Hey everyone welcome back to my channel this is Dori I'm a teacher of English and today
we're going to talk about the top 15 IELTS Speaking tips! I know that we have already
talked about the top 15 reading writing and listening IELTS tips
the videos of which you can find in these links over here but now let's talk about the top
15 IELTS speaking tips and without further ado let's get started
Tip number one pronunciation this is extremely important
pronunciation is very important but mind you I don't mean your accent they do not
expect you to talk like a native speaker not at all, all they want to see is that you're able to
pronounce the words correctly and that you're understood clearly and easily. For example you should pronounce the word "English" as "English"
and not as "engles" anyway you get the idea so if you don't know how
words are pronounced correctly don't use them. Now all online dictionaries have audio
pronunciation in every word so make sure to check that out for words you're not
sure enough how they are pronounced. Tip number 2.) Everyday topics discussion so
in part 1 especially you're going to be asked to talk about various every day
topics that is you must be able to talk about your family your
studies your preferences your interests your hobbies your work things like
that these are very easy questions these are warm up questions so they give you the opportunity to show
off your English a little bit so try to give simple answers to the point and without any
hesitation or pauses in between this is the ideal thing to do don't worry if the examiner
interrupts you in any part of the speaking exam because they have to follow certain time guidelines
so they will have to interrupt you in order to be on time. Number three Avoid yes
or no answers. In both part 1 and part 3 that you're going to be asked some questions to answer please avoid yes or no answers or very
simple answers with one sentence or so try at least to give an answer that is two sentences long
so try to expand your answers a little bit for example if they ask you to do you like music?
yes I do. Don't do that
try to talk about it a little bit more; what kind of music you like why you like it so much what
you do while you listen to this music and things like that
Try to face these parts like an interview pretend that you're a famous person and they ask you some
questions about your interests and about your beliefs so just like you don't like
interviews of famous people that they don't talk enough the
reporter does all the job in the same way the examiner doesn't like candidates that they don't
enough because they make his job harder and you don't want that. How will your English be evaluated if you
don't talk enough especially in part 1 which is the easiest? So, think about it a little bit and be more eager to talk about things
Tip number 4 stay on topic
well there are some students who understand the previous tip of expanding
your answers the wrong way for example in the question that we had as an example
previously do you like music they would answer something like yes I do the other day I bought a music-playing device
and my mum got really angry because it was too expensive
No, don't answer like that ok I know this is a farfetched example but you know
some candidates out of anxiety try to talk as much as they can and they have
forgotten the original question so they start talking about anything. Try to be relaxed; focused; and stay on topic in relation to your answer
Tip number 5 vocabulary and linking phrases these two are extremely important they are so easy to be improved
even students with a good command of the language tend to forget most of the words they know and they start using only
good or bad in order to describe one thing don't do that try to use a range of vocabulary and a range of linking phrases
that they're going to help you with your organization of speech and thinking so for
example instead of good you have so many options you can say that something is appropriate something is effective useful
amazing exciting depending on the context of course and similarly instead of using bad all the
time you can say negative or ineffective inappropriate useless, boring
not so interesting you can use negatives as well so depending on the context
again you have so many equivalents to choose from. You can do this with verbs as well for example instead of
saying I like all the time you can say I enjoy; I have fun with; I prefer etc
Also, try to learn some standard linking phrases to help you when you get stuck and you don't
know what else to say or how to link ideas together so these phrases help you to
avoid pauses and irrelevant things so a video
that can help you with that and the linking phrases you can use is this one over here
tip number 6 part 2 and notes! In part 2 you will be asked to talk in a monologue kind of answer and before doing that they're going to give you
some paper and pen to take down some notes while you think about your answer
so make sure that you take down notes and that you cover all the points in your answer many
students complain that they don't have enough time to take down notes about
everything and think about it
well the majority of times that this happens is because these students don't
take down notes they try to write whole sentences so obviously you don't
have enough time for that this is not a writing
train yourself taking down notes in a short amount of time and then try to expand
these notes in speaking form only. Tip number 7 Always give reasons and examples for your answers. In part 3 you're going to
be given more demanding questions than in part 1 and part 2 so even if the examiner doesn't ask you
always always always put a why in the end of each question that you're going to be given this will
help you to have in your mind apart from your belief or your idea about something you have to state why you
believe so why this is your idea and it will be very good to give an example in order
to justify your point if you can if you can't that's fine just make sure that
you always answer why it is that way in your opinion. Again you can find useful phrases to organize your speech in this link over here
link over here tip number 8 Speak as you write I know that this might seem a
little bit weird but really this is going to
help you very much once you get the hang of it
In part 3 the questions you are going to get could be writing topics as well as you can understand
it will really help you to be fluent and organized with your ideas and your
thoughts if your speaking answer follows the coherence of a paragraph what I mean by that is that you should start introducing your
your answer with an opening sentence followed or starting with a linking phrase maybe then
state your opinion and say why and use an example after that to justify your point in the end you can
complete your answer with a closing sentence this will be a complete answer without awkwardness of how to
finish your answer without pauses and you will be quite fluent once you practise enough doing that
For more information on how you can achieve that please check this video over here Tip number 9 get into the examiner's
shoes Imagine for a moment that you are the examiner of your own language what would you want to see? Would you like to see a person too terrified to
speak to you? No because this will make your job even harder. What you want to
see is a happy and friendly person so you have to know that examiners are
tired as well even more tired than you're going to be and they are on your side and not your enemy
you just have to make their job easy how are you going to do that? If you go
there and have a friendly conversation with them with confidence if you manage to make
them forget that they examine you which is the ideal then you will score even higher how are you going to achieve that? by
being prepared the more prepared you are the less nervous you're going to be
tip number 10 communication
there are no wrong or right answers the examiners aren't going to evaluate your knowledge they don't care they couldn't care less for what you
know or don't know what they want to see what they evaluate is your English if you are able to communicate effectively in English if you understand what you are asked and if you answer appropriately
without hesitation by explaining by giving reasons for your beliefs. Similarly you can lie too examiners know nothing about you and
they don't care all they care about is your English so if it seems easier at some point to lie by all means do so you can lie as much
as you like as long as your English is good and you answer the question on topic. Tip number 11 don't be a parrot!
many students when they are asked a question they repeat it for example if they are asked would
you rather live in the city or in the country? they would answer something like that would I rather live in they city
or in the country?
yes and then they answer the question ok or they may do I would rather live in
the city because and they move on answering the question
ok obviously the first option worst but the second option isn't very good either if you do it in every
single answer
you're going to give try to paraphrase your answer a little bit not a lot just minor changes can make a difference for example instead of
of saying I would rather live in the city because you can say well I prefer living
in the city because just one word you can change it but it will show the variety
of your vocabulary tip number 12 practice makes perfect well obviously
as everything in life practice makes perfect the more you practice the more
you're going to improve obviously so try to answer lots of
times lots of questions in part 1, 2 and 3 do it numerous times and gradually you will get the hang of it
you will be better you will not make a lot of pauses and you will not hesitate to answer so the
more times you do that the better you're going to be please do not memorize
questions by heart hot experienced examiners can totally understand that and it will count
against your score. Tip number 13 focus on what you know and not on what you don't know
gradually the questions especially in part 3 are going to be a little bit more
challenging if you don't understand a question you can ask could you repeat the question, please?
that's totally fine most times apart from a difficult word or phrase the rest of the question is pretty simple so
don't get too overwhelmed for example even if they ask you what is your opinion on nuclear energy and you know
nothing about it you still know that it is something dangerous right so base your answer on that
Also you can use your weaknesses to your advantage if you don't know something
very well state it use it for example you can say well I'm not really familiar
with that topic but I assume/I guess/I would say that... you can use these things they do not expect you to be
a scientist just to talk in English also similarly if while you speak you can't remember a word and you get stuck again state it
as you would in your mother language you can say for example I can't remember that word
how is this called it's on the tip of my tongue it is this thing that we use when we
do something like that
and that... this will show that you can act just like a native speaker I mean I'm sure that sometimes you can't
remember words in your mother language as well and you try to think about them so act as a natural!
tip number 14 think in English I know that this is extremely extremely difficult
but not so much if you practise the worst thing you can do is to try to
translate your thoughts
from your mother tongue to English avoid that at all costs the syntax you have in your mother language
your vocabulary is more advanced than your English
so if you try to translate that into English at the same time while you
have to speak it is going to be extremely difficult it will be better to be simple
but think in English than do a lot of complex phrasing in your mind and not answer the question at all
so what you can do for practice is to think in English from the time you wake up
'till you go to bed in your mind
simple phrasing at first and gradually you will be able to do it with more complex phrasing
it takes some time it takes some effort on your part but it's totally worth it! Tip number 15 speak up! you will be nervous that's only natural but that doesn't mean that you have
to be shy or that you have to be so nervous that you can't really talk or make it
difficult for the examiner to hear you your English may be excellent but what difference does it make if only dolphins can hear you? If you can't speak clearly or loud enough you will make the examiner's job harder
and this is something you don't want so open your mouth talk clearly and try to speak up with confidence. So these were my top 15 IELTS Speaking tips I hope they help you and now I like to share
with you a personal story of mine so when I was taking the Cambridge Proficiency test in the speaking exam I got an A but
you know what? It wasn't because of my range of vocabulary I was only 16 at the time so my vocabulary
is not as advanced as it is now after all these
years it wasn't because of my accent either as most of you know I'm not a native speaker of English so I know exactly what you go
through; I've been there in the past and whatever I tell you to do is something that I have
already used on myself so I really know that it works so it wasn't about my accent either because it was
even worse than it is now as I'm not a native speaker; I've got to be honest with you my grammar was really really good and I was pretty fluent but
this is not the reason I got an A I got it for another reason entirely. Before I go through this I want to give you some
background information so at the time I had a terrible terrible fight with my best
friend of 8 years to the point that we weren't talking to each other anymore so you
know how teens are with their best friends I was devastated I thought it was
the end of the world for me so towards the end of the speaking exam I get this
question "How important is friendship for you? Talk about bad timing right? "So I started answering the question and while I was answering that question I couldn't help it anymore and I started crying
This was one of the most embarrassing moments of my entire life in the future I got
more embarrassing moments
but still this is one of them Imagine crying in a speaking test; you don't want that but you know why I got an A? Not because she felt sorry for me
hopefully she could have given me a C I would still have passed. The reason she gave me an A that I do now know as a teacher myself is because
Although I started crying, really bad crying I didn't stop talking through my crying I explained to her the situation I told her
I'm really sorry I can't believe this is happening to me right now and through crying I still answered the
question of how important is friendship to me and why. So, do you see my point? I'm not saying that you should go to the
speaking exam and start crying avoid that by all means what I'm saying here is that you should use your weaknesses
to your advantage! Go there to have a conversation without pauses without fear and enjoy it! So
go there and rock your speaking exam! Best of luck!