Hello, and welcome back to another episode of practicing English. And today I'm going to talk about something very practical. I'm going to talk about how to approach the speaking exam for IELTS levels 6.5 or 7 bands or the Cambridge B2 B2 First Exam. And I'm just looking at part one of both those exams. And I'm going to give you tips and some examples of how to answer the questions in part one.
Let's get on then. First of all, then, the part one exam in B2 First is different from the IELTS exam in that it is done with a partner. So you're there with somebody else. But in part one, you'll be speaking by yourself answering questions, and in the IELTS exam, the candidate, as you know, is alone. The B2 First exam, part one, just lasts only for about two minutes. And the IELTS is longer, actually. It's between four and five minutes for the part one exam.
So the first thing we should look at are the types of questions for both these exams. And in fact, they're very similar, actually. The categories that you will be asked about in B2 First are the following: where you live now or your home country, daily life, education and work, family and friends, travel and holidays, entertainment, free time, sports, technology, and usually some questions which talk about the future.
And in IELTS, it's very similar as well: work, study, where you live, food, holidays, friends, going out, festivals, sports, school, and public transport. So those categories are quite similar between the two exams.
Now, I think it's useful, first of all, to look at the criteria - what the examiner is looking for, in these exams. And if we see what they say, for IELTS, it says: fluency and coherence. So what that means then is the ability to connect ideas. And if you look at the Cambridge B2 First, they talk about discourse management, which is the same thing, really, - it's about connecting ideas. So, it's the ability to be able to talk and connect your ideas with suitable words so that your speech, your monologue, sounds fluent.
Then the other criteria are, well, structure knowledge it says in IELTS and grammar and vocabulary in Cambridge. So these are obviously very similar. Both also talk about pronunciation. And that would include intonation as well, which is that ability to be able to stress certain words and not stress other words, but that's rather complicated, isn't it? But at least we can think about it - intonation, but especially pronunciation.
So, if we're talking about coherence or discourse management, it would be useful if we bring in some nice connecting words. Words like: the reason is, otherwise, since, (since as a connector here), owing to, as, due to, or due to the fact that. So I will try to bring in some of those words when I answer some questions a bit later on in this podcast.
Other things to remember when you are answering these questions is that, first of all, don't just give short answers. If you are asked, for example,
Do you like watching sports on television?
Don't answer just 'yes' or 'no'. In the Cambridge exam, the examiner will make a gesture suggesting that you continue or say something like - why? So try to avoid short answers. And then other things to remember are then not too much repetition of the same words. So try to have a varied vocabulary and a varied number of expressions. So not to say, for example, in my opinion, all the time, but you could give variations on that theme, in my opinion, I believe, I think... And then the other thing is to use appropriate language for the question. And that is what the examiner is looking for, that you have a command of the vocabulary that is connected to the subject of the question.
Also, the appropriate grammar and structures that are required to answer the question, for example, if they're talking about the past, well then to use past tenses. If they're talking about the future, well then to use modal auxiliaries, which talk about the future: going to, present continuous for future, or perhaps modals of possibility: may, could, might, for example, alright, okay.
So I've chosen six questions. And these are six questions taken directly from authentic past papers of the FCE exam. And they are a range of questions. I don't think you'll get this number of questions in the FCE because there simply isn't time. In the IELTS exam - perhaps there is more time. And also the answer that you give, I said not short answers, but neither should they be too long. We're talking about one sentence, perhaps two sentences. I may give some answers here, which are a little bit longer because I want to demonstrate the sort of content each answer should have.
Okay, so let's get going. The first question is,
Could you tell me something about the area where you grew up?
Now, what do we notice about that question - where you grew up? Well, we're talking about a distant past. Well, for some of us, more distant than others, but we're talking about the beginning of our lives. And so perhaps we could use structures like used to, to answer that question. So here goes, I'm going to answer that question. I'm going to try to bring in some connectors as well.
I was brought up in the countryside in the west of England. It was a lovely time of my life. The reason for that is, well, we had so much freedom. We used to go out to the countryside, nearly every day.
So that was my answer for question one. I used used to and I used the reason... as a connector.
Next one,
What did you do on your last birthday?
So we can recognise there that the examiner is asking us to use past tenses - past simple, and perhaps the correct, or obviously, the correct conjugation of the verbs. So here goes for an answer.
Well, I didn't actually go anywhere on my birthday. The reason for that was, I was working. So the following weekend, we went to the beach. We had a lovely time due to the fact that the weather was so warm and sunny and, not only that, my wife brought along a birthday cake, which we shared on the Saturday, I remember.
Okay, so I used a few different verbs in the past simple. And I brought in a few connectors there as well, due to the fact that, for example.
The next question is,
Do you prefer working on your own or with other people?
Now, a question like that is sometimes a little difficult to answer immediately. So we can use some little phrases, which give us time to think - you shouldn't use them more than once. But one like, that's an interesting question, actually. Or, Mmm, I need to think about that for a moment. But then you should start answering the question. So I'll answer that one then. Right...
Well, that's an interesting question, actually. Now, in my particular job, well, I'm a teacher. So it's important (and I enjoy) interacting with my colleagues at work. But on the other hand, I usually work in the classroom, so I'm alone with the students, but it's nice to get feedback from my colleagues afterwards.
Okay, so I got to some appropriate language in there - talking about colleagues, talking about feedback, which are words that we would use when talking about work.
Okay, so let's go on to the next question.
Have you done anything interesting with your friends recently?
Now, the first thing we notice about that is that it's in present perfect. It's not essential to mirror or to repeat the aspect or the tense of the question, but if we can, well, then we could use present perfect here. And I think examiners like to hear us use present perfect in the right way because it is rather a complicated tense and aspect to use. So here is my answer.
Well, we have actually been doing things together. Yes, we've been going out and looking for interesting places to go walking and hiking in the countryside.
Okay, so that was great! I used some present perfect continuous there. We've been looking for to answer that question, which was also in present perfect.
And my penultimate question here is,
Is there anything you'd love to be able to do in the future?
So here's a conditional there, you would love to be able to do so if we can bring that into the answer, somehow, that would be better.
Well, I think there are things that I would love to do in the future, one of them would be to travel more, owing to my job, I don't have time to travel much. But later on, perhaps, if I have more free time, I would love to go to countries like Vietnam, for example, and other countries in the Far East.
Okay, so there, I kept the would in there saying what I would like to do in the future. So that was quite good. Now I would like to visit countries in the Far East.
Okay, and my final question is also one about the future. It's different, though, from the one before because it is this,
Do you think computers will replace newspapers and TV in the future?
So we can identify there straight away, that what the examiner is looking for, is that we use language for making predictions in the future, which would be going to or will, especially, would be the best structure to use here. So okay, here's an answer, then.
Well, actually, I think, yes, paper newspapers will be replaced in the future, due to the fact that people read the news more online these days. And, well, to watch films, perhaps we won't just watch them on the computers all the time. The reason is that the television is a bigger screen, but the Smart TV is a sort of computer and I'm sure that most people will be watching TV and films on those smart TVs.
Okay, so I used owing to there in my answer as a connector, and I also brought in the use of will there to talk about predictions.
There's always the same question right at the beginning of the part one, and I'm talking about the Cambridge exam. And that is,
Where are you from?
So think of something interesting to say, and not just, I'm from Paris, or I'm from Madrid. So my answer might be,
Well, actually, I lived most of my life in the west of England, very close to the border with Wales. But I was born in Stratford upon Avon where William Shakespeare was born.
Okay, just a little thing to remember that if in the exam, you don't understand a question, well, then don't panic. You can ask the examiner to repeat that question. But remember, they'll only repeat exactly the same question. They won't paraphrase or say it in another way. But remember to use phrases, for example,
I'm sorry, but I didn't understand what you said. Could you say that again, please?
You could say,
I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. Could you tell me what the question was, please?
Try not to say things like, Can you repeat? because the word 'repeat', which is a Latin-based word, sounds a lot like those languages: French and Spanish, that would use the same word. Say that again, would sound better there. But remember, don't worry. If you don't understand. You can ask the examiner to say the question again.
I'll be back with you again, in another episode of Practising English. Goodbye for now!
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