 Hey guys, it's been a week It's been a week since last time and I couldn't start I couldn't wait to start this live session Okay, so I have to cut this first part when I start editing my Livestream session after we finish it but anyway, I Couldn't wait to start this live stream session because the topic of the discussion is going to be Really fun, and I like to dwell upon this idea. So let me quickly open the presentation and While waiting for some more people to join us I'm gonna tell you a little bit more about Myself. I also want to introduce ITTT. So I will be really short I will be really brief on that but anyway, it's like an intro part And if you guys are there, please let me know that you can see and hear me clearly Because I I want to make sure that everything is working So I hope that my equipment is all right last week I actually had to change my internet provider and I hope it's actually going to be all right So use the comment section to let me know that you are there that you see and hear me well Okay, if it is so if there are any problems, let me know as well Okay, and I'm gonna Switch this on so today's topic is devoted to exam preparation. So this idea is actually a burning issue for many teachers, but at the same time, it's like a really nice way to Hire your paycheck It is also a great way to narrow down your niche I'm going to tell about it a little bit more further on But as for now, please let me know that you are there that you see and hear me clearly and I'm gonna share my screen with you to show you my beautiful presentation, okay So just one second I'm gonna do like this And I think if not is that I changed my setting a little bit I had to move from one part of the room to another because this Time of the year is really gloomy in Russia and these days have started like a couple of days ago And I believe that the next half a year it's gonna be like this not much sun Not much light. So I had to move To sit just in front of the window But at the same time, it's still not enough as for me and I'm also thinking about getting that Rene light, you know But I'm not sure which one to choose. So if you can suggest if you can recommend anything, let me know And right now I'm gonna share my screen with you. Yeah, so here we go Okay So how to do that, I don't know what's wrong with the setting of this One, let me see it once again Should it be no not like that. Oh, I don't know what's wrong. Oh Sorry, I hope that I can make it Better that I can Start the presentation as I usually do But for some reason, it's not working All right guys, I see your comments and thanks a lot for joining in I have some Issues with my presentation right now, but I hope that I can solve it like in a moment Usually it's It's it pops up in a different way, but I don't know what's wrong right now Oh, let's see Mm-hmm. Okay, if you see the presentation like this it is okay, but I won't be able to Interact with you over the comments section probably But let me yeah, let me try what what I can do Okay, so maybe I should do it once again Oh, I know what's the problem? Okay, here we go. Now it is all right Sorry for for this Delay guys. So today's topic is devoted to exam preparation and I hope that you'll find this This discussion this presentation useful. So stay in time stay tuned with us and And If you have any questions, please feel free to send them in the comments section Even if it is not related to exams directly Feel free to ask anything about Tafel T. So ESL teaching in general And let me just briefly introduce myself So many of you know my name already because you you've joined the previous live streams and so on So my name is Lisa, but here is my full name It's really long, but it is the same as Elizabeth Just in Russian. I am an ESL teaching online ESL teaching to be exact And I actually work with Cambridge exam preparation. So some time ago, I just decided to stop delivering general English courses general English training And focused on preparing students for exams So today, I'm gonna share my personal experience with you But at the same time, I will try my best to give you a piece of advice on how to implement the strategy in your Career and I believe it's really it may suit any styles of teachers any Groups of teachers. So just feel free to ask me any questions and thanks a lot for coming Also, I'm a Teflon T sole expert at ITTT. So ITTT is a major Teflon T sole provider and Actually, this live stream is supported by ITTT is hosted by ITTT If you are not familiar with the brand, just feel free to go to Facebook or YouTube and check out our content At the same time, you can see this QR code at the top right corner of the screen This QR code gives a 30% discount on any Online Teflon courses. So if you feel like you would you would love to proceed with your teacher skills development feel free to Scan the QR code or also you can follow the link from the chat box Okay so this coupon link gives you a 30% discount and this link is actually unique because it works just during this live stream session Make sure you use this incentive And just the last part about myself Recently I've started consulting other ESL teachers in terms of marketing and Online business strategies. So if it is something you would like to know as well Feel free to contact me. You can always reach me on Facebook or on Instagram I also have this little website. It needs some changes but anyway, I have various resources and You can keep in touch. Yeah, so I try my best to help out and assist teachers from all over the world Okay, and as a marketing specialist, it is something I really love doing okay, and ITTT is presented on various social media so you can see all of the resources right here We also have a podcast. So actually we transfer these live streams into podcasts and you can listen to them on the more the major Podcast providers like Apple podcasts or on Facebook even so if you don't want watching you can always listen to podcasts and That's probably it In terms of the introduction now, let's move on to the main point of today's discussion, which is Exam preparation so how to start preparing students for exams It's not a really difficult or challenging way It is not something, you know challenging to Start doing from scratch But here I would like to share five ways five steps how to start doing Start providing this service to your students to your clients and the first Suggestion would be choose what age group you work with It is actually necessary to you know focus on some specific group of people And moreover their age is important their age is Is crucial actual actually to you as a teacher because if you know who you work with you can Adjust your teaching skills Adjust your teaching strategies to the needs of those particular students. So I always recommend that People choose a specific group of people Because when when you offer Just general services to a wide audience It is more likely that you will Have clients coming and going and that's not something we teachers love Doing, you know, because we want to keep the relationship Lasting and the same idea is actually related to exam preparation because It is not fast and you want to make sure that your relationship with the students Is lasting and it is not like a short-term kind of relationship And the next point is also crucial you have to choose the exam to prepare for when I when I browse different Online teaching platforms and check out what teachers actually offer their students their potential clients It is always like this. They offer various types of exams. They offer various types of English trainings like General English business English they also teach young learners But it actually doesn't work like that If a teacher offers so many different services it is more likely that they are not trained well and They do not know the specific the specific Features of the thing They prepare for General English is like, you know, everybody can teach general English everybody can prepare for I don't know for some special life situations like going to a restaurant or Traveling and stuff like that, but exam preparation. It is something that a Teacher must know really well That is that that is why I always suggest that you choose the specific exam and on this slide You can actually see some types of exams. There are many of them. I believe that you know about it So as for these ones at the beginning of the page I'll shuffle see These exams are Usually those ones that are taken by Higher level of students like maybe From B to sometimes B1 to C1 And usually those are people who are Adults or at least young adults so make sure you understand your audience and you know What exams you actually offer preparing for if it is IELTS you have to know this exam like one two three you have to research everything related to it and Moreover, if you want to prepare for it, it is better to take it yourself As an ESL teacher is a non-native ESL teacher. It is something really easy for you So if you have From B2 to C2 level IELTS won't be difficult for you, but there are two different modes. You have to remember about it as well For example, I took IELTS academic a couple of years ago and That helped me learn a lot about this exam and Figure out my own strategies The same about the rest of these exams. You have to know them from scratch like you have to know them well Try to prepare try to Take this exam yourself But if you are a native English speaker, I believe that you can actually try to pass IELTS or TOEFL as well I think there is such an option You can do it. Definitely There are also Cambridge exams. They are great exams as well. I love them more than IELTS or TOEFL From my point of view, they are much easier to prepare for Because you focus on a specific level for example Pat it is B1 preliminary and This specific exam checks if a student reached this level So you don't have to prepare for the C1 level for example You can just focus on building the B1 level skills and that's it The same about key and FCE. So key is for A2 It's actually from A1 to B1. They have different scores so the grading system is focused on Levels from A2 no not A2 A1 probably from A1 to B1 Pat is from B1 to B2 probably or even less like A2 B2 something like that and FCE can also grade students Who are slightly above the B2 level? The next types of exams are subject-based exams like IGCSE These exams are also Cambridge exams. They are like developed by Cambridge But they are for those students who you know studied in English during the high school years and then they want to enter some English Speaking universities in which speaking programs So there are not many people doing such exams but still this niche is really appealing and I would say that if you are Trained to do such exams if you have specific skills you can actually find a lot of clients a lot of prospective clients and your Your check your paycheck might be Higher compared to the other types of exams And the last group of exams is national exams. I'm not sure about like Most of the countries but for example in Russia. We have this unified state exam which is Almost the same as IELTS because IELTS, you know is like a gold standard So our government actually based Unified state exam on IELTS. So they just copied the framework and offered our students in Russia our school students in Russia this type of exams and In China, I know they also have Gao Kao The same type of exam more complex probably But it's also an interesting idea to prepare for for those exams, especially if you live in these countries and you know What are some specific? Requirements of those exams If you guys have any questions on this point, please let me know in the comments section There is not there are not many attendant Attendance today Unfortunately, I I thought that this topic is really interesting, but no problem. I will try my best to Work with these people who are here right now Thanks a lot for joining by the way. I really appreciate that and Let's move on to the next part here I would like to show you some examples of Cambridge exams. So this is the the Cambridge network not network framework They have various types of exams So for example, if you look at the beginning of the table, you can see this pre a one a one a two a two More all of these exams are actually related to Early childhood not not early childhood. Okay, just Regular childhood. So these exams are crafted specifically for young learners the next part of the exams from here to probably here are for school kids, but actually they slightly changed the Product line the product Outlook, you know, so they changed B1 They divided the B1 exam to into two groups Be one preliminary for schools and just regular B1 Preliminary these exams are for school kids and this ones are for Any people willing to show that they are at the B1 level the same about B2 and a 2 and The last part of exams at the bottom they are actually for adults for example C1 C2 usually School kids don't reach this high levels. That is why most of most people who take this exams are actually adults Maybe a university student sometimes But for example the C2 exam is usually taken by Adults like in the year 30s For example these days, I've been preparing for the C2 preliminary proficiency exam and in my group I Prepare for it with a Russian English teacher in a group and apart from me. There are other Five teachers. So Mostly this exam is preferred by English teachers And you can also see another group of exams, which is related to business English So you can choose any Exam out of this table and focus on preparing for it for example as for me I Last year I prepared one of my students for The B1 preliminary for schools this year. She leveled up So she got her B1 level and now we are preparing for the B2 level But at the same time a part of apart from this student. I also work with those younger ones Not younger ones. They are actually of the same age, but just lower on the English scale they are Teenagers who prepare for A2 key for schools as well. So basically you can Take a limited number of students and work on One level one year, then you move to a different level and so on And yeah, that's probably it So it's it's not difficult and the strategy of choosing your exams would be The same for IELTS, TOEFL and stuff like that. So you just have to research everything and yeah, I Actually forgot that I would like to share Oh No, it's probably a little bit further Yeah, hello guys. Hi Miki or my key. I hope that I pronounce your name correctly Yes, I actually will share this information on my Facebook group I have a private Facebook group and if you want to enter it, please stay tuned Stay tuned till the end of this session. I will share The link to my Facebook group. So you will be able to join in and later on I will Write a blog post for the group Okay, so let's move on to the next point. It is related to picking the right course book When it comes to preparing for exams Almost the same like when you work with any English students General English or like business English, you still have to know how to Organize your course and many teachers prefer creating Materials from scratch but from my point of view, it's not actually correctly It's not that correct because you are not Methodologists and Probably your course won't be better than the Cambridge course or the Oxford course So that is why I always recommend that you Pick one of the course books which is recommended by these publishers because they usually have specific books recommended for exam preparation or from any other English courses and There you have just simply to go to navigate to the publisher's website and Check out what they offer for specific age group level skills Usually they have a separate section for exam preparation and list all of the possible Course books you can choose to prepare for this or that exam. So let me Quickly show you how I do that. I will stop the screen sharing and show you a different A different tap so basically Yeah, it is like that. So right now I'm on the Cambridge English org so it is the official web website of Cambridge and If you started like from the main page if you look at it from the main page It will be like this And you will see different tabs popping down Right here. So you need to choose the exams and tests tab and Check out what type of exam you would like to look at so you choose it for example be one preliminary And then there is this section preparation which is called preparation At the beginning of the page you will see all possible free resources for English teachers Basically, you don't have to at this point. You don't have to buy any coursebooks because you can simply download some Some tests tutorials and what else like guides Actually, Cambridge has nice Handbooks for teachers related to exam preparation. So I strongly recommend that you Research such pages and download whatever possible free resources For these resources are actually for student self-studies. So you can assign some homework in this form as well You will also have a chance to see some demo videos how the actual Exam is organized the speaking part of it Vocabulary list so and so on some tips as well and then at the at the bottom of the page you will see the coursebooks they recommend for Preparing for this exam So how to choose the best coursebook? once again, I Just remind you that the very first step you had to take was to focus on a specific age group So it is actually important right here when you choose the best coursebook You have to consider what age your student is because some of the coursebooks They are suitable for Older teenagers like 13 plus 13 years old to maybe 16 or 17 For example, this coursebook complete preliminary is Better to be used with older teenagers Compared to power up for example power up is more suitable to young teenagers like From 11 probably to 13 But not lower maybe even for some kids, but still I wouldn't recommend that So you have to read every description and choose the best coursebook to use with your age group Yeah, so That is like that. Let me now come back to my screen sharing to my presentation Okay And yeah, as I showed you you just navigate to the Cambridge website page and Check out all of the descriptions then you choose the best coursebook and Always use some Additional materials as well that are also recommended by Cambridge or other Well-known publishers And the next step would be planning your lessons. So basically you have to once again use some Special resources recommended by the publishers It would be the teacher's book usually coursebooks have teacher's books and some other resources as well, so you can use those But at the same time You can add some authentic materials. It won't be that bad if you offer some other videos apart from those recommended in the coursebooks just give some additional materials and Also try to build your lesson Based on some specific framework For example at ITTT. We have a really nice frame framework Which is ESA? Engage study activate You can basically use this type of network framework or Any other frameworks you prefer and The last part is how to actually find students To offer this specific service if you want to work with exam preparation a Rule of a thumb is Focus on exam preparation only stop offering General English stop offering some I don't know Young learners. So just focus on exam preparation craft your offer and Think about promoting yourself Appropriately on social media or on teaching platforms. So try to create a nice appealing You know an appealing profile Why your course is bad is the best and why students have to work with you Also another recommendation is that when you Get some bookings Always try to interview potential students beforehand You don't want that they stop working on this exam preparation thing In a couple of months a part except for IELTS for example sometimes IELTS preparation takes like two months or three months Depending on the students skills But generally speaking if you for example focus on Cambridge exam preparation You don't want to lose your students in a couple of months because the courses The course is usually designed for a year or even more so always interview your students at the beginning and If you work with teenagers work with their parents So explain everything why it should be done this way, but not that way that's probably it and That is the end of today's presentation But I would be pleased to answer your questions if you have any So exam preparation is my at my passion. I work on exam preparation only I don't think that It's you it's me like to prepare for general English or something and It also helps me to make much more Compared to general English so my income grew like maybe 30% or even more Comparing to those times when I offered general English Simply because there are more people more teachers offering these services compared to exam preparation And if you are a specialist in this field Students will find your Find you without you even spending money on marketing and stuff like that For example, that was the case how I found my students for this year so one student just suggested me to another one and Other two came from from the you know from my network as well So that's it probably If you don't have any questions It's okay. I have tired a little bit speaking So we can we can just finish And if you have any questions later on you can always contact me And if you watch this live stream As a recording thanks a lot for joining Those who watch me in real life Right now Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot for joining as well. I Hope that this live stream was useful and helpful Let me just copy The link once again Yeah Try. Yeah, if you have any feedback for me, please feel free to Send it to the comment section I I will be really pleased and if you find my speaking a little bit Clumsy today. I am so sorry because I I Usually I don't speak that much in English and it It is really hard for me to keep the same level of fluency as as a the beginning, you know Because I'm not a native speaker and I don't have this environment Unfortunately, but I try I try to do my best And yeah as promised, this is my Facebook group If you want to Joe if you want to join my Facebook group, feel free to follow Feel free to scan this QR code or let me quickly Send you the link to the Facebook group as well Just one second So here you are if you want to join in my Facebook group if you want to get some Hands-on experience you can yeah, you can simply contact me I also Deliver private consultations to those teachers who want to develop their online Businesses Online representation so you can contact me on that as well and Today's Presentation Outline will be on my Facebook group later. So if you're interested in that make sure you join in the Facebook group hmm, and Yeah, that is all for today. If you don't have any questions. Thanks a lot for joining in I Will see you next week If you have any feedback feel free to send it to the chat box to the comments section I will read it and try my best to improve Thanks a lot guys and see you next week. Bye. Bye