IELTS speaking interview skills with British Council China

Today I’m going to do something a little different and ask you to go somewhere else for your learning – China. The British Council English online website there has some fantastic resources for IELTS and general English too. It is a large site with many good things but the ones I want to concentrate on are a series of 7 videos about the speaking module. I add my own comments to three of the videos.

The videos

These are short, clear, humorous and extremely well made. Each one concentrates on a key skill in the speaking module:

  1. Develop what you say
  2. Tell the truth
  3. Not a job interview
  4. Don’t get over-emotional
  5. Don’t memorise answers
  6. Ask the examiner to repeat the question
  7. To impress the examiner
They can be found here: British Council English online . The reading and listening practice I will be adding to the practice pages here.

My comments and the 3 secrets to success in IELTS

Tell the truth

The best English is often simple conversational English

I think the main point here is that telling the truth is typically more relaxing than lying/inventing – and you want to relax in the speaking. The aim is to treat it as much like a normal conversation as you can. Another related point is that telling the truth can allow you to use some nice idiomatic language. You can use this skill when you have nothing much to say:

“I’m sorry, that’s not something I’ve thought before. I really don’t have a clue what to say. It’s just not something I’m interested in. Sorry.”

is almost certainly more effective than trying to invent an answer that may confuse you and becomes poor English.

Don’t memorise the answers

Examiners don’t like candidates who learn answers

I have never been an IELTS examiner but I did work as an oral examiner for a number of years for a similar set of exams. I can promise you that examiners can nearly always tell when you have prepared an answer: they simply hate that. If you give a prepared answer, the examiner stops being your friend and that’s the last thing you want.

Impress the examiner

Do the simple things well: Listen to and answer the question

I have a slightly different view to the video. The video suggests that you can impress the examiner by saying something slightly unusual. It is of course a good thing to say something interesting as you probably use better English and the examiner will be more impressed. However, there are dangers to this approach:

  1. you put yourself under unnecessary pressure to be “clever” – it’s a language test not an IQ test – you forget to do the simple things well
  2. you are in danger of going off topic – not good for task response
My personal advice is this: the way to impress the examiner is simply to answer the question directly, honestly and in good English. As an oral examiner, I was always surprised by how few candidates answered the question as opposed to talking generally about the topic. I, and my colleagues, were always impressed when someone did this. If you have something interesting to say, say it. If not, no problem.

My 3 secrets to success in IELTS?

They are all simple. IELTS is quite a simple exam not some strange skill. Two can be learned quite quickly. One may well take you some time. I give them to you here as these videos illustrate them perfectly.
  1. Understand the exam: know the key band score criteria so you understand what the examiners want
  2. Read/listen to the question and then answer it: if you do this, you will avoid many, many mistakes
  3. Have good enough general English skills: the tricky bit – top tip: don’t just study IELTS, study English if you want to pass IELTS

Reading and listening too

While you are there, I suggest you take a look at the reading and listening practice exercises. There are around 15 of each. They are not in exam format as they are too short but they are an excellent place to check your basic skills. The exercises are all timed and you can choose a fast, medium or slow speed so they should work for students at all levels. I have also added links to these to my reading and listening practice pages:

Learn online listening

Learn online reading

Are you new here? You can get free email updates by entering your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

 

 

You might also be interested in:

How to like it, share it and save it

6 Responses to IELTS speaking interview skills with British Council China

  1. Amanda January 7, 2012 at 12:28 pm #

    Dear Dominic,

    I would like to practice my speaking with other students, who are also planning to achieve 7 or 8 I have recently scored 7.5 in speaking.So if it is possible can I post my skype id on your website to contact other students.

    Regards
    amanda

    Reply
  2. Amanda January 7, 2012 at 12:30 pm #

    Please if you want to practice speaking with me on skype please add me.
    skype ieltsprep4

    Thanks
    amanda

    Reply
    • Dominic Cole January 7, 2012 at 12:47 pm #

      Hi Amanda: Can I suggest you leave this message on the FB page – people are perhaps more likely to find it there

      Reply
      • Nathalie January 8, 2012 at 11:39 am #

        Hi, Amanda! I would be glad to improve speaking skills with you by skype if only my English is good enough. let me know if you are interesred by email

        Reply
    • bassil January 16, 2012 at 10:28 pm #

      Please if you want to practice speaking with someone on skype .can i watch and listen to your conversation …..to improve my speaking skills .

      Thanksr Amanda
      Regards
      bassil

      Reply
  3. shivani sharma January 15, 2012 at 6:24 am #

    Hi Amanda i would like to improve my speaking skills on Skype

    Regards.
    shivani sharma.

    Reply

Leave a Reply