In this section, you listen to someone comparing and contrasting photographs in a speaking exam, and you practise doing the same yourself. You look at how to arrange ideas in order to do this. You also study the pronunciation of weak forms of words.
| 1 Understanding the examiner's instructions |
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Listen to an examiner talking to Girgis, a Jordanian student, and Veronique, a student from France. Decide whether the following statements are true or false.
After you click 'Check' read the 'comment' for each question.
Imagine you have been given the photos below and have to talk about them for about a minute. One of the problems is that you have to react quickly and produce your ideas while you are speaking. Decide which of these ideas you would use for which photo.
There is no correct answer for this.
| 3 A candidate talks about the photographs |
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Now listen to Girgis talking about the two photographs and about how he enjoys spending his free time. While you listen, put these points in the order in which Girgis mentions them.
| 4 Pronunciation: weak forms |
Look at these sentences from the interview, and when you listen again, notice how Veronique pronounced them: 1. I can ice-skate, but I've never roller-skated. 2. I play tennis as much as I can. |
In which sentence is the word "can" stressed? How is "can" pronounced when it is not stressed?
Note: When 'can' is not stressed, this is called the "weak form".
| Exam advice |
| During the speaking exam, the examiners will notice your pronunciation. Examiners will listen out for how you pronounce individual sounds, word stress, sentence stress and intonation. Don't worry too much about sounding "British", it is more important to be comprehensible, so speak clearly and loud enough so the examiner can hear you comfortably. |
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