all over the map--the act of not sticking to the main topic of discussion
ex. I don't like attending meetings conducted by our new boss because it's often all over the map.
Hi! First, I would like to thank you for visiting my blog. Your visits have inspired me to think of ways on how to make this blog even better; that is why beginning tomorrow, I will post regular weekly bits and pieces of English tips that hopefully could aid you in your quest of learning the said language. These will only be in addition to the other articles I will post.
*Word of the Week--word definitions, pronunciation and usage
*Idiom of the Week--idiom meanings and sample sentences
*Thought for the Week--quotes, sayings, proverbs, etc.
*Weekly Literature--a piece of literature I would like to share with you
*Weekly Exercise--practice exercises/quizzes about past posts
*Blog Carnival Weekly--weekly editions of 'a blog of english learning' where you can find posts of other blogs that are related to English
It has been a while since I last wrote about idioms because I was busy writing about IELTS. Now, to assure you it's not only IELTS I will be writing about in this blog ^^, here are some more common English idioms:
* in good faith-sincere
ex. It's hard to know if a politician's actions are done in good faith or if they are only ways for him to give an early campaign.
*jittery-uneasy
Eugene became jittery when the guy she liked looked towards her direction.
*make a big splash-great success
Jayden made a big splash in the animation world with his new cartoon.
*on hand-available
We don't have a sewing machine on the set right now but we do have a needle and some thread on hand.
*on the dot-punctually
He always arrives on the dot in meetings so as not to anger his clients.
*sissy-a person who is afraid of or cannot take rough adventures
He's too much of a bookworm; no wonder he's a sissy.
*swell-excellent, great
We had a swell time at the party.
The ideas of skimming and scanning do not just apply to reading. If we carefully study those 2 concepts, we can use them to enhance our listening, writing and even speaking skills. How?
Listening--The counterpart of skimming when it comes to listening is listening for main ideas. Knowing that main ideas are usually given in the first and last sentences of a paragraph (in this case a talk or a conversation), we may be able to catch the main ideas of what we're listening to more easily. As for scanning, it is similar to listening for details. If we need a question needing specific information answered, we need not understand the the entirety of the conversation or talk but just be alert on listening for the information we need.
Writing--Knowing the usual structure of reading materials--where to write the main ideas/topic sentences and where to put the supporting details, one can write a very organized article.
Speaking--We become more efficient speakers by giving well-organized and smooth-flowing thoughts. By applying the concepts of skimming and scanning, we would be able to know when to speak of our main points and the details supporting them in a way that would create a greater impact on the listeners.
Welcome to the November 20, 2008 edition of a blog carnival of english learning.
Simone presents How to get a higher band for IELTS Speaking | IELTS-Blog posted at IELTS-Blog, saying, "This article can be used to work on proninciation in general, not necessarily for IELTS purposes only."
College Degrees presents Will ?No Child Left Behind? Hurt Future University Students? posted at Degree Talk Blog, saying, "Will “No Child Left Behind” actually help - or hurt future university degree program students? The problem with “No Child Left Behind” is that it leaves every student in every classroom in the United States at risk of being left behind."
One Language presents Learn English Articles » Blog Archive » Using a Thesaurus to Learn English posted at Learn English Articles, saying, "Why a theasaurus can be very helpful when you're trying to learn English."
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
a blog carnival of english learning
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags:
a blog carnival of english learning, blog carnival.
Possible IELTS Practice Topics for Speaking module part 2:
● TV Programs
● Movies
● Transportation
● Advertisements
● Inventions
● Sports
● Relationships
● Fashion
● Internet
● Communication
● Education
● People
● Environment
● Science and Technology
● Travel and Tourism
● Art
● Photography
● Agriculture
● Products
● Books
● Places
● Holidays
● Music
● Work
● Energy Resources
Scanning is a reading technique used when we need to find specific information from a selection. A good sample situation where we use scanning is when we need to find a contact number from the phone directory. We naturally don't need the summary of the contents of the directory nor do we need to find main ideas there. In this case, we use our scanning skills to find the number we're looking for.
Let's try your scanning skills in this simple exercise, shall we?^^
Answer this question--In what year was the organization founded?
The World of Artists Organization (WAO) is an international group aiming to help its members to hone their artistic skills not only in the art they are currently in but in other art forms as well. The group conducts free art trainings for their members regularly. WAO started with only 5 members when it was founded in 2003. Now, it already has more than 15,000 members worldwide.
Did you get the answer? The answer is 2003 and it's very easy to find that piece of information, right? You didn't need to read the whole paragraph. You only needed to scan for numbers specifically dates, for this particular question.
Welcome to the November 13, 2008 edition of a blog carnival of english learning.
Laura Lok presents Reading, writing, and learning online posted at Maupin House's Blog.
One Language presents Learn English Articles » Blog Archive » Improving Verbal English Speech Patterns posted at Learn English Articles, saying, "Some ways to improve your english when you are talking."
:: Suzanne :: presents Dandy the Linguistic Wonder posted at :: adventures in daily living ::.
Raymond presents Outsourcing Call Center Jobs To India Leads To Bad Customer Service posted at Money Blue Book.
Christina presents Teaching English learners posted at Early Childhood Teacher.
ITAKEOFFTHEMASK presents Unbreakable Thread (poem on parting) Poems, Quotes, Essays, Prayers, Affirmations posted at itakeoffthemask.com.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
a blog carnival of english learning
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags:
a blog carnival of english learning, blog carnival.
Below are some IELTS Speaking Module practice questions and some suggestions on how to answer them:
· What is your name?
Things you can include in your answer: your name, meaning of your name, who gave you your name, what your friends call you
· Describe your hometown.
Things you can include in your answer: name of your hometown, what your hometown is famous for, population of your hometown, things/places to be seen in your hometown
· What about your hometown would you like to change?
Things you can include in your answer: problem/s encountered in your hometown, possible solutions to those problem/s, who can possibly solve those problem/s
· What do you like about your hometown?
Things you can include in your answer: accessibility, cost of living, traffic situation, sceneries
· Describe your neighborhood.
Things you can include in your answer: kind of neighbors you have, description of surroundings, kinds of houses there
· What do you like and dislike about your neighborhood?
Things you may include in your answer: traffic situation, garbage collection, water problem, noise
· Tell me about your family.
Things you may include in your answer: number of family members, their names, their ages, their jobs
· What do your family members do for a living?
Things you may want to include in your answer: your family members' jobs (job title and what they do in those jobs)
· Tell me about your hobbies.
Things you may want to include in your answer: hobbies, why you enjoy doing those, when you started to have those hobbies, with whom you do them with
· Have you ever had a part time job? Full time job?
Things you may include in your answer: job title, simple job description or main responsibilities in the said job, when you started or resigned from the job, what you liked about the job
· What organizations/clubs are you into?
Things you may include in your answer: name of the club, when you joined it, why you joined it, the purpose of the club
· Where are you working right now?
Things you may include in your answer: your work, what you like about your work, your main responsibilities, when you started working in that job
· What do you do when you go out with your family/friends?
Things you may include in your answer: activities, why you like doing them with your family/friends
· Do you like sports?
Things you may include in your answer: yes or no,why you like sports, sports you like, what you like about that sport
· What kinds of books do you like reading?
Things you may include in your answer: type of book (science, art, etc.), why you like reading that/those type/s of books
CLICK HERE TO SEE OTHER POSTS ABOUT IELTS
Alphabet Jungle
Click here to play this game
Crossword
Click here to play this game
Word Maze
Click here to play this game
Idea Workshop
Click here to play this game
Skimming is a reading technique wherein one tries to find the main ideas of a reading material in order to know what it's generally about. It helps save time because there's no need to remember specific details. It's all about the gist of the selection.
In skimming materials, often you will find the main ideas in topic sentences which are usually found in the first or last sentence of each paragraph. I say 'usually' because there are also times when the topic sentence can be located in the middle of the paragraph, and at times there's no topic sentence at all. In this case, the main idea is implied. If it's a very long selection, you can just usually read the first paragraph and/or the last paragraph, for the first paragraph introduces the topic and the last paragraph often summarizes all the ideas presented in the material.
Can you find the topic sentence in the paragraph below?
Jake has a lot of great qualities that make girls fall for him easily. He is hardworking. He's also very intelligent. He is kind and can be considered a true gentleman. Furthermore, he is thoughtful and generous. Above all, he is undeniably good-looking.
Answer: first sentence
How about the paragraph below?
The sky is very dark today. It hasn't stopped raining since early this morning. Very few people are on the street and children cannot play outside. It's a very gloomy day.
Answer: last sentence
Can you guess the main idea of the paragraph below?
Some women are fashionable. Some are very smart. There are also women who are stronger than men. Some women are workaholics while some are just concerned about how to stay pretty.
Answer: There are many types of women. There's no topic sentence in the paragraph though. The main idea is implied.
I'm sorry for the late posting of the edition of this blog carnival. Blogcarnival.com was temporarily unavailable last week so I wasn't able to post it on the supposed date.
Welcome to the October 30, 2008 edition of a blog carnival of english learning.
Lily W presents 10 great tips to learn English posted at If only my English were better.
Wally Bock presents Writing your way to success posted at Momentor.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of
a blog carnival of english learning
using our
carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our
blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags:
a blog carnival of english learning, blog carnival.
How should one answer the questions in the part 3 of the IELTS Speaking Module (also known as the two-way discussion)? Read this post to find out.
Two-Way Discussion (4-5 minutes)
*You will be asked questions within a specific topic area that is related to part 2. However, don't repeat what you have already mentioned in the individual long turn because although the topic is related to it, the questions will be different.
*In this part of the test, you will be asked to give your opinions, describe in detail, compare and contrast, discuss past situations and imagine possible future scenarios.
*Avoid impressing the examiner with big words that you may use incorrectly. Instead, use simple words to discuss complex ideas.
*Since opinion questions will be asked, so try to use a variety of phrases used in giving opinions to show your vocabulary range. There are many phrases you can use to give your opinions aside from 'I think'. Some examples of introductory opinion phrases are written below:
ex. In my opinion...
I believe...
If you ask me..
For me...
In my view…
As far as I'm concerned...
*As mentioned, Part 3 may include description questions. Hence, try to know at least the most commonly used adjectives and adverbs.
*Do not panic when you can't understand the question right away. Part 3 is really more difficult than parts 1 and 2. The examiner will want to see the 'ceiling' of your English ability that's why the questions are harder. Instead of getting nervous, try to use contex clues to guess the meaning of the question. Also, try to remember the previous question, it may somehow be related to the current one. If you really don't understand the question, you may ask the examiner to repeat it for you or rephrase it.
*You might be asked to describe past situations, so you have to make sure you're using the right past forms of verbs.
* Use words that show contrast and comparison.
*You might also be asked to imagine and describe possible future situations, so you need to know many ways of speaking about the future so as not to overdo the word 'will'. Some examples of such phrases are written below:
ex. It most probably will/won't...
Definitely, it's going to/not going to...
I hope that...
It might...
There's a reasonable chance that...
It's possible that...
