Greeting

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Lead-in
What are these things? What do they have in common?

Part II – Objects

Technique for practicing Speaking Part II

CUE CARD
Describe a book that you enjoyed reading.
You should say:
What the title is
What it is about
Why you read it
And explain what effect the book had on you.

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 I am fond of reading Selected Works of Jack London. It is a collection of the writer's works
including three novels and forty short stories.
It is mostly about different characters in the Klondike region of Alaska during the Gold Rush,
but also tells about people's struggles in different situations.
I was given the book as a present, and I was immediately fascinated by the raw, beautiful but
very real world the writer experienced and wrote about. One story in particular, The Sea Wolf,
is about a man who was born into a comfortable life and is suddenly thrust into a dangerous,
harsh and pitiless environment aboard a seal hunting ship under a cruel, despotic yet
charismatic and intriguing captain. He is faced with a moral dilemma: whether he should
fight to survive without regard for others or hold on to values he grew up with in easy
circumstances, such as altruism and self-sacrifice. In the end he finds strength to stand
against the merciless captain.
When I first read the book, I was most impressed with the exciting action and imagery in the
stories, but as I grew older and read them again the most striking features to me were instead
the deeper qualities of character hard to find and to define. lt caused me to look further into
people, both in books and in real life, for the qualities that made them truly interesting and
enduring.
(1:30s)
Matching vocabs and meaning

New words Meaning

1 Thrust into a. Extreme weather
2 Harsh and pitiless b. a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made
3 despotic c. a person with the ability to attract the attention and admiration of others
4 charismatic d. Push into
5 dilemma e. long-lasting
6 altruism f. kindness, generosity
7 enduring g. bossy
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VOCAB ABOUT TOPIC OBJECTS

New words Example
useful (a) handy A good knife is probably one of the most useful things you can have in a
kitchen.
Enormous (a) They've bought an enormous house in the country.
brand new (a) The hotels are all brand new.
worn (a) His clothes were dirty and worn.
homemade (a) Farmers' markets are a traditional way of selling homemade products
effectively.
eye-catching (a) She has beautiful clothes in eye-catching colors.
reasonable (a) For good pizzas at a reasonable price, Pizza Hut’s are unbeatable.
reliable (a) VinFast is a reliable Vietnamese car brand.
Versatile (a) having many different uses, many skills
Valuable to s.o/ for s.o to do sth While it is valuable for children to have individual responsibilities, it is also
good to share jobs with them.
Make use of (phr.) Take an advantage of/ get an advantage for

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Multipurpose (a) a multipurpose tool
Multifunctional (a) a multifunction machine
Indispensable (a) This book is indispensable to anyone interested in space exploration.
Antique (a) a lovely antique desk
Old-fashioned design (phr)
Precious (a)
Of great personal value (phr.)
Show off (phrasal verb)
Ornamental/decorative (a) Decorative object
Extravagant (a) an extravagant lifestyle
Status symbol (n) Among young people, this brand of designer clothing is the ultimate status
symbol.
Luxurious (a) a luxurious brown leather sofa
Pricey (a) a pricey model
Purchase (v)
Break down (phrasal verb)
Splash out on (id.) Pay a lot of money for
Go wrong (phrasal verb)
Get one’s money back (phr.)
Manufacturer (n) The fridge was sent back to the manufacturers.
Offer a refund/ replacement (phr.)
Technical fault (n)
Practical furniture (n)
Durable (a) long-lasting They are not durable like rocks.
Environmentally sustainable (a)
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Some common questions about Topic: Objects
(1) Something useful
(2) An object you see every day
(3) A piece of equipment you use every day
(4) Something electronic that you use often
(5) An item of clothing or jewelry
(6) Something old
(7) A piece of furniture
(8) Something you made yourself
(9) A toy
(10) A vehicle you would like to own
(11) Something expensive you would like to buy
(12) A gift or present you have received
(13) Something you bought which you were not happy with
(14) A handicraft
(15) A national product

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 GENERAL STRUCTURE FOR PART II – DESCRIBE AN OBJECT

I. Three-step preparation method

Step 1: Selection
Selecting the "right thing" to talk about is quite important if you want to produce a good quality
Part Two. If you choose the wrong thing to talk about you might have problems talking for two
minutes on that topic. If you have problems finding content, the quality of your language will
suffer.
The important first step is to select something that is easy to talk about. Once you have
something easy to talk about, you can concentrate on language features and ways to increase
your score.
Easy topics should:
◼ Have lots of features
◼ Be expandable
◼ Include some "invented" aspects (i.e. lies)
Practice: “Describe something you borrowed from your friend or family”
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Note:
◼ Ignore the adjective
Many people get distracted by the adjectives which often appear in the topic description, e.g.,
look at the following Part Two topic cards: “An interesting building in your city ...”
Don't try to think of a building that is particularly interesting. You don't lose marks if your
building is not very interesting and you don't get more marks if your building seems very
interesting. Just choose any building that fits the topic loosely.
◼ Don't go with the first idea
Usually the first idea in your head is the worst idea. It is usually a good idea to ignore the first
idea in your head and go with the second or even third idea that you come up with.
Step 2: Write down correlated vocabulary
You can write down some words connecting to the topic. It is not wrong to use the common
words during your Part Two talk, but at this preparation stage you need to find uncommon
topic-specific words.
Ex: Describe a piece of clothing you like
Designer brand, trendy, versatile, multipurpose
Practice: “Describe something you borrowed from your friend or family”
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Step 3: Grammar Point
This is one of the most important considerations for your Part Two talk.
Most candidates completely ignore this aspect. Different Part Two topic cards require different
grammar. Look at the following topics and think about the required grammar content for each:
 Describe an object you use every day.
 Describe a vehicle that you would like to own.
 Describe a happy event in your life.

II. Producing a Good Quality Part Two Talk

The Fluency-based Strategy
This strategy will greatly improve your Fluency score because it is based on producing good
quality linking structures in your two-minute talk and combines these with complex sentence
structures.
Ex:
Describe a sport that you like playing or watching.
You should say:
What the sport is
How often you play / watch it
Why you like it
Whether it is popular in your country
Approach 1:
Today, I’m going to talk about a sport that I like playing. It is football
Approach 2:
I guess I could begin by saying something about what the sport is, and I think I would have to
choose football.
Which approach is better and why?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Another advantage of using this type of structure is that you don't really need much content
because you will probably spend almost one minute producing the complex linking phrases.

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 If used correctly, this structure will have a positive effect on your "Fluency" and "Grammar"
scores.
Ex:
“How often do you play it”
"Going on to my next point which is how often I play it, I really need to add that if I have enough
time I usually play it about twice a week. In fact..."
"Why you like it"
“And now with reference to why I like it, the point I want to make here is that…”
"Whether it is popular in your country"
“And so finally then, if I have time, in answer to the question of whether it is popular in my
country, really I should mention that…”
Final structure might look like this
I guess I could begin by saying something about what the sport is, and I think I would have to
choose…
Going on to my next point which is how often I play it, I really need to add that...
And now with reference to why I like it, the point I want to make here is that…
And so finally then, if I have time, in answer to the question of whether it is popular in my
country, really I should mention that…
Practice reading the structure above. Depending on the speed it should take you between
30~45 seconds. This means that you only need about one minute of content.
Language for the Fluency-based Strategy
A Opening phrase + the first prompt from card + reason

Ok then, I guess I could start off by answering who the and I think I would have to because
person is… choose
Alright then, in response to the first question of who the and I’d have to go for for the reason that
person is…
So to begin with, in reply to the initial point of who the and I’d probably select actually
person is…
Ok, I’ll start the ball rolling by touching on the matter of and my choice is going to be who is
who the person is…
Right then, I’d like to get cracking by pointing out who and the one I’d pick is which is
the person is…
So I suppose I should commence with the first aspect where
which is who the person is…
Initially then, I’d like to get started by looking at who the in fact
person is…
So, to start with I’ll talk about who the person is… although
So I guess I could kick off by stating who the person is…
Ok so my first point here would obviously be who the particularly/especially
person is…

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 B Linking phrase + the second prompt + linking phrase to explain

Going on to my next point which is … why he is famous and what I’d like to add here is that …

Continuing then with the next point of … and what I need to emphasize here is that…

Now with regard to the next question of … and what I ought to stress here is that..

Next then in response to the point of … and the thing that needs to be highlighted here is
that..
Now on the subject of …
and what I have to mention here is that …
Now concerning the matter of …

C Linking phrase + the third prompt + linking phrase to explain

Progressing to the subject of why I would like to meet I would like to explain/mention/say that…
this celebrity…
Moving onto the business of You really have to understand that…

Drawing attention to the matter of I suppose I should underline the fact that…

Proceeding with the issue of The chief explanation would most likely be that…

Moving forward onto the area of The explanation for this could be that…

D Linking phrase + the fourth prompt + linking phrase to explain

And so finally then, if I still have time, in answer to the what I would like to really I should mention that…
question of do if I met him
Finally then, if there’s time, I could deal with the last I guess that
question of...
To end with, if I still have time, I could take care of the I should say that
final question of...
As a final point, if time permits, I’d like to bring in the point
of...
To cut a long story short, as my very last point, with
reference to the question of...

In the marking system, linking phrases and connectives feature heavily in the fluency scoring
and so obviously an answer of this type has an enormous affect on your Fluency score.

It is interesting to note that most people only produce 3 or 4 linking phrases in their whole
interview. However, if you use this system you will produce 8 of these in your Part Two talk
alone! It instantly transforms what is usually the worst part of the speaking test into the highest
scoring part

It is also important to realize that the overall structure produces a large amount of complex
grammar structures.

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A WORD OF ADVICE: “CREATE YOUR OWN STRUCTURE BY USING THE ABOVE

LANGUAGE AND STICK WITH IT”

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https://padlet.com/trungmai/jx4jqhmh6medvw9g

Practice:
Describe something you borrowed from your friend or family
You should say:
• What you borrowed
• When you borrowed it
• Whom you borrowed it from
And explain why you borrowed it
Homework:
Describe something you bought but difficult to use at first
You should say:
• What it was
• Where you bought it
• How you used it successfully
And how you felt about it

Give feedbacks for today’s lesson

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