IELTS Speaking: How to Introduce Yourself - Tips and Tricks

hi yes it's nice to see you again - so listen today we're going to be looking at how to introduce yourself in the IELTS speaking part 1 including how to give your name and how to talk about your home or your hometown work or studies and of course we'll be looking at lots of language and some tips and tricks to make sure this is a success for you let's go first of all please do remember to subscribe to the this YouTube channel IELTS speaking success and do turn on the notifications and then that's going to make sure you don't miss out on any of the exciting videos coming your way soon so my name is Keith I run the IELTS speaking success website and YouTube channel and Facebook page very nice to meet you and if I know you good to see you again so listen let's begin with part 1 what happens exactly in IELTS speaking part 1 well you arrive at the test centre of course you go in you register normally and some test centres and countries are a little bit different but normally you are asked to leave your belongings your mobile phone in a special place and then you're taken to a waiting area and you would sit outside the exam room okay you wait there and then the examiner will come and open the door and invite you in they'll say hello of course just say hello smile and normally before you go in they will start recording the test and they use a little mp3 player so don't be surprised your whole test is recorded you're invited to sit down and then the test begins of course you need your ID or the passport and the examiner will start to ask you questions and we're going to look at that do remember the examiner is the one who asked you questions you're not asking them questions it's not a conversation it is an interview right and also the examiners sometimes has a pen and makes notes sometimes right it has nothing to do with you sometimes because they have a clock and they write down the timing so that they follow the timing so they may write an eight and a twelve and of course sometimes candidates look over oh eight it's not your score it's nothing to do with you right now if you look over you might see Oh chicken yeah because maybe the examiners just written down what they want for dinner it could be anything the important thing is don't pay attention focus okay so let's look at a few tips and tricks at the start of the test number one get there early don't be late cuz that's just gonna give you stress on top of the stress you may already have right so get there a little bit early if you can on your phone have something to listen to in English to get you in the mood and to give you an English environment before the test right so you're just kind of psyched up and ready for the test then when you're in the testing center if you can on your seat or go to the toilet get mentally prepared right just take a few moments to think about what's about to happen okay and so the few minutes before the exam one of the biggest challenges is that most candidates get nervous and it starts to go into a cycle of being nervous and negative so you need to break that so when you're nervous just say that's fine I'm nervous that's okay and just let the nerves be see what happens it's actually good to have a few butterflies in the stomach before the test and then get focused and be positive my English is good that's the level I have I love my English I'm gonna do my best and we will see what happens and just stay there stay in that positive mind for a few seconds or minutes before the test and then just before you nip into the testing room smile and go in when the examiner invites you in okay just getting mentally prepared really really helps okay and then after you've sat down the examiner checks your ID your passport or your national identity card and then we'll say okay what's your name and just say your name and then they will probably say and what can I call you okay keep it simple you can call me Tom you can call me Keith okay so what's your name Keith Michael O'Hare and what can I call you just call me Keith just call me Keith keep it really simple okay and then next the examiner is going to move on to ask you a couple of questions on one topic either your home your hometown work or studies and after that you'll have two more part one topics so let's look at what they might ask you first of all if they talk or ask you about your hometown in the the very first question about hometown or home or work it is true that this is really a warm-up right it is time for you to warm up and it's time for the examiner to get used to your voice and to you so they don't really evaluate it and it is very short so you don't worry want to worry too much about fancy vocabulary and showing off right my advice keep it short and simple right keep it short and sweet for each question just give two to three sentences very very brief now it is a warm up but first impressions count and so if in your first two sentences you're making grammar mistakes right it's like having tomato sauce on your shirt it's like oh hello oh right the first impression straightaway is what a mess right so your first few sentences if possible keep them so short and simple that they're accurate and there are no mistakes if you try to make them complex the chances are you may make more mistakes and you'll have pressed a sauce on your shirt there's so keep it simple short and sweet two to three sentences I don't think the introduction is the time to show off maybe later when you're warming up especially in part two and part three you want to be showing off your vocabulary and your language right but think of it like this imagine you went to a party right and you met somebody and straightaway they say hi this are you I'm Michael yes and I live in London one of the great cosmopolitan metropolises of Britain and it's a beautiful place I work for AM Google one of the greatest multinational companies in the world I've got a PhD in astrophysics you're gonna be like ah yeah sorry John you'd be shooting off to the bar like an arrow I mean that is not the way to make a good first impression right you want to keep it simple and friendly right hi my name is Keith yes I'm from Manchester I work in Google that's it maybe later when you've got to know each other you can tell a bit more that keep it simple right okay so no tomato sauce no PhD let's move on so now the examiner begins the first question let's talk about your hometown tell me about the town where you live so the first thing to notice is what I call signposts so the examiner normally gives you a little signpost to say this is what I'm gonna talk about right let's talk about your hometown listen out for the signpost hmm okay or let's talk about your home ah home got it now this question sometimes confuses people because if you listen carefully they say let's talk about your hometown tell me about the town where you live and some people go what do you want to know about my hometown or the town where I live because they're not the same what do I do do I talk about Manchester or Santander where I'm living and panic sets in so remember the the examiner doesn't actually care about your hometown you can talk about any town but just talk about one right either your hometown or where you live if it's not the same place it doesn't matter so don't sweat the small stuff just go straight in talk about your hometown right so you could say something like I live in Santander I've been living there for two years actually and yeah it's a coastal city with some nice beaches that's it right now this is actually a bit of a trick but I say I live in blah blah blah I've been living there for two years for five years I've been living there is really nice complex grammar right now I said don't show off but if you know this tense and you can say it naturally I've been living there remember the I have I've I've been living there for two years great that's nice it's still simple right right it's a coastal city and it has some beaches okay it's a big city with lots of Industry it's a small village with lots of parks something like that nice and simple and then the next question will come in and there is a variety of questions but let's take one for example what's the most interesting part of that city here again keep it simple just talk about one interesting part or maybe two and say why it's interesting and if you want a simple template to begin the most interesting part for me is probably the beaches the most interesting part for me is probably the shops it's a nice simple template if you want especially at the beginning of the test if you want to have a simple template to use that could be it right you might say the most interesting part for me is probably the beaches there are quite a few beaches that attract quite a lot of tourists and I like to go down there sometimes to have a swim or a paddle or just to have a stroll on the sand okay now another tip in a trick when students are preparing for IELTS speaking I know that they often write down their answer what they want to say and so this is okay but there's a problem right because most of the time when you write down what you think is a good answer you're writing written English not spoken English and so it might look something like this there are several beaches that attract many tourists I like to go to these beaches most weekends for a swim or a paddle sometimes I just go for a stroll on the sand okay now also that's okay but the problem as well is that a lot of students then try to make it more complicated and they start crafting and creating a better answer and it starts to become something like this there are several beautiful beaches that attract a myriad of tourists I like to go to these scenic spots most weekends for a swim or a paddle sometimes I just go for a stroll on the soft golden sand and you start to sound like a poet it becomes so written that it's not natural and that bad impression that pasta on your shirt has just got worse because it doesn't sound natural and it sounds like you've memorized a written answer so how do you avoid this very simply when you see the question you want to practice answering speak out your answer right speak out a natural answer record it and then if you want write down what you've recorded make small changes but keep it spoken right and also a good tip is if you do write out what you've said don't write sentences write it in chunks so it looks like this can you see there are different phrases one after the other there are several beaches that attracts a lot of tourists and I like to go to one of them you're kind of chunking the clauses usually it makes it easier and more natural to speak like this so that's a great tip too if you're going to write your answer write it like that so can you see it's much more natural it's not over complicated and that is really a the best way to prepare don't create and write down your answer speak it out record it and then if you want write out what you've said keep it natural keep it spoken it sounds like a great slogan right keep it natural keep it spoken but it's true let's move on and then the next question that sometimes comes up is quite difficult right is what kind of jobs do people do there what a difficult question what kind of jobs to people do there well there's everything there's postman there's bankers as much as the Baker's there's business men I don't know mr. examiner right but what the examiners looking at here is maybe in your town there's a special industry that is particularly strong so you can talk about it if not that's fine right you just give a more general answer so you may say something like well a variety of jobs I think there are a lot of fishermen actually because fishing is a major source of income for that city a number of people also work in the tourism sector sure and simple rice oh we've looked at some of the questions for hometown let's look now at home sometimes accommodation so here this signpost might be let's talk about your home let's talk about your accommodation that's the signpost right and then the question do you live in a house or a flat or sometimes the question is what kind of accommodation do you live in examine is not their head a lot right to help you understand so here you may say something like well I live in a in a flat in a high-rise building it's in the suburbs of the city it's not too big not too small but it's nice and cozy so here you'll probably want to learn some of the language around houses detached house a townhouse a bungalow flat an apartment high-rise building you may talk about the location it's in the suburbs it's in the city center or its downtown or its slap-bang right in the city center it's in the outskirts okay and then talking about the size you know it's huge its small you couldn't swing a cat in there if it's so small not too big not too small most houses will be that normal size right nothing special it's nothing to write home about it's a nice expression if something's not special it's nothing to write home about not too big not too small but it is nice and cozy nice binomial right short and sweet nice and cozy fish and chips these are very common to words with and/or run together it's nice and cozy now talking about your home another common question is who do you live with well it's none of your business actually it's a bit of a personal question right I mean maybe you're living in secret with your boyfriend or girlfriend who knows but remember the examiner doesn't really care who you live with right it's just about language so maybe you live with your close family your spouse and children maybe with your parents or maybe you live on your own on your own or possibly you're sharing a house with classmates school mates university mates yes who knows now in the same way do you remember we talked about your job right I work in the Santander bank and I've been working there for five years we can do the same here if you feel comfortable with it so maybe you say I live with my wife we've been together for five years and with my daughter who is two for example I live with my parents I've always lived with them actually or I live on my own I've been living on my own since I left home or I share a house actually with some mates from University and we've been living together and sharing the house for about a year and a half now okay and if you've got a pet talk about your pet and we have a dog and a cat who lives with us too great now the next common question about homes is about often decoration so they may ask how is your home decorated or what is your favorite room a very quick trick if it helps you you can repeat the question right how is my home decorated let me see well my home is decorated with yep what's my favorite room mmm just a moment well my favorite room is my bedroom that is absolutely fine if it helps you gain time to think do it this is not like IELTS writing where you have to paraphrase and use synonyms it's not like that you can just be natural you can we often repeat the question right in your natural language and your mother tongue so you can do the same here talking about decoration we can talk about furniture photos and paintings adornments things like that right so you may say well for example you can talk about plants yep maybe you've got oh hello oh hello this way maybe you've got a bookshelf maybe you've got some kind of adornment like my little guitar right all of that I'll tell you what that plant it's looking a bit the worse for wear right hang on that should cheer it up apparently they say if you talk to plants they they grow oh come on grow maybe not like that so you can talk about decoration maybe something like this well my favorite room I would say is my bedroom and in my bedroom I've got a simple table and chair from Ikea actually and I've got two paintings hanging on the wall one is a portrait and one is a landscape yeah nice simple but some good language let's move on finally another question you are often asked about your home is do you like living there you want to say briefly yes or no and remember to say why so maybe something like yes I do I really like it actually because it's cozy it's spacious and cozy there are a plenty of shops and restaurants nearby and it's well connected let's move on to talk about what do you do so you'll hear the following let's talk about what you do do you work or are you a student again keep it short and sweet just say which one you do maybe what your job is and where you do it right do you work or are you a student I'm a student actually and I'm studying English at the University of da-da-dah I work actually I work in in a bank and I'm a bank teller or I work in a school I'm a teacher I'm an English teacher then very often they ask what do you do every day now it can be tempting to give a list of lots of things well I wake up I prepare my classes I give the classes I have to make exams I mark the exams I you know give a little no don't give a list it's a bit better maybe just say two maybe three things but just a little bit of detail right just a little bit it just sounds more natural rather than a shopping list right so what do you do every day well I teach right I give classes online so I have to prepare my classes and I usually do a bit of research for that on top of that I also have to write reports for my students just two or three things with small details next question what would you like to change about your job now here it's not would you like to change your job it's what would you like to change about your job what are the activities in your job you don't like and you would change if you could write so here you may say something like well I'm not a big fan of mm-hmm if I could I would change that it would be great - mm-hmm something like that so for example in my case well I'm not a big fan of writing reports actually so if I could I would change that it would be good to outsource that to somebody else actually but all in all you know I enjoy my job all in all all in all just means overall by and large right so it's a nice way just to summarize what you're saying here right I would change this but overall all in all I enjoy my job next remember there are many different kinds of questions you may get but one of them could be can you describe your work environment your work environment is not so much the cars in the street outside your building it's more about the room the furniture the facilities the people and the atmosphere you have at work right so you could describe your working place I work in an office it's an open plan office I work from home actually I do there are about 20 of us in the office there are 20 other people there it's just me on my own the facilities are pretty good you could say talking about the facilities we have air conditioning we've got a canteen there's a gym or a crash where we can leave the children furniture you may mention we've got simple tables comfy seats ergonomic chairs maybe if you're lucky and the atmosphere well it's about how you get on with people right is it a tense atmosphere where everybody's on edge or is it relaxed is it a relaxed atmosphere where everybody is quite chilled out and laid-back there's a good atmosphere where I work everybody gets on pretty well together brilliant let's move on now look at studying so if you don't work probably you study some people I know work and study at the time at the same time and they're not sure which one to choose it doesn't really matter right remember again the examiner doesn't care so long as you are able to talk about stuff that's what matters so if you're a student and you say I study they may ask you well what do you study if you've already said what you study the examiner will probably skip that question and go to the next one or not sometimes they just repeat the question to test you right so you've said I study I study biology in Oxford University and then the examiner says and what do you study and you go biology I just told you that are you paying attention right no of course you don't say that what the examiners testing is as in a normal conversation can you say well as I mentioned before I'm studying biology and it's really interesting so you're repeating but paraphrasing a little bit in a polite acceptable way as I just mentioned I'm studying biology yep don't insult your examiner it's not a good idea right and then they may skip or move on often they ask you not always but often why did you choose that subject now here maybe you chose it so say why maybe your parents chose it you can explain that okay you may want to say something like to tell you the truth my parents chose it for me to be honest my parents chose it for me or well I chose it because I've always been interested in biology I've always enjoyed biology I've always wanted to be a scientist right nice use of the present perfect I've always wanted to be a scientist or biologist I was inspired by blah blah blah from the famous biologist and ever since then I've always wanted to be a biologist something like that you may want to add I think it will be really useful for my future career again keep it simple but explain why make sure you give a bit of detail on your reason moving on another common question do you like it sometimes you do right sometimes you regret studying or choosing that subject and you wish you had done something else I can see an opportunity right do you like it not really I've realized now that it's not my cup of tea I wish I had chosen a different subject actually lovely right I have realized it's not my cup of tea I wish I had chosen right something that is not true but you wish it were I wish I had chosen another subject brilliant or absolutely I love it I particularly like where we do experiments on the animals maybe I don't know because we get to learn about the anatomy of the different animals so you can explain the part that you like and why or you explain the part that you don't like and why I do like studying biology actually yes very much but I'm not really fond of the experiments we do on animals because I get a bit squeezy and I'd rather not experiment on animals don't be a biologist my friend anyway so we can talk about yes the things you like or the things you don't like keep it fairly short and sweet you know it's two to three sentences for each question great there you have it so we've talked about her home town home study or work first impressions are important you don't want spaghetti on your shirt and you don't want to be the PhD show-off at the party you want to make a good first impression that's it just to remind you there are a lot more videos on YouTube to help you in different parts of the test but if you want a real deep experience to learn the language and techniques at a much deeper level I do have an online course it's on udemy it's called IELTS speaking success gets AB and seven plus which will help you improve all aspects of your English spoken English to help you get AB and 7 or above check it out if it's right for you go for it I've enjoyed making the video today I hope it can help you I look forward to seeing you very soon take care my friend bye bye do you live in a house oh I particularly like report writing no that's a job now if you've just said you live with your wife you better say yes so here you we've got simple desks we've got we've got what can I just add just add just to remind you what am I going to remind you

Channel: English Speaking Success

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Keywords: ielts speaking, ielts speaking success, ielts keith, ielts speaking 2020, IELTS Speaking introduce yourself, How to introduce yourself IELTS Speaking, IELTS Speaking introduce yourself answer, IELTS Speaking introduction questions and answers, IELTS Speaking introduction questions, IELTS Speaking introduction band 9, IELTS Speaking introduction part 1, ielts introduction, ielts introduce yourself, ielts introduction speaking, introduce yourself ielts speaking

Id: MU8xhYgHT0U

Length: 34min 4sec (2044 seconds)

Published: Sat May 23 2020