Lesson 2.2.1 : Best way of Telling

Focus on Grammar: Beginning Your Talk

There are many ways to begin your talk. Some examples of phrases that you could use to
open your talk are, ‘I’d like to talk about’, or ‘I’d like to tell you about’, or 'I’m going to talk about’. You could also use this structure. So in this case, ‘A special occasion that I’ve experienced is...’.

Saying More

After you begin your talk, you should continue speaking about the items on the card. You can use the bullet points to help you organise your talk. They follow a logical order.  In this part of the IELTS Speaking Test, you have to speak on your own, for up to 2 minutes, without any assistance from the examiner. For this reason, it’s a good idea to learn how to extend your response, and to say more, by giving reasons and examples. 

One method that you can use to help expand your answer is the PREP method. It works like this: 

P is for Point. The first thing you do is to make your point. 

R is for Reason. Next you give a reason why. 

E is for Example. You might want to give an example. 

P is for Point again. So, in other words, you re-state your point.

 

Ending Your Talk 

Once you start the talk, you should then continue speaking about the items on the task card. You should talk about these items in the same sequence as the notes you have made. Now the examiner may stop you before you have finished talking, and that’s okay, but it’s worth looking at how to end your talk confidently.

Here are some other examples of how you can end your talk. These phrases will help you show that you have finished your talk or are close to finishing. You can say 'So' or 'So in the end'. You could also say, 'All in all', or 'Finally'. Or you might say 'To finish off'. Choose one or two phrases that you feel comfortable with and practice them with different topics. Notice the candidate in the video below summed up his talk about his graduation by saying, 'Anyway, it was a great day'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3fYIi7hQ8I