IELTS Speaking

How to answer the Introduction Questions in IELTS Speaking

By ielts-jonathan.com on 7 April 2022 0

What are Introduction Questions in the Speaking Test?

The introductory questions that the examiner uses to check who you are, your nationality and your ID.

These are the questions that must be asked by the examiner because there is a script to follow.

The questions don’t form part of the IELTS test, and shouldn’t be assessed but mistakes here can make the test a bit more difficult for the you the candidate.

Mistakes students make in the IELTS Speaking Test

A big mistake I have seen in the speaking test is students not knowing exactly when the test begins and when the speaking assessment starts.

This creates lots of problems for students such as being confused or shocked that the examiner interrupts them when they are speaking.

The examiner only has a limited amount of time to read the introduction script and then start the test.

The biggest issue though is the first impression students give to the examiner, namely a poor impression.

At this stage, you should only confirm the information asked

You can use this as a warm up – to show the examiner you are friendly and they are hopefully the same. but don’t ramble, and don’t talk about something different to the direct question your asked.

What you should say in the introduction stage

Give short, but concise answers only.

If you a native speaker, don’t give the bare minimum, but extend your answer a little bit more than you would naturally.

If you not a native speaker, don’t try to hard and don’t overextend your response.

Save this for the Part 1 and Part 3 of the test.

How to practice

Look at these Introduction questions that happen at the start of the Speaking Test.

Could you give good answers to these questions?

Which ones are part of the introduction to the test and which could come from Part 1 of the IELTS test?

What is you (full) name?

Could you tell me your full name please?

What shall I call you?

How can I address you?
Does your name have any special meaning?
Is your name important to you?
Do Korean/Chinese (your nationality) people like changing their name? Why?
Have you ever changed your name? Why or why not?
Why do so many people change their name?
Do you work or study?

What are the right or wrong ways to answer?

Well, if truth be told there is no right or wrong way to answer. It depends on you, your level and your confidence.

If you can only answer Yes or No, then the examiners impression of you speaking will start of low.

If you ramble and go off topic, you will also create a bad impression.

Remember, that this part of the test is not assessed, but a bad impression will mean you have to work much harder in the assessed sections of the IELTS test.

Try those questions again and follow these examples.

They are full answers, but in my opinion, they are not too long.

Could you tell me your full name, please?

Yes, My full name is Yi Ming Chau

How can I address you?

erm, You can call me Maggie, that’s my English name.

Do you work or study?

Well, at the moment I am studying here in Cambridge, but I also have a part-time job.

Where do you come from?

I come from Chendung, which is district Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, Northwest China.

Finally,

Once the exam begins, it is your task to develop and extend your answers to the examiner’s questions.

This will reflect you language fluency, range, ability and accuracy and give the examiner the opportunity to access your language skills fully – which will result in a higher Band Score.

You can use tips and information on this website to help make it easier to obtain a higher score, but remember you still need to work at learning the language to be successful.

Share to someone you know and in the meantime take a look at my Facebook Page and Website for IELTS answers and you can also join my Facebook Group here too.

Good Luck

Jonathan

I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

What to expect in IELTS Speaking Part 1 of the IELTS Test

By ielts-jonathan.com on 20 February 2022

How to answer Part 1, Practice Cards and Marking Criteria

As soon as the examiner says, ‘Good morning’ or ‘Good Afternoon’, the assessment in the speaking test begins.

It’s only natural to be nervous at this stage of the test, after all both the candidate and the examiner have only just met and are still assessing each other as individuals.

In many ways, IELTS speaking part 1 should be the easiest and least stressful part of the test but too often its not!

Candidates may speak too quickly, may hesitate too much or misunderstand the questions, can be sharply interrupted by the examiner or simply asked ‘why’ or ‘why not’.

All of these add to the pressure of the test!

Thankfully this unnecessary stress can usually be avoided by remembering a few basic rules and being aware of the assessment in this part of the IELTS test.

How to Respond and Practice for an IELTS Task 1 question

Part 1 questions consist of basic questions around mostly common but sometimes unusual topic areas.

Small talk

They can be compared to the kind of questions you might ask if you’re trying to get to know somebody.

The questions often generate short answer responses such as ‘yes’ and ‘no’ or nouns and noun phrases like ‘my mother’ ‘blue’ and ‘I was seven’.

Extending you answer

While it is perfectly natural to give short answers in ‘small talk’ or the ‘getting to know you stage‘, a mistake that’s often made is to give the most basic answer possible when it’s important to extend the answer.

If your answer is too short, the examiner will quickly ask you ‘why’ or ‘why not’.

This gets you, the candidate, to think more fully about the answers you could give.

Extending your answer in a normal conversation shows that you are interested.

Extending your answer displays the language you are capable of producing.

To do this in the speaking test you should typically extend your answer from 5 to 10 seconds, but not much more.

Answers that are very long or change the topic are not natural.

You also need to give the examiners the opportunity to ask a variety of questions.

Speaking for too long in ‘small talk’ has a negative effect and answers which change topic or are over-extended are quickly interrupted, so don’t try to speak for too long in Part 1.

Remember, this part of the test is

to make your feel comfortable
give the examiners a chance to think about your basic language level
and mimics ‘small talk‘.

Look at these examples and notice how the answer displays your language ability without having a negative effect.

Do you read magazines?

I used to read magazines when I was younger, but now, with social media, I tend to read articles I find online. It’s easier to find something interesting to read and cheaper too.

Who taught you to read?

It was my mother who taught me to read in English. She would read English sentences to me and then I would read back to her. Of course, she taught me some Thai, but I learnt to read Thai properly at school.

When did you starting learning English?

I started learning English by myself using YouTube, but before that I had basic English lessons at school in year 5, so I was about 7.

What’s your favourite colour?

Oh, my favourite colour is blue, dark blue. It’s my favourite colour because it reminds me of the sea and the sky. It’s also a very calming colour which I like to wear. It makes me feel confident.

How to practice for Part 1 Speaking

You an practice by yourself or with partner to get some feedback.

Remember when practicing, it’s even better if you can record yourself to notice the language you use and any errors you make!

I use Flipgrid in my classes.

‘Flipgrid is a free video discussion platform from Microsoft where you can post discussion prompts and students respond with short videos, whether they are learning in class or at home.‘

It’s free and fun!

IELTS Speaking Criteria Explained

If you want to get a high score in the IELTS Speaking test, it is very important to understand how you will be assessed. This will help you to improve your speaking performance and maximise your score.

How are you assessed in the IELTS speaking test?

There are four IELTS speaking criteria:

Fluency and Coherence (FC)
Lexical Resource (LR)
Grammatical Range and Accuracy (GRA)
Pronunciation (P)

These four IELTS speaking criteria each relate to a different area of your spoken English skills:

Fluency and Coherence

How easy is it for you to keep speaking?
Do you pause or hesitate often when speaking?
Do your ideas relate to the question?
Can you link your ideas together?
Can you explain what you mean, even if you forget the right word?

Lexical Resource

How wide is your vocabulary?
How accurately do you use words?
Do you use collocations accurately?
Do you use some less common words?

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Do you use a range of structures?
Do you get the word order right?
Do you use the right tense?
How often do you make mistakes?
Do your mistakes make it difficult to understand what you mean?

Pronunciation

Do you speak clearly?
How easy are you to understand?
Do you use stress and intonation accurately?
Do you use connected speech / link your words together?

You are given a band score in each of the four areas based on your performance across the whole speaking test.

It works like this:

A band score award in Fluency and Cohesion at 7, in Lexical Resource at 7, in Grammatical Range and Accuracy at 7 and in Pronunciation at 7 would give an overall IELTS Speaking Band Score of 7.

Here’s another example.

A band score award of 7, 7, 8 and 8 results in an overall IELTS Speaking Band Score of 7.5.

Likewise a band score award of 7, 7, 6 and 6 results in an overall IELTS Speaking Band Score of 6.5.

So, if you want to get Band 7 for speaking then you need to get 7 in each of the four IELTS speaking criteria.

Review of Part 1 Speaking Tips

So to recap, my Top Tips are:

Understand what’s being assessed and prepare for short conversational length answers
If you don’t understand, make that clear. ‘Sorry, could you say that again please?
If the examiner asks why or why not. Your answer probably wasn’t complete enough
Don’t speak to quickly; it’s not a race to see how many questions you can answer!
If you need to think, using fillers allows for thinking time.

So, now you have a better idea of this part of the Speaking test, take a look at the most common categories below, and common topic related questions.

Practice them, and why not try using Flipgrid to improve your performance and your confidence.

Finally, there are some more challenging Task 1 questions at the end and links to some possible answers.

You can find plenty of other examples online, but be careful that they are realistic types of IELTS speaking questions.

IELTS Speaking Part 1 Questions

Reading
Television
Work
Family
Sports
Animals
Technology
Communication
Health
Food
Travel

Decisions and choices

Do you always make good decisions
Do people find it easy to make choices in their daily life
Have you regretted making a bad decision
What would you do if you made a bad decision at work or school

Reading

Do you like to read?
What types of things do you like to read?
Where do you enjoy reading the most?
How often do you read a newspaper?
When was the last time you read a magazine?
Who taught you to read?
Do you have a favourite writer or book?
What do you think about comic books?
Is reading a popular activity in your country?
Why do you like reading?

Television

Do you watch a lot of television?
What programs do you enjoy the most? Why?
Are there any programs that you dislike? Why?
Which programs are the most popular with teenagers in your country?
When was the last time you watched a cartoon?
Are cartoons well-liked in your country?
How often do you watch TV for the news or weather?
Did you watch a lot of TV when you were a child?
Did many of your friends have a TV in their bedroom?
Does watching TV help you learn English?

Work

Do you have a job?
How far away is your workplace from your home?
How long have you had this job?
Did you have a part-time job when you were a child?
What jobs do your parents have?
What job do you think would be the most difficult?
What do workers in your country like to do to relax after their workday?
What career did you want when you were younger?
Did you ever do charity work?
What careers pay the highest salaries in your country?

Family

How many people are there in your family?
Do you live with your family?
Did you spend a lot of time with your family when you were a child?
Who are you closest to in your family?
Do you prefer spending time with family or with friends?
What things does your family do together?
Did your parents ever have any hobbies when you were a child?
Is family important in your country?
Who cooks in your family?
Where was the last place that you visited with your family?

Sports

Do you do any kind of exercise?
How often do you exercise or play sports?
What kind of sports did you participate in when you were a child?
Do you prefer to watch or play sports?
What are the most popular sports among people in your country?
What kind of sport would you like to try in the future?
Do people in your country exercise more nowadays than they did in the past?
Do you prefer team sports (football, volleyball, etc.) or individual sports (tennis, running, etc.)
Are there many places to exercise in your hometown?
Is swimming popular in your country?

Animals

Do you like animals?
What is your favourite animal?
Did you like the same animal when you were a child?
Have you ever had a pet?
Which animals make the most popular pets in your country?
Why do people like to keep pets?
Which animals are important in your culture?
Are there any animals that you are scared of?
Would you like to own an unusual pet like a snake or a spider?
Have you ever visited a zoo or wildlife reservation before?

Technology

How often do you use a computer?
Do you use a computer more for work, or for entertainment?
Do you prefer to watch movies on a computer or in a cinema?
How old were you when you got your first cell phone?
How old were you when you got your first computer?
Do you prefer to read from a book or on an e-reader?
Did you ever use a computer to look up words in a dictionary?
Who taught you how to use a computer?
Do you usually use a camera or a cell phone to take pictures?
Is there anything you don’t like about using a computer?

Communication

Is it necessary these days for children to develop good handwriting skills?
What kinds of communication are necessary at work?
What are the benefits of reading books?
Why are communication skills important?
When you meet with your friends, what do you normally talk about?
How do you usually keep in touch with members of your family?
Do you prefer to speak to people by phone, by writing emails or sending text messages?
Do you ever write letters by hand?
Is there anything you dislike about smartphones?
Do you think young children should learn to speak a foreign language at school?

Health

Do you have any unhealthy habits?
In what ways do you try to stay healthy?
Is it easy to keep fit where you live?
What do you think is more important, eating healthily or doing exercise?
What are the health benefits of playing a sport?
What is your favourite food to eat when you’re sick?
What advice would you give to someone else to improve their heath?
What is your favourite healthy food? Why do you like it?
Where are the best places to exercise in the area where you live?
Have you ever taken an exercise class at a gym or fitness centre? Did you like it?

Travel

Do you like to travel?
What kinds of places have you visited in your life?
What places would you like to visit? Why?
What’s the best place you’ve ever visited?
How do you prefer to travel on long journeys?
Do you prefer to travel with family or friends? Why?
Do you like to stay in hotels?
What is the best part about traveling to a new place?
Is there a place that you do not want to visit?
Do you think it is important to try the local cuisine when traveling to a new place?

Being on Time and Punctuality

Think about these questions, what answer can you give,

How do you remind yourself to be on time?
Why are some people always late?
Do you think it is important to be punctual?
What will you do if you are waiting for someone?
Do you think people these days are as punctual as they were in the past?

Space Travel

Think about these questions, what answer can you give,

Do you want to travel in the outer space?
What would you do if you had that opportunity?
Do you think it’s necessary to see other planets?
When was the latest time you went travelling?
Do you like to travel by air?

Plants and Gardening

Think about these questions, what answer can you give,

Do you keep plants at home?
Did you grow any plants when you were young?
Do you know anything about growing a plant?
Do people from your culture send plants as gifts?

Studying

Think about these questions, what answer can you give,

What time do you like to study?
What’s the best time for you to study?
Do you like to study alone or with your friends?
Who do you usually study with?

Foreign Food

Think about these questions, what answer can you give,

Have you ever tried foreign food?
Do you like to try new food?
What kinds of new food have you tried recently?
What kinds of foreign food are popular in your country?
Do you like any food from the countries near your country?

Children and Money

Think about these questions, what answer can you give,

Did you save money when you were young?
Have you ever given money to other children?
Do you think parents should teach children to save money?
Do parents give children pocket money in your culture?

I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

How to perform better in Speaking Part 3 of the IELTS Test

By ielts-jonathan.com on 16 February 2022

IELTS Part 3 Practice Cards and Marking Criteria helping you to do better

Nobody likes being asked complicated questions under pressure!

Part 3 of the speaking test can feel very much like that, so I’ve written some practice cards which cover recent or popular IELTS Part 3 topics.

In my experience, I have found that these can help students perform better.

Being familiar with some of these can help prepare you Part 3 types of question.

Having said that, awareness of assessment is as important as the content in the speaking test, so I’ve made a checklist for the marking criteria too.

You can practice these questions by yourself, but it is better to practice with a partner or a teacher.

You can record yourself with or without a partner, using Flipgrid and compare and comment on each other’s answers.

Remember you need to practice the four Speaking Band scores

IELTS Speaking Criteria Explained

How are you assessed in the IELTS speaking test?

There are four IELTS speaking criteria:

Fluency and Coherence (FC)
Lexical Resource (LR)
Grammatical Range and Accuracy (GRA)
Pronunciation (P)

These four IELTS speaking criteria each relate to a different area of your spoken English skills:

Fluency and Coherence

How easy is it for you to keep speaking?
Do you pause or hesitate often when speaking?
Do your ideas relate to the question?
Can you link your ideas together?
Can you explain what you mean, even if you forget the right word?

Lexical Resource

How wide is your vocabulary?
How accurately do you use words?
Do you use collocations accurately?
Do you use some less common words?

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Do you use a range of structures?
Do you get the word order right?
Do you use the right tense?
How often do you make mistakes?
Do your mistakes make it difficult to understand what you mean?

Pronunciation

Do you speak clearly?
How easy are you to understand?
Do you use stress and intonation accurately?
Do you use connected speech / link your words together?

You will be given a band score in each of the four areas based on your performance across the whole speaking test. This is then calculated to give you a score across all the four bands.

For example;

FC 7, LR 7, GRA 7, PRON 7 would give you an overall IELTS Speaking Band Score of 7 but

FC 7, LR 7, GRA 6, PRON 7 gives an overall IELTS Speaking Band Score of 6.5.

So, if you want to get Band 7 for speaking then you need to get 7 in each of the four IELTS speaking criteria.

Remember when practicing, it’s even better if you can record yourself to notice the language you use and any errors you make!

Other Speaking Guides

Complete Guide to Speaking

101 Task 2 Speaking Questions

101 Task 1 Speaking Questions

How to Respond and Practice for an IELTS Task 3 question

Part 3 questions consist of a two-way discussion area that develop from the IELTS task 2 prompt you were given.

The examiner will ask between 3 and 6 questions from 2 sets of question banks.

Although IELTS Part 3 is a conversation, the examiner will still expect you to speak in some detail around the topic prompts. Typically, this section lasts between 4 to 5 minutes and is an extension of IELTS Task 2.

These kind of question won’t allow you to give short answers but will require a more developed response. Still, a mistake often made, especially by native speakers, is to give the most basic answer possible when it’s important to display the language you are capable of.

If the examiner believes that you have not attempted a developed answer, or believes you are capable of higher-level language, the examiner might ask ‘Why?’ or ‘How is that so?’

Not answering, or providing language that only displays low-level grammar and vocabulary can mean that three of the IELTS Band Scores could could be penalised.

Things to be aware of

There is no chance to plan you answer
but you have more time to provide an answer
If you naturally speak quickly, slow down a little
Self-correction is perfectly fine and so is reformulation of a sentence or phrase

Remember, this part of the test is

to demonstrate your fluency and coherence
and display complex language and high-level vocabulary
give the examiners the opportunity to make conclusions about the level of language you are using
you can use intonation to make your delivery more interesting
Give yourself extra time with fillers, such as ‘erm’, ‘let me think’
Don’t let the examiner ask ‘why?’. Give a response, an explanation and an example and keep speaking until they say ‘ Thank you’.

Look at these examples and notice how the answer displays your language ability without having a negative effect.

Do you think it is important to be good at reading? Why?

‘Oh, Reading is very important! Reading provides opportunities and knowledge, it gives access to a number of important things like education and work opportunities. You know, if somebody is illiterate or not very good at reading, they are generally limited in their life chances, they’re limited to agriculture or manual work. I know there are exceptions of illiterate people who have become successful, but being able to read means you can understand and learn without a teacher, you can get knowledge from books and the internet, can have a profession, read contracts, open bank accounts. I think education should fully encourage people to be ‘good’ readers.’

Top Tips

Understand what’s being assessed and prepare to give a longer answer
Listen carefully. The question may be quite simple but is usually just worded differently.
If you don’t understand, say so. ‘Sorry I didn’t catch your meaning, can you repeat that?’
If you pause to think, use fillers to allow thinking time
Remember, a full answer will mean fewer questions

IELTS Speaking Part 3 Topic areas

Reading
Television
Work
Family
Sports
Animals
Technology
Communication
Health
Travel

IELTS Discussion questions

Choices and Decisions

What type of decisions do people have to make every day?
What‘s the best kind of person to advise teenagers before they make big decisions?
What should people do if they realise they’ve made a bad decision?
Do you think it’s easier to make a decision as an individual or as a group?
What do people need to do to reach a good decision as a group?
Do you think that if individuals disagree with a group decision they should say something?
Do people learn more from the consequences of making a good or a bad decision?
Is it better when making decisions to spend time weighing up the consequences rather than relying on feelings?
Apart from politicians, who should make decisions which have far reaching consequences for society?

Television

Do you think watching television is a good hobby to have?
What benefits does watching TV bring to a person?
How do the shows that are popular now compare to those that were popular ten years ago?
Do the internet and smartphones mean that TV is no longer necessary?
Do you think television actors and actresses get too much attention?
Is it important to be handsome or beautiful to become famous on TV?
What are the disadvantages of being a television or film celebrity?
Should parents encourage their children to be famous on television?

Reading

Where do children in your country usually learn to read?
What types of stories are children first taught to read?
Do boys and girls in your country like to read the same types of things?
Why do some children have difficulty learning to read?
Do you think it is important to be good at reading? Why?
Has modern technology helped people read more or less?
What jobs can people get it they are unable to read or write?
Are there any benefits to reading comic books? What are they?

Work

What jobs should pay a high salary?
What influences a person’s career choice?
Why do some people choose to do jobs that are dangerous?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of owning your own business?
What jobs are less common in your country now as compared to 20 years ago?
Is it always important to get good marks in school to earn a high salary?
Some people say that parents should choose their children’s career. Do you agree?
What jobs do you think will be popular in the future?

Family

In what ways have families in your country changed in recent years?
Should husbands and wives have different roles within the family? Why/why not?
What role do grandparents play in the family in your country?
Who do you think should be responsible for the care of the elderly – government or family?
In your country, what sort of things do people do together as a family?
What do you think the benefits are of doing things together as a family?
What are the main reasons why people organize family parties in your country?
In terms of personality, are people more influenced by their family or friends?

Sports

Do you think people in your country get enough exercise?
How can we encourage young people to do exercise more and play sports?
Do you think physical education and sports should play a part in school?
Do you think it’s better for boys and girls to play sports together or separately?
How important is it for the government to invest money in training athletes?
Do you think sports stars are paid more money than they deserve?
Who do some people enjoy participating in sports more than others do?
Is it important that athletes try to be good role models for young people?

Communication

Do you think men and women communicate differently?
Why do you think people spend so much money buying the latest devices?
How well can a picture communicate something?
Does a university education improve a person’s ability to communicate effectively?
Do people in your country use body language?
What means of communication are best for sharing bad news?
What changes have you experienced in the way young people communicate in recent years?
Compare the advantages and disadvantages of text messaging as a means of communication.

Animals

Do you think people spend too much time and money on pets?
What types of things do people like to do with pets in your country?
Are there laws that protect animals in your country? Can you give an example?
What is the best way for children to learn about animals and protecting animals?
Why do people like to visit zoos and watch programs about animals on TV?
Why is it important for animals and their habitats to be protected?
Is it okay for scientists to use animals to conduct experiments?
There are many people in the world who like to hunt and fish. Why do you think they enjoy these activities?

Technology

How do people in your country use technology for entertainment?
Do you think that some people use technology for communication too much?
What differences are there between the attitudes of older and younger people toward technology for communication?
What kinds of technological developments have made the biggest impact on our lives?
Do computers make it much easier to study?
Some people get excited about new technology? Why do you think this is?
Do you think special effects and animation make movies more entertaining?
What are some of the problems associated with playing video games?

Health

What are the most popular ways of keeping healthy in your country
Do you think people worry more about health as they get older?
How can people be encouraged to stay healthy?
Why do you think some people continue bad habits even when they know that the habits are bad for their health?
Do women pay more attention to their health than men?
How can children be encouraged to adopt healthy eating habits?
How can a government promote healthy lifestyle options?
What is the best way of helping a person with an addiction?

Travel

How do you think most people usually choose a destination to travel to?
In your opinion, how will tourism change your country in the future?
What are the personal benefits of traveling abroad?
Why do you think people like to travel to different places in their free time?
Which method of travel do you consider to be the safest?
What are the pros and cons of low cost air travel?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the growing tourism industry?
Do you think it is important for children to travel and experience new cultures?

I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

How to answer – A Practical Skill – IELTS Speaking Part 2

By ielts-jonathan.com on 9 February 2022

Why is the second part of the IELTS Speaking test sometimes the most difficult, even Native Speakers.

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But don’t despair it can also be the easiest part, and the most enjoyable.

There is a valid reason for this part of the IELTS test, and I will explain this below.

One reason for Part 2 is to allow the candidate speak at length and meet the fluency criteria.

A second reason is to allow the examiner to grade your ability for the follow up questions in Part 3.

They are trained to listen carefully for language range, grammar accuracy and pronunciation is normal speech.

They can then chose the best question sets in Part 3 that allows you to display your real language ability. So it’s important to fill that 2 minutes the best you can.

IELTS Part 2 Structure

You are given a set of prompts and a question.

The prompts are not particularly challenging, but follow a pattern to give you ‘ideas’ and ‘structure’ for your 2 minute talk.

This gives the examiner ‘a further opinion‘ to your level, ready for Part 3.

One way to do well in this section is to try and relax.

A relaxed candidate always performs better and responds well.

If you don’t understand something, always ask the examiner to repeat the prompt question.

The examiner can’t help you directly, but repetition might help you understand the prompt better.

Other tips are

Don’t give the examiner an opportunity to ask ‘can you say anything else about that’.
Speak for the full 2 minutes until the examiner stops you.
Don’t hesitate too much, you are allowed to make some mistakes, it’s natural.
Connect your sentences and use the structure given in the prompt.
Attempt to use complex sentences rather than short, simply ones.

and

Don’t be afraid to correct yourself.

What if you really don’t understand the prompt or even worse the prompt doesn’t apply to you?

If you’re preparing for IELTS, and feel you cannot answer some of the speaking questions properly, simply because they really do not apply to your current life experience, then don’t worry as you’re not alone.

For example:

Q. Talk about an object you own that is especially valuable or important to you.

Problem: I have a quite spartan lifestyle and I don’t have any emotional attachment to any objects I own.

Q. Talk about an object that has had great influence in your life, and explain how it influenced your life.

Problem: While I could talk for hours about books that I love, I don’t really feel that there is a book that has truly influenced my life.

Describe a practical skill you have learnt e.g cooking, driving.

You should say

what the skill is

how you learnt it

why you learnt it

and how this skill has helped you

I am going to talk about a practical skill I learnt and developed when I was young. I learnt this skill with my best friend from school, Alan. Alan’s parents, who owned a small house surrounded by lots of land, gave him the old family car so he could learn to drive on their private land. When Alan said he was learning to drive in an old car in his garden, I jumped at the chance to visit and secretly hoped I’d get a chance to try and drive this car too, which I did.

By the time I was 17 and ready to take my driving test, I already felt quite confident that I could pass the driving test with ease. However, my parents insisted I have lessons with a professional driving instructor, and they paid for a few lessons. While the instructor was impressed with my confidence and ability to steer and change gears, he was critical of my road sense and so I had to take a few more lessons where I got used to using the mirrors and being aware of my speed. I also got used to other road users and did practical tasks like reversing the car and parking. I also had to study, learn and revise the Highway Code.

I generally think that for a 17-year-old boy there is quite a lot of pressure to pass your driving test and own your first car. Personally, I was also tired of walking, using a bike or bus or relying on my parents for lifts and being able to go places whenever I wanted made me feel suddenly independent and grown up. I also felt more popular with my friends and we would go out in the car, just because we could. Since then, being able to drive has helped me in so many ways. I don’t live in the city centre and where I live you can’t rely on public transport to get to work, it would take too long and is quite expensive, so I commute by car most days but having a car makes life so much easier when it comes to other things like shopping or visiting family and friends. For example, last week, I took my elderly parents to Birmingham to visit relatives and I couldn’t have done that as easily by train.

Solution to this problem

IELTS is a test of your language ability, not intelligence or knowledge.

You may think the IELTS test is an interrogation, but you don’t really need to answer with the truth.

However, I would feel more comfortable with the be honest approach, even if it does not directly answer the question.

You would probably be able to answer more naturally, and therefore be more fluent.

Which one do you think is a better strategy?

You can use tips and information on this website to help make it easier to obtain a higher score, but remember you still need to work at learning the language to be successful.

Please share to someone you know and in the meantime take a look at my Facebook Page and Website for IELTS answers and you can also join my Facebook Group here too.

Good Luck

Jonathan

I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

IELTS Speaking – Improving your pronunciation for the IELTS exam

By ielts-jonathan.com on 6 January 2022 0

IELTS Pronunciation: Natural Speech and Natural Sounds.

More often than not, candidates are unaware of weaknesses they might have in pronunciation.

Pronunciation is important as in IELTS Speaking pronunciation accounts for 25% of the overall band.

Natural Speech and Natural Sounds for IELTS Speaking

More often than not, candidates are unaware of weaknesses they might have in pronunciation.

Pronunciation is important as in IELTS Speaking pronunciation accounts for 25% of the overall band.

It does not matter if you have an accent, or you modal British or American English. Marks in speaking are obtained from the clarity of what you say.

Marks are reduced if what you say is not clear. Even native speakers can lose marks in this respect.

Jonathan’s TIP 1

To improve your clarity a good technique is ‘Mimicking‘. This means copying the way a speaker speaks.

It is not just repeating the basic word pronunciation but copying the way several words are often spoken as several linked sounds and the way the speaker puts stress on one or more words in a sentence for emphasis.

Mimicking the recordings of neutral English in British English course books such as “Headway” or ‘Speak Out’ will help your improve speaking a lot by creating good ‘habits’.

Alternatively, you could choose to mimic freely available listening recordings on the British Council Website. There are also plenty of American and Canadian recordings available, but too much “mixed” pronunciation will probably be less clear than one pronunciation modal. What is important is to focus on natural speed and naturally linked sounds.

As an example you can practice speaking English with the sounds linked.

For example, don’t say, “In/o/ther/words” instead say it as, “I/no/ther/words.”

Listen to the example here – In other words

by typing ‘in other words’ into the space bar.

Jonathan’s TIP 2

Watching foreign movies will do very little to improve your pronunciation because when you watch a movie you are only listening, a passive skill and not speaking, an active skill.

Jonathan’s TIP 3

Reading aloud is useful but only after you are quite sure that your pronunciation is correct. Do a lot of mimicking practice first.

Jonathan’s TIP 4

A really good website I like for hearing the pronunciation of most English words is below.

In the past I’ve often get students to use this in class, it’s really useful!

I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

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How to answer – Something you have been taught – IELTS Speaking Topic Part 2

By ielts-jonathan.com on 26 October 2021

Did you know that the second part of the IELTS Speaking test can be the most difficult for candidates, even Native Speakers.

There are many things you can do do to achieve the The Perfect Long-term Response

So don’t despair, it can also be the easiest part, and the most enjoyable.

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There is a valid reason for this part of the IELTS test, and I will explain this below.

One reason for Part 2 is to allow the candidate speak at length and meet the fluency criteria.

A second reason is to allow the examiner to grade your ability for the follow up questions in Part 3.

They are trained to listen carefully for language range, grammar accuracy and pronunciation is normal speech.

They can then chose the best question sets in Part 3 that allows you to display your real language ability. So it’s important to fill that 2 minutes the best you can.

IELTS Part 2 Structure

You are given a set of prompts and a question.

The prompts are not particularly challenging, but follow a pattern to give you ‘ideas’ and ‘structure’ for your 2 minute talk.

This gives the examiner ‘a further opinion‘ to your level, ready for Part 3.

One way to do well in this section is to try and relax.

A relaxed candidate always performs better and responds well.

If you don’t understand something, always ask the examiner to repeat the prompt question.

The examiner can’t help you directly, but repetition might help you understand the prompt better.

Other tips are

Don’t give the examiner an opportunity to ask ‘can you say anything else about that’.
Speak for the full 2 minutes until the examiner stops you.
Don’t hesitate too much, you are allowed to make some mistakes, it’s natural.
Connect your sentences and use the structure given in the prompt.
Attempt to use complex sentences rather than short, simply ones.

and

Don’t be afraid to correct yourself

What if you really don’t understand the prompt or even worse the prompt doesn’t apply to you?

For example:

Q. Talk about an object you own that is especially valuable or important to you.

Problem: I have a quite spartan lifestyle and I don’t have any emotional attachment to any objects I own.

Q. Talk about an object that has had great influence in your life, and explain how it influenced your life.

Problem: While I could talk for hours about books that I love, I don’t really feel that there is a book that has truly influenced my life.

IELTS Speaking Topic: Something you have been taught

Describe something you have been taught.

You should say:
what the situation was
what you were taught
who taught you
and explain how this has helped you.

I have recently been taught how to use Zoom, the online conferencing tool which is quite famous now. So, as you probably know, most countries have been affected to some extent by Coronavirus and in the UK, schools, colleges and universities have been closed.

This happened in March 2020 while I was working with students at an international college. The situation moved quite quickly and within a week, all our face-to-face classes went online. I know my situation wasn’t unique, as there was suddenly so much online-information and training about conducting classes online. Lots of people had to adjust to the situation but all the tutorials seemed to make this transition more manageable and I generally think I am quite tech-savvy and able to pick things up quite quickly. The university also provided their own online tuition in using Zoom where an Education Technologist ran through the options, features and limitations of using Zoom and how it could be used for teaching. So, we learnt about scheduling classes and emails, designing learning activities, sharing screens, organising breakout rooms where students could work in groups, and sharing files for example.

However, for many of my colleagues it was problematic, so it was nice to be able to communicate with other people in the online class about what was not working and the problems we were experiencing. So, we were taught by the technologist, but we also taught each other which I have found to be an effective way of being taught. It really wasn’t easy making the sudden transition to online classes and the experience as a teacher is completely different to being in the classroom, I am still getting used to it, but having a reasonable level of confidence and competence in the technology used for delivery has helped me to continue and enjoy the teaching we do.

Solution to this problem

IELTS is a test of your language ability, not intelligence or knowledge.

You may think the IELTS test is an interrogation, but you don’t really need to answer with the truth.

However, I would feel more comfortable with the be honest approach, even if it does not directly answer the question.

You would probably be able to answer more naturally, and therefore be more fluent.

Which one do you think is a better strategy?

You can use tips and information on this website to help make it easier to obtain a higher score, but remember you still need to work at learning the language to be successful.

Please share to someone you know and in the meantime take a look at my Facebook Page and Website for IELTS answers and you can also join my Facebook Group here too.

Good Luck

Jonathan

I’m Jonathan, an online-IELTS preparation specialist.

I help IELTS students achieve the IELTS score they need with courses, training, feedback and advice.

I have taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

IELTS Speaking

What are Introduction Questions in the Speaking Test?

Mistakes students make in the IELTS Speaking Test

What you should say in the introduction stage

How to practice

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How to answer Part 1, Practice Cards and Marking Criteria

How are you assessed in the IELTS speaking test?

IELTS Speaking Part 1 Questions

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Like this:

IELTS Part 3 Practice Cards and Marking Criteria helping you to do better

How are you assessed in the IELTS speaking test?

Top Tips

IELTS Speaking Part 3 Topic areas

Share this:

Like this:

Why is the second part of the IELTS Speaking test sometimes the most difficult, even Native Speakers.

IELTS Part 2 Structure

A relaxed candidate always performs better and responds well.

What if you really don’t understand the prompt or even worse the prompt doesn’t apply to you?

Solution to this problem

Like this:

IELTS Pronunciation: Natural Speech and Natural Sounds.

Natural Speech and Natural Sounds for IELTS Speaking

Jonathan’s TIP 1

Jonathan’s TIP 2

Jonathan’s TIP 3

Jonathan’s TIP 4

Like this:

Did you know that the second part of the IELTS Speaking test can be the most difficult for candidates, even Native Speakers.

IELTS Part 2 Structure

A relaxed candidate always performs better and responds well.

What if you really don’t understand the prompt or even worse the prompt doesn’t apply to you?

IELTS Speaking Topic: Something you have been taught

Describe something you have been taught.

I’m Jonathan, an online-IELTS preparation specialist.

Like this:

Let me help you get the IELTS Result you need

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