Hi everyone.

Well, it’s been a while since I have put a post – but that’s because I have been working on a new set of posts, getting them all ready, and it has been quite a big project – 25 posts in all. In this first post, I’ll just explain it.

Many students have been asking me to teach vocabulary, and I usually say that one of the best ways to learn words is through reading. But then the students say that they are too busy, and IELTS readings are too long, hard, and not that interesting.

Hmmmm. Yes, it’s a busy world, and people often don’t have time. So, I thought, why don’t I provide a series of ‘mini-IELTS readings’ on interesting topics – that is, shorter, lighter, more interesting, and something you can easily read on a mobile phone

Hmmmm, but what sort of readings? Well, science-based readings are often used as source material for the real IELTS Reading Test, so why don’t I base all these ‘mini-readings’ on this general theme: science, but written in a more general way, for the average person, and average learner of English!

So, this is the idea. Each of the next 24 posts will contain …

1    a small piece of writing based on science, or scientific analyses of the world (with six selected words underlined).

2    five questions (‘Question Time’) to test how well you have understood the text.

3    a list of those six words (from 1) (‘Word-Learning Time’).

The texts will start from easier (Pre-Intermediate level), and then slowly get harder, ending with Intermediate level – so it should be good for the average learner.

So, this is the beginning of the road [see the picture above]. The readings all begin with the next post.