Tag: ielts speaking

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Speaking

IELTS Speaking – Sample Answers – Family

Before listening to my answers, you should try to answer these questions first. Note that there is no right or wrong answer in IELTS speaking. You may learn something from my answers, such as structure, cohesive devices, vocabulary, and ideas, but you should develop your own answers.

    1. How would you describe yourself?

 

    2. Are you similar or different from your mother or father?

 

    3. What do you do together as a family?

 

    4. Who are you closest to in your family?

 

    5. Is yours a typical family?

 

    6. Are there many different types of family in your country?

 

    7. Is it better to grow up in a small family or a large extended family?

 

    8. What role do grandparents play in a modern family?

 

    9. Which are more important: family or friends?

 

    10. What do you think about single parent families?

 

    11. Should people be more accepting of alternative family types?

 

    12. In what ways have families changed in the last hundred years?

 

    13. Should we rely heavily on our families or is it better to try to be independent?

Learn more:
IELTS Listening – Family 

IELTS Vocabulary – Family 

IELTS Reading – Family

IELTS Speaking – Describe your family members

Categories
Speaking

IELTS Speaking – Part 2 – Describe a restaurant experience

ielts-class-net-speaking-describe-a-restaurant-experience-2

You must have been to a restaurant at least once in your life. Some even go to restaurants everyday. However, when it comes to describing the experience at a restaurant, some students might still struggle with the topic as they lack of vocabulary to describe food and places. Let’s analyse a sample talk about a restaurant experience (extracted from IELTS Express – Intermediate).

Describe a recent restaurant experience. You should say: 

  • where you ate 
  • who you went with 
  • what you ate 
  • and explain how your felt about the experience 

 

The student presented in a logical order: provide a context, then describe the events and finally give his opinions. Here is my note on the key points of his talk:

  1. The context:
  • 2 weeks ago
  • a fast food place on Oxford street
  • with his girlfriend
  • early in the evening
  • Oxford street was busy
  • He’s a vegetarian

2. The events & his feelings

  • He had a veggie burger with french fries, and a large chocolate milkshake which was so good 
  • All cost about 4 pounds
  • His girlfriend had a salad a bottle of mineral water because she doesn’t like the type of food they have there.
  • He thinks she didn’t like it because it was covered in a very oily dressing.
  • She was pretty angry. 

 Tips for Speaking Part 2: 

  • Instead of trying to cover the points on the card only, you should tell an interesting story in a logical order. Of course you still need to cover all the points. But keeping in mind that you are telling a story would help you organize your talk and add your feelings and opinions easier.
  • As you can see from my notes above, apart from his opinion about the food, he also added extra information, for example, how much it cost, what his girlfriend had and why, and what he thinks about her feelings and why. It is encouraged to add extra information as long as they are relevant and all the details are well organized.

 

Previous lesson:

IELTS Speaking – Part 1 – Food

 

Learn more:

IELTS Vocabulary – Food 

IELTS Writing – Food

IELTS Speaking – Describe a family member

 

Categories
Speaking

IELTS Speaking – Food

ielts-class-net-speaking-food

The questions in part 1 are easy, so the examiner cannot be sure of your level yet. You can give very easy answers, but this is a chance to make a good impression. If you give simple answers, the examiner will not know if you are Band 4 or maybe Band 5. If you give specific answers with explanations and examples, the examiner will think you could be Band 6 or Band 7!

 

Giving examples is great for explaining ideas, and it is much easier to give example than explain reasons. It is useful for those who find it difficult to explain things or tend to give short answers. If you give an example, you are just describing something you know about and that takes very little mental effort. Saying because is much harder as you now need to think of the reasons. Be easy on yourself!

 

As you can see from previous post on IELTS Speaking – Family, the speakers give examples of their family members’ characteristics. For example, the first speaker said “She’s really outgoing and sociable – she’s always going out with friends and colleagues.”

 

The speaking test is not formal, so you can give personal examples. You can talk about your experience or an event in the past. If you don’t have any experience or ideas related to the question, think about someone you know who has that kind of experience.

Question: Do you enjoy studying English?
Answer: Oh yes! I went to England last year and loved being able to communicate with local people. And knowing a second language means you have access to a whole new culture, new books and films.

Question: Have you got any interests or hobbies?
Answer: Not really. I like watching football and I read books quite often. I usually read books like self-help books, keys to success, spiritual books and cook books.

Question: What types of jobs are most popular among young people in your country?
Answer: I’m not sure about the right answer. But I think the most popular jobs are sales and marketing because many of my friends work in this sector. Also, I have many friends working in the IT industry so I suppose software programmer is a promising career for young people.

 

Practise giving examples for the following questions: 

  • Can you cook? Do you enjoy cooking?
  • What’s your favorite food/ meal?
  • Do most people eat vegetables in your country?
  • Are there many vegetarians in your country?
  • Do you think we worry too much about what we eat?

You can use vocabulary related to Food from two other lessons:

IELTS Vocabulary – Food

IELTS Writing – Food

 

Learn more:

IELTS Vocabulary – Family

IELTS Speaking – Describe your family member

Categories
Speaking

IELTS Speaking – Describe your family member

ielts-speaking-family

The following recording is from Collins Speaking for IELTS. Listen to three people talking about their relatives and answer the questions below.

 

Speaker 1 
Who is her closest family member?
What are the positive characteristics of her mother?
What are the examples of those characteristics?
What are the negative characteristics of her mother?
What are the examples of those characteristics?

Speaker 2 
How was the relationship between the speaker and his cousin?
Why did they grow apart?

Speaker 3 
How is the relationship between the speaker and her mother-in-law?
What are the positive characteristics of her mother-in-law?
What are the examples of those characteristics?
What are the negative characteristics of her mother-in-law?
What are the examples of those characteristics?

Note:
The speakers do not only list the characteristics of their family members but also give examples of some of them. Giving example is a good and easy way to extend your ideas. You should try to describe one of your family members based on the questions above. You should also use the expressions learnt from the recording.

 

Next post: IELTS Writing – Food

 

Learn more:

IELTS Listening – Family & Children 

Listening to main ideas – Family & Children

IELTS Reading – Family

IELTS Vocabulary – Family