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Helpful Hints for teachers
With over 25 years of experience, I may have some hints to help your teaching.
The IELTS speaking test part 1
The International English Language Testing System, or IELTS speaking test, is an 11 to 14-minute interview with a native English speaker. There are 3 parts. In this video, we look at the first part of the test which is 4 to 5 minutes long. We describe part 1 and then a way to help students score better in this part.
All tests begin with the examiner recording the detail of the test.
This is the speaking test for the international English testing system conducted on November 21st, 2020 at Okayama for JP 512. The candidate is [candidate’s number]. The examiner is [examiner’s name].
It is good for the student to be familiar with this so as not to be fazed by it.
Good afternoon, my name is Claire Parrinder can you tell me your full name, please?
This is the student’s full name as it appears in their passport
Can I see your identification, please?
Thank you, that’s fine.
If your students do not have passports, they should get them as soon as possible.
Now in this first part, I’d like to ask some questions about yourself.
There are four possible first topics.
One topic is living spaces.
Let’s talk about where you are living at the moment.
Then four questions are given. Here are some examples:
Do you live in a house or apartment?
Which is your favourite room in your home? Why?
Would you change anything about your home? Why / why not?
Would you like to move to a different home in the future?
The other possible topic is hometown.
Let’s talk about your home town or village.
Then four questions are given. Here are some examples:
Where is your hometown?
What kind of place is it?
What’s the most interesting part of your town/village?
What is the oldest place in your hometown?
What kind of jobs do the people in your town/village do?
Would you say it’s a good place to live? (Why?)
Has your hometown changed much since you were a child?
Another possible first topic begins this way:
Let’s talk about what you do. Do you work or are you a student?
For students, there are three questions. Here are some examples:
What do you study?
Where do you study that?
Do you like that subject?
Why did you choose this subject?
Is it a popular subject in your country?
What are your future plans?
What do you hope to do when you finish your studies?
For workers, there are three questions. Here are some examples
What is your job?
Where do you work?
Why did you choose that job?
Is it a popular job in your country?
Do you like your job?
Do you get on well with your colleagues?
What was your first day like?
What responsibilities do you have at work?
Do you plan to continue with your job in the future?
If you had a chance would you change your job?
Following this, there are two topics with four questions per topic.
There are a range of topics and the topics and questions are changed often.
Here are some examples:
Weekends
Art
Birthdays
Childhood
Clothes
Computers
Daily routine
Dictionaries
Evenings
Family & Friends
Flowers
Food
Friendships
Going Out
Happiness
Hobbies
Internet
Keeping fit and healthy
Leisure time
Music
Neighbours & Neighbourhood
Newspapers
Pets
Reading
Shopping
Sport
TV
Transport
Weather
Weekends
There are usually some more specific topics such as
Bicycles
Chocolate
Hair
Punctuality (being on time)
Co-vid 19 pandemic
Let's look at how the test is marked.
There are four criteria, each marked 1 (no communication) to 9 (native speaker).
Fluency and Coherence
Grammatical range and Accuracy
Lexical Range
Pronunciation
You can find out more on the internet. Search for IELTS public speaking band descriptors.
IELTS.org speaking band descriptors (public version)
Let’s look at fluency and coherence.
For students to get a better IELTS score, one skill that is needed is speaking at length.
Here is an exercise for two students.
(For more details, see Exercise: Speaking at Length)
One student gives answers and the other asks questions and records the interview. The students exchange roles and repeat with different questions. This part gives practice with the actual test.
Students transcribe each other’s answers. This is a listening exercise and a chance to think about grammar, word choice, and fluency.
They write the recording time. If the time is less than 2 minutes the student is speaking too fast or they didn’t answer all the questions or gave short answers. 2 to 3 minutes is ideal. More than 3 minutes means speaking too slowly or hesitating or giving answers that are too long.
Each student reads their answers and writes more information for each question. This highlights the importance of long answers and possible ways to elaborate.
Finally, they compare their answers in groups. They can find more ways to give full answers.
Like any exercise, this bears repeating with different questions. Students can gauge their progress and realize their weaknesses after two or three repetitions.
I’d like to recommend a helpful resource.
Elizabeth Ferguson’s website of free resources for the test: IELTSliz.com
The site is targeted for levels 7, 8, and 9 but all the examples are relevant to anyone taking the test. With over 300 pages, the site is extensive and useful to any teacher of IELTS.
I hope this video and material are of good use to you.
This has been Helpful Hints for Teachers by Gavin Thomas.
Best of luck with your teaching.