Improve your IELTS Test Score - Experience and Tips

 My students in Kazakhstan, Astana (Nursultan) often ask me how to improve their speaking and writing score in IELTS Test. This question is understandable as English is not the primary language of many of my students. People in Kazakhstan speak Russian primarily, and Kazakh as their secondary language.

My tips has been to read a lot and practice a lot. In my view, you can improve the general understanding of any language by reading a lot in that language. So, the knowledge of English can be improved by reading a lot in English. You can start reading first with simple short texts and go on reading complex thematic books, such as books on arts, literature, science, fiction and non-fiction.

Reading a lot of English text will help you to improve your English language skill, and will eventually help you in getting good IELTS Score (band) in your IELTS test

******

To help expats in Kazakhstan, I regularly post on two sites: expat.com (https://www.expat.com/en/blog/asia/kazakhstan/astana/astana-almaty.blogspot.com). I post with a username Hyderabadgermany on expat.com forum, and on Caravanistan Forum. My user Name is IndianGuy there. You can read my posts, experiences there too. https://caravanistan.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1190

Kazakhstan IELTS Students - Learning continuously

The education sector in Kazakhstan has changed a lot in the last few years. There are very good private universities, and general standard of school education has also improved. English language is spoken by many people now, and the young generation is quite keen to learn and speak English. The university in Almaty - KIMEP and Nazarbayev University in Astana (Nursultan) teach students almost all the courses in English. With internationally educated professors, and international faculty, English has been the only medium of instructions in Nazarbayev University. This I can vouch from my own experience.

Also, the English Education Landscape has changed a lot when it comes to Secondary or English Education. The Schools like NIS (Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools) has contributed a lot in this.

******

To help expats in Kazakhstan, I regularly post on two sites: expat.com (https://www.expat.com/en/blog/asia/kazakhstan/astana/astana-almaty.blogspot.com). I post with a username Hyderabadgermany on expat.com forum, and on Caravanistan Forum. My user Name is IndianGuy there. You can read my posts, experiences there too. https://caravanistan.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1190

My Trip to Kazakhstan-Updated - part-II

 I am going to update this post later with my experience of being in Kazakhstan after 2.5 years. In this post, to start with, I am going to write only few lines about my recent trip.

After I left Kazakhstan in March, 2019, I could not visit Kazakhstan soon. I had a plan to be there in January/February of 2020 but by that time, the COVID-19 corona virus pandemic had almost engulfed the whole world. Then, flights to Delhi was cancelled by Air Astana, and borders were sealed by various governments. So, I had to wait for a very long time to go back to Kazakhstan. Finally, I landed there in late August, 2021 but not without difficulty. I lived in Astana (Nursultan) for a month and returned to my home country in late September, 2021. 

After my this year's visit to Kazakhstan, my passion to write about Kazakhstan and my life there has been reignited. I will update this post slowly, surely and steadily.

Few Things about my recent Kazakhstan trip:

1. I flew to Istanbul, Turkey and thereafter, I was supposed to go to Uzbekistan but Uzbekistan COVID-19 rules did not allow to enter me there or transit via them. That's why I had to change the flight to Almaty from Istanbul. It was a very difficult, expensive affair. Ultimately, I landed in Almaty and then, headed to Astana by Air Astana. I hope this situation would not have to face by anyone ever.

2. My residence permit in Kazakhstan got expired as I had lived more than 181 days outside Kazakhstan. The official process of Residence Card cancellation was undertaken after going to Migration Police Office located in Amangeldi Street. I had taken C-2 (Family Reunion Visa) from Delhi, India before flying to Kazakhstan and there was no issue about Visa.

******

To help expats in Kazakhstan, I regularly post on two sites: expat.com (https://www.expat.com/en/blog/asia/kazakhstan/astana/astana-almaty.blogspot.com). I post with a username Hyderabadgermany on expat.com forum, and on Caravanistan Forum. My user Name is IndianGuy there. You can read my posts, experiences there too. https://caravanistan.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1190

My recent trip in Kazakhstan - in August & September, 2021

 I am going to update this post later with my experience of being in Kazakhstan after 2.5 years. In this post, to start with, I am going to write only few lines about my recent trip.

After I left Kazakhstan in March, 2019, I could not visit Kazakhstan soon. I had a plan to be there in January/February of 2020 but by that time, the COVID-19 corona virus pandemic had almost engulfed the whole world. Then, flights to Delhi was cancelled by Air Astana, and borders were sealed by various governments. So, I had to wait for a very long time to go back to Kazakhstan. Finally, I landed there in late August, 2021 but not without difficulty. I lived in Astana (Nursultan) for a month and returned to my home country in late September, 2021. 

After my this year's visit to Kazakhstan, my passion to write about Kazakhstan and my life there has been reignited. I will update this post slowly, surely and steadily.

******

To help expats in Kazakhstan, I regularly post on two sites: expat.com (https://www.expat.com/en/blog/asia/kazakhstan/astana/astana-almaty.blogspot.com). I post with a username Hyderabadgermany on expat.com forum, and on Caravanistan Forum. My user Name is IndianGuy there. You can read my posts, experiences there too. https://caravanistan.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1190

IELTS Academic Speaking Test - Sample Questions and Answers

I have seen that many people face difficulties while answering questions in IELTS Speaking Test in Astana, Kazakhstan. In IELTS, speaking is generally the same for both Academic IELTS and General IELTS takers. So, the nature of questions and the expectations of answers from you is the same irrespective of the fact that you are appearing for General or Academic IELTS.

In Astana, Kazakhstan, an attempt has been made by the Government to introduce English as the third language after Russian and Kazakh. So, there is a rise of English speakers especially in the big towns such as in Astana and in Almaty, but, still, there is much to be desired.

Many young people who manage to speak English suffer from being unable to maintain fluency, lack of words & vocabulary and above all, lack of practice. Many people who speak English resort to translation of words from Russian language (their first language) and their speech suffers. You can see it on sentence construction, words placement and order, choice of words etc.

In this background, it's always a challenge to Kazakhstani students to get a good band especially in the Speaking section of IELTS. They simply fumble during the test, making all kinds of mistakes. But, that does not mean they don't try, or should not try. I appreciate their efforts and this blogpost is to help them.

In this post, I have taken few sample Speaking Questions from Past Papers of IELTS Test published as Cambridge IELTS 6 with Answers published by University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. If you search on Google as Cambridge Practice Set 6 Speaking Questions, you should find plenty of them.

So, let us look at Test 1, Speaking Part - I.

1. Do you enjoy Dancing? (Why?/Why not?)

It's an easy question. Anyone can answer it. If you like dancing, you should say, "Yes, I like it" and if you don't, then, No. But, IELTS speaking test is not a test only about saying yes or no. There is where the tricks lie. I mean you are expected to show your speaking ability. This is where I would help you.

So, what should be the ideal good answer? Any answer which uses a lot of English words on the topic of liking or disliking dancing. That's it.

Look at the Sample answer below.

   <<Maybe you should try first, I will come back with an ideal (and one of such examples) answer on this one in my next post>>

Until then, keep on practicing to enhance your ilets speaking practice.

Message to IELTS Students from Kazakhstan

Welcome back everyone in my blog. In fact, Welcome back to myself. This has been after 3.5 (three and half) years I decided to be back in this blog. I hope my information and materials in this blog will be helpful for visitors in Kazakhstan and others who are looking for many different materials on the web. A bit about myself:

I left Kazakhstan in March, 2019 and these days, I am in Nepal. I am bit distanced from teaching at the moment. But, if it may be that I will be back in Astana (Nur-sultan) around 2022 or 2023 AD. I was there in Nursultan, Kazakhstan in August-September, 2021 and things looked preety cool even post COVID-19 Pandemic. I am hoping to be regular in this forum to update this blog and provide, more and more information to all the readers.

***** 

I had not updated this blog for a very long time but I think I need to be active again. This blog which has a lot of contents on IELTS Test is to help students and immigrants to enhance their English skills, to help make their skills better in English Language.

I am restarting this blog on a very auspicious day of Laxmi Puja, Tihar of 2078 BS. I hope Mother Laxmi will be blessing me to continue to write blog posts in addition to making me richer. :) It is also a time when we have almost surpassed the threats created by COVID-19 pandemic. With vaccines being rolled out in many people around the world, the world is opening, is trying to be normal, is trying to get back to business as usual. The borders are opening, and many countries have started, albeit slowly, to open their arms to welcome international students.

For any foreign (international) students, the popular destinations are Australia, Canada, America, and many European countries. I think people would answer me that they are keen to fly to the Australia or America if asked about their higher education. And, to be in all your dream destinations, IELTS Score is one of such important criteria.

I saw a recent Post from a popular educational consultancy, and they had informed that classes with in-person attendance is going to start soon. This advertisement was mainly directed to prospective IELTS Students.

My message to all prospective IELTS Candidates is that you need to have good skills in English to have a great score in IELTS Test. Of Course, you can attend courses run by various institutes. However, there are plenty of free resources and materials on the web. Our blog is one of them.

The materials published on our blog can be used free of cost by all IELTS Candidates. These IELTS resources are meant to assist all IELTS candidates to understand the examination pattern, to learn how to score better, and to be able to gain necessary skills to score good IELTS band.

All Kazakhstani IELTS candidates and candidates from around the world, keep on visiting us for more and more free and useful materials and resources.

Regards,

Chief Editor

Some Photos from Astana, Kazakhstan - Clicked in July, 2017

I am not a Professional Photographer. I am just like any other ordinary person who likes to click anything interesting that comes on the way. While walking on the river side (on the river bank of ISIL/ESHIM River in Astana on the right bank), I clicked above photos by using my very old iPhone 4. All the photos were clicked on a single day, I guess in the month of July, 2017. And, I am yet to figure out how to correctly pronounce/write the name of the River. Is it an ESHIL River, or is it ESHIM River?

So far as I remember now, the day must have been warm, not very hot and Sunny, with mild pleasing breeze.

1. The first photo shows three top buildings of Astana which are collectively called "Grand Alatau". They look cool from a far distance. From close distance, I did not like them in terms of modernity, they are little old now.

I usually go around these buildings as it houses a bicycle shop (but not very helpful one as it refused to refill my tyres with its airpump and in another occassions, it overcharged me for some bicycle oil. Therefter, I stopped going there.), the famous O'hara Irish Pub (Where I have never been to), many cafes and restaurants including Rumi-Plov Center (Rumi is highly overrated Plov Center. I have been to there many different branches and they have not been able to impress me.). The area around it is good for walking, bicycling though bicycling on the river bank is not allowed anymore.

In the above photo, you see the pavement along the river, river ISHIL/ESHIM, and in the far distance, Hotel Radisson and the building adjoining it which houses Fitness Center and Gym "World Class Fitness". The Building is also called Business Center Arman on Saryarka Street.

Pedestrian Zone on the right bank of River ISHIL/ESHIM - it's truly a pedestrian area. You can see many people during the summer freely walking here. Many mothers with young children and with their trollies/prams/buggies are easily spotted. You could ride bicycle here until 2015 but from 2016 Summer, it has been off-limit for the bicycle users. During the Summer, you will see few traffic police here to manage the crowds and especially to warn and stop bicycle users.

The area is same as above. It's the other side. You can see the Kazakh Flag which is in Central Park, the new hotel (I think it is call St. Regis) and the bridge which connects Samal Micro-district to Kabanbai Batir Street.

The round structure is for water fountain and light show.

Kazakh's traditional musical instrument is "Dambra/Dombra" but it does not look like it.

The photos and commentaries above are nothing special as you may have noticed by now. They are just normal ramblings of a foreigner who calls this city as his home until he flies again. Feel free to suggest, comment, propose ideas if you have any.