Updated Oct 25, 2018
Free IELTS Speaking Group Classes on Wechat
Hello everyone. Starting on October 29 and continuing until November 17, I will be running FREE! group IELTS speaking classes on my Wechat channel, IELTS-Chris.
If you are interested in one of these free group classes but are not already on my list for IELTS-Chris, please ask to be on this list and I will accept you.
My plan is to have 6 groups (Groups A to F), each composed of 5 students. Each group will meet on Wechat 3 times a week, for 1 hour each time.
However, as of now (October 25), there are 13 places left. Right now Group A has 2 vacancies, Group B has 3 vacancies, Group C has no vacancies, Group D has 4 vacancies, Group E has 3 vacancies and Group F has 1 vacancy. Group D might be eliminated if there are fewer than three students by Friday night. I will be finalizing these groups on Friday night. After Friday night it will be too late to join a group.
These classes will be free because I am new to doing group classes so I need some time to perfect how to do it.
We will do each of these teaching sessions using Wechat voice (audio), not video. I will mainly ask each student questions from the current speaking test, followed by my comments and advice after each answer.
At first, we will do Part 1 questions but later in the three weeks we will do some Part 2/3 questions. I will send each student a lesson plan so you will know which topics I will be covering in each lesson, and I will include a small vocabulary list, possibly with some hints and notes, with each lesson plan.
Below is a table showing the schedule for each group and the time (Sydney time) of each lesson. Thursday will be my “day of rest”.
Schedule of Classes
|
Sydney time |
Beijing Time |
Mon |
Tues |
Wed |
Thurs |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
|
10-11 am |
7-8 am |
A |
D |
A |
- |
A |
D |
D |
|
1-2 pm |
10-11 am |
B |
- |
B |
- |
B |
- |
- |
|
9.30-10.30 pm |
6.30-7.30 pm |
E |
- |
E |
- |
E |
- |
- |
|
11 pm-12 am |
8-9 pm |
C |
F |
C |
- |
C |
F |
F |
Sydney time is, at the moment, 3 hours ahead of Beijing time and 7 hours ahead of Moscow time. (This will change to 2 hours ahead of Beijing in about April next year.) The table below shows the time in these three places.
|
Sydney time |
Beijing time |
Moscow time |
|
10 to 11 am |
7 to 8 am |
12 am to 1 am |
|
1 to 2 pm |
10 to 11 am |
3 to 4 am |
|
9.30 to 10.30 pm |
6.30 to 7.30 pm |
2.30 to 3.30 pm |
|
11 pm to 12 am |
8 to 9 pm |
4 to 5 pm |
If you would like to be a member of one of these group classes, please send me a message and I’ll put your name down, if there is a vacancy. When any of the 6 classes (A to F) becomes full, I will send you all a message telling you of that fact.
The Paying Classes
After this three-week trial period, i.e., after November 17, I will start new, paying classes, with new students. I’m not sure at the moment what kind of schedule I will have – this will depend to some extent on the feedback I get from these free classes. I will probably run the paying classes so that each class will run for one month, with each group consisting of 5 students and possibly each class will be held 6 times a week. The fees will probably be $5/hour for each student at first but this might increase after a couple of months to $6 or $7 per hour, (in Australian dollars). At the moment, 5AUD = 24.7 RMB.