IELTS Speaking Tips

IELTS Speaking Tips1.Focus On What's Important When You PrepareUnless you have particularly bad pronunciation, don’t spend a lot of time and money on pronunciation lessons.You are better to spend this time increasing your range of vocabulary and sentence structures, and practising speaking as much as you can to increase your fluency.2.Avoid NervesThis can be difficult because you are taking a test, but try not to be nervous! If you can’t speak much because you are nervous then you may get a lower score as the examiner needs to hear you speak as much as possible in order to assess your skills.If you speak freely and confidently then you may get a score you did not expect!3.Extend Your AnswersOf all the IELTS speaking tips, this is probably one of the most important! Theexaminers job is to assess your speaking, so if you say very little, he/she will not be able to do this.Don’t give one word answers such as ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and leave it at that. Your job is to give the examiner as much language as possible to assess, so speak as much as you can.4.Stay on TopicIt's important to extend your answers as mentioned above, but make sure you stay on topic –don’t talk about anyth ing that comes into your head if it is not answering the question!5.Don't Rely on the ExaminerThe examiner usually won’t prompt you to say more if you don’t say enough, so it’s up to you to give a full answer to each question.If you don’t, then the inter view will be over very quickly and you may not be happy with your score!6.Understand the QuestionsIf you do not understand a question, then ask the examiner to repeat it. Don’t try to answer it the first time if you have not understood or heard it properly.You won’t lose marks for asking for a question to be repeated, however if you are unable to understand a lot of the questions you are probably not ready to take the test!7.Don't Show OffYou want to do your best to impress the examiner, but try to keep within yourcapabilities. If you try to use lots of grammar structures and vocabulary that you are not confident with, you may simply bring down your score.8.Keep Eye ContactTry to have eye contact with the examiner. This does not mean you need to look at him/her all the time, but it is normal when you have a conversation with someone to spend quite a lot of time looking at them as that keeps their attention.If you are speaking with someone and they never look at you this feels quite strange!9.Listen CarefullyListen very carefully to the questions so you are answering them correctly. Forexample, if you are asked about an event in the past, make sure you answer using the past tense.10.B e on TimeThese IELTS speaking tips will not be much use to you if you are not on time! You are going to get off to a bad start if you have upset the examiner because you have kept them waiting so arrive in plenty of time!_______________________________________Follow these IELTS Speaking Tips and hopefully you will do better in the exame.But there is nothing better than practice speaking to improve your score so try to find someone you can talk with.Also, check out all our other pages dedicated to IELTS Speaking and the IELTS Speaking Lessons.Lesson 1: IELTS Speaking Part 2In the IELTS speaking part 2, you will be given a topic by the examiner, and you have to speak for two minutes.The topic will be one that the examiner chooses and you cannot change it.They are always things that you should have some experience of and be able to talk about.However, some students find it difficult to do because you only have one minute to prepare what you are going to say.You may also be nervous having to speak for 2 minutes in front of someone.You don't want to run out of things to say so in this lesson there are some tips to help you extend your long-turn.Let's imagine that you are given this IELTS speaking part 2 question:Firstly, you must talk about the topic on the card.However, if you only talk about the specific questions on the card, you may find that you finish too soon.As long as you keep to the topic, it is ok to talk about other things.Here are two things you can do in the minute you have before you speak to help you find more to say for the IELTS speaking part 2.1. Use other ‘question’ promptsThese are question prompts:WhoWhatWhenWhereHowWhyWhen you prepare, write down the other question prompts that are not on the list, and think of things you can say about those as well.For example:When - When did you meet?Where– Where did you meet?2. Think of a StoryYou can also tell a story about the person, place, event or thing you are discussing.So in your one minute, think of and note down a quick and preferably interesting story to tell about the topic.You can tell the story anywhere in your IELTS speaking part 2, as long as it fits in.Example IELTS Speaking Part 2The person I’m going to talk about today is my teacher from high school. (who) Hername was Miss Chadwick and she taught quite a few subjects at the school. She had been working there for quite a few years when I met her I think. (where) We met forthe first time in my English class. (more about ‘who’) I remember this well because she was quite young compared to most of the other teachers in the school so I was surprised that she was a teacher! In fact she looked more like she could be one of the older students!(How long) So I met her when I was 15, and that was 10 years ago. I don’t actually know her anymore as we lost contact soon after I left the school, but I still remember her very well for several reasons. (What qualities) Firstly, she was very kind. She always treate d all the students very well in the class, and I can’t remember her ever shouting at anyone. Also, she had a really good sense of humour. She would make jokes in the class which most of the other teachers never did. The other teachers were very serious all the time. And she made the classes a lot of fun and very interesting, something that I think is very important otherwise you start to get bored. Oh, and also she explained things very well and very clearly. Often teachers are not able to do this in a way that students can understand, especially when it's complicated subjects.So those are the qualities that she had. (why such an influence) The reason she had such an important influence on me is because I was quite a shy person at school and not very confident, but she helped me to change this. (tell a story) Each year, there was a school play that would be held in front of all the parents, and that year, when I was 15, Miss Chadwick was organizing and directing the play. I really didn't want to be in it because I was so shy, but Miss Chadwick insisted that I take one of the roles, and it was one of the main roles which meant that I would have to do a lot of speaking! I was so nervous. Anyway, I went ahead and did it, and on the night I did really well and really enjoyed it. And that really boosted my confidence and this has helped me to this day.So my teacher Miss Chadwick is the person who has influenced my life and I will never forget her.。