IELTS speaking lesson

Example IELTS Speaking Part 2 The person I’m going to talk about today is my teacher from high school.. Lesson 2: IELTS Speaking Questions and Answers - Part One This lesson is a quiz

IELTS Speaking Lesson Lesson 1: IELTS Speaking Part 2

In the IELTS speaking part 2, you will be given a topic by the examiner, and you

have to speak for two minutes

The topic will be one that the examiner chooses and you cannot change it

They are always things that you should have some experience of and be able to talk about

However, some students find it difficult to do because you only have one

minute to preparewhat you are going to say

You may also be nervous having to speak for 2 minutes in front of someone

You don't want to run out of things to say so in this lesson there are some tips

to help you extend your long-turn

Let's imagine that you are given this IELTS speaking part 2 question:

Describe someone who has had an important influence

on your life

You should say:

Who the person is

How long you have known him/her

What qualities this person has

Explain why they have had such an influence on you

Firstly, you must talk about the topic on the card

However, if you only talk about the specific questions on the card, you may find that you finish too soon

As long as you keep to the topic, it is ok to talk about other things

Here are two things you can do in the minute you have before you speak to help you find more to say for the IELTS speaking part 2

1 Use other ‘question’ prompts

These are question prompts:

When - When did you meet?

Where – Where did you meet?

Example IELTS Speaking Part 2

The person I’m going to talk about today is my teacher from high

school (who) Her name was Miss Chadwick and she taught quite a few subjects at the school She had been working there for quite a few years when

I met her I think (where) We met for the first time in my English class (more about ‘who’) I remember this well because she was quite young compared to

most of the other teachers in the school so I was surprised that she was a teacher! In fact she looked more like she could be one of the older students!

(How long) So I met her when I was 15, and that was 10 years ago I don’t actually know her anymore as we lost contact soon after I left the school, but I still remember her very well for several reasons.(What qualities) Firstly, she was very kind She always treated all the students very well in the class, and I can’t remember her ever shouting at anyone Also, she had a really good sense

of humour She would make jokes in the class which most of the other teachers never did The other teachers were very serious all the time And she made the classes a lot of fun and very interesting, something that I think is very important otherwise you start to get bored Oh, and also she explained things very well and very clearly Often teachers are not able to do this in a way that students can understand, especially when it's complicated subjects

So those are the qualities that she had (why such an influence)The reason she had such an important influence on me is because I was quite a shy person

at school and not very confident, but she helped me to change this (tell a story) Each year, there was a school play that would be held in front of all the parents, and that year, when I was 15, Miss Chadwick was organizing and directing the play I really didn't want to be in it because I was so shy, but Miss Chadwick insisted that I take one of the roles, and it was one of the main roles which meant that I would have to do a lot of speaking! I was so nervous Anyway, I went ahead and did it, and on the night I did really well and really enjoyed it And that really boosted my confidence and this has helped me to this day

So my teacher Miss Chadwick is the person who has influenced my life and I will never forget her

Lesson 2: IELTS Speaking Questions and Answers - Part One

This lesson is a quiz using IELTS speaking questions and answers to provide you with some general tips on successfully answering questions for part one of the IELTS speaking test

In part one of the test, you are asked general questions about yourself -

follow this link to viewexample part one questions if you do not know what to expect

You'll be asked about 12 questions in part one of the test, and these will be

taken from three different sets of topics which the examiner will choose

For example you could be asked about:

1 Your home town

2 Your favourite holiday destination

3 What kinds of books you like to read

So you'll have about four questions on each of these

Now, take this 'IELTS Speaking Questions and Answers Quiz' to see if you

know what is the best way to respond in this part of the test

Decide which answer you think is the best, then click on the letter to see if you are right

Part One IELTS Speaking Questions and Answers

- Quiz

1 How many people are there in your family?

There are four We live in a large house in the north of my country It gets very cold there in the winter but it is really nice during the summer months I try to go back there often

There are four My brother and my parents

There are four There's myself of course Then there's my younger brother, he's fifteen years old And I have my mother and father who are both in their late 70s I have two grand parents as well, but they don't live with us

2 Do you know the people who live next door to you?

No, I've never met them The reason for this is that I'm away most of the time at university so I've never really had the opportunity I know my family

has met them on a few occasions, just for a quick chat, but they don't know them well I think they like to keep their privacy

No, I've never met them

No, I've never met them I think my parents have, but I don't know who they are

3 What kinds of books do you like reading?

I don't like reading Books are boring I much prefer to play on the internet or just watch TV in my free time Reading books just sends me to sleep

Although I think books are great ways to learn, and I know some people love

to read, I've never been a great fan of them I used to read books a bit when

I was younger but not much anymore I read a lot on the internet actually, articles on various topics So I do read, but it's just not usually books

I don't really like reading, but I did read a book once I'll tell you the story It was set in the 1960's in London It was about a poor family who were just trying hard to make ends meet as they had so little money If followed the life

of the boy in the family from when he was young until he grew up The first part of the book was about growing up with his family and his school

life (candidate continues the story)

You should have learnt from these IELTS speaking questions and answers to:

Stay on topic

Listen carefully to the question and make sure you are answering it Don't talk about something completely different just so you can talk for longer

Extend your answers

Give reasons for your answer This can be a useful way to extend your

responses Always explain WHY you have given the answer that you have

Don't speak excessively

Extend your answers but don't go on too much This will only mean the

examiner will have to keep interrupting you to move onto the next questions

Be honest but positive

Try to remain upbeat and positive even if you are saying you don't do things or don't enjoy things you are being asked about You can always put a positive slant on your answers

Lesson 3: Speaking About Change

Questions that will involve you speaking about change are common in part 3

of the IELTS test

Therefore you need to make sure that you are the grammar and phrases to be able to do this

Often you are asked to compare a situation now with the same situation in

the past

Common time periods include; 20 years, 30 years, when your parents were young and when your grandparents were young

This lesson will provide you with some useful grammar for speaking about

change in the IELTS test, and how to spot these types of question

 How have shopping habits changed over recent years?

 Have the types of transport people use changed much over the last few decades?

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Used to

One way of describing how things have changed is to use “used to” We use it

to refer to facts or situations that were true in the past but are not true

now When the change occurred is not important

“Vietnam used to be a colony of France, (but now it is independent)”

“Jimmy Carter used to be the President of the United States, (but now he

isn’t.)”

This can, of course be used to give personal information

“I used to smoke, (but I gave up 2 years ago.)”

“Mike used to be a detective in the CID, (but now he’s a teacher)”

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Comparatives

In these types of questions the function being tested is “compare”, so using

comparatives is obviously a good way of answering the question and speaking about change

Example:

"Thirty years ago, the streets were much quieter thannow.”

“I think that reading was much more popular in the past.”

When talking about how things are different now, the present perfect is often used as well as the present simple

“The streets have become much noisier.” (Notice, a time is not needed)

“Reading is much less popular than it was in the past.”

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Speculation

Particularly for some of the longer periods, you may not be sure of exactly how

things have changed and it is all right to speculate

“Would” can be used for strong speculation

Example:

“It would have been harder for my grand father to find out about international

news, because there was no radio or T.V in his village.”

“In the past, people would have traveled less often.”

When you are not so sure you can use other words (perhaps, possibly, might,

Questions about changes tend to be phrased in ways like these:

“How do you think … is different from thirty years ago?”

“In what ways has … changed from when your parents were young?

“How is … different from twenty years ago?”

Of course, the examiner may choose to word the question in other ways

Lesson 4:

Will and Going to

Usually in part 3 of the speaking test you will be asked to talk about the future

in at least one of the questions (some of the questions in part 1 may also be about the future)

Will and going to are popular words to do this, so we will look at them, but

there are some other ways too

It is important to notice when a question is about the future so you can make sure that your response is also using the future tense

Here are some example questions:

 Do you think any new national celebrations will come into being in the

Here is an explanation of will and going to and some other useful structures

for discussing the future

Will

There are various uses of ‘will’, but in IELTS part 3 we can use it when we want

to talk about future events that we believe are certain

‘Will’ is followed by verb 1, or the infinitive

Education will be more important in the future because as populations increase, there will be greater competition for jobs

If you use ‘will’ on its own, this means you believe in what you are saying 100%,

or you have 100% evidence to back up your claim

You can add in a word like ‘definitely’ if as well if you want to emphsize your

certainty even more:

Education will definitely be more important in the future because as

populations increase, there will be greater competition for jobs

If you are less certain (which is often the case as we usually don’t have evidence

with us) then we use words such as 'maybe','perhaps', 'possibly', 'probably' and ‘likely’

Education will probably be more important in the future because as

populations increase, there will be greater competition for jobs

Going to

Will and Going to are used in similar ways We can use ‘going to’ to talk about

a plan we have, but in the IELTS test part 3 we usually use it when we are making a prediction based on evidence we know of, often from what we can see

in front of us

‘Going to’ is followed by verb 1, or the infinitive

The sky is very black (the evidence we can see) I think it’sgoing to rain (not

an IELTS example)

The internet is getting much easier to use and safer (the evidence), so I think

it’s going to be very popular for buying clothes in the future

The climate is going to become warmer and warmer because the government

is not doing enough to prevent global warming

Will or going to?

‘Will’ is more common for giving predictions about future events, so if you are unsure of the difference between them, just use ‘will’

However, we often use will and going to inter-changeably For example, in

the sentences above we can swap them without affecting the meaning:

The climate will / is going to become warmer and warmer because the

government is not doing enough to prevent global warming

Education will probably / is probably going to be more important in the

future because as populations increase, there will be greater competition for jobs

Modal Verbs

In addtion to will and going to, another way to talk about the future is to use

modal verbs such as ‘may’ and ‘might’

Again, these are used when you are not certain about something They have the same meaning

I think education may become more important in the future, but it really

depends on what happens to the job market

The climate might get cooler in the future if we manage to restrict CO2

emissions

Present Continuous

This is also used to talk about the future

It is often used when we want to talk about what has been arranged for the future, so it may be less common for part 3 and more common for part 1, but it

is still possible for some things you may want to say:

Our president is meeting the president of the USA next year, so hopefully

they will discuss the problems of our country

Will and Going to - Sample Answer

Here is a sample answer to a question:

How do you think the internet will change people's buying habits in the future?

Buying from the internet is becoming more and more popular For example, we’ve seen many book shops close down because people can buy online at cheaper prices from sites such as Amazon It makes life much easier if products can be delivered direct to our door, especially with our busy modern lifestyles

I think this will only increase in the future as more people feel safe to buy

online and online shops make it easier to purchase this way Also, I think our

lives are onlygoing to become busier, so more people will choose to shop

this way

IELTS Mind Map - Speaking Part 2

This lesson introduces you to the idea of using an IELTS mind mapto help you

with your speaking for part two

There are different methods and techniques you'll come across for preparing for this part of the speaking test, so you really need to decide which way suits you best

Mind maps are a way tovisually organize information A single idea is placed

in the middle, with ideas associated with that word around the edge

A mind map can be useful for IELTS speaking in part two because you can place the main topic from the cue card in the middle and then brainstorm ideas around

it

You can use other question words such as 'why', 'when', 'who', 'where' etc to

help you think of ideas

As well as question words you can also add a story as this is a useful way to

extend your answer - click here to view a lesson on how to extend your answers for part 2 and using a story to help you do this

You can also add in any useful vocabulary that you think of

Look at this example cue card, and then look at the mind map that someone has done in order to answer the question

Cue Card

Describe a lake, a river or a sea you have visited

You should say:

Where the lake, river or sea is How often you have visited it What activities you do there

Explain why you like this particular place

Mind Map

As you can see, a story has been added in, and some extra information about 'who', plus some interesting vocabulary

Its up to you in what order to answer the question You don't have to follow the card, but you should try to cover all the points that are on there and your talk must be organized and coherent

The mind map or following the card will help with this, plus giving cues to which

section you are on For example, "I've visited it many times because " tells the examiner you are talking about the 'How often' part

Here is a sample answer Note how all the points are covered, plus some extra information that is not on the card but is on the mind map

The lake is in the Lake District area which is in the North West of England As you can guess by its name, it’s very famous for its many beautiful lakes The area is also known as ‘The Lakes’ and it is a National Park

I’ve visited it many times because I live only a few hours from there I usually go every summer, and I’ve been going for many years now – probably since about

1998 We used to go a lot in my summer holiday when I was at school Now I’m working I still go, but I’ll go at weekends I usually go with my family – that’s my two brothers and my Mum and Dad Sometimes we might go with our cousins as well I have also been with friends quite a few times

There are loads of thing to do there At this lake we go to there are a lot of water sports and I really like those There’s jet skiing, sailing and kayaking for example, but you don’t just have to do those things – there’s plenty to do even

if you don’t like those kinds of activities You can go walking around the lake or further out into the areas around the lake because there are many areas which are really beautiful There are also some great places to eat good food

One of the best things I have done is a Kayaking trip It wasn’t actually on the lake, but in a river close by There are some white water rapids, so I went on those with a friend We started it with a group of others at a calm part of the river, with a guide as well to make sure everyone was safe Some parts then got quite rough with the water and strong currents It was scary but really

exhilarating as well I’ll definitely try and go again one day

The reason why I like this place so much is that although there are lots of exciting activities that you can do, it’s also surrounded by lots of breathtaking scenery, with stunning views of the hills and rivers So it’s still really tranquil and relaxing and a really good way to unwind if you have had a difficult week at work and just want to get away

So that’s the lake that I’ve visited and I’m sure I’ll continue to visit there in the future

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Try practicing this method of using a mind map to see if it helps you with your answer Here are some cue cards you can practice with

Lesson 6: IELTS Speaking Tone

When you do your speaking test, it is important that you get thespeaking

tone correct