Stages in life

This is the presentation we used in class to talk about life. It includes the structures and vocabulary that Emmi used in her own speech. What I recommend is that you write an overview of your life, just as Emmi did, so as to make sure you integrate all the new words and structures in your everyday speech. This way they will come easily to your mind when you need them!

Speaking exam - presentation sample

We have these videos by Paul, a friend of Begoña's who lives in Delaware, USA. In Part 1 he tells us about his views on what to look for when considering buying a house in the States. In the second video he provides a comprehensive description of his own house. Perfect to revise your vocabulary and as an example for the speaking exam.

Thanks Begoña & Paul! 

Paul talking about Houses Part 1

Paul talking about Houses Part 2

Speaking Exam tips & facts

Hey there! Ready for your oral exams? Well, you'd better be, since they're just round the corner! I'd like to give you a few tips, though nothing new for you, really.

Well, the first thing is about your nerves.The less nervous you are the better you will perform, so do whatever you need to do to stay as calm as possible, breath in and off you go!

You will pick ONE CARD ONLY, both for presentation and interaction, so there's no choice really, as there used to be.

You will have around 15 minutes to prepare both tasks, while the previous couple is doing the exam. You can take notes, as a way of outline, but don't write long sentences. This way you won't be tempted to keep looking at your notes searching for that wonderful structure you came up with.

You are supposed to give a continuous coherent speech, linking one idea with the following (cohesion), by using a variety of structures and connectors. So the questions or prompts that you find on the cards are to be used as a guide. Of course, you can add ideas of your own, as long as you stick to the topic.

Control your timing, as it will help you produce a coherent speech. Ideally you will provide some sentence as an introduction, then you will refer to the topic for a couple of minutes or a bit more, and then conclude. However, if your nerves just make you forget about all this, don't panick! You can still pass the exam anyway. You will speak for 3 minutes on your own.

As regards your interaction task, a key point is to respond to your partner's interventions as naturally as you would in real communication (of course I agree that it is quite artificial anyway), so remember to use question tags, and sentence fillers such as you know, like I said, really?, sounds great, wow!, no way!, and so on.

Well, and I think that's about it! Good luck when picking your cards!

And remember to STAY COOL & CALM!

Housing - Speaking exam practice

Let's get talking!

In the oral exam you may face different cards related to housing and decoration. Let's start by thinking about different types of furniture (uncountable).

Which is your favourite piece of furniture?

Is there anything in your house which doesn’t go with the rest of the house?

Do you have anything in your house that is completely impractical? And anything that you don’t see the point of?

Complete this sentence with your own ideas: (The blinds) remind me of (a dentist’s)

What would you never have in your house?

Presentation

Job stereotypes

What stereotypes can you think of for these jobs?

Speaking about technologies

Apart from the practice that we have done in class on the topic of technologies, thera many more questions you can talk about when it comes to presentation in the exam. Here you have some suggestions:

We all know how important computers and the Internet are nowadays in our everyday life.

Talk about what use you make of them, whether personal, professional or both.

Do you have a favourite search engine? Which and why do you prefer it?

Have you had any major problems when learning or using computers?

How many hours a day do you spend using a computer?

If you are not very familiar with computers, why is this so? What is your opinion about the importance on the Internet today?

Positive and negative aspects of the Internet and the use we make of it.

About technologies in general:

What aspects of technological development do you find most exciting?
- Medical
- Communications
- Agricultural
- Space 

What aspect of technological development do you find most worrying?

What aspects of life have been made easier by the development of technology?

Sports Vocabulary

INTERESTS AND SPORTS

This is our new topic. We are going to talk about thigs you fancy doing, how we practise different sports, their rules and vocabulary related to equipment.

TYPES OF SPORTS  In this site you can find various sports names, descriptions of how to play or do them, sample enquiries on this topic, and a conversation model.

And here you have places where we do sports.