As students are increasingly looking for opportunities to study abroad, clearing the English language test, is a challenge they are constantly grappling with.
IELTS (the International English Language Testing System) is offered in more than 1,000 locations around the world and over 2.2 million students take this test each year. The test comprises four sections — listening, reading, writing and speaking.
British Council has been instrumental in helping students prepare for this test. It provides expert support to students in the form of videos, books and online interactive courses.
“IELTS is a gateway of opportunities for people. There’s a great variety of accents and ways in which English is spoken around the world, and we want to celebrate this diversity,” says Stephen Carey, IELTS Global Marketing Manager of British Council.
“We believe that there are about 1,001 different ways of speaking English. Some students find this language a challenge and are nervous while conversing. Therefore, the British Counsel has come up with a mobile app, IELTS 1001 ways, to help students get over their inhibition and start speaking in English,” says Mr. Carey. 1001 ways is a fun and educative mobile app that allows students to learn English accents from all over the world. Currently available only on android, it allows users to watch a video of a person speaking and guess where the person is from. Users can also record a 5-second video of them saying — there are 1001 ways to speak English. The video is then added to the game, and others playing the game can guess where the user is from.
“One feature of the IELTS test is that people get to express themselves in the ‘Face-to-Face’ speaking section. We hope that this app helps students in this regard,” says Mr.Carey.