The IELTS speaking test causes quite a bit of anxiety among candidates. This is totally understandable because speaking is very exposing, and you have little time to prepare. The good news is that you can practice your speaking skills at home with anyone who has a bit of English.
Remember that there are 3 parts to the speaking test, and each part will challenge you in different ways. Below, I’ll describe each section briefly and give you some tips on how you can start practising at home:
Part 1 (4-5mins) The Ice-Breaker
In this task, the examiner will ask you some questions about familiar topics like your family, heritage, interests and hobbies. You don’t require any specialist knowledge so you should already be fairly secure on this section but it’s an opportunity to show advanced language in familiar topics. Think about using more idioms, there are thousands to choose from! Here are some idioms related to the topic of family:
A chip off the old block: this refers to a child whose personality or behaviour is very similar to one of their parents
“My dad loves football as much as I do. I’m a chip off the old block!”
The black sheep of the family: this refers to a child whose personality or behaviour is very different from their parents
“I’m a musician and both my parents are scientists. I’m the black sheep of the family”.
To run in the family: this refers to a character trait or illness that is extremely common within the nuclear family.
“Heart disease runs in the family, so I need to eat healthily and take plenty of exercise”.
Part 2 (3-4mins) The Long Turn
In this section you’ll be given a topic card and given exactly 1 minute to prepare to speak on that topic for 1-2 minutes. There are a number of different ways to prepare for this task, which your course teacher will help you with. At home, try Googling an IELTS speaking part 2 question and timing yourself when you speak. Don’t worry about making mistakes or hesitating, just get used to speaking at length and getting a feel for how long 1-2 minutes is (it’s longer than it seems!) During your preparation course, you’ll cover a range of different topics and their related vocabulary, so make sure you practise conversing in each of these topics so that you’re comfortable talking about a topic you may not have much interest in. Here’s some example cards to get you started (from www.ieltsliz.com)
Part 3 (4-5mins) The Development of a Discussion
The discussion in this section will be related to the Long Turn in Part 2. The questions asked by the examiner will be more theoretical and abstract than in part 1, so your ability to express your opinions and different viewpoints will be challenged. Record yourself next time you have a similar conversation in English and make a note of where you think your vocabulary is restricted, you may need more phrases on giving opinions, such as:
In my opinion
In my view
From my point of view
My opinion is that
If you ask me,
I would say that
To my mind
Speaking for myself
As far as I am concerned
Don’t feel like you need to memorise all of these, 3 or 4 phrases should be enough to give you some options.
It’s also perfectly acceptable to ask the examiner to read a question again or clarify a particular word: you want to make sure you are answering the question to the best of your ability. You can take this opportunity to show that you have various ways of asking for clarification:
Could you explain that, please?
What do you mean, exactly?
Could you explain what (word) means, please?
What does (word) mean?
If you’re unfamiliar with a topic, it’s best to say so from the start, with something like:
I’m afraid that I’m not very familiar with this topic, but…
Sorry, I don’t know much about (topic), but..
Don’t ask the examiner what their opinion is though, as this isn’t a two-way conversation!
For general IELTS advice, check out the Thinking about starting an IELTS course here
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