Hi there. My name is Emma and in today's video we will be looking at the IELTS, which is
a test that ESL students take when they want to immigrate to certain countries such as
Canada, Australia, England. It's also a test some universities require students take. So
if you want to study at an overseas university, you may have to take this test. So we will
be looking at specifically the speaking section of this test, part three. So the speaking
task has three different parts to it; part one, part two, part three. We will be looking
at part three. Okay, so first I will explain what happens in part three of the IELTS speaking
test, and then I will look at some tips on how to do well, and also things you should
not do. So let's get started. First of all, it's important
to know how long this test, this part of the test will take. It takes between four to five
minutes. Okay? And it's different than part two. In part two, the student is expected
to speak for about two minutes and there's no interruption. In this part of the IELTS,
it's more like an interview. The examiner asks you some sort of question, you respond.
They ask you another question or they might ask you to go deeper into the first question.
Okay? What types of questions are there? Well, sometimes
they'll ask you to predict something, to analyze something, to compare. They might ask you
to give your opinion. Often times, you're looking at the future as well. So for example:
what sports do you think will be played in the future? Okay? So often --future questions.
Part three is based on a theme. In part two, you're given something to describe often -- it
might be a historical building, it might be a teacher you really liked, it might be an
object precious to you. Part three continues from part two, so whatever you talked about
in part two, you're going to talk about in part three, but at a more abstract level.
So what do I mean by this? Well, if in part two you talked about your favourite teacher,
in part three you might be talking about education. You might talk about how it is different today
than it used to be. Okay? So you might be looking at education.
Some of the topics you may look at in part three: technology is very common, education,
environment, TV influence, leisure activities, shopping, sports, transportation. So these
are all very common topics, and so you'll be asked between four to six questions on
these types of topics. So an example you may be asked: "How are education
priorities different from those in the past?" Okay? So again, you have to state your opinion
for this question. All right, so let's look at some of the "Dos" and "Don'ts" for this
part of the IELTS. Okay, so let's look at some of the things
you should do. Okay? So there's our smiley face, this is a good idea. The first one is:
listen for keywords in the question. Okay? Sometimes you may not understand what the
question is... try to listen for the keywords of the question. Do you hear the word "education",
"school"? Listen and this will help you to understand the question better. If you still
don't understand the question: ask. Okay? This is very important. It's okay to ask the
examiner to repeat the question. If you don't understand, you can also ask for clarification.
It's better to ask if you don't understand than to answer something completely different
and wrong. Okay? So it's always better to ask.
When you do answer the question, make sure, again, you don't give these short yes/no answers.
Expand, give detail. Okay? Give examples, give reasons. It's very important to support
your points. For example: maybe they ask you if girls and boys should go to separate schools.
Okay? If you're asked that, you might say: "I think girls and boys should go to separate
schools for three reasons. First of all, girls learn better when they're separated from boys.
In my own experience, when I was a student, I was always distracted by boys." So you see
what I mean? Give details, give examples. Stick to the topic. This is very important.
If you're asked about education, talk about education. Don't talk about your pets, don't
talk about your hair; stick to education. I think this is actually the most important
point out of all of them: think you're... Think you will do well. What do I mean by
that? I think the IELTS isn't only testing you on your English, it's also testing you
psychologically. Okay? You need to think positively. You need to think you will do well. If you
think you will do well, you will definitely do better.
Okay, another point: it's important to build vocabulary before you do the IELTS. So you're
being marked on four things. You're being marked on pronunciation, you're being marked
on grammar, you're being marked on vocabulary, and you're being marked on fluency and coherence.
So that last one is together. So, these are the four different areas you're being marked
in. It's good if you focus partially on building your vocabulary beforehand; this is a good
way to prepare. You know you're going to be marked on this, so why not think about words
that have to do with technology? Practice these words in conversation. For example:
"technophobe", "cutting-edge", "state-of-the-art". All of these words will help you increase
your vocabulary score if you're asked about technology. Find words that have to do with
education, with leisure activities, transportation. So this is a very important thing to do as well.
Okay, another thing you should do: relate
the question you're asked to your own life. So if they ask you about technology, bring
examples of technology you use. Use examples of technologies you use, I mean. Use your
own experiences. And if you don't have a lot of experiences in terms of what they're asking
-- if they're talking about sports, you hate sports, you don't have anything to say about
sports -- again, you can make it up. Use your friend's experiences, use what you know from
the news. It's good to use real-life examples. Okay, this is another important point: it's
good to divide up your answer. Okay? So when they ask you a question, instead of just getting
right into it, you can say: "There are three ways that such and such works.", "There are
three problems with transportation in Toronto.", "There are several points I'd like to talk
about." Okay? So it's good to divide up what you're going to say by giving a number for
your answer. Another good thing to do is... This part of
the IELTS often requires you to use modals. So what are modals again? "Can", "could",
"may", "might", "should" -- these are modals. You're going to be using them in this part
of the IELTS. So brush up on that. Okay, practice using them. For example, maybe they're asking
you: "Who makes the best teachers?" You could say: "Parents may make the best teachers."
Okay? So use modals. Also learn opinion expressions. So don't just
keep saying: "I think", "I think", "I think". Use something else. "If you ask me", "In my
opinion", "It seems to me that", "It appears to me that", these are all good expressions
to use. "I think" is a little bit boring. Okay?
So now let's look at some of the "Don'ts", things you should not do for this part of
the IELTS. Okay, so what shouldn't you do in this section of the IELTS? Okay, so I have
"Don'ts" and an angry face. This is what you should not do.
So first of all, don't memorize answers. This is not the way to do well on the IELTS. Okay?
If you memorize answers, and if the examiner notices that you're sort of speaking funny
and thinks you've memorized an answer, they're going to change the subject. So it's good
not to memorize answers because you'll probably have a lot more difficulty if you do. It's
better, again, to spend your time learning vocabulary, practicing speaking with your
friends, practicing answering these types of questions, giving your opinion, but don't
memorize answers. Don't worry if you make mistakes. Okay? If
you make a mistake, if you can correct it and it won't take a lot of time - just quickly
correct it. If it's one of those mistakes that if you try to correct it, it's going
to cause a lot of problems, confusion - just leave it. It's okay if you make mistakes,
just keep going. Okay? Don't go off topic. So if you're talking about
education, don't start talking about sports. Stick to what they're asking you. Don't change
the question either; if they ask you a question, answer that question.
Don't use too many "umms" and "ahhs". Okay? Some "umms" and "ahhs" are okay, but if every
question you're saying: "Umm, I think, uhh, ehh that umm, uhh really that uhh", it's not
going to get you a good mark. So if you're one of those people who use "umms" and "ahhs"
a lot, try to focus before the IELTS on using them less. What you can always do is tape
record yourself speaking -- this is something I really recommend for the IELTS -- tape record
yourself, listen to your strengths: what are you good at? And what are your weaknesses?
Be honest -- everyone has weaknesses. So listen and try to practice beforehand to fix those
weaknesses. Okay? Don't use "I think" too much. "I think" gets
very boring. This is another thing ESL students often love
to do: they want to get more time and have more time to think of an answer so they use
these types of sentences in order to give themselves more time, they might say: "Oh,
that's a good question." It's okay to say that, but don't say it for every question.
Okay? If you need to buy that much time, don't just keep saying: "Oh, that's a good question.
Yeah, that's an interesting question. That's a good question." It's not going to help your
mark. If you use that, use it once. Okay, don't worry if you have an accent.
We all have accents. It's okay if you have an accent. In terms of your pronunciation mark,
the main thing they're looking for is that you speak clearly and they can understand
what you're saying. Okay? Oh, I think I said this twice, yes. So this
is a very important point; I've wrote it here twice. Don't worry if you make mistakes. Okay?
Treat this almost like a conversation. You know, it's good to support what you're saying,
it's good to make clear arguments. And so don't get too worried about this section of
the IELTS. Practice is the most important thing. Practice giving your opinion to your
friends, to your family, to anyone who will listen to you. Practice in English.
And if you want to see some of the questions you may get, come visit www.goodluckielts.com.
This site is wonderful, it has many good tips on how to do well on the IELTS and it also
has good practice questions. So maybe do some of those practice questions, and tape record
yourself while you do them. Okay? Another thing you can do is you can come visit
us at www.engvid.com. We will have a quiz there that will check to make sure you know
how to do your best on the IELTS. Okay, so until next time, good luck on the IELTS. I
know you're going to do great. Just practice, take a deep breath, and you're going to do
fine. So take care, and until next time.