Having lived in China for almost 5 years, I know how difficult it is for Chinese students to prepare for their exam. IELTS classrooms in China can be several hundred students large, making it impossible for students to have direct feedback from their instructor on their progress. To make matters worse, blocked websites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter restrict a Chinese person’s ability to interact in English with the outside world. This is arguably part of the reason why China’s average band on the Academic exam is among the lowest in the world. (To see how your country scores, visit IELTS Test Taker Performance 2011.)
This is what makes my conversation with Ying Jun so interesting. Despite facing these obstacles, Ying Jun managed to score an overall band 8 on her exam and is well on her way to realizing her dream of becoming a non-native IELTS examiner. In this episode, Ying Jun shares specific tips to help Chinese students better their marks on the exam. Click here to listen to my talk with Ying Jun!
You’ve gotta be kidding me… She wants to be an IELTS examiner? I’d admit that her English is better than most Chinese people that I’ve encountered; but IMO there’s no way she can pass as an examiner.
You mention somewhere in the audio that she’s fluent. I’ll have disagree with you; her pronunciation is not too bad, but she stuttered and hesitated too many times…
(sorry,double posting because made a typo earlier)
she says she needs to score 9 to “be an IELTS Examiner” … not correct.
Getting a 9 simply means that you have the minimum language level required. After this there are a number of EFL Teaching Certifications and Post-certification requirements just to be considered for Examiner training and certification.
Rob, give the lady a break! Perhaps she’s got a lot of work to do, but the least we can do is be encouraging. If her passion is the English language and helping people learn the language, I think she would know where she stands and how she can improve. And hopefully she does that and fulfills her dreams!