IELTS Reading

IELTS Reading is pretty demanding and speed reading is just one of the several skills needed to do well in the paper. But let's face it. If you can read the whole passage at the speed of a bullet train and not be able to comprehend the passage, it defeats the whole purpose. I say this because I notice some students doing exactly that.

Trying to read word for word is also not a solution. Students do that and get stumped when they come across a word they don't understand. The most important thing you need to do is to run over the questions to get an idea of what is being asked. Look for the title if any because the title will tell you what the passage is about. Read the introductory paragraph carefully because the main thrust of the passage should be in there and that holds the key to the rest of the article.
Then go over the conclusion which summarizes the main points. Now use the questions to help you read the whole passage while looking for the answers.

If you come across a new word, do not panic. Make an intelligent guess by reading the surrounding sentences.







Most important of all, as with the other three modules, know the question format.







THe IELTS Reading Paper cover a wide spectrum of subjects, quite often academic in nature. But the content is written such that you don't have to be an expert to understand it.

IELTS Listening-Section 4

IELTS Listening Section 4 tests the candidates on their ability to pick out facts, details of a long talk or lecture. Whether it is a talk or a lecture, the important thing for the student is to be able to follow the flow of the discussion. To do well in this portion of the test, candidates need to understand signpost terms s such as on the contrary, (to indicate the opposing side) for instance (to show examples) and n conclusion to indicate the end of a lecture.

They also need to gauge the position of the speaker in terms of his/her stand with regards to the issue at hand.

An ability to summarize the key points of the lecture would be useful too. Usually for this kind of task, an incomplete summary is given and all the candidate needs to do is to fill in the gaps which may appear at the start, middle or end of a sentence. The instructions will also state the number of words needed, usually not more than three words.

IELTS Listening -Classification Questions

Classification questions in IELTS Listening Test often pose a problem for students.

If we look around us, we can classify lots of things. Movies, books can be classified according to genres, photography can be classified according to digital, black and white or colored etc. The Microsoft Office program is a good example of classification. There is so much of information in the program that are classified or categorized for easy retrieval. Take the simple example of saving a file in Microsoft Word 2007. You can save in word default format, as a template, in a a compatible version that can be used on computers with older versions of Microsoft Word or in PDF format. One can imagine the havoc if these options are not classified for easy usage.

Continuing with this example, IELTS examiners will not just ask the candidate to list the various formats but will rather make it more challenging by scrambling unique features of three versions of the save as format -let's say template, compatible and PDF formats marked A-H. Your job as the candidate is to unscramble them and rearrange them in their proper categories. Once you know the logic, the task will begin to make sense.

IELTS and Preposition

The English preposition may be a small word but it is essential for making sense to a sentence.
In the Sentence Completion section of IELTS, the wrong preposition will bring your score down.

Example of Sentence Completion

The book is ________ the school bag.

If your answer is on, you lose one point as the correct answer should be in.
Understanding parts of speech and their functions in IELTS will come in handy. For instance: an adjective is a descriptive word that tells you more about the noun. Therefore it should appear before a noun. For eg: a kind man, a genuine part.

Since the basic sentence formation in the English language is subject, verb, object, you can use this structure to guess what the answer would be. Ask yourself : Does it require a verb, a noun, an adjective or an adverb, etc, etc?

Asking for directions, IELTS and Chinese style

IELTS Listening Section 1 may carry a question on labeling maps. This means you have to know how to read maps and to know words related to directions such as north, south, east, west, across the street, around the corner, at the end of the road, at the next turning, behind, between, ahead, etc, etc.

Map reading is less complicated western style than Chinese style.
If you don't know how to get somewhere and have to rely on a mainland Chinese for directions, you'll be in for a headache if you don't have the faintest idea of whether you're facing north or south or east or west.

The Chinese seem to give these kind directions - Turn north or turn south. But how would you know where north or south is, if you don't have a compass with you or the sun above you for guidance?

Thankfully, IELTS would be much easier if you are familiar with words related to directions.

Health and the Walnut

The Chinese believe that the walnut is good for brain power. No wonder, Chinese mothers feed their little emperors (remember, one child policy) with walnuts.

I asked a mainland Chinese friend once the reason why. Her answer was because the walnut looks like a brain. And it's a belief carried down through generations. I don't dispute the similarity of its shape with our brain but I didn't think about its boosting power until I received an email entitled God's Pharmacy. And there it was! The same point about the walnut and the brain.

What amazes me about the story is that people of such diverse cultures can have the same story and beliefs about something as irrelevant as the humble walnut. I can't help but be reminded of the biblical account of the Tower of Babel and the disperse of its people to different parts of the world carrying with them their beliefs and culture.

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Different ways of saying the same thing!!!

How do you? Hi! How're things? What's up? Hello! These are some ways of greeting in English. It's important to know that there are different ways of saying the same thing in English. If the IELTS listening tape has a speaker by the name of Alistair Onassis and she's Greek, the question could be phrased, " Alistair Onassis is a __________of Greece." The obvious answer is "native."

The truth is some ESL learners expect the question to be worded the same way that they hear on the tape. For this reason it would be advisable for IELTS trainers to prepare students for different expressions of the same thing.

Time is the essence in IELTS

In order to do well in IELTS, one important thing candidates should know and practise is - time management. Time is your enemy during this test and you have to keep watching the clock to see that you not caught with an incomplete test paper when the time is up.

There is no time to ponder especially in the Listening Test since the tape is played ONLY ONCE. Just make a guess if you are not sure since you will not be penalized for a wrong answer. Many a candidate had scored badly because they did not watch the time and were unable to complete all the questions. You can only re-think your answers after you have transfered the answers from the listening script to the answer script, if you have time to spare, that is.

Knowing this to be a very real problem, some test centers have placed giant sized clocks in all four corners, literally to remind students to keep tab of the time.

Watching the time applies to the other three segments as well -the reading, writing and speaking but take note that time for transfer of answers is only given for the Listening section.

The Last Day of the Lunar New Year

The Lunar New Year is celebrated for fifteen days. This year, the fifteenth day coincided with Valentine's Day. Known as Chap Goh Mei , literally translated as the fifteenth night, it is a significant event as important as the first day, although celebrated differently. Whereas one wears new clothes and receives red packets on the first day of the Chinese New Year, the fifteenth night of the new lunar year is marked by offerings of thanksgiving accompanied by deafening sounds of fire crackers almost through the early hours of the night.

This year, however, it was pretty quiet -which makes one suspect that recession is really setting in despite all the denials in the mass media. For the sake of all business people, let's hope it won't last too long.

rssHugger

There’s a new website called rssHugger. It is operated by a student whose aim is to help bloggers gain higher visibility and to help viewers find the kind of blogs that interest them. In other words, the website aims to bring blogger and reader together.

There are two main options to register at the site: pay a fee or get the rss feed for free by reviewing the site. I'm opting for the latter. You should give it a shot if you need traffic to your blog. I can't say for sure it if can live up to its claims but any attempt that doesn’t hurt my pocket in order for my blog to gain more publicity will be much appreciated.
http://www.rsshugger.com/images/logo.png

Reunion Dinner on February 6

In two evenings time, most Chinese will be gathered for the annual reunion dinner. The meal is more than a sentimental gesture. Its symbolism and significance can never be underscored. Parents, as hosts, beam upon the success of their children and bask in the sound and laughter of the grandchildren.

Like all parents, they wish their children to prosper. Therefore, every dish on the table reflects the idea of a smooth and successful new year.

You need to understand the use of homonyms to appreciate the dishes on the table.
The pineapple is a must because the Cantonese word for it sounds like "wong lai" which means luck is on the way. Oyster is another compulsory ingredient. Oyster is hosi in Cantonese which means a good thing.

Prawns sounds like the sound of laughter : si si ha ha whilst the nian gao or sweet cake sounds like a better year. The fact that the shape is round gives the idea of unity, that it is sweet implies the new year would be without sorrow and that it is sticky implies unity.

Chinese New Year Exodus

Malaysians have started gearing up for the Rat Year. Banks, post offices, shopping malls were jam packed with people doing last minute transactions and shopping. Roads leading to main shopping malls such as the Curve and Mid Valley were crawling bumper to bumper for long stretches.

The exodus home too has begun. Already more than forty accidents have been reported, with motor cyclists heading the list. Hopefully, the plan to allocate time slots for different flows of traffic will help ease congestion.

Watch out for snatch thieves whose modus operandi is to prey on loners. A man was robbed at knife point at the wet market whilst a lady was forced to hand over her withdrawal to thieves. In both cases, the robbers worked in pairs. Heard this while waiting to pay my bills at the post office.

Of men and dogs!

I'm just thinking of what Martha Stewart says. Her dogs won't talk to her if she doesn't give them each a beef steak. I think of Nicole who eats what I eat -par-boiled rice.

Then my mind switches to the poor people in Haiti who eat mud cakes or those poor victims who lost their kidneys to unscrupulous people.

It really is a hard world out there. And some animals are better off than humans!

It may be the Year of the Rat but...

It may be the Year of the Rat, but all those Rat figurines with their large luminous eyes and long tails are not selling well. When asked why, those interviewed said, " Cos they'll eat up everything in the house." Superstition, it seems die hard.

Plastic surgery

NTV 7, the feel good channel had an interesting talk on plastic surgery this morning. With affluence, many Malaysians are willing to go under the surgeon's knife to have a face lift or correct a physical defect. However, there are many unqualified and unethical people out there trying to scam unsuspecting victims.

The two experts on the program pointed the finger at beauticians but there are also qualified doctors who blotch such jobs simply because they do not have the expertise. They are only fortunate because Malaysians find the subject embarrassing and would would rather suffer in silence than sue the surgeon.

Adobe e-seminar

Today, I attended, for the first time, an e-seminar on Flash Media/Video organized by Adobe. Its gives a run down on the various features of the program.

Web videos are the in thing and supposed to be very effective for internet marketing, conferencing and the like. It claims that advertising through Flash Media is a US$ 70 billion industry. There is a trial download for 15 days.

Sad, Sad, PPP Experience

I don't think anyone has a sadder experience than me with PPP and IZEA. When I first signed up, I accepted a PPP Direct offer for which I was reprimanded. They told me that since my blog was not approved, I was not eligible for direct offers. Fine, I accepted that. Then, they told me that blogs would have to be active for at least six months before they could be approved by PPP. Everything was shelved and I had almost forgotten about PPP until I received one of their newsletters.

On the spur of the moment, I applied for the approval of my blog. What joy and happiness filled my heart when the good news finally arrived that my blog was approved! But oh! how short lived the joy turned out to be!

You see, in the template where the post is uploaded, they had mistakenly inserted the name of my post as my blog. I didn't understand it at that time. I only thought they wanted me to upload my Adobe Photoshop Workshop 2007 post. I had trouble uploading the file and all the required codes, in the process of which, I lost the post due to a 404 error. I managed to recover the post after several days of tinkering and finally succeeded uploading all the requirements in correct order.

Then I waited and waited but there was no response. When I finally checked with Customer Support, the same guy who was in charge of my case from the beginning told me my post was rejected because it wasn't current. That was when I discovered that it wasn't that they had approved the post but had used the title of the post as my URL!

Bamboo

An outdoor garden with bamboo trees in the background acting as a shade against prying eyes.


The city of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province is famous for its beautiful women, among them the Soong sisters, wives of Sun Yat Sen and Chiang Kai Shek. Apart from that, Suzhou is also famous for its silk and gardens.

Much pain goes into the planning and landscaping of a Suzhou garden. There are bound to be bamboos and weeping willows. In fact, these two trees are often found in Chinese paintings.

Bamboo has a very cooling effect on the surroundings. I have a potted bamboo plant but I intend to plant them as a shade around the house.

Pomelo

The pomelo is a round fruit that belongs to the grapefruit family. Actually, it is native to Malaysia and is grown in abundance in Menglembu, Perak. It is also a must item on Chinese New Year because of its round shape which signifies unity.

I remember some of my foreign colleagues who didn't know what it was for. But once initiated, they fell in love with the fruit.

The fruit has a thick skin which you can remove quite easily. Cut of the top and bottom layer of the fruit, like you would, a lemon. Then cut into the skin, segment by segment and peel it off. Inside is the fruit, which is in segments, like a mandarin orange. It's nice to eat the pomelo, just as it is but today, the pomelo is an ingredient found in salads as well as the raw fish salad, which Malaysian relish on the seventh day of Chinese New Year.

By the way, the skin has a very soothing fragrance and is used as a medicine. The skin can also be boiled and then used as a bath. It apparently takes away arthritic pains.

Chinese Dumplings (Jiao (3) zi

Lately, Chinese products have come under severe attack for poor quality control. First, it was dolls, then, tooth paste and the latest -Chinese dumplings. It seems that some Japanese became ill after eating Chinese Jiao zi, that was probably prepared under unhygienic conditions.

I think China should buck up on its quality control instead of suspecting sabotage or foul play. Today's consumer demands the best in terms of safety and hygiene.

Jiao zi was never one of my favorites when I was in China although no less than three ladies had tried to teach me how to make them. I still preferred our local wonton and prawn dumplings.

However, in winter, when I was too lazy to cook, I learned to eat jiao zi which you can buy at the frozen section of any Parksons Supermarket in China. Actually there was one particular brand which was introduced to me by a local. It suited my taste. I can't remember the name of the brand, though.

Our local frozen food, however, in particular, dumplings, has much to catch up n terms of quality and taste.