aubrey are you a chocolate person oh my gosh oh my gosh especially dark chocolate
yes just like a little bit like a little bit every day a little dark
i just i'm a better person i'm a happier person i like a lot of what do you talk a little bit of
chocolate i want all the chocolate all the time piles and piles of chocolate
um guys if you listen to like our very like the initial authentic reactions both of us had
when thinking about chocolate if you like chocolate you can do that on the ielts
speaking exam guys talk about amazing intonation pronunciation that impresses the examiner right
if the examiner says do you like chocolate you're like oh my god it's the best yes that's gonna
boost your scores for sure your pronunciation score right what interesting native intonation
this is not something you want to use a monotone in whether you hate it or you love it you're gonna
it's gonna be interesting to hear about yeah and you know like phrases like that i think they can
also help the fluency score because it's a way um it's almost a filler but not a filler
you know what i mean like so um a non-native maybe intermediate student right would be like yes
i do like chocolate right but to flip that and to extend that to be more natural be like oh my god
i love chocolate more than anything it's just like extending this right to fill time but to sound
natural yes good point right because a lot of filler phrases if they're obviously filler while
i'm trying to think of something else that might not boost both of their scores but something like
this in an answer where you're filling time but in such a native natural way that's gonna push up
both your pronunciation and your fluency and coherence scores and that's the goal right
kill two birds with one stone um or like yeah what if um you're asked about something that like you
really love or really hate but anything that makes you feel emotions strongly um then you could you
could start with some kind of filler phrase like oh my god i am so happy you asked me that question
or i can't believe you asked me that question like that those are this is the worst case scenario
you're like okay this is now officially my nightmare ielts speaking exam and then be like
just kidding i'll answer like that would be so like natural and funny um okay so we are talking
about chocolate today which is a a part one topic aubry we had a student recently that got questions
about this on the speaking test exactly right niha one of our three keys um students posted
in the facebook group let me go ahead and read what she said she said dear aubry and jessica
in my previous exam i've been asked questions about chocolate in my speaking part 1. what type
of chocolates i don't like or are they expensive in other parts of the world i actually got stuck
in these questions it would be very kind of you if you discuss this chocolate topic hope you'll
discuss this weird part it's interesting because i get it like that would seem like kind of a weird
question out of the blue if it's not something you've thought about recently not something
you've practiced but they just ask each other this i've asked friends like what kind of chocolate do
you like maybe if i'm to get them a present or if i just want to know right this is something
you need to be ready to chat with friends about and definitely something you need to be ready to
talk about on ielts speaking yeah definitely um for sure and like i i don't think this is a super
weird part one question honestly yeah totally i understand it could seem kind of random but like
aubrey said like we do talk about chocolate i talk about chocolate with my friends i feel like a lot
totally i think about it i talk about it i eat it um okay so let's get into this we have
three uh part one questions about chocolate and aubrey and i will take turns answering them um so
listen up guys because again this is a topic you could get in part one but any topics related to
food and preferences right you're gonna learn how to answer those today so all right aubry i'm going
to ask you first are you ready yes i'm ready all right um do you love chocolate oh absolutely in
fact i don't really trust people who don't love chocolate i met someone once who said they didn't
and i was a little concerned like maybe they're a serial killer so i feel like it's normal to really
love chocolate i think it's so decadent it just melts in your mouth i am quite particular however
thank you thank you um if you remember guys recently we talked about some changes on the
ielts speaking exam how the um the examiner will cut you off a little sooner so we're gonna start
reflecting that okay because that is the modern speaking test the examiner has to cut you off
more quickly in part one and part three um so if you didn't hear that episode go back and listen
um because we talked about changes on the ielts speaking exam so some great things that aubry
did in a short but sweet time so instead of saying yes i do she was like yes absolutely
right so never just say yes be like absolutely a hundred percent for sure totally um
i don't really trust people that don't like chocolate they might be serial killers
so he a serial killer is uh you know someone that kills many many people is a serial killer
and just remember guys we love going to extremes in english it is part of the fun of the language
so don't be afraid to go to extreme and also don't be offended if you don't like chocolate
i don't really think you're a serial killer it's like you said it's that exaggeration
that going to extreme just to say something funny like people who don't like chocolate
are crazy you guys words are fun ideas are fun we want you to have fun on your speaking test
and as a side note all of the students who we've um talked to in three keys ielts who have gotten
seven or higher on speaking they all said the speaking exam was fun um decadent is an adjective
decadent is like luxurious you feel like you are being spoiled because of this right it's like
expensive and luxurious um rich right melts in your mouth this could be literal here but it could
also be an idiom right just to mean like something is like a buttery sweetness in your mouth
nice awesome okay you ready for your question yeah what type of chocolate do you not like
that is a ridiculous question because i will eat any chocolate honestly i would eat any any
chocolate even if i think it's a flavor like it has pistachios or something and i'm like oh
i don't know about that i would still try it um best chocolate for me dark chocolate for sure i
guess i'm not a huge fan of the super super sweet like milk chocolate thank you like oh i feel like
i have to interrupt them because we don't have as much time for part one question we have that
in common jessica i don't love milk chocolate it's got to be pretty dark for me it's too sweet
i'll still eat it though okay the first sentence you said i want to point out first of all you
said that is a ridiculous question i love that and i feel like some listeners out there might
be thinking like i don't know if i would dare say that worrying maybe you're offending the examiner
because they're asking a ridiculous question get that out of your minds you guys the examiner did
not write the questions they often also think they're ridiculous and this is a very native
thing to say like that's ridiculous everyone likes chocolate totally and like yeah that's such a good
point like there are so many questions examiners know are like ridiculous yeah like we feel bad
asking you those questions yes and i loved the way you first started saying like i will eat any any
chocolate this is so native to just repeat it and emphasize it like that any any chocolate
but then go into details you're like even if one had something weird like pistachios
right this great vocabulary of a random nut that most language learners might not know how to say
that in english so that you do right you can name any weird food that might be in chocolate
that and say like i'd even eat that i'd even try that weirdness totally be like
you know chocolate-covered ants i'll eat them chocolate-covered grasshoppers give them to me
but you just go crazy okay last question last question is chocolate expensive where you live
no it's not too bad it's definitely more expensive in other places when i lived in belgium
i went to this chocolatier there were these beautiful perennials praline chocolates that
were quite pricey be three or four dollars for one adorable little chocolate but it was worth it
it was so good but chocolate's pretty cheap here it's like 50 cents or a buck for a candy bar yeah
or sometimes the fancier european chocolates cost a little more but most chocolate's pretty cheap
perfect there is a chocolate store i can't remember the name now but there's a chocolate shop
in seattle guys if you ever go to seattle i'll give aubrey the name of this chocolate shop and
she'll put it in the blog post okay guys um but there's this chocolate shop and uh the reason why
it's um famous is because it has obama's favorite chocolate this like sea salt truffle um and every
time i go to seattle i go to this place and spend too much money and get like an adorable little box
of super special chocolates and i took james there two years ago and it was like a whole experience
but yeah like expensive but so worth it well i want to share kind of a strategy really quick
because halfway through my answer what i have said not really it's pretty cheap here i'm thinking of
this place in belgium but then in my mind popped places like that i've definitely been to expensive
chocolate places in the united states and i immediately was like oh that's kind of not true
there actually are expensive places but instead of saying that like the examiner doesn't care if i'm
aware that there's you know the examiner might be thinking like there actually are lots of expensive
chocolate places in the united states they don't care you know what i mean i don't need to derail
myself to be like okay maybe that's not true maybe i might well yeah but you could at the same time
i could but because like don't have to you don't have to yeah but narrating your thoughts is like
a great fluency strategy also right um because you could be you could stop and be like wait a minute
what am i thinking that's not true of course there's some expensive chocolate i mean you
could go through that also either way wherever your brain goes both work right as long as you
don't let it derail you to think like oh i lied what do i do you narrate your thoughts and say
wow that's not true or just keep talking either way ignore it it doesn't matter guys both work
ielts is the speaking exam just is for speaking just speak just speak english that's all we need
from you um all right guys so you can take a free ielts quiz we made and get your estimated
ielts band score again for free guys don't sign up for the test and pay tons of money go to
allayersenglish.com my score um get in there get those free resources and find out your ielts score
all right aubry this is super fun i know i feel like i need to go eat some chocolate now
oh heck yeah whoop chocolate break break all right talk to you tomorrow bye you