In Part 2 of the Speaking Module, you have to talk about something. You may be asked to describe one of the following: a person, a place, an event, an activity or an object.
DESCRIBING PEOPLE
1 a Complete each sentence below with one adjective that is opposite in meaning to the adjective underlined.
supportive calm funny hardworking
noisy selfish shy warm
b Put the adjectives into the correct category.
d Write sentences to describe these people, using the language in Exercise 1.
- a member of your family
- a neighbour
- a friend
- a celebrity you don’t like
The candidate task card always asks you to describe something and to explain something. The prompts give you sufficient material to talk about for two minutes.
Read the candidate task card below and answer these questions.
1 What do you have to describe and explain?
2 How many prompts are given in addition to the ‘describe’ and ‘explain’ instructions?
3 What tense will you use for each of the prompts?
4 Who would you choose to talk about?
| Describe someone you know who is popular in your neighbourhood. You should say:
(1) who this person is (2) when you first met this person (3) what sort of person he/she is and explain (4) why you think this person is popular. |
a Listen to a candidate talking about this topic and say what the speaker mentioned about the following.
Prompt 1: a doctor
Prompt 2: met him
Prompt 3: calm, quiet; gentle way of speaking
Prompt 4: a good doctor
Listen again and answer these questions.
1 Did the speaker use all the prompts?
2 Did you learn much about the person she described and their relationship?
3 Did the speaker describe the person’s physical appearance in detail?
4 Did she speak for at least two minutes?
5 Was it clear when the speaker moved from describing to explaining?
6 Did the speaker use the same tense for each prompt?
4 Look at the ‘signals’ which the speaker used to start and end her talk:
‘The person I’m going to tell you about is …’
‘The reason why I think he is popular is because …’
Now make opening and closing sentences for talks on the following topics, using the language in the box below.
1 Your favourite story. 4 A relative.
2 Your favourite weekend activity. 5 Your best birthday.
3 A happy occasion. 6 Your best holiday.
| The person
The thing The occasion The activity The experience The place The holiday |
I’m going to tell you about |
is… |
|
The reason why |
I enjoy (doing) this I admire him/her
I remember it |
…is because… |
| it was my best…
it was my favorite… |
…was because |