Podcast 124 - FCE Speaking test Part 3

When I was examining some students the other day for First Certificate (FCE) speaking exam, I noticed one thing especially which most students could not do correctly. I'm referring to intonation! Intonation is where you place stress on certain words in a sentence. So, I'm not talking about pronunciation. Many of the students I was examining pronounced fairly well but the intonation was generally quite bad. Why is that important? Well, one of the criteria that examiners use to give you a mark is on pronunciation and that includes intonation. So, it doesn't matter how well you pronounce words. If your intonation is poor, you will lose marks. In this podcast, I'm going to offer you a model version of Part 3 of the FCE speaking exam (the collaborative task) which will emphasize the correct intonation. Here we go...

The importance of intonation in the FCE speaking test

First of all, let me remind you that there are podcasts at Practising English where you can listen to a detailed explanation of intonation and rhythm at podcast 43, podcast 97 and podcast 109 all at B2 level English. Today, I'm just going to remind you of the basics. And the basics are these: we put more stress on key meaning words and less stress on words with less meaning or importance.

For example, listen to this question.

What is the best way to learn about events happening in the world? (repeated)

The stress falls on 'what', 'best way', 'learn', 'events', 'happening', and 'world'. These are key meaning words - without these words it would be difficult to understand the sentence. In fact, if I made a sentence just with these words, I'm sure you would understand it. Listen:

What - best way - learn - events - happening - world?

Words that receive stress are usually: question words, adjectives, adverbs, nouns, verbs. Negative words like 'don't' and 'not' are also usually stressed.

The words of less or no meaning (perhaps they are just grammatical words) do not receive stress usually. In this sentence, they are:

is the - to - about - in the

Those words tell us nothing about the context of the question (repeat it), do they? Words which receive no stress are usually: prepositions, articles, auxiliary verbs like the verb to be in present continuous. That's why we have contractions: I'm speaking, you're speaking etc. The verb to be in general usually receives no stress - as in the question I just mentioned: What is the best way...?

When these words have no stress the pronunciation often changes. I've talked about the change in pronunciation in unstressed words before, listen to podcast 97 for that... What I want to show you today is a model Part 3 of the Cambridge First Certificate speaking test with correct intonation - perhaps not perfect pronunciation and certainly not with an English accent. Accent isn't the problem.

So I've invited my ideal candidates. Here we have Anders from Sweden to demonstrate one of the speakers. 'Hello, again, Anders!'

'Hello, Mike! It's good to be on the show again!'

And we have Marie from France as the other candidate to partner with Anders. 'Nice to see you again, Marie!'

'Hello, Mike! Lovely to see you too!'

And, of course, we need our Cambridge examiner to control the exam, and her she is, Edna Bucket! Good evening, Edna!

'Good evening, Mike!'

So listen out for how key words are emphasized during this test. Listen for how meaning words receive more stress. This is a technique you should practise yourselves. You could start by coming over to Practising English, podcast 124, and reading and repeating the test as you hear it on this audio.

Well, Edna. Would you like to start the test?

Cambridge First Certificate speaking test (part 3) model answer

B2 speaking test part 3

Edna (examiner): 'Certainly, Mike! Now, I’d like you to talk about something together for about two minutes. People often keep up-to-date about the world news in different ways. Here are some ways they learn about events happening in the world and a question for you to discuss. First you have some time to look at the task.' [Fifteen second pause.] Now, talk to each other about what the best way is to learn about things happening in the world.

Anders: Would you like to start, Marie, or shall I?

Marie: That's ok. I'll start. Erm... well, the first option there is about watching the news on the TV. I would say that that must be the most common way people follow news events. I can remember seeing the news on TV even when I was a small child. I believe most people trust the news on television. Don't you think so?

Anders: Well. I agree with you up to a point. However, some TV news channels can be run by political parties and therefore opinions can be different. On the whole, though, I feel that TV news is fairly reliable. Now. What about social media? I think the argument is different here, isn't it?

Marie: Yes, definitely! We all know that due to less control on the Internet, people say all sorts of things. Things that we cannot trust.

Anders: I know what you mean! I think they call that 'fake news'. You're right. We can't choose that option as the best. Then we have your friends and family. What is your opinion about that?

Marie: Erm. On the one hand, I do learn some things from friends and family about news events although, on the other hand, we can't depend on these people to tell us everything we want to know about the world.

Anders: You're right of course. In fact, my parents never tell me about shocking news - you know, about violence and war and stuff. They'd prefer I didn't know those things. They still treat me like a child!

Anders: Marie: (Both laugh)

Marie: I suppose newspapers are like you said about TV news. They can be political and so tell the news differently. Do you agree with that!

Anders: You're right, of course. But if you choose a newspaper you trust, the news can be quite accurate. A good newspaper can be a reliable source to learn about news events. But, as we know, newspapers are not as easy to find these days!

Marie: I know what you mean about a newspaper you trust. There are French newspapers that I read and I feel I am reading the truth. Shall we go for that one as the best?

Anders: Yes. That would be a good choice for me too.

Edna (examiner): Thank you. Now you have about a minute to decide which is not a good way to learn about events happening in the world.

Anders: Well, that one would be an easier question to answer for me. Social media is full of untruthful stories about world events. But we haven't talked about school. What are your thoughts about that one, Marie?

Marie: Well. That isn't really relevant for me now as I've left school. But when I was younger, I can remember hearing all sorts of strange stories about the world from my friends. But we were only children...

Anders: Yes. But I was thinking about the teachers. I remember we had a subject at school called 'current affairs'. It was about things happening in the world now.

Marie: But I imagine that type of lesson didn't tell you about news that was really up-to-date.

Anders: No, no, it wasn't very up-to-date. That's true. But I believe what we learnt was truthful. So, therefore, it wouldn't be a candidate for a source that is not a good way to learn about events, would it?

Marie: I agree entirely. So shall we choose social media?

Anders: Definitely! It has to be the worst way to be well-informed about world events!

Edna (examiner): Thank you!

Yes, thank you all for coming into the studio today. I think that will be very useful for all our learners studying for the B2 exams.

Until next time! Good bye for now!