hello I'm Jack and welcome to Oxford
online English in this lesson you can
learn how to improve your score in parts
1 & 2 of the CIE speaking exam in parts
1 & 2 there are some specific things
that you can do will help you to perform
well as you may know part 1 involves a
two-minute conversation during which
candidates take turns answering
questions the examiner will ask you to
speak about everyday topics and the
questions will be quite simple so the
first tip is to always develop your
answer you don't have a lot of time so
it's important to use your time to
demonstrate your English skills so how
should you do this give long full
answers simple yes or no answers
are certainly not enough instead add
reasons details and examples to
everything that you say now let's look
at an example of this with a sample
question
imagine you're asked this question what
keeps you motivated to learn English
what would you say here's a sample
answer I enjoy learning English because
I can speak with my foreign friends now
this answers fine but it could be better
if we add more reasons examples and
details take a look at this I enjoy
learning English because I can speak
with foreign friends for example one of
my acquaintances here is polish and
English is a mutual language we can both
understand I also work in a
multinational company and I need to
speak English a lot you can see that the
speaker has developed the point by
adding a personal story this also allows
you to use some more impressive
vocabulary such as acquaintances and
multi-national of course it's important
not to just keep speaking and speaking
your answer needs to have a clear end
but in the exam you will be given some
time so develop your ideas and make sure
you take advantage of your speaking time
to say as much as you can tip number two
learn key words related to everyday
topics in part 1 the questions are about
very general topics just like when you
first meet someone this can make it
easier to prepare for part one and
here's how it means it's possible for us
to make some predictions about what
you'll be asked common part one topics
include where you live
leisure time work study future plans and
holiday experiences now it's probably
not a good idea to prepare complete
phrases because the examiners are
trained to look for this but it is
however useful to learn a few advanced
level keywords around each topic this
way you'll have a rich vocabulary
prepared that you can use naturally so
let's look at an example using the topic
leisure time imagine you are asked the
question what do you do at the weekend
what would you say if you're interested
in surfing your answer might be
something like this I usually go surfing
this answer is ok but it doesn't really
demonstrate a lot of advanced English
now before the exam if you do a bit of
research you might then be able to say
that you're quite fanatical about
surfing or that it's something that
helps you to unwind or it's an activity
in which you can get Adhan about perhaps
you're afraid of shark attacks with a
bit of preparation you'll be in a better
place to give a stronger answer I
usually go surfing this is something I'm
really fanatical about it lets me
exercise unwind and get out and about I
prefer to surf in isolated locations
though I'm a little afraid of shark
attacks these days and to learn five or
six new words for each of the most
common topic areas in part 1 you
probably won't use all of them but you
might use one or two
now even using one or two high-level
words and phrases can make a difference
to your vocabulary score now we'll look
at part two of the CAE speaking exam
what happens in this part the goal in
this section is to compare two pictures
and to speculate about the people in
them you have a minute to answer and you
speak only to the examiner so what are
the examiner is looking for here the
examiners want to see that you can put
your thoughts into a well-organized
1-minute answer so my first tip for part
two is learn how to compare and
speculate now this is a key part of this
task and you can and should prepare for
it one aspect of this is using linking
words to connect your ideas and
sentences let's look at how it can do
this using these pictures of people
reading as an example the question might
be compared why these people are reading
and say how they might be feeling let's
look at comparing first for things that
are similar use language like both each
similarly or likewise or even in the
same way we can also see that for
example this man may be reading for
pleasure and we can also see that she
appears to be enjoying herself or
similarly she appears to be enjoying
herself in the same way she appears to
be enjoying herself now for things that
are different
use meanwhile whereas or even by
contrast on the other hand for example
the man is reading alone by contrast
this woman seems to be reading to some
children on the other hand the woman
seems to be reading to some children or
meanwhile the woman seems to be reading
to some children now in addition to
compare
and contrasting you need to know how to
speculate you shouldn't just say what
you see he also need to talk about the
ideas and possibilities that the picture
represents some useful structures
include might perhaps maybe it seems
like for example it seems like he's
reading something very serious and
important perhaps she is reading the
children a fairy story you can also use
if sentences to speculate what you would
do or how you would feel if you are in
the situation if I were I'd be very
happy if that were me I'd fall asleep
so it's essential that you study this
kind of language and use it when you
practice my next tip for part 2 of the
CAE speaking exam is don't waste time
firstly choose your pictures as soon as
you can the best way to do this is to
choose two pictures that seem very
different you should also begin
comparing immediately don't waste time
telling the examiner which pictures you
want to talk about next
don't paraphrase or repeat the question
this is one certain way to waste time
and finally speak for the whole minute
this leads us to our next point have a
plan in case you don't know what to say
some students find it helpful to develop
a few automatic backup ideas for
comparison in case they run out of
things to talk about
these are simple ideas that you can use
for any picture this way if you get
stuck and you can't think of anything
else to say you can use these so that
you don't just stop talking these ideas
might be about what the people are
wearing or how old they are or even how
many people there are the people in this
picture are all wearing the same clothes
likewise the
people seem to be all dressed in what
better still ask yourself what the
people might be thinking feeling or
doing these kinds of comparisons are
always useful as they allow for a lot of
speculation
this image shows people singing whereas
these people appear to be doing some
kind of martial art the main point is
that you have some questions you can ask
yourself in any situation what ideas can
you think of tip number six don't spend
all the time describing this is probably
the most important tip because it's the
biggest mistake that candidates make you
don't need to say what you see and you
don't need to describe the pictures at
all your job is to make comparisons and
speculate about the pictures not to say
what the pictures show if you spend too
much time describing you're not giving
yourself the opportunity to demonstrate
your abilities to compare and speculate
in a longer answer okay so how can you
practice and prepare for part two of the
say a speaking test the best thing that
you can do is to practice with as many
different images as possible it's always
better doing this with a friend or a
teacher but you can also do this alone
with a timer you can even make your own
combinations of sample images simply by
doing a google search and picking two
random images you could search for
people on holiday or people eating or
groups of people then imagine a question
remembering that the typical question
format contains two parts one compare
the two situations and to speculate on
how the people may be feeling or the
reasons for their behavior so we might
get something like this compare how
these people are enjoying their holidays
and say how they might be feeling
now I'm going to give you an example
answer and I want you to try and think
of how I could improve this these people
are enjoying their holidays with the
family they are sitting outside with
their dogs there are two adults and
there they're happy these people are
about to get on a plane they're there in
a desert now let's stop right there
what's wrong with this answer and how
could it be improved can you tell me
firstly I'm simply describing the
pictures but we talked about how
important it is to compare and contrast
secondly I'm not using any language or
linking words to do this what else am I
doing wrong I'm also not speculating
again I'm simply describing what I'm
looking at in addition I'm going way too
slow let's start again this image seems
to show a family spending the holiday
together in the same way this might be a
couple however it doesn't look like they
have their children with them in this
picture the family seems to be at home
or holiday house whereas in this picture
these people appear to be at some kind
of exotic destination far away from
civilization there are animals in this
photo whereas there are only people in
this one both scenes show people having
a holiday outdoors I suppose the key
difference is that the people in this
image appeared to be having a real
adventure and a free whereas the people
here are spending time with family if it
were me I'd prefer to be going on this
kind of holiday flying around in a plane
in a new and wild place as you can see
I've focused on comparing and
contrasting as much as possible using a
variety of language structures
I've also continued to speculate all the
way through I've used both simple
comparisons like whether there are
animals in the photo as well as more
complex ones speculating that one is a
family holiday whereas the other is an
event
after this the big challenge is
practicing to do all this in the time
limits that's the end of the lesson
thanks very much for watching I hope you
found it useful you can see more of our
free lessons on our website
oxfordonlineenglish.com in the video
description you can also see a link to
the full version of this lesson the full
lesson includes the text and exercises
to help you practice what you've learned
in this class see you next time