Hello TingYan!
Thank you for sharing your lovely learning experience! I used to take the IELTS test as well in early 2015. I was a little bit disappointed about my first test result because the oral part (Speaking) was the weakest part of all. There was absolutely no learning environment for us to talk with people in English. All I could do was to watch some videos or broadcasts, and tried to repeat what they said immediately. However, it did not make me perform better. I still got a strong accent, tons of grammar mistakes, and tense errors. I remember the first time I was taking the IELTS oral test in Beijing, I was quite nervous to see the interviewer because she was the first real Canadian I have seen in my life! I tried my best to use a complete sentence to respond to every single question she asked me, but I got stucks frequently because I did not remember what is the meaning of the word “vulnerable”. I got so panic and I was shy to ask her what was the meaning of it, so I kept silent for about 1 min… my mind was completely blank at that time… Therefore, I only got 5 out of 9 in that test. If I used the learning social media tool you shared in your story, I think I would get more opportunities to improve my oral skill by learning new vocabulary and correct grammar. Now, I set my online name as “Vulnerable Heart” to force me to remember the shame I experienced, and try to learn different new vocabularies in my daily life!
Thank you for sharing your experience again!
Brian Cai
Her post link: https://tingyan.opened.ca/blog-1-learning-theories/