IELTS Speaking Conversation and Tips

- What is the most important thing to focus on

in order to get a band 8.5 in IELTS speaking?

Let's find out.

(upbeat music)

Hello, this is Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy.

I'm very excited today,

excited to share with you an interview with a student, Huda.

She lives in Damascus, the capital of Syria,

and she's a mum with two children.

And not only has she managed to balance study with looking

after the family, but she also has taken the IELTS Test,

traveling all the way to Lebanon, because before,

previously, you couldn't take IELTS in Syria.

And what's more, she managed to get an 8.5 in her speaking.

Absolutely amazing.

And she's gone on now to become a trainer with IDP in Syria

because IELTS is up and running again in Syria now,

which is great news.

This is an amazing conversation.

I think it's gonna be a source of great language

and inspiration for a lot of students.

We're gonna begin the interview talking

about different topics.

We'll talk about our hometowns, about what she does.

We talk about weekends and movies.

I'll also give you or highlight some key language

that we both use that could help you also

when talking about these topics.

In the second half of the interview,

we go on to talk about tips and ideas for students of IELTS

and also some myths, things that are maybe not true.

Huda as a trainer

has come across a lot of questions that students ask

and confusions about IELTS, so we discuss them

and get things straight and clear

for everybody in the interview.

I hope you enjoy this.

As I said, I think it's gonna be a great source of language

and inspiration for all students around the world.

Let me introduce you to Huda.

Hello, Huda.

Hi, how are you?

- Hello, Keith.

How are you?

- I'm very well today.

thanks.

I'm really, really good.

Great, it's lovely to see you here and to be with you here

and have this opportunity to chat.

I mean, let's start, for students listening,

tell me a little bit about you, who you are,

where you're from.

- Okay, so my name is Huda, and originally from Palestine,

but I'm based in Damascus,

which is the capital city of Syria.

And I've been living here for more than 30 years.

Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world,

and it's very famous for its history and heritage.

And tourists used to flock here to visit traditional

or old markets, or what we call Souqs.

And they used to buy some souvenirs and trinkets,

and I think it's a lovely city.

It's a somewhat small city.

- Right.

- But the people living here are very warm and welcoming

and they are very well known for their hospitality.

- That's very, very interesting.

And I also live in a touristic city here.

For you, what's it like living

in a city with lots of tourists?

Do you enjoy that?

- Well, I don't mind.

(laughs)

I don't mind having tourists in my country.

I feel like...

You know, I feel pleased every time I watch tourists

in my city

because I feel that my city is really interesting.

And as I mentioned, it's very rich in history.

So, yeah, I feel really happy

when I see tourists in the streets

and I sometimes go and talk to them,

especially if they want some help with English, you know?

- Right.

- So, yeah, I feel pleased when I see tourists, yeah.

- That's nice.

And tell us a bit about what you do at the moment.

- Well, currently I'm giving face-to-face sessions.

I'm training IELTS.

Because recently I've become an IELTS trainer

by IDP in Syria, so I'm helping other students

to prepare for IELTS and get their desired score.

- So, IELTS in Syria, for a while

it wasn't happening, but it's happening again, is it now?

- Yeah.

It's available again in Syria and the first test took place

last year in August.

And yeah, we are glad that it's back, because in the past,

students used to struggle with taking IELTS

and they had to travel to another country,

and the nearest country is Lebanon,

so they used to go there in order to take IELTS.

And I, myself, did that last year before IELTS was available

here in Damascus.

- Wow.

- So, yeah, it was a really hard thing to travel

to another city, and you have to book a hotel room,

you have to pay for transport.

It's really a stressful (laughs) experience.

Yeah.

- Costs an arm and a leg, I imagine.

- Yeah, yes.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Great, well that's great news that IDP

are active in Syria and IELTS is back.

That's really, really good, and great for you.

So you are now a trainer for IELTS with IDP.

Do you enjoy teaching?

- Oh yeah, absolutely.

I love teaching.

I'm so passionate about teaching, and you know, I've been,

I was like on and off teaching for the past few years.

I first started as a part-time English teacher

at Damascus University, and then I worked with UNRWA,

United Nation Relief and Works Agency.

I worked also as a part-time teacher.

And after taking IELTS,

I felt like I've become really involved into IELTS

and you can say, I've become hooked.

(laughs)

So I enjoy reading about IELTS

and knowing more about this test.

And I felt that I've got something

that can help other students to get their desired score,

because I've got a high score in writing.

I once got an eight in writing,

and now I got 8.5 in speaking.

And I feel that--

- Congratulations.

- Thank you.

(laughs)

I feel that most students struggle

with these two skills in particular.

So I think that it's time to help others because I got a lot

of help during my IELTS preparation.

So I believe it's time to pay back

and to help other people.

- Right.

To do your bit and to pay back that.

That's great and very, very good to see.

Well, congratulations.

I mean, your IELTS score was fantastic.

8.5 in speaking.

I agree that speaking and writing,

because they're the active skills,

they're very difficult for students.

They're very challenging to produce language.

Notice at the beginning of the conversation, Huda says,

"I am based in Damascus,"

which is great because if you don't live in the town

where you were born or where you grew up,

but you're living somewhere else, you can say,

"I live in Damascus," or, "I am based in Damascus."

She says, "Tourists flock here."

Flock as a noun means a group of sheep or a group of birds.

You can imagine the tourists moving together

like a group of animals, right?

To flock as a verb is to move like a group of animals.

I don't mean that tourists are animals,

but it's idiomatic, right?

It's a group of people moving somewhere.

So tourists flock here means lots of tourists come here.

She also says they buy souvenirs and trinkets.

Souvenirs is a nice word.

It's some kind of gift to remind you

of a place you've visited.

And a trinket is a lovely word.

It's a kind of adornment or a small decoration,

normally something small like a fridge magnet or a keyring

or a bottle opener,

maybe something you can use around the home

or decorate the house.

Lovely word, trinket.

Trinket.

She also says it's a place that is well-known, sorry,

the people are well -known for their hospitality.

So well-known for, meaning famous for,

hospitality as a noun,

meaning that they are very welcoming and warm.

Also, it's rich in history.

A city that is rich in history.

To be rich in, good preposition, rich in history,

it means it has a lot of history, right.

Basically.

And finally here she says that, "I was teaching on and off."

On and off, a bit like flicking a light switch on and off,

means I was teaching a bit and then I had to stop.

Then I was teaching more, kind of a part-time,

but sometimes having to stop teaching.

So I was teaching on and off for several years.

Great language.

Let's move on.

Okay, let's talk about weekends, first of all.

So what do you do on the weekends?

- Well, during the weekends I tend to sleep in,

because during weekdays I usually get up early

in the morning because I have to prepare my son for school.

And during the weekends, I think

I like to spend more time in bed just to relax

and chill out after a long week of getting up early.

So I usually start my morning with a cup of coffee,

and then I start doing some housework.

That's how I spend most of my weekends.

Of course, I scroll through my social media account

and I spend a relatively,

so much time on Facebook, (laughs) I must admit that.

- Great, that's interesting.

And when you were younger, like as a child,

did you spend your weekends in the same way?

- Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

When I was a child, I used to go out

with my family in order to visit some relatives.

Sometimes we would go out and have lunch outside

or in a restaurant.

So yeah, I believe that when I was a child,

I used to enjoy weekends more than now, because, you know,

as you are getting older,

your responsibilities are getting more and more.

And so, yeah, I think when I was a child,

life was much easier than now, so yeah.

- I think that's true.

I think my daughter enjoys the weekends

more than me, possibly, yes.

Although, you know, she has the stress

of studying at school during the week.

But yeah, she sleeps in a lot and I get dragged out of bed

by my wife to go and work in the garden together.

(laughs)

What about, let's talk a bit about movies.

How often do you go and watch films?

- Well, not quite often, to be honest, but I remember

last time I went to the cinema was a long time ago.

I can't actually remember, but I tend to enjoy

watching movies at home because you can control,

you can pause and replay any part of the movie.

And so, yeah,

I enjoy watching movies at home with my husband.

So we usually make a big bowl of popcorn.

And so we just sit and watch,

enjoy watching the movie together.

And just last week I think

we watched a movie, "Murder Mystery 2"

with Jennifer Aniston.

- Oh, lovely, Jennifer Aniston.

- Yeah, it's a comedy movie.

We enjoyed it a lot, yeah.

- That's very interesting

because a few weeks ago--

- What about you?

- Well, for me...

Yeah, I love watching movies.

I watch probably a film every week, I imagine.

I tend to watch movies with my daughter

because my wife's not really into movies.

She prefers watching the series

and she watches these old traditional Chinese series

on her phone.

But I often have a movie night with my daughter

and we watch different films, and interestingly enough,

we watched "Murder Mystery 2" a few weeks ago,

thought it was hilarious.

It's a very, very interesting film.

Quite intricate, but it was fun.

It was nice.

And probably like you, we tend to watch films at home

rather than going to the cinema.

I think it's just more convenient and enjoyable,

just chilling out on the sofa and watching something

and you can, you know,

have your popcorn or your chocolate or whatever you fancy.

It's quite a nice thing to do.

- Yeah, sure.

- And I mean, generally speaking,

what kind of movies are popular in your country?

- Hmm, that's a tough question.

I think it depends on the person themselves.

Like some people might like comedy movies

while others might like crime

and they feel that they are really into crime movies

and they like watching such kind of movies.

So yeah, I think for now or nowadays

people prefer to watch comedy movies.

They just wanna laugh and chill out, you know,

because they're very stressed.

For me personally, I prefer to watch comedy movies

and romantic movies, you know.

- It's interesting you mentioned "Murder Mystery 2."

A lot of people think now that Hollywood

is taking over the world, kind of in the film industry,

and local film industries in countries

are being destroyed.

Do you agree with that?

- Oh my God.

(laughs)

- There's a curve ball for you.

What a great question.

- Well, I think it's an example

of part three IELTS questions.

- It is, yeah, probably.

- This is where the questions

are getting progressively harder.

- That's right, yes.

Keep you on your toes through that.

(laughs)

- Yeah.

(laughs)

Well, let ask you this question.

What do you think?

- That's a good strategy.

By the way, students, don't do this in the exam, but yes,

very good strategy.

What do I think?

I think to a large extent it's true.

I think the European films tend to be very pragmatic

and down to earth and about everyday life.

And that's what makes 'em very intimate and very attractive,

I think, to European audiences.

But I think the dominance of kind of the Marvel films

and the American blockbuster films

has had a really big impact on local industries.

And so they're struggling to produce these films

'cause they can't make enough money making local films.

So I think it's a shame.

That said, I was thinking about this, actually,

and I realized now on Netflix

you do get a lot of foreign language films.

So it's easy to see Swedish films

and German films and Italian films.

And I've been watching those films 'cause I love films

in their native language.

And so there is a resurgence of kind of local films

from local countries becoming,

because they're almost trending

or becoming popular maybe because of languages.

That's what I think.

- Oh yeah, I totally agree with you.

(both laughing)

- When we talk about weekends, Huda says,

"I tend to sleep in."

So instead of saying, "I often sleep in,"

she says, "I tend to sleep in," which is really nice.

You can say I tend to, I typically do something.

Notice her pronunciation is brilliant, right?

She's using weak forms, like to.

I tend to sleep in.

She's connecting a lot.

She says, I get up early, early.

Get up early.

She says a cup of coffee, of coffee, cup of coffee.

Really nice.

Her use of different grammar is really good.

When she talks in the past, she says,

"I used to go out with my family.

Sometimes, we would go out and have lunch outside."

Used to and would to describe past activities

or past habits was really, really nice.

We went on to talk about movies and she said,

"You can pause and replay any part of the movie."

Now, this is not super complex vocabulary,

but it's what I call topic-specific vocabulary.

And it shows the examiner,

you can talk confidently on this topic.

Pause, replay any part of the movie.

It's nice.

When I was describing one of the movies

we talked about "Murder Mystery 2,"

I said it was hilarious.

It was intricate, it was nice.

Hilarious just means very, very funny.

Intricate means complicated.

Like an intricate plot, a complicated plot.

So notice I'm mixing complex vocabulary

with simple vocabulary, right?

It was hilarious, it was intricate, it was nice.

You don't always have to be super complicated.

Get a nice balance, okay.

And a lovely phrase that Huda said was,

"Some people might like comedies,

while others might be into crime movies."

Some people da da da while others da da da.

So she's not only developing her answer

by focusing on different groups of people,

she's using this really nice template structure, right,

to do so.

Finally, at the end I throw her a curve ball,

or I give her a curve ball.

A curve ball I think comes from baseball.

I'm not 100% sure 'cause I'm not American,

but maybe Americans watching, if there are any, let me know.

A curve ball is when I think from baseball,

when you throw the ball and it spins.

So it gives an unexpected turn.

So when something is unexpected, it can be a curve ball.

Often a question is a curve ball, right?

An unexpected question.

So I ask her an unexpected question about the film industry

and that was a curve ball for her, right?

It's like, what?

Not, I wasn't expecting that.

Excellent.

Let's move on.

Let's talk about preparing for IELTS then.

I mean, beginning with you,

what were the challenges that you faced

when preparing for IELTS?

- Well, I had so many challenges, to be honest.

One of them is that I used to be a stay-at-home mom,

and I'm a mother of two, so--

- How old are your children?

- The older son is 10 years old and my younger son is four.

So I had to find some time to prepare

and it just was really hard to find some time to prepare.

So what I used to do was I used to put them to sleep

and then sit and prepare for IELTS.

And sometimes I used to prepare for IELTS at midnight,

sometimes after, then after that midnight, so...

- So there's the family context, which is really difficult

to balance family and study, I know.

And when it comes to studying,

how did you organize yourself in your study?

How did you practice?

- Well...

Yeah, I used to practice listening

and reading during the day

because I think it was easier to practice listening

and reading than speaking and writing.

So I used to get them finished first thing in the morning.

And then in the evenings I used to practice some speaking

with my speaking partner.

And she was also a stay-at-home mom

and she has also two kids.

So we both used to put our kids to bed and start talking.

And we actually have become friends, yeah.

We have known with other now for more than two years

and we still talk on a very regular basis now.

- Let's talk about tips and strategies then

to help students with IELTS.

We can look at the whole of IELTS

or maybe focus on speaking first.

What tips would you give to students who are preparing now?

- Well, I will go through the whole parts,

all the three parts in IELTS.

You know, in part one it's the first impression

that the examiner has about you.

So I think first impressions count.

So try to impress the examiner by your language

at the beginning, but keep it short and simple,

as you always say.

Like, don't speak too much.

(laughs)

Just two or three sentences for each question

I think is more than enough.

And I remember during my speaking test,

the examiner asked me, "Why"

So when the examiner asked you, "Why?"

this means that your answer is or was relatively short

or you didn't state the reason,

so try to state the reason and give examples

whenever it's possible in part one.

So yeah, that's my first tip for part one.

- Very, very nice.

I like that very much.

I like the why.

That's a really good point that they're pushing

for extra information if they ask you why.

So yeah.

Students, don't get nervous

if the examiner starts asking why.

It's just, it's very natural.

It's fine.

Great.

What about part two then?

That's a big challenge, I know, for many students.

- Yeah, you know, it was even a challenge for me

when I first started to practice IELTS speaking

because I found it really hard to speak

for two minutes nonstop.

And you've got only one minute to prepare,

which is the very short time.

So you have to be quick,

you have to think on your feet, and you have to come up

with a really good story.

So I believe that is storytelling technique

is a very good technique and I personally use it

because it allows you to use

almost all the tenses in English.

You can start with the past and move to the present and talk

about the future.

So yeah, storytelling technique I believe

is really good in part two.

And you know, in part two I believe

that it's the real showoff if I can say so.

So you've got full two minutes to speak and the examiner

won't stop you until the time is up.

So it's your opportunity to show off the language you have.

Yeah.

- Absolutely, great.

Do you remember what you talked about?

- Yeah, sure, I do.

The question I got asked was,

"Describe an area in your house that you feel relaxed."

And I remember I talked about my balcony.

Yeah.

- Okay, right.

- I can remember it quite vividly, yeah.

You know, I think part two is always describing a person,

an object, or a thing,

a place, an activity, or an event.

So try to be prepared to talk about all of these.

- Absolutely.

Those are great categories.

Lovely.

And then moving on to part three,

what about your tips for part three?

- Well, part three I think is your last chance

to show off the language you have.

So try to do your best to show off the language you have

and to extend your ideas, your answers.

You know, I think part three is more general

and you have to keep it more abstract

and it's not similar, or I think part one isn't similar

to part three.

Part one is all about yourself.

It's all about you.

You've got some personal questions

about your likes and dislikes,

but in part three you have to think in a more abstract way,

as I mentioned.

And you have to think about other people.

It's not about you anymore.

It's about other people and your society or your culture,

your country or other countries.

So in part three,

I think the opinion-reason example is a very good method

to follow, and try to connect your sentences

with some connectors.

Use sign-posting and try to give examples

whenever it's possible.

- Yeah, nice.

So you're developing your answers.

Yeah.

Opinion-reason example, opinion, examples, reasons.

Yeah, those are all good things to include there.

Very, very nice.

Part three is quite challenging.

I know a lot of students say to me that they feel

they get interrupted a lot by the examiner,

that the questions are so like rapid-fire.

Did you have that feeling?

- Oh yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

I felt that when I first took IELTS last year

and I got band seven, I remember, yeah.

I felt like the questions were like going

one question after another,

one question after another, and I didn't have time to think

about them and I got some really hard, tough questions

that I felt like, "Oh my goodness,

what question is that?"

So yeah, yeah.

You know, part three takes almost four or five minutes.

And I remember once an ex-examiner told me

a really good advice about part three.

He said, "Try to think about part three questions

the same way you think when you wanna write an essay."

So when you wanna write an essay, you have to explain,

extend your idea.

You have sometimes to compare or contrast.

So yeah, try to think

in part three questions like the same way

you think when you write on it, yeah.

- Yeah, that's nice.

That's very, very good advice, actually,

to help you almost, you don't have time to plan,

but almost think about the structure and developing

a little bit as you speak.

Yeah, very, very good.

I mean, there are kind of a lot of myths

around IELTS, and it's not that interrupting is a myth.

It happens, but it's not necessarily a bad thing.

So if the examiner's going fast, question after question,

it's not a bad thing.

I think sometimes it's a good thing because it shows

that they're pushing you and pushing you.

So I think that that's fine.

In a moment, Huda and myself will be talking more

about myths in IELTS.

So common confusions that many students have about IELTS.

First, I wanted to take a moment to give you an update

about my flagship online course, Gold Course.

If you want to develop your speaking skills so you can face

the examiner with confidence

and ace the IELTS speaking test,

this might be for you.

The course is getting better and better.

So now not only do you have the videos

of over 100 model answers,

strategy masterclasses, and also practice videos,

but also straight after the two live lessons I do each month

in the Facebook group,

I now run a Zoom call for all the students together.

You jump on the call and we talk

about the live lesson topic.

Students get a chance to speak to each other on that topic,

practicing their English,

meeting students from other areas in the world,

and at the end a bit of feedback from me.

That's exciting, but it gets better,

'cause now every week, Friday, Saturday,

Sunday, and Monday we have Breakout Room sessions,

and these last for an hour.

And this is just you and two other students in a small room,

in a small room,

in a virtual room where you can get to practice

IELTS questions and answers together

and you get to switch and meet different students.

It's very exciting.

Students have said a lot of different things about it.

Very excited about their practice.

They've told me, "It's a great opportunity to practice."

"It's the best way to boost confidence

as the medium is English."

"It was a great experience.

We were able to talk about the topic

and I was able to know other people."

It's really a big complement to the course

in helping you practice and build confidence.

It gets even better.

There are also now mini-stories in the course,

which are a fun and relaxing way to review the vocabulary

from the course.

So listen.

If you're thinking about doing the online course to develop

your speaking skills for the IELTS speaking test,

go and check it out.

You might be interested.

Just go to www.keithspeakingacademy.com,

follow the link to the courses, and you'll see it there.

The Gold Course.

Right now, let's get back to Huda and those myths.

- You have been in this field for more than 20 years.

Am I right?

- Yeah, I've been, yes, yeah.

- Yeah.

So I think you've got a lot of questions about myths

that should we do this, or shouldn't we do this?

What should we do?

So what do you think that the most common myth

that students believe in when it comes to IELTS speaking?

- I think one of the biggest myths

and confusions is that they should try to speak

with the most complex grammar

and the most complex vocabulary all the time.

And I understand where that myth comes from,

and I think it's a mistake because I know even I,

you know, and we've talked about showing off,

it's time to show off and you do need

to show off your language.

But I think the confusion is that when you try

and use over-complex vocabulary and grammar,

first of all, you're gonna make mistakes

if you don't know it really, really well.

And secondly, it doesn't sound natural

'cause if you listen to you and me chatting,

we're not using over-complex vocabulary all the time, right?

Every now and again

there'll be a strange idiom or an unusual vocabulary,

but most of the time it's quite simple English, you know.

Most English conversations use 2,000 words,

full stop, right?

Now, of course you need to show that you have

and are able to use some complex vocabulary.

I mean, for you to get an eight, 8.5,

you must be showing that, but not all the time.

And I think students feel

they've got to be like Superman, right?

Super IELTS man or super IELTS woman

using this extremely complex vocabulary all the time.

It's not true.

Chill out, right?

Learn it for sure, and develop your English

to such a high level that you can use it,

but you don't have to use it, right?

- Yeah, sure.

I couldn't agree more.

Yeah.

So yeah, idioms.

I got questions about idioms and using idioms,

so it's okay to use one or two idioms,

but don't choose idioms in each and every sentence,

because that won't sound natural, as you said, yeah.

- I agree.

I agree with that.

Idioms is another confusion for students.

I think idioms are great and they're very useful

and it's gonna help your communication in English,

but use them sparingly, you know.

I think not every sentence for sure,

not even every answer necessarily, but, you know,

to show some, that you've got some

and you can use them well.

'Cause I think idioms as well are difficult

because they're easy, they're easy,

they're relatively easy to understand,

but to use correctly is not easy because of the nature.

They're idiomatic, that it's abstract, right?

So I think again,

students often learn them from a book and think, "Right,

I can use that in my test,"

but they've never used it ever before,

and if you make a mistake with an idiom, oh,

it's better to try and get the idiom right

rather than make a mistake, or maybe don't use it.

- Yeah, sure.

I have also a map that most students believe,

which is the bullet points.

Like should I talk about all the bullet points in part two,

or is it gonna lower my score

if I didn't include all the bullet points?

So what do you think?

I just wanna hear from you.

- You don't have to talk about all the bullet points.

They are there as a guide and a very useful guide

'cause if you look at them,

they do help you develop your answer very, very well.

But you are not penalized if you miss out a bullet point.

You don't have to talk about all of them.

Not at all.

The idea is they're there as like a platform,

you know, like when somebody dives into the water,

they use the platform to jump into the conversation.

They're there as a guide, and you know, that's it.

Yeah, that's the quick answer.

- Yeah, I think, yes, as you mentioned, bullet points

are just a guide.

And if you feel like you are gonna get closed

during your speech, just follow them.

Yeah.

What about the examiner?

Yeah, some people believe that,

especially here in my country,

they believe that if the examiner wasn't a native speaker

that would lower your score.

So what do you think?

- What, what?

(laughs)

No, that can't be true, right?

That can't be true.

I disagree entirely.

The examiners are trained, and examiners must have...

At least in my day,

they must have a band nine to become an examiner.

Because if an examiner, because sometimes students ask me,

will examiners understand the idioms you're teaching?

I'm saying, but they must be a band nine

because if you've got an examiner at a band seven,

how can they evaluate somebody higher than them?

They can't.

So examiners must be at the top level, right?

And they aren't trained quite rigorously

and very effectively to give objective scores

based on the band descriptors.

So no, all examiners are...

Okay, all examiners are equal

in their evaluation and their objectivity.

Of course, we are all humans

and there will be some variation as humans

in how we react and how we speak.

So some examiners will smile,

other examiners will not smile

and will be quite brief and curt.

So examiners are different as humans,

but in their evaluation technique,

they're all trained the same way.

Brilliant.

Well, I think as we are winding up,

is there anything else around advice

maybe you would give students?

- You should practice.

Practice makes perfect, as we say.

And don't book for the test if you're not fully prepared.

Just be fully prepared, and then you can,

you can go and book for the test because a lot of students

tell me that, "Oh, I've got only two weeks to take IELTS

and I am at band six level.

I wanna get band seven or eight,

which sounds really impossible to do."

- Mission impossible.

- IELTS test isn't a walk in the park, you know.

It's not an easy test, and it takes a lot of preparation,

a lot of hard work in order to get high score in IELTS.

Yeah.

- That's great.

Very, very good advice.

So don't book your test until you're ready.

Very, very good.

Excellent.

Well, thank you so much.

It's been really good talking to you.

I'm so pleased to have this opportunity.

I'm so pleased that IELTS is taking off in Syria again

and that, you know, you're involved in that, and as you say,

giving back and doing your teaching and training there.

I wish you lots of luck with that.

I'm sure you'll be a great trainer.

If students want to contact you directly,

how can they do that?

- Well, they can get my number

from the IDP Office here in Damascus,

or they can find me on Facebook.

I've got Facebook group called IELTS With Huda,

so they can just click join

and they can send me a private message

if they have any questions or any inquiries

about IELTS preparation.

- Fantastic.

So for students from Syria,

you can get in touch with Huda through the Facebook page.

I'll put the link down in the description of the video

so you can see that.

And also to IDP in Syria,

so you can find out more if you want.

Lovely.

- Thank you, Keith, and it was a real pleasure

talking to you and it's an honor

for me that I'm talking to you right now.

Yeah, thank you so much.

- Likewise.

All the best.

Take care, and we'll be in touch.

- Okay, bye-bye.

- All right, bye-bye.

- Bye.

- So there we have it.

I hope that you enjoyed this video listening to the ideas,

the strategies, and some of the language

that Huda and myself are using.

It's great to see that IELTS

is up and running again in Syria.

I hope that this video is an inspiration

for students all over the world,

especially people who are balancing

looking after their family with their studies.

You can do it.

Look at Huda.

You can get the score that you need and change your life,

make your dreams come true, and move forward.

Great.

If you've enjoyed this, do remember to subscribe.

Turn on notifications to find out about upcoming videos.

I normally have a video every Saturday recorded on YouTube,

giving you more tips and ideas for IELTS

and for developing your speaking skills

to become that confident speaker of English.

Listen, take care, my friend.

Keep studying, keep practicing,

and I'll see you in the next video.

All the best now.

Bye-bye.

(upbeat music)