About Robert William McCaul (Roibeárd Liam Mac Cathmhaoil)
Polyglot & Language teacher & learner. I am interested in second language acquisition, phonology, language change, morphology, language revival, shift & maintenance, historical linguistics and multilingualism. I have aCELTA & DELTA & MaLing (currently at UCC, Ireland; previously at Brunel University, London & EIU, HCMC, Vietnam) & Cambridge and IELTS expert. Before teaching and writing, I worked as tour guide around continental Europe where I as able to use my French & Spanish and pick up Italian. I am a sometime Latin music DJ, Salsa instructor, Sean Nós singer and world traveller. I love people, finding out about things, conversation lover and I was, for a time, a bar top dancer in a club in mi querido Quito in Ecuador. I speak Irish, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin and a little bit of German, Greek and Vietnamese. I am currently studying Chinese. Other interests include: History, Human Rights, Global Politics, Economics, Latin America & South East Asian affairs, the Middle East, Africa (Especially West Africa) and History.
Gaeilge: Tá suim agam i dteangeolaíocht, i ndátheangachas agus i nGaeilge. Language Shift/ Maintenance, Na Teangacha Rómánsacha, Athbheochan Teanga, Shealbhú (an dara) Teanga
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I like this post.
Thank you Farah
very useful thanks, I will try encouraging my students to make a grid of 4 squares to help them with their note preparation.
Thanks Susannah. I’m glad you find it useful. Where do you teach ielts?
Hi, I teach at a college in the UK; really enjoy teaching IELTS and keen to learn hints & tips 🙂
Great Susannah. I work for Kaplan in Bournemouth.
That was really helpful and I would like to thank you for your suggestions, just one question please, : if candidates do not understand what the examiner says
, will they be penalised for asking again what the question was?
Hello Katerina. No, candidates certainly won’t be penalised for asking for repetition of a question. However, the examiner can only offer one repetition/ paraphrase per question. So, if the candidate asks for further clarification, then the examiner just has to move on to the next one. Can I ask you where and who you teach? Thanks for listening to the blog.
Reblogged this on susiesays.
I really like your box idea to focus ideas as I find people taking the exam often look into space or write very little in the one minute prep time.
I’m not sure about getting students to generate a whole new idea or person based on the vocab that they know. I think this might add another load as it becomes a creative task as opposed to talking about something familiar – I suggest embellishing the truth as the opportunity arises.