Welcome to the IELTS Language Lab. In this episode we’re going to listen to Peter who tried one of the free Part 2 practice tests we’ve published.
Describe a teacher you once had who you enjoyed being taught by. You should say:
Task
Describe someone you know who dresses well. You should say:
- who this person is
- when they were your teacher
- which subject they taught you
and describe what it was about their character that you liked.
Comprehension
The first time you listen decide if Peter answers the question appropriately:
OK the person I would like to talk about is my former physics teacher called Mr Schmizter so it’s a very German name difficult to pronounce in English and I … well I attended his lectures for I think … in the 10th 11th and 12th class so in total that would be three years and during … which … this time I got to know him very … well very well and what I can say what really … I liked very much about him and what impressed me was his … first of all that he had … had a good sense of humour that means he usually you know he would make sarcastic jokes every lesson and as I am myself … I am also attracted to more the darker … darker type of humour I … I really enjoyed just sitting in there and listening to … to what he had to tell and moreover I… I respect him because he was very fair-minded teacher that means if you prepared well for the exam or if you if you regularly did what he told you you should do you are you are supposed to do then you would find it very easy to get decent good or very good marks in his exams so in my opinion all the other pupils who basically didn’t succeed to achieve like decent results ,,, in his exams in my opinion probably can be regarded to not have prepared very well because you know this … this exchange process I contribute my work and therefore I get good grades this worked very well so … but moreover what I … well what I really appreciate was that … apart from a lot of of other teachers he was a very broad-minded person and … and you have to imagine that in in physics because it … has something not … not which cannot be found very often since physics is rather a subject where you know there is no … no big room for discussions … there is one physical equation and if you do the crunch the numbers and you do get the wrong result you do get the wrong result and it won’t become … become the correct one but he was broad-minded in the sense that if he … you know … if somebody was asked the question to to tell him to … to give him an answer … either in a … like … in a … in a test situation or also just like in a … in a normal situation in class he would never … he would always … he would never really confront you so that means he … he would avoid confrontation in … in a way that in such a way that he would … he would tell you that your answer is wrong but he would not … not blame you in a very strong way so to say he would not make fun of you if you did get something wrong and I regard that as a part of being … you know … a bit more broad-minded and not like … like a single-minded person whose only aim is to to make clear there is only one correct answer and yeah so that is what … was terrific about him.
Assessment
Peter spoke for well over three minutes here and the examiner would have interrupted him around the two-minute mark. However, even within the first two minutes Peter answers the question fully and explains what he liked about the teacher’s character.
Now listen a second time. How well do you think Peter did using the IELTS assessment criteria?
- Grammatical range and accuracy
- Lexical resource (vocabulary)
- Fluency and coherence
- Pronunciation
Feedback
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Peter’s use of English is generally very good and on target for an advanced level. His statements are well formed and he makes good use of tenses to slip between the anecdotes from the past and his feelings now. There were a few mistakes however, such as in the following. Can you see what the mistakes are?
listening to … to what he had to tell
I respect him because he was very fair-minded teacher
all the other pupils who basically didn’t succeed to achieve like decent results
probably can be regarded to not have prepared very well
In the first extract ‘tell’ must have an object so it should be either ‘tell us’ or ‘say’ as in ‘what he had to say’.
Peter forgot the indefinite article in the second extract and it should be ‘a very fairmined teacher’.
‘Succeed’ is followed by ‘in’ + the ‘ing’ form of the verb such as ‘succeed in achieving’.
And finally, ’regarded’ is often followed by ‘as’ and then the ‘ing’ form of the verb as in ‘regarded as not having prepared very well’.
Lexical Resource
Peter has a very good command of vocabulary, using a wide range of collocations and set expressions such as:
former physics teacher
to attend lectures
in total
to get to know someone
to make sarcastic jokes
to contribute work
no room for discussions
to crunch the numbers
to avoid confrontation
to make fun of
There was one noticeable wrong word choice:
apart from a lot of of other teachers he was a very broad-minded person
This should be ‘unlike a lot of other teachers’ not ‘apart from’.
Fluency and Coherence
Peter’s fluency and coherence is very good, especially during the first half of his talk. Towards the end of the talk in particular there are a lot of false starts and repetitions but this is almost certainly down to him thinking of what to say rather than how to say it.
Pronunciation
Peter’s pronunciation was clear. On one occasion he mispronounced ‘broad’ in ‘broad-minded’ but used the correct pronunciation later in the talk.