What You Say in English!

I always want to emphasize Interactive Communication because it's one of the criteria that gets overlooked by teachers and candidates altogether. Today I'll speak about three ways in which candidates can use language effectively to: Interrupt politely Add your opinion to what the other candidate said Ask for clarification I'm also including an element that also deserves some attention: intonation....

Rossana, a listener from Italy, sent me this incredible message you'll hear today. It's very short but it's a good sample to give some well-deserved feedback. When clips are short, I mostly focus on pronunciation and some vocabulary. To give feedback on more aspects, I would need a longer piece of audio. In any case, she did really well. The main event in today's episode is how to make generalizat...

Marcelo was very eager to have my feedback, and I honestly don't have much to say about his amazing speaking skills. Being a teacher has allowed him to share everything he's learned along the way with his students. He has an incredible personality and a very focused mindset when it comes to how communication is essential in the classroom, whether it be face-to-face or online. Enjoy this conversati...

This is a short presentation about the set text for B2 First for Schools and the two novels for C2 Proficiency. I answer why they're used in the exams and what candidates are expected to do. Also, I will explain what the benefits are and the possible pitfalls if you decide to prepare for them. The set texts are: B2 First for Schools (January 2021 - December 2022) Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca . Teach...

Two fantastic girls did the mock speaking for C1 this week and here's my full feedback. Remember that you can download the visuals for this test in this link . Also, I want to remind you (once again) of the special collaboration I'm doing with Ben Gill. Remember to check out Ben Gill 's channels and Patreon Website, where you'll be able to join his TTP Academy. I'll collaborate with him delivering...

Two of my B2 First students, Oscar and Sara wanted to share their plans for these Easter holidays. We had a nice chat in class, speaking about the different things they enjoy most about these holidays in Spain. You'll be surprised to hear how they can speak English. I always enjoy their participations in class, and you'll see how that comes across in this episode. Two young people with a bright fu...

Today's episode is shorter than usual, but I'm bringing some fun with pronunciation. If you haven't heard of Gerard Nolst Trenité's poem "The Chaos" , then you have no idea how hard English pronunciation can be! The poem illustrates the disparity between spelling and pronunciation. It's so hard, that even native speakers of English find it impossible to recite fully. Not only will I be talking abo...

Maura is a hardworking person who took upon her the preparation of the C2 Proficiency exam. It seemed like an impossible task, but she was very serious and organized with her preparation. She tells everything in this episode. Getting a "pass A" is the dream of many test-takers, and quite honestly, with the proper preparation, it isn't difficult. She even got 230 points (the maximum score) in the U...

Javier is a great candidate for the IELTS exam. He's in his early twenties, doing a Master's in teaching Spanish and wanting to go and live in Australia to teach his native language. To apply for the residence, he doesn't need much in the IELTS exam, just a 4.5 (out of 9), which is roughly equivalent to a B1 (Cambridge Preliminary). However, having studied English as a degree at the University, Ja...

After not being able to upload an episode last week (I apologize for that!), today I'm bringing an analysis that I've been wanting to do for quite a while. Last year, I was amazed by how well the current Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, spoke English in several interviews he did while on tour around the United States. So, I came up with this and see how other Spanish politicians can handle...

This, you might say, is a continuation from a previous episode in which two students of mine answered some opinion questions. This time, it's Yolanda, Nat and Marta, who show off their incredible speaking skills. Pay close attention to how they answer the two questions and how they use pronunciation, discourse, and vocabulary to a very high level. In some cases, they're almost indistinguishable fr...

Alberto is a great guy. Ever since he contacted me, he's shown an incredible attitude (and aptitude) to learning English. He never stops learning and kindly agreed to have a brief conversation with me about how he started learning English, his job, his career as a teacher, and his tips to learn English. He's a great model to follow, as he's been able to develop a very good level of fluency and dis...

Here's the last part of the 6 candidates doing the collaborative task of the B2, C1 and C2 exams and the corresponding analysis. They all did well, with some ups and downs, but with enough control to make a pass. I sincerely hope you can find these recordings, and my comments, useful. Remember that I'm available to coach students on their writing skills as well. Just contact me at podcast@language...

Following a friend's advice, I'm covering two more criteria, with the same people from last week. Here, you'll hear how they did in terms of discourse and pronunciation . The six candidates gave some good material to work with, and I hope you take your note pad and jot down the ideas you liked the most. As last week, the visuals can be downloaded from https://drive.google.com/file/d/10blaiOno3U3GO...

Interactive Communication is usually the criterion that is least understood by many candidates. Many know that they have to respond and establish a conversation in many parts of the speaking test, but they sometimes don't know what they're doing that might affect their mark. Today, I've chosen the collaborative sections of the B2 First , C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency exams to illustrate how this...

One of the stars from the Netflix hit series "Money Heist", Úrsula Corberó gave me this incredible opportunity to speak about what makes her an incredible English speaker and a wonderful role model to follow. After having a successful career as an actor in Spain, she went on to become Money Heist's Goddess. Here, she was invited to the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (https://youtu.be/yA4I5t2R7yA)...

This is the last installment of the series of episodes exploring common misconceptions about language learning. Here, I’m trying to demistify the last three questions I posted in the link https://forms.gle/puJMknBoTrKAMFBw5 The questions are: English should be kept in its pure form. Any contact with other languages only leads to its bastardization. Any language teacher should be a native speaker o...

This is the first part of a series of episodes in which I explore what the common assumptions are for language teaching. Today, I'm covering three more questions in the survey I opened, which you can also answer here: https://forms.gle/qAnoxepR2Fdgpnbv6 The questions are: Written language is superior to spoken language. English grammar should be followed strictly. Anything that doesn't conform to...

As you can read in the title of today's episode, I don't have the continuation of the series I've been preparing. Several commitments have kept me busy, and finding a moment to record was almost impossible. However, I didn't want to say goodbye to you and to this year without giving you a present. So, go ahead and press play to open it. If anyone is interested in getting it, you can follow this li...

This is the first part of a series of episodes in which I explore what the common assumptions are for language teaching. Today, I'm covering the first three questions in the survey I opened, which you can also answer here: https://forms.gle/qAnoxepR2Fdgpnbv6 The questions are: Sounding like a native speaker should be the ultimate goal for any language learner. To learn English, you must start thin...

This is the first part of a series of episodes in which I explore what the common assumptions are for language teaching. Today, I'm covering the first three questions in the survey I opened, which you can also answer here: https://forms.gle/qAnoxepR2Fdgpnbv6   The questions are: The basis for teaching is the spoken, not the written language. Teachers and students should use the target languag...

This time, I had a student of mine from a C2 Proficiency group answer some questions that would be appropriate for the discussion section of the speaking exam. C1 students would also benefit from listening to her answers, as she uses a wide range of structures and vocabulary. She also used intonation effectively to enhance the message she was trying to convey. The questions were: Do you have much...

First of all, I'd like to apologize for the audio quality. I didn't have the right audio equipment (the one I usually use) and I was at another location and I had to amplify Ben's voice so you could hear it. Despite that, I hope you can get to hear him share his knowledge and expertise as a teacher and exam trainer. We talked about our shows, our students and our impressions on what matters most w...

Something that sounds very enticing to English learners is that they wish to speak English with a native accent. Apart from being a difficult goal to reach, in today's world, it's probably becoming less and less important. There's also the problem of selecting a native accent to imitate... native from where? Today I'm giving feedback to Elaph , an English learner from Iraq. Although she's a very f...

It's been a long time since I've done anything IELTS related. Well, here I am, doing a mock speaking with a great candidate who wishes to get a 6.0 in his exam. Mohd Farook is from India. He contacted me through Facebook and we recorded this a few days back. He received the video version of this mock. I hope you enjoy it. The card he used for part 2 goes as follows: Talk about a polluted place you...