Ideas for IELTS speaking practice.

IELTS is designed to be tricky, and even the best students can struggle to get those higher bands.

Over the next few weeks I will provide tips, ideas, and strategies which can easily be used by teachers and students to really help get that IELTS score that will open doors. As an IELTS teacher with several years experience and 100% of students who took the exam getting 6.0 and above I have discovered some great methods and approaches that really make a difference. I will share these below to try help those who are scratching their heads about this prestigious yet notorious exam.

Below are 2 strategies and ideas for each of the speaking sections.

IELTS Speaking part 1

This is arguably the easiest section yet many can make silly mistakes.

Strategy 1 - concise yet correct - In this section the examiner is focusing on the everyday speaking skills. The point of the section is to  reflect authentic conversation. Too often people speak too much and end up waffling. It may sound odd but simple yet effective answers are what the examiner is looking for. In real life if someone asked where you were from you wouldn't spend 5 minutes describing its precise geographical location, size, and your personal opinion.You would simply answer 'I am from...'. By the same token remember to use full sentences. A word will not be enough.

Activity 1: Question jumble: Write down as many get to know you questions as you can think up e.g. what is your name? how are you? what are your hobbies? Are you a student?. Cut them up word by word and give them to your partner. Next your partner should put them back together and finally they should try to answer the questions using full sentences but no more than 10 words.


Strategy 2 - Confident and creative - The examiner will have heard a million answers to the same questions. Usually these answers will be the same repetitive going through the motions dull answers but there will have been a few long winded yet boring answers and only a few that were unique and interesting. Your goal is to be the last type neither mechanical, nor a boring lecture. With the first few questions like 'where are you from?' your answers are bound to be mechanical, but as part 1 continues the questions become a bit more open ended and this is where things can get more fun.

Activity 2: Whose line is it anyway: This when done in a supportive class or friends will help build confidence and allow you to be able to give better answers. Participants stand in a semi circle facing the board. The teacher or leader writes a question down from later on in part 1 (great ideas can be found on here  https://www.ielts-exam.net/ielts_speaking_samples/387/ or by a google search). Participants step forward 1 by 1 and try to give the funniest or happiest, or strangest answer (you can change the tone to whatever you like).

IELTS Speaking part 2

Strategy 1 - Question the question - You are given your question and you must take notes. Most people script what they will say, which actually hinders many. A better suggestion is to take the question and see if you can think of any follow up questions. Try to think of 5 questions and write them down.

Activity 1: Question association: I'm sure we've all played word association where you sit in a circle and say a word and the net person says a similar word, this is similar. Make a circle and show a topic card to the group.  each person takes it in turns to think of a follow up question. You can then go around again and think of a answer to each question. Use this to talk about the topic for at least 1 minute to your partner.

Strategy 2 - Have an easy to follow structure to guide you.

Here is a link which provides structures for all of the question types. It is easy to follow, easy to memorise, and easy to use. Link


IELTS Speaking part 3

Strategy 1 - linkers - Use linkers of contrast and discourse to improve fluency and level.

Activity: linkers bingo: This is great for all stages of the exam but can really help here. Participants take a bingo card and are given a list of linkers. They write 1 word in each square. Participants are given a list of questions from task 3 (again a google search will bring many up) and have to take turns asking their partner. and answering. When answering participants should try use one linker. Participants should continue until they have used a line or full house. Note* Someone should listen for any mistakes usage.



One final thing use youtube: Type in IELTS speaking and watch candidates taking the speaking exam. Think about what was good and bad about their grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation fluency, and answer. Did they make any mistakes with grammar an vocabulary? Did they use different tenses, conditionals, a wide vocabulary etc? Were they easy to understand? Did they answer the question correctly? Did they give an appropriate amount of detail? Did they use linkers? These videos are great because they allow you to see the exam and what is asked and expected, and what happens in each stage, finally they tell you what band the candidate got (some tell you more than others).