Shadowing Practice: IELTS Test with EX EXAMINER!!!! + Language and Tips - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Good afternoon.

My name is Eli Howes.

Can you please tell me your full name?

My name is Joseph David Scarangella.

This is Joe.

He's an ex -examiner, he's worked for the British Council and IDP,

and has a delta, which is a pretty big deal in the language teaching world.

I found him after italki got in contact with me a couple of weeks ago to sponsor one of my YouTube lessons.

Let me tell you a bit about what happened.

I went on italki to try and find a teacher I could do a video with.

For those of you that don't know, italki is a platform to find language tutors.

So I selected English, although I was tempted to brush up on my Spanish.

I selected test preparation, IELTS.

You can also select by the times that you were available.

I didn't care what their first language was or where they were from

but you can select to have only native speakers if you want finally i look to the price

now it's great the way

that italki lets you select based on your budget

there's no monthly subscription you just pay for the lesson you want

and you can have one -to -one lessons for as low as five dollars anyway i put 20 pounds

and checked out which teachers were available i watched a few teacher introductions however

when i found joe i knew

that he was the right one for me he is an ex -examiner delta qualified from canada

and has over 20 years experience

also i felt from his intro video that we'd get along quite well so i booked the lesson

now if you find a teacher

that you like use the promo code pro5 to get a free five dollars when you spend your first 10.

So this means you pay 10 dollars and get 15 dollars learning credits.

Now, that will only be available to the first 50 people that sign up, so if you're interested, be quick.

Anyway, let's watch the speaking test with me and Joe.

Good afternoon.

My name is Eli Howes.

Can you please tell me your full name?

My name is Joseph David Scarangella.

And what should I call you?

You can just call me Joe.

Notice how Joe presents himself.

He is calm, relaxed and attentive.

A good idea is to think of the examiner as a teacher that you know well.

Be friendly and polite, but not too formal.

I also like the phrase that

Joe uses, you can just call me.

So, you can just call me

Joe, you can just call me Eli.

You can use that language in your IELTS exam if the examiner asks you what you would like to be called.

Let's continue.

Okay, Joe, in this first part, I'd like to ask you some questions about yourself.

Let's talk about what you do.

Do you work or are you a student?

I'm a full -time English teacher online.

And what do you like most about your work?

probably the flexibility that it gives me uh for example uh anywhere

that i bring my laptop

and my webcam i'm it sort of turns into a bit of an office

so this allows me to work i could work in a starbucks i could work from my home

but more importantly i can even move where my home is

and and i love that is there anything you would like to change about your work

uh possibly the rate of pay uh unfortunately uh

you know teaching in general

you're never going to be a millionaire the same is true for uh teaching online

i i make more than enough money to be comfortable

but i think everybody would love a little bit more

i asked joe two very common questions what do you like about your work

and what would you like to change about your work before your test think about what you like

and don't like about your work

or studies joe likes the flexibility of being an online teacher

but he doesn't like the rate of pay joe also says

i make more than enough money to be comfortable but i think everybody would love a little bit more

This is a great phrase.

I make more than enough money to be comfortable so he can live comfortably with his salary.

But I think everybody would love a little bit more.

He would still love to earn a little bit more, just like everyone else.

Let's continue.

And let's move on.

Let's talk about weekends.

What do you usually do on weekends?

Actually, I have kind of an unusual weekend.

I tend to work on Saturdays and Sundays, so my weekend is usually midweek.

This allows me to be a little more productive.

I can go to the bank or maybe go to a supermarket

that is a little less busy at that time of week.

And would you say that the weekends are important to you?

Oh, definitely.

It's important to have a good work -life balance.

You know, it's great to work and even if you love your job, but it's also very important to have time,

whether that's to pursue a hobby that you really enjoy or

if it's just to sit on the sofa and play games on your phone.

It is quite important.

And do you prefer to plan your weekends or go with the flow?

a little bit of both actually uh there's certainly times

that uh i have no nothing really to do and

so maybe i just go for a walk

and explore the city however there are other times

that i might want to travel outside of the city to some quaint little village in the countryside

and look at some traditional architecture and so i need to find train schedules and what have you

Okay, Joe said he has an unusual weekend.

Did you hear why?

He said, I tend to work on Saturdays and Sundays.

So, when most people are relaxing at the weekend, Joe is teaching.

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Now, tend to is great language for the IELTS speaking test.

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It means that

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Joe frequently or regularly works at the weekend.

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You can say, I tend to play badminton at the weekend, or I tend to go shopping at the weekend,

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or even I tend to lie in at the weekend, meaning you often stay in bed at the weekends.

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Joe also said, it's important to have a good work -life balance.

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This is a great phrase for the IELTS test.

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If you have a good work -life balance, that means that you are able to balance your work commitments and also your leisure and family time.

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If you have a bad or a poor work -life balance, that means that you spend too much time working.

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Finally, Joe also said that sometimes he likes to travel outside the city to some quaint little village.

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Quaint means attractively unusual or old -fashioned.

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We often use it to describe small villages or houses.

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For example, in Scotland, where I live, there are lots of quaint little cottages in the countryside.

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By the way, that's a C2 -level adjective, so band 8 slash 9 vocabulary.

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Let's see what else we can learn from Joe.

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And let's move on.

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Let's talk about music.

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Do you like listening to music?

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Yeah, from time to time, I guess.

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I mean, generally, anytime I'm doing chores around the house, I like to have music on in the background.

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For example, every time I'm cooking,

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I'll crank Spotify onto a new music playlist just so I can hear what all the cool kids are listening to.

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And what kinds of music do you usually like to listen to?

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I think like most people, it's probably a little varied uh however

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if i had to choose just one i'd probably pick

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that sort of rock alternative sort of early 90s music

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that was famous in america and canada is there a singer

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or a musician

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that you would like to see live in concert not necessarily

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uh some of my favorite musicians are perhaps not these ones

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that have big shows uh for instance i like a group which is called Pearl Jam.

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And the musician generally just sits in his chair and plays his guitar.

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There aren't like fireworks and dance routines like you might have with say Taylor Swift or Katy Perry.

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Joe says he listens to music from time to time.

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If you do something from time to time, then you do something sometimes, but not regularly.

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So you can say, I go shopping from time to time

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so that means you go shopping sometimes but not regularly

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or you could say I travel for work from time to time

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or I go to the gym from time to time now can you remember

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when Joe listens to music he said he listens to music

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when he's doing chores chores are things like doing the laundry washing the dishes

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or my favorite cleaning the bathroom now do you remember

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i asked joe what his favorite music was now he gave me a great answer he said

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if i had to choose one i'd probably pick rock music

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for all of you grammar nerds you'll know that this is the second conditional

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if plus the past simple then a comma then would and then an infinitive

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This is great grammar to use when you have to make a tricky choice.

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So, if the examiner asks, do you have a favourite dessert?

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You could say, if I had to choose one, I'd probably say cheesecake.

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Or if the examiner asks, do you have a best friend?

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You can say, if I had to choose one, I'd probably pick my friend Mark.

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And then explain why.

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all right we're going to move on to part two

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and in this part i'm going to give you a topic

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and i'd like you to talk about it for one to two minutes before

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you talk you'll have one minute to think about what you're going to say

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and you can make some notes if you wish do you understand

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yes i do all right remember you have one to two minutes for this

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so don't worry if i stop you i'll tell you when the time is up can you start speaking now please

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well before i dive into the topic i should probably mention that i'm not a very social person

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i tend to spend a lot of my own time at home generally sort of watching videos

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and perhaps playing video games with that said there have been a few parties

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or social gatherings that i've gone over i've gone to over the years

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and although it wasn't necessarily a party i should probably mention a friend of mine, Ed, who I met when I was in Japan.

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As I mentioned, it wasn't really a celebration, so to speak,

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but it was more like a weekly gathering of English teachers who happened to work in a particular town

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that I was living in.

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And so every week on, I think it was a Monday or Tuesday, it was during the week,

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we would meet in a bar where they had like darts and pool and typical sort of bar room activities.

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So this one time that I went, there was a new guy who I'd never really seen before.

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I was looking for a darts partner.

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And so I simply asked, hey, man, do you want to play a little bit of darts here?

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And so that automatically then sort of puts you in a group of two

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and it isolated us from the other people that were at

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that sort of particular uh gathering uh

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it was quite easy to sort of strike up a conversation at first

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it was more just about the work you know what is england what is teaching like

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and then we started talking a little more about japan how do you like living here in japan

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and eventually it ended up to talk about video games uh both of us quite enjoyed it

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so we were talking about the latest releases

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and eventually we made a bit of a date

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so to speak to sort of play a particular game

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that was more of a collaborative one which we could play as a group.

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I think overall it was an unusual step for me to sort of strike up a conversation.

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With that said I'm quite happy that it ended in what has turned out to be a lifelong relationship.

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Thank you and so do you think you will spend more time with this friend in the future.

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I would certainly love to.

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Unfortunately, now he lives in Australia and I'm here in Budapest, so it's difficult for us to get together.

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Do you remember how

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Joe started talking about the topic?

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He said, before I dive into the topic, I should probably mention that I'm not a very social person.

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This is a brilliant phrase to give the examiner a bit of context about the topic

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you're going to talk about before i dive into the topic i should probably mention

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so for example

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if you get a topic asking you about a character in a film

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you could say before i dive into the topic i should probably mention

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that i don't watch that many films

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and i've got an awful memory for actors or

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if you get a topic about an interesting old person

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you can say before i dive into the topic i should probably mention

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that i don't really know that many old people most of the people i know are my age

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he also used a great idiom

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that i want to point out he said

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it was quite easy to strike up a conversation to strike

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up a conversation means to start a conversation with someone

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that you've never met before so if you're waiting at a bus stop

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and the bus doesn't come you can strike up conversation with someone

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that is also waiting let's see how his part three is all right

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so we've been talking about someone who you met

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and enjoy talking to at a party

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and i'd like to discuss with you one

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or two more general questions related to this let's consider first of all how people make friends now you said

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that you're not really the most sociable person

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but in general how can people make new friends um with this sort of uh technological revolution

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that we're in i think

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it's become increasingly uh easy for people such as myself who maybe find it difficult to talk to a stranger

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As you have groups which are organized online through apps like Meetup or what have you,

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there's also sort of dating websites that I think are becoming increasingly popular.

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It's that initial step, I think, that most people are afraid of.

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And I think technology has taken the fear out of that.

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What do you think is kind of the main difference between meeting somebody in person for the first time

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and meeting somebody online for the first time?

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Well, you already have a small insight into them when they're online.

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If it's some sort of profile, then they've said, hey, I really like dogs or I enjoy traveling.

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And so it allows you to immediately step in.

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Oh, I heard you like traveling.

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And it gives you that commonality.

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Whereas if you're just in some bar or randomly at a party, you have no idea what the person's like, nor what they're interested in.

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So finding that initial sort of what you might have in common takes a little bit more finesse and effort.

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And how do you think making new friends and how we make new friends will change in the future?

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uh it's quite difficult to predict the future one possible way will be

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that it's an entirely digital uh atmosphere

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so not only do you meet the person

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and eventually meet in real life but i think virtual reality could be

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that we don't even meet our physical being but perhaps some avatar

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that we've created in a a digital space but i mean really who knows do you think that'll be a good thing?

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Well, there are pros and cons to everything.

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I think it will allow people to sort of get out of their day -to -day isolation

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and make it a little bit easier.

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However, humans are social beings and part of why we've developed our societies

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and our culture and our communities is by how we directly interact with each other.

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So missing out on that, I think it might affect us in some negative ways

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if any of you have done the ielts test before

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you'll know how common it is for the examiner to ask you about the future

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i asked joe how do you think people will make friends in the future

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now he said it's quite difficult to predict the future one possible way will be this is a great phrase

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that you can use in your ielts speaking it's quite difficult to predict the future, one possible way will be.

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Just try not to use it too often, otherwise the examiner might think that you've memorized it for the test.

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Now, when Joe talked about how we might make friends in the future through virtual reality, I asked another very typical question.

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I asked, do you think that this will be a good thing?

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Examiners often encourage you to make judgments about things being good or bad.

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You can say what Joe said.

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Well, there are pros and cons to everything.

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And then make sure to expand on what those pros and cons are.

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Let's get back to listening to Joe.

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Let's move on.

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Let's talk a bit more about close friendship and acquaintances.

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Now, do you think there's much of a difference between being close friends and just being somebody's acquaintance?

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Oh, almost certainly.

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So when somebody's an acquaintance, this might just be a person who you might meet to do some superficial activities.

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Hey, let's go for a coffee or let's visit a museum.

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The big difference comes with a good friend who is more of a confidant.

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This is someone who you might trust with perhaps some secrets.

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This is someone who you can rely on if you need to move homes.

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So I think a bit of a balance of the both helps to create a more full -fledged

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and well -rounded social experience.

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And some people have the same friends throughout their entire life.

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So they have childhood friends that go on to continue to be their best friends later in life.

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Why do you think that is so common?

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i i'm not sure i think

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that it's common i think um nowadays as people uh regardless of the country

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we tend to migrate towards bigger cities for job opportunities and

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so we leave our hometowns a lot more than we used to increasingly we're even going internationally to work for international companies.

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So while there are certainly people who will have friends from high school or middle school or even longer,

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more and more, it seems that we surround ourselves with whoever's available at that time and have a few sort of staples,

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which sort of help us to transition from place to place.

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do you think there's a difference between making friends in your home country compared to making friends from new cultures

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or new countries oh there's no question one is going to be the language barrier obviously

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if someone speaks english my second languages are really quite low level

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so being able to speak english to someone is a big step and most people in canada do speak English.

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Furthermore, there are some cultural traits that we might not be familiar with.

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For example, if you were to go to the Middle East, it's maybe not as appropriate to talk to a single woman,

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whereas in other countries that might be a little more open.

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And sometimes you're just not aware of what you should or should not do, and it can cause an awkward situation.

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Okay, thank you very much.

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That is the end of the speaking test what an impressive speaking test

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there are lots of teachers like joe on italki remember the link is in the description

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and make sure to use the code pro5 to get five dollars free learning credit

288

when you spend your first ten dollars

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now after the speaking test joe shares some of his top tips for the ielts test

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so if you're interested keep watching thank you that was that was incredible

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Joe that was absolutely brilliant you say

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that to everybody oh shut up you're just whatever well

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that was very impressive and I was wondering if I can ask you because I know you're an extremely

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experienced IELTS teacher and also IELTS examiner and I was wondering

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if you could tell me some of the things

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that were going through your head and going

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when you were doing the test so some of the tips

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that you were giving yourself or the things that you were consciously doing or not doing

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um no question arguably the single most important thing

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that i think you can do on the speaking test is to ask yourself why uh

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this is it might seem like a simple question

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but this allows you to expand your answer and to always give more

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and more specific details if we speak generally you're always going to use general vocabulary however

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if we're giving specific examples and giving specific reasons you're speaking specifically

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and this allows you to use better

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and better words this is reflected in the way

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that part one happens if in the event your answer in part one is extremely short

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and the examiner feels it's maybe not adequate we're only allowed to ask why and why not.

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So if that's part of the examiner's script, then why bother to wait for the examiner to say so?

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Just answer it yourself.

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So every step that I made, I always ask myself, why do I do that?

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Why am I antisocial?

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Or why was it easy to talk to this person?

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Or why do I think that relationships and the way we form these relationships are going to change?

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So that's probably the biggest tip.

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So were you doing that through part one, part two, and part three?

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Oh, throughout.

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Yeah.

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It's always a big step to go any part of the exam, I think.

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It helps you to develop what we call developing your responses.

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Now, this sort of terminology really only occurs at band eight and band nine, where we talk about developing appropriately and coherently.

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However, if you want those higher scores, you need to articulate exactly what it is you think and why you think that.

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Not only that, I think one thing that I do while I speak is I'm not trying to win a competition.

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I'm not just speaking to have my mouth move.

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And so I think what I do a lot is I take sort of a half a second pause, which is not necessarily a hesitation.

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I'm not looking for the right word or the right grammar, but I want to make sure that I'm saying exactly what I think.

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So taking that half moment of reflection, like I did just then, can sometimes help you to slow down,

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and it also helps the person to listen to you as well.

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I noticed that you did that especially well in part two.

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I really felt involved in your story, and I wasn't so much listening to the vocabulary and grammar

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so much as being involved in your story

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and wanting to hear about how the relationship with this friend in Japan expanded and became closer?

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Well, the way that I view the exam is that's what it is.

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It's kind of a story.

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Now, in part one, you might only have maybe a three sentence answer.

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I mean, there's no magical number.

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It's not like you have to use three just answer the question until it's finished sort of thing

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but if we were to use three that has a beginning a middle

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and an end it's basically a very short very simple story, but it has that progression where you're giving reasons and examples.

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So it's generally a very good tip, particularly for higher level candidates, as that's exactly what the band descriptor kind of wants you to do.

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Yes.

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And then in part three, so I mean, I knew that you'd be getting way beyond band seven,

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this would be a very strong band nine IELTS speaking test.

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And so So I was deliberately trying to ask you maybe slightly more abstract questions.

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What advice would you give to students that are getting very difficult questions in part three of the test?

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So, so there's one of two pieces that I would offer.

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One, you don't have to say yes, right?

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I think one of the questions you said is, I don't recall exactly, but it was,

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it was about developing close relationships and childhood friends and then you didn't agree.

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I thought it was great.

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Exactly.

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So a lot of people sort of get trapped into this automatic sort of yes answer,

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and then they don't know what to say because they don't actually agree.

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So in that example, I disagree.

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I don't think that that's true.

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And that's perfectly fine.

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There's no rule that says you have to agree with everything on the IELTS.

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And so saying what you actually feel, I think, is a very big step.

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But I think perhaps even more than that, you also don't have to be smart, right?

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It's not a matter of intelligence.

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It's not a test of knowledge.

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It's a test of English.

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So even if you don't know something, if you genuinely have no opinion, what are the negative effects of mass tourism?

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I don't know.

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And that's fine to say you don't know, but explain that you don't know.

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To be honest, I'm from some small town where we've never really had any tourists,

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so I have no real knowledge of how it might affect that particular area.

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That's fine.

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Say you don't know, but explain why.

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And that's what gets harder with these part three questions that do get more abstract.

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And you might not have ever thought about it, even in your own language.

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So you don't have to say yes, and you don't even have to have a real opinion.

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Do you think there's a way that students can practice that skill before they go on to do their IELTS speaking test?

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there's certainly many people who try to look at the active question banks although technically

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it's kind of against the rules but it is what it is

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and they try to remember answers to particular questions I'm not sure

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that's the right approach instead look at generally what are the most common topics

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that come up and try to think to yourself what do I think about

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that what's your favorite color blue why why do you like blue who's your favorite singer uh justin bieber well

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it's not but anyway um why like he's got a good tempo and rhythm his lyrics are catchy and so taking

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the ielts is going to often force you to think about topics

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and ideas which you probably never thought about in your own life

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so you need to have it you need to have an opinion you need to have some sort of idea.

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So going through some question banks, random websites, this is a great YouTube channel to be able to introduce some of these common topics

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and develop your own ideas.

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It can be a struggle, but that's what band eights and band nines kind of need.

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Yeah, I love that.

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In one of my lessons, I've suggested that students can literally just be together.

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One student asks the question, the other one answers.

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And when the student who answers finishes, the other student who's asking the questions just asks why and gets them to elaborate on it.

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And I think that's exactly what you're saying, except go that one step further

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and just do it in your head in order to show the examiner that you can elaborate on all of your answers.

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I do think it's important that in our preparation,

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yeah, it would be amazing if you had like a private tutor while you're living in a native English speaking country who's,

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the reality is, is that that's not always, not always what we have.

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So you need to use whatever opportunities and facilities that you do have immediately available, perhaps a study buddy who is looking at doing the exam,

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or even just someone who's willing to suffer through it.

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Not to mention that, you know, mobile phones are your best friend, man.

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We are terrible witnesses for what we say.

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And this is often when you get into an argument I didn't say

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that I didn't yes you did you just don't remember it

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so having a recorded device

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and to be able to review what you're actually seeing is a saying is a very useful useful tool

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but not only should you listen to what you're saying

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but transcribing and writing down what you say will help you to then visualize

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that language and

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while it's written why not make it a little bit better oh

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i didn't use enough linking words oh i could have said for example here could have said besides there

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or you know i said the word friend 22 times is there a different word for friend, go to a thesaurus and find that word.

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So use whatever opportunities you have.

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If you're by yourself and you're in your dorm room in whatever country, use the technology.

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They're very useful tools and they're there to help us.

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And tell me, when a student comes to you and they're looking for help with their IELTS,

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how do you change your lessons or how do you your lessons to help students

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so everybody hmm while there are some common issues

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that you're going to have on the exam particularly some of the more unusual criteria

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which revolve around you know like connectives and discourse markers

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which is maybe not part of natural speech paraphrasing

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which is maybe not what we naturally do so it is quite important to sort of point out hey, here are these weird criteria.

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And so making people aware of what the rules of the exam are is very important.

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According to the 2022 statistics reported by IELTS,

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roughly 20 % of self -prescribed native speakers are able to get above a band eight.

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It's not because they don't know the language.

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We're native speakers.

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We should have some control of our language but it's whether

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or not you're meeting the rules of the exam it would be unrealistic to just pick up a basketball

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and start playing without knowing

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that you need to dribble first the same is true for the ielts

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and being familiar with the band descriptor is important with

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that said once you're familiar with the rules

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it then becomes a matter of language acquisition simple steps like

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we need to hear less common vocabulary at band seven

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and above so stop saying words like interesting why not say fascinating

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or engaging don't say the word cold like go to the next level say freezing um you know

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so these small changes

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and making people aware of what they can do with their own language is quite important

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but without question the number one rule of the speaking test is the speaking test is a speaking test.

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And you need to provide the examiner with a sample of your language so that we can properly assess you.

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As a native speaker, I commonly use one -sentence answers.

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At times, I don't even use words.

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If I go to a restaurant, I might just point to the menu and be like, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.

442

However, that would be inappropriate for the exam.

443

So just having people to be aware that, yes, I need to sometimes explain why or yes,

444

I need to give an example is unquestionably one of the biggest problems that people have while doing the test.

445

So I imagine a lot of my students on YouTube will be watching this video and thinking,

446

I'd like to do a lesson with Joe in the future.

447

And so they can find the link to you in the description of this video.

448

And then what would they what would they get from doing a lesson with you?

449

Would they be doing practice speaking tests?

450

Would you be giving them material?

451

Would you be asking them one question and they answer

452

and then you provide an example? or how do you format your lessons

453

so um the first step is we need to know what your problems are

454

so if you were to do uh

455

if you want to focus on speaking then our first lesson will always be a mock test

456

and we start like right out the gate hi my name's joe let's start the test

457

so i don't give any tips i don't give any suggestions i need to see how

458

that person would do on the exam then based on

459

that performance we go through the band criteria we identify oh well

460

you you maybe didn't use you kept saying the word because

461

so that's a very repetitive grammatical structure or you kept saying the word interesting

462

so you don't really have that range of vocabulary

463

or you didn't necessarily explain yourself

464

so you don't have this willingness to speak at length once

465

we've identified those issues

466

then further lessons will then um sort of have a more like a um

467

we present what uh we should be doing with maybe some examples

468

we then do some controlled practice where it might just be a quick little question answer

469

and then by the end

470

it's a lot more of an exam style situation where i would ask like part one

471

or part three or part two questions so that they have

472

that practice there's a similar sort of format

473

if we were to look at the writing

474

so the very first writing lesson you would have to send me a sample of your task one

475

and your task two and very similarly we would discuss during the lesson

476

what are some of the strengths what are some of the weaknesses

477

i don't just do error correction like oh

478

you didn't use the present perfect you should have used the past simple it's not as useful pointing out

479

that it's a mistake is usually enough uh to say hey you've got this many mistakes

480

but let's look at your organization do you have a beginning a middle

481

and an end have you i connected your ideas together once

482

we've identified the problems in the writing then similarly

483

we might look at for example how to write a paragraph with a present extend support sort of structure

484

which they they mentioned in the criteria

485

then we might talk about how to connect those together with sort of linking words for example

486

we might look at introductions and conclusions if that's your problem

487

or task one for the academic writing a good clear overview is kind of hard

488

it's more of a math question than it is an english question

489

so helping people to identify oh wow look at

490

that thing i should probably mention

491

that one special thing it seems obvious once you explain it

492

but if no one's ever told you

493

that um then it can be uh difficult to identify the the key features

494

and the main points which are in task one

495

so are you teaching all of the skills then speaking writing reading listening yes

496

and no so uh overwhelmingly i tend to focus on the um productive skills

497

so the speaking and the writing that's

498

because this is something that's very difficult for you to get feedback on

499

and it's almost impossible for you to assess yourself now i do run a writing reading lesson

500

and a a listening lesson but only like one of those each

501

because these are gen there are plenty of good resources there for example the ielts books

502

which are published by cambridge are the old exams

503

and each one of those books has four uh you know speakings four writings

504

but more importantly for listenings and for readings and

505

so you can sort of look at the end

506

and you can see what your answers are you can see how many you got right or wrong

507

and you can self -assess oh i got 30 out of 40

508

i'm a band seven i don't really need help and

509

so i think it's it's it's much more useful to maybe practice those in your own time

510

i can give you some tips and suggestions

511

but it might be a better investment of your money

512

and your time to focus on those things

513

that you can't really practice by yourself which are the speaking

514

and the writing and would you recommend

515

that a student gets in contact with you a long time before they actually have their ielts test

516

yes and no so uh one is just the practical matters

517

so um even though i teach up to eight hours a

518

day five days a week my schedule does tend to book out quite quickly

519

and um and up to a week in advance

520

And so if you're just looking at doing something the day before your exam, chances are availability, not just for mine,

521

but for many other teachers on italki just might not be there.

522

More importantly, though, any advice or any suggestions that we might have to help you to improve, they're going to be two ones,

523

two different types of ones.

524

Ones you can do fairly quickly and ones that might take weeks

525

or months or even years of practice yeah however even

526

if it is a quick

527

and simple idea like use a couple more linking words you won't be able to do

528

that by the next day it's still going to take a day

529

or two of practice some self -awareness

530

so it is ineffective to maybe start IELTS exams like two years in advance

531

when you you're only like a band five speaker and you're hoping for a band eight

532

because that's more about learning language alternatively

533

it's not really a good idea to do some some lessons the day before your exam

534

because there's no real improvements that you can do

535

so somewhere in the middle is going to be

536

that sweet spot you know maybe a couple weeks maybe a month maybe two

537

or three months um

538

but uh uh yeah that's i think

539

that's how most teachers would work uh especially on italki okay

540

great all right joe thank you very much for coming on for doing

541

this speaking test with me um i can't wait to edit

542

this video put up all the amazing vocabulary um into the top of the screen

543

and on the subtitles as well

544

and um yeah thanks a lot for sharing all of your great advice

545

and tips for the ielts learners well thank you very much for running

546

this youtube channel i think it's important for people to have good resources where there's,

547

you know, quality, advice, suggestions, and more importantly, examples.

548

And so the more sources we have where people like your YouTube channel,

549

or perhaps, you know, learning platforms like italki is definitely going to help people to achieve their goals and their dreams.

550

So thank you.

551

Great stuff.

552

Thanks for watching to the end.

553

Remember, in the description there's a link to italki where you'll find hundreds of language tutors just like

554

Joe who can help you on your journey to become better English speakers.

555

As always, best of luck with your IELTS preparation and I'll see you in the next lesson.

556

Bye then.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “IELTS Test with EX EXAMINER!!!! + Language and Tips”. This video has 556 sentences and 6768 words to shadow. The speech runs for 40:26. The speaker talks at a natural 167 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
lesson noun	/ˈlɛs.ən/	A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
examiner noun	/əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/	A person who investigates someone or something.
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
examination noun	/ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/	The act of examining.
vocabulary noun	/vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/	A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning.
unusual adjective	/ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/	Not usual, out of the ordinary.
phrase noun	/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/	A short written or spoken expression.
dive verb	/daɪv/	To swim under water.
necessarily adverb	/ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/	Inevitably; of necessity.
suggestion noun	/səˈd͡ʒɛst.ʃən/	Something suggested (with subsequent adposition being for)
grammar noun	/ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/	A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general.
importantly adverb	/ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt.li/	Used to mark a statement as having importance.
select verb	/sɪˈlɛkt/	To choose one or more elements of a set, especially a set of options.
increasingly adverb		Increasing in amount or intensity.
expand verb	/ɪkˈspænd/	To change (something) from a smaller form or size to a larger one; to spread out or lay open.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
strike up verb	To start something with somebody else, such as a conversation or relationship.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
point out verb	To identify among a group of similar subjects, or in a scene where the subject might not be readily seen or noticed, with a gesture of the body.
get out of verb	To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
check out verb	To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come up verb	To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
get along verb	To interact or coexist well, without argument or trouble.
get back to verb	Return to (an activity)

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Can you please tell me your full name?
Do you work or are you a student?
What do you usually do on weekends?
Do you like listening to music?
Why do you think that is so common?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	if i had to choose one i'd probably · if I had to choose one, I'd probably · if i stop you i'll tell
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have been · i've gone · has turned
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	delta, which is · group which is · teachers who happened
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was tempted · be called · is called

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 134 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, bother /ˈbɑðɚ/, furthermore /ˈfɜː(ɹ).ðə(ɹ)ˌmɔː(ɹ)/, mathematics /mæθ(.ə)ˈmæt.ɪks/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/, suggestion /səˈd͡ʒɛst.ʃən/, preparation /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/, musician /mjuˈzɪʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: examiner /əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/, examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like lesson, examiner, topic.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: IELTS Test with EX EXAMINER!!!! + Language and Tips - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?