IELTS SPEAKING

WORKSHOP #2

THE SPEAKING SUCCESS SYSTEM

COPYRIGHT © 2021, KEITH SPEAKING ACADEMY

 TABLE OF

CONTENTS

PART ONE

THE SPEAKING SUCCESS SYSTEM: A REVIEW

• Try

• Discover

• Practice

• Build

PART TWO

THE SPEAKING SUCCESS SYSTEM: IN USE

AUTHOR: KEITH O’HARE

Keith runs The Keith Speaking Academy. He has been working in international
education for over 20 years as a teacher, teacher trainer and education manager.
He has helped over 15,000 students prepare for their IELTS Speaking test with his
online courses.

COPYRIGHT © 2021, KEITH SPEAKING ACADEMY

 PART ONE

THE SPEAKING SUCCESS SYSTEM: A REVIEW

The Speaking Success System - a simple 4-step system to success.

1. Try 3. Practice

2. Discover 4. Build

1. TRY

Take a question and try to answer without any preparation.

2. DISCOVER

Watch or listen to a proficient or native speaker answering the question.

Identify useful chunks of language.

3. PRACTICE

Practice repeating the chunks.

Practice again giving your answer for the question in step 1.

4. BUILD

Give different answers to the same question from step 1.

COPYRIGHT © 2021, KEITH SPEAKING ACADEMY

 PART TWO

THE SPEAKING SUCCESS SYSTEM

TOPIC

FLOWERS

QUESTION:

“What kind of flowers do you like?”

1. TRY

Without preparing, try and give your own answer to this question.

Speak out your answer for about 15 seconds (the average length of a part 1 answer).

COPYRIGHT © 2021, KEITH SPEAKING ACADEMY

 2. DISCOVER

LISTEN TO THIS ANSWER (refer to accompanying audio file)

Between you and me,

I am clueless when it comes to flowers.
That said, when I do buy them,
I usually go for roses.
It’s an easy choice
and I love the fragrant scent
they can bring to the room.

IDENTIFY USEFUL CHUNKS

1. Between you and me = in confidence

It is a common filler/connector that can be used in a similar way to other fillers like:

• To be honest
• Frankly speaking

2. I’m clueless = I have no idea, I know nothing about it

3. When it comes to ______________ = when we talk about _______________

4. I usually go for ________________ = I usually choose __________________

5. Fragrant scent = nice smell

• Fragrant (adj.) = something smells nice

• A scent (n.) = a pleasant smell (e.g. perfume, flowers, food)

COPYRIGHT © 2021, KEITH SPEAKING ACADEMY

 3. PRACTICE

PRACTICE CHUNKS

There are several different practice activities I use. Here are 4 common ones.

1. Repeat 3. Say the opposite

2. Change a word 4. Phrase true for you

Let’s practice them. This is best done with the accompanying audio file

CHUNK ONE: I’M CLUELESS

REPEAT

Clueless
I am clueless
I am clueless when it comes to flowers

CHANGE A WORD

I love roses
I love tulips
I love carnations
I love sunflowers

I am clueless when it comes to cars

I am clueless when it comes to music
I am clueless when it comes to cooking

PHRASE TRUE FOR YOU

It’s true, I am clueless when it comes to flowers

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CHUNK TWO: I USUALLY GO FOR ROSES

REPEAT

go for roses
I usually go for roses
When I buy flowers, I usually go for roses

SAY THE OPPOSITE

I usually go for sunflowers

I don’t usually go for sunflowers

I usually go for roses

I don’t usually go for roses

She usually goes for roses

She doesn’t usually go for roses

She went for roses last time

She didn’t go for roses last time

CHUNK THREE: FRAGRANT SCENT

REPEAT

fragrant scent
I love the fragrant scent
I love the fragrant scent of roses

CHANGE A WORD

I love the fragrant scent of tulips

I love the fragrant scent of carnations
I love the fragrant scent of sunflowers

PHRASE TRUE FOR YOU

I love the fragrant scent of red roses

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 GIVE YOUR ANSWER AGAIN

Finally, practice giving an answer to the original question

QUESTION:

“What kind of flowers do you like?”

Your focus is not to memorise the answer word for word, but just to try and use
one or two of the chunks you have practiced.

You may get something like this:

To be honest,
I am bit clueless when it comes to flowers,
I don’t know a great deal about them,
but sometimes I do buy flowers
and I tend to opt for roses
It’s just quite straight forward really,
they just brighten up the room,
they look pretty
and they have a nice smell

COPYRIGHT © 2021, KEITH SPEAKING ACADEMY

 4. BUILD

Build your flexibility by giving different answers to the same question in step 1.

QUESTION:

“What kind of flowers do you like?”

You may get something like this:

I’m not a big fan of flowers really,

but if I’m buying flowers for my home
I might buy sunflowers
I like them because they remind me
of the paintings by Van Gogh
They’ve just got vibrant colours
and a fragrant scent
So yes, I guess I would opt for sunflowers

The key is not to memorise this answer,

but to memorise chunks and use them flexibly.

COPYRIGHT © 2021, KEITH SPEAKING ACADEMY

 Find out more about my work and
my new course IELTS Speaking INTERACTIVE at

WWW.KEITHSPEAKINGACADEMY.COM

COPYRIGHT © 2021, KEITH SPEAKING ACADEMY