Irina Lutsenko

  Sometimes introduction to exam preparation can (and arguably should) be integrated seamlessly into General English classes. In this post, I want to share an essay written by my wonderful student  Olga who is in my wonderful General English C1+ group. The essay is based on two TED talks, so it turned out to be a great introduction to C2 Proficiency Writing Task 1.  Preparation It's not uncommon for me to use TED talks in class. But rather than work with one, I chose two talks this time:   1. Larry Smith " Why you will fail to have a great career " 2. Benjamin Todd " To find work you love, don't follow your passion ." The talks discuss the same topic - a great career - but from different perspectives.   I gave one talk to one to half of the group and the second one to the second half.  I asked the students to prepare a summary of their talk for their partner and a vocabulary list that would help them present the summary.  In class, what st...

I often hear people criticize tests like  IELTS   or   C2 Proficiency  for having nothing to do with real life. Well, I disagree. So much so that I have to split the post on this topic into two parts. Part 1. First and foremost, a universal “real life” does not exist. A farmer in Nebraska, a university professor in Oxford, and I have very different real lives. The farmer won’t write essays, the university professor won’t make Stories on Instagram, and I will do both. Second, exams were created for very specific “real lives.” If you go to official exam websites and check their descriptions, you will find the following: “IELTS is an English language test for study, migration or work. IELTS is accepted by more than 10,000 employers, universities, schools and immigration bodies around the world.” “Preparing for and passing C2 Proficiency means you have the level of English that’s needed to study or work in a very senior professional or academic environment, for example ...

I want to share a great essay written by my student Svetlana Demchenko in my IELTS Academic Writing Target 7.5-8 group . Topic: In the future it may be necessary for us to live on other planets. For this reason, some people believe that we should spend money now researching planets that could be a possible home, such as Mars. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Answer: There is a possibility that people will need to colonize other planets and, consequently, that some funds have to be invested in this research now. I fully disagree with this opinion for two reasons. First, the money allocated to finding another potential home for humanity should rather be spent on more pressing problems that are already harming an enormous number of people. Taking into account the ultimate aim of space colonization, that is, saving people’s lives, it is a considerably more plausible idea to spend resources on battling various diseases, eliminating poverty and other social issues. The amount of mon...

Sometimes, very rarely, but sometimes when I read students' exam answers, I achieve the state "I don't have any questions or comments." I want to share an example of a C2 Proficiency Writing Task 2 answer that I like so much I don't know what to correct or comment on. The answer is written by my student, the amazing Anastasia Glebova . What is particularly worthy of admiration is that this is an answer to a very tricky prompt: "An international leisure magazine is running a series on comedy programmes shown on television around the world. It has asked readers to send in reports on comedy programmes in their countries. You decide to send in a report on a television comedy programme from your country in which you briefly describe the programme. You should also explain what it is about the characters in the programme that makes the comedy appeal to many people in your country." ( Source: Proficiency 1 ) So it's about a comedy program, yet it's not ...

This is my second piece about Dublin (third overall) written for the creative writing contest by American Center in Moscow . What can I say, I love this city. ♡ ✽✽✽ “St Stephen's Green. Alight here for the Grafton Street shopping district." I decide to alight here and walk across the O’Connell bridge. I'm walking to "Chapters," the best bookstore in the city. The best bookstore in the city is located in arguably the worst place - amid modern, shiny, cookie-cutter shopping centers. Not on the ground floor of a quintessentially Irish house, not next to the Temple Bar pub, not across the road from Trinity College. I've checked them all. I can testify to their inferiority. I swiftly navigate the busy streets full of shoppers with branded paper bags, diving in and out of small pockets of free space. Agonizing over countless book choices, debating back and forth, I buy two, well aware I would have to carry them around all day. None of these books are Oscar Wilde, b...

This is the second piece I wrote for the the "Good Night, Moscow" creative writing contest by  American Center in Moscow . In this piece, I wanted to sing my love to Dublin, but also let my imagination run wild. The result is this fairy tale. Enjoy! ✽✽✽ As the airport bus whisks me to the city, I try not to doze off. It’s been a long day. Fields, trees, shrubs, hedges that are 50 shades of green flash by as I lean my forehead on the cold window. It’ll stop me from dozing off. Goosebumps gradually cover my body, the contagion spread by the window. One thing about Ireland is how surprisingly lightly people are dressed. The bus is standing at the crossroads, waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, and what do I see, wearing my northern sweater and trying to contain the spread of goosebumps? Teenagers wearing shorts and t-shirts. It’s +2. I get even more goosebumps at the sight. The traffic lights turn green. Entering the city. Crossing the O’Connell Bridge. More traffic li...

This is the piece I wrote for the "Good Night, Moscow" creative writing contest by American Center in Moscow . Before doing so, I told Timur Khamzin "I don't care about winning. I can always publish my piece in my community." The time has come to publish my piece " Good Night, St Petersburg " in my community. Enjoy! ✽✽✽ The morning is ruined by the blocked nose. Coffee and nasal spray do the trick, but I rummage in the cupboard for tissues anyway. I know I will have the sniffles for the rest of the day, so better safe than sorry. Pockets full of tissues, I sink into a metro seat. Achoo. -  Bless you. Fighting the sniffles? Talking to a stranger on the metro? He can't be local. -  Yep. A never-ending fight in this city. -  You must really love it if you are willing to fight the never-ending fight. -  I do. It was love at first sight. The bridges, the embankments, the buildings that are one kilometer long… I came for the romance, but the romance co...