simmon雅思口语part3

Part 1: stop and smile

For part 1 of the speaking test, you need to get used to giving short answers. Many students find it difficult to stop speaking, and the examiner is forced to interrupt. My tip is to give your answer then stop and smile, showing the examiner that you are ready for the next question.

Part 2: tell a story

In the context of speaking part 2, a story is simply a long example to illustrate a point that you have made. If you?re describing a person, for example, you could tell a story to illustrate why you like him/her. People find it easy to keep speaking for longer when they have a story to tell.

Part 3: include an ‘if...’ sentence

Look at technique number 2 in this lesson. The 'alternatives' technique helps you to say more, and it also encourages you to add a conditional 'if...' sentence, which might help your grammar score.

IELTS Speaking: if you don't know the answer

How do you answer a question when you don't know anything about the topic? There are 2 things you can do:

1. Be honest and explain why you don't know

2. Guess, and tell the examiner that you are guessing Example question:

How has technology affected the kinds of music that young people listen to? My answer, using both tips above:

(1) To be honest I don't really know the answer to that because I'm completely out of touch with what young people are listening to, and I'm not a fan of pop music.

(2) However, I suppose that technology must have affected music. Maybe young people are listening to music that has been made using computer software instead of real musical instruments like the piano or guitar.

IELTS Speaking Part 3: add more detail

In this lesson I mentioned 3 techniques to help you give longer answers: ask yourself why, explain the alternatives, give an example.

Most students have no problem with the first step (explaining why), but they aren't so good at giving alternatives or examples. Take the following question from last week's lesson for example. Question:

In your opinion, are newspapers important?

Example student answer:

Yes, in my opinion newspapers are very important (why?) because they give us information about what is happening around the world. (why?) They are a vital source of knowledge about education, technology, medicine and many other fields.

This is a good start, but let's try to raise the answer to band 9 level.

Example answer with 'alternative' and 'example':

Yes, in my opinion newspapers are very important (why?) because they give us information about what is happening around the world. (why?) They are a vital source of knowledge about education, technology, medicine and many other fields. (alternative?) If newspapers didn?t exist, I think the quality of news coverage would suffer because there would be fewer professional journalists.(example?) We would have to rely, for example, on unpaid

bloggers who do not have the budgets to carry out detailed research before they write an article.

IELTS Speaking Part 3: longer answers

Do you remember my advice about how to give longer answers in part 3?

? ? ? ?

Answer the question directly

Ask yourself why or how (and explain in detail) Give an example

Mention an alternative or opposite answer

Example question Do you think the seasons still influence people's behaviour?

Example answer Yes, I do think the seasons affect how we behave. (how?) We still wear different clothes depending on the weather, and clothes shops change what they sell according to the season. We also adapt our habits and daily routines according to the time of year. (example) For example, people in my country like to eat outside in their gardens in the summer, but we can't do that during the other seasons. (opposite) On the other hand, I don't think we notice the change in seasons when it comes to food; the big supermarkets import food from around the world, so most people don't buy seasonal fruit and vegetables any more.

IELTS Speaking Part 3: verb tenses

In part 3 of the speaking test, it's common to get questions about the past and future, as well as questions about 'now'. The examiner will be listening to your use of verb tenses:

What types of transport are there in your town? In Manchester I think you can find every form of transport apart from an underground system. You can drive around the city by car or get on a bus; thereare even free buses that take people between the train stations. Manchester alsohas a tram system, and of course there are taxis too. How has transport changed since your grandparents were young? Well, they had cars, trains and planes back then, and London already had the underground system, but I suppose the difference is that technology has movedon. Having said that, the transport system is not necessarily better nowadays; people travel a lot more, and I'm sure we spend more time stuck in traffic. What types of transport do you think we will use in the future? I'm not sure, but hopefully we'll have cars that drive themselves and never crash. I think we'll probably fly more, and it might become normal to have your own plane. On the other hand, many cities are building more bicycle lanes, so maybe we will use cars less for getting around towns and cities.