Someone sent me a link to someone else advertising IELTS classes. A well meaning person who thought I should advertise like that to get more students.
The said advertisement guaranteed good results and shared students’ messages to the teacher that relayed they had scored 6.5 or higher in the exam. That was the teacher’s version of testimonials.
Here is the thing:
I can share messages like that too.
In every batch, about 10 percent of students will get 6.5 or higher, in my experience. That is because they were already competent in the language when they joined the class. I can share their feedback too, and claim it’s all due to me.

I won’t however, because it isn’t the truth.
The average Sri Lankan has a very poor level of English. In a two month IELTS course, there is no way I can bring them up to 6.5.
If they study with me for two years or more, then yes, I can.
Even that is not guaranteed, as the students have to do a lot of work on their own apart from what I teach. If you take a region like Jaffna, people never hear English used around them in daily life. And if they are not in the habit of watching movies, reading books, travelling or interacting with English speakers from outside the region – which most of them are not – even studying with me is not going to be fully effective.
You can’t learn a language solely in the classroom. That’s not how it works. I have managed to do this only in a few instances; when I taught intensive courses, where the students were with me four hours a day, three days a week over four months. Because I had a captive audience for that many hours a day, I was able to ensure they read books, and watched movies for part of the class apart from textbook activities. They picked up rapidly.
Students who came in barely speaking English and certainly not writing it, went out speaking fluently, conducting vibrant debates, storytelling. public speaking, essay writing… the works. Even I was astounded by how fast they developed.

When I tried to replicate it via zoom during covid however, I failed with quite a few. (Also was successful with a few – but it was at best 50:50). Because the classes were only 1.5 hours each over the weekend. I taught the textbook basics and urged them to watch movies and read books on their own. Even took the trouble to search out cartoons and children’s movies as well as graded readers suitable to their level and sent them the links. The students who diligently followed those links picked up rapidly. But that was often less than 50 percent of the class. Most lack the discipline to follow through and so were not as successful.

Sri Lankans, especially the kind of students I get from my area who are monolingual, also have a very poor understanding of how to pick up a new language. I keep telling them it is not a classroom activity and they have to put in the work to interact with the language in order to learn it.

1. Their access to such measures are poor in these regions. Especially speaking. I do have speaking activities in my classes but not enough; only a couple of hours over the weekends is not enough.
   For this reason, I recently arranged for volunteers to come speak to my students regularly. Again less than 50 percent of my classes utilize this free opportunity. Those who do are developing fast.
   And those who don’t are getting left far behind. I often think of the adage, “You can take a horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink” with my students.
2. Which leads to my next point; Discipline and the willingness to work hard. Sorry to say, but many Sri Lankan students just want a certificate to prove they studied without the willingness to work for it, or indeed, even an interest in acquiring the knowledge associated with it.
   All they care about is which teacher is capable of getting them the target marks with the least effort possible on their side.
   I am getting distinctly nervous with the number of doctors, engineers and lawyers asking me if there is a way to bribe IELTS examiners or for me to leak the paper in advance.
   If this is how they qualified in their professions, we are in serious trouble.
3. Reading: this seems to be a distinctly Jaffna phenomenon – most of my students from around here are actively allergic to the concept of reading. You can’t develop a language, especially the vocabulary, grammar and spelling for writing, to the high level required in IELTS, without reading. I have had students fluently able to speak because they studied in international schools or watched movies etc – but were weak in writing, yet stubbornly resisted reading, despite all my efforts to make it interesting for them.The only advice I can give Jaffna parents is to get over your phobia of reading—many of you are beating it out of your children if they develop the habit on their own.Inculcate reading as a habit in your children if you want them to learn other languages well. Indeed, even to learn your own language well. It is near impossible to get adults prejudiced against reading, as in Jaffna, to form the habit late in life. And they lose out on a lot because of it.
4. Don’t fall for comforting lies. Sri Lankans are easy to fool. I often think I should lay out a mat with a parrot by my side and do astrological readings for a tidy sum. No matter what lies I tell and whatever predictions prove false in the future, you’ll never demand your money back. Indeed, you will keep coming back for more.I am noticing this phenomenon with IELTS teachers now.If a student gets the target band of 6.5 or higher, it’s because the teacher is a genius. If the student doesn’t however, it is all the student’s fault. They were too dumb.

None of you are dumb but you do have some dumb community wide attitudes and practices when it comes to getting an IELTS certificate. So here’s some free advice, uncomfortable though it may be: Investigate methods of language acquisition, take the time to follow it, work hard, and you will get your certificates.

You can’t bribe the examiners, and there are no shortcuts. Do the work.