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January 2009

IELTS Letter, topic: a migrant writes a letter to a friend

You migrated to another country. Write a letter to your friend to describe your present life and tell him/her why you chose this country.

Dear Linda,

I’m sorry I haven’t been writing to you for such a long time. I am that I have migrated to Perth, Australia. My family and I arrived in Perth on the and we have finally settled down.

We migrated to Perth because my sisters and their families have also migrated there three years ago. We have planed to join them in Perth and also did this for the children’s education and their future as well.

We have just settled in our new house and the kids are enjoying the pool almost every day. They have been attending a public school and have made quite a lot of friends. The people here are very friendly and helpful. John has also found a job near the city. The working environment here according to John is very different from Malaysia. As for me, I am a full time housewife, enjoying the morning coffee with the newspaper.

Do let me know when you plan to visit Perth and you are always welcome to stay at my new house.

With love,
Sharon.

This is a good letter. It has the correct structure, the task is covered, the sentences are nicely built and it leaves a good impression because of the fluency of the language. See comments underlined in blue for minor corrections. Overall, this looks like a band 7 letter.

Click here to see more IELTS letters of band 7

Use less formal language (writing to let you know)
Use words, not figures (the third of April )

The IELTS test in Sri Lanka – how to prepare for free

It really makes me happy to see how more institutions start helping people prepare for the IELTS test, for free. Today I discovered another great service that the British Council in Sri Lanka has launched for IELTS test takers. Recently I wrote about free IELTS preparation in India and today I found similar help in Sri Lanka.

Here’s the deal: anyone (not just people already registered for the exam) can attend a free 90-minute IELTS seminar. Well, it’s more like an orientation session, because they don’t coach students and help them with the actual preparation, but they do answer basic questions, such as what’s in the exam, how it is scored, etc – including your own questions about the IELTS test.

The registration is done online (click here to register) and the seminars are held every month, once a month.

Nice, right? Hold on, it’s getting better – there are free practice sessions for registered test takers. If you’re in Colombo or Kandy, come to the British Council library, show your IELTS exam fee receipt and you will get access to all the practice materials you need for IELTS preparation.

They have study books, test papers and tapes for the Listening test, come any day of the week and practice at the library – if you ask me, things don’t get any better than that. For any questions call (011) 4521592 in Colombo and (081) 4473543 in Kandy. More details about working days and hours are here.

I will keep on posting about similar services in other countries as I find them. Let’s hope it’s a new trend!