quinta-feira, 21 de março de 2013

IELTS

Eu e meu marido tivemos que fazer o IELTS. Para aplicar para a imigração ele, que era o aplicante principal, teve que fazer o IELTS General, lá em 2009... eu nem precisei...
Mas chegando aqui descobrimos que, para qualquer coisa que quisessemos relacionado à medicina (e a outras profissões tb, fiquem de olho!), teremos que apresentar um novo resultado de IELTS, com validade de até 2 anos, e dessa vez o Academic, com uma nota exigida bem maior (7 em cada componente).
Como o marido já havia feito uma vez a prova e, portanto, sabia o que esperar, ele agendou o teste dele para janeiro passado. Pouco mais de 2 semanas após a prova o resultado dele chegou em casa: notas ótimas, overall de 8!
Eu, que nunca tinha feito a prova (e sou insegura pra caramba), me matriculei por 4 semanas num curso preparatório para o IELTS aqui em Calgary, na Global Village. O curso foi ótimo! Tinha 3 salas só de preparatório para o IELTS, com turmas divididas em níveis (1, 2 e 3), de acordo com o desempenho num teste aplicado no primeiro dia. Isso garantiu que as turmas fossem niveladas, garantindo um melhor aproveitamento pros alunos. Eu fiquei no IELTS 3 e fiz aulas com uma professora britânica, chamada Sharon. Ela foi sensacional como professora e também como psicóloga (trabalhou bastante na minha auto-confiança). E o fato de ela ser britânica também ajudou, já que pude me adaptar ao sotaque britânico, que domina o "Listening" no IELTS...
Meu curso aconteceu no período entre 14/01/13 e 08/02/13, e eu agendei minha prova para 02/03/13. A prova durou o dia todo. Pela manhã, fizemos o Listening, o Reading e o Writing. À tarde retornamos para o Speaking. Eu fique tão nervosa no Speaking, tremendo que nem vara verde, gaguejando e entrando em quase desespero, que eu saí de lá com a certeza de que não havia conseguido. Fiquei triste naquele dia, mas no dia seguinte melhorei e comecei a pensar em refazer a prova. Como sou derrotista... que vergonha!!!! O resultado estava previsto para sair em 15/03, e deveria chegar pelo correio na segunda-feira seguinte (dia 18/03). Mas é claaaaaro que, pela lei de Murphy, o grau de ansiedade é diretamente proporcional à chance de atraso... dito e feito: o resultado não chegou na data prevista... No dia 19 entrei em contato com uma colega de curso que havia feito a prova no mesmo dia e ela disse que, por telefone, havia sido informada de que os resultados estavam mesmo atrasados, mas que poderíamos acompanhar através do site. De fato, na própria terça-feira o resultado apareceu na internet... de acordo com o site eu havia conseguido a nota que precisava... mas havia uma observação embaixo dizendo que aquilo NÃO era o resultado oficial, e que divergências poderiam ocorrer... mais 2 dias de desespero até que hoje na hora do almoço chegou o resultado oficial, confirmando as notas que estavam no site!!!



Estou super feliz por ter conseguido. E decidida a melhorar minha auto-imagem/auto-estima/confiança... 

Para quem ainda vai fazer, em seguida mando algumas dicas valiosas sobre o "Speaking" e o "Writing"do IELTS Academic:


IELTS - SPEAKING

What is evaluated (in order of importance):                    - fluency
                                                                                    - coherence
                                                                                    - range of grammar
                                                                                    - range of vocabulary
                                                                                    - pronunciation

3 PARTS:        
(1)   Introduction/Warm-up: 4-5 minutes; personal questions; common topics:
·         Common topics: hobbies/spare time, last holiday, traveling, food, family/friends, plans for the future, occupation, home, last weekend, sport interests, schooldays, ambitions, studies, hometown/country (description, climate, culture, etc.), current city, learning English, festivals and national holidays, National Park/wildlife in your country, careers (past, present, future)

(2)   Long turn: 1minute to prepare, 1-2 minutes to speak; main question + 4 ideas + wrap up
·         “Describe… You should say what… where/when… how… why”
·         “I would like to talk about…”               “I have chosen to talk about…”
“That are a lot that I’ve enjoyed, but the best one was…”
·         Common topics: restaurant, situation when you were helped by an unknown person, special visit to a friend’s home, party, city vs. countryside, reading habits, technology, punctuality, place you live or have lived, job (current or future), meeting new people/taboos, lifestyle, environment (nature vs. nurture), health, medicine, cultures, food, entertainment, sports, music/concerts, movie/play/musical, book, artist, careers, art, future (space/science), teenagers (problems/differences over the last decades), business, communication, education, history, endangered species, stressful situation
·         Follow-up questions (1-2): answer briefly (yes or no, I think so or I don’t think so)

(3)   Discussion: 4-5 minutes; 5-6 questions about item 2 subject; personal view + opposite/counter-view

You can say:
“Could you please repeat that? / rephrase that? / paraphrase that?”
“I’m sorry, I still don’t understand. Can you say that again in a different way please?”
“That’s an interesting question. I’ve never really thought about that before.”
“I’m not really sure, but I would guess that…”          
“I can’t remember exactly… but it was something about…”
“I’m afraid I can’t really think of anything interesting to say about…”

Giving an opinion:
“As far as I can see…”        “From my point of view…”          “Personally, I believe/think…”
“Some people think … However, I think…”          “Some people say … However, I think…”
“It may/might be better to/if we…”         “As far as I’m concerned…”          “I doubt that…”

Giving an explanation:
“One reason is…”        “It is possible due to…”           It may be because of…”          “Firstly…”
“It may come from the fact that…”       “Consequently…”    

Giving examples:
“For example…”                      “For instance…”                      “…such as…”

Making a suggestion:
“It would be a good idea to…”     “One thing we could do would be…”     “One idea would be…”
“The main improvement would be…”

Comparing two things:
“… better than…”        “… less useful than…”      “I prefer”     “I’d rather…”
“While … may be true, I also think…”                        “Although…”        “Certainly/Obviously … but…”
“It’s true that … but on the other hand/alternatively…”
“Some people think … However, I think…”

Making a prediction about the future:
“It’s possible that…”                 “It’s unlikely that…”               “In the long run…”
“It’s quite likely that…”           “I doubt whether … will happen”
“It’s very difficult to predict the future of course, but I am quite optimistic/pessimistic about…”

Agreeing or disagreeing with something:
“I’m not sure that I agree with…”      “Yes, absolutely (because)…”                    “Certainly, yes, …”
“Yes, I think we should actually, because…”  “Not really (because)”                    “To be honest, no, …”
“I’m afraid I can’t agree with that idea because…”
“I agree entirely…”           “I strongly disagree…”

Summarizing:
“In short…”          “To sum up…”           “In conclusion…”          “To conclude…”

Explaining how you feel - now and then:
“What I like about … is that I can…”               “What I liked about … was that I could…”
“The reason I don’t like … is that…”               “The reason I didn’t like … was that…”
“The reason why I enjoy … is that…”              “The reason why I enjoyed  … was that…”
“One of the good things about … is that…”    “One of the problems with … is that you can’t…”
“One of the bad things about … is not being able to…”

Describing the past:
“Until quite recently…”           “It was common to see…”         “In those days…”
“They used to…”           “Once,…”          “Back in the …, they would…”

Describing the present:
“Nowadays…”             “They no longer have to…”           “Things are getting…”        “These days…”
“Since then…”             “People are becoming…”

Expressing a sequence of events:
“before”          “prior to”        “until”          “after”          “afterwards”

Expressing time:
“eventually”       “finally”        “in the end” - when something happens after a lot of time
“while”       “whilst”       “when”       “as”       “meanwhile”       “throughout”       “during”
Giving extra information or reasons:
“in addition”               “as well as”           “not only… but also”         “as well”
“Furthermore/Besides/Moreover”

Expressing conditions:
“provided that/providing that/as long as”     “unless”           “whether or not”        “otherwise”

Expressing purposes:
“The purpose of doing…”        “so that”          “in order to”

Expressing consequences:
“As a result/Therefore/Consequently”

Note exceptions:
“except”          except for/apart for”             

Adverbs of frequency (how often):
“(almost) always”       “frequently”    “(quite) often”      “regularly”                 “sometimes”
“occasionally”             “seldom”            “hardly ever”           “(very) rarely”

Adverbs of degree (how much):
“incredibly”                 “extremely”               “very”                          “pretty”               “quite”    
“fairly”                                    “somewhat”                 “a little bit”               “slightly”

Finishing your speaking:
“Have I given you enough information?”       “Shall I tell you more about it?”
“That’s about all I know”                                “Would you like me to explain anything?”
“Do you need to know anything else?”          “Thank you. Goodbye.”





IELTS - WRITING

THINK         Þ     PLAN         Þ       WRITE

2 TASKS:        

Task 1:    REPORT  (graph - common OR process - rare); 150 words, 20 minutes
·         Do not contract (e.g. “don’t”)
·         Do not write opinions (no “I” or “we”); do not have conclusion!!! (conclusion is a opinion)

(1)   Process (rare): usually a flowchart or a diagram
o   Natural cycle: active voice (e.g. “water evaporates into the air”)
o   Manufactured: passive voice (e.g. “the fruit is picked and packed”)
o   3 parts: Introduction + Overview + Body (or introduction + body + overview)

1.      Introduction: what the topic is about - title
-         “The diagram given shows a natural process, known as ‘water cycle’”

2.      Overview: summary - n° of steps, “starting from … and ending with…”; 3 main steps
-         Maintain it a little bit vague

3.      Body: describe in details
-         Sentence connectors indicating sequence: first, firstly, first of all, first and foremost, second, third, next, at once, then, after that, meanwhile, finally, last, lastly, subsequently, now


(2)   Graph (common):

o   3 parts: Introduction + Overview + Body (or introduction + body + overview)

1.      Introduction: what the topic is about; 1-2 sentences
-         Write one sentence to introduce what the graph shows; just paraphrase the question statement
-         “The graph given shows/demonstrates…”
-         “The illustration given is a pie chart, which demonstrates…”
-         If 2 illustrations: “There are two illustrations given, the first which is a line graph shows… The second is a bar chart that describes…”

2.      Body: describe in details
-         Biggest paragraph, can be divided in 2 paragraphs
-         If 2 illustrations: 2 paragraphs for the body (1 to describe each illustration)
-         “Firstly…”, “Secondly…”

3.      Overview: general trend; 1-2 sentences
-         Describe the overall trend
-         If 2 illustrations: must contain a link between the 2 illustrations given
-         “In general…”, “Overall…”

o   Prepositions with numbers and dates: (1995: 35%, 1997: 10%)
-         In 1997 the  number fell to 10%
-         In 1997 the number fell by 25%
-         In 1997 the number fell from 35%
-         The number dropped to 10% between 1995 and 1997
-         By 1997 the number had fallen to 10%
-         From 1995 to 1997; in 1995, in 1997; for 2 years; between 1995 and 1997; during/throughout the period from 1995 to 1997

o   Combination:
-         Verb + adverb: increased significantly
-         Adjective + noun: significant increase

Task 2:     ESSAY; 250 words, 40 minutes
·         Your opinion (have to write “I” in introduction and conclusion, not in the body)
·         Answer the question in an essay format
·         Do not put a question in your essay

1.      Introduction:
-         Analyze the question you are looking at (advantages vs. disadvantages? opinion? 2 different points of view?)
-         Paraphrase the task
-         Thesis statement (generically)
-         “I agree…”, “I disagree…”, “I am of both minds…”, “… and my essay will describe why.”
-         “One of the most controversial issues today relates to…”, “Some people argue that… However…”,

2.     
Main idea + 2-3 supporting details or examples
 
Body 1: weaker idea

3.      Body 2: stronger idea

4.      Conclusion: paraphrase your thesis statement, including information of the body
-         “To sum up…”, “Overall…”, “In the final analysis…”, “In conclusion/To conclude…”, “Ultimately…”, “In the end…”, “Taking everything into consideration…”, “In brief…”
-         “As we have seen, there are no easy answers to this question. On balance, however, I tend to believe that…”

·         Expressing contrast or concession: despite, nevertheless, on the other hand, although/even though, while, whereas, however, on the one hand … but on the other hand
·         Providing reasons: as a result of, because of, since, due to, as
·         Adding further support: in addition, as well as, moreover, furthermore, not only … but also, besides
·         Giving examples: for example. for instance, such as
·         Stating results or consequences: so, consequently, therefore, thus
·         Stating purpose: in order to, in order not to, not to