speaking pages 86 to 93 of workshop, february 2013 version

7/28/2019 Speaking Pages 86 to 93 of Workshop, February 2013 Version

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Speaking

The Speaking module of IELTS is simply an 11 to 14 minute interview with an

Examiner.

Here are the basics:

Use the words of the Examiner to begin your response and

always try to give two examples of anything you are asked whatever part of the

Speaking is on (Part 1, Part 2 , Part 3 .

e.g. What kind of food do you like?

The type of food I like is basically Filipino food like adobo. Thats usually a chicken or

pork- based dish of course.oh, and I also like spaghetti or pasta as well. Depends onmy mood I suppose.

It isnt formal English. It is conversational English. So you should be able to use idiomsand collocations (word strings normal in spoken English).

The 8 Grammar and 4 Vocabulary classes of 9er are entirely given over to teaching

idioms and colloquialisms and collocations like this. They are available to you in class or

on-line. Take advantage of this to get better at it.

Idioms are collocations like phrasal verbs (averse to, motivated by, skillful at, etc ),

colloquialisms (throw in the towel, playing your ace card, brushing things under thecarpet, quick off the mark, etc) and strings like binomial or trinomials (going at ithammer and tongs, tit for tat, blood, sweat and tears, no way shape or form, etc).

Examiners like modals. Modals are helping verbs like shall/should, can/could, may,might, will/would, etc. Easy to use because the verb that follows never changes.

e.g. Do you like living near water?

I suppose many people may like living near water and my friends might enjoy water

sports but I cant swim. I could learn and I should learn but I havent yet and I fear I

may drown. Wow! Heaps of modals.

The purpose is to see if you are able to respond to a series of questions in English with

reasonablefluency, using English vocabulary (lexicalresource), organized within theusual grammar another English speaker might understand (grammaticalrange and

accuracy) and pronounced in a way that another English speaker might understand

without too much strain to his or her ears (pronunciation).

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The best way to do this is to use the relaxation technique taught in Part One of the

Workshop as you are waiting to enter the room.

This will help calm your nerves and control the panic and anxiety nearly everyone feels

before an interview.

Please relax. These fears are just your mind playing old tricks. You really have nothing to

fear because there is nothing scary about an IELTS interview.

Why?

Do you have to be perfect? No. You just have to be understood.

Do you need to know anything you dont already know? No. The interview is aboutyou.

No-one knows you better than you yourself, right? Perhaps where you live or what you

have studied or what your neighbors are like or your family or your friends or your co-

workers. Perhaps what food you like, what books you read, what films you like, what TVyou watch, clothes you wear, how you like to relax, what your childhood was like (your

school, what you used to play with or what it was like growing up in a city or a rural area,what grandma or grandpa were like or mum and dad or your brothers and sisters), things

you like and dislike about food or shopping or sport or exercise or whatever.

Are there any tricks in the IELTS interview? No. No one is trying to make you look

foolish or see what you dontknow. It is about what you think about very simple and

basic things and whatever you think is perfectly OK. Everything you needto know for an

IELTS speaking interview, you already know. Isnt that a relief! You just have to relaxand be yourself. If you are the most saintly person since Mother Teresa, then good for

you. If you are a lunatic axe murderer who has just killed eight people on EDSA before

your interview, please wash the blood off your hands and leave your axe with the staffbefore you enter the room. Examiners dont care. We just want to listen to a real person

talking honestly about themselves. If you are straight, gay or in love with a pet gorilla,

Examiners dont care. Just be yourself. Just leave the gorilla outside, perhaps with abanana to munch on.

Should you tell lies or spend 14 minutes with a huge grin on your face, trying to

anticipate what you think the Examiner wants to hear rather than what you actually thinkand ending every utterance with sir or madam or po? No. Your face muscles will get very

strained and you will look and sound like an idiot. The Examiner is a facilitator not your

old scary, bad-tempered professor. The Examiner is simply a fellow professional paid toconduct this interview. You may want to say Sir or Madam once or twice as this culture

is very polite in such a situation but dont overdo it. If you do, it comes across as sipsip

not politeness.

Should you recite a memorized sample answer to a question with that same silly grin

and glazed eyes fixed on the Examiner. No. Not unless you want to drive the Examiner

insane and spend another 8000 plus retaking the exam. Memorized answers are

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memorized lies.Never lie. Never. Just respond like a normal, sane person, honestly and

frankly to the simple questions put to you not like someone who has had his or her brain

removedAvoid fully memorized answers like the plague. They are the death of your hopes not the

answer to your dreams. Colloquialisms are cool and so are word strings usually used in

spoken English

The truth will set your free. Isnt that wonderful! Unlike perhaps every other interview

you may have had, where you have to put on your best face to get a decent grade or geta vacant position or a promotion or make a professor like you or whatever, the IELTS

interview is where you are free to be the real person you are, with all the strengths and

weaknesses and prejudices of other people. IELTS is the one interview where you can

speak from the heart and say what you really think and believe without being punishedfor it or scolded or ridiculed. Isnt that liberating and fun? When you realize this very

simple and basic truth, much of your fear and anxiety will fade away. At last, here is an

interview where you can speak the truth and be rewarded for it.

Dont come dressed to kill. It might prove fatal. You are not trying to seduce the

Examiner. Come dressed in what you feel comfortable in.

Part One of the Interview (4 to 5 minutes).

Dont enter the room until advised to do so and make sure you have the right ID. When

you enter, do not launch into a prepared English monologue. No one has asked you

anything yet and it just shows you dont know how to conduct yourself in an interview.

Not a great way to start. Just say good morning or good afternoon or good eveningand take your seat. Dont offer you ID. You havent been asked for it. Just sit quietly and

wait for the examiner to lead the conversation.

Relax. There is no rush and you dont need to check your watch. The Examiner is

responsible for handling the timing of the interview. You dont have to worry about that

as you did with the first three modules of IELTS. Just sit back and try to relax. Stayfocused and listen to the Examiner, responding to any questions put to you in as natural

and truthful manner as you can. Answer in full statements so that you show you

understood the question. If you did not understand the question, simply ask the Examiner

to repeat it. Would you please repeat the question? The Examiner will do so. If you areunsure what was asked it is better to ask for it to be repeated rather than try to guess

because if your answer has nothing to do with the question, the Examiner will assume

you didnt understand.

A simple example would be something like this:

Examiner: Where do you like to go to the cinema?

Candidate: Every Saturday night with my family.

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The Examiner will assume you dont know the difference between when and where

and perhaps you actually do but you just didnt hear the first word clearly and are too shy

to say so. If you are unsure, ask for the question to be repeated.

Anyway, if you do this, you are not paying attention to what I said at the start of these

notes, are you? I told you to use the words of the examiner.

I like to go to the cinema at Glorietta 4 and sometimes I like to go to Mall of Asia (Use

the words of the Examiner and give two examples!)

The interview itself will begin with the Examiner prefacing the interview with the

location, date, your name and candidate number and his name and Examiner number. The

whole interview is recorded to make sure it is a standard IELTS interview and to protectyour interests.

Dont be alarmed when you see the digital recorder. It is your friend to ensure the

interview is conducted with your best interests in mind and in the accepted internationallymonitored and accepted format. It is just further insurance you are given every chance to

pass by the person entrusted and trained for this duty. Examiners are paid to do preciselythat. No one in their right mind wishes you ill or wants you to fail. Examiners are

delighted when you respond well and they know you are doing well. They are not paid

executioners. They are paid facilitators, providing a platform to allow you to shine. Theyare professionals interviewing other professionals like you. It should be a situation of

mutual respect not inequality. The digital recording should reflect that fact.

You will be asked to say your name. Just say it and neverspell it. The Examiner has yourname in front of him and is not retarded, He or she can read. You may be asked what the

Examiner may call you. Sometimes people have names different from their full formal

names: Malou, Jo, Jun or whatever. You just say, You may call me, Jo or whatever.Dont go into a long monologue about it or try to treat the Examiner as an intimate friend.

You are total strangers after all and not friends. Here is an example of what to say:

My full name is and you may call me

Do notsay:

Examiner: What may I call you?

Candidate: My friends call me Sweetie and my mother calls me Honey. My boyfriendcalls me Pumpkin because I like the color orange. By the way, Sir, a pumpkin is a

vegetable and they are grown in my home province, Nueva Ecija which is the rice

granary of the Philippines. You may call me Pumpkin, too, Sir! Or Pumpy.

Examiner: (to himself) Oh, Dear Lord! Save me!

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Then you will be asked introductory questions about where you live or what you do.

Answer frankly in full sentences where possible and tell it like it is. Dont rattle off

insincere, prepared motherhood statements about how wonderful your neighborhood is orhow noble your profession or how you want to save the world.

Here is an example of a typical prepared motherhood statement in reply to a questionabout work by a nurse:

Examiner: Do you think it is a good job?

Candidate: Oh, yes, Sir! It is a very noble profession. A calling from God. It has been

my dream every since I was born to help the sick and suffering. Especially those

indigines. I love to help cure the poor and one day I hope to open an orphanage for thosestreet children and give them tender loving care.

The Examiner hears this kind of thing day in and day out and tends not to believe a word

of it. It may well be that you enjoy your profession but it is often the case that a personbecomes a nurse because their families expect them to earn real money overseas. It is a

hard job with enormous stress and dangers to health. Stick to the real world with youranswers, not a fantasy world where no one lives. It is much easier to talk about what is

real (bad-tempered doctors, no medicines, bad facilities, lousy pay, colleagues who dont

turn up for endorsement making you work double shifts, etc) than to talk nonsense. Thetruth is easier than the opposite because you dont have to invent it. You just have to say

what is your real life experience.

You are not a Barbie Doll or a Ken Doll living in Never Never Land. Every job anduniversity and location has its problems and its plusses. Tell it like it is. Simple as that.

The truth, pure and simple. Be real nota fraud. Its like a weight is removed from your

shoulders when you respond truthfully. Its like being let out of prison.

After this, you will be asked very basic questions about your habits. One or two sets of

questions will be asked about what you wear or watch or the weather or what you eat orwhere you travel or shop or what technology you use or music or films you like or how

you spent your free time, etc. It is not brain surgery or rocket science. This goes on for

about four minutes and gives you a chance to calm down more and ease into the

interview. Again, just answer honestly. If you answer the question put, there is no wronganswer. There is onlyyouranswer. Yourhabits andyouropinions are what matter.

If you are asked ageneralquestion, give ageneralanswer. If you are asked apersonalquestion, give apersonalanswer:

Examiner: What weather do most Filipinos like?

Candidate: I believe most Filipinos like dry weather because if it rains, there might be

floods and people get trapped or even drown.

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This is just one answer of many possible answers but it is a general answer (Filipinos) to

a general question and so perfectly OK. It would not be right to answer like this:

Candidate: I like dry weather because I dont want to drown.

That is a personal answer to a general question. It would be perfectly acceptable if thequestion had been framed like this:

Examiner: What weather do you like?

Listen for the question. Is it general or is it personal? Then respond in kind. Easy!

Part Two of the Interview (around 3 minutes ).

This is the part of the interview where you are going to speak without any interruption by

the Examiner for two minutes. You will be given a prompt sheet with instructions aboutwhat you are expected to speak about. You will be given a whole minute to make notes

on a piece of paper once you have this prompt sheet before you start speaking(fromSeptember, 2010, it will be a booklet and you will be asked to turn to the required topic

page but it is basically the same thing).

The topics are usually very basic and the prompt sheet helps you break the topic down

into four chunks as you go along. You can keep referring to both your notes and the

prompt sheet or booklet as you talk.

Do I have to time myself? No. Relax. The Examiner will tell you when to startafter the

one minute preparation is up and the Examiner will tell you when to stop talking. Once

you start, just keep talking until you hear the Examiner ask you a rounding off question.When you hear his or her voice, just stop. Easy as that. Answer the rounding off question

with a very brief response because the Examiner wants to move you to Part Three. That is

the point of the rounding off question; to stop you talking and to move the conversationalong to Part Three.

What is it like to speak for two minutes in English without interruption?

Do it! Use the Brain Map or the list of topics in the Vocabulary Notes 1 to 4 that I have

prepared and you may get by email just for the asking. Find a quiet place. Pull out a topic

at random and speak to yourself aloud for two minutes, timing your self with a watch orcellphone. Thatis what it is like to speak uninterrupted for two minutes in English.

This is perhaps the very best practice for IELTS speaking. The more of this you do, the

better.

What if I cant think of another thing to say after a minute or so? Do I say Thats all!

No. Never say thats all. There is always more you can say.

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For example, lets say the topic is about the elderly and you select grandma or the old

man next door and after a minute or so you cant think of another thing to say. Easy. If

you have been talking about how wonderful granny is, start talking about the things thatyou dontlike about grandma. Trust me, no granny is perfect. Or pick another old person

you know and talk about him or her.

Similarly, if you are talking about a family member and it is your mother you picked, talk

about what annoys you about her or pick another family member.

Always pick 2 samples whatever the topic. Always! Then when you run out of juice,

you have a second tank of gas to use.

The one thing to remember if you are talking about people is to be conscious of shiftingto the right gender description as usually your mother tongue does not make this gender

distinction in the pronoun form. When you write your notes in the minute before you start

this two minute talk of yours and if you selectgrandma, write she and her on the

paper because in English he and him in referring to grandma is wrong. It would beher brothers not his brothers and she not he. Because of your first language, you

may not even be aware you are using the wrong gender pronoun or possessive pronounand the Examiner imagines grandmother switching genders from female to male

throughout your talk and this is not a good thing. Of course if it is grandpa, then the

reverse is true and you dont want to be castrating lolo throughout your talk.

What if it IS a scary question like your favorite museum or art gallery or your favorite

piece of architecture or a family treasure or about computers if you have never used one

or a book if you never read?

Google the topic! If any topic on that list makes you faint, go Google the topic! Your

favorite statue or museum or piece of architecture or a famous person from your country?Just go Google Rizal or Mabini or a President because I bet you cant remember a thing

about them.

Most topics dont need this but remember to get the tense right and avoid connectives

like. ..and thenand then and then and then you repeat IELTS.

Part Three of the Interview (4 to 5 minutes).

This final part allows the Examiner to expand on whatever the topic was in Part Two. If it

was about an older person in the family, for example, Part Three will be about theelderly. In other words, Part Three moves from yourspecific andpersonallife experience

to often more general questions about the same topic to see if you can express opinions,

make judgments, assess, compare things, agree or disagree about things, predict futurepossible changes or speculate about these changes.

Again, this is not a threatening or difficult thing to do. There is no rightanswer. There is

onlyyour opinion and whatever you believe is fine. Lets say for instance that the topic

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was about a well known person and you select the former President. Lets say you think

she was just the best thing since the invention of the wheel. That is fine. The Examiner

doesnt have to share your opinion. You just have to express your view and perhaps whyyou hold this view. You may be asked why others share a different view from yours but

this is not to insult you or belittle you or intimidate you but simply to give you a chance

to show you are able to assess, compare or speculate about this. If you think Hitler orMarcos were great men, then, again, that is fine. Anything you believe is OK. It is not

about your beliefs but how you express them.

Part Three is the only part of the Speaking module where the Examiner can question you

in any depth. In Part One, the Examiner may only ask you questions and not comment on

your answers. This is also true for Part Two. The Examiner may only listen and may not

interrupt you except to stop you after two minutes. Therefore Part Three is really the partExaminers enjoy the most because he or she can finally interact with you in a more

meaningful way. Again, tell it like it is, in your opinion and dont tighten up or freak out

when what you say is challenged or questioned. That is the Examiners job. The

Examiner is not trying to foot- trip you or make you out to be a fool. The Examiner isgiving you a chance to express your beliefs more fully by responding to your language.

The Examiner needs to establish that you are capable of thinking at a reasonable level inthe language. You dont have to be Einstein or Shakespeare or Claro M. Recto. Or

J.P.Rizal. You just have to show a reasonable, functional ability to use the language and

Part Three is where you can show this.

At the end of the interview, the Examiner will simply say, Thank you very much. That is

the end of the speaking test.

When you hear those magic words, you simply say, Thank you and leave. Dont say

how much you enjoyed it or how your whole future now is in the hands of the Examiner

or that this is your thirty-third attempt at it or how beautiful the Examiner is or ask wherethe Examiner is from. Just leave. Its over. Dont offer your hand if the Examiner doesnt

offer his or her hand. Some Examiners dont like to do this. Some do. Go with the flow.

Dont worry if the Examiner does not maintain eye contact with you. It means nothing.Dont think, Oh, Lord, he doesnt like me because he wont look at me. Every

Examiner has their own style. Some have worked in countries where staring directly at a

candidate is considered extremely rude. Simple as that.

Many candidates are surprised when the time of the interview is up because they were

expecting something awkward or difficult and they discover the interview was neither

awkward nor difficult. On the contrary, it can just be plain good fun if you are able torelax, be yourself and tell it like it is. Try it.

Remember. Use the brain map as a guide and practice the 2 minute long turns again

and again. Dont memorize them. Just get used to speaking for 2 minutes in English

with reasonable fluency. If you cant, you dont do well. If you do, you fly through.

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speaking pages 86 to 93 of workshop, february 2013 version

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