Case study, then lessons learned

Mini case: From vague to precise in one week

Nipa prepares for an essay on urban problems. Her first draft says, Cities have many issues. After a week with this deck, she writes, Rapid urbanisation has raised the cost of living and widened the digital divide in low income wards. She practises audio lines nightly and records a 60 second summary on Sunday. Result: clearer claims, better collocations, and fewer filler words.

Lesson 1: Collocations drive clarity. Learn word pairs that natives use, reduce disparity, expand access, strengthen social cohesion.

Lesson 2: Audio fixes delivery. Short lines help you speak terms naturally in Part 2 and Part 3.

Deck items with Bangla gloss, collocations, and audio

social cohesion [সামাজিক সংহতি]
Collocations: build social cohesion, weaken social cohesion
Audio: Community projects build social cohesion across age groups.

inequality [বৈষম্য]
Collocations: income inequality, reduce inequality
Audio: A progressive tax can reduce inequality over time.

social mobility [সামাজিক উত্থান]
Meaning: movement between income or class groups over time.
Collocations: upward mobility, barriers to mobility
Audio: Affordable courses support upward mobility for workers.

urbanisation [নগরায়ণ]
Collocations: rapid urbanisation, pace of urbanisation
Audio: Rapid urbanisation strains water and transport systems.

cost of living [জীবনযাপনের খরচ]
Collocations: rising cost of living, cost of living crisis
Audio: The cost of living rose faster than wages last year.

digital divide [ডিজিটাল বিভাজন]
Collocations: bridge the digital divide, rural digital divide
Audio: Free hotspots help bridge the digital divide.

civic engagement [নাগরিক অংশগ্রহণ]
Collocations: encourage civic engagement, low civic engagement
Audio: Local forums encourage civic engagement on transport plans.

public policy [সার্বজনীন নীতি]
Collocations: evidence based policy, policy intervention
Audio: Evidence based policy targets real needs, not guesses.

safety net [সামাজিক সুরক্ষা]
Collocations: expand the safety net, safety net coverage
Audio: Vouchers expand the safety net for low income families.

demographic shift [জনমিতিক পরিবর্তন]
Collocations: ageing population, youth bulge
Audio: An ageing population increases health costs.

informal sector [অনানুষ্ঠানিক খাত]
Collocations: informal workers, formalisation of the economy
Audio: Many informal workers lack paid leave or insurance.

migration [অভিবাসন]
Collocations: rural to urban migration, labour migration
Audio: Rural to urban migration accelerates during droughts.

How to train the deck in Bangladesh

Daily loop - 8 minutes

1. Read 3 headwords with glosses.
2. Say one collocation for each.
3. Shadow the audio line twice, record once on your phone.
4. Write one sentence of your own.

Measured targets

• 15 items per week, 3 per day, review on day 6.
• One 60 second monologue on Sunday using at least 6 items.
• In writing, upgrade 4 vague phrases to precise collocations, for example help people to reduce inequality or expand the safety net.

Examples you can copy

Example 1, Writing Task 2
Weak: Government should solve city problems.
Better: To control congestion, evidence based policy should price peak hour parking and encourage civic engagement through pilot feedback sessions.

Example 2, Speaking Part 3
Strong: Rapid urbanisation raises the cost of living, but social cohesion projects like mixed income housing can soften the impact.

Mistakes to avoid

• Overusing rare terms without pairs. Learn reduce inequality before multidimensional deprivation.
• Translating whole sentences. Keep the Bangla gloss short, 1 to 3 words.
• Mixing similar ideas, inequality is an outcome, poverty is a condition.
• Vague statistics. Use careful phrases, small rise, remained stable, sharp fall, unless you have verified numbers.

Edge cases

• Regional wording: community clinic vs union health centre, note local names in brackets.
• Sensitive topics: use neutral tone for gender and migration.
• Data grammar: data are in formal reports, data is in everyday speech. Match the register to the task.

Quick sub deck for Part 2 stories

• community resilience [সম্প্রদায়ের স্থিতিস্থাপকতা]
  Collocations: build community resilience, resilience plan
  Audio: Early warnings build community resilience during floods.
• gender gap [লিঙ্গ বৈষম্য]
  Collocations: close the gender gap, gender gap in pay
  Audio: Training helped close the gender gap in promotion.

Template: Describe a local project that improved daily life. Say what changed, who benefited, and how results were measured.

Mini glossary

• Collocation: words that often appear together, reduce disparity, expand access.
• Shadowing: listen to a line, then repeat it immediately to copy rhythm.
• Social mobility: movement up or down between income or class groups.
• Demographic shift: long term change in population structure, age or location.
• Safety net: public support that protects people from sudden income loss.

Actionable closing
Pick 9 items from the deck. Make three cards per day with gloss, one collocation, and one audio line to shadow. Run the 8 minute loop and record a 60 second summary on Sunday. In your next essay or answer, replace two vague phrases with precise pairs, for example bridge the digital divide or expand the safety net.