IELTS Speaking Part I

Based on my experience teaching the IELTS test, here’s my lesson plan for introducing the Speaking section of the IELTS, starting with part I.

Objectives

• Familiarize students with format of speaking test and the types of questions to be asked, particularly part I
• Teach students to address common topics for Part I like describing your family, your city, your favorite food
• Expand answers to give some more information
• Use linking words

Materials

• Desert Island Discs or a similar prepared question like, “What is your favorite food?” or “What do you do in your free time?”
• Sample IELTS Questions for Part I

Introduction to the Speaking Test

First, I go over the format of the speaking test, briefly, hitting the following points:

There are 3 parts. Part I asks about a variety of familiar topics and asks mainly personal questions. It is a dialogue and lasts 3-4 minutes. In Part II students are given a topic and some questions they must address. They have 1 minute to prepare and then must speak for 1 – 2 minutes. Part III continues with the same topic as Part II but it is a dialogue and unlike part I, the questions are more abstract and general. Today we will focus on Part I.

I tell them they must be ready to discuss a variety of topics about themselves and to give full answers. So we start with a version of Desert Island Discs. I ask students to just write down their favorite movie, book, food and person.

Emphasize that if the examiner asks you what your favorite movie is, saying, “Titanic” is not enough. I sometimes demonstrate this by doing a short interview with one word answers so they see that 1) giving short answers is boring and 2) examiners won’t be able to judge their English. Also emphasize that in Part I, they shouldn’t speak too long either. You can demonstrate speaking too long by giving a monologue on anything that pops into your head about Titanic. Make sure students see that 1) speaking too much is also boring, 2) it’s not authentic and 3) your answer ends up being disorganized and confused. Part I should be a natural conversation with brief but complete answers (as natural as being tested can possibly be).

Now I explain that there are 4 basic ways to expand an answer. You can give a reason why you think this way, you can give an example or a detail, you can also give some contrasting information, or you can specify certain conditions. I put this up on the board.

My favorite movie is Titanic
Reason: because it has a really interesting story and great actors.
Example/Detail: My favorite scene is when Leonardo DiCaprio stands at the front of the ship and screams, “I’m king of the world!”
Contrast: but I don’t normally like romantic films. I actually prefer comedies.
Conditions: but I only like to watch it sometimes because it’s so long.

Now for each of their choices (favorite movie, book, food and person) I have them give a reason, an example, a contrast or a condition.

Now I practice some real Part I questions, which you can take from any book or the Internet and focus on giving an appropriate answer and expanding it. It’s important to remind students that they shouldn’t talk too long on part I, so they should use only ONE of the ways above. In other words, “In my free time I like to play football and also swim because I like a healthy way of life and to keep fit. I swim in the YMCA because it is convenient and close to my home. I also play football every weekend at the school. But I wish I could play football more often.” is too long, Part I is a dialogue so you have to let the examiner speak too. Also, I don’t really care if the way they expand their answer fits into one of the categories I gave. The important point is that they don’t speak too much or too little and their answer is on target. The categories just help them think of ways to expand their answer but stay on topic.

Now I like to go over some common description questions in Part I. I ask them:

Tell me about your family.

First I have students answer the questions on their own and try to fill in any vocab gaps for them. Usually the issue for them is vocabulary and also talking too long, giving mini-speeches (I have a father and a mother. My father is an accountant. He is tall and wears glasses. My mother is a doctor. My brother’s name is Azamat. He studies in school….) So I try to give them examples of more concise answers using what they have already said.
E.G. “My family is very small, it’s just my mother and my father and my little brother. We don’t see each other much because both my parents work late.”

Then we practice with other similar questions:

Tell me about your city?
Tell me about your work or school?

Finally once I feel they can give concise but interesting and detailed answers, I ask them follow-up questions:

What is your favorite place to go in your city?
Is your city a nice place to live?
How long have you lived there?

And that’s my lesson plan for the first day of Part I of speaking. As usual, any feedback is greatly appreciated.