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Hey, Welcome for the seven times of the 8 IELTS.
And because seven is a lucky number,
we're going to show you a little bit of what,
some of the people that send information to us.
This is some of people who had sent something to us.
Here is natran@gmail.com and this is what she said.
Dear chi Phoebe and 8IELTS. I love the show so much and excited than ever.
to study for the IELTS, I hope I can get 8 as well.
But I have one question:
I wonder is there anyone that got an 9 on the IELTS.
Now we gonna answer that for you, right here on the show today.
Na, you asked the question and we provided the answer.
And the answer is right here in the studio with us.
Welcome Ms. Truong Hai Ha to the studio.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah, she’s got an amazing 9.0 guys.
That is not a joke.
Very few people actually get that score.
So tell us a little bit about you getting that the second time you took the IELTS.
The first time I took the IELTS was in 2011, after I graduated from university.
And at that point of time, I got an 8.0.
I was pretty satisfied, but then again, there was a part of me that knew that I could do better.
So after 4 years of working, I started feeling a little curious about whether I have got better afterwards.
So last year, in December, I decided to retake it, partly because the test fee was about to increase.
But yeah, I took it and I was lucky enough. I got a 9.
You are one of those people that kind of like develop your skills organically.
How did you get so good at the IELTS?
I wouldn’t say that I got good at the IELTS specifically.
Honestly speaking, I didn’t prepare for the test that much, officially.
Before the second time I took the test, I didn’t go to any preparation class.
I only took a few practice tests on my own.
I think the key to learn any language is, of course, creating, stimulating an environment
where you can practice it as frequently as you can.
And that’s exactly what I tried to do.
So I think a lot of audiences would probably would want to hear from you,
when did you start believing that you’re very good at English?
Never, even right now, I don’t think that I’m that good at English yet.
There are stills time when I feel like I cannot convey myself precisely and I still struggle a lot to read heavily technical books.
And I think learning is a process, not a destination.
Absolutely.
Yeah, so what we need to do is, like every one of us is in a different position on that path, on the long journey.
But all of us need to continue moving forward.
And one day we'll eventually find a place where we can feel completely happy with what we have.
But for me right now, I still have a lot of room for improvement.
But I do agree, the language itself, even for native speakers,
it is really a process of basically owning and developing and always learning and always growing.
So what is your study’s dream, what do you want to achieve in this whole process of study?
For me, it is really tough to tell what is my eventually goal.
The only thing that I strive for in life is to keep getting better.
I don’t know where it’s gonna take me. But I don’t want to stop learning.
I love that, I love that you always want to learn.
And I think it is a lot of the sentiment that I share with a lot of people I know as well.
As a woman in an Asian country, I do believe that education is key.
It opens the windows of opportunities to a lot of places that you wannna go, lots of things that you wanna do.
So all the girls who are watching this show out there, all of you, keep studying.
Don’t drop out of school.
As a woman in Vietnam, do you feel like you’ve opportunities
or do you feel like women still deserve a lot more opportunities at education in this country, in your opinion?
I think my personal experience, my exposure is not adequate for me to make such a big remark about the whole educational system of Vietnam.
But I grew up in Hanoi, in a city
So for me, it was pretty easy. I could go to school like all of my friends did.
But as a working professional, in a social field, I have seen a lot of young girls not being able to go to school,
because their parents could not afford to send both the girls and the boys to school.
And that’s just sad.
I do believe that young women in Vietnam and of course other places deserve an opportunity to at least get an education and get where they wanna be.
I agree with you.
And actually, there is one thing about Vietnam that I hope very dear to my heart.
I don’t know where it’s gonna take me. But I don’t want to stop learning.
Yes, financially, there might be some difficulties for women to go to school.
Guys, we have a request.
Thank you for your question.
It is difficult for us to pick 1 book to choose as my favorite.
I brought to the show today one of my favorite young adult – cheesy, corny novel.
And its name is ‘Where rainbows end’ by Cecelia.
It is a really cute little book about the love story, not exactly a love story, it is more like a friends’ story, which turns into a love story.
There are 2 best friends as kids, but they did felt for each other.
They grew up together, fell for each other.
But there’s never quite the right timing for them.
And then they spent almost half of their life trying to figure out where they wanna be in life, and who they wanna be with.
And it is really touching.
For me, the message that I take away from this book is, live while you can.
If you wanna do something, do it right now.
Time's not gonna wait for you.
You don’t have your whole life to waste.
Try reading it out, I hope you will enjoy it.
And the language of this book is also really simple.
There’s nothing super complex about it.
You will find it really fluffy, really cute and I think you’re gonna like it.
Yep, this is my book for you ‘Where rainbows end’.
Hey, I wouldn’t expect you to give the book away, the book that you love so much.
Why wouldn’t I? I love to give, to transfer my passion to other people.
This is something that is very close to my heart.
This is one of the very first English book that I read.
You can see it’s already old.
I hope you don’t mind that and I hope you will enjoy it.
And we still have something in store for you.
So you're not going home yet!
And it is going to be a lot of fun.
Sound perfect. Join me. Let’s go!
Welcome back guys to 8IELTS studio and this is the 8IELTS marathon challenge.
And the contender is Ms Hải Hà today, are you ready?
Your first task will be the devil.
You’re gonna be right there, and I’m gonna be right here.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Next is the Devil Space where our contestant will have to discover the key, the passport and the registration letter in the whole mess.
But first, Hai Ha, you'll have to close your eyes.
Rise and shine sleeping beauty, now find the 3 hidden treasures.
Key, passport and information letter.
Aw, sometimes what you need… oh you got 1.
1 down, 2 more to go.
Search far and wide.
Search every crevice of every item that you see.
Listen to the sounds of the rustling key.
Did you hear something…woo, there it is!
2 down, 1 more to go.
What was that one thing you used to touch but you threw it away, because you thought it was useless?
Oh, here it is, got it finally, I’m so bad at this.
3 items, you’re on to the next challenge: The photoshoot and fingerprint.
Make sure you take the right picture and print all 10 fingers.
Off you go.
Oh it is like this already?
It is automatic.
Turn it on, press the button, set the chair correct.
Sometimes if you want to set the chair correct, you gotta sit on the chair.
If you don’t sit on the chair, to make it work.
Sometimes you need to wiggle wiggle wiggle.
There you go, wiggle wiggle wiggle
You guys are terrible!
You got 10 seconds.
Make sure the timer's set correctly.
Did you set the timer?
Oh it is blinking, I see some blinking.
But is it taking a picture?
It took the picture!
So what am I gonna do?
You gotta look at the picture again.
You’re off to the next challenge: The Fingerprint Challenge
Make sure you got all 10 finger printed on that sheet,
and make sure all of your fingers are clean to proceed to the next challenge.
Do I need to go in the right order though?
Yes you
make sure it is clean before you proceed to the next challenge.
It is impossible to clean.
You’re a good girl, and now you proceed to the next challenge.
Starting off with the headphone challenge, where you will hear prompt.
May we have the prompt please?
D is 4, so D is for tea room, is it correct? That is absolutely correct.
You’re onto the next one, the answer sheet challenge.
The answer sheet challenge is basically finding a mistake.
A preservation is wrongly spelled?
You’re absolutely correct! You’re onto the next section, the reading challenge.
Read the text and answer the question
1 – True.
You’re absolutely correct, you’re fast, girl!
You gotta paraphrase this one, find the synonym for the underlined words
Let’s see if she can find the synonym in the quick period of time.
Globally, worldwide and globally.
Common, common for popular.
Characteristic, feature and characteristic.
You’re absolutely correct!
Pronunciation challenge, you’re almost there.
She’s almost done guys!
The other day, I forgot my phone on the bus.
Next morning I went to the lost and found office to see if it has been turned in.
I saw the phone on the desk at the office.
Since the battery has died during the night, it was difficult to convince the man that it was mine.
Voice regconition: accepted!
Voice regconition has said accepted!
You’re on to the final challenge, and it is called: [the sneak of shame].
Are you ready for The Sneak of Shame?
Yes, maybe.
The Sneak of Shame is going to be the next challenge where she will have to find little pieces of information on the floor,
and she will have to put it together to create a wall to get out of her office and into the IELTS room.
Welcome to the Sneak Of Shame.
And to prepare you for the Sneak Of Shame, I have your code here,
so you can basically crawl on the floor, and pick up the letters, and not getting to the shadow okay?
Are you ready for the Sneak of Shame?
Yes I am.
Alright, you look so good.
Ok guys, 1 2 3 Sneak of Shame, light off please.
Take it away!
I have like 3 shadow over here, so which one counts and which one doesn't?
Find the one inised that, the darkest.
This one is the one that counts, ok.
Not stepping out of the A, but you can go lower.
That’s the way to do it.
There you go, you’re learning the trick.
You’re learning the trick, alright
Alright, ok now you can get the H and the D behind you all at once.
Because the light is…
Am I making this…
You’re fine, you’re fine.
Behind you.
You have 3 letters behind you that you can just ***, right now.
Go back, it’s fine.
Here?
You can still hold the ones that you have already picked up.
Ok, start again.
Pause, pause, pause.
Ok, continue, go.
There are 3 letters behind you that you can totally pick up right now.
To your right, to your right, quickly before the lights turn back.
you just got 3 more letters
Just 3 more letters.
You’re good, you’re good.
You can actually put your hands across that bubble and grab that E right there.
The hand is fine, totally fine.
Really? But my hand is not extra long.
Then to grab it, you gotta move there.
I’m not a giant.
Gotta move there.
Oh oh the light is gone.
You got 1 more letter, 1 more letter.
You’re almost there. Almost.
Almost, almost.
Really, there you go girls, you’ve got all the letters.
Alright, woohoo!
Ok now we got all these letters.
Now your last test is basically to just have the letters together, and make a word.
What is it?
Here, let me help you, I’ll hold the letters for you.
The word of the day is Method.
The word of the day is Method.
Oh my god, you got it right off the back.
How did this even happen? It is absolutely correct.
The word of the day is method.
Congratulation Ha!
Thank you so much for being on the show.
And to sum up your experience on the 8IELTS, what do you think of your experience here?
It was exciting.
How was the challenge?
Challenging!
Very challenging right?
But really fun!
Really fun, ok?
So thank you for all your tips and the book to our viewers.
Thank you for having me
We hope to see you again soon!
Guys, so the next section is the Idiom of the Week section, where you basically find information on what idioms you can use.
Stay tuned, stay glued to your screen, don’t go anywhere.
Hi everyone. Welcome back to the 8 IELTS studio.
And of course, to help you with your IELTS studying, we have an IELTS expert right here in the studio with us.
So guys, welcome Daniel Ruelle
Thank you very much. It’s great to be here!
Welcome to the studio.
Tell us a little bit about you.
How long have you been in Vietnam?
I’ve been in Hanoi for about 11 years now.
Quite a while.
I’ve been working with IELTS for about seven, eight years.
Seven, eight years. And you’re an IELTS expert.
Are there any memorable stories to share within your whole IELTS experience?
Generally, it’s been very positive.
I haven’t had anybody crying in the exam, which is good.
And so far, it’s been very positive.
I think the candidates in Vietnam are very motivated to try their best to perform well in the IELTS exam.
Ok. Now one of the things that we feature on our show is our celebrity doing the IELTS.
Have you ever seen a celebrity taking the IELTs test or studying for the IELTS
Not that I don’t know, I’m sure a lot of celebrities taking the IELTS, but I haven’t come across any yet, so far.
So today we gonna introduce you to one.
MC Anh Duy is going to take our IELTS exam today.
Do you want to see how he did?
Let’s take a look.
Alright, let’s take a look.
Good afternoon, how are you?
Good afternoon, I’m fine, thanks.
May I see your ID card please?
Yes, this is mine.
That’s fine.
Now in this first part, I’d like to talk to you about cold weather.
Have you ever been in very cold weather?
Yes, of course. I used to live in the UK in 2009.
At that time, I experienced the first winter in an European country, you know.
The degree I remembered is about 0*C.
And there was snow. It’s my first time.
How did you feel?
Wonderful!
The first time I saw snow, you know, I went outside and then they falling down, felt down on my face, my hair and then very thick on the ground.
And this was my first time I played with the snow, with the children.
I thought it was a piece of cake.
But after that I got sick, you know, because it was too cold.
Thank you.
Now I’m gonna give you a topic. I would like you to talk for one to two minutes.
Before you talk, you have one minute to think about what you’re going to say.
You can make some notes if you wish.
Do you understand?
Yes.
Here’s some paper and a pencil for making notes.
And here’s your topic.
I’d like you to describe a competition on TV, at work, at college or at a sport competition that you took part in.
Yes, thank you. So I start my preparation, right?
Alright, could you start speaking now?
Firstly, thank you for this interesting question, because it reminds me of my very nice experience in my life that I cannot forget.
In 2009, before I came to the UK, I participated in a TV show.
And it’s a competition of MC, TV presenter nationwide.
And my friend told me that information, because I wanted to challenge myself.
What happens if I go on the stage to be the MC, the TV presenter?
What can I say? What could I do at that time?
So I wanted to challenge myself and there were many rounds.
And it was a live program on TV with a lot of audience.
And the judges, they were professional.
So I think a little bit stressful.
But I overcame round and round.
And finally, in the final round, you know, when they announced the third prize, not me.
The second prize, not me.
And then of course, only me left.
So I was, you know, awarded with the first prize, the winner at that time.
So you know, it was wonderful experience and I still be happy with it.
I’m happy now, as well.
Thank you for your question.
Thank you.
Now, we’ve been talking a competition
And now I’d like to discuss some more questions related to this.
Why do you think that some school teachers use competitions in their classroom?
I am a teacher now. So again, why they do it?
It is important for the students.
Because with the competition, you know, the student have the pressure or the inspiration, motivation to make an effort.
To try their best to work and may be teamwork as well.
So I think the competition is necessary for the students to try their best to apply what they can do.
Even to find their potentials as well.
However, how much you use it is very important.
What is the prize you give to the student is very important.
So the teachers have to pay attention to the amount of competition and to the way they lead the competition.
Do you think that giving prizes to the students is a good thing?
It has pros and cons.
As they say, how you award a student is very important.
What you give them is very important.
For the teacher, maybe the small gifts like, you know, paper, pen or candies, cookies.
Sometimes is Ok. But if you use it for too long, what happen if they know that it’s not interesting anymore.
But if you give them the mark, is it necessary?
Sometimes I give them as a bonus only.
So when they do something wrong, they make small mistakes, the bonus can help them.
But if they make big bonus, they can have better feelings.
They will be very very confident with their study.
So I think it’s quite nice.
Thank you very much.
That is the end of the speaking test.
Thank you, Anh Duy for that wonderful performance
So Dan, what do you think of that performance?
I was very impressed. The two things that really struck me were his fluency.
And he’s able to give very long answers.
He’s able to speak without stopping too frequently.
And his ability to explain his answer is quite good, I though.
And the second thing that struck me was his pronunciation.
He’s normally very clear with his sound.
But he also uses the things like stress, stressing the key words.
His intonation was up and down, was very very natural.
He said, for example, “pros and cons”, “they have pros and cons” “find their potential”, “experience pressure”,
and quite a few examples, some less common words
And I love how he’s able to share his own personal experience of the competition he went through.
You know, share it in the way that’s very emotional, it’s very him.
And he’s also very very animated.
I really like part two, where he introduced the topic before he started explaining the competition.
He had a nice little introduction before he started, which is a very good technique.
If you’re in his position, what would you do to make your performance a lot stronger?
I think he’s already very strong in fluency and pronunciation.
I think probably the area where he could improve more would be grammar.
I did notice there are quite a few small mistakes, not very serious but the number of mistakes was little bit high.
So one thing he could focus is maybe try to avoid common mistakes.
Let’s see how he thinks he did.
Anh Duy, how do you think you did on that exam?
Today I feel not really happy.
And now, I’m nervous about the result as well, because today I was in a hurry.
I did not utilize the time well, especially the question the competition that I attended before.
I think it is a nice question, however I did not use good word, good phrases to answer my question.
So I’m not very satisfied with that.
And I think the performance today is not really good.
And Duy, how many points do you think you’ve got?
For me, if I mark myself, I think 5 or 5.5.
That’s quite a low point to give yourself.
You’ve done this for the second time.
What do you think you learned from second experience?
How would you advise other people?
I think the tip today is listen carefully and then utilize one minute of preparing to have better arrangement for your answer.
Because I think this is an important part of the IELTS speaking test, when they give you a big topic and they have some guidances about the idea to answer.
So that's why you need to answer all of them and utilize the time they give you, and have the better verb and phrase.
Or sometimes you can use the better and logical sentences to answer.
Anh Duy, we’d love to have you on the show.
Please come into the studio one time and we gonna talk a lot more about your competition, ok?
So come in to the studio with us!
Alright Dan. He gave himself a 5 or 5.5.
What do you think about that score?
I think he’s being much too humble.
I’d give him a much higher score.
Like I said, his fluency and pronunciation were outstanding.
His vocabulary was good, good range.
Maybe a few more idioms.
But certainly much higher than a 5.5.
But he did mentioned also something very important right?
Basically make full use of the time that’s given to a candidate.
If you’re given one minute, use that full one minute to basically plan out what to say.
Exactly!
During the one minute, it’s very helpful if you write down not only your ideas of what you’re going to say, but also some good vocabulary.
Because if you write it on your paper, you're much more likely to be going to use it.
When you’re trying to trust your memory, you might forget that good vocabulary.
And you wouldn’t be penalized if, while you’re talking, looking down at your paper, that’s fine.
Absolutely. That’s perfectly Ok.
I see. That’s great.
Alright guys.
So right now, we’re going to go on to the section that you love the most.
And it is the Tips Tips Tips and Tips section.
And this time, it’s going to be about writing the conclusion paragraph.
Dan, what are some of the things that our candidates should take note of for writing the conclusion paragraph?
First of all, the most important thing is that you restate your overall point of view.
So for example, the question “Do you agree or disagree”.
It’s very clear, in your first sentence, I agree or disagree, for example.
The second sentence, you probably want to summarize what were your main ideas.
So probably if you had two paragraphs, what were your two main ideas?
And your third sentence is optional.
You might want to give maybe a recommendation, maybe a prediction for the future, something a little bit more general to end your essay.
So normally I recommend about three sentences for conclusion.
So quite a simple structure.
Why do you think so many people struggle with the conclusion paragraph?
I think the two common problems that I see is that:
Number one, not saying what your opinion is.
So it might not be clear.
And if you don’t have a clear opinion in your conclusion, you get a quite low score in the first category.
And the second thing I can see is that people adding new information, new ideas, but you don’t want to have any kinds of new information.
I see, so very very important.
Alright guys, remember, don’t add in new information and also always make sure to state your stand clearly.
As much as you want to be humble, as much as you want to be diplomatic, that’s not the way to do it in the IELTS essay.
Alright. So of course, we scout, every week we play the IELTS on TV.
And basically people send us the information, people send us the Voice of the Week.
And guys, we love you, because every week you send us your Voice of the Week.
And for this week, a person named Minh Trang.
Minh Trang, are you out there?
And if you’re watching, your video is on Voice of the Week this week.
So we’ll check our your video right now.
Let’s see your video.
Have you ever been given a nickname that you don’t like but it’s so true to you?
I have been.
All of my friends call me a nerd.
People see me as a four-eye monster who always wears uniform, study day and night.
And actually, I don’t mind that anymore.
I really love studying and my favorite subject is English.
My passion for English is simply based on its attractiveness.
Every language has its own charisma.
French is polite.
Spanish is sexy.
And Korean is cute.
And English, from my perspective, English is fun.
Therefore, every time when I learn English, I feel the joy it brings to me.
And that is the exact motivation that I need to fulfill my five-page English homework every day.
Loving it so much, I have participated in several English Speaking contest.
And I was over the moon to hearing the result.
And if I can do it, you can do it too.
Finding joy in English is easy.
Whether you’re into something romantic or something humourous, there’re a lot of books and films to choose from.
Fiction is not an exception.
If you’re like me, a true fan of Harry Potter, you can still enjoy the movie while learning the subject.
And eventually, someday, you may realize that English has already played an indispensible role in your life.
Interesting! Interesting!
What do you think her prompt was?
Something that you would recommend other to improve their study.
I think, from what I heard, the prompt was basically for her to describe why she loves to study and how she studies.
Do you think she portrayed that well or was she all too broad?
I think maybe it’d better at the beginning to have a clear topic of what she’s going to say.
It took me a while to figure out what the main topic was.
But I think her ability to explain was quite good.
Maybe get the beginning to introduce the topic a little more clear.
Absolutely.
What are some of the things that you love about that performance?
I really love her passion and I think that came through her emphasis.
She’s really emphasizing the key words.
And she’s also using really good intonation.
You can tell she’s full of passion.
When somebody has the flat intonation, it doesn't have the passion.
So I think her stress, intonation was excellent.
What about vocabulary?
Very good! I mean she used words like “attractiveness”, “the joy that it brings”, charisma”.
That’s good.
She used the idiom “over the moon”, “play an indispensible role”.
I think there’s some excellent vocabulary.
So do you think this performance can receive an 8?
I think she’s very close.
What she could improve on is probably her grammar.
I think she’s trying to use some complex sentences.
But I do notice that there are a few mistakes that I pick up on.
But certainly, her fluency, her vocabulary and pronunciation are definitely up there.
I think she just needs a little bit more to reach that state.
So for the topic today on studying, what are the three vocabulary that you think people should remember?
For studying, I’d say maybe “cram”.
Cram is a good one.
So you might say in the exam like, you know “I avoid cramming”, “It’s best not to cram”.
A bit idiom is “hit the book”.
So when you’re about to study, you say “Sorry I can’t go out tonight. I have to hit the book”.
“Hit the book”.
Another good one is “burn the midnight oil”.
So “burn the midnight oil” means you have to stay up late to study, which is very common for student.
Yes, I’ve done many many of those during my university days.
So those are some really really great tips.
Alright, guys. You know you heard all those tips.
Remember “hit the book”, remember “burn the midnight oil” and remember “cram”.
Those are three things that you can take away from the show today.
And definitely always, we’re an interactive show, so always go on to our Facebook page, and Youtube channel
And basically voice your question and also take your video
Guys, we finally come to the end of this episode.
And now Trang, if you're watching, we hope that you’re satisfied with the kind of information that we’d given you.
And of course, everybody else at home, be like natran
Send us questions and of course, don’t forget to tune into us every week.
I’ll see you again, next time.
Guys, as I said, don’t ever forget to dream big, because the bigger you dream, you might just get it.
See you again soon.