This podcast will teach you nine new idioms. The nine idioms it will teach you are:

1. there are many ways to skin a cat
2. a hard nut to crack
3. having a coffee
4. bite your nose off to spite your face
5. shoot yourself in the foot
6. go the extra mile
7. kill two birds with one stone
8. give it a shot
9. It’s not rocket science.

There are many ways to skin a cat. That is to say, there are many ways to approach a speaking exam. However, to get the band score you need in IELTS it’s important to learn the skills the examiners are looking for.

So, what skills are the examiners looking for? Firstly, connectives. Connectives are linking words that make your speech more fluent. For instance, to be honest. To be honest is a connective, a linking phrase. Linking phrases can be a hard nut to crack, so its important to learn them and practise using them. It’s not rocket science.

The second skill you should use are idioms. Idioms will give you a higher band score. Today I was having coffee with a friend and he used three idioms naturally. In fact, he didn’t even know he had used them. He said he was over the moon. He meant he was ‘very happy.’ Another ‘moon’ idiom you can use is once in a blue moon which means rarely. So, we might say, I eat ice cream once in a blue moon. This means you don’t eat ice cream very often. You eat ice cream rarely. My friend also said if he leaves his job before he has found a new one, it would be biting his nose off to spite his face. Spite means hate. So, if you bite your nose off to spite your face, it means you doing something to hurt yourself. A bit like shooting yourself in the foot. 

One of my students shot himself in the foot once, because he used his phone during in the exam to try to cheat. But the examiner saw him, and he failed. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

Idioms are hard to use, because you have to learn them and practise using them. You should really try and go the extra mile with idioms, because they will help you get a higher band score.

Do you need help with your IELTS speaking practise? Why not book a lesson with me: Teacher Steve. I can do a mock test with you, so you can kill two birds with one stone. That is, you can get some exam practise, and you can practise the linking phrases and idioms you have learned.

Remember, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Learning English idioms isn’t rocket science, so why not book a lesson with me. Go on, give it a shot!