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Shadowing practice: IELTS Speaking Test - Band 6.5 with Feedback

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  1. Hi, I'm Mark, I'm an IELTS teacher and ex -IELTS examiner, and in this video, we're going to critique and review a full IELTS speaking test.0:00
  2. So let's not waste any time, let's get right into it.0:09
  3. This is the speaking test for the International English Language Testing System.0:13
  4. Good afternoon, my name is Alex.0:18
  5. Can you tell me your full name please?0:20
  6. Good afternoon, my full name is Vivian Vuhn.0:22
  7. Thank you.0:25
  8. Can you tell me where you're from?0:26
  9. I'm from Malaysia.0:28
  10. Thank you.0:29
  11. Can I say your ID please?0:30
  12. Thank you.0:32
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  1. Thank you.0:35
  2. That's great.0:36
  3. So that was the introduction to an IELTS speaking test, and the response from Vivian, the candidate, was perfectly fine.0:37
  4. Don't worry, you won't be graded on this part of the test, and the questions will always be the same.0:44
  5. What's your full name, where are you from?0:49
  6. That's it, easy.0:53
  7. And don't forget to bring your ID.0:54
  8. Now, before we start with part one of the speaking test, I want to mention that you can download the free IELTS speaking test video companion booklet that includes the0:55
  9. questions featured in this video, sample answers, a copy of the IELTS speaking criteria, and more.1:05
  10. Just click the link in the description of this video.1:12
  11. By clicking the link, you'll also get access to the full uninterrupted video of this speaking test.1:15
  12. Now, let's watch Vivian answer the questions in part one of the IELTS speaking test.1:21
  13. In part one, the examiner is going to ask you some general questions about yourself and a range of familiar topics, which might include the home, family, work, studies, maybe1:28
  14. personal interests.1:38
  15. This part lasts between four and five minutes.1:40
  16. Let's see how Vivian does.1:43
  17. Now, in this first part, I'd like to ask you some questions about yourself.1:46
  18. Let's talk about where you live.1:51
  19. Do you live in a house or an apartment?1:53
  20. At the moment I live in an apartment unit, it is a much smaller house or an apartment unit compared to where I live a few years ago.1:56
  21. I live here with my Anna.2:05
  22. I live in my housemate.2:06
  23. And we don't really have a lot of space to walk around the house because it's so small.2:08
  24. That was a good start.2:13
  25. But there's a part of the response that I'd like you to listen to.2:14
  26. It is a much smaller house or an apartment unit compared to where I live a few years ago.2:18
  27. So she said, compared to where I live a few years ago.2:24
  28. This is a great chunk of language and it's a great way for her to extend the idea in her response.2:29
  29. But there was a minor grammar mistake.2:35
  30. It might even be a pronunciation mistake.2:38
  31. I'm not sure.2:40
  32. But I really just couldn't hear the d sound in the word lived.2:41
  33. Listen again.2:46
  34. It is a much smaller house or an apartment unit compared to where I live a few years ago.2:48
  35. You might have noticed that she said compared to and the d in compared kind of disappeared into the t of two.2:54
  36. And that's fine.3:02
  37. In fact, that's great.3:03
  38. But for a 6 .5 or higher, she is going to need to have that d sound at the end of a word like lived very clear.3:04
  39. Now, if this improves throughout her test, Vivienne will be fine.3:12
  40. It's pretty common for students to make a few simple errors like this, particularly in the beginning.3:16
  41. Let's see how she does as the test goes on.3:21
  42. What's your favorite part of your home?3:24
  43. The favorite part of my home is actually my living room.3:27
  44. It is where I spend the most time in at home.3:31
  45. I feel really comfortable with the couch and there is also a workstation for me to work and study in.3:34
  46. There's a window that I can get sunlight from.3:41
  47. So every morning I feel motivated when I see the sunlight shining through the window.3:44
  48. That was a good response and I'm going to show you a part that I really liked.3:48
  49. She says there's a window that I can get sunlight from.3:53
  50. Have a listen.3:57
  51. There's a window that I can get sunlight from.3:58
  52. Now this sentence had great linking and chunking.4:02
  53. There's a window that I can get sunlight from.4:05
  54. Sometimes proficient English speakers might have a d sound show up there that I get or there's more of a glottal that I.4:09
  55. And both are great.4:17
  56. Now early on I'm sensing a bit of trouble with the sound, the TH sound.4:19
  57. It's not a big deal because you can still get a very good score, even if that's not totally under control.4:25
  58. Now I know a lot of teachers will obsess over these individual sounds and of course I always point these types of things out when I'm coaching students.4:31
  59. With this one however it's not really as fatal to your score as some teachers think.4:40
  60. That said if you are aiming for above a 7 I would definitely be more mindful of those individual sounds and particularly the TH.4:47
  61. Now if you're interested in getting some IELTS coaching or you're wanting to learn the best techniques for IELTS speaking then I definitely recommend that you check out our IELTS4:55
  62. test preparation platform at etutestprep .com.5:06
  63. Sign up for free today by clicking the start free trial button.5:10
  64. Let's keep watching the test.5:15
  65. Will you stay there a long time do you think?5:17
  66. It's a difficult question because I actually like my place but I think it's too old and not well maintained so I would like to move out soon.5:21
  67. Let's talk about photography now.5:30
  68. Do you enjoy taking photos?5:32
  69. I actually prefer to savor the moment rather than taking photos but I do take photos when there is something important.5:35
  70. So in this response did you hear Vivian say savor the moment?5:42
  71. I actually prefer to savor the moment rather than taking photos.5:47
  72. This is a great phrase to use.5:51
  73. It's a less common phrase which is important if you're aiming for a 7 or higher in the vocabulary criteria for the speaking test.5:54
  74. Learning to use less common lexical items or collocations in your speaking can be difficult.6:03
  75. At etut we get a lot of questions about providing lists of vocab or expressions.6:09
  76. My advice is just to build strong reading and listening habits and then you'll have great expressions like this.6:15
  77. You don't need to overdo it on test day but this one savor the moment was great.6:22
  78. Perfect time and place for this expression.6:28
  79. It was fully appropriate to the situation.6:31
  80. Let's keep watching.6:34
  81. Do you use your phone or a camera for taking photos?6:35
  82. I don't always have my cameras with me so I usually take photos just with my phone.6:41
  83. Why?6:46
  84. It is too bulky to have the camera with me all the time and these days mobile phones have very good features for taking photos and the images are usually6:48
  85. high resolution and it's much more convenient to use the mobile phone.6:58
  86. What do you do with the photos you take?7:03
  87. I don't really do much with my phones and the photos.7:06
  88. I usually store in my phones or sometimes I transfer them into my hard disk for viewing later.7:10
  89. Occasionally I do share them with my friends and family just to let them know what I've done recently.7:17
  90. Would you like to learn more about photography?7:23
  91. I don't aim to be professional so this is quite an interesting question because I used to think that I want to learn more about photography especially because some of7:27
  92. my friends are really good at that.7:37
  93. But I think it's too complicated for me.7:40
  94. So I'll pause it here because she did some interesting things in this last answer that I want to talk about.7:44
  95. But if you'd like to know how she could have improved some of those earlier answers, I highly recommend downloading the IELTS Speaking Test Video Companion booklet.7:50
  96. You'll find some sample answers and techniques that can help you with your speaking test preparation.8:00
  97. So in her answer for this question, she responded by saying, that's an interesting question.8:06
  98. Listen.8:11
  99. I don't aim to be professional so this is quite an interesting question because...8:12
  100. I know a lot of teachers will coach their students to say, hmm, that's an interesting question.8:18
  101. But often and frankly in this case, it's not an interesting question.8:24
  102. Instead she could have just as easily said, no, I used to think about it but I realized I don't have the talent.8:30
  103. And the answer would be just as good.8:37
  104. Now another thing I noticed was the pronunciation of the word photography.8:39
  105. I used to think that I want to learn more about photography.8:44
  106. So here she got the word stress wrong.8:49
  107. It should be photography, not photography.8:51
  108. But I still know what she means and that's the most important thing to remember.8:55
  109. In IELTS Speaking, you can make mistakes and in this case there is just one big error with word stress so far.9:00
  110. So it's not a big deal.9:07
  111. If it happens a lot, then there could be a bigger impact on her score.9:09
  112. I'll also point out that she's still not getting all of her past tense verbs quite right yet.9:15
  113. I'm sure she knows them but I'm not hearing the final D sound in the regular past tense verbs.9:21
  114. Let's keep watching.9:29
  115. Now let's move on to talk about studying history.9:30
  116. Did you enjoy studying history at school?9:34
  117. Let me think.9:38
  118. I don't think I really enjoy studying history in school.9:39
  119. So I'll stop here and quickly say that there's nothing wrong with let me think.9:42
  120. But I often tell my students to let their emotions speak.9:48
  121. Like if she said, no, not at all.9:52
  122. I hated it.9:55
  123. And to add some emotion.9:56
  124. It's not wrong to use these expressions like, hmm, let me think.9:58
  125. But it's not necessary.10:03
  126. They can buy you some time but they don't really do much else.10:04
  127. Don't get too worried about using them.10:09
  128. Either use them or don't.10:12
  129. But it's not going to make the big difference on test day.10:13
  130. Let's continue watching.10:17
  131. Why not?10:19
  132. I think it is a very dull and dry subject.10:20
  133. All we did was memorizing facts and dates which I wasn't good at at all.10:23
  134. First off, I personally think that history is awesome.10:30
  135. But I have to admit I appreciate how Vivian supports and justifies her position in this response.10:34
  136. And I also like the expression, which I wasn't good at at all.10:42
  137. Here she had great grammar.10:46
  138. There's no issues with her irregular past tense verbs.10:48
  139. I would say that so far she is achieving at least a score of six for grammar.10:51
  140. But for a seven I'm not totally convinced yet.10:58
  141. It is possible.11:01
  142. In IELTS speaking, the past simple subject verb agreement and articles are used in almost every sentence.11:03
  143. So if you're aiming for a seven, these need to be a bit more under control.11:11
  144. Let's move on.11:17
  145. How did you learn in history classes?11:18
  146. Most of the time we write our textbooks and we wrote essays as well about some famous people in the history.11:22
  147. Occasionally we got to visit museums and some historical places just to reinforce what we have learned.11:30
  148. But most of the time we wrote essays and just talk about facts in classes which is quite boring to me.11:38
  149. See what I mean?11:45
  150. I'm struggling to hear that d sound in past simple regular verbs like the word learned or talked.11:47
  151. Try listening out for those words this time.11:56
  152. Occasionally we got to visit museums and some historical places just to reinforce what we have learned.11:58
  153. But most of the time we wrote essays and just talk about facts in classes which is quite boring to me.12:07
  154. See what I mean?12:15
  155. The d sound is super important for grammatical accuracy in terms of the IELTS band descriptors.12:16
  156. Because we use the past simple so frequently, if it's not managed well, it could affect a lot of your sentences.12:23
  157. Let's keep watching.12:31
  158. Are you interested in history now?12:32
  159. Interestingly, I think I'm much more interested in history now and wrote to vote.12:36
  160. I know more about how the countries are run.12:42
  161. So I think I would like to find out how the country has changed from 50 years ago and how independence was gained from the occupiers.12:47
  162. So this was interesting.12:58
  163. A good idea, but I had to listen carefully to catch exactly what she was saying.12:59
  164. She's actually speaking about a unique aspect of history, occupied countries becoming independent.13:05
  165. And this is great.13:12
  166. She's letting her own ideas shine through and guide her language.13:13
  167. This is not only great in terms of developing her ideas for improving her IELTS score, but more importantly, this is why we have language to share and explore our13:18
  168. ideas.13:29
  169. Let's listen to Vivian's last part one response.13:30
  170. And that's the end of part one of the IELTS speaking test.13:54
  171. If you're enjoying this video or finding it helpful, let us know in the comments below.13:58
  172. So in part one, Vivian has had a pretty good start in terms of vocab.14:03
  173. She has also used a few less common lexical items and some complex grammar structures.14:07
  174. She's extending and exploring ideas a bit more, which is great, but she's struggling a bit with the past simple verb tenses and a little bit with articles, which will14:13
  175. make it tricky if she's aiming for a seven.14:23
  176. But let's see what happens.14:26
  177. So far, I think she could be more efficient with some of her answers.14:28
  178. It takes her a while to get to the interesting reflections when she could start with it.14:32
  179. I heard her say, that's an interesting question and let me think, which again are not wrong, but I often advise students to avoid these and just be more direct.14:37
  180. No, I don't like history or definitely not.14:47
  181. It is such a boring subject and I hated it in high school and then extend.14:49
  182. And one more thing that she could improve, I think, is her pronunciation.14:54
  183. Listen to this.14:58
  184. Interestingly, I think I'm much more interested in history now.15:00
  185. I'd coach her to add stress to more of the words like the word much in this sentence, like I'm much more interested in history now.15:04
  186. This is because it's going to help her add nuance and emphasis and it's going to help the pronunciation score come up.15:13
  187. Her delivery's been a little bit flat.15:20
  188. Overall, her linking is good, but if her intonation and sentence stress sort of stay a bit flat or even go flatter than it already is, it's going to make15:22
  189. it a bit difficult for the examiner to give her a seven.15:34
  190. Let's now move on to part two of the IELTS speaking test.15:38
  191. In part two, you're going to get a task card which asks you to talk about a particular topic.15:41
  192. You then have one minute to make your notes and prepare and then you'll talk for two minutes.15:47
  193. At the end, the examiner may ask you one or two questions on the same topic.15:52
  194. Now, before we watch Vivian's full response, I should mention that if you're interested in seeing the complete task card that Vivian is given in this section, then download the15:58
  195. IELTS speaking test video companion booklet.16:08
  196. The link is in the description of this video.16:11
  197. Let's see how Vivian does.16:14
  198. Thank you.16:16
  199. Now, I'm going to give you a topic and I'd like you to talk about it for one to two minutes.16:18
  200. And before you speak, you have one minute to think about what you're going to say and you can make notes if you wish.16:23
  201. Do you understand?16:29
  202. Yes.16:30
  203. So here's your pen and paper for making notes and here's your topic.16:31
  204. Please don't write on it.16:36
  205. I'd like you to talk about a house or apartment that someone you know lives in.16:38
  206. All right.16:47
  207. Remember you have one to two minutes for this.16:48
  208. Don't worry if I stop you.16:51
  209. I'll tell you when the time is up.16:52
  210. Can you start speaking now, please?16:54
  211. I'd like to tell you about my grandfather's house in Malaysia.16:58
  212. My friend, my grandfather owns this place because my grandmother has passed away.17:02
  213. So he has been living by himself in this house with his domestic helper.17:09
  214. It is actually located in a busy suburb not far from the city centre.17:14
  215. There are shops around and to get to the closest shopping centre or the cinema, it is either within walking distance or within a short drive away.17:19
  216. It is not spacious inside but it is quite cozy and I remember spending a lot of time with a big group of relatives in a house when we visited17:33
  217. my grandfather.17:42
  218. So there are three bedrooms, I think, and two bathrooms.17:45
  219. There is a front yard where my grandfather's pet dog used to live in.17:49
  220. The front yard was also used as a car park.17:55
  221. And there's no backyard unfortunately so there isn't a lot of space to grow plants.18:00
  222. It's a two -story house and there's a wooden stairs that we used to get to the second floor.18:06
  223. And I remember the stairs making some cracking sound when we used it.18:14
  224. What I really like about this house is its convenient location because we can get to anywhere by public transport or within or just by walking.18:19
  225. One of the slides about this house is because what this slide is, the fact that it's old and it's not well maintained.18:29
  226. For example, there are proper facilities in the bathroom and I remember having to scoop water out to take shower.18:38
  227. What I...my favorite aspect of this house is also the fact that it is full of my childhood memories because we used to visit my grandfather every Saturday and I18:48
  228. would play games with my cousins in a house.18:59
  229. Thank you.19:02
  230. Do you visit this person often?19:03
  231. Unfortunately, I don't anymore.19:06
  232. So that was speaking part two.19:08
  233. Then it wasn't bad.19:10
  234. But she really struggled to go into any depth about the things that she said.19:11
  235. She just kept adding information without exploring the previous one.19:16
  236. For example, watch this part of her response.19:21
  237. It is not spacious inside but it is quite cozy and I remember spending a lot of time with a big group of relatives in a house when we visited19:24
  238. my grandfather.19:33
  239. So there are three bedrooms, I think, and two bathrooms.19:36
  240. So maybe you heard that she's just kind of adding details.19:39
  241. She's either using the word and or she's just changing into another idea and the previous idea isn't getting extended.19:44
  242. So she mentioned her house is cozy.19:52
  243. How?19:55
  244. What makes it cozy?19:56
  245. She mentioned that there's two bathrooms and in a small house with a lot of people, that's pretty important.19:58
  246. She could have explained that in more detail.20:04
  247. She could have said how it becomes a problem sometimes.20:06
  248. Always have it in the back of your mind.20:11
  249. So what?20:14
  250. Here's another time that she could have extended her answer.20:15
  251. And there's no bed yet, unfortunately.20:19
  252. So there isn't a lot of space to grow plants.20:21
  253. So she said there isn't a lot of space to grow plants.20:25
  254. So what?20:29
  255. Is that bad?20:30
  256. How does that make her feel?20:31
  257. She could have said this is sad because here in Melbourne and I would then extend the answer a bit more.20:32
  258. Here's one more time she could have extended her response.20:41
  259. My favorite aspect of this house is also the fact that it is full of my childhood memories because we used to visit my grandfather every Saturday and I would20:45
  260. play games with my cousins in a house.20:55
  261. This was a great spot where she could have made comparisons to life today.20:57
  262. How often she visits.21:03
  263. How it has more warm memories than her current house.21:05
  264. If you want to score a 7 or higher, you need to extend and explore ideas because that's how you can bring out the complex grammar and the more specific21:09
  265. vocabulary.21:20
  266. When Vivian slowed down and extended her ideas, she did use more complex grammar.21:20
  267. So doing more of that is a great idea.21:28
  268. My advice would be to sign up to E2 Test Prep.21:32
  269. We teach multiple ways to extend your ideas in our live classes and video lessons.21:35
  270. Sign up for free today.21:42
  271. So in part two, Vivian has continued to use fairly strong vocabulary.21:45
  272. She's also using a good range of grammar and her task response score would be good.21:49
  273. She's giving appropriate answers to the questions, but she could extend these ideas more and doing this would improve her grammar range.21:56
  274. In terms of grammar accuracy, there are still a few too many basic errors which ultimately is going to make a 7 difficult to reach.22:06
  275. For pronunciation, I just coach her to work on making the delivery more dynamic with a bit more training on sentence stress and intonation.22:15
  276. Her delivery is a little bit flat and again to get that clear 7, there needs to be a bit more stress and intonation.22:26
  277. Let's move on to the final part of IELTS speaking, part three.22:35
  278. In part three, you'll be asked further questions about the topic you spoke about in part two.22:39
  279. These questions give you the opportunity to discuss more abstract ideas and issues.22:44
  280. This part of the test lasts between four and five minutes.22:50
  281. Let's keep watching.22:54
  282. Thank you.22:56
  283. Can I have the task card and pen and paper back please?22:57
  284. Great.23:03
  285. Thank you.23:04
  286. One time when I was an examiner, I forgot to take the pen and paper back from the candidate and he kept playing with it for the rest of the23:07
  287. test and it was super distracting.23:14
  288. Also, I should say Alex the examiner is doing a great job here.23:16
  289. I actually know that she also used to be an examiner and she's being super calm, confident, cool and collected.23:21
  290. And for the student, this is so important.23:29
  291. She's not doing anything that's going to make the student more nervous.23:32
  292. She's speaking deliberately and clearly.23:35
  293. She's listening to Vivian and she's paying attention to her answers.23:37
  294. So bravo.23:42
  295. Let's keep watching.23:43
  296. We've been talking about a house that someone you know lives in and I'd like to ask you one or two more general questions about this.23:46
  297. Let's talk about home.23:53
  298. You mentioned you're from Malaysia.23:57
  299. What kinds of home are most common in your country?23:58
  300. Before we hear Vivian's response to this question, I just want to give you a pro tip.24:01
  301. Alex asked what kinds of home are popular?24:06
  302. So Vivian can give a few answers here.24:12
  303. And I remember when I was an examiner, a lot of students would just give one answer and then stop.24:15
  304. Remember, you're being given the chance to identify more than one.24:21
  305. If you can think of only one, that's fine.24:25
  306. But show that you've understood by saying something like and to be honest, that's it.24:28
  307. Let's see how Vivian responds.24:33
  308. In Malaysia, people used to prefer bigger houses.24:36
  309. But these days, more people live in apartments and condominiums because they would like to live closer to public transport and the city center.24:40
  310. So not bad.24:51
  311. She mentioned houses, but then she says apartments are better.24:53
  312. A good way to extend this might be to say something like sadly most people can't afford houses these days and then extend it.24:57
  313. Or something else to extend the idea a bit as it was kind of a short answer.25:06
  314. Let's keep watching.25:12
  315. What are the benefits of living in an apartment?25:13
  316. I think there are many benefits associated to living in an apartment.25:17
  317. What obvious benefit is the security because the body corporate usually hires security guards or implement good security system to increase the safety of the residents.25:21
  318. There are also other benefits like more opportunities to interact with your neighbors because you live so close to each other.25:35
  319. This answer is fine, but again, I would extend.25:43
  320. So what?25:47
  321. Why is it more important to have more interactions with your neighbors?25:48
  322. Or is it uncommon to have these kinds of interactions if you live in a house?25:53
  323. The more you extend, the more opportunities you create for less common vocab and more complex grammar.25:59
  324. Remember, if you like this video, don't forget to hit the like button and subscribe to this YouTube channel.26:07
  325. We release videos that will help you not just with your IELTS speaking, but with IELTS reading, writing and listening too.26:13
  326. Let's get back to the video.26:21
  327. Are there any downsides?26:22
  328. I believe there are also cons associated to living in an apartment.26:27
  329. I just want to pause here and say that a better way to start this response would be just by saying yes there are.26:32
  330. Or definitely.26:38
  331. I don't like these long -winded intros.26:40
  332. If you're aiming for a high score, they don't really help.26:43
  333. Let's keep watching.26:46
  334. For example, the Samproof system is usually not that great, so you can easily hear what your neighbors are doing.26:48
  335. And I remember hearing people practicing their instruments, but the sound was a bit too annoying for me.26:55
  336. Do you think that in general everybody wants to live in a big house?27:04
  337. I think it used to be everyone's dream to have their own big space, but nowadays people are busy working, especially young adults.27:10
  338. So they don't have a lot of time to maintain a big house.27:19
  339. I think most people now will prefer a smaller space like an apartment unit, which is easier to maintain.27:23
  340. Let's talk about leaving home.27:31
  341. In your country, what is the typical age for people to move out of the family home?27:33
  342. In my home country, I think people generally move out between the age of 25 and 30, because this is when they get a stable job and be financially able27:38
  343. to afford their own place.27:50
  344. Do you think that that's the best age to leave home?27:52
  345. I think it is the best age, because on the other hand, I think it is also acceptable to leave home a bit later in life, because it's better to27:56
  346. stay with your family members to help each other, and renting is too expensive if you can't afford your own place.28:08
  347. So now her answers are getting kind of short.28:15
  348. I see so many opportunities to extend more here, and she's just kind of stating a position and then justifying it with because, but then not really taking it far28:18
  349. enough to necessitate more complex or precise language.28:28
  350. She's also starting to incorporate parts of the question a little too much.28:33
  351. It's not wrong to do this, but it's not really helping either.28:37
  352. Watch this.28:41
  353. Do you think that that's the best age to leave home?28:42
  354. I think it is the best age, because...28:46
  355. Did you notice how Vivian repeated the question back in the answer?28:50
  356. Instead, she could have just said definitely yes, or actually I don't.28:55
  357. Now, I also noticed that Vivian changed her mind halfway through her answer and corrected herself.29:00
  358. I think it is the best age, because on the other hand, I think it is also acceptable to leave home a bit later in life, because...29:06
  359. I wouldn't have said on the other hand if I was correcting myself.29:17
  360. If I were, I might say like, hmm, actually no, I think it's okay to stay longer.29:21
  361. Or she could say why it's the best age and then say, but I understand why some people stay longer.29:26
  362. For example, if, and then explain that.29:33
  363. You can absolutely change your mind in the middle of your answer and the speaking test and then go back and explain why.29:36
  364. Let's continue watching.29:44
  365. What are some advantages of families living together for a longer time?29:46
  366. If the culture values family relationship, I think people would prefer living with their family members to spend more time with them and also to help each other.29:52
  367. For instance, grandparents enjoy spending time with their grandchildren.30:03
  368. And it is handy to have grandparents looking after the small kids when the parents are out working.30:09
  369. So for this answer, she didn't reuse the question, which was great.30:17
  370. A good way to deal with these questions is just say one advantage is another advantage is super easy.30:23
  371. You also might have noticed that Vivian said if the culture values family relationships, listen again.30:30
  372. If the culture values family relationships, I think people would prefer living with their family members to spend more time with them and also to help each other.30:37
  373. This is great.30:48
  374. It's a more complex idea centered around culture.30:49
  375. She's really digging into her own ideas here.30:53
  376. I like how she uses if to express the situation and then she gives a nice example with, for instance.30:56
  377. For instance, grandparents enjoy spending time with their grandchildren.31:02
  378. And it is handy to have grandparents looking after the small kids when the parents are out working.31:10
  379. Since Vivian has used an if clause at the beginning of her answer, I might recommend that she use another if sentence here.31:17
  380. For example, she might continue by saying, but if the culture values independence more, then and then she could talk about different parts of the world.31:25
  381. Vivian is Malaysian and she's living in Australia.31:36
  382. She could possibly make comparisons about that.31:40
  383. So we're now almost at the end of the speaking test and now she's starting to develop more complex ideas.31:43
  384. I would probably coach her to start doing this a little bit earlier if possible, just so that the complex grammar is a bit more consistent throughout her answer.31:50
  385. Let's keep watching.32:00
  386. Are there any problems that can happen when families live together?32:02
  387. I think the oldest member of the family in fact needs some help because their physical capacities are not that great.32:07
  388. So young people can maybe help them to leave something and do the cleaning so that it's not too physically exhausting for the older generation.32:17
  389. And another problem is if you were listening, you would have heard Alex say, are there any problems that can happen when families live together?32:28
  390. Vivian did a better job extending her answer here, but again, the question gives you the opportunity to talk about more than one idea.32:38
  391. And in the case of this exact question, more than one problem.32:47
  392. My advice, don't miss an easy opportunity to continue speaking and extend your answer more.32:51
  393. Let's keep going.32:57
  394. In the future, do you think people will choose to rent rather than buy property?32:58
  395. I think considering the rising housing course, it is harder now to buy your own place, especially a big house.33:04
  396. So a lot of young people prefer living close to the shops and public transport.33:14
  397. So I think it's definitely a rising trend for people to rent near the city center instead of buying their own place.33:21
  398. One thing Vivian could have done here is reflect on her own feelings about this.33:28
  399. Maybe she thinks it's kind of unfortunate that people are choosing to rent more often nowadays.33:33
  400. I sometimes coach my students to use expressions like sadly or to be honest, to prompt them to reflect more on their ideas and their answers.33:39
  401. Let's finish it off.33:51
  402. How about living in another country?33:52
  403. Do you think that will become more common in the future?33:54
  404. It is quite an interesting question because I've recently heard a lot of stories about people moving out of their countries to experience a different lifestyle.33:58
  405. I believe there are other reasons for people to move to another country to live in.34:07
  406. For example, changing jobs or they would like to study in another country.34:13
  407. I think it's quite interesting to experience a different lifestyle in a somewhere that is different from your own country.34:19
  408. Why does she think this is interesting?34:29
  409. This would have been a great place to extend her answer.34:31
  410. By extending your answers, you force yourself to use more complex grammatical structures which is going to bring up your speaking score.34:34
  411. Thank you.34:43
  412. That is the end of the speaking test.34:43
  413. Thank you.34:45
  414. So that's the end of part three.34:47
  415. Again, in terms of vocabulary, great.34:50
  416. This continued to be strong.34:53
  417. It's her biggest strength.34:54
  418. In terms of task response, it's good, but I would coach her on developing her ideas a bit more.34:56
  419. She extends reasonably well here, but on test day, if she extends more, she'd be clearly good for that seven.35:03
  420. If she extends the same or less, she might not be.35:12
  421. Finally, for pronunciation, she can improve her stress and intonation.35:17
  422. I'll bet when she's relaxed and hanging out with her friends, she does this just fine.35:23
  423. So it might just be a little bit of coaching on sentence stress.35:28
  424. And then of course, a reminder to just breathe and relax.35:32
  425. And that's the end of this IELTS speaking test.35:37
  426. That took about 12 minutes, not including the one minute of preparation time in task two.35:40
  427. Remember, if you want to watch the full uninterrupted test video, click the link in the description below.35:46
  428. And while you're there, download the free IELTS speaking test video companion booklet, which includes all the questions asked in this video, including sample answers and techniques.35:52
  429. So there are three areas that I would coach Vivian on.36:03
  430. I think if she did these three things, then she'd be a strong seven on test day and primed to possibly go for an eight or higher.36:07
  431. The first thing she could do is extend her ideas more.36:16
  432. For example, she could have done it here in this response.36:20
  433. I think it's quite interesting to experience different lifestyles in somewhere that is different from your own country.36:24
  434. She hasn't made any mistakes here, but she's not allowing herself to explore and conclude ideas.36:32
  435. I think if she focused on this, her grammar range and pronunciation would improve.36:39
  436. I generally find that when you coach students on how to explore their ideas in an authentic way, everything else kind of falls into place at least more easily.36:45
  437. The second thing I would coach Vivian on is to focus on her use of sentence stress.36:55
  438. For example, she could have added more stress to this sentence.37:00
  439. I'm sure plenty of teachers might pick apart small aspects of how she's pronounced certain things, but one thing that would add clarity, rhythm and even nuance is sentence stress.37:07
  440. One thing that if she fixed, I think she'd definitely have a seven in pronunciation.37:21
  441. The third thing I would coach Vivian to improve is her past simple, particularly the regular verbs, and then to a lesser extent articles and plurals.37:26
  442. To get a seven in grammar, she needs her grammatical accuracy to be a little stronger.37:37
  443. For example, there were a few times where she would miss the d sound in past simple verbs.37:44
  444. Now this could also be a pronunciation issue, but either way, the d really needs to be there.37:49
  445. Errors like these were the majority of her basic errors.38:04
  446. Beyond those three things, there could be smaller corrections made to individual phonemes, vowels, and she can of course keep building her lexical range.38:09
  447. But that's it for this video.38:18
  448. So a big thanks to Alex, the examiner, and a big, big thanks to Vivian.38:20
  449. Thank you for coming in and doing this speaking test with us.38:26
  450. We know it can be quite nerve wracking to do a test like this.38:30
  451. If you at home found it helpful, don't forget to like and subscribe, and remember to click the link in the description of this video and download the IELTS Speaking38:34
  452. Test Video Companion booklet.38:44
  453. My name is Mark.38:46
  454. Good luck with your test.38:47

IELTS speaking practice from a real part one interview

This clip is an actual IELTS speaking test, part one, with examiner Alex asking candidate Vivian about her home. It gives you real ielts speaking topics and a genuine answer to shadow, not a scripted dialogue built for a textbook. The level here is A2, and the pace sits at 180 words per minute, faster than 43% of the catalogue, so the rhythm is a real interview, not a slowed down demo.

The setting is exactly what a test taker will face: short paired questions such as line 5's request for a full name, followed by a complete sentence answer. Because the recording runs 466 lines, there is room to shadow past the formal introduction and into Vivian's actual answer about her apartment, which is where the interesting language sits.

The language in Vivian's part one answer

Three lines are worth slowing down for. In line 6 Vivian answers, "Good afternoon, my full name is Vivian Vuhn," mirroring the examiner's own formula from line 4 almost word for word, exactly the pattern examiners expect at the open of part one. In line 17 Mark reads out the two questions candidates always get, "What's your full name, where are you from?" said as one breath, with a fall on "name" and a second fall on "from", not one long rising tune.

  • "Good afternoon, my full name is Vivian Vuhn." The stress falls on "full" and "name", not on "Vivian".
  • "What's your full name, where are you from?" Two questions joined without a pause, each with its own falling pitch.
  • "At the moment I live in an apartment unit, it is a much smaller house or an apartment unit compared to where I live a few years ago." A long, comparative sentence built on the fly, with "a much smaller house" doing the actual comparing.
  • "And we don't really have a lot of space to walk around the house because it's so small." Plain, everyday english phrasing, the kind you can shadow this line at full speed once the long sentence above is comfortable.

How to work through this part one interview clip

Work in the order the test itself runs, not the order that feels easiest. Shadow this line before moving to the next, so the pattern builds instead of resetting each time.

  • Listen to the examiner's opening in line 4 before you touch Vivian's reply, so you hear the formula you are about to mirror.
  • Shadow line 6, "Good afternoon, my full name is Vivian Vuhn," matching her stress on "full" and "name" rather than her own name.
  • Shadow the double question in line 17, "What's your full name, where are you from?", keeping the two falls separate.
  • Move to line 32 and break "At the moment I live in an apartment unit, it is a much smaller house or an apartment unit compared to where I live a few years ago" into two shorter runs before attempting it whole.
  • Notice Mark repeats that same sentence at line 38 when he critiques it, which is the closest this clip comes to a model correction, useful for english speaking practice for daily use.
  • Finish on line 35, "And we don't really have a lot of space to walk around the house because it's so small," a good line for improving your english accent at natural pace once the long sentence is under control.
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