A new topic in IELTS speaking part 1 this year. Learn some useful vocabulary and ideas for the topic of Dictionaries by watching this lesson.
How to develop your IELTS speaking for free
This lesson gives useful advice on how to develop and improve your IELTS speaking at home for free. The tips run through what the examiner will assess you on in your test and what you can do to improve on your own without a teacher. Learn to analyse your answers for IELTS speaking, find your weaknesses and build your strengths.
Transcripthello in this lesson I’m gonna show you
how to improve
and develop your IELTS speaking at home so many
students
tell me that they cannot improved their
English
because they don’t have a foreigner to
talk to so I want to show you that
it is possible
to improve your speaking at home
on your own for free now the first thing
I want you to do
is to get a list of topics the common topics
for
speaking part 1 speaking part 2
and speaking part 3 if you cannot find a
list
please go to my IELTS blog www.ieltsliz.com
and you will find a
list
of common topics difficult topics and
the questions as well so you need to get
a list of these topics and develop
ideas I don’t want you to write down
your answers I want you
only to develop the ideas so for
example
if the topic is the topic weather
you can develop ideas about the kind of
weather you like
what you do when the weather is like
that
also how the weather makes you feel
different kinds of weather or maybe the
transportation problems
that come because of that weather so just
develop ideas that you can use
for that topic the next thing number two
is a word list so vocabulary if you have
the topic of
weather you need to have arrange a
vocabulary
for that topic so for example
hot weather hot is a very low band
score
but you could use boiling
scorching sweltering
there’s a whole range a vocabulary
you can build to impress the examiner
for that topic so you need to get that
list of vocabulary
and learn it number three
your next step to developing your
speaking
get the topic weather
choose probably about let’s say 6
questions for that topic take
your telephone and answered the
questions
recording your voice it’s very important
that you
do the recording rather than writing the
answer
when you write answers usually
you think more about the grammar you
think more about the vocabulary
and often you make less mistakes when
you speak
it’s direct so when you record your
answer this gives you a chance to find
your weaknesses finding your weaknesses
very important so that you can improve
so you need to
record your answers to those questions
on your phone
after that I want you to listen to
to your answers listen and
check now there are four things that I
want you to check for
I want you to check for fluency
vocabulary
grammar and pronunciation this is what
the examiner
will check you on now each one
in the exam the is 25 percent
of your marks with so their
all equal they are all very important
and the examiner is going to check your
answer
for each one now let’s have a look at
what you need to check
for each one fluency what does that
mean
well the first thing that you need to
check
is the length
of your answer did you give a very short
answer
or could you develop it a little bit
more
when you develop your answer a little bit
more
that is a higher band score you’re
offering
the examiner more language but you’re
showing the ability
to speak fluently so
develop your answer more higher band score
another thing that you can check for
your fluency
is how many times you say um
ah these are hesitations
and we don’t want hesitations in our
answer
so you need to check how many um how
many
ah that you have if
you have a lot that’s a problem I’m afraid
and you need to find a way to practice
more
so that you get rid of the ums and ahs
so we’ve got the length
of answer and the ums and ahs
another thing that you can check for
fluency how many times
you are silent
often when students start speaking
they can’t remember what they want to say
and suddenly they stopped
it is not good to stop and be silent
in the middle of your answer you need
to fill it
you need to keep speaking naturally with
a good flow
and that will give you a good band score
so those are
three things that you can check in your
answer
for your fluency now the next thing
is vocabulary
what do we need to check in the
vocabulary
for your answer well obviously the first
thing is
the range and the range means how many
different words are you using I’ll give
you an example
so paraphrasing
are you repeating the same word again
and again
or are you using different words
to describe same thing so again we use
the example of
hot you could say boiling scorching
sweltering those a three different words
that we can use
for the meaning of hot so you need to show
a good range
vocabulary that’s from your word list
and you need to paraphrase and show the
ability to use
different words for the same meaning
when you paraphrase as well you are
looking
at band score 7and band score 8
another thing you can look at with
vocabulary
of course are
mistakes
now one way that you can check your
mistakes
is by when you listen to to you answer
listen and write down the words that you
say
that way you can check more carefully
if you’re making any mistakes with words
are you using the wrong word are you using
the wrong
noun with the verb what problems do you
have
so check that in your answer
another thing to look at of course
grammar
and with grammar you need to check again
the range so for example the range
of tenses are you
giving only present simple
now I know maybe the six questions that
you have are
all present simple questions but that
doesn’t mean
that you can’t give another tense
so for example what kind of weather do
you like
I just love hot weather scorching
weather last week
it was perfect so it was a present
simple
question but I gave a little bit
of past simple in the answer
so you can practice doing that and
develop the technique
of putting different tenses into your
answer
another thing you can look at is
sentence structure
and that means how complex are your
sentences
are you using a lot of short sentences
so don’t forget listen to your answer write
down the words that you’re using
and then check how complex the sentences
are
you can perhaps start using some linkers
and start extending the sentences
and of course another thing for grammar
again are
mistakes this is very important
more mistakes you make lower your band score
will be so remember that the examiner
is listening for mistakes with
vocabulary and grammar
so please check what mistakes you’re
making and correct them
and practice and of course the last one
is pronunciation so what is
the examiner looking for
pronunciation
well the first one of course is word
pronunciation are you pronouncing
those words correctly
if you are not sure about that you can
go online
there are free dictionaries online so
that you can
lesson to the pronunciation of the word
so check that and make sure your words are
correct
another thing is individual
sounds so for example sh
s ch are you pronouncing these sounds
correctly
and again you can find practice
online for that
and one other thing for pronunciation
is intonation
intonation is if your voice is
going up and down or if you are speaking
like this if you’re speaking
very flat this is not good
for your band score you need to learn to use
intonation in your voice we often use
intonation
to make something more interesting or to
show when something is important
so you can practice that at home and try to
improve it
now the last part of the last thing once
you have
got your topics in your ideas you’ve got
your vocabulary for the topic
you have your questions and you record
them
you listen you check your answer
don’t forget you can write down the
answer to check
what you say write down the words you’re
using
check your fluency vocabulary grammar
and pronunciation
and then after that
practice practice and practice
find your weakness get rid of your
weakness
improve your strength so you practice
and record again don’t forget to keep
recording your voice keep recording your
answers
get used to that I know
it can feel uncomfortable to sit in a
room
alone and record but really
it’s good practice you need to do it
right well that’s all for this lesson
I really hope that you practice this at
home
honestly the more you practice the
better you IELTS will be
particularly if you check
your answers correctly well
keep practicing good luck and I’ll see you
in
another IELTS lesson
IELTS Speaking: Greeting the examiner
Watch my video lesson to learn about the greeting and ID check at the beginning of your IELTS speaking test.
Transcriptthe beginning
of your IELTS speaking test
this is when you walk into
the IELTS speaking examination room
and you greet the examiner for the first time
this is before part 1 begins
you will need to greet the examiner and
do an identification check
we often call this part 0
there are 4 questions to part 0
and I’m going to give you the questions
and give you some useful tips
so that you can be confident in your answers
and give a good first impression
to the examiner
so lets start with the first question
in the first question
the examiner will introduce him or herself
and the examiner will give their name
so the examiner is going to say
good afternoon my name’s elizabeth
what’s your full name or maybe they might say
could you tell me your full name
please and you need to answer good afternoon
elizabeth you can give the examiner’s name or
not its your choice
and then you say my name’s bui minh trang
now it’s a simple question and simple answer
but I still have some tips for you
so the first tip
if you’re going to use the name of the
examiner and say
good afternoon elizabeth
please don’t give a title
this is incorrect in English
we don’t use titles
with first names so if you’re going
to use the name of the examiner
only say good afternoon elizabeth
but if you don’t feel comfortable
using the name of the examiner
it’s fine
its not a problem
you can just say good afternoon
now when you give your name
there are two tips
I want you to remember
the first tip is when you say my name’s biu minh trang
please don’t say my name is
bui minh trang
I want you to use
the contraction
my name’s
now the reason this is important
is because this is part of pronunciation
when you contract a word from is to my name’s
then is higher level pronunciation
so remember that for the rest of your exam
and try to use it
as much as you can
and the other tip is
when you give your name
please don’t speak quickly
don’t say ……………………..
I want you to say the name
clearly because sometimes it’s difficult
for the examiner to hear foreign names
so you need to say my name’s
bi min tang
and of course the point is to smile
don’t forget to smile
this is yur chance to greet the examiner
and be friendly and show confidence
so smile look at the examiner in the eyes
and relax
the second question is very easy the examiner will ask
you what can I call you
and there are 3 ways that you
could reply
you could say you can call me
minh
or you could say
just call me minh
or please call me minh
so those are 3 possible answers
that you can give
now for some tips
my first tip is please don’t
explain why people call you this
this is really part of the test
this is only the greeting
so you’re going to give
the examiner simple clear answers
you don’t need to add more information
and I know some of you have English
names
and of course you can give the examiner you
English name you can say
you can call me by
my English name Mary
now this is fine but please remember
do not make a mistake with that sentence
you still need to say yo can call me
you need this preposition by you can call me by
my English name Mary
and if you don’t have an English name
please don’t worry it doesn’t matter
so lets have a look at the third question
the third question the examiner
will ask you where are you from
or the examiner might say
could you tell me where you come from
now let me give you
some possible answers
you cuold say
I’m from Hanoi
I’m from you could say
I come from Hong Kong
I come from
you could also add more information
if you want not too much
just a little bit more if you want
you culd say I’m from Calcutta
which is in the east of India
now it is good to add a little bit more information
it’s friendly
but also it’s shows the examiner good grammar
which is in the east
this is a clause
which means it is high band score grammar
so you’re already showing the exminer
that you have good English
now lets have a look at some tips
don’t expand any further
you can give the location and stop
don’t say any more
again these are simple questions
simple answers also don’t ask the examiner
any questions so for example
don’t say I come from Hanoi have you been there
don’t give the examiner recommendations
don’t say I come from Hanoi
I think you really should go there
so please don’t do that
just keep it simple
short and accurate
and the last tip for you
this is with the pronunciation for
the names of the cities where you come from
please try to use the English pronunciation
so for example Hanoi please don’t say
Ha Noi please say Hanoi or for example
Calcutta please don’t say Kolkatta
please Calcutta
the reason that we do this is
because you’re showing the examiner that
the English pronunciation is natural
for you right so lets move on to the
last question
question number 4
and the final question
question 4 the examiner
will ask you could I see your
identification please
or the examiner might say
can you show me your identification please
now for your answer of course you need to give
the examiner your identification
and you can also say
here you are
or sure here you are
or of course
here it is
so you can choose any
of those answers
now for some tips
identifcation is often called ID
so if the examiner asks you
for your ID it’s the same it means identification
keep your answer short
you can see here it’s just a very short answer
just a few words
don’t make it any longer
and the last tip it is possible
for you to actually
say nothing and give the examiner
the identification but I think it’s nice
just to say something these are all
very polite and perfectly normal
to say in that situation
so those are the 4 questions for part 0
for greeting the IELTS examiner
adn doing the identification check
please watch the video again
practice answering the questions
correctly and remember smile
relax be confident and start your test in
the right way
well that’s all I’ll
see you in my next IELTS lesson
IELTS Speaking Part 2 Topic: A Place to Learn
Here is a topic card for speaking part 2. What place would you choose to talk about? Remember to choose a place that you know well and can easily talk about for 2 minutes. Make sure that the place you choose matches all prompts on the card.
Answers: click below to see some ideas of places you could choose
IELTS Speaking Part 2: A Friend you are Proud of
IELTS speaking part 3 topic about a friend you are proud of. I was recently asked by a student how to deal with this difficult topic in IELTS speaking part 2:
Describe a time that you felt proud of a friend.
Possible Answers
Below are some possible ways to answer this part 2 topic.
1. a friend who did well in their studies (for example, they did well in a test or project)
2. a friend who did well in work and received an award or was congratulated by their boss
3. a friend who had a difficult situation but dealt with it very well (for example, they were seriously sick or a parent was seriously ill)
4. a friend who experienced an unexpected event but fixed the situation (for example, they went on holiday and had their money stolen)
5. a friend who got a job they always wanted (for example, they did well in the interview and had worked hard to get the job)
6. a friend who defended you in a difficult situation
7. a friend who raised money for charity or did some volunteer work that made you feel proud
IELTS Speaking Part 2 Tip
It is often easier to talk about a family member that you were proud of because you know them better. So, if you get stuck, the best thing is to say “Although I have plenty of friends, I wouldn’t say that they’ve done anything to make me really proud but my cousin has. So I will tell you about him and what he has done that caused me to be so proud of him.” It is possible to adapt (not change) the topic as long as it still follows the prompts on the cue card.
Main IELTS Pages
Develop your IELTS skills with tips, lessons, free videos and more.
- IELTS Listening
- IELTS Reading
- IELTS Writing Task 1
- IELTS Writing Task 2
- IELTS Speaking
- Vocabulary for IELTS