Maya's first presentation at work. Sixteen words that IELTS candidates often spell wrong — learned four at a time.
Let's start with the story. The highlighted words are the ones to learn. Read slowly. Press 🔊 to hear a part read aloud.
Six months into her new job, Maya was asked to give a presentation to the whole department. The idea terrified her. Although her English was now fluent, she worried about her pronunciation, and she knew that nerves could make her rush in front of an audience. A friend who had studied psychology told her that the fear of speaking publicly is one of the most common fears there is.
So Maya signed up for an evening course in public speaking — not exactly her idea of leisure, but she was determined. The group met on the twelfth floor of an old office building, and within the first hour she began to recognise her own habits in other people: speaking without pauses, swallowing the ends of sentences, and apologising before every point.
The tutor, a former actor, was calm and thoroughly professional. He showed them how to find the natural rhythm of a sentence and to stress only the words that mattered. When one student tried to interrupt him to ask whether notes were allowed, he smiled and said notes were fine, as long as nobody read from them. Maya realised that the others had fears very similar to her own, which was strangely comforting.
By the final week, the change in her delivery was noticeable. She made sure every example was relevant to the people listening, and she had learned to treat her accent as a strength rather than a weakness. On the day itself, the room felt oddly familiar, as if she had rehearsed the moment a hundred times — which, in a way, she had.
Why was Maya so nervous, and what actually helped her? Think of a time you had to speak in front of other people. What would you do differently now?
Each word is split into small parts. The yellow part is where people make mistakes. For each word: hear it → say it in parts → read the trick. Then press Hide the words and try to spell all four out loud.
Press 🔊, listen, read the clue, then type the word. If a letter is wrong, you will see which letters are already right. You get a second try before the answer appears.
In IELTS Listening, a correct word that is spelled wrongly scores zero. British and American spellings are both accepted — just be consistent.
Talk about a time you spoke in front of a group — at work, at school, or at a family event — or a time you would like to. Use at least five of the sixteen words. For two of them, spell the word out loud, part by part: "rhy – thm".
You are enrolling on an evening course. Press 🔊 and write the missing word in each gap. Then check.
1. Room location: the ______ floor
2. Guest talk: the ______ of fear
3. Main skill practised: speech ______
4. Final session: presenting to a live ______
5. Tutor: a former actor, now a ______ coach
1. twelfth · 2. psychology · 3. rhythm · 4. audience · 5. professional
Write four or five sentences: "Some people think that public speaking should be taught as a subject at school. To what extent do you agree or disagree?" Use and spell correctly: relevant, recognise, strength, whether.
Which helped you most today: hearing the word, seeing it in parts, or the memory trick? Which word is still the hardest for you — and what trick could you invent for it?