“The number of” is a singular subject so the verb should be “has” 🙌🏻

@@myieltsclassroom Thank you. You are definitely right.

Hey Aldo. If you are working with low-level learners ie students who are A2 or Low B1 then giving them simple structures like this could help them to move to a 5.0. However for higher level learners, fixed structures are not what examiners are look8!( for. Nobody would speak like this naturally (Why would you need to give “proof” of your own childhood? That makes no sense at all). Maybe for ONE question that could be a possible answer but I am looking for students who can speak naturally and offer mixed responses to questions. It would be better to teach your students a range of structure which they can use flexibly based on what they want to convey 🙌🏻

You can find the address on the blog post that is linked in the comments below the video 🙌🏻

You can use all capitals in writing. Although if you are still doing the paper-based test, you may find it takes a long time to write in all capitals.

Hey. Thanks for your comment. What we are looking for is not "idioms" like "a picture is worth a thousand words" (which you have correctly identified as usually being informal) but "idiomatic language" i.e. any words or group of words that have a meaning beyond their literal translation. In other words, language that shows an ability to describe concepts and ideas beyond a description of the world around us. A good example would be using a phrase like "on the verge of extinction" in an essay about wildlife, or "get into debt" in an essay about money education. I would say that you are a high-level student, you would use these naturally context without explicitly thinking about it (as they allow you to give precise meaning). Where many low-level students go wrong is trying to learn generic "idioms" that they can put into ANY essay (which almost never sound correct in context and do not actually add to your score). Nick and I discuss idioms in a fairly recent podcast. I haven't written a blog post to accompany the lesson yet, but you can find the episode on this link: myieltsclassroom.buzzsprout.com (just scroll down to May 23 2023). I hope this helps, Shelly

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment - it means a lot :)

You're welcome 😊

Hey Mariana - thanks for your comment. The lesson you watched was taken from our 10-hour Task 1 course. I made the first 4 lessons free (there are 22 in total) but the rest, including the lesson on how to find key features, are part of our paid content, which you can find at www.myieltsclassroom.com. Just let me now if you have any other questions, Shelly

Hey Reem - thank you so much for your kind message. We have more lessons about punctuation on our blog, which you can find here: blog.myieltsclassroom.com. Keep working hard!

Hey. Thanks for your question. Yes, it is wrong. There are two verbs in English “raise” and “rise”. You have chosen the verb “rise” but we NEVER use an object with this verb so you can NEVER use it in the passive form. For example, there is no passive form for this sentence “The sun rises” as it does not have an object. If you use the verb “raise” your sentence is correct. “Prices were raised by the government”. I hope this helps (but Google “intransitive verbs” if you want more help).

Hey - you will need to send the email to your test centre (rather than to IDP head office).

@@myieltsclassroom thanks a lot it helped

That is such a kind comment - thank you so much 🙌