Monday 4 June 2012

LSI Hosts the First IELTS Conference in the UK

 May the 19th and LSI holds the first ever IELTS conference in the UK.

LSI has a fantastic reputation for their IELTS courses, and, with a published IELTS course book author as head of the team, the classes are constantly full.

In May LSI hosted the ‘IELTS Conference – Ideas and approaches for teaching IELTS’, led by three of our very own teachers and a guest speaker and attended by over 50 different visitors from ten institutions.

All the speakers generously offered advice and tips on how to make the potentially dull exam classes lively and interactive, each drawing on their many years of experience.

‘We were very proud to be able to showcase our school and what we have to offer.  It was great to meet everyone and as teachers we really enjoyed being able to share what we have and also to hear from others’ says Lewis Richards.  Teacher, teacher trainer and co author of ‘IELTS Advantage: Writing Skills’, Lewis outlined practical ideas and approaches for teaching IELTS writing, addressing the difficulties of how to make IELTS writing more interactive and student centred.

Senior teacher trainer Suzie Coates looked at how to help lower level IELTS students improve their speaking for the exam.

One of our most popular IELTS teachers Fiona Lewis focussed on methods of training students to improve their listening skills, giving practical tips and advice.

We were delighted to have multi-published author of IELTS and Medical English course books Sam McCarter as a guest speaker.  Sam looked at the difficult subject of reading and how to make this more interesting and dynamic, which would surely be welcomed by teachers and students alike. ‘Sam was just so generous with his time and knowledge and everyone really appreciated the time and effort he put in to come here and share his ideas’ explained Lewis.

The day was rounded off by an informal and interactive session where everyone was able to share ideas and talk about the problems they face in teaching IELTS.

As Lewis says "What made it really special was the way everyone joined in and shared ideas, we couldn't have hoped for a better day".