When we teach new LANGUAGE, we need to cover its

• MEANING

• FORM

• PRONUNCIATION

…and?

• APPROPRIACY, yes, you guessed it! (I hope … :D)

As a useful awareness raising activity of the importance of REGISTER in IELTS speaking, have your learners build a ‘Posh Pyramid’ of the same phrase.

For example:

The bag!

Help with the bag!

Help with the bag, please!

Can you help me with the bag, please?

Could you help me with the bag, please?

Would you mind helping me with the bag, please?

I was wondering if you’d mind helping me with the bag, please?

…?

Can you think of saying the same but even more politely?

(Variation: run it as a contest, and the pair/team that runs out of polite expressions, loses the round).

(P.s. …and don’t forget to also give them some practice of FORM of the different phrases, as some of the verb forms are really different from ‘level’ to level…)

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Hi. I’m Fatime. I’m an IELTS Teacher Trainer, helping CELTA-qualified English language teachers become better at teaching SKILLS, as opposed to just testing them. 

Check out my courses here:

How to Teach IELTS Listening:

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