Name: _________________________

IELTS INTENSIVE

SPEAKING

Week 01

www.summit.edu.vn
 UNIT 1

How much do you know about the IELTS Speaking module?

Do the quiz below to find out.

Which of the following are likely topics for Part 1?

• Your work • History
• Your country’s economic situation • Your country
• Your plans for the future • Your free time
• Films you like • The Industrial Revolution
• Your studies • The price of oil and gas
• i-pods • Food you like
• Your family • Something very cad which has
• James Bond happened in your life
• Your hometown

With a partner, choose two topics and make at least 3 questions for each topic.

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What makes a good answer

You will probably have no difficulty talking about the topics in Part 1 because they are familiar
and don’t require any special language. The main thing is to answer the question directly.
The best preparation you can do for Part 1 is to get used to answering questions like this.

1 - Look at these questions and answers from Part 1. Which answers do you think are good? Check
your ideas by looking at the comments on page 115.

2 - Think about how you could improve the weaker answers. Make a few notes.

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I. SKILL PRACTICE: SPEAKING PART 1 STRATEGIES
REPLACING YES/NO

Absolutely Well, | wouldn't say that........ Honestly, I'm not sure.

Definitely (yes) To be honest, ............... so it's a no for me. To be honest, I'm rather dubious about
this. On the one hand, ........... On the
Of course Unfortunately, no, ...
other hand, ........
Certainly I'm afraid the answer is no......
100% yes
Well, | suppose my answer is both yes
Who doesn't? No way. and no. Yes because........... However,
You bet. Not in a million years. I don't.........

I could never imagine myself doing

something like that.

OTHER USEFUL PHRASES

• I must say/would say I'm an avid reader. ≠ I'm afraid I can't say I'm an avid reader.
I must admit that my lifestyle isn't very healthy.
I wouldn't say that it's a very nice place to live in.
• What I particularly like/love/enjoy about ........ is that ……..
One thing/the first thing I can tell you about my .......... is that……..
One thing I should probably mention is that......
• I'm not sure yet, but if I had to choose ....
If I had the chance, I would definitely/probably go for/opt for ...........

EXTENDING YOUR ANSWERS

1. Repeat the question while you're still thinking: "What I like doing in my free time? Hmm,.."
(but don't abuse this strategy!)
2. One way to make your answers longer and perhaps more interesting is to divide it into time
order:
- Past + Present: "I used to be crazy about fast food like pizzas and burgers but now, as I've
become more aware of the importance of healthy eating, I've turned to healthier dishes like
salads."
- Present perfect + Present: “Although I have read a variety of books, my favorite genre, I
must say, is horror novels because.........."
"I've travelled to quite a few destinations but one location that made such a great
impression on me was .........”
- Present + Future: "At the moment/currently, I wouldn't say that my lifestyle is healthy
because..... However, I'm hoping/planning/ I intend to change that in the near future, like
next year."
- Normally + Occasionally: "Most of the time/Usually/Normally, I just play sports with my
friends. However, sometimes/occasionally/ if we are too tired to play, we would just hang
out at a café."...

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PRACTICE QUESTIONS

• Are you a student?

• Do you enjoy your studies/job?
• Would you like to go abroad for your college education?
• Do you speak any other languages?
• Is it usual for children in your country to read books? Do you think it is important for children
to read books early?
• Have you ever felt that time flies?

LISTING QUESTIONS (WHAT/WHERE/WHEN/HOW OFTEN/WHO...)

✓ Be prepared to list several What/Where/When in order to show off your vocabulary of these
target phrases.
✓ Expand your answers into several cases/conditions:
E.g. There are actually a range of N....... The most common/popular/... is probably N1.
[add info here]. Then there's N2............. Moreover,/ In addition,/Another N............
Finally, .....
This depends (a lot) on N/ how much time/what/........ If ............., then it's highly
likely that I.......... However, if ......... , I'll probably just...

REMEMBER: you can divide the cases into

o Different frequencies ("most of the time", “occasionally", "once in a blue moon")
o Different groups of people ("students", "the elderly", "working people")
o Different times ("in the past/used to", “nowadays/it's the norm now")

PRACTICE
1. What are some popular hobbies now among youngsters in your country?

2. What are the main types of transportation where you live?

3. How do people where you live often meet new people?

4. What do you enjoy doing during holidays?

5. Where do you often eat your meals?

6. How often do you go to the cinema?

7. What kinds of film do you like?

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TELL ME ABOUT…
✓ Consider the question as suggestion only. You don't have to strictly talk about just
"school", you can talk about any aspect(s) of your school like the school facilities, the
teachers, the courses and your schoolmates.
✓ Automatically add WH-information (What type/kind? When did it first happen or when
do you do it? Where do you usually do it? With whom? How do you feel about it?)
✓ Aim to have a noun phrase (my friends are mostly my classmates at school),
verb phrases (whenever we want to get together, we'll throw a party, me handling the
cooking while my friends preparing some games),
and perhaps some adjectives or phrases that describe your feelings (I feel so fortunate to
have met all these friends; they're all fun-loving and cheerful people; we always have a
blast talking to each other)

PRACTICE: Sit in pairs and take turn to ask your friends about 3 of the following aspects (1 from
each row). Note down your friend's interesting words/phrases:
Your hobbies Your ambition Your musical interest

Your school Your family Your neighborhood

Your attitude to
Your attitude to fitness Your attitude to animals?
environmental issues?

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II. THEME PRACTICE: EDUCATION & WORK
PART 1

SCHOOL DAYS
• What do you remember about your first school, when you were a child?
• What was your favorite subject? Why?
• Did you prefer natural science subjects or social science subjects?
• Which subject were you bad at? How did you feel about it?
• What did you use to do with your classmates after school?
• At what age do children in your country start going to school?
• Do they all go to university?

LANGUAGE LEARNING
• How long have you been studying English?
• What can you remember about your early lessons of English?
• Do you enjoy learning English? What do you enjoy about learning English?
• What do you find difficult about English?
• What advice would you give to a person starting to learn English?
• Which other languages have you studied? / If possible, which language would you like to
study now?
• At what age do children in your country start learning foreign languages? Do you think it’s
too early?

READING:
• Do you have any reading habit? What do you often read in your own language?
• What kinds of things do you enjoy reading in English?
• Do young people in your country read the same things as you do?
• Do you have a favorite place to read or can you read anywhere?
• Do you need peace and quiet to be able to read or can you concentrate even in noisy
situations?

PART 2

CARD A
Describe a teacher who has had an important influence on your education.
You should say:
Where they taught you
What subject they taught
What you liked about their teaching
And explain in what way/how this teacher influenced your study.

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 CARD B
Describe a subject you liked at school. You should say:
What the subject was
Why you liked it
Whether you were good at it
And explain how this subject helped you later in life.

CARD C

Describe something you would like to succeed in doing. You should say:
What you would like to succeed in
Why you would like to do this
What you would have to do to succeed
And say whether you would achieve this in the near future.

PART 3

• How well do you think schools prepare young people for their working life?
• How important is it for people in your country to get a university education?
• Which jobs are popular in your country nowadays?
• What's the most important quality in a good teacher?
• Do you think computers will replace teachers in the future?
• What are some reasons why students nowadays want to go abroad to study?
• Should children be taught a foreign language as early as possible?
• Do you agree that we are never too old to learn? What are the advantages of continuing
education?

HOMEWORK
✓ Record yourself answer 6 questions from Part 1 (page 6) + 1 Topic card (page 6-7) + 2
questions from Part 3 (page 7). Remember to read aloud the question before answering.
Send the records to the teacher in one week via email, with the subject containing the class code,
your name, and "speaking 1 HW".

✓ To prepare for the next lesson: Look up new words (if there are) on the following pages on
vocabulary to describe people and relationships.

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Human relationships
Good relationships
idiom meaning example
be in someone’s good that person is pleased with you — I'm in the teacher's good books —
books possibly only temporarily I helped her tidy the classroom.
get on like a house on fire get on extremely well with Fortunately, we got on like a
someone house on fire from the start.
keep/get/be/stay in touch keep/get/be/stay in contact with We must all keep in touch after
with someone someone our course is over.
make it up to someone do something good for someone I'm sorry | forgot your birthday. I
you have done something bad to promise I'll make it up to you.
in the past
take a shine to like someone immediately I could see from her smile that she
(informal) had taken a shine to him.
have a soft spot for feel a lot of affection for one Nick was a naughty little boy, but
particular person, often without | couldn't help having a soft spot
knowing why for him.

Difficult relationships
idiom meaning example
be at loggerheads (of two disagree strongly with each other The council and local residents
people or groups) are at loggerheads over the plans
for a new car park.
be (talking) at cross- not understand each other because We're talking at cross-purposes, I
purposes (of two people or they are trying to do or say was referring to my brother and
groups) different things you're talking about my father.
have it in for someone be determined to criticise or harm I can’t understand why he has it in
someone for me — I've never done
anything to harm him.
have it out with someone talk to someone about something I can’t take Ben's selfishness any
they have done in order to solve longer — I'm going to have it out
the problem with him this evening.
rub someone up the irritate someone She seems to always rub her boss
wrong way up the wrong way.
two-time someone have a romantic or sexual She refused to believe he was
relationship with two people at the two-timing her until she saw him
same time with another girl.
keep someone/something prevent someone/something from So far this year, I've managed to
at bay coming near or harming you keep the flu at bay.
keep yourself to yourself prefer to be on your own and Judy seems nice. But she keeps
avoid talking with or doing things herself to herself, so I don't know
with other people much about her.

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Friendship
I think we should all be more careful in the use of the word ‘friend’, It does not, and should not, be
applied to a casual acquaintance. There are colleagues, allies and partners — all of them
pretending to be friends because it suits their purpose. True friends want nothing from you and
don’t expect any special favours. We should ask nothing from them except loyalty, despite our
faults. They should speak well behind our backs. Such friends are hard to find ...

The text says a friend is not the same as a casual acquaintance [person you know, but not very
well]. Friends should show loyalty [support for us in good and bad times]. They should not talk
behind our backs [say bad things about us when we are not there].
Here are some qualities of friendship and their opposites:
quality opposite
loyal (adj.) loyalty (noun) disloyal (adj.) disloyalty (noun)
supportive [always supports you] unsupportive, critical
honest, truthful dishonest, untruthful

Other key words:

o Russia and America were allies [countries which fight on the same side] in the Second World
War.
o We were business partners [people who own the same business] but now we're bitter rivals
[people in competition with each other in an aggressive and negative way].

Examples of problematic friendships. Note the prepositions.

o Terry has been disloyal to me on a number of occasions.
o Jo’s always very critical of her friends, I don’t like that.
o OK, I was dishonest with you. I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to hurt you.

Note these collocations of some of the words in the table.

o Jim has always been scrupulously honest in his dealings with us,
o I would never expect complete and unswerving loyalty from a friend.
o Monica has always been my staunchest ally at work. I can always rely on her to support me
o I was amazed that someone who called herself a friend could be so deeply critical.

Expressions and collocations

Relationships can break down because of genuine misunderstandings.
A rift [serious disagreement that divides people] can develop between two people or groups.
There’s been a lot of discord [disagreement and discontent] in the office lately.
My father and I don’t see eye to eye [have different opinions] on most things.
His love affair with Anna has turned sour [become bad]. I think they'll split up [separate].
Our marriage has had its ups and downs [had good and bad moments], but basically we're OK.
a bumpy relationship [up and down like a car on a road with bumps]
a broken home [family split up by divorce]
a family feud [quarrel in a family causing bad feeling for many years]

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