Advice/IELTS Speaking Part 3

IELTS Speaking Exam Part 3

Situation: Part 3 of the IELTS speaking test is a longer question and answer "discussion". Usually it will develop the topic raised in part 2, and of course the teacher will not expect to speak too much, except to ask questions.

Problem: Students are marked on grammar (accuracy), pronunciation, vocabulary and fluency. It's important to work on your fluency and obviously a wide vocabulary helps with this. Also........

Solution: You can learn to use a number of set expressions to express different "language functions", such as "giving opinions", or "expressing doubt". These are used in the exercise below. Some useful vocabulary is given too.

Note: Advice on the other sections of the IELTS tests will be added when time allows. Please notice that suggested models can be included and practised in your speaking on a daily basis, but you should not repeat them automatically or keep trying to put them into your answers in an artificial way. Correct pronunciation and intonation are obviously very important too. Sound files will be added later to help with this.

First of all, try to answer the questions that follow below these notes. In the second section language functions and vocabulary prompts will be given to help you, and finally suggested answers will be supplied.

Make full sentences and try to develop your ideas and arguments in three or four sentences at least. Speak out loud. Or maybe get a friend to question you and help you to practise.







Talking about school.




1) What factors do you think are important in a good school?




2) How does the education system in your own country compare with the education system in your host country? (the country where you're currently studying)



3) How have schools changed in the last one hundred years or so? ("or so" means "approximately")



4) What are the advantages of doing well at school?



5) In what ways does a bad teacher disadvantage children?



6) Explain how education might look in the future.




Now scroll down to read the advice section, then try to use some of the suggestions...................

[ADVERT]

Hints and clues;
Note: The suggestions below are just a guide, and if you feel confident, you can change the structures.






1) What factors do you think are important in a good school?

Expressing opinions:

If you ask me...
I'd say that... (which means "I would say that..")
I'd've said that.... (Which means "I would have said that...")
(^ From more informal [top] to more formal [bottom])

Note: You can, of course, use the boring old "In my opinion...".

Suggestions for vocabulary and structure:

...it's necessary to...
...it's also of great importance that...
A good school should have... as well as... and... 






2) How does the education system in your own country compare with the education system in your host country?

Expressing ignorance:(Because you might not know much about the host country's education system) 

I'm sorry, but I haven't got a a clue what...
I'm afraid I haven't got much idea about... 

Suggestions for vocabulary and structure:

In comparison to English schools, I would say.... (or "I'd imagine...")
...are probably much more...compared to schools in...In contrast...
(or the opposite:)
Similarly... 






3) How have schools changed in the last one hundred years?

Asking for clarification:I'm sorry - did you want me* to talk about schools in my country or schools in general?
* more polite than "do you want...?" 

Suggestions for vocabulary and structure:Students used to...
Pupils would... (same meaning)
There wouldn't have been any...
...make use of various teaching aids, such as...
...find out for themselves, rather than...




 




4) What are the advantages of doing well at school?
Expressing certainty:

Quite clearly...
It goes without saying that...
Suggestions for vocabulary and structure:

On the plus side...
Another advantage is that...
What's more...

 




 5) In what ways does a bad teacher disadvantage students?

Expressing doubt or uncertainty:
I doubt whether...
I'm not really sure whether... 

Suggestions for vocabulary and structure:Well, naturally...
Practically speaking...
inspiration / motivation / stimulation
...can cause pupils to... (infinitive structure)
...might give rise to problems, in that... (+ subject + verb)
 





6) Explain how education might look in the future.
 
Asking for repetition: 

I'm sorry - I didn't quite catch what you said.
Would you mind repeating the question please?

Asking for time to think:

Er, if you'll just give me a second to think about that...
Well, let's see now... 

Suggestions for vocabulary and structure:

In the future there could be...
.............................may
............................might 
It's always possible that we could see...
In the short term... (or "near future")
In the long term... (or "distant future")



When you've answered (don't forget - out loud), check further down the page to compare them to the suggested answers..............

[ADVERT]

Suggested answers:

(Useful words and expressions from above are highlighted in blue)






 
1) What factors do you think are important in a good school?

1) If you ask me a school should not be too big. It's necessary to give children a "sense of belonging", and they don't get that if a school's too big.

How big do you think it should be?

I'd say about 500 pupils should be the maximum.

Anything else?

It's also of great importance that you have well trained teachers. And I'd've said that it's also important that a good school should have have plenty of space for sports and outdoor activities as well as good buildings and facilities. (space or equipment needed to do something)

2) How does the education system in your own country compare with the education system in your host country?

2) I'm sorry, I haven't got a clue what it's like in English schools. I mean, I've studied in a language school, but that's as much as I know.

If an average class size in England is about twenty students, how does that compare to classes in your country?

In comparison to English schools, I would say schools in my country have much bigger classes. But students are probably much more polite compared to those in England. I've heard they're very disrespectful here. In contrast, we respect teachers in my country.

3) How have schools changed in the last one hundred years?

3) I'm sorry, did you want me to talk about schools in my country, or schools in general?

Whichever you prefer to talk about.

Well, in my country, I suppose students used to just learn things by heart (automatically) from the teacher, or from books. Pupils would probably have worked more hours in those days too. There wouldn't have been any libraries I suppose, but I'm not really sure about that.

And how about today?

Now of course we can make use of various teaching aids, such as computers, and there are school libraries so that students can find things out for themselves.

4) What are the advantages of doing well at school?

4) Quite clearly there are a lot of advantages to doing well at school. On the plus side it makes life more interesting when you know more about the world. Another advantage is that you can get a better job. It goes without saying that this means more money and an easier life in general. Though I guess that's not always true. The bit about the easier life, I mean.

5) In what ways does a bad teacher disadvantage students?

5) Well, naturally, a bad teacher won't hold your interest like a good teacher can, so you won't learn much. You need motivation and stimulation to take in information. I doubt whether a bad teacher can give you those things.

Can you think of any other problems bad teaching can cause for pupils?

It can cause pupils to lose interest, and that might give rise to problems, in that some students may behave badly and stop others from learning.

6) Explain how education might look in the future.

6) I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch what you said.

In what ways do you think education might change in the future?

Er, if you'll just give me a minute to think about that. Well , let's see now... in the future there could be online learning, where the teacher isn't even in the room. In the short term computers will become more important, I suppose.

And how about the longer term?

In the longer term there may even be robot teachers. Let's face it, they'd probably know a lot more than real ones!

Photo Album:






This photograph was taken on the banks of Lake Bled, in Slovenia. Before taking it I set the camera on 'shooting through glass', because the sun was reflecting from the surface of the water. After that I moved towards the edge of the lake, leaned forward and aimed the camera between two tree trunks. The picture shows a number of large fish (carp) swimming around in the water. There are a lot of smaller fish nearby, but these are more difficult to see in the photo here.

Grammar note: The words in blue are "prepositions". The passage shows their most common uses. They may show:

Position: ".... on the banks of Lake Bled,...."
Movement: ".... swimming around in the water."
Time: ".... Before taking it I...."

Sometimes their use is not so clear. For example, all of the following uses are possible: ".... I set the camera on 'shooting through glass'...."
".... I set the camera to 'shooting through glass'...."
".... I set the camera at 'shooting through glass'...."

For this reason, students often find prepositions difficult. Add to this the fact that they are often used in phrasal verbs ("look forward to") and in collocations with other verbs ("insure against"), adjectives ("afraid of") and nouns ("on holiday")...... and it's easy to see why students are confused!