Irina Lutsenko

This post is an interview with Liubov Vlasova , who is my first student to have taken the computer-delivered IELTS . In this interview, she shares her impressions and the reasons behind her choice. 1 Tell my readers a bit about yourself. My name is Liubov Vlasova. I am an ecologist from Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Today I want to share my experience of taking computer-delivered IELTS, which happened on 7th of May. A couple of months ago I took a very important decision to try to emigrate abroad. I think my professional area is very important today because our environment was totally destroyed the last years, and I hope one day I will do really useful and important job for improving the current situation. According to the media, in foreign countries environmental and particularly ecological engineering are very important and popular branches, which is why I decided to move abroad for achieving my professional and personal goals. 2 Why did you decide to take IELTS? Initia...

This is a guest post by my friend and colleague Vera Novikova . The post is inspired by Philip Warwick’s talk at the NATE conference in St Pete. In this post I would like to share some concerns regarding future employability of millennia generation and a shifting role of an English teacher in particular. Being a devoted sci-fi fan I have to admit that up until recently ideas of a fully automated world seemed rather futuristic and somewhat improbable. Up until recently… when I realized that certain sci-fi future elements have already been here for some time. Most people have already turned into some sort of cyborgs, using their smartphones as an extra part of their body. We have been glued to the screen, scrolling down in social networks, streaming videos, exchanging photos and news, jotting down memos, video phoning, e-buying, reading e-books, blogging, plunging into virtual reality and what not. We have turned into digital residents leaving visible digital footprints wheneve...