people say I need to appear human.)

3️⃣ I told this story in all my classes today and jumped at the chance to teach the phrase "Happens to the best of us." (See what I did here? I screwed up, but called myself "the best of us" anyway. Smart.)

The moral of the story is: Even though I am super-organized, I am only human. Don't be afraid of me.

Don't make Irina irate with sloppy typing.🦋 

I have become so famous (or infamous?) for my aversion to sloppy typing that students write stories about it. 

Here is a story Anna Arsenyeva wrote for my "Speaking with New Scientist" class to recycle some nice lexical items and grammar patterns (with these items hidden to draw your attention and patterns underlined):  

"Messages teeming with typos is not the only thing Irina finds reprehensible, nor is it the most mortal sin in her book. But they never fail to make her extremely irate, which is not surprising given that most of her communication with potential students is in writing. 

If a person applying for a course doesn't bother to check for typos, it certainly feels like they are not serious about joining. Just re-read your message - it's a simple rule, which, once internalised, will save you hours spent lamenting you haven't been accepted. 

This habit will also stand you in good stead when writing to your potential employers. As demonstrated by statistics, a sloppy message may cost you a chance of getting a job."

It's 100% true. Indeed, I don't even reply to messages that are typed like this: "hi,,Irina ! i  would Like to sign up for a writing course ."

More importantly, such messages make an awful impression on everyone, not just me, and can really cost you a valuable opportunity. 💔

Anna is a seasoned ELT professional with decades of experience. All things ELT on her channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/onelt_and_learning

📝 Some language for this unusual IELTS Writing Task 1 📝

This very real IELTS Writing Task 1 might look unusual, but it is not too challenging (at least not as challenging as the tasks about cutting tools or altitudinal belts).

Here is some language that might come in handy:

1️⃣ "Suggestions":
- measures
- ideas
- recommendations
- views

2️⃣ Verbs:
suggest, recommend, view, perceive, deem, consider

"Some ideas were perceived / viewed differently in terms of their effectiveness."

3️⃣ Ranking, importance:
- deemed / considered it the top priority
- viewed it as less important
- placed it last
- ranked first / third / last
- perceived it to be the most / least important suggestion

What else? Share in the comments. 📝

#ieltswriting #ieltswritingtask1

Lexical Resource for "workers with illness absence"

Here are some lexical items that will enrich your IELTS answer for this task.

📝 Workers:
- Employees
- Workforce
- People
- Those

📝 Illness absence:
- Take sick leave
- Be absent from work (+ reason)
- Stay home / take time off work / miss work (+ reason)
- (the verbs above) + due to illness / when sick / for a health-related reason / during sickness.

📝 The word absenteeism, btw, is wrong because it implies absence for no good reason. Yet, curiously, there is sickness absenteeism, which is a lexical item you can use instead.

Anything else? Share in the comments. 📝

#ieltswriting #ieltswritingtask1

"It" in IELTS Writing Task 1: three most common mistakes

This tiny little word can be a huge source of confusion, especially in Writing Task 1. See if you can spot the problems.

1️⃣ "France showed an initial decline to 10 euros – a figure that was the lowest throughout the period. It was, however, followed by a significant rise."

There are two many singular nouns before "it" (period, figure, decline, France), so the reader will be confused as to which noun to look at. Most likely, the reader will look at either the subject or the last noun. In this case, the noun we want to refer to — the decline — is neither.

2️⃣ "This country had the most expensive bread. After it decreased slightly at the beginning, the price went up again, reaching an all-time high."

Cataphoric reference is a very bad idea in IELTS Writing Task 1. Rather than waiting to see if "it" might refer to "the price" in the next clause, the reader will connect it to "bread" or "country," which will rub them the wrong way.

3️⃣ "When it comes to France and the level of absenteeism it showed, it increased over the decade."

In this sentence, each "it" has a different meaning: it as a placeholder subject, it = France, and it = level. This is confusing. All "it"s in one sentence must refer to the same thing.

You can avoid most if these mistakes by careful proofreading.

I am not providing the fixes as these are galore. But feel free to try your hand in the comments. 📝

#ieltswriting #ieltswritingtask1

Have you ever found yourself in a writing jam – when words don't flow, ideas don't come, and nothing is cooking?

If you have and didn't like the feeling, join our Writing Incubator workshop this Sunday: "Writing Inspiration Jam" by the wonderful Svetlana Kukharevich. 🦋

"Writing Inspiration Jam" is a webinar jam-packed with a cornucopia of prompts to spark your creativity. Let's add a bit of pizzazz to drab and dreary October days - grab your pen and be ready to get your creative juices flowing!

📅 6 October, Sunday, 11:00 am MSK, Zoom

💌 The workshop is free. To join, write a creative comment to this phrase “Writing without inspiration is like … ” and then message me to get the link.

‼️ Please note that this is a workshop, not a webinar or a lecture. If you join, you will have to participate.

🦋 More by Svetlana on her Telegram channel: https://news.1rj.ru/str/lemon_squizzy

CPE study buddy wanted

💃 My wonderful student Nadezhda is looking for a CPE study buddy:

"With a Pass B in CPE under my belt, I am an English teacher currently looking to improve my exam results by addressing those weaknesses that have prevented me from scoring higher. That said, I would very readily welcome a fruitful mentorship in guiding me about those pitfalls to avoid at the exam as well as helping me to improve my productive performance under exam circumstances.

If you know the CPE format cold and you are willing to assist diligent students in getting the desired highest scores, please DM me for further communication."

Tentative test date: May/June 2025, Tashkent.

💌 Message Nadezhda directly on Telegram or Whatsapp: +7 929 595 4121.

"Percentage" in #IELTS Writing Task 1

"Is there a universal way to substitute the word "percentage"?" A student asked. It's a great question.

I'll tell you right off the bat: "ratio" is not it. Please look this word up and never use it.

Before I give some ways, one important caveat: the more universal the way is, the less valuable it is.

1️⃣ The most universal words: figure, proportion, share ("share" is for situations when the percentages add up to 100%).

2️⃣ Words that depend on the task: rate, level, growth.

3️⃣ Reference and substitution: it, that, former/latter (use depends on the sentence structures and the previous sentence).

4️⃣ Some subjects and sentence structures will allow you to avoid the word "percentage" or its synonym entirely. For example, "Wales recorded an increase of 20%."

5️⃣ You can make the actual figure the subject and use a verb that suits the meaning. For example, "Approximately 10% of the workforce have a phd," or "Almost a quarter of the respondents prefer tea to coffee."

The ways that depend on the task and the sentence structures require more skill and are therefore more valuable. Universal ways require little skill and are therefore less valuable.

Any other ways? Share in the comments. 📝

#ieltswritingtask1

IELTS Task Response: Where do ideas come from?

When it comes to IELTS Writing Task 2, many people say that they don't have ideas. Or maybe they do, but the ideas turn out to be irrelevant. To get ideas — especially relevant ones — you need to give the topic a nice proper brainstorming.

You can do this with the help of a myriad questions.

📝 Here is a topic from IELTS 19.

"The working week should be shorter and workers should have a longer weekend. Do you agree or disagree?"

And here are the questions that will help you explore the topic. If you are a test taker, think about them on your own to find relevant arguments. If you are an IELTS instructor, you can use them in a class discussion.

1. What might be meant by “shorter” and “longer”?
2. Why did someone come up with this idea at all? How did someone come up with the idea of the classical 5/2 work week we have now? Why is this idea now outdated or has fallen out of favor?
3. Who would be affected by this new policy?
4. What might the people do in the extra time they gain?
5. Would this work for all industries? Are there industries for which it is not feasible?
6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a shorter weekend for: the employee and the company (employer)?
7. Are other parties involved? What are the advantages and disadvantages for other parties?
8. In general, who will benefit and who will suffer from this new schedule?
9. Are there countries or companies who have tried implementing this? Did it work? Why / why not? What were the outcomes?

These questions will help you understand the topic in depth.

So, after giving the topic a nice proper brainstorming, would you agree or disagree that the working week should be shorter? 📝

#ieltswriting #ieltswritingtask2

When you are reading a story, which character is the most interesting one to read: pure angel, pure villain, or morally gray? If it's morally gray characters you are interested in, join our "Writing Incubator" workshop this Sunday!

🦋 “Beyond black and white: writing morally gray characters” by Veronika Shirobokova

When it comes to creative writing, it may be easier to write characters who are purely good or entirely evil, but in reality, the world is rarely black and white. By adding moral ambiguity, you can make your characters more realistic and your story more compelling.

In this workshop, we’ll dive into what makes a character morally gray and explore how to blur the line between right and wrong. Whether you’re writing complex villains or conflicted heroes, this workshop will sharpen your character-building skills.

📅 27 October, Sunday, 11:00 am MSK, Zoom

🦋 The workshop is free. To join, write a creative ending to this phrase "Gray is the color of... " and then message me to get the link.

‼️ Please note that this is a workshop, not a webinar or a lecture. If you join, you will have to write.

Overdramatization and overbenefitization in IELTS essays (my terms) 📝

To nail Task Response, it's important to write about realistic things and not to go to extremes. People often go to two extremes - overdramatization and overbenefitization. Let me exemplify.

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?"

📝 Overdramatization

If a child is made exempt from taking a foreign language class due to lack of aptitude, they will end up jobless and living under a bridge due to lack of career opportunities realize they have a learning disability and develop depression or even suicidal ideation as a result.

📝 Overbenefitization

If a child takes a foreign language class, they will be a happy, thriving individual with advanced critical thinking and problem-solving skills and a career at an international company much less susceptible to such mental health outcomes as depression and dementia.

Sure, it's not like the scenarios above are entirely impossible, but they are not very likely. There is a huge gap, with many variables, between a language class at school and depression or being a thriving adult.

It's best to stick to more realistic outcomes, both positive and negative. What would be more realistic for a school child?

Maybe, if a "talentless" child is exempt from a foreign language class, they will have more time to take advanced classes of the subject they do have a talent in or to prepare for exams or to volunteer. Btw, why would these be better than taking a language class? Share in the comments. 📝

#ieltswritingtask2