FCE - The Speaking part
Andy Edwins
2009-08-11, ostatnia aktualizacja 2009-11-18 14:40
FCE Speaking - on the one hand this is the easiest part of the test - it's only 14 minutes and we're just having a chat with our colleague and another person. On the other hand for many people just talking in English makes them stressed - on top of that someone is assessing how well they do it!!
Andy Edwins, British Council
ZOBACZ TAKŻE
- FCE - The best way to revise for the Listening paper (25-07-09, 10:18)
- FCE - przykładowy Speaking (11-08-09, 11:25)
- How to prepare for FCE and CAE speaking (11-08-09, 11:04)
- How to deal with stress before the speaking part (11-08-09, 11:04)
- FCE - przykładowy Listening (24-07-09, 11:55)
It's easy for me to say - but try to think of it in terms of the first option - a short chat in English.
It all starts with a knock on the door - you and a colleague - who you may know if you registered together - knock on the door and will hear "come in!" or maybe "please wait!". You enter the room - but how? Head held high, making eye contact and smiling with the words "Hello" or "Good Morning" (if it IS morning:). In the room you will see 2 examiners - one sitting by a desk or table and the other sitting a bit behind him. You hand over your mark sheets to the examiner by the table and they will ask you and your colleague to sit down and ask for your names. The examiner by the table is your friend - this one is not there to catch you out, trap you or make life difficult - no - this one is here to help give you opportunities to use your English, to encourage you. The other examiner doesn't really say anything except Hello and Goodbye - really you can ignore that one for the duration of the test. This examiner just makes notes and assesses your English - if they make notes it's not because you said something stupid - it could be they are writing down something great you said. Generally, the best method is just not to pay attention to what that one is doing.
Part 1 - Here the examiner by the table asks questions about you - your family, where you live, your holidays, school, hobbies etc etc - the questions are alternated between you and your colleague. It lasts about 3 minutes. Please do not learn anything by heart - it sounds absolutely awful see the movies .
Part 2 - Individual turn. The examiner gives you some pictures and you have to compare and contrast and answer a question about them. You have exactly 60 seconds. If you speak for too long the examiner will politely stop you - and that's fine, that's good. If you finish in less than 60 seconds then that's not so good. The general rule is to speak until they tell you to stop. After that your partner gets to make a short comment - 2 or 3 sentences - about your pictures - if they have listened to you then it will probably be a better answer - so listen to each other! The process is then repeated vice versa. In this part do not describe the pictures - the examiner is not blind - he can see what's there. Try to speculate, deduct and formulate your own opinions about the pictures.
Part 3 - Here you converse with your colleague about 6 or 7 pictures. Generally you have to talk about the positives/negatives of each picture and then choose the best or do some kind of ranking - you need to negotiate with your colleague, express and justify your opinions and agree and disagree - all of this politely!! Here it's important not to be either a 'monologue king' or as quiet as a church mouse. If your colleague is dominant you can interrupt - just like you would with your friends when your chatting. However, you must do it politely and because you have something to say - not just because the other person is speaking too much. We interrupt to add something or to disagree, for example. You speak for about 3 minutes so it's important not to make any decisions to quickly or you'll have nothing to talk about. It's best to talk about each picture individually - without making decisions until all the pictures have been discussed. Only then should you discuss the ranking or whatever the task is. In this part listening is as important as speaking - otherwise you sound like a fool.
Part 4 - the examiner leads a discussion based on the topic of part 3. This is an opportunity for the examiner to ask a few more questions to a quieter student to even the balance of talking time. The examiner may ask you a question directly or just open to whoever answers first.
Partner serwisu:
It all starts with a knock on the door - you and a colleague - who you may know if you registered together - knock on the door and will hear "come in!" or maybe "please wait!". You enter the room - but how? Head held high, making eye contact and smiling with the words "Hello" or "Good Morning" (if it IS morning:). In the room you will see 2 examiners - one sitting by a desk or table and the other sitting a bit behind him. You hand over your mark sheets to the examiner by the table and they will ask you and your colleague to sit down and ask for your names. The examiner by the table is your friend - this one is not there to catch you out, trap you or make life difficult - no - this one is here to help give you opportunities to use your English, to encourage you. The other examiner doesn't really say anything except Hello and Goodbye - really you can ignore that one for the duration of the test. This examiner just makes notes and assesses your English - if they make notes it's not because you said something stupid - it could be they are writing down something great you said. Generally, the best method is just not to pay attention to what that one is doing.
Part 1 - Here the examiner by the table asks questions about you - your family, where you live, your holidays, school, hobbies etc etc - the questions are alternated between you and your colleague. It lasts about 3 minutes. Please do not learn anything by heart - it sounds absolutely awful see the movies .
Part 2 - Individual turn. The examiner gives you some pictures and you have to compare and contrast and answer a question about them. You have exactly 60 seconds. If you speak for too long the examiner will politely stop you - and that's fine, that's good. If you finish in less than 60 seconds then that's not so good. The general rule is to speak until they tell you to stop. After that your partner gets to make a short comment - 2 or 3 sentences - about your pictures - if they have listened to you then it will probably be a better answer - so listen to each other! The process is then repeated vice versa. In this part do not describe the pictures - the examiner is not blind - he can see what's there. Try to speculate, deduct and formulate your own opinions about the pictures.
Part 3 - Here you converse with your colleague about 6 or 7 pictures. Generally you have to talk about the positives/negatives of each picture and then choose the best or do some kind of ranking - you need to negotiate with your colleague, express and justify your opinions and agree and disagree - all of this politely!! Here it's important not to be either a 'monologue king' or as quiet as a church mouse. If your colleague is dominant you can interrupt - just like you would with your friends when your chatting. However, you must do it politely and because you have something to say - not just because the other person is speaking too much. We interrupt to add something or to disagree, for example. You speak for about 3 minutes so it's important not to make any decisions to quickly or you'll have nothing to talk about. It's best to talk about each picture individually - without making decisions until all the pictures have been discussed. Only then should you discuss the ranking or whatever the task is. In this part listening is as important as speaking - otherwise you sound like a fool.
Part 4 - the examiner leads a discussion based on the topic of part 3. This is an opportunity for the examiner to ask a few more questions to a quieter student to even the balance of talking time. The examiner may ask you a question directly or just open to whoever answers first.
Partner serwisu:
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