International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

The ‘International English Language Testing System’ (IELTS) classes are delivered in Cardiff at the premises of the charity organisation, Displaced People in Action (DPIA).

The course is structured on a four weekly rotation:

The table above is the schedule for the first week of the rotation; subsequently the ‘Test Practice’ on a Monday would be for the writing part of the exam, the following Monday’s test practice would be for the speaking part of the exam and so on. This is done in order to cover every aspect of the exam with a student who could only attend the class on a certain day of the week. Classes are not given on a Friday as many of the students are of the Islamic faith and their commitments were taken into consideration.

The ‘Grammar and Vocabulary Workshop’ segment of the lesson is an opportunity for students to clarify any new vocabulary and it’s meanings or raise questions about any difficulties that they may have with the structure of the English language. The methodology of this section is largely a ‘lockstep’ situation where the learners are free to question the lecturer.

The IELTS exam is very specific in what is required to attain the requisite band score, therefore the ‘Strategies for the IELTS Exam’ focuses on how the learner should approach certain parts of the test e.g. ‘skimming and scanning’ for answers in the reading section. This phase is conducted in a classic P.P.P. (present, practice, produce) format.

Each class finishes with ‘Test Practice’ for each module, in order to give the student a full idea of what would be expected in the exam, as well as an opportunity to use the skills and strategies that they have learnt to best effect. This is carried out under examination conditions in order to familiarize the students with a true test environment.