Speaking 7

Lesson 1 - Individual long turn

I/ OVERVIEW
Duration: 1 min to make notes. 1-2 mins to talk on the topic without interruption by the examiner
Marking Criteria



2. FLUENCY & COHERENCE
2.1 Fluency
Fluency is a combination of
speed of speech
length of answer
pausing correctly
2.2 Coherence
2.2.1 Coherence is the ability to:
connect your sentences by using tenses and connectors
expand your answers
answer the questions directly
add relevant detail to explain or illustrate your answers
2.2.2 Strategy
How to use your 1 min of preparation
1. Mental Outlining (1-5s) Dont write down anything.
Think about a detailed/interesting real life experience or stories you have heard.
Stick to one consistent story.
2. Brainstorm (45s) start writing down key words.
Intro (5s): paraphrase the topic requirement and give some brief background info different from the points in the
main body e.g. the occasion, location, time, who were with you, history, that you like this topic and why, etc
Main body(30s): discuss ideas for each of the 3 questions on the cue card.
o Think of the phrases/words to use. Avoid mistakes. Use words/phrases youre very familiar with
o If you dont have any ideas, describe the subject matter/ compare it with similar things/ discuss happenings
in the past and present etc.
Conclusion (10s): Address the last requirement
*If you dont have any ideas, briefly paraphrase the main body.
3. Think of other vocabulary and advanced grammar structures (10s) Rehearse the sentence structure mentally. Dont
write them down
Example of how to use your 1 min

2.2.3 Exercise 1 COHERENCE
Topic: Describe an open-air or street market which you enjoyed visiting (1). You should say:
where the market is (2)
what the market sells (3)
how big the market is (4)
and explain why you enjoyed visiting this market. (5)

Goal: Form a well-structured, cohesive, detailed & conclusive answer.
The following suggested vocabulary is for your reference.
(1) a. recall, travelling, on a guided/sightseeing tour of, stopped by, explore etc
b. for groceries shopping, at weekends, at dawn/ by noon,
jam-packed with, bustling, market stalls; rain, hail or shine;
(2) located, in the middle/centre of, at the end of, in the north of, next to, on the hill, beside the river etc
(3) varieties, a range from.. to; fresh produce, meat, poultry & seafood; dried goods and grains, snacks, household
items, cleaning supplies, handcrafted products/crafts, accessories, clothing
(4) enormous, spacious, compact,
(5) exhilarating, vibrant, thrilling, impressive, dazzling, colourful, fun experience, nice way to spend the weekend
morning ..

3. LEXICAL RESOURCES
3.1 Some phrases often used in spoken English
Transitional words:
Anyway,
When it comes to,
On the contrary/ On the other hand
Particularly,
As I was saying/ As I mentioned before
Expressing opinion:
Apparently, Literally, Entirely, Obviously, Surprisingly
Fillers:
if I remember correctly
Well, theres a lot of different things I could tell you about
Its hard to explain, but
Repeat the question
4. Exercises
4.1 Exercise 2
Take 1 min to outline your speech. Try to follow the suggested strategy and then give the speech in 2 or more
minutes. The instructor will record you and give feedback afterwards.
Topic:
1. Describe a restaurant that you enjoyed going to. You should say:
- Where the restaurant was
- Why you chose this restaurant
- What type of food you ate in this restaurant
and explain why you enjoyed eating in this restaurant.

2. Describe how you would organize a surprise party for your friend. Please say
- Where would you do it?
- How would you do it?
- What arrangements would need to be done for the party?

3. Describe a country you would like to visit. You should say:
- what the country is
- when you would go there
- what you would do there
and explain why you would like to visit it

4.2 Exercise 3 Annotate the following sample answers to identify:
1. useful natural phrases
2. connective words
3. paragraph 1 5. Pay attention to the points and how the writer expanded on mentioned points.
5. parts where sth is paraphrase
6. the added details
1. Restaurant
About a year ago, I was invited by a friend of mine to go for lunch at a local restaurant. He actually chose it, not me,
but it was very good and it is one of the best that Ive ever eaten in. Everything was excellent, the service, the
ambience, the food, and obviously good company as well, so it was a perfect afternoon we spent together.

The restaurant was maybe about 5km outside of the city where we live. It was in the country and situated next to a
lake with a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside.

Like I said, it was actually my friend who chose the restaurant. I didnt even know about it, although I had heard
several people mention its name before. It truly was a spectacular location, quite breathtaking in fact. Maybe thats
why so many people are enthusiastic about the place. The food they offer is what would be classed as traditional
food or home cooking but its of a very high standard and superb quality. The menu is varied and includes
something for everyone. There are traditional meat dishes, different types of fish and they cater for vegetarians too
with plenty of variety available for those who dont want to eat meat or fish.

I decided to have one of the local salmon, which is supposedly caught from the lake in front of the restaurant. My
friend had a steak, he likes his red meat! The food was excellent; I couldnt fault it for anything. It was served quickly
and was delicious. Its a place I will definitely be recommending to other people now that Ive been and tried it for
myself.

The whole experience was very good, from the food, the scenery and of course having an opportunity to catch up
with my friend, so there were many reasons that I enjoyed eating there, and it was actually better than I thought it
would be which is always a nice surprise!

2. Surprise party
That's easy, I did it for a friend a couple of months ago. It was for my best friend, we have been friends ever since we
were little girls. I organized it at her home so she wouldn't expect it. Obviously I had to tell her parents and family
and explain that it would be a surprise so they couldn't say anything to her.
I arranged for her friends from university to come to her house, and I helped prepare the food with some of her
aunts, but we did it in the home of one of them so that my friend would have no idea about the preparations. I
wanted to have some special music for her party so I arranged for one of her friends who plays in a musical group to
bring the group and perform for her at her home. They are an acoustic group and play modern music but with
traditional influences and I knew that my friend would love it.
All the arrangement were done in about a week, after telling her parents about it I had a lot of help from her family
and also her friends and on the day of the party we did a lot of cooking and prepared all the food and then took it
round to my friends house.
The whole experience was amazing - and my friend loved it all - it was a very special day for us.

3. Country to visit
I think the country I would like to visit most is China. Its somewhere that Ive always been fascinated by and would
love to go and see one day.

Im not entirely sure what the climate is like in China. I guess because it is such a vast country that the weather varies
quite a lot depending on where you are. I do know that some areas such as Hong Kong and Beijing can get
uncomfortably hot and humid in the summer and so I suppose the best time to travel may be in the spring or
autumn when its slightly cooler. The one time I wouldnt want to go would be in the winter because the days are
shorter then and you get less chance to see everything you want to.
What would I do there? Well, Id try and see the sights. Normally Im quite an adventurous traveller and I dont like
being part of tour group. But if I did ever go to China I would probably do it as part of a package tour because that
way I would get to visit all the major destinations. You cant really go there and not see the Great Wall and the
Forbidden Palace. And I think that if I went by myself there would be all sorts of problems with the language.

Its hard to explain why China is my dream destination. Its just a place that I long to visit. It may be that its so exotic
or different at any rate Im sure that it would be a real experience.

4. Leisure activity
What do I do in spare time? Well theres lots of different things I could tell you about Im a pretty active person
and I like to keep myself busy so even when Im not working Im always doing something.
I suppose my favourite activity is simply riding my bicycle. I moved to Cambridge about a year now and its a city
famous for being bike friendly perhaps because its so flat. So I decided to buy myself a bike. At first it was just to
go to work but I enjoyed it so much that I also started cycling for fun.
At first I would just ride around the city by myself going through some of the parks and down by the riverside. Then
I discovered that there was a really active Cycling Club. Its really just a group of people who like to get out and about
on the weekend. So I joined up and started going out with them most Saturdays. We dont tend to go very far
normally only around 20-25 miles and we dont race. The idea is just to enjoy the day and we normally end up in one
of the local villages and share a meal or picnic before heading back into the city.
I enjoy cycling because its of course good exercise and I like to keep fit. But its a bit more than that. It allows me to
get out of the city and see some of the countryside.

5. Tips:
1. Be a story teller. Relax. Keep in mind that youre trying to engage the interviewer with your story, within
the question topic.
2. Vocab & Grammar: Marks are deducted for mistakes -> Work on your mistakes which youll most likely
repeat.
3. Fluency:
If you forget the right word, dont pause to try to remember. Explain it in a different, simpler way.
Wear a watch or bring your phone to the test room. Watch the time if the topic is unfamiliar to
you and mare sure you dont draw a conclusion before times up
4. When you run out of ideas, improvise by giving
i. Further examples for your 3 points
ii. comparing the subject matter with similar things in relation to the 3 points in the main
body to form an opinion of it
5. Avoid mistakes
Eg Dont use firstly.. secondly with a timely sequence