IELTS Speaking Part 2 we're going to look at the six most common areas that are asked
on your cue card and then we're going to look at the sample answers while we're looking
at the sample answers, I'm going to highlight useful expressions, useful vocabulary, and
I'm going to show you how I use the framework to develop more complete answers and also
to help myself speak for two minutes to reach that two-minute mark let's get started so
the first topic on the list is describe a person it can be a friend, family member,
a famous person second describe an object that can be a gift, a present, something that
you use daily describe a place is the third one it could be a city you like, a location
or holiday you went on number 4 on the list is describing an activity you like to do maybe
it's a hobby or an interest that you have, a game or sport number 5, describe your favorite
book or describe your favorite film, describe your favorite website basically describe your
favorite media item, I guess final on the list describe an event it could be a festival,
a concert, a celebration those are six topics that we are pretty certain or they’re the
most frequent ones that you're going to find in the IELTS Speaking Part 2 now when we answer
these, a good structure to follow is the Reflect and Fill 6 Method I've talked about this in
another video but here we'll just go over it briefly so when we're given the answer
it's good to include details, contrasts, give a reason why after we say something, share
our feelings I love this, I hate that, I give an example or a story for this we can say
I used to I used to play a lot of squash, for example and we can also refer to the question
words, the 6 question words in the English language who, what, why, when, where, and
how now we don't have to use that exact structure that I gave you these are pointers just to
help you come up with ideas and it's a good idea to use them but we don't have to follow
it very rigidly I'll show you what I mean when I give you my sample answer now in my
sample answer, I want to describe a person let's get straight into it describe a friend
I'd like to describe one of my best friends he's a similar age to me except he's from
Austria he's got a lot of admirable qualities I think for example, he never speaks a bad
word against anybody I've never heard him say anything bad about anybody and that is
a trait I'm trying to introduce into my own character he's I guess maybe mixed race he's
got a father from Algeria but his mother's from Vienna from Austria and you can see that
he's not like a typical Caucasian European he's got quite dark features and yeah, I think
we get along well because we've both got very similar attitudes and we're both quite outgoing
and we really enjoy sports whenever we practice sport, there's always a competitive element
to it and probably that's what makes it enjoyable I think what’s different is the fact that
he prefers stability like a stable job living in the same place and having quite a consistent
and a lot of routine in his life, where I at the moment am veering to the opposite of
that and I prefer exploring and a lot of living a bit more spontaneously I think we're different
in our differences in worldviews regarding like stability and exploration I think it's
probably because of the way we were brought up and the cultures we were brought up in
I am guessing but I can't exactly tell you why and yes, so that's my description about
a good friend I have and I hope you enjoyed my talk now if we apply this talk and we look
at it using the Reflect and Fill 6 Method, you can see that I've used details such as
the mixed-race, Algeria, Vienna I'm talking about the contrasts, the contrasts in our
character spontaneity versus routine, the world views I'm giving reasons why I'm talking
about because because of the way we were brought up and the cultures that we were brought up
in I’m guessing so I'm not saying it for certain I'm just throwing it out there so
to speak feelings I'm introducing my feelings into the talk and we get along well because
I gave a small anecdote I gave a small example of one of the characteristics he has which
I admire so I'm backing it up and I'm backing it up with an example he never speaks a bad
word against anybody and then question words are there I use them throughout like the who,
my best friend the what I don't think I've mentioned many objects maybe world views I
don't know why because he never speaks a bad word when, I didn't mention much about when
so what I'm saying is you don't have to use this exact structure but it's a good checklist
to follow to loosely follow in order to help expand your answers so let's have a look at
the useful vocabulary I used in that talk I like to describe one of my best friends
well, admirable qualities these are traits these are characteristics of him, of his that
I admire and he never speaks a bad word against anybody this is a trait that he has he's also
a very honest person that's another trait I'm trying to introduce into my own character
it's a characteristic that I am trying to introduce into my own character and typical
Caucasian European with quite dark features because of that and we get along well we never
argue we usually agree more than we disagree we've got similar attitudes we're quite outgoing,
we're both competitive outgoing means you know quite active and proactive I guess competitive
element obviously, well I don't like to lose to him and vice-versa veering to the opposite
this means that we’re like in opposite directions in that respect veering, slight tendency to
go that way while he's going the other way world views this is quite a heavy philosophical
topic when we're into it now but it's just how you see the world your beliefs because
of the way we were brought up, the way that our parents brought us up and our beliefs
that we have now because you've heard those expressions and you're familiar with them,
be careful here is where the danger starts because you might be familiar with them but
that doesn't mean it's part of your active vocabulary to get them into your active vocabulary
now some of those phrases you'll be already familiar with and that's because they're part
of your passive vocabulary and when you recognize terms that usually means that they're in your
passive vocabulary now if you use them day in and day out and that's what you need to
do to -- in order to speak automatically if you're using them day in and day out then
they are in your active vocabulary and that's where we want them to be and in the next exercise,
I'm going to help you put them into your active vocabulary so what we do is we use the Echo
10 Technique and I want you to go back to the recording and then when you hear the expression
or the term, you pause it and then you repeat it so you could say, he never says a bad word
against anybody you just repeat it exactly after I say it you can do it for the expressions
or you can do it probably even better you just do it after each sentence, after each
slide you just pause it and then you repeat it I recommend you doing this ten times and
this will greatly enable the speed of the process for you to bring that vocabulary into
your active vocabulary where when you use it, it's going to be more likely to come automatically,
quickly, and smoothly now if you want to take it to the next level, what you can do is you
watch the first sentence and then you repeat it but you repeat it in the third person so
you could say something like there are things that his friend never says a bad word against
anybody another way you can do the exercise is you listen to a sentence, you pause it,
and then you put it into the past you transform it into the past tense Ben thought that his
friend never said a bad word against anybody they can get quite tricky so you might want
to write it out as well the important thing is to take action and to start actually speaking
this is the fastest way you're going to move vocabulary from your passive into your active
vocabulary and this is exactly what the new app that we are developing at the moment is
going to do it's going to basically focus on transitioning all this known knowledge
that we've got in our passive vocabulary we're going to move it into our active vocabulary
and if you're even more in a hurry and you can't wait for the app, then have a look at
the online course because there are lots of tools and techniques shared in that course
that will help you advance faster so my name is Ben Worthington thank you very much for
watching there's one last thing I'd like you to do before we finish and that is tell me
how you're going to use the Echo 10 Technique are you're going to transform the sentences
into a third-person?
are you going to transform them into the past?
are you going to use other material?
let me know in the comments below have a great day and good luck with your IELTS preparation