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I currently have a Romanian student in London and a Brazilian student in New Zealand.

What do the two have in common? Well, they have me as their teacher. 🥳

Pretty global, right? Well, here’s how things get even more international.

Also, they both need a good score on the IELTS test (band 7.0 or above) and have one-to-one classes. Lili is going to do the Academic version of the test and Rangel is going to sit the GT.

I've decided to have them work together outside the classroom and it's been working out really well.

Here are a few things I have decided to do to allow them to have extra practice (that you can as well):

I have created a Whatsapp group

I am planning to post things in this group on this for them to answer, then I can feed them back on their speaking in class. This week, for example, I have posted a card (similar to part 2) and ask both of them to record a one to two-minute response. They will then be able to compare each other’s responses. I have also committed to posting a sample of how I would approach this question as soon as they both do their bit. Nice way to put light pressure on them to do homework!

They have decided to call each other, so I am assigning tasks for these chats

The time zone difference is a bit of a nightmare but they have decided to find time to do a bit of speaking together. As they both already live in English speaking countries, I don’t just want them to talk; they have plenty of opportunities for that in their daily lives. What I have decided to do is send each one of them a set of IELTS-like questions to ask during these calls. I’ll send each one a different set of questions privately so they don’t know exactly what to expect. I believe this can be really helpful to build test-takers confidence and prepare them for what sort of questions they might answer.

Peer review of writing tasks

As they are taking different versions of the test the only thing they have in common is writing task 2. I have decided to assign the same tasks to both and have each other analyse each other's positives and negatives. Once we are done, I’ll show both a sample of a good answer What I like about this is it's often difficult to see what you did wrong on a writing task or how you could do better (as ideas are clearly connected in your head), but by looking at what the work someone else has done you can take a lot of ideas and see mistakes you make yourself.

And because I am currently all about the forms, I came up with a self/peer review form so they take the opportunity to learn more about the IELTS writing rubrics:

I am feeling very optimistic about this idea. Who knows I might have produced not only two successful results but also an international friendship at the end of this process?

I just love my job!