Transcription
[Music]
From here starts the speaking test. This is the speaking test of the International English Language Testing System, taking place in Ross Isles Academy. The candidate is Eva Manush. Candidate's number: zero one four three two five two. The examiner is Magnus Chaffee. Examiner number: four four three five three three.
Good afternoon. My name is Magnus Chaffee. Would you please tell me your full name?
Good afternoon. My full name is Eva Manush.
What can I call you?
Just Eva.
Can I see your identification, please?
Of course.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
You're welcome. We can now get started with the first part of the exam. In the first part, I will ask you some personal questions. First, let's talk about studying. Do you study English?
I don't study English as a foreign language or to become a teacher. However, English is part of my program because I'm in a Master of Inter-American Studies.
And if you could change to another language, what would it be?
That would be Spanish because, as I said, my program is in Inter-American Studies, and it actually involves English and Spanish.
Which one do you think is more important, research or teaching?
That is a very difficult question, but, um, because I think both are very important. However, if I had to choose one, I would probably say it's teaching because what good is all the research we are doing if we don't teach it to other people, if we don't pass it on to the younger generation, for example?
Now, let's move on to talk about toys. What was your favorite toy in childhood?
Oh, I'm not sure if I had like one favorite toy, but my siblings and I, we played a lot with little animal figurines we had at home, and we used to take them to all parts of the house and garden. And my parents would probably say that those were like the favorite toys of my brother, my sister, and I.
So, should parents buy many toys for their children?
I don't think it's very important that it's many. It's more important that you can get attached to these toys and that you can use them more than once, and not just these disposable toys that you throw in the garbage after.
What are the benefits of children playing with toys?
I would say there are several benefits because, for example, if it's a toy that you can share, children can learn how to share things and how to interact with other children, also other adults. And also, there are toys that can foster creativity and imagination, and that's really nice if you can do it in a playful way.
Now, let's move on to talk about reading. Do you like reading?
I love reading. My bachelor degree was in Literary and Cultural Studies, actually, so I do read a lot, and I really enjoy doing it.
And do you read e-books?
Um, I have read e-books, but it's not really my cup of tea, so to say, because I really like to be able to put my hands on the books and smell them, and then after I read them, put them on the shelf and have a look at them when I walk past.
And what was your favorite book as a child?
That will probably be Harry Potter, and I still really like that book because it was the one book that really got me into reading. Because I started reading it when we were on vacation with my family, and that was the point from when I always took a book, and my parents always found me in bed at night reading.
Now, let's move on to the second part of the test. In the second part, I will give you a card with a topic, and you will have to talk about this topic for two minutes. Okay? But before you do so, you'll have one minute to think about what you're going to say, and you can make some notes to help you if you wish. Do you understand?
Yes.
Perfect. Good. Now, I'm giving you the cue card and the paper. I have had. And you should describe the time when you first talked in a foreign language. Okay, so here we go. Now, you have one minute to think about this topic, and it starts now.
Now, your one minute is over, and you may talk about this topic for two minutes. But do not worry if I stop you. So, you can start talking now.
Okay, so the first time I spoke a foreign language, um, outside the classroom, there would have been on vacation in Spain, but it was English, actually. Um, because that was, I think, in year two or three, so I was still quite little. And me and my family, we wanted to visit a canyon to do a hike there, but it had limited access for tourists. So, there was also a limited amount of a number of tourists you could visit every day. And, um, that day, we when we went, it was already like, they had already approached the maximum number of tourists. So, my mom didn't really speak English, or she didn't want to. So, my sister and I, we went and we asked to make a reservation for the following day. And, um, we explained that it would be the four of us. And, um, so the woman, the woman understood us very well, and I felt very proud of myself and my sister as well, because we were quite little still, but we felt a bit like grown-ups in this moment, and very proud also to be able to help my parents because usually, I mean, at this age, it's the other way around, right? The parents help the children. But in this case, we were able to, well, talk to the woman at the entrance and explain what we wanted to do. And, yeah, and she understood us, and she also was very sweet to us, and she also said that we did very well, that she was impressed how we could speak English even though we were that little. And then, um, yeah, actually the next day we went back, and we also again approached the person at the entrance, it was a different one, um, and had, and said that we had made a reservation the previous day, and then we would like to visit the canyon now. And it was no problem. So, I was very glad about that.
Thank you very much. Now, your two minutes are over. So, please hand me back the papers.
Of course.
And I'll pay you from hand. Yes.
[Applause]
So, we can now move on to the third part of the exam.
Yes.
In the second part, you described the time when you first talked in a foreign language. And in the third part, I want to ask you some questions related to this topic.
Yes.
Why do people want to learn a foreign language?
I think that depends a bit on the person, but probably the most common motivation is to be able to talk to people from other countries who have a different cultural background, who speak in a different language. Because I, I think that being able to speak a foreign language really opens doors to you. Because even if you go to a different country, if you don't speak the language, people are less willing to share information with you. And if you do approach the people in their own language, they are usually very glad to help you out and to explain.
So, what is the best way to learn a foreign language? Through reading, through writing, or through speaking?
For me personally, it's listening and speaking, and just a little kind of trial and error. But I do think that depends a lot on the person and their personality. Because I think an introverted person would probably rather study at home and read and write and study maybe the grammar, rather than approach a different person directly and practice their speaking skills.
Now, let's talk a bit about children. Is it important to teach children foreign languages when they are little?
I think it can be very helpful because if they're younger, they naturally learn easier and faster, and you can just teach them a different language in a playful way, so that they get used to it from an early age.
So, do you think that children learn a foreign language faster than adults?
Yes, I do think so. However, I do also think that it depends on the motivation. Because a child that learns, for example, English in school, but doesn't really want to learn it, only because it's part of the curriculum, we're probably not learning faster than an adult who's really interested in learning it because they want to move abroad and need it for their job. Also.
So, at what age do you think that children should start learning a foreign language?
Probably the younger the better. But I think if I had to put an age, I would say when they enter school, because this is also when they, well, have to get used to having this routine of studying and have a schedule for the day.
And how about minority languages? Do you think that they will disappear one day?
Unfortunately, I think they will disappear unless we support the use and the teaching of it. So, I think there are a lot of programs actually who, um, who are working on this, like people who are dedicated on, um, yeah, spreading the use of it or also teaching it to the next generation.
Thank you very much. This is the end of the speaking test.
Yes.
Now, I just need two minutes to out of your exploring different criteria, and then I will give you the feedback and your overall score. Okay?
Okay. Good. Thank you.
Hello, everybody. Do you want to know what band score you will get in your IELTS writing? Do you also need to know how to improve your writing skills for the real test? We've got the solution for you. In Ross Isles, send us your writings. We'll check them out thoroughly. In less than 36 hours, you'll get the band score along with comprehensive feedback in both reading and video formats. It's your time to become our next successful candidate.
Okay, Eva, now let's see what you did. Um, so we can get started with the first criteria. I give you the details of what you're expected to do based on that, and what you did on your performance, and then you can talk about your overall band score. Okay?
So, to talk about your fluency and coherence, I can say that it was a very good performance because you were quite fluent when you were talking to me. And the very good thing is that you were speaking very naturally. You were not trying to memorize, I mean, use memorized language or remember the things that you planned to say or to talk about in different topics. It was all very natural. And other than that, you had some hesitations, but very natural hesitations because you can pause when you don't remember the language, the vocabulary, the grammar. And that is not a good thing in your fluency and coherence, but your pauses were all content-related, like you were pausing because you were thinking of the next idea. And of course, you didn't have many pauses, it was just, you know, a few pauses, natural ones. Besides, I can talk about your topic development. In part one, you were to give me some short answers. In part two, to cover your two minutes and to talk about all the bullet points. And in part three, some longer answers. And you did so. How you explained and how you covered your ideas. You said something, then you gave me more explanations and examples to just support what you had said. So, it was a really good one here. And the last thing regarding your fluency and coherence is how you used different discourse markers and connectives to just go on, like with the different parts or different topics. For example, you used the word "however," "also," "even though," "rather than," "so that," "unless," and it was all used in the correct place, in the correct sentence. So, being error-free is something that really matters in IELTS speaking. That, of course, you were error-free. And some discourse markers, so to say, "actually," and other words, "well." So, yes, it was really good. I really liked your fluency and coherence talking about the, you know, based on the band descriptors. And now, talk about the next criteria, your lexical resource, your vocabulary. In your lexical resource, you know, some things matter. The first one is how you use a range of words, vocabulary. I could hear some collocations, idiomatic vocabulary, and you were just using them all very flexibly. And besides the use of boosters and fillers, you didn't give me the answer very directly and straight away. It was in a way that you just bought yourself some time to just think of what you want to say, and then you gave me the answer. And that's okay, like you said, "Yeah, that's a very good question. That's an interesting question." And then you just kept talking. So, how you use fillers and boosters, how you use the range of collocations, vocabulary, very flexibly. And your paraphrasing was also good. I would say one, one little thing that you can work on is how you paraphrase the examiner's question because you shouldn't repeat the exact same question. And at times, you were doing it. So, I mean, the synonyms you used or vocabulary to name some, to mention some, for example, "my siblings" instead of "my sisters or brothers," or "the following day" instead of "the next day," "make a reservation," "to walk past something," "to be impressed," or "when people are dedicated," I mean, dedicate their time to something. So, it was all really good how you were using the words. But how you were paraphrasing your own words or sentences, then we could paraphrase my questions as well, not to repeat the same words. That's the only thing I can talk about here in this criteria. And now, your grammatical range and accuracy. What was really, I mean, what I can really mention regarding your grammatical range and accuracy is that, first of all, you were error-free, just like how you were using the connectives and structures, because it is really important to use the appropriate structures in the sentences. And you were using a range of different tenses, used to, those past tenses, present, future, other than the conditional sentences, relative clauses, and also compound sentences, subordinate clauses, so different, different complex structures that you are using very naturally and flexibly. And of course, the connectives you used that I mentioned in the fluency and coherence really helped you with making these complex structures. So, really great performance. And finally, your pronunciation. Um, your pronunciation was also very easy and clear to understand how you were pronouncing different words or using the other pronunciation features like the word stress, the sentence stress, and your intonation. It was not like you were speaking to me in a very flat mode. It was all, you were just playing with your voice depending on, is it a sentence? Is it a question? What kind of question is it? So, you were just talking to me naturally, you know, you were not trying to try to. And it was, it was a very good attempt. Thank you.
Yes. So, this is all about the criteria, your fluency and coherence, vocabulary, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation. So, generally, to talk about your, it's okay to talk about your overall band score. Um, I can, of course, I can say you, you got a nine today, and you should really be happy about it. Yeah. This is really nice.
Great. Thank you.
And thank you so much.
You're welcome. I mean, it was a very good performance. The only thing that you can work a bit on is maybe to paraphrase a bit better, and definitely you can, of course, use an even wider range of vocabulary or idiomatic vocabulary. You're able to do that, of course.
So, do you have any questions or any doubts?
No. Well, just thank you so much. I'm really happy with the result.
You're welcome. Great. So, I wish you best of luck.
Thank you.
You're welcome. You're welcome.
[Music]