What do you think causes friendships to break up? It's a very good question... What do I think causes friendships break up? That's a perfect example of how to think of an answer but not have awkward silence. Hi there! My name's Jackson, and I'm one of the teachers here at IELTS
Daily. And in today's video, we're going to be watching a very charismatic and outstanding speaker. Her name's Thalia, she's from Lebanon. And I'm going to be giving her feedback on her performance, as well as an overall mark for how well she does in the speaking test
today. So let's jump in. I'm sure there's a lot for everyone to learn from the techniques she uses in the test, and let's see how she performs. Hello and welcome to this practice exam conducted by IELTS Daily. My name is Maddie, and I'm your practice examiner. The questions in this test are designed to simulate the IELTS speaking
test. Let's start. What's your first name, please? Hi. My name is Thalia. Thanks, Thalia. At the beginning of the IELTS test, you will be required to provide some ID. But as this is a practice test, we don't need to do that today. I want to begin by talking about you. Do you like cooking? Well, I do like cooking. I'm not very good at it, I'm more of a baker. So to be fair, I've only cooked maybe pasta. So pasta and pesto, just the extreme basics. Although I have done... I did some Gnocchi as well. I cooked some Gnocchi with my uncle a couple of weeks ago. But besides that, I like it. I'm just... there's no practice. But yeah. What Thalia has demonstrated there is a really natural control of her pronunciation. She begins by speaking at a normal pace, and then she quickly speaks a little bit faster to add additional information. She says: I do like cooking. And then she says it faster: not that I'm very good at it. And that control of pronunciation is something that you'll see at a higher level, a band 7, band 8, band 9 that demonstrates her control over what she's trying to say and how she's trying to say it. I'm more of a baker. So to be fair, I've only cooked maybe pasta. To be fair is a less common phrase that we
use, and it means, "let me explain". So when we've done something that's a bit unusual or unexpected, or maybe we think is unacceptable, we'll often try to explain that to people by saying, "to be fair". You might wonder who we're being fair to. What they're really asking is, be fair to me. This is my reason. Be fair to me. Let me explain why. I think Thalia is trying to explain why she has such a small range of dishes that she feels she can cook. So she said: To be fair, and then explained why that is. This is often confused with: to be honest or frankly speaking. And people think we use it when we're going to say something quite honest or given admission about something we did, but it's not. It's actually an explanation of something
we did, which we think is unacceptable. So pasta and pesto, just the extreme basics. This is interesting. She's used the word, "extreme" here. This is an inaccurate word; we use it a lot when we're speaking to our friends. But I'm a little bit concerned if she's using it here. I wonder what other general, inaccurate vocabulary she's going to use like that. Later in the test, but we'll have to wait
and see. So what do you like to cook? I'm gonna say, as someone that, someone who loves Italian food, cooking that Gnocchi was really, really great and delicious, and like, the good thing about it was that it paid off. It paid off. So paid off has two meaning. It can literally mean that you owe money on something and that you've returned all that money, so you've paid it off. For example: You had a loan for a car and then you paid it off. Now you don't owe any money on that line on the car. Good for you. But the other meaning would be as an idiom, where it means we did something that was often hard work or was a challenge. And we got a satisfying outcome from it. So for Thalia, she had to make Gnocchi with her hands, but it tasted delicious, so it paid off for her when she did all that hard work making the Gnocchi herself. because it tasted good. So I made it and it tasted good. And it's kind of just like a pat on the back, which is really nice. And if omelette is counted as cooking, then I enjoy cooking omelettes as well. I really enjoy putting my own, just ingredients in and making it my own thing. And yeah... She also uses the phrase: Pat on the back. Now in today's society, Can't always pat people on the back, might be interpreted the wrong way, okay. So don't take Thalia literally. What she's really referring to here is giving yourself a compliment. So when you do something well, you can give yourself a little pat on the
back, thank yourself, reward yourself. But don't do it literally. I can, you could get in trouble. If omelette's counted as cooking, then I enjoy cooking omelettes as well. So Thalia mentions cooking an omelette, and whether that counts. Take it from me, it all counts. The examiner just wants to hear what you can say. Unless the examiner's asked you to describe a trip, you talk and you start talking about your favorite job, that doesn't count. That's not on topic. But generally speaking, everything counts. Don't think about it. Get it out there and answer the question, so Thalia cooking omelette definitely counts. And do people like to eat what you cook? Well, I don't think I've ever cooked for someone. But I'd like to think so. Yeah, I think that you know, if you like Gnocchi in general or an omelette, I don't think mine is that bad that someone wouldn't like it. Yes, I think people would enjoy my cooking. Do you see the way that Thalia has wrapped up her question there. She's just restated what the examiner has
asked as a way of toying things up. and ending her point. And it's a much more effective and much more cohesive way of answering your questions than sort of just letting adrift and saying, "but yeah, or, so...", even though those are natural techniques that we use in a conversation. It's still untidy and it doesn't give a good impression to the examiner, so this is a much better way that she's finished this question. Ok. Let's move on to the topic of friendships. Do you have a lot of friends? Yes, I do back home. I've got a bunch of friends, a bunch of groups, a bunch of, just people that I can hang out
with. Here, on the other hand, I have, I'd like to say about six or seven good friends and then little groups, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm friends with everyone in that group individually. But that doesn't really bother me going from, you know, so many groups to so little groups. Because I think that, you know, as long as there's those few people that are there for you, that support you and that are loyal and that are great friends, I think that's enough. Just a few more than enough. You might have noticed that she has used the word, "a bunch of" repeatedly here. And I wonder if you think that that's a positive or a negative for Thalia's speaking. From my perspective, I actually think it's a positive. She's not repeating that because she doesn't have the vocabulary to explain it. It's clear from her answer she has a broad range of vocabulary. In fact, she's used the technique here that emphasizes. the groups by repeating the word. And she's purposely chosen to use that word to emphasize it, so it's a very powerful effect with her speaking. I'd like to say about six or seven good friends, and then little groups, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm friends with everyone in that group individually, but... So she's demonstrating consistently some control of pronunciation features like rhythm and tone. And what do you normally do with your friends? Honestly, whatever we do is just the fact that we're together. So we could be going to the beach. We could be just hanging out at one of our houses, we could be going to a pool, we could be going to a theme park, going out to eat, whatever it is. it could just be super fun as long as we're together. She does it again, and she repeats this phrase: We could be. We could be doing this, we could be doing that. Again, to emphasize the actions that they're doing, and actually it's quite effective, because it allows her to access different vocabulary to show the range that she has to describe activities you can do with your friends. It could just be super fun as long as we're together. Alright to that. That word extreme that I brought up earlier, she's now thrown in the word, "super fun". This is okay. We can use these once or twice, they're good casual language. But we don't want to continually use these throughout the exam. We could be more accurate than that, and they're probably too informal or colloquial to be using too often. So instead of using those words, think of what you could use instead: even really fun or exciting. Something simple like that is going to be more favorable than using the words, "super and extreme" again and again. Do you have the same friends now as when you are a child? One massive group from back home, yes. Because in my school, we were a graduating class of twenty four
people. And so we were all just in the same school for about twelve, thirteen years. We all grew up together. And yeah, they're still in my life. But then the other friends I made outside of school are obviously not that old friends. But yeah. We don't have to begin a yes/no question by saying yes or yeah, I do. We can actually put a phrase in front of that. So she said: One massive group of friends from back home, comma, yeah or yes, I do. This is a nice way of adding an additional or alternating the structures that you use in the way that you're answering. It's very natural. We don't respond robotically to yes/no questions. And I think this is one of the things that Thalia has done really well here. It would definitely help with her grammatical range and accuracy and her fluency and coherence. Thalia and she's done this throughout the first few questions. She uses a general type of structure. So she gives a point and she says: because and then she contrasts or she adds extra information by saying: But or so. One massive group from back home, yes. Because in my school, we were a graduating class of twenty four
people. And so we were all just in the same school for about twelve, thirteen years. We all grew up together, and yeah, they're still in my life. But then the other friends I made outside of school are... I think this is a really good way of ordering your ideas, and it's helped her to extend her answers beyond one or two sentences. So, if you're struggling to extend your answers, think why, because, what's the result of it, so, what could be different, but. That will really help you to give at least three ideas for each of your answers. Now, I want to talk about outdoor activities. What kind of activities do you do outdoors? I like to play basketball outdoors, basketball in general, but outdoors just makes it nicer and funner and you're more, you know, breathing the fresh air, and you know, outside looking at the blue sky... She's done really well here to answer the question and extend it. And that's an important part of fluency and coherence- is providing more detailed answer. So she's said that she likes to play basketball, and then she's clarified it. She said basketball in general, and then also stated that she likes to play outdoors as well. And just this little phrase that she's used in general is all that's needed to demonstrate to the examiner that she has a precise control over the meaning of what she'd say. Let's say what else she says about this task. But I enjoy camping as well, although I do have an insect phobia, so that doesn't really help my cause. So it's more of, you know, if I'm going camping, I need someone to know what they're doing, and for me to just tag along, and you know, enjoy as opposed to plan, because I don't think I'll do a good job. But yeah, mainly basketball, and then just counting, maybe even just sitting at the beach, if that counts. A phobia. I wonder if any of you know what a phobia is or if you have a phobia. A phobia meaning a fear of something. So Thalia has an insect phobia, means she has a fear of insects. Australia, not a good country to be when you've got a phobia of insects. but she seems to manage just fine Insect phobia is not the technical term, but we can add any now really and put it on front of the word phobia, and it expresses the meaning. The Listener will know what you're talking
about. So if you were scared of dogs, you could have a dog phobia, or more correctly, a phobia of dogs. You know, if I'm going camping, I need someone to know what they're doing, and for me to just tag along and, you know, enjoy as opposed to plan. Another nice idiom that Thalia has used there is to tag along, which means to follow someone. So she likes to go on camping trips but not be the leader. She likes to follow a leader or tag along with some people. And do you enjoy doing things when it's raining? I love the rain so big, yes Cause back home in Dubai, all the rain is fake. So it's basically, so the government puts little particles in the sky and makes it rain. So yeah, it's not, you know, natural rain. So every time it does rain, I just love going outside. And so even back, even here you know, when everyone runs inside and when it's raining, I just love to sit there and just take it
all in. Enjoy the rain and enjoy the sound of it and the smell of it. Yeah, definitely love it. So, Thalia has spoken at an incredibly high
level throughout this task. But here, we're seeing how very occasionally complex language has broken her fluency. So she was trying to refer back to the fake
rain. You see how she paused and started looking for the word: The government puts little particles in the
sky and makes it rain, so it's not natural rain. This is where a band 8 fluency in coherence would come in, where she's demonstrated language-related hesitation. And that will be the difference between, say a band 7 and a band 9. It's got to be consistent for it to be a band
8. But we'll see across the video whether there's any more little complications like this. So every time it does rain, I just love going outside. And so even back, even here, you know, when everyone runs inside and when it's raining, I just love to sit there and just take it all in and enjoy the rain and enjoy the the sound of it and the smell of it Yeah, definitely love it. I'm going to give you a topic, and I'd like you to talk about it for one to two minutes. Before you talk, you'll have one minute to think about what you're going to say. You can make notes if you wish. Here's a paper and a pencil for making notes. And here is your topic: I would like you to describe someone you haven't seen for a long time. You have one minute. Okay. Remember, you have one to two minutes for this, so don't worry if I stop you. I'll tell you when the time is up. Okay. Can you start speaking now? So the last time I saw my best friend was in July 2019. We have been best friends since, I want to say about year six, but we've known each other since kindergarten, so we grew up together. Our families are really close. And so, and she lives in Lebanon, she goes to UNI there, and I haven't seen her since July 2019 because that was the last time I was in Lebanon. And if it weren't for COVID, I would have seen her in the middle of 2020 but I haven't had the chance to do so, and so that's why I haven't seen her for a long time. And I think, I hope the next time I see her will be as soon as COVID restrictions is up and maybe she can come to Dubai and spend a couple weeks with me. What's impressive so far during this turn is the way that Thalia has linked her ideas. And she's used coordinating conjunctions, words like: and, but, so. You don't need a really broad range of discourse markers. That's what they're called in the fluency and coherence descriptors. To link your ideas well, she clearly understands how to use these words, and she has logically organized her ideas to explain the question. She has only been speaking for fifty seconds, so we'll see how she finishes the turn. But I just miss just laying there and laughing about random stuff and you know, going for a coffee and going out and just being around her. And I think going from someone who you see every day in school to someone that you don't see for a year and a half, that's a big step It's like a drop almost. Follows an examiner. Right now, alarm bells would be going off in the back of my head. She's been speaking for a minute and twelve seconds, and I'd like her to get to a minute and thirty seconds. But I'm a little bit worried. Why? Because she's just given three quick points in succession that could be really extended. But instead, she's just chosen to keep speaking, and I wonder how much more she's got to say. Let's see whether she gets past that minute and thirty seconds and how she wraps up her turn. And so, yeah. I'm just looking forward to seeing her again soon. Yeah. What's the first thing you'll do when you'll see her? Probably give her like the biggest hug ever and then I just want to sit in the same room as her and just have the longest chat. I don't even want to do anything, you know. I just want to catch up and hug her and just be there. Great! A common problem people have in part 2 is they say: I don't know what to talk about, or I can't talk for that long. Normally, the problem is people try to talk about too much and they don't try to develop the one or two ideas that they have already. And Thalia has skipped over three great points of her talk. She's talked about seeing her friend and what they do. They'd just talk or they might hang out somewhere, or they might go get a coffee. That's three points that could easily be extended. If she gave more detail about it, let's think. You sit down and catch up with a friend you haven't seen in a long time. What would you talk about? Is there something that you have in common that you talk about? Or you're going for a coffee, where would you go? Is there a special place you take them or is there a drink that you two always used to get? Tell me about it. I wanna know. Or you'd hang out somewhere. Where would you go? The examiner in part two really just wants you to keep talking. They want you to get to that minute and a
half. It saves them doing a lot of work. And they can just focus on their main job, which is to analyze your language. So Thalia done the hard work here. She's thought of points, but she's failed to take advantage of those opportunities in the hard work. And in the end, it's actually ended up costing her because she hasn't finished. Thank you. Now, let's talk about relationships. Is it easier nowadays to maintain relationships over a longer distance? I'm assuming they mean relationships, romantic relationships, or any kind of relation? Well... Let's pause here. This is about the third time that I've seen Thalia ask the examiner for guidance. You can ask the examiner to clarify and make things clearer for you. But at the same time, Don't try to fit into some sort of restriction. She said: Does that count If this counts? It all counts. And now she's asking: I sure you mean... Don't try to limit your topic. It's better to keep it broad, you can go in more directions with what you want to say then. So, unless you really don't understand what the examiner is asking, there's no need to ask if you're on the right track, just go for
it. You could do that once if you're looking to stall, if you're trying to buy time, but you don't want to do this repeatedly. It's going to make the examiner suspicious. So don't think you've found a trick or a loophole. It doesn't work like that. Any kind of relationship. Any kind of relationship. I think it is definitely easier, that being said, it's not easy, it's just easier than it was before. I think... Wow. What amazing control she's just demonstrated of her sentence stress and her tone. She said: It's easy that being said, it's not being easIER and she stressed the final syllable of "easier". To emphasize that it's a comparison, and that it's not easy. This sort of natural control of her sentence stress and her words stress is something that we see at a band 8 and 9 level. You've got to have incredible control and know exactly what you want to say, and when to say it, to be able to do that. So that would obviously impress an examiner. Just because of all the technology that we have right now, it's you know whether it's just a simple message or it's a zoom call or a WhatsApp video call, whatever it is, you always have the means to communicate with someone. And by communicate, I don't mean like, mail a letter to someone and then hear back from them two months later. I mean really have a very, like... This is an example of a more complex, sophisticated way of expressing our ideas. Commonly when we contrast ideas, we might use a word like: whereas or in contrast. But here, Thalia has chosen to use the phrase: By something. I don't mean this, comma, I mean something else. A wonderful, controlled, accurate sentence there, that again, for her grammatical range and accuracy, and her fluency and coherence is going to impress the examiner. And by communicate, I don't mean like mail a letter to someone and then hear back from them two months later. I mean really have a very, like quick and abrupt kind of conversation, and I think that's what makes it easier, cause if you haven't seen someone in a long
time, although you can't help them there in person, having them there virtually is still better than nothing. So another sophisticated way of contrasting two ideas Thalia has used is saying: Although you can't have this, having something else is just as good. These forms of comparison and contrasts are not common. And they would fall under the more flexible range that we're looking for in a band 8 and band 9 user. Yeah. What do you think causes friendships to break up? That's a very good question. What do I think causes friendships to break
up? That's a perfect example of how to think of an answer but not have awkward silence. So she's used a couple of techniques there. She's repeated the question back. She's given the examiner a comment: That's a good question. And that's taken up eight seconds, and in doing that, she has demonstrated proficiency, because what she said was accurate. She's clearly thinking about the answer and she's searching for content. She's not searching for language, because she's just produced two accurate, sophisticated sentences in that
time. This is the perfect way if you're a little bit stuck for what to say to buy yourself sometime. I think when you both, I think friendships are formed on the basis of seeing things a different
way, and seeing someone who understands you without having to make yourself understood, if that makes sense. Like you don't need to tell your best friend how you're feeling because they just know that something was up. Two lovely examples of more formal and informal language: Your friends would just know something was up. Meaning, he, your friends, would know something was wrong or something was not normal. So it's that kind of nonverbal communication, if that makes sense. And so I think, friendships can, you know, end if two people stop caring about each other. Or if they just stop putting in that extra effort in the friendship, you know, and actually being there for the support. Maybe someone, maybe one of the two friends, or maybe both friends found someone who they're better off with. And so they, you know, prefer that relationship or that friendship over the one they have
now. However, I think it's normal because I don't think that everyone that comes into your life has to stay. I think that everything's in experience, and you might as well just take it as a learning experience, and you'll be fine. This is a great example of a high level answer in part three. Your aim during this part is to think critically. You need to explore both sides of the argument. And Thalia has very clearly here talked about her answer- exploring it, extending it, contrasting at the end. She said, "however" and looked at the other side as well. That's got to be our aim for the entirety of part three- is exploring answers, looking at it from multiple perspectives. And she's done that really well. Maybe someone, maybe one of the two friends, or maybe both friends found someone who they're better off with. Thalia said: Maybe the friends have found someone that they're better off with. Another fantastic idiom that she's used. Better off with, means that they are better suited too, or that they're going to have a more enjoyable experience with. Or if we're talking about a pet, if you're looking for a warm, loyal pet, you'd be better off with a dog rather than
a cat. And why do you think some friends remain connected throughout their lives? I think it's because they put the effort and hat they put in the extra effort. And I think it's because of their mindset. It's more of, I love this person. I don't care if I can't see them everyday or chat with them every day, but I love them and I want to put in the effort to show them that I love them and it's not just I love them, it's I want them to be in my life. And I think that, you know, that's what makes that, that's what drives them to really put the effort into the friendship. Yeah? Thank you very much. That is the end of the spaking test. So how would Thalia have a scored on this
test? Let's see how I would have scored her. Fluency and coherence. For fluency and coherence, it's clear that she's a band 7 + user, so let's take a brief look and see what score we'd give her. Band 7. Well, she speaks at length without noticeable effort. She doesn't really demonstrate any language-related hesitation. And she uses a wide range of connectives in discourse markers, with a lot of flexibility. So she's definitely in the Band 8 to Band
9 range. She speaks fluently with occasional repetition or self correction. Yes, we saw some of that at the later stages of part three. In another, small areas throughout the test, the hesitation is usually content related, yes, and only rarely, to search for language. Yes. She does search for some language. But only rarely. Develops topics coherently and appropriately. Absolutely. However, development is also to do with the way that you conclude your answers. And we did notice once or twice throughout the test that she also stumbled when it came to wrapping up her answers. So in my opinion, she would be a band 8. A band 9 level answer would say that any hesitation is contented-related. For her to be a band 9, she would probably need to conclude her answers more consistently and more clearly. And those little hesitations where she went searching for language and wasn't able to come up with anything, those one or two examples would probably exclude her from a band 9 rating here, although she has performed very, very well. Lexical resource. I'm going to work downwards now and show why I don't think Thalia hits the band 9 criteria. It says here for band 9, she uses vocabulary with full flexibility and precision in all topics. However, there were times where I felt that she slipped and used some ambiguous, general language, like "super", and "extreme". And there were times again where she searched for language and wasn't able to come up with a suitable alternative. So if we look at band 8, uses paraphrase effectively as required, I would say she fits into that category more than the band 9 category for the aspects of paraphrasing. But also, not having complete flexibility and precision in all topics. In the pronunciation category, let's compare band 9 and band 8. Band 8 uses a wide range of pronunciation features, whereas a Band 9 user has a full range of pronunciation features with precision and subtlety. And that's Thalia. Every aspect you can think of is used naturally. It's used confidently, and it's all used accurately. She's perfect in that regard. Band 8 sustains flexible use of features with only occasional lapses. No. It's sustained throughout, and there are no lapses. So she would also be a band 9 for that feature. And band 8 is easy to understand throughout; L1 accent has minimal effect on intelligibility. Her accent has no effect on intelligibility. She's effortless to understand, as it says in band 9, she's clearly a band 9 user for pronunciation. Looking at grammatical range and accuracy, we can say that for band 9, she needs to use a full range of structures naturally and appropriately, which I believe she's done. It's outstanding. However, if we look at the amount of paraphrased sentences, according to the descriptors, for band 9, she needs to produce consistently accurate structures, apart from 'slips' characteristic of native speaker speech. And I think the few areas that she has made are not characteristic of that. There's a clear collocation error at the beginning of the test, when she's talking about Gnocchi, the Gnocchi that she has done, the Gnocchi that she did, and what she's referring to there is the Gnocchi that she made, or the Gnocchi that she cooked. So I would say the majority of paraphrased sentences occur and I would say that's a band 8. There's only very occasional inappropriacies or basic/non systematic errors. Overall, I would give Thalia an 8-8-8-9 for an overall score of eight.
