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GENERAL ENGLISH · B2 FIRST · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

SPEAKING
101
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1 Warm up

You will have to demonstrate your speaking skills on the B2 First exam. In many ways, this is similar
to a job interview or university application interview. Read what happened to five people in these
contexts and say why this occurred and what the result might be.

1. Everyone in the waiting room was wearing a suit, but I was in jeans and a T shirt. At least it was a
clean T shirt!

2. I didn’t know how many parts there were on the speaking exam, so I was surprised when it was
over so quickly!

3. My interview was scheduled for 10:30, but my train was delayed, and then I couldn’t find the right
room. I didn’t arrive until 10:35.

4. My phone rang just as I was going into the interview. Funnily enough, it was my dad, wishing me
luck.

5. When they asked me about why I wanted the job, I told them it was really all about the money. It
was a joke, but no one laughed.

Have you experienced any of these situations or something similar? What else might go wrong in this
type of situation?

2 Listening

You are going to listen to a podcast called Life Skills, where an expert is giving advice about succeeding
at interviews. Predict three pieces of advice you will hear. Listen and check your ideas.

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UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

SPEAKING 101

These notes summarise the advice Dr Cynthia Snow gives. Complete each item with a short phrase
from the recording. Listen again to check your ideas.

BODY LANGUAGE

A. How you sit:

→ sit up straight

1
→ have a good view of

→ keep your feet on the floor

B. Your face:

→ smile to show that you’re happy to meet new people and have a chance to

2
→

3
→ with the interviewers

C. Your hands:

→ find a relaxed position

4
→ only move your hands to help make

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

A. Listen!
5
→ it’s very rude to

6
→ you can always ask the interviewer to the question again

B. Respond:

7
→ speak in full sentences and include

8
→ don’t keep going when you’ve said

9
→ make sure the volume of your voice is

→ you also shouldn’t speak too fast

10
Main tip: before the interview!

Which do you think is the most useful advice for you to prepare for the B2 First exam?

Which advice is the most difficult to follow? Why?

Is there any important advice that you think is missing from the recording?

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SPEAKING 101

3 Language in context

Read these sentences from the text and use the context to explain the meanings of the phrases in
bold.

1. It’s such a shame if they fall at the last hurdle.

2. Is there any other aspect of body language that I need to bear in mind?

3. This is not a weakness; on the contrary, it’s showing that you understand effective communication.

What situations do you think these sentences are referring to?

1. She passed all of her exams and got loads of practical experience at the hospital, but she fell at
the last hurdle and decided to train as a nurse instead.

2. I’d just like you to bear in mind that you’re not the only person living in this house.

3. You’re probably thinking that I don’t like Guido. On the contrary, I think he’s adorable, but I’m very
allergic.

4 Something to think about

If you want to do well in the B2 First speaking exam, you have to take responsibility for yourself. Here
are some useful tips.

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SPEAKING 101

5 Language point

Pronunciation is an important part of speaking in exam contexts, but it is also key to listening effectively
too. Read about these reasons why spoken English can be difficult to understand, especially in fast,
natural speech.

→ linking of the final consonant sound of one word with the beginning vowel sound of the next word
making it difficult to recognise that there are two separate words.
→ not pronouncing a particular sound in a word or short phrase, also called elision.
→ unstressed/weak pronunciation of some words in sentences, meaning they are said more quickly
and at a lower volume and tone.

Match each item A-F in the first sentences of the recording with one of the three points above.

Hi guys! After a summer break, your A) favourite podcast Life Skills B) is back and, C) as ever, we’ve
got lots of great ideas about how you can win at all those tricky situations that life D) throws at you.
Today, we’re E) going to be talking about interviews – job interviews, college or university interviews,
and even speaking exams. F) Let’s welcome our expert, Dr Cynthia Snow. Hello Cynthia!

Listen to the first part of the recording again to check your ideas. Can you identify any other examples
of the features in these sentences?

Practise saying the sentences in the same way as the speaker in the recording.

6 Activate

You are going to practise applying the advice from the podcast in an interview situation. Work in A/B
pairs. Make sure you are looking at the right page of the worksheet (A, page 4, B, page 6).

Student A will ask Student B the questions below. These relate to topics that might appear on the B2
First exam.

• Work and study: Are you working or studying at the moment? What are your plans for the future?
• Friends: Do you like to spend time with a few special friends, or do you prefer having a wider circle
of people to spend time with?
• Transport: How much time do you spend travelling around your town or city during a typical week?
What type of transport do you use?
• TV and books: How often do you watch TV? What types of shows do you enjoy?
• Phones: Do you use your phone a lot? What for?

First, Student A will be the examiner and Student B will be the candidate. Practise coming into the
room, sitting down and asking and answering all the questions on Student A’s page.

Then change roles, using the other set of questions on Student B’s page.

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SPEAKING 101

How did you do? Complete the table on page 5 and answer the final question.

Interview skills yes mostly no

Sitting I sat up straight,

had a good view
of everyone in
the room and
kept my feet on
the floor.

Your face I smiled and

made an
appropriate
amount of eye
contact with the
interviewer.

Your hands My hands were

relaxed, but I
sometimes used
them to help
make a point.

Listening I listened to the

questions
without
interrupting and I
asked for
repetition or
explanation if I
needed to.

Responding I spoke in full

sentences and
gave reasons and
examples. I
stopped talking
when I had
answered the
question. My
voice was loud
enough, and I
didn’t speak too
quickly.

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SPEAKING 101

What is the most important thing that you need to do to improve before the exam? How can you do
this?

Student B will ask Student A the questions below. These relate to topics that might appear on the B2
First exam.

• Work and study: Are you working or studying at the moment? What do you enjoy the most about
what you’re doing?
• Friends: What’s the best way to make friends? Do you think social media friends are real?
• Transport: How do most people like to travel around your town or city? How could transport be
improved there?
• TV and books: Do you enjoy reading? What types of things do you like to read?
• Phones: How difficult is it for you to spend time without looking at your phone? Do you think
some people have a problem with this?

First, Student A will be the examiner and Student B will be the candidate. Practise coming into the
room, sitting down and asking and answering all the questions on Student A’s page.

Then change roles, using the other set of questions on Student B’s page. How did you do? Complete
the table on page 5 and answer the final question.

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SPEAKING 101

Interview skills yes mostly no

Sitting I sat up straight,

had a good view
of everyone in
the room and
kept my feet on
the floor.

Your face I smiled and

made an
appropriate
amount of eye
contact with the
interviewer.

Your hands My hands were

relaxed, but I
sometimes used
them to help
make a point.

Listening I listened to the

questions
without
interrupting and I
asked for
repetition or
explanation if I
needed to.

Responding I spoke in full

sentences and
gave reasons and
examples. I
stopped talking
when I had
answered the
question. My
voice was loud
enough, and I
didn’t speak too
quickly.

What is the most important thing that you need to do to improve before the exam? How can you do
this?

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SPEAKING 101

7 Optional extension / homework

As you prepare for the B2 First exam, you will learn new words and you need to be able to talk about
how to pronounce them. Your teacher may also want to correct your pronunciation from time to time.
Knowing the sounds of English will help you to recognise and produce correct pronunciations.

Examine the chart and practise saying the sounds and examples. Most of the words appeared in this
lesson.

1. Which do you find difficult?

2. Are there any sounds on the chart that you don’t have in your language?
3. Can you add any other words to the chart?

You might also want to start a page in your vocabulary notebook to record new words which share
the same sounds. Which sound would you start with?

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TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

SPEAKING 101

Key

1. Warm up

10 mins.
Go over the introduction so that students can relate the B2 First speaking exam to more familiar situations. Go
over the first item and elicit ideas about the two points in the question. Then work through the rest of the items
one by one. Sample answers are given; accept any reasonable response delivered clearly in full sentences that
includes reasons and results. Pose the follow-up questions for students to answer in pairs. Tell students that they
will practise some positive strategies for success at the interview during the lesson.

1. The candidate might not have judged the context correctly and was under-dressed. Note that this would not
be an issue on the B2 First exam but they would not make a good impression on the interviewer in a work context.
2. The candidate hadn’t prepared properly beforehand. This would have been stressful for them, and they may
have underperformed.
3. The candidate was late, which might make the employer or university feel that they are not suitable for the job
or for a place at the university.
4. The candidate forgot to switch their phone off. This looks unprofessional and disturbs the interview. It may
also have distracted the student, resulting in underperformance.
5. The candidate was probably nervous and wanted to use humour to lighten the atmosphere. However, this is a
serious context and jokes are not appropriate.

2. Listening

15 mins.
Students practise prediction and listening skills – the note-completion task is similar to (but not the same as) a B2
First exam listening task. Students will listen to the recording twice. Introduce the podcast and get students to
make a prediction of three general topics they might hear about. Play the recording and then check how accurate
their predictions were. Just as in reading, prediction is a useful strategy for the exam. Then ask students to look
through the notes, recalling or predicting what they can. They need more than one word to complete the notes.
Play the recording again for them to finish the task and check the answers.

1. everyone in the room 2. talk about yourself

3. make eye contact 4. your strongest points
5. interrupt the interviewer 6. repeat or explain
7. reasons and examples 8. what you need to say
9. not too loud 10. practice everything
Pose the follow-up questions for them to discuss in pairs.

3. Language in context

5 mins.
Guessing meaning from context is an important skill for students at this level, especially for exam preparation, and
this type of language would be useful for students’ own writing and speaking on the B2 First exam. Call attention
to the sentences and elicit ideas from the class.

1. This is a race metaphor relating to the athletics event where runners have to jump over a series of barriers as
they run. The expression means to experience failure at the end of a long process.
2. Remember or consider – a phrasal verb (bear something in mind)

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SPEAKING 101

3. This phrase shows that you have an opposite view to the one just stated. Here it indicates that asking questions
is a strength and explains why.
Set the follow-up task and have students compare ideas in pairs.

1. Possible answer – applying to study medicine and become a doctor.

2. Possible answer – a teenager or housemate who doesn’t clean up after themselves.
3. Possible answer – someone explaining why they avoid contact with a dog.

4. Something to think about

5 mins.
Students spend a few minutes considering another aspect of learning English and adding their own ideas. Note
that a process of reflection and self-evaluation is included in all speaking lessons in this course plan.

5. Language point

10 mins.
Students consider three tricky aspects of pronunciation which may affect their comprehension when listening.
Working with the tape script, they match some words and phrases with descriptions of how they are pronounced,
before listening to the first part of the recording again and trying to reproduce what they hear. This activity is
intended to raise awareness of these issues without becoming too technical. It’s fine to adopt a listen and repeat
approach here and throughout the course. You should re-enforce that gonna is a natural informal pronunciation,
but it should not be written in any part of the B2 First exam. This is also true for wanna.

- linking of the final consonant sound of one word with the beginning vowel sound of the next word making it
difficult to recognise that there are two separate words - C, D
- not pronouncing a particular sound in a word or short phrase, also called elision - A, E
- unstressed/weak pronunciation of some words in sentences, meaning they are said more quickly and at a lower
volume and tone - B, F

6. Activate

15 mins.
Note that there are many elements of a good speaking performance in the B2 First exam. This activity deals with
general self-presentation but more specific advice will be offered for each part of the Speaking paper elsewhere
in the course plan.
Go over the instructions and set up A/B pairs. Make sure they look at the correct page of the worksheet, so they
cannot see the questions they will answer in advance. Give A/B a minute to read through the questions so they
will perform fluently in the roleplay.
Set up the first roleplay with A as the examiner and B as the candidate. If you can, include some practice with
coming into the room and sitting down, for added realism. Monitor and observe students as they do this first
roleplay. Then arrange to change roles and repeat the activity.
Students complete a self-evaluation – this is a regular feature of the speaking lessons in this course plan. Encourage
students to mark themselves honestly and make sure you have a look at their evaluations. Students often need
guidance to prioritize action, so help them to choose which area needs improvement and how they can do this.
This information is useful when planning future lessons. You may also wish to give some brief feedback and error
correction at this point.

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SPEAKING 101

Extension: if you have time, students could change partners and repeat the activity in class, trying to improve
their performance in one important area. If you think you have time, instruct them to add an idea of their own to
one or more of these topics to surprise their partner.

7. Optional extension / homework

10 mins.
This short activity is meant as a filler or cooler if you have extra time in your lesson and offers students a quick
review of the phonemic chart. Note that this chart shows the sounds of British English, as the B2 First is predominantly
a British English exam. There are also online versions available to display to the class or for students to download.
Spend a few minutes trying the sounds and words and responding to the questions. Adding words from a lesson
to the chart is a good filler or cooler activity at the end of any lesson.

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