5 Best IELTS Speaking Part 1 Tips

- Hi guys, today I'm gonna share with you

my five best tips for IELTS speaking part one,

and I will do this with five model answers,

so you can see how to use these tips,

so you can improve your answers

and get a higher score in the IELTS speaking test.

Let's do it.

(upbeat music)

So, I'm going to illustrate each tip with one model answer,

and a total of five model answers.

And in fact, if you go back later and watch the whole video,

you'll see that each tip is applied in each model answer.

Ha, clever, hey?

So, let's begin.

First of all though, in case you don't know,

my name's Keith, I run IELTS Speaking Success,

and I really hope I can help you improve your English,

give better answers, and so do much better

in the IELTS speaking test.

By the way, if you haven't joined me yet,

every Tuesday and Thursday, 10:00 a.m. Spanish time,

YouTube and Facebook are live streaming free live lessons

where we're looking at different topics.

We have about 400 people on the lesson.

Come and join us, it is a ball.

It's great fun.

You don't wanna miss out,

especially in this time of the lockdown,

what a better way to come together and learn English

from each other, not just from me.

There's some brilliant ideas and language being shared.

In addition, I also have an online course.

It's on You to Me.

It's called IELTS Speaking Success, get a Band 7+.

Clus check it out if it's right for you,

it will also help you do really well

in the IELTS speaking test.

So what about those tips?

Let's have a look first of all, tip number one.

Use some connectors, maybe one or two,

to improve your fluency.

Now, if you know the band descriptors,

you will know that fluency

includes things like hesitation, but also coherence.

That's the logical flow of your ideas.

And that logical flow is helped by connectors,

things like, and, also, but, in the first place.

So here are some very, very common connectors

we use particularly in speaking natural English, right.

If I want to give an idea or an opinion,

I can say, in my opinion, in my view,

to my mind, I would say,

as far as I'm concerned, right.

Some nice, natural connectors.

If you want to add to an idea,

if you want to add ideas, we often say, on top of that,

also, what's more, I'd also add that.

Okay, and of course if you want to contrast ideas,

you can say but.

You could say, however,

that said, mind you,

at the same time, whilst that's true, I also think.

Right, so these are natural spoken connectors,

and it's really important to organize your answer

and to improve your fluency.

So let's see in a model answer

for the question, what's the question?

For the question, do you think it's important

for friends to laugh together?

And you're going to laugh, what's that?

Sorry, to laugh.

The queen says, to laugh,

but because I'm from Manchester, Manchester,

we say to laugh.

So the question is, from me, and this is important

because just in case your examiner is from Manchester,

listen for the flat a.

Do you you think it's important

for friends to laugh together?

To my mind, it's extremely important

because it helps us to chill out.

I haven't been going out much lately with my friends,

the lockdown, but we do go out together,

we love to crack a few jokes together.

On top of that, I just think that laughing

is a great way to stay healthy and positive.

So did you see there?

We had, to my mind, but, on top of that.

Different connectors that really added value

and quality to my answer.

And tip number two is to use some complex grammar.

Okay, now, to get a band seven,

you need to be using some complex structures,

complex grammar is really divided into two areas.

There is the clauses.

So a mixture of subordinate, dependent

or non-dependent clauses, relative clauses.

And then there's the tenses, okay.

Let's look here just at the tenses.

So we have simple tenses.

So when you use the present simple, there's the clue,

the simple past, another clue, the future,

these are all quite simple tenses,

but we could be using more complex ones

like present perfect,

present perfect continuous, conditionals.

And these show off a wider range of grammar,

especially when we use them accurately.

So I think in part one, talking about yourself,

one of the easiest tenses to use effectively

is the present perfect continuous.

I have been doing something, right.

I have been living in Spain for two years.

So this is where we talk about something

that started in the past and has been continuing until now.

It's often used to emphasize

recent activities in progress also.

So here, instead of saying, you know, where do you live?

Well, I live in Spain.

Okay, simple, right.

But you could just change it a little bit and say,

where do you live?

I live in Spain, I've been living here for two years now.

Right, present perfect continuous.

It gives a real, simple,

no, complex, added edge to your answer.

And you can use this all over the place,

check out all of the answers today

and you might just notice it, okay.

So let's take a very specific example here

for the question, do you think history is important?

Yes and no.

On the one hand, it's important

because it shapes our identity.

But on the other hand, I've been reading

a few history books recently and it strikes me

that history always repeats itself.

It seems like we never learn.

There, so can you see it?

I've been reading a couple of history books lately.

Very simple, very effective.

Let's move on.

Number three is use idiomatic expressions.

To get a band six and especially a band seven,

for a band seven, you must be using less common

and idiomatic vocabulary.

Idiomatic expressions are not only idioms, right?

Don't forget phrasal verbs.

Some phrasal verbs, in fact, a lot of them are idiomatic.

So that means that the meaning of the whole phrase

is different from the individual words.

So when I say, I was chilling out with my friends,

it doesn't mean I was cold, right.

It just means I was relaxing, chill out, to relax.

It's idiomatic, so a lot of phrasal verbs are idiomatic.

So, how many do you need to use?

Well, you're not gonna use them in every answer.

And if you use too many, it will sound unnatural,

but you can sprinkle one or two,

I guess one or two, in all of part one

would be very, very nice.

Again, it's not mathematics.

You just get a feeling for it, but not too many,

but somewhere in the test,

you do want the examiner to go, oh, wow.

Two or three times where they're hear

either a nice idiom or idiomatic expression

impressing the examiner.

So let's take an example here.

Indeed it does, as a matter of fact, recently,

I've been visiting some of the mountains near my hometown

and they are second to none.

I mean, they pull in a huge number of tourists

and you can see why, I mean,

because the views are outstanding.

So yeah, I did sprinkle in actually two.

There was 'second to none',

which means 'the very best', right?

This mountain is second to none as a tourist attraction.

This book is second to none, it's the very best.

And then the phrasal verb, pull in,

to pull in tourists is to attract tourists.

So I use two, again, it's not mathematics.

You could use one, none, two, but just not too many.

Let's move on, tip number four is waiting for us.

Let's get over there.

Tip number four is to make use of synonyms and antonyms.

As I'm sure you know, a synonym is a word

with a similar meaning like big and large, right?

Antonym is a word with the opposite meaning,

like big and small.

Now it's really important 'cause it says here, band seven,

you have a wide enough vocabulary

to discuss a variety of topics flexibly.

So you need to be building your vocabulary all the time,

right, it's an ongoing process.

It takes time, but there are things you can be doing

to do it systematically.

So always be making notes of vocabulary.

Look at word families, right?

The noun, verbs and adjectives of a different word.

Look at prefixes and suffixes.

They can really help you, look at synonyms and antonyms.

Look at learning vocabulary by theme or topic.

Look at collocations.

All of these are ways to build your vocabulary.

And I think one of the quickest and easiest ways

is synonyms and antonyms, let's have a look.

in IELTS speaking, right, we often say, I like this.

I like music, I like painting.

And here's the examiner.

But we could spice it up a little bit

and use different expressions.

I'm fond of, I'm really into, right.

I'm fond of reading, I'm really into reading.

I'm one for reading history books.

And then the examiner's like, oh, nice.

So synonyms help.

Another example, right?

We often say, oh, it's really good,

the film was really good.

The dinner with my family was really good

and there's the examiner.

Okay, right, we could spice it up again, right?

The dinner was out of this world.

The dinner was a cut above the rest.

The dinner was outstanding.

And now your examiner is,

mental note, possibly band seven.

So you're opening up the doors for your band seven.

Synonyms, really important.

Let's see one in a model answer.

Do you like to go to the zoo?

To tell you the truth, I'm not really into zoos.

Actually, I've been thinking about this a lot recently

and I get that zoos can be educational, right,

but I don't think it's fair

to keep the animals cooped up in small cages all day.

They should be out in the wild I'd say.

Right, nice, so did you see there?

I'm not really into, right, a bit different, a bit nice.

'I get' - I understand that zoos can be educational.

I get that zoos can be educational.

So it's not necessarily fancy, difficult vocabulary,

but synonyms and they're so powerful, showing flexibility.

Excellent, I can see tip number five

just coming in right now, here it comes.

Let's go and find out what it's got to say.

Tip number five is to add adverbs, add adverbs, right?

Adverbs like slowly, quickly, completely, absolutely.

Normally they have a LY on the end and they describe

adjectives or verbs and how we do things.

Now adverbs are seriously under-used by students,

but they're really important, right?

Native speakers use them an awful lot.

As you can just see, it helps you sound more natural,

helps you be more flexible and show off your vocabulary.

And they're so easy, right?

I'm sure you know these adverbs,

but you may not be using them.

So in order to say really, we can say absolutely, totally,

completely, extremely.

In order to say quite,

that film was quite interesting, right.

It was somewhat interesting, it was fairly interesting.

It was rather interesting.

And to say, not often, rarely, I hardly ever do that.

I do that once in a blue moon, one of my favorites.

Remember or notice, if it's a long adverb,

an adverbial clause, like once in a blue moon,

it goes at the end, right?

I do it once in a blue moon.

Okay, so let's see it in action.

Have you ever been to an art gallery?

To be honest, I've been visiting quite a few art galleries

recently because my wife is a bit of an art buff.

We went to a modern art exhibition last week

and I was completely bowled over by the paintings.

They were totally out of this world.

Did you see that?

Completely, totally, nice adverbs.

Give it a touch of naturalness, excellent, good.

So we have looked at five different tips.

If you now go back and listen to each model answer,

see if you can spot every single tip in each answer.

A few of these tips have talked about vocabulary, right?

Learning vocabulary takes a long time.

It takes patience and persistence.

It's something you need to dedicate time to,

but believe me, it's worth it, it's well worth doing.

I hope these tips have helped you.

I'm curious, which one do you think

is the most useful for you?

Write a comment below and let me know.

And my final word, two final words.

(laughing)

First of all, remember,

come and join us on Facebook or YouTube live,

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 o'clock Spain time.

Be great to see you there.

Second thing is, I know a lot of us are in lockdown.

These are very hard times, right?

Just to say, stay strong, stay positive.

I'm sure things are going to get better.

The good news is, your English is surely getting better,

day by day if you turn up and you keep going,

you will get there, so stay positive.

If I can help you on your trip of improving your English,

I'm a very, very happy man.

In the meantime, do take care, stay safe.

Can't wait to see you here soon.

All the best, bye, bye

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