NativeSpeakerOnline

Learn natural English online

IELTS Speaking Part 2: A well-known person (Band 6.5)

By Leave a Comment

In this post I'm going to share with you a video of a 'Band 6.5' candidate talking about a well-known person in Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking test. Below the video I've included the examiner's comments. If you are aiming for Band 7 or higher, this should give you an idea of what the examiners are looking for.

Grammatical range and accuracy

By 3 Comments

According to the IELTS Speaking test scoring criteria, 25% of your score is based on 'grammatical range and accuracy'. This refers to number of different grammatical structures that you can use in your speaking, and how frequently you make mistakes. In this post, I'm going to share a nice video by the British Council which explains this criteria and includes some tips on how to improve your grammar.

Lexical resource

By Leave a Comment

According to the IELTS Speaking test scoring criteria, 25% of your score is based on your 'lexical resource'. 'Lexical resource' refers to the range of vocabulary that you use in your speaking. In this post, I'm going to share a nice video by the British Council which explains this criteria and includes some tips on how to improve your vocabulary.

Be natural in the IELTS Speaking test

By 3 Comments

In my materials, I present lots of useful expressions for asking the examiner to repeat something, gaining time to think about what to say next, expressing an opinion, connecting your ideas, and so on. However, you should use always these expressions in a natural way. Do not use them only to impress the examiner! Let me give you a couple of examples.

Use qualifiers in your speaking

By 1 Comment

I've often explained to my students and in my materials that one of the differences between people who are good at speaking English and those who sound unnatural is the use of qualifiers. Qualifiers are words and phrases like a bit, a little, rather, quite, extremely, absolutely, almost always, usually, hardly ever, etc. In this post I'm going to show you how we use qualifiers with adjectives.