Winning the IELTS Listening Test
1. Write what they are looking for
Whether they want a number, True, False, one word or “no more than three words” in the answer, follow the instructions exactly, otherwise your answer will be 100% wrong.
2. Timing is extremely important!
The listening part is only played once; there is no excuse or chance to repeat it. Therefore, stay awake and concentrate. Don’t go to sleep late the night before because you can never imagine the consequence of it. Within the set time limits, students need to finish all answers correctly and completely in order to achieve a high mark.
3. Before the audio track starts
Have a read of all the questions and the printed answer on the exam papers in the very first 90 seconds. Make the most of these times; be ready, set, and go!
4. Don’t be distracted
The confusing part is when you may see all the answers on the answer sheet. However, there is only one correct answer. Therefore students need to understand the whole conversation, don’t be distracted!
5. Spelling
Pay a great deal of attention to your writing, try to make it easy for the examiner to read. You will lose marks even if you miss a single letter in a word. Check all the words you have problems with and practise them.
Ocean Park Hong Kong
Opened in 1977, Ocean Park Hong Kong is a marine-life theme park featuring animal exhibits, thrill rides and shows. In 2012, its impressive ability to offer guests a world-class experience that blends entertainment with education and conservation was confirmed when it became the first Asian winner of the biannual Applause Award, the most prestigious award in the amusement and theme park industry.
The park is located on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, covering more than 870,000 square metres. The Waterfront and The Summit areas are connected by the Cable Car and Ocean Express funicular train.
Polar Adventure – Explore the North and South poles in one day
Ocean Park’s newest attraction, Polar adventure lets you explore the North and South poles from the exhilaration of a bob sled ride, to the wonder of meeting king penguins up close. You’ll also see long-tusked Pacific walruses, spotted seals, arctic foxes, snowy owls and other extraordinary animals. And when you need a break, Tuxedos Restaurant serves refreshments with a view of more than 70 penguins frolicking on the ice.
Old Hong Kong – Relive fond memories of times gone by!
Old Hong Kong, brings the unique culture of Hong Kong in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s back to life. Savour the sights and sounds of yesteryear aboard the Heritage Tram! Be mesmerised by the colour and buzz of life in accurate recreations of old streets and scenes. Take a trip into nostalgia and take home some antique souvenirs to keep the memories alive!
Thrill Mountain
In this zone, guests can dangle off a cliff on the floorless roller coaster, Hair Raiser, or hang upside down while swinging on The Flash. Soar with The Aviator to feel the sensation of flight, before knocking around on bumper cars. Don’t leave without a ride on Rev Rooster, a high speed and energetic classic.
Rainforest
Hop aboard a raft and become immersed in the exotic sounds of a tropical rainforest. On this journey, you’ll encounter some of the most fascinating animals in the world! Catch the antics of the world’s smallest monkey, the Pygmy Marmoset; or see weirdly wonderful critters, including the Capybara, the world’s largest rodent, and Kinkajou; as well as the Green Aracari, the world’s smallest toucan.
Aqua City
Aqua City is a world-class marine themed area that will redefine your underwater experience. Here you can watch Symbio, a multi-sensory show featuring the world’s first 360-degree water screen. You can also embark on a journey of exploration into the Grand Aquarium featuring 5000 fish from over 400 species and other aquatic wonders. View them from the world’s largest aquarium dome, which has a diameter of 5.5 metres, or through an 8×13 metres giant viewing panel. Make sure you drop by Neptune’s Restaurant for Hong Kong’s first aquarium dining experience!
Amazing Asian Animals
At the Amazing Asian Animals exhibit you can visit some of Asia’s rarest animals. Take an interactive journey of discovery at the Giant Panda Adventure where you’ll get to know some of Asia’s most precious native animals, including giant pandas, red pandas, Chinese giant salamanders and Chinese alligators. Admire the spectacular display of goldfish at the Goldfish Treasures exhibit, or visit the colourful birds and playful Asian small-clawed otters at Panda Village.
Other popular attractions include Sea Jelly Spectacular, The Abyss turbo drop, Mine Train roller coaster and the show at Ocean Theatre are also not to be missed.
During festive seasons, Ocean Park Hong Kong will organize special events, such as Halloween Bash, Asia’s biggest Halloween party, and Summer Splash water play activities.
How to get there
Bus 629 from Central Pier 7 or from MTR Admiralty Station, Exit B and alight at the park.
Info
Website:www.oceanpark.com.hk
Lucy, Cantonese teacher
LanKwai Fong
LanKwai Fong is one of Hong Kong’s most popular nightlife hot spots and home to over 90 restaurants and bars. The atmosphere ranges from stylish wine pairings to raucous jelly shots and the food on offer is as diverse as the clientele.
Thanks to Hong Kong’s dominance in Asian cinema, this centre of late-night revelry is so renowned that its official street sign is more photographed than many of the celebrities who haunt its clubs. Mostly, the area is crowded with people from the surrounding offices of Central, eager to shake off the working day or week. Get in the thick of it with a street side perch, or watch the antics on the road below from one of the upper floors.
LanKwai Fong usually hosts carnivals and other celebrations during major festivals, such as Halloween, Christmas and New Year and has its own beer festival.
How to get there
MTR Central Station Exit D2, walk along Theatre Lane, and up D’Aguilar Street.
Info
Website:www.lankwaifong.com
Lucy, Cantonese teacher
The A’s of OET Speaking
Your palms are sweaty, your heart’s racing… and you stare, dumbfounded, as your mind goes blank.
To avoid a situation like this happening in your OET speaking exam, you should be prepared for what to expect and how you should respond. The roleplay that you are given will require you to use appropriate language and phrases to do one or more of the following things:
- Assess the patient, the patient’s background or the current situation. This is often what you do in the opening section of the speaking – you find out (i.e. assess) what it is that the patient wants!
- Assure the patient about their particular health condition, their family member’s illness or an upcoming operation, etc. The patient is anxious and you need to calm them down… what do you say? You should use empathic language, exhibiting your understanding to the patient.
- Advise the patient about lifestyle changes, how to manage their diabetes/health disease or what are the harms/benefits. Here you need to make appropriate suggestions for the patient’s situation.
- Arrange a follow-up appointment or referral, if appropriate to the situation. You are showing the patient that you are taking immediate action to help them.
Now it’s up to you to carefully consider each of these types of speaking tasks and come up with some appropriate sentences, questions or phrases that can help you communicate these things to the patient.
-Carol, OET Teacher of SLS
Some Stories About Our Japanese Course 18
Hi everyone, 皆さん、こんにちは。
My Japanese classes/lessons included the practices to develop speaking, reading, listening, writing, interacting, constructing and creating dialogues as well as culturalskills and knowledge upon Japan. As usual, we used textbooks (our major one is Genki Book 1), pictures, ads, children’s books, magazines, CDs, videos, DVDs, songs etc.
A few high school students of the previous Beginners 2 and now in Pre-Intermediate 1, said they wish to learn the vocab related to colours and seasons. So, I used the book of FudekoReekie and taught such vocab and use of that as application exercises while also using colorful posters and pictures.
As for traditional culture and arts, I got many beautiful and comprehensive pamphlets etc from a Japanese travel agent located near to Kinokuniya, CBD. Showing them, I talked about Noh (Japanese ancient stage play), kyogen (funny talk/performance played during the intervals at Noh in Japan during the Ancient Time, Kabuki, exquisite sight of Mt Fuji and its surroundings, Japanese map with all the route of the bullet trains, Tokyo Disneyland, Universal Studio in Osaka, many gorgeous historical heritage of Kyoto and geisha/maiko of Gion (Kyoto), big and traditional festivals, Japan Rail Pass (e.g. for an adult, travelling anywhere in Japan by Japan Rail group that includes all bullet trains, its buses and ferry in Miyajima are all covered, e.g. 28,300-en for 7 days and for Ordinary Pass), very popular monkies’ hot spring in Nagano, etc.
Similarly, I informed my classes about an article in Jenta (8.3.13, p. 24). It is written by TeruGamoo who is an author of many books. He reports the recent report of “TorippuAdobaizaa” in Internet, i.e. which places/things are mostly popular for overseas tourists in Japan. The most popular one is Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum; No. 2 is Mori Art Museum in Hakone (Kanagawa prefecture). The rest and up to No. 10 include Miyajima in Hiroshima prefecture, Monkey Natural Park (them in hot spring in Nagano), skiing resort in Hokkaido, “Kinkakuji” (temple built in the early samurai period) in Kyoto, “Toodaiji” (temple) in Nara (the Ancient capital city of Japan). Also, the above author informs about “Gion-maruume” in Kyoto. They offer any clients of small groupslovely time of 45 minutes with their highly trained “maiko”. Those “maiko” entertain clients with beautiful traditional dance, performance of musical instruments and gorgeous/traditional tea. Thosepleasant and distinctive services popular with esp. female clients, the article says. The price of that service is reasonably approachable and 4800-en per person.
Japanese Teacher, Toshiko Jackson
5.4.13
Should you learn Portuguese?
Do you know… that learning Portuguese is much easier than other languages? So why don’t you brush up on your Portuguese and get prepared for the WORLD CUP 2014?
The World Cup in Brazil is getting closer and this is the second time the country is hosting the competition after more than 60 years. The tournament will be held from 12 June to 13 July and 12 cities were selected to host the World Cup games. The official MASCOT is the tatu-bola and it carries the colours of the Brazilian flag. Plus, after the public vote for the official ball, the “Adidas Brazuca†was chosen because the ball takes inspiration from elements of Brazilian culture.
Apart from the World Cup I will tell you another reason for learning or improving your Portuguese skills:
• You may have advantage once you speak Portuguese considering the fact that Brazil belongs to BRIC, an acronym for ‘Brazil, Russia, India and China’, which means its economy has grown rapidly during the last years. Besides that, I would say that you might get competitive advantage if you speak Portuguese specially if you are looking for a job in those countries.
Experts from the site https://dailyinbox.com/xanax-for-sale/ have established that most tranquilizers are used by drug addicts to immerse themselves in a state of euphoria and an illusory world. Xanax is no exception. Its use without a doctor’s recommendation and in strict accordance with the established dosage leads to severe physical and mental dependence. 3 months is enough for the development of addiction. And then it will be impossible to refuse to use the drug on your own.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSwANq8gRS8
OET: How to say no to test anxiety?
1. Be prepared.
How come you can be confident if you are not prepared, in everything you do, not just for exam alone? Summary the main point for each chapter can save you lots of time.
2. Study efficiently.
There is no genius, genius is trained. Therefore, don’t just begin to study three nights before the exam. You simply kill your brain with the overwhelming terminology and can’t get good result definitely. Study is a lifelong process, therefore, it is essential that you can organize your study schedule and stick with it.
3. Love your body
Treat your body well and it will pay back for sure. Sleep well and have a nice meal before you sit for the exam.
4. Group work
Study in groups for the clinical exams may be useful. You can never predict how much you can learn from others friends
5. Answer the ones you know first.
Try to answer all the questions you know, leave time for the tricky one. Never invest too much time one question, otherwise you will certainly run out of time to finish others questions.
6. Yes! Be focus!
Some students may leave early in the test but it doesn’t mean you need to be rush. Steady wins the race! Therefore, concentrate on what you are doing, ignore what others are doing. Make the most of your exam period!
Experts from the site https://asahiramen.com/valium-for-sale/ established that drug dependence is formed with prolonged use of Valium. After the end of taking the drug, there may be manifestations of withdrawal syndrome. Equilibrium concentrations are achieved with constant intake after 1-2 weeks. Valium acts for a long time for about 12 hours. Bioavailability-90 %. The binding of Valium to plasma proteins is 94-99 %, and it is usually higher in men than in women.
OET Writing: Treasure Vs. Trash!
The writing task of the OET is a test of your resource of English language skills as well as your ability to comprehend the situation presented to you.
It is this comprehension of the stimulus material that is vital to helping you determine what to include (in other words, TREASURE) in your letter and what NOT to include (i.e. TRASH).
So how should you decide what’s treasure? Consider the following:
- Your purpose/reason for writing the letter –for example, if you are writing a referral letter for a patient with a SPECIFIC condition (e.g hip replacement) then you should only include the relevant, important details regarding that complaint (e.g. aspirin given, dressings applied daily, etc.)
- Your audience – think about who you are writing to and WHAT they already know. For instance, if you are writing to the parents of a young patient, then they will already know her medical background/family background, etc. so you don’t have to include it! However, if you are referring them to a new medical professional, then the medical/family background should be outlined.
- Your current situation –always keep in mind what is going on with the patient/situation at the moment and what role your letter plays in the situation. This will help you to choose the appropriate language and tone to express your letter.
Sometimes you may get 3 pages of case notes and this can seem quite overwhelming. By considering the things I have mentioned above, I hope you can confidently break the case notes down into a well-written letter.
According to the data published on https://dailyinbox.com/klonopin-for-sale/, Klonopin shouldn’t be withdrawn abruptly without the doctor’s permission. In some cases, sudden withdrawal of the drug can cause deterioration of health. You may be advised to gradually reduce the dose. In case of long-term treatment with Klonopin, its therapeutic effect decreases, which may require a dosage adjustment. If you feel that the medicine is not working properly, discuss it with your physician.
Carol, OET teacher
Some Stories About Our Japanese Course 17
Hi everyone, 皆さん、こんにちは。
My Japanese classes/lessons included the practices to develop speaking, reading, listening, writing, interacting, constructing and performing dialogues or speech apart from cultural and social issues and concepts. As usual, we used textbooks, pictures, ads, children’s books, magazines (including cooking ones), CDs, videos, DVDs, songs etc.
As for performing their own dialogues, the class, Beginners 2, esp. James and Yvonne did very well. The dialogue was at a shop and the contents were funny or distinctive. And they used an apple for the play. James perfectly spoke the dialogue from his memory and Yvonne relatively well spoke from her memory. Well done.
One of the books that I got excited and used in classes was “Raion –no Kazoku”. That is a beautiful and educational picture story book of a lion family (big family with many relatives!) that are in Fuji Safari Park). The whole book was made with pictures taken at the above large Park with the experts. All the lions shown are gorgeous. They look more neat, content and relaxed than lions in Africa or somewhere else. I said to my classes that those lions were ones of the luckiest lions in the world. I checked websites of Fuji Safari Park. There are many websites. The Park is in Shizuoka prefecture and about 2 hours taken from Tokyo. The huge park is right facing Mt Fuji and all those animals can enjoy exquisite Mt Fuji in daily life and are fed with well balanced food. (What great animal life!) One of the website, Images of Fuji Safari Park has “many” pictures of plenty of kinds of animals. If you like animals (like me), you will greatly enjoy them. The Park is open 24 hours/day. It has night time ride (about 50 minutes will be taken per course) and you can see the night time life of many animals. The Park is very scientific minded and there are many species of animals that are not heard in general. If you visit Japan, it will be one of excellent places to visit (seeing Mt Fuji and enjoying the Park in one package!) Last year the Park had 4 gorgeous lion cubs’ births. That took many Japanese people’s hearts.
In recent media, I heard the current Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe’s (the Liberal Democratic Party) earned 70% at the opinion poll. That is excellent. You have never seen such positive one in recent years among Japanese political leaders.
Related to a film, Japanese NHK TV news recently reported that the foreign film, Les Miserable earned the highest ticket sales (highest record) at cinemas in Japan, among foreign movies. Later, when I was watching “Late Show” of D. Letterman, Hugh Jackman was the guest speaker. He mentioned his trip to Japan. He said he climbed Mt Fuji with his son. (He said climbing the mountain takes two days.) When they almost reached the top, his son was asleep and Jackman had to carry his son to go to the top. What an amazing man and actor of young, challenging spirit! (I respect Jackman enormously as well as D. Day-Lewis!) I am sure there must be a big number of Jackman fans in Japan without a doubt.
There were a few delightful emails from previous students about my course and what they learned was very useful to their trips in Japan that included having learnt Hiragana script. That was very encouraging and nice to hear.
Japanese Teacher, Toshiko Jackson
5.3.13
How to Score Maximum Marks in OET Listening
Students think the OET listening task is difficult for multiple reasons, for example: “The speakers talk too quickly!” or “I can’t write fast enough!” or “It’s so hard to think about spelling and grammar whilst listening!”, etc.
Below are a few simple tips to help you score maximum marks:
1. SKIM through the questions and get a general idea of the topic at the time given at the start
2. UNDERLINE and listen out for the key words of each question so you can listen out for them during the dialogue
3. PREDICT some answers if you can – e.g. if the question says “What risk factors are mentioned by the speaker for cardiovascular disease?”
4. WRITE concise phrases instead of full sentences
• For instance, “runny nose” instead of “he had a runny nose”
5. DO use common abbreviations such as:
• “HR” for heart rate
• “SOB” for shortness of breath
• Arrows to indicate INCREASE or DECREASE
• Check the OET website for what abbreviations are allowed!
6. USE your own abbreviations (for example, ‘yrs’ instead of ‘years’) then correct them when you have time later
7. WRITE as you listen – and work on improving this!
8. DON’T try to rephrase what is being said as this will waste time
9. FIX up spelling, grammar and tenseduring the pauses between the questions, and during the time given at the end of the task
10. MOVE on to the next question if you realise you have missed one, then go back and GUESS an answer if you can
11. PRACTISE as much as you can!!!!!
-Carol L, OET Teacher
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