Hey, guys!
Thanks for watching!
We're back with a recent exam question video
to help you guys prepare for part 1 of the IELTS speaking test.
Now, my colleague Fiona is here with a new topic which many of you have been submitting.
It's February two thousand and twenty
And what's the topic today Fiona?
The topic today is cakes.
Cakes...
Wow!
This is a real question type:
There are many types of questions in the exam;
So be prepared for something like this.
Think of lots of ideas.
I'm ready!
Are you ready?
I'm ready, all right!
Question one:
Did you like cakes during your childhood?
I used to love cakes.
I adored them!
Especially I enjoyed birthday cakes.
If you can imagine being a child,
one of your favorite things every year is your birthday.
So I remember I had some wicked birthday cakes.
Really fun birthday cakes;
I think my favorite was a Spiderman birthday cake.
I must have been about five or six
and I just remember my face.
There's a picture actually of my face:
My smile lit up, and I was so happy that I had a Spiderman cake.
I think all kids love cakes, right?
I didn't when I was a kid!
Isn't that strange?
I didn't like chocolate,
I didn't like cakes,
I didn't like anything sweet.
Are you a fan of cakes now?
No, I like chips though, savory.
That's a good word actually.
Let's talk about this word: "savory" or "sweet".
Sweet and savory, the opposites of each other.
And to have a sweet tooth would mean that you like things which are sweet.
But Fiona doesn't have a sweet tooth.
I have a sweet tooth.
So,, what did you like about my answer?
I like you use the word "wicked".
It was quite a...Do you call it a "colloquial" word?
What do you call that?
Slang may be, but totally acceptable.
It's a...a normal word.
"Wicked" actually means evil.
But when used in this way,
it means great, awesome, really cool.
Let's write down the word "awesome" because many people struggle to spell it:
“awesome” and “wicked”
I like the story you told about your birthday cake
and you said, "my smile lit up".
Ah, to light up,
which I talked about my smile.
So we have a light in the room, and the past of light is "lit".
So my smile lit up when I saw the cake.
And that's an example of a phrasal verb.
Remember in the exam, you have to use a wide variety of different lexis.
So different vocabulary:
"Light up" is a phrasal verb.
And the examiner would give you bonus points for that
because it's not something that people would normally use.
So my smile lit up or my face lit up.
Anything else that you will talk about?
That's all for that question.
So I think I'd like to ask another question when you ready.
Fantastic, yeah.
Ok, Do you ever...sorry
Did you ever bake cakes?
I did.
My mom taught me how to bake cakes.
And we often used to have classes at school which would involve baking.
I used to make sponge cakes.
I'll write that down for you now, but I'll keep talking.
And sponge cake is a cake which has flour, eggs, milk, butter and vanilla.
I think they are the main ingredients of a cake.
Loved baking cakes, and still do nowadays.
One of the easiest cakes that I think is possible nowadays is a banana loaf.
We'd call it a banana loaf,
but it's actually a cake.
A loaf actually refers to bread.
And we could say that this banana loaf was half cake half bread,
but I think it's more like a cake.
Do you like banana loaf?
I do.
Yeah. That is a cake that I like!
It's not too sweet.
You could say that a banana loaf is moist,
which means that it's the opposite of dry.
So moist and dry would be the opposites of each other.
Are you guys fans of cakes?
If you do like cakes, write some ideas in the comments below.
Do you have any national cakes? Any cakes that are typical in your country?
I'd love to hear more about them, so write your answers in the comments below.
Do you bake?
No, because I'm not a big fan of cakes.
But I do like cooking though.
And I liked your answer there, cause the question was:
Did you ever bake cakes?
So obviously that's referring to the past.
So you talked about when you were a child,
and your mom taught you how to bake cakes.
And then you changed the topic I suppose,
and talked about now.
And you said nowadays.
That's really...that's really a good idea if you want to expand your answer, to go off-topic.
In the exam, it is absolutely okay, totally possible for you to go off-topic and expand your answer.
I know that some of you will struggle to give short...to give answers
which... sorry not short, but are expanded.
You do need to give expanded answers in the test.
The examiner is listening for your fluency.
So you can talk about anything you want related to this topic.
That's a little tip for you.
I could have been talking about shoes.
Yes, you can.
If you talk about shoes,
you will still be able to get the scores for grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary.
Okay,
so it is acceptable to go off-topic.
OK, Last question:
What cakes are popular in your country?
I think I've mentioned that Banana Loaf is quite popular.
But let me tell you about something which is native to this country, where I live now: Australia.
I'm going to talk about Lamington.
Lamington is one of the most popular cakes here in Australia.
And before I moved here I didn't know what a Lamington was.
A Lamington is a sponge cake
which is covered in chocolate and covered in coconut.
Inside, there is a layer of jam.
I think there are really delicious.
I assume that you don't Fiona, because you're not really a cake person.
Not really.
OK But a Lamington is a native cake to Australia.
Very popular and great for people who have sweet tooth.
I thought that was great!
And you know, I notice when you first started answering the question,
that you bought yourself a little bit more time.
And you said, "let me tell you about something". Good, and that's a filler phrase.
"Let me tell you about" is a phrase that you guys can use if you are struggling
and you want to think about...you know, a couple of more seconds of thinking time.
Because under pressure in the exam,
you do need to think quite quickly.
So these types of filler phrases will give you some time.
I write those down, there are plenty of filler phrases.
Let me think about that for a second.
"To tell you the truth",
"I haven't really thought about that",
"That's not something that I've thought about".
All of these phrases are useful for you to use in the exam.
In my course,
I do a whole lesson on filler phrases.
So you might want to come and watch that.
Are we done?
Yes, we are! Thank you!
Wonderful!
I'm now hungry!
You've been talking about cakes, I might go and have a slice of cake and a cup of tea.
Because English people are really famous for having tea and cakes.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you very much, Fiona!
Thanks, Chris!
It's been a pleasure and I'll see you in the next session.
Bye!