IELTS Around the World

台灣雅思

Independent, qualified IELTS tutor in The UK/Taiwan/Indonesia. Unlike many other popular IELTS blogs and websites, this one is written by a native speaker with decades of teaching experience. The information here is reliable, and all the examples are written in clear, accurate English.

This is the IELTS site to trust

To use this site, click on the pages shown above for a brief introduction to the four IELTS modules and a list of posts related to specific question types and posts giving general advice/information. Click on the categories over on the right, or use the tag cloud for more specific searches of posts (L: listening; R: reading; S: speaking; W: writing).

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I love listening to the lessons on IELTS in Taiwan and Around the World

Latest Success: Seonghee Min, a student from Korea who took Skype classes. She jumped from a 6.0 to a 8.0 after a few months studying with me. Her dream came true.

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(I’ve been blogging about IELTS since 2008: Unfortunately my old blog IELTS Tutor at Hello UK has been removed)

Taking the IELTS exam in Taiwan

IELTS Writing Task-2: Cambridge 14: Self Employed

Nowadays many people choose to be self-employed, rather than to work for a company or organisation. Why might this be the case? What could be the disadvantages of being self-employed?

First let’s look at an effort by one of my students:

It’s a pretty good effort, but of course we can improve it.

IELTS Writing Task-1: Double-Line Graph

The graph below shows population figures for India and China since the 2000 and predicted population growth up until 2050.

Here’s an effort by one of my students:

IELTS Listening: Sentence Completion: Ethnic Food in America

America has plenty of so-called ethnic food from around the world. This story discusses some of it. The original is over at VOA here.

Listen to the recording and use no more than TWO WORDS to complete the following sentences.

1. In a melting pot, citizens and groups are ______.
2. Although many states like Mexican cuisine, Chinese is the number one ______.
3. Besides making ethnic food more common, newcomers also made it not as ______.
4. Thailand established a program of ______ to spread eateries around the world.
5. The generation under 40 years old, use ______ to spread their eating preferences.

IELTS Listening: Short Answers: Foxes and Humans

Foxes seem to have had a close relationship with our ancestors. This story tells us how ancient humans influenced the diet of foxes. The original is here.

Listen to the recording and write no more than TWO words or a number for each answer to questions 1 to 5

1. Which word describes how foxes eat the food remaining after humans eat?
2. Ancient humans may have caused mastodons and which other grass eater to disappear?
3. How many years ago did our species overtake the Neanderthals in one part of Germany?
4. At the end of the last glaciation, foxes began to eat mainly one kind of deer and which other food?
5. Which phrase verb is used to indicate that Homo sapiens remained in one place for a long time?

Answers, transcript and clues below the image.

IELTS Listening: Short Answers: The River Ganges

What does the River Ganges mean to people in India? Is everything fine with the river?

To find out and to practice your listening skills, click on the recording and answer the questions as you do so. The original is for VOA Learning English, here.

Listen to the recording and write no more than ONE word or a number for each answer to questions 1 to 5

1. How many kilometres long is the river?
2. Besides spiritual practices, business and agriculture, what else is the river connected to?
3. Washing in the river is believed to clean away what?
4. Gangsters steal sand from the river in order to make what?
5. Fifty percent of the river’s water comes from what kind of geographical feature?

IELTS Listening: Short Answers: Mosquitoes And Blood

Why do some mosquitoes bite humans when others don’t? The answer might surprise you. The original story is from npr, here.

Listen to the recording and write no more than ONE word for each answer to questions 1 to 5

1. How many different kinds of mosquitoes are there?
2. Mosquitoes that bite humans spread what?
3. Which word is used to describe the long-ago movement of mosquitoes to the Americas?
4. Mosquito eggs won’t do what until they are wet?
5. What is the main factor that decides whether a mosquito will bite a human or not?

IELTS Listening: Short Answers: Is the World Running Out of Food?

With the growing population, is the world running out of food? In this recording from npr (here) you’ll find out.

Listen to the recording and write no more than ONE word for each answer to questions 1 to 5

1. Besides the price of food dropping, food has also been becoming more what?
2. The economist keeps hearing which word to describe the food situation?
3. In a previous decade, farmers were using corn to make what?
4.  Some of the world’s population, lacking food, are described as starving or being what?
5. After the middles of this century, the climate may decimate production, but for now we’ll have the same what?

Answers, transcript and clues below the image

IELTS Listening: Short Answers: Cancel Culture

This is a news story about a growing trend in America. The original is over at VOA and can be found here.

Listen to the recording and answer the following questions using no more than TWO words.

1. According to George Packer, where does cancel culture mainly occurs?
2. Tressie McMillan Cottom says that what has been with us for ever?
3. Besides in Twitter, online posts, and  books, where else can we find people expressing their anger against cancel culture?
4. The Minneapolis businessman’s child posted what kind of message?
5. The letter, signed by over 100 people, criticized what in people’s thinking?

Answers, transcript and clues below the image

IELTS Listening: Short Answers: Store Robots

This is a story about robots replacing store assistants in Japan. The original is over at VOA and can be found here.

Listen to the recording and answer the following questions using no more than TWO words or a number.

1. In what kind of shops might we find these robots?
2. What motions are the robots trying to mimic?
3. Which animal do the robots resemble?
4. Japan has less people employed because the society is doing what?
5. How many potential employees are currently unemployed?

Answers, transcript and clues below the image

IELTS Listening: Short Answers: Fallen Statues

A short answer will be a specific piece of information that you hear in the recording. It could be:

• a characteristic of someone or something
• an object mentioned
• a number of something
• a kind of something
• a synonym for a word in the question

This is a story about monuments from the past. The original is over at npr and can be found here.

Listen to the recording and answer the following questions using no more than TWO words.

1. Some characters from the past, whose statues remain, are described as being what?
2. Which word describes the Russian government of the last century just before it disappeared?
3. The capital city’s garden, with its activities and facilities, is a what for local residents?
4. What have the monuments dropped due to their changed environment?
5. Artyom Golbin, with regard to the previous government, considers the statues to be what kind of crucial objects?
6. The Moscow statue of the founder of the secret police has been put back onto its what?