⛄️ I am beyond thrilled to announce my plans for 2021! ⛄️

❄️ Creative Writing Club
- a one-month project for people who want to unleash their creativity and have fun writing in English (PS: this project is free);

❄️ Getting Started as an IELTS Teacher
- a series of 4 workshops for aspiring IELTS teachers;

❄️ IELTS Writing [Academic]
- a 7-8 month course for people who want to work on their IELTS writing thoroughly and meticulously;

❄️ C2 Proficiency Writing
- a 8-9 month course for people who want to work on their writing for the C2 Proficiency exam thoroughly and meticulously;

❄️ Write for Real: Blogging in English
- a 6-class project for people who want to find their voice and communicate their message effectively;

❄️ House of Cards
- a course based on this TV show, focused on speaking + lexis, and geared towards exam prep.

❄️ Zoom talks:
- My experience of doing a Creative Writing course at an American University and how it defined my teaching style.
- Ideas are welcome!
(PS: my Zoom talks are free)

💌 Stay tuned and/or message me for details. 💌

Ever since I announced my writing courses, I got lots and lots of questions. Join my Zoom talk this Saturday and I will answer all of them. ⛄️

📅 Saturday, 16 January, 15:00 MSK

I am launching three #writing courses this semester:
- Write for real: blogging in English
- IELTS Academic Writing
- C2 Proficiency Writing

So I will talk about those, about my writing philosophy, and about my teaching style. 💃

💌 Message me to get the link to the Zoom meeting.

PS: There is a placement writing task for each course. If you already know you want to enroll, message me to get one now.

#c2proficiency #cpe #c1advanced #cae #ieltswriting

I am beyond thrilled to announce my short but epic course "Getting started as an #IELTS teacher." 💃

This mini-course for teachers consists of four parts:

🎵 Part 1. Choosing the best course book or course of action for different circumstances.

We will discuss what to take into account in order to choose the best preparation strategy for your IELTS student.

🎵 Part 2. Understanding the writing and speaking assessment criteria.

We will scrutinize the band denoscriptors and assess some speaking and writing answers by my IELTS students whose scores I know.

🎵 Part 3. Writing, the most misunderstood and underpracticed skill.

We will talk about
- why people get their lowest scores for writing;
- common problems in writing;
- how to teach IELTS writing.

🎵 Part 4. Speaking of Speaking.

We will talk about what to focus on and how to make sure you are really preparing, not just chatting.

💃 A little bit about IELTS and me:
- I've been preparing students for IELTS for about 10 years;
- I've taken IELTS Academic three times, getting 8.5, 8.5, and finally 9;
- I've attended two IELTS seminars by Andrew Thomas, IELTS Principal Examiner and one of the world's most renowned IELTS experts.
- I don't have any lifehacks, but I do have a profound understanding of the exam.

📌 Price: 4000 ₽ for the whole course or 1500 ₽ for one session.
📅 Dates: 23 Jan - 13 Feb
⏰ Time: 15:00-16:30 MSK

💌 Pm me to sign up.

Two writing courses starting next week!

📅 IELTS Writing
Main group: Tuesday 14:00 MSK
Possible option: Wednesday 12:00

📅 C2 Proficiency Writing
Main group: Wednesday 14:00 MSK
Possible option: Wednesday 10:00

Check the product section on VK or my IGTV stream on Instagram to find out more about these courses and my teaching style.

📝 IELTS Writing https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_369..
📝 C2 Proficiency Writing https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_369..
💃 https://www.instagram.com/ira.lutse.ielts/

💌 Message me to sign up or ask questions.

There are two types of writing. For lack of better words, I’ll call them "artificial" and "real." 📝📝

Artificial writing is what you write for exams. It’s artificial because you probably don’t care about the topic and only write because you have to. It's an annoying nuisance to get rid of on the way to the certificate. Your only reader is your teacher who doesn't care about the topic either and whose sole purpose for reading your answer is correcting your mistakes.

Real writing is writing for real readers. You write because you are itching to share your message, your passion, your experience. You might not know for sure who will read your piece, but whoever it is, they will be doing so out of their own free will.

These two types require two different approaches. When you write for exams, you have to write with the assessment criteria in mind. When you write for real readers, however, you have to write with your reader in mind - you need to keep them hooked and to make your writing enjoyable to read.

Most people in the ELT world only do the first type of writing in English. As a result, they acquire certain attitudes: the fancier, the better; I’ll just write whatever - the teacher will correct it anyway; who cares if my ideas are absurd, it’s just an exam essay, not my real thoughts.

These attitudes are very harmful for the second type of writing, the real one, the one I honestly see as superior.

When you write for real readers, they will stop reading if:
- your writing is too wordy or verbose;
- you are writing to show off your idioms not to communicate a message;
- you beat around the bush and don’t get to the point;
- you use fancy words but don’t give any real information;
- your piece is too formal, dry, and boring.

Writing for exams is a good stepping stone, but is limiting. Writing for real is challenging, but rewarding. Don’t I know it - I’ve been blogging in English for over five year. If you are ready to break free from the prison of artificial writing and to write for real, join my brand new writing course “Write for real: Blogging in English.” 💜

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
- communicate your idea effectively
- write concisely and precisely
- use stylistic devices
- try out different organizational patterns

What will you write?
Social media posts and stories, something like this https://vk.com/iralutse?w=wall-47977221_7735 or like this https://www.worldnomads.com/create/scholarships/writing/2020/applications/distrust-on-an-empty-road

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

Course duration: 6 classes, with classes meeting weekly.
Price: 9,000 rub for the whole course.
Schedule: Monday 16:00-17:30.

Message me to sign up or ask questions. 💌

Most writing prompts in the C2 Proficiency writing test consist of three points. One problem I often see in students' answers is that the answer is three isolated pieces, rather than one complete whole. 🍎

In this book review I wrote for my C2 Proficiency Writing students, I was aiming to show how the answer can be connected on the level of the whole text. Can you notice how? Did I do a good job?❓

I'm reviewing "Grammar Nonsense and What To Do about It" by Hugh Dellar and Andrew Walkley, no less. Have you read it? Do you agree with me? 😜

https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/01/my-c2-proficiency-book-review-grammar.html

In exam preparation, there is this eternal, invisible fight going on: students want templates and I don't want to give templates.

By templates, I mean ready-to-use structures and clichés for speaking and writing answers. Those sound so good, don't they? A list of phrases you can memorize and use without thinking that will guarantee a high score. If only international exams worked that way.

Sadly, examiners don't want templates. Templates are noticeable. They stick out like a sore thumb. They make a bad impression. They show lack of fluency and flexibility. They are a sign of poor language, not the other way round. At best, examiners will disregard them. At worst, they will mark your response as memorized. Having your language marked as "inappropriate, inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant, ineffective, unnatural, etc" will fall somewhere between those two extremes.

Some examples of templates that turn my stomach every time I hear them:

1️⃣ IELTS Speaking Part 2 : "There are many cities I have visited, but if I had to choose one to talk about, I would choose Barcelona."

Omg! Just start your talk "I am going to talk about Barcelona" and move on to describing the city because that's what I want to hear.

2️⃣ Writing: "Taking into account all written above, I am firmly convinced that ... ."

Please, pretty please, just write "I believe... " and elaborate on your belief.

Nothing beats good language and solid ideas. Don't scour the internet for templates, cliches, and magic phrases. Don't demand them from your teacher. Don't waste your time on something that won't really reap the benefit. Focus on the language and the ideas that are topic-specific. Nothing, absolutely nothing, beats those. 💜

I think it's a good idea to treat exams like any other human interaction. When you communicate in real life, do you want templates or ideas? 🟪

PS: Templates do save time and they can serve a useful function. What you can do is create your own unique one that will be in perfect harmony with everything you say and that will therefore not look like one. Someone else's templates will do more harm than good.

One of the assessment scales for C2 Proficiency writing has one mysterious word that always makes me and every test taker smile: "Text is organized impressively..." (Organisation band 5). Impressively - how is that?

In this post, I am sharing a Writing Task 1 essay I was impressed with and what I think is the key to that impressiveness. The essay was written by the amazing Yulia Dmitrieva. 🌹

What do you think is the key to impressiveness?❓

#proficiency #cpewriting #c2proficiency #c2proficiencywriting

https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/02/if-this-is-not-impressive-i-dont-know.html

Many people see success in #writing as the following dichotomy:
🙁 I didn't write an essay. I'm a bad student. I will fail.
🙂 I wrote an essay. I'm a good student. I will succeed.

But writing an essay doesn't guarantee success. Writing an essay is only an opportunity to succeed, the proverbial first step on a thousand mile journey.

So, you've written, you've given yourself a chance to succeed. What's next?

Next you scrutinize, analyze, and memorize your teacher's feedback. You don't question it, you don't get hurt, you don't give up. Then you edit or rewrite your essay, taking into account all the recommendations you've carefully scrutinized, analyzed, and memorized. And then you write and rewrite again. And again. And again. Continue until you and/or your teacher are satisfied.

Embracing your feedback and rewriting your work are the steps that will keep you moving forward on your writing journey. Without them, you'll be treading water. Without them, every next piece you write will amount to giving yourself another opportunity but never seizing it.

I sometimes say that writing is a test of character - you have to have perseverance and a thick skin to succeed. 👣

Do you agree? Do you have a thick skin when it comes to writing? How often do you rewrite your essays after getting your teacher's feedback?❓

https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/03/at-risk-of-incurring-curse-from.html
Have you ever tried learning three languages at the same time? Do you think it's doable?❓

At the risk of incurring the curse from polyglots and other magicians, Ekaterina Kachalova shares her experience in this amazing post written in my "Write for Real" course. I can relate. Can you? 🇺🇸🇬🇧 🇪🇸🇩🇪🇳🇱

What languages did you evict? In my case, Dutch left first. German followed. American English is now the main tenant, who allows British English to quietly exist nearby and doesn't give it the recognition it deserves.

This is a piece I wrote for the "Good Night, Moscow" creative writing contest by American Center in Moscow. Before doing so, I told Timur Khamzin, "I don't care about winning. I can always publish my piece in my community." The time has come to publish my piece "Good Night, St Petersburg" in my community. 🌃

A million thanks to Timur for inadvertently inspiring it and to all my students who wrote for this contest - that's at least seven people off the top of my head! Thank you all for your support! 💛

https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/03/good-night-st-petersburg.html

Today is St Patrick's Day. 🍀
Could I have chosen a better time to publish my my second piece for the creative writing contest "Good night, Moscow"? In this piece, I wanted to sing my love to Dublin, but also let my imagination run wild. The result is this fairy tale. 🍀🧚‍♂️🇮🇪
I've written three pieces for the contest, two of which were about Dublin. So stay tuned, I'll publish one more tomorrow. 😃
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/03/good-night-dublin.html

A perfect day in Dublin...
This is my second piece about Dublin (third overall) written for the creative writing contest by American Center in Moscow. What can I say, I love this city. 🍀🍀🍀
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/03/good-night-dublin-thank-you-for-your.html

https://totaldict.ru/news/news/el-totalnyy-diktant-na-angliyskom-yazyke/

I'm in. Who's with me? 😍

📅 The registration opens on 31 March.

I'll have a prep squad. Start collecting words that are hard to spell and stay tuned! 🎸

Sometimes, very rarely, but sometimes when I read students' exam answers, I achieve the state "I don't have any questions or comments." I want to share an example of a C2 Proficiency Writing Task 2 answer that I like so much I don't know what to correct or comment on. The answer is written by my student, the amazing Anastasia Glebova.🌹

This is an answer to a very tricky prompt - a report on a comedy programme. It's tricky because you might get sidetracked and slide into writing a review.

After reading this report, did you achieve the same state as I did, that of "no questions or comments"? What programme would you write about?❓

#c2proficiency #cpewriting
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/03/c2-proficiency-perfect-report-on-comedy.html

I want to share a great essay written by my student Svetlana in my #IELTS Academic Writing Target 7.5-8 group. 📝

The essay was already great when I received it, but I made three suggestions, which Svetlana implemented, so it became even greater. Click the link below to read both the essay and the suggestions. 📝

The topic is good too. Do you think we should spend money now researching planets, such as Mars, that could be our possible home? Why or why not? 🚀

#ieltswriting #ieltswritingtask2
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/04/ielts-writing-task-2-researching.html

https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/04/do-international-exams-in-english-have.html

New post out! Inspired by endless criticism of tests like IELTS or C2 Proficiency I hear on a regular basis. Where do you stand on this?

Sometimes introduction to exam preparation can (and arguably should) be integrated seamlessly into General English classes. 🤓

In this post, I am sharing an essay written by my wonderful student Olga who is in my wonderful General English C1+ group. We watched and discussed two TED talks, so I thought, "Why don't we turn our discussions into writing something similar to C2 Proficiency Writing Task 1?" 📝

The talks are great too: one speaker argues we should follow our passion when we pursue a career and the other one argues we shouldn't. Which opinion do you agree with and why?❓😋

The links to the talks are in the post. Which speaker makes a more compelling case? Feel free to write your own essay. 😋
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/05/introduction-to-c2-proficiency-writing.html