IELTS Speaking Part Two & the Language of Presentations

Presentations Language and IELTS Speaking Part Two

IELTS Speaking Part Two tasks for the first activity
Instructions for teachers
Give out one card below per student. They have one minute to prepare what they are
going to say and can make notes during that time if they like. They should then speak
uninterrupted for one or two minutes (interrupt them if they speak longer). Their partner
should then ask them for more details, e.g. “You said… Do you think that…?”

Photocopiable speaking tasks

Student A

Talk for one or two minutes about something you do for your health. You should mention:

-

What it consists of

-

Why you do that thing

-

How you heard about it and first started doing it

And say what kinds of people you would recommend it for and why.

Student B

Give a one or two minute presentation about something bad about your hometown. Things
to include:

-

What is bad about it

-

Why you feel that way about it

-

How other people feel

And say what can be done about it and whose responsibility it should be

Student C (optional)

Speak on your own for one minute about an animal that you like. You should say:

-

What it looks like

-

Where it usually lives

-

What its habits are

And say how it compares to some other animals.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

Presentations Language and IELTS Speaking Part Two
Do an IELTS Speaking Part Two task that your teacher gives out, imagining your partner is
the examiner. They will ask you two questions when you finish.

Do the same presentation again, but this time imagine that you are presenting up on a
stage to a big group of people in a formal situation. Your partner will pretend to be the
audience, e.g. putting up their hand to ask questions.

How were your two presentations different? What other differences could there be?

Brainstorm language for the second (formal) type of presentation into these categories:


Greeting



Thanking/ Welcoming



Giving your name



Giving the topic



Giving background information about yourself that is connected to your presentation



Getting people’s interest/ Hooking the audience



Outlining the presentation



Kicking off



Moving on to the next topic



Getting back on topic



Referring to worksheets and visuals



Referring to your notes



Referring to earlier parts of the presentation/ Summarising/ Paraphrasing



Bringing the presentation to a close



Offering to answer questions

Compare your sentences to those on the next two pages

Discuss how useful that language is for IELTS Speaking Part Two, e.g.


Which categories do you not need in an IELTS presentation at all?



Which categories are needed but don’t have the right phrases in for IELTS? What
phrases could you put in instead?



What are the best phrases in the other categories? Which are completely unsuitable?
Can you think of any which are even better?

What other similar categories of language do you need for IELTS Speaking Part Two?

Brainstorm other useful Speaking Part Two phrases into these categories, then discuss
which ones might be suitable for more formal presentations.


Checking the question/ Checking what you have to say



Asking if you can/ should start (if you are ready in less than one minute)



Explaining why your answer doesn’t exactly answer the question



Correcting yourself/ Changing your mind about what to say



Pausing for thought



Sounding unsure

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

Suggested phrases for formal presentations
Greeting
Hi/ Hello/ Good morning/ afternoon/ evening (everyone/ ladies and gentlemen/ guys)
NOT Good night/ Hiya/ How’s it going?/ What’s up? PROBABLY NOT – How are you?
Thanking/ Welcoming
Welcome to…
First of all, I’d like to thank everyone/ you all for coming (to…)
Thanks for coming (to…)/ attending (…)
Let me begin by welcoming you (all) (to…)/ First, I’d like to (warmly) welcome you (to…)
On behalf of… may I welcome you to…
It’s a pleasure to welcome you (to…)
It’s good to see you (all) here (today).
Thank you for finding the time to come and join me for this presentation.
NOT Thank you for your coming/ for listening./ for your kind attention.
Giving your name
I think most of you know me, but I’ll introduce myself anyway.
As (a few of/ some of/ many of/ most of/ almost all of) you know, I’m…
First of all, I’d like to introduce myself/ let me introduce myself…/
I should probably start by introducing myself…
For those of you who don’t know me already,…
Giving the topic
(In my presentation/ Today) I’d like to/ I’m going to talk to you today about…
I’ve invited you here today to tell you about…/ share … with you.
The purpose/ topic/ subject of my/ today’s presentation is…
I’m here today to…
What I’d like to present to you today is…What I want to show you/ tell you about/ talk to
you about is…
I’ve chosen/ decided to speak about…, because…
Giving background information about yourself connected to your presentation
I should probably first tell you that…
To give you some background information,…
To explain why I chose this topic,…
Before I start, I should probably explain that…
Getting people’s interest/ Hooking the audience
There is a famous quote that…
Did you know that…?/ It’s a little known fact that…
Outlining the presentation
I’ll start/ begin/ commence with/ by…
I’ve divided my presentation into… parts/ My presentation is divided into...parts.
In my presentation, I’ll focus on three main…
First, we’ll look at... then we’ll move on to… and finally we’ll focus on…
Secondly/ In the second part of my presentation,…
(And) then/ After that/ The next stage will be to…
To finish up/ Finally/ I’ll end with/ The last stage will be to…
…we’ll focus on/ look at/ examine…/ … I’ll talk about/ present/ explain…
My presentation will last/ I’m going to speak for approximately/ about…
NOT At first/ At last/ In the end

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

Kicking off
So/ Well/ Well then/ Okay/ Right
If all that’s clear/ If there aren’t any questions (so far),…
Let’s start…/ get started/ make a start
Perhaps I should start off by…
Moving on to the next topic
Moving onto the next/ second/ last part of my presentation,…
That leads us on nicely to the next point I want to deal with, which is…
If everyone is clear on that point, I’ll move onto the next…
Getting back on topic
Anyway,…
Where was I?
As I was saying…
Referring to worksheets and visuals
As you can see from this slide/ on the first page,…
This graph/ list/ table/ chart/ diagram (clearly) shows/ illustrates…
If you look at this pie chart you can see…
If you turn to the first page of the handout,…
These pie charts/ figures compare…
Has everyone got a copy of…?
The first/ second/ third/ next/ last bullet point/ paragraph/ section…
If I could draw your attention to…
Referring to your notes
I’ve written…
Sorry, I’ll just try to find that in my notes.
What was I going to say next? Oh yes,…
I have the information written down in my notes somewhere. Here it is.
Referring to earlier parts of the presentation/ Summarising/ Paraphrasing
As I mentioned earlier,…/ said in my introduction,…
To try to state the same point in an easier to remember way,…
Let’s look at…again….
… I mean to say…/ …, meaning…/ … that is…
Basically, what I’m trying to say is…
Bringing the presentation to a close
That brings me to the end of my presentation.
That’s all I wanted to say today.
Thanks for listening/ for your kind attention.
Well, if no one else has any questions I will leave it there.
I’m really sorry, but we seem to have run out time. If anyone still has any questions, I’ll be
happy to answer them individually.
And on that point, I will bring my presentation to a close.
Offering to answer questions
At this point, I’d like to ask if anyone else has any questions or comments.
Yes, the (gentleman at the back in the red shirt), what is your question please?
Is there anything I didn’t explain properly?

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

Comparing IELTS presentations and formal presentations - Suggested answers
Greeting
Not needed in Part Two, because you have already done this at the beginning of the test.
Thanking/ Welcoming
Not needed.
Giving your name
Not needed..
Giving the topic
Needed
Suitable phrases:
I’d like to talk to you about…
I’m going to talk to you about…
The topic of my presentation is…
What I want to talk about is…
I’ve chosen/ decided to speak about…, because…
Other possibilities;
The only thing I could think of to talk about is…
The only thing that came to mind is…
There are many…but I’ve chosen to speak about…
I could’ve talked about…, but I decided on…
I had difficulty choosing a topic, but…
Giving background information about yourself connected to your presentation
Optional, but fine if it is really relevant. Suitable phrases:
I should probably first tell you that…
To give you some background information,…
To explain why I chose this topic,…
Before I start, I should probably explain that…
Getting people’s interest/ Hooking the audience
Optional, but good if you can think of something relevant.
None of the formal presentation phrases are suitable for IELTS. Possible phrases:
This is an interesting story actually.
I’m glad I got this topic because…
By complete coincidence, this happened to me this morning on my way to this exam.
This is an interesting/ difficult topic for me because…
Outlining the presentation
Not needed.
Kicking off
Optional, but better than starting with silence. Suitable phrases:
So/ Well/ Well then/ Okay/ Right
Perhaps I should start off by…
Moving on to the next topic
Optional.
None of the formal presentation phrases are suitable. Suitable phrases:
This next question was…
The next thing I have to talk about is…
What was the next question? Oh yes,…
In answer to the next question,…/ Answering the next question,…

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

Getting back on topic
Optional, as hopefully you can stay on topic. Suitable phrases
Anyway,…
Where was I?
As I was saying…
Other possible phrases
I seem to have gone off topic
Getting back to the questions,…
Referring to worksheets and visuals
Optional, as hopefully you can make your presentation sound more natural than just
referring to and answering each question.
None of the formal presentation phrases are suitable. Possible phrases:
The next question is…
Let me look at the next bullet point.
What’s the next question? Oh yes,…
What was the next question again? That’s right,…
Referring to your notes
Optional. Possible phrases
I’ve written…
Sorry, I’ll just try to find that in my notes.
What was I going to say next? Oh yes,…
I have the information written down in my notes somewhere. Here it is.
Sorry, I’m having problems reading my own writing.
Referring to earlier parts of the presentation/ Summarising/ Paraphrasing
Optional, but quite a good thing to do. Suitable phrases:
As I mentioned earlier,…
… I mean to say…
…, meaning…
… that is…
Basically, what I’m trying to say is…
Other possible phrases
As I said when I answered the first question,…
As I said in Part One,…
As I said when you asked me about…,…
Bringing the presentation to a close
Optional but probably a good thing to do, especially if the examiner doesn’t realise you
have finished. None of the formal presentation phrases are suitable. Possible phrases:
That’s all I can think of to say.
I think I’ve answered all the questions.
That’s the end of my presentation.
That’s it.
Is that enough?/ Is that more than one minute?
Can I stop there?
Offering to answer questions
Not needed, but it might be okay as another way of ending the presentation. Suitable
phrases:
Is there anything I didn’t explain properly?

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

Extra phrases for IELTS Speaking Part Two Suggested answers

Checking the question/ Checking what you have to say
Can I ask about a word in the question?
Should I talk about Japan, or the country that I come from?
Can I talk about my father’s job?
Is it okay if I talk about… (instead)?

Asking if you can/ should start (if you are ready in less than one minute)
Shall I start?
I think I’m ready.

Explaining why your answer doesn’t exactly answer the question
It says here…, but I…
I’ve never actually…, but…
The closest thing that happened to me is…
I couldn’t really think of anything suitable, but…
I’ll have to skip the next question because…

Correcting yourself/ Changing your mind about what to say
Sorry. I mean/ I meant to say…
What am I talking about? It was actually…
No, that’s wrong. In fact,…

Pausing for thought
Let me think.
Let me see.
What was it again?

Sounding unsure
I can’t (quite) remember very well, but…

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

IELTS Speaking Part Two tasks for the first activity

Instructions for teachers
Give out one card below per student. They have one minute to prepare what they are
going to say and can make notes during that time if they like. They should then speak
uninterrupted for one or two minutes (interrupt them if they speak longer). Their partner
should then ask them for more details, e.g. “You said… Do you think that…?”

Photocopiable speaking tasks

Student A

Talk for one or two minutes about something you do for your health. You should mention:

-

What it consists of

-

Why you do that thing

-

How you heard about it and first started doing it

And say what kinds of people you would recommend it for and why.

Student B

Give a one or two minute presentation about something bad about your hometown. Things
to include:

-

What is bad about it

-

Why you feel that way about it

-

How other people feel

And say what can be done about it and whose responsibility it should be

Student C (optional)

Speak on your own for one minute about an animal that you like. You should say:

-

What it looks like

-

Where it usually lives

-

What its habits are

And say how it compares to some other animals.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012