Learn formal idioms for your Task-2 essay and some informal ones for the Speaking Module. Avoid cliches and other overused phrases.
Click on “V: idioms” over in the tag cloud for more idioms.
Meanwhile, here’s a useful idiom that you can use in your writing and speaking:
It comes from a listening exercise we looked at in another lesson.
Speaking Part 1: Your future
- What career do you plan to pursue?
I want to become some kind of scientist, but for a girl like me, the gender gap in most scientific fields is quite worrying, and more than a little off-putting…
Speaking Part-2: Water sport you want to try .
As more and more girls like me take up surfing, that old gender gap is starting to shrink…
Speaking Part-3: Teaching
- Do men make better teachers than women?
Traditionally there has been a huge gender gap in the number of male and female teachers, especially in certain non-scientific subjects; but that…
Writing Task-2: Equal pay
The gender pay gap may or may not be a real phenomenon, but it has certainly been getting a lot of attention recently…
About Paul Davey
I’m Paul from Bristol, England. I am an IELTS tutor available for face-to-face classes in Taipei and Skype classes anywhere in the world.
I'm based in Yonghe, New Taipei City — very close to Taipei.
I have been teaching for many years and I am good at it. I’m patient and never tire of correcting students’ mistakes. I know many good ways for students to learn quickly and make a lot of progress in a short time. You won’t be wasting your money. I especially know the difficulties faced by Chinese speakers, and I know how to overcome these difficulties.
IELTS is my primary concern and over the years I have taught hundreds of students in the UK, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other spots around the world. I know what the examiners look for and I know how to increase your band and get the grade you need to make your dream come true.
I have been blogging about IELTS for about a decade. I started my first website in 2007, before beginning to blog at IELTS Tutor on the Hello UK website. Now I blog only at IELTS in Taiwan and Around the World.
I majored in Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, UK, graduating with a bachelor’s degree (2/1 with honours). I obtained my language-teaching qualification in 2006, which is accredited by the Royal College of Teachers. Before I began teaching, I worked in a software company in the UK, writing and selling software solutions. After teaching for many years I took a five-year break to run my own retailing business. Following that adventure, I returned to full-time teaching. For the last 11 years, I’ve been in Taiwan, where in addition to my IELTS work, I have taught corporate classes at Taipei Bank, Pfizer, and Chinese Petroleum Corporation (CPC, Taiwan).
I have interests in many fields including travel, literature, science and history.
IELTS in Taiwan 
Sometimes gander gaps are perfectly normal and to be expected. There isn’t much we can do about them.