雅思口语技巧-5 雅思口语, Internet

kuangye678

Don't Memorise Answers

Transcript

Examiner: Would you like to tell me about your hometown?

Candidate: Yes! Woo! Thanks Internet. Porto, the country’s second largest city, is in itself full of interest, but the district it heads, though largely industrialized, offers the visitor plenty to see. Along the coast, holiday resorts like the cosmopolitan beach of Espinho... Splendid seafood or traditional fishing towns... Quaint charm of Amarante, with 17th century mansions... Famous for a kind of sweet egg pastries called “Bellies of Angels”.

Examiner: Thank you. What is the most interesting building in your hometown?

Candidate: The church. The old church. It’s big and some kings have been there and are there engraves…

Tips

To some extent you can predict the kind of topics that you might be asked to talk about in the IELTS interview. This means that it is quite common for interviewees to prepare answers in advance and learn them by heart. Then, in the interview if the topic comes up they will regurgitate (verb; repeat after memorisation) their answer – whether it answers the question or not. There are several problems with this approach.

Firstly, it is usually very clear that an answer has been memorised as it sounds very unnatural to the examiner. Examiners have a lot of experience interviewing people and they can easily see when something isn’t quite right. If they suspect that the answer has been memorised they will probably interrupt your answer and move on to another question.

Secondly, if you have memorised an answer it is very unlikely that it will actually answer the question directly and this will be another signal to the examiner that something isn’t quite right.

In summary, you should avoid trying to memorise answers, but you can still prepare for the interview by thinking about possible topics and making sure you have the vocabulary and language to talk about the topics in general.

（英国使馆文化教育处提供）

kuangye678

雅思口语技巧-1


Don't give one word answer--Develop What You Say
Transcript

Examiner: Can you tell me something you like about your job?

Candidate: The people. People are nice. They are positive. They are…

Tips:

The IELTS interview gives you roughly 10 to 15 minutes of time to display your English speaking skills to the examiner. If you give one-word or very short answers to questions you are not giving the examiner much with which to assess you.

Even if you are asked what seems like a yes–no question you are expected to say more than a simple “yes’ or “no”. You should try to develop what you say by for example, giving reasons, opinions or describing something in more detail.

In the video clip Joao is asked to tell the examiner something he likes about his job. He answers by saying “the people”, which shows that he has understood the question, but it doesn’t show off any of his English skills. What he needs to do, which eventually he does with some prompting from the examiner, is to develop his answer and describe in more detail why he likes the people he works with.

A good tip for candidates is to look for signals from the examiner. Often you can see from the examiner’s facial expression or manner if you have said enough or not.

（英国使馆文化教育处提供）

kuangye678

雅思口语技巧-2
Tell the Truth
Transcript

Examiner: What do you think makes you good at your job?

Candidate: Nothing. I am very bad at my job. Because I hate my job. We are looking for a new short life. I... do my job because I have to... I need the money but my dreams are completely different. I am not... I am not expressing positivism, for example... you know... good vibes and I think my colleagues hate me and I hate them…and I hate them...

Tips

What would you do if you were asked in an interview to talk about how you feel about your hometown if in fact you really disliked living there?

Some people might think that by being truthful in this situation and giving a negative answer that this would not be the right thing to do and instead you should lie and talk about how you love living there to give a more positive sounding answer.

Actually, truthfulness is not important and neither is giving a negative opinion of something. The important thing is that you have something to express. If you have more to say by being truthful, even if it is expressing a negative opinion, then that is what you should talk about.

It would be much better to say “Actually I don’t really like my hometown….” and follow it up with your reasons for disliking it than to say “I like my hometown…” and then struggle to find anything to say.

In this video you will see how Joao deals with this situation in the best way.

（英国使馆文化教育处提供）

kuangye678

雅思口语技巧-3
Not a Job Interview

Transcript

Candidate: Fact 1, Joao is highly productive. Evidence, I increased the sales last month for 17%.

Candidate: Fact 2, Joao is creative. Evidence, Joao conceptualized 8 projects for his team within last year.

Candidate: Fact 3, Joao has leadership. Joao managed to increase morale within 69%. Morale just shoot up.

Candidate: Fact 4.

Examiner: What’s the most interesting building in your hometown?

Tips

Are job interviews the same as IELTS interviews? The answer is, in some ways they are and in others they are not.

How are they the same?

In a job interview and an IELTS interview you are asked questions and based on your answers you are judged by another person. In both you are trying to create a good impression.

How are they different?

In a job interview you are trying to showcase your experience, your qualifications and your skills and expertise that are relevant for the job you are applying for. In contrast, in an IELTS interview you are only showcasing your level of spoken English and it is this that the examiner will judge you on.

In an IELTS interview you do not need to sell yourself in terms of your job qualifications or experience you simply need to demonstrate to the examiner your competence in English. Unfortunately in our video clip, Joao does not understand this and concentrates on selling himself more than selling his English ability.

（英国使馆文化教育处提供）

kuangye678

雅思口语技巧-4

Don't Get Over-Emotional

Transcript

Examiner: Describe a person who has had a big effect on your life. You should say how you met that person and why that person has such an impact on your life.

Candidate: My girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend really. We were together for 6 months. She didn’t go along so well with my father. She manipulated me into hate my father as well. And…then...he then hated me and then he left our home. All this feelings of jealousy come up and you kind of… you’re angry all the time because who’s that boy… who’s you. It was unbelievable guilt.. and it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know that….

Examiner: Thank you. Thank you. Hmm…do you think hmm…shopping has a negative impact on your society?

Tips

In an interview situation it’s always good to express yourself and to convey your feelings, however there is a limit. You don’t want to put yourself in a situation that causes you to become over-emotional and perhaps lose control – this could jeopardise the success of your whole interview.

In order to avoid this think about the kind of things that you may be asked about in an interview that could cause you to get emotional – a pet that died recently, an exam you failed, an argument you had with a friend. By thinking about them in advance you can mentally prepare yourself to talk about them, or our best advice would be to try to avoid talking on these sensitive subjects altogether and wherever possible answer the question using a different example.

（英国使馆文化教育处提供）