Julia TS #20 (Wei)

Julia TS #20 (Wei) 

Date/Time: Friday, July 31st, 7:00 PM


Location: Virtual (Zoom)


Topic/Skill: IELTS Speaking, Fluency & Coherence, Vocabulary, Grammatical Range & Accuracy, and Pronunciation.



Feedback Provided to the Tutee: In this session, Wei and I simulated the IELTS speaking sections in 3 parts under timed conditions. Feedback included using the 1-minute prep time to come up with When, Where, Why it's important; using fewer "umm"; pacing answer responses; and staying under the time constraints of the questions. We drilled patterns in the IELTS exam and practiced talking points for many of the common IELTS exam questions, such as:

  • Are you a student or do you work? 

  • What is your place of work like?

  • Do you have a lot of free time?

  • Is there a free-time activity you would like to try in the future?

  • Describe a special event or festival that you liked

  • Where is your hometown?

    • "What do you like about it?"

  • Why do you think celebrations are important in society?


We discussed the importance of setting yourself up for success in choosing what you are going to talk about, and I suggested telling a story with a beginning, middle, and end, and trying to pinpoint a specific memory that you can describe vividly (where you were, how you felt, who you were with, etc.)


Lesson(s) About Tutoring and/or the Tutee You Learned: I learned the importance of encouragement and sandwich compliments, and also the importance of a face-to-face presence during speaking drills. It has been difficult for me to give critiques, as I never wanted to put my tutee down or make them discouraged in any way. The compliment sandwich and the encouraging head nodding do a lot to give your tutee the confidence to express themselves in a second language.

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