TEACHER

1. Fluency
2. Vocabulary
3. Grammar & Structure
4. Pronunciation
1.Describe his/her appearance
be tall and well built middle-aged man with fair complexion.
be a very soft spoken person.
always remains a serious face and tidy dress-up.
2.Character
Knowledgeable/a good mentor
He can always explains sth difficult and complicated in an easy and simple way
He had also a very unique way of teaching. Beginning with an interesting story and later he
relate math lessons with the story. Thus everything we learned from him was exciting and easy
to understand and that's why we remember most of the theory, new concepts and techniques of
math he taught us.
Considerate/supportive/thoughtful
Be always approachable for the help and guidance of students. So whenever I come across
problems, he will be the first one I turn to for help.
Humorous/Charming/Cheerful
he had a good sense of humour, he played mini games with the class during breaks and even
after school sometimes and everyone thought of him as a friend.
S/he tells lots of example and stories to make the subject and topic interesting. By doing this,
S/he teaches lots of moral values as well as inspires students to study properly.

Kindhearted/ warm-hearted
treat everyone equally in the class. She also adopt many measures/methods to encourage us to
answer questions and discuss our own views with her in the class.
My passion to study in this subject seems like to be promoted and I take up my interest to study
math.
1

3.The feelings vs Why they influenced me

my most favourite teacher
profoundly influenced me and also deepened my love for math/chemical(reading and writing).
Before I learned math from Mr. A, my impression on math was not good and I considered this
subject to be a very difficult and uninteresting subject. But after three years of studying with Mr.
A, his effective teaching and influences changed my way of thinking about math as well as
my attitude towards maths changed drastically/significantly from hating it to having a
great respect for it, simply because Mr. A pointed out to the class how powerful mathematics is
as a tool for analyzing and explaining the physical world. and later on math became my one of
the most favourite subject.
an excellent motivator:
his/her enthusiasm and love for maths have rubbed off on me (nh hng ln ti), she also
pushes her learners to take responsibility and inspires them to do their best and behaves very
politely with all and never discriminates among students.
For me.
For me, he is a great role model to follow
S/he has a great personality and leads an exemplary life.(cuc sng mu mc)
S/he is a great orator and has a great personality.
5.Idioms
6.Linking words
"When I was in first year of junior high school, I met a teacher named Mr. A who completely
changed my attitudes towards mathematics."
One of the teachers who has influenced me the most is
I am going to talk about a teacher who has admired me.
"Describe a teacher who has influenced you in your education."
You should say:
Where you met him/ her.
What subject s/he taught.
What was special about him /her

I consider myself lucky to get several very good teachers throughout my academic years. Among
them I'd like to talk about Mr. Smith who was an extraordinary teacher, a really good mentor and
who has a great influence in my education.
I met Mr. Smith when I was in class 4 and he was our math teacher. Initially we thought that he
would be a moody teacher and we would have to be very polite in front of him. This impression
came mostly because of his serious face and tidy dress-up. But soon we found that, he is a very
friendly person and teaches us very well. He never made things complicated and tried over and
over again to explain something to us. He had a very unique way of teaching. Seems like he
would start an interesting story and later we would find that he would relate the math with the
story. Thus everything we learned from him was interesting and that's why we remember most of
the theory and techniques of math he taught us.
I'd say he has a great influence in my education because he made a very strong foundation on
Mathematics. Later on I studied Science and the Mathematics was the most important subject. I
have always been good at math and that' mainly because of Mr. Smith who had a major role on
making the subject interesting to me. Before I learned math from Mr. Smith, my impression on
math was not good and I considered mathematics to be a very difficult and uninteresting subject.
But his teaching and influences changed my way of thinking about math and later on math
became my one the most favourite subject.
IELTS Speaking: how to feel more confident
Here are some tips to help you feel more confident when you go for your IELTS speaking test:
Be prepared: you should know exactly what to expect in the 3 parts of the speaking test,
and you should have read the suggestions on this website about how to answer.
Lots of practice: a student who has practised answering all of the questions in all eight
Cambridge books, as well as the questions on this site, will feel much more confident
than a student who hasn't.
Write it down: when studying at home, you have time to prepare 'perfect' answers to
practice questions; write your answers down, and ask someone to help you check and
improve them.
Speak aloud: start by reading the answers you wrote down (like an actor uses a script),
then gradually stop using the script.
Record yourself: this allows you to analyse the quality of your answers, as well as your
pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.
Focus on ideas: it's difficult to think about grammar when you are speaking, so I advise
students to stop worrying about grammatical structures, and focus on expressing good
ideas (which means good vocabulary).
Good Afternoon. My name is Darrell. Could you tell me your full name please?
My name is Shi-in Lee.

And what should I call you?

You can call me Shi-in please.
Thank you. Do you work or are you a student?
I work. I do interpreting and translation.
Oh. Can you tell me about your job?
Well, there are different types of um interpreting. There is medical interpreting, and theres legal
interpreting, business interpreting, and conference interpreting etc. And they are all very
different and you get to meet different types of people. Um, its very rewarding because you are
helping people who doesnt have much English and you get paid for you job as well. So you get
to learn a lot about current issues, and at the same time, you get a lot of headaches too, because
you get to hear a lot of problems from your clients. So its a very interesting job, and Im
enjoying it still, after seventeen years.
And err, when is the busiest time in your job?
I cant say that ummy busiest you know at a certain time of the year, its very hard to predict
so I really cant say - say around, well Summer is the busiest time of the year, or winter is the
busiest or, I really cant say that a certain time of the year is the busiest.
And if you could change your job, what would you prefer to do?
Sometimes umm, although Im working and Im helping people and without an interpreter I
guess nothing much can happen, because there wont be any communication, proper
communication between you know, two parties. But then again, interpreters are not supposed to
give an opinion. So you are left with the feeling that you are not contributing at all towards the
result of the session. So if I changed my job I think I would pick something which is completely
different from interpreting and where I can actually contribute towards the result of the
discussion. So thats what I might do in the future, you never know.
What kind of music do you enjoy listening to?
Well actually, I like all sorts of music. My husband says I have Catholic tastes in music. So I like
classical music, of course, because I played piano when I was a little girl. Actually, not just as a
little girl, I still play. So I like classical music, and I like jazz, blues, you know, even heavy
metal. Whatever is good I can appreciate it.
Do you play a musical instrument?
Yes I play piano and I play a little bit of violin as well.
And what musical instruments do most people play in your home country?
Um in Korea, I think most girls from a proper family would play at least one musical instrument
and which is normally piano. So, a lot of girls would you know, start playing piano when they
are five or say seven. And I started playing piano when I was six I think.
If you can play a musical instrument, does this help you to enjoy music more?
Yes and no. In some ways it makes you, I guess take more interest in music and when you listen
to the music you know how to appreciate it properly.
But then again if you get to hear certain pieces of music on the radio which youve played
before, straight away you find yourself sort of analysing the performer. So you really cant relax,
so its sort of- its not maybe enjoyable as much. It suddenly, it becomes a chore; your mind is at
work, analysing and assessing the performance. So I guess yes and no.
Thank you. Now Id like you to speak for one or two minutes on a topic. You have one
minute to plan your answer. Here is a pencil and paper to make notes. Here is your topic:
Id like you to describe your favourite teacher.
Thank you. Can you start speaking now please? You have one to two minutes. I will tell
4

you when the time is up.

My favourite teacher, um, his name is Kwan Sing Pak. He was my English teacher when I was in
High school in Korea. You know in Korea, all the English teachers are basically Korean.
Umm..he was my teacher um, for two years, um Year eleven and Year twelve. You know the
girls of that age um they normally like teachers, you know good looking, with the looks, with
good sense of humour and- and all. But this specific teacher was not physically attractive at all.
He was rather, not terribly good looking. (Im sorry to be saying this). But I really adored this
teacher because um, I guess to start with I loved studying languages and he was teaching English
and I really loved learning English from him. And he was very passionate about his job,
teaching, and he was actually enjoying it, and I could tell he was enjoying it. He had good
teaching skills. He encouraged and nearly coerced, you know, contribution from the students.
And you could actually be quite sure sitting in his class that when you give answers, how silly
they might sound, you would never be laughed at or anything. So you were feeling quite free to
have a conversational discussion with the teacher or other students in the class. And what was
also quite special about him was that he had good sense of humour, much so much so that you
only remember his jokes when actually you have the test paper in front of you and you look at all
the questions and you couldnt remember the answers but his jokes only!
Thank you. And did other students also like this teacher?
Oh yes. Yep. Most of the students just loved this teacher. He was very popular.
So weve been talking about teaching. Id like to ask you some questions about teaching
and education. What are the qualities of a good teacher?
I should say a good teacher is one who always is well prepared for the class. And I guess if the
person has a good sense of humour that would help because, you know, boring, ah, session,
nobody would sit in the class, you know, hours after hours.
And what differences in teaching styles have you experienced with different teachers?
Some teachers can be very knowledgeable. I could tell that the person had a lot of knowledge
and experience and everything. But the person just didnt have the skills to convey all that to the
students. And so the rendering was really boring and everybody was just falling asleep, whereas
some teachers they knew how to pass that down to the teachers somehow and the session was
completely enjoyable.
Should teachers use discipline in the classroom?
Coming from where I, um, am, I think yes, teachers should discipline students. In Korea,
students would respect the teachers. My mums generation was more so, and my mum had to say
one day, she thought teachers dont eat, dont go to the toilet, they are demi-Gods and wouldnt
even step on the shadow of the teacher, because you respect the teacher so much. But I dont
think same kind of respect is here and students sometimes misbehave during class hours and I
just find it hard to understand. There is not enough respect for the teachers and also for the
learning itself.
And can students learn from computers?
I guess yes and no. I see my children, theyre sitting in front of the computer sometimes writing
their essays and getting information through the net. In that case, I guess comps can be
educational and helpful. But sometimes I see my son sitting in front of the computer hours after
hours doing you know, video games. I dont think in that case computers are educational or
healthy.

Can you describe the education system in your home country?

In some ways it is quite similar to the Australian education system. The only difference I can tell
straightaway is that Kindergarten is not part of the primary school education in Korea whereas
here, we start from kindergarten. And three years we call it junior high. And then three years
high school, and then four years, normally four years, we call it university education, tertiary
education. So I dont think there is big difference between two systems.
When should children start formal schooling?
Formal schooling, I guess it starts in Australia from the age of five whereas in Korea, from six? I
dont know, sometimes when I see little K students looking a little bit tired, makes me wonder
whether theyre a bit too young to be starting schooling at that age. But, I really have no idea.
Has education changed since your parents day? You know, in the last twenty-five years?
I think its changed a lot, although I cant say that I understand what education was like when my
mum and dad, when they were in school. But definitely, well Im talking about the Korean
situation, in Korea, you have to study many many more subjects than your father or your mother
would have, you know, in the past. And you use like different equipment, like computer and
things, all these audio-visual teaching material. I guess in that way education has changed a lot.

Some people think that education should be about memorizing the important ideas
of the past. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Personally I think its important to understand the ideas of the past. History can show us
what has been successful and what has failed previously. There are many lessons to be
learned, and history has a habit of repeating itself throughout life. If we understand what
has been good and bad for us based on past experience then I think we can better shape
our future. Simply memorizing facts about things that happened in the past isnt enough
to plan for the future. We need more understanding of past events and why they
happened, the consequences and how we can learn from it. Its all about thinking skills
not memorizing.
Should education encourage students to develop and share their own ideas?
I think thats the general consensus nowadays. Theres a certain body of knowledge that
students need to acquire, but the education system should be focused on developing their
creative thinking skills and then developing the practical competences to allow them to
implement their ideas in the real world. I think its clear that the young generation is all
about sharing knowledge and ideas. You can see that through social media and many
other examples. Its going to become even more so in the future. Knowledge sharing and
working together to solve problems is more common now than in previous years.
How do you think teachers could help students to develop and share their own
ideas?
I suppose they could design more creative based tasks and project work for students to do
and make sure that students are positively encouraged to come up with new ideas and try
them out. It probably requires more time and effort, but at the end of the day, theres little
6

point in all the students working on the same thing. Diversity and the ability to think
differently are premium skills in the employment market nowadays so its also important
that students learn how to be more independent in their thinking while at school or
college. By trying out many different ideas students can soon find out what works and
what doesnt and then hopefully their natural curiosity can help them try other things,
other methods and techniques until they produce something they are happy with. When it
comes to sharing, I think there could be more use made of communication through the
internet to share student generated ideas with other students in