This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1575 Teachers vs Technology.
On IELTS, Part 1 Vocabulary and Ideas.
Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English.
Downloaded more than 35 million times with examiner-trained IELTS whiz Aubrey Carter and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer.
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On IELTS, you might get a question about modern technology and what it means for humans in the workplace or education.
But if you want to score high, you cannot repeat the same vocabulary.
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Hello, Aubrey.
How's it going today?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you?
Glad to be on the microphone.
We're getting into IELTS today.
So what are we talking about today on the show?
Well, I have a question for you to start us out.
Yes.
This is a very common topic on IELTS.
Which do you think is more important, Lindsay, teachers or technology?
That's a really tough question.
I'm not sure how you can even put the two against each other.
I think teachers with technology.
Can I say that?
Can we just say both?
Can we just have both, please?
Together, yeah.
But if I had to choose, obviously humans, I feel like still can do better than tech.
But it just depends on what you're trying to do, right?
Right.
Well, this is a very common topic on IELTS Speaking Part 3.
Writing test two, which makes sense because, as technology is becoming more useful in the classroom, this is on people's minds.
Like, is online education better?
How should education change?
So let's first share a couple of recent IELTS writing test two questions about this.
Do you want to share the first one?
Yeah, let's see what IELTS is asking here.
So IELTS asked.
As computers are being used more and more in education, there will soon be no role for the teacher in the classroom.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
IELTS loves to do this where it's sort of a hot take.
Provocative.
Yeah, provocative.
And then, oh, you know, to what extent do you agree or disagree?
So there's a statement here that a lot of people would disagree with.
Right.
And then your essay will be an argument essay presenting both sides.
It could be an opinion essay.
Really, you have the option there.
Sure.
But you need to make sure your opinion is clear as you answer that question.
And again, what you said is key, presenting both sides, right, is what we're doing here.
Yeah.
Well, it's interesting when the question is, to what extent do you agree or disagree?
You do have the option.
You could do an opinion essay where both body paragraphs share your own opinion.
You could also do an argument essay where you present both sides of the issue.
Okay.
So you do have options there.
I think it's much easier.
We recommend, in Three Keys IELTS, to write an argument essay in this type of situation, because it's easier to have your two body paragraphs to be different.
Come up with a strong idea, support it rather than another idea for your own opinion again.
So often if you have the option, it's better to go with an argument essay.
Okay, good to know.
So guys, if anything is confusing there, we go through all of that in our course, Three Keys Isles, allersenglish.com slash K-E-Y-S.
We take you through it step by step as you build the skills.
Right.
Absolutely.
Let me share another recent task.
To question was to what extent do you think technology should be used to replace traditional classroom teaching?
Again, this could be an opinion essay or an argument essay, right?
You could present both sides, but for both.
You would just want to make sure your opinion is very clear.
Yeah.
And these are pretty much the same question in a way, right?
They really are pretty much the same or similar question.
So we know that IELTS will ask provocative questions when it comes to technology and probably other topics too.
So let's get into this today.
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Yeah, you could also go to YouTube.
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That's the best place to leave a comment, I think.
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Yeah, totally.
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All right, so let's get into it, Aubrey.
Where shall we start today?
Okay, today you're going to learn high scoring vocabulary to tackle this topic.
This vocabulary will be useful on both speaking part three and writing task two.
And then hit follow because we're going to make this a two-part series.
In the next part, we'll do a brainstorm and share a Band 9 essay answering a question on this topic.
Okay.
So this is just part one of a two-part series.
So good to know.
So our first phrase here is synonyms for teacher.
Because one the trickiest things about an essay like this is you know you have teachers and technology and you can't say that word over and over and over and over.
You need synonyms, you need paraphrases, other ways to say that.
So what are some other ways students could say teacher yeah, good question.
Educator, right.
Instructor, mentor yes.
Our listeners might think professor, but professor is specific to college or graduate school professors, right.
That's true.
At least in the United States, professor wouldn't be a direct synonym to teachers in general right.
Good point.
And it's interesting, often as you're writing, we talk about this a lot, but you're paraphrasing.
You can often use a pronoun if the subject is already clear.
So just be sure that you don't write teacher and then teachers and teachers also, right?
You cannot have that vocabulary repetition to score seven or higher.
Yeah, we have to have lots of options for many words.
Like technology is another one, right?
What are some other ways we could say technology?
Yeah, this is tricky, but you can say online learning systems, digital tools, and you want to be specific whenever possible, right?
If you mean AI platforms, say that, or assessment automation, say that.
Don't just, again, have this general blanket term technology.
Okay, good.
And then we need words for Comparing teachers and technology.
So how would we do that, Aubrey?
What are some options?
Yeah, and these are some band nine phrases.
The first one is pedagogical expertise.
So this is deep knowledge of teaching methods.
So this is interesting because like you said, Lindsay, you may want to say both.
And you certainly could.
You could say my opinion is both are needed, but you still need this high scoring vocabulary to be comparing and contrasting and defending that argument.
Oh, for sure.
For sure.
So good, really high level vocabulary, pedagogical, right?
Really good one.
Or individualized guidance might be a phrase we might use when we talk about support tailored to a student's needs.
Just a different way of saying things, guys.
Yes.
Right.
A higher scoring because it's less common.
Right.
These impressive words that will boost your vocab score.
So here's an example of something that might be in a part three answer for speaking or a task to essay.
Educators provide pedagogical expertise and individualized guidance that technology cannot fully replicate.
That is full of band nine vocabulary.
Right.
The band five band six would be like teachers.
You know, teach individuals in a way that technology can't replace, something like that.
You need to up-level that vocabulary.
Yeah, if you wanna walk out with a seven or higher I mean, a nine would be amazing for writing right.
But even just a seven or higher.
You can't just be repeating the same everyday words every other student is going to use on this essay.
Okay,
Exactly, exactly.
And another phrase we want to teach here, because you often, I think the best answer really can be, both are needed.
And a great phrase here is complement rather than replace, right?
This is a verb that's not that common, right?
To say technology can complement something teaching you know or an instructor and then also enhance or augment these are both bad nine verbs that mean improve traditional instruction.
I love that.
So, for example, technology can augment traditional instruction but cannot replace the role of teachers, and i think this is probably the argument that a lot of people are going to be making on this question.
Right?
Yeah, definitely.
So then we have, of course, advantages of teachers over technology.
Some things you might think of in your brainstorm, but you must have this vocabulary to be able to say it.
Emotional intelligence, context-sensitive teaching.
So imagine you're teaching all of these different students and they're all from different backgrounds.
And teachers can be sensitive to a lot of those types of contexts in a way that technology can't.
Right, so you're talking about culture, history, things like that, right?
Yeah, students with special needs, right?
Imagine a student with autism might have a lot of difficulty with technology that is not able to interact and understand how to respond.
Yeah, so for example, an educator's emotional intelligence allows for context-sensitive teaching.
Yes.
All right.
Good.
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All right, so Aubrey, next bucket of options here.
What is it, Aubrey?
All right, so you may.
Especially if you write an argument essay, you are going to need to talk about the advantages technology presents over teachers, right?
Yeah.
So for example, the word scalability.
This is the ability to reach large numbers.
So imagine, an online course with prerecorded videos is very scalable compared to an actual instructor.
Yes, this is this word, uh, scalability or to scale is used a lot in technology.
So we need that cost effective solutions, right?
And somebody that is scalable is cost effective, right?
Exactly.
And wider accessibility.
So these are terms that you would want to use when describing Some of the ways that technology can do things teachers a live, real teacher would not be able to do.
Yeah.
What does an example look like here, Aubrey?
Yeah.
Technology offers scalable and cost-effective solutions for expanding access to education.
Yes.
And Aubrey, what should we know about a topic like this?
Yeah.
So as we said, you may feel the best approach is a blend of both rather than one or the other.
This is interesting because if you are writing an opinion essay, both paragraphs could be how a blend of both is ideal.
If, writing an argument essay, you're going to share one side and then your opinion that a blend of both.
You can also write an argument essay where it just shares both sides, right?
One side that technology should replace traditional education, and the other side being that traditional education is paramount to technology.
So for that paragraph, if you decide to talk about a blend being the best approach, what are some phrases that would be helpful Lindsay?
Yeah.
So a blended approach is a phrase that could be helpful or integrated.
This is when things are brought together.
Right, Aubrey?
So, for example, a blended approach that integrates technology with teacher led instruction is the most effective model.
Nice.
So I love how today we've gone through lots of options.
There's probably a good chance that our listeners will get a technology, modern technology question, because it's on all of our minds anyways.
Yes, right.
It is in the zeitgeist.
It's being spoken about.
You might get a question on speaking part three and a writing test to essay.
That would be crazy, but it definitely could happen.
So it's an opportunity really, because you're probably already talking about this with your friends.
You're probably listening to podcasts about it.
So this is not just out of the blue, something you will have never thought about.
But are those conversations happening in English or in your first language?
You need to make sure you have the vocabulary in English and are able to, you know, talk about this fluently and effectively and explain your position clearly on both IELTS writing and speaking.
Yes, that's it.
All right.
We are out of time for today.
Guys, hit the follow button right here on the show to make sure you don't miss a single episode.
Or go over to YouTube and hit subscribe to follow us on YouTube, if that's how you prefer to learn.
All right.
Yes, and be sure to hit follow for part two of this series.
We are going to give you a brainstorm and a full band nine task two essay for this topic.
Sounds good.
Looking forward to that episode, Aubrey.
All right.
Awesome.
See you next time.
Bye.
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