IELST Speaking Topics and Sample Answers hello there my name is Ben Worthington in this tutorial
I'm going to go through a recent very recent cue card of whole IELTS speaking tasks Task
1 Task 2 Task 3 all the tasks the whole exam from beginning to end and what I'll do is
I'll just lift my hand when I'm saying something that I think would be of value to you so it's
going to be one of three things one is sort of like a universal expression that I think
you could just pick up take and use basically for any speaking exam the second one would
be like higher language higher language which is going to higher level language which will
help you score better in the exam and the final one would be when I'm using a special
not a special technique but a useful technique for example I might be giving an example or
I might be contrasting two different ideas or I might be using something for the future
okay or I might be -- no I might be referencing something in the past or something in the
future but just as a general summary one I'll be using a higher-level language I might go
like that two I'll be using a technique and third I'll be using a phrase that you could
use so let's get started we've got the questions in front so what is your full name hi my name
is Ben my full name is Benjamin but people call me Ben yes here's my ID we’ll just
go quickly through this so do you work or study actually I do both at the moment I'm
studying a PhD in Linguistics and I also work down in the center just a normal administrative
job do you have -- yes I had a little bit of training before doing the admin job I worked
at my uncle's office which was a few years ago back in my hometown city okay will you
need training in the future for where I want to go in the future I probably will need training
ideally a tenureship of working in a university my ideal situation would be working with some
famous professors and some famous experts in my field and working alongside and not
in the administration job of course but more so in the academic fields that I'm pursuing
at the moment do I like rain actually to be honest with you I completely adore the rain
this might sound a little bit crazy but I'm from England so I came to make peace with
the rain a lot of people despise it they grumble about it but personally I came to accept it
and interestingly actually now when I'm studying or when I'm reading I will actually go to
YouTube and put sounds of rain because it just calms my mind and it helps me relax a
lot so yeah I do thoroughly enjoy the rain at least the sound of rain does it rain much
where I live it rains quite a bit actually for example I mean they often -- we often
joke in England that the summer is from Monday to Thursday that's the summer but it does
rain a lot because where my specific hometown is there are hills on either side and what
happens is the rain the clouds come in from the coast and they get trapped in this valley
and the clouds do not go until they’re completely empty and that obviously means emptying them
around my area so yes it rains a lot what I dislike about the rain is that it takes
a lot of time to prepare for the rain if you're going out so you have to put on your shoes
you have to do the laces you can't just slip on a pair of trainers you have to do the laces
then you have to get your coat then you have to get your hat and maybe an umbrella and
for me I dislike all this preparation I pretty much prefer just as I go direct fast and quick
it's just a personal preference that's all how do I like to read about the news in a
newspaper or online well to be completely honest with you I don't read that much news
and the reason is is because I personally don't think it will affect my personal life
my day-to-day activities as much well I don't think it will affect them at all so I don't
read that much I prefer to focus my attention or spend my time doing things that will affect
me on a more personal level maybe it's a little bit selfish however it works for me I find
that I'm able to attain my goals and honestly as well I find the news tends to have a more
negative slant on it so I prefer just to read other material if I do happen to read the
news it'll always be online I hardly ever read the newspapers I dislike them my cue
card thank you okay talk about a book I recently find interesting what was the book about what
did I like about the book why did I choose it okay I'm going to give you a talk about
a book that I recently read the book was called autobiography of a yogi if I remember correctly
and it was written by a yogi called Yogananda and it basically tells his story about him
growing up as a child in his family in India I think he was in rural India and how he basically
followed this spiritual path and his growth while he was on this path and the challenges
the experiences that he encountered I really enjoyed the book because it gave me a very
interesting insight into India and this country that I'm fascinated by but I learned a lot
learned about the ashrams and learned about the diets I learned about different types
of yoga the kriya yoga the ashtanga yoga and more than anything I was really inspired by
his tenacity and determination to reach his goal and also his ability to learn for example
he was really hell-bent on going to India he was really determined and not to be India
-- to the Himalayas he really felt that he had to go away spend some years there meditating
and doing yoga to get to the next level but his yogi or his mentor kept on persuading
him not to and telling that it wasn't really necessary but he persisted eventually he did
get there but he only went there like visiting if I remember correctly so why did I choose
this book well I chose the book because at the moment I'm trying to get into yoga I'm
trying to get better at this practice and I find that if I read something as well as
doing the physical activity as in like completely immersing myself into this discipline or this
new subject I find it a lot easier to keep motivated plus I'm usually going to be around
sort of like similar minded people so I can talk to them I can connect with them about
certain topics in the book and there's a bit of an overlap as well so basically it's just
to strengthen my knowledge to go a bit deeper and to also get familiar with the terms and
also I found that for example in the yoga studio there's a lot of physical work but
not that much theoretical work and I like to engage both disciplines or both aspects
just to deepen my own learning and this is the same when I was playing football when
I was am doing martial arts I like to learn the theory and also of course do the physical
just to get myself better fuller understanding so that was my small presentation about a
book I recently read and yeah I strongly recommend reading it if you're interested in that discipline
in that field yes I would recommend it to other people especially the people like I
said before I'd recommend it to the people at the yoga studio my friends because they're
interested in this topic as well we could say that they are on a similar path I wouldn't
recommend it to certain other people for example my dad I'm not saying that my dad is closed-minded
I'm saying that he's a little bit more traditional and obviously from a different generation
and he generally views this stuff with a little bit of skepticism and he’d probably just
call it poppycock as he would say so yes I definitely recommend it to certain friends
but to other people probably not I think sometimes the movie can be definitely better than the
book it can be in certain instances however in my personal opinion just from the top of
my mind right now I’m thinking of a few books where the written version absolutely
blew away the movie for example War and Peace Love and War Love and Peace -- War and Peace
sorry the Russian book that was amazing and then I watched the document the series afterwards
and it was terrible there was no connection between the characters that I created in my
mind from reading the book and then the characters that were showed in front of me so I think
occasionally maybe the movie can be better but in my personal experience I found that
the book is often better for example also with The Beach the movie The Beach I found
the book considerably better with Lord of the Flies the book was considerably better
so probably actually I would say the books are better than the movies would I read a
book before watching the movie that's difficult to say because I don't think usually I don't
consciously decide so for example the movie is sort of like maybe a suggestion by a friend
or maybe it's just whatever's being suggested by Netflix and likewise with the book I won't
make a conscious decision to do one before the other so it's difficult to answer that
but from personal experience I did find that -- I do find that generally I read the book
first then watch the movie because generally speaking the book is more enjoyable and more
interesting and more vivid than the actual movie and do I think that producers and movie
directors are restricted in creativity compared to the book writer absolutely they are absolutely
restricted the reason is because the character can -- you've got free roam with the character
in a book whereas with the movie you have to find a physical human person who fulfills
all those characteristics and even then that they've got to play the role they've got to
get into the role and it might not be a perfect match between what you've got in your mind
and what the actual person is capable of doing and sometimes I think that some good movie
directors are aware of this restriction and sometimes they might for example alter the
script to take into account some of the characteristics the physical characteristics or the attributes
of a certain actor I think this happened in The Godfather I was reading about it yesterday
but I think this happened with the Godfather because on the set there was a security guard
he got drafted into the play and then they altered the script because this actor they
drafted in was very nervous so they made it part of his character actually in the movie
so to answer your question sorry they're probably more restricted okay and yes I think I've
already said why I think it is so so that's it for this sample answer I hope you enjoyed
it I hope you got a lot of value you will be able to download the transcript I'll put
a link to that you could have seen sometimes that maybe I went slightly off-topic but what
I did is I tried to bring it back try to bring it back and by bringing it back I sort of
like -- to bring it back I would rephrase the question or just say the question again
to remind the examiner that I am on topic they just went slightly off but I came back
also I gave contrasts you know I talked about my friends at the yoga studio I talked about
my dad in the contrast there so I'm invoking sort of like two different characters two
different points of view and also when I'm invoking this this contrast and giving examples
of both and it’s given me the opportunity to expand my answer and also with most of
my questions I gave a reason I said and this is because and also I tried to steer it to
something that I was passionate about not passionate but at least something that's top
of mind at the moment that's interesting to me I also tried to tell little anecdotes and
little stories so like for example my dad I know that he would consider this all woowoo
he’s a bit much traditional so I tried to just give that small tiny little anecdote
that example just to demonstrate my point so yeah don't worry about this exam if you’re
preparing for it and you go in there confidently you will get the grade you want and remember
this is your opportunity to shine this is your opportunity to show the examiner what
you've got and your ability so go in there confidently and smile I hope I was smiling
I can't remember but go in there confidently sit confidently and trust me it will not be
as bad as you imagined all the best go to ieltspodcast.com if you want some more help
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the comments and have a great day and all the best with your IELTS preparation