IELTS Advice: speaking strategies

Here are some of the strategies that I used in yesterday's description:

1. Try to develop each bullet point in detail. If you don't say enough for the first two or three points, you'll find yourself with too much time for the last point.
2. Tell a story! My second point tells the story of how I was given the chair by a friend, and I could probably speak for 2 minutes about this point alone. When you tell a story about something real that happened, you'll find it easy to keep talking. Stories are also interesting for the listener (the examiner).
3. Add examples. In point 3, you can see that I added an example at the end ("last night I fell asleep in my armchair while I was watching a film"). I could easily take this example and develop it into another short story.
4. When describing an object, don't forget the simple things like size, colour (I forgot that one!), shape, material, position ("just under my living room window").

Comments

[khoory]

I was lucky enough to buy a cupboard from charity shop 10 months ago. It is not too big and not too small it was medium in size, It is a homemade 150 cm high.It has oriental paintings on the front, back and sides plus on the top and inside of the doors. It belonged to a very wealthy family from the Victorian era. It is of pinewood construction.
The main reasons why I like this furniture are: it is lightweight and very easy to carry around, all kitchen items can be kept out of the way in this cupboard in addition to its luxurious style.
However, The only drawback is: many friends who came by visited me regularly at my house were looking at buying it. Another issue which is not a big issue is : my partner is after this item and looking to relocate this item into to a different room inside the house

[Nisha]

hello simon
if l want correction of my task 2 in writing (academic),where l can send it????????

[NAWTNA]

Two months ago I went to Tesco and I saw a 2 meter wide purple sofa and it was half price, it's real price was 250 pounds but I bought it for 125 pounds including home delivery. I thought why don't I buy it because it is new, so I bought with my credit card for 125 pounds, the van took it to my house and I placed it in a very comfy place in the living room by the warm heater. I looked at it carefully and I saw most of the things on the sofa very clean. The main reason why I like this sofa is because it is a very light object that you can carry, also because it is very big and sometimes I take a nap on the sofa. Unfortunately it has a few scratches but I don't mind about that. At the side of the sofa you can pull something and it makes the length of it longer so you can rest on it whilst resting your feet.

[ANERBAS]

I would like to talk about my colourful carpet, I got this carpet from my uncle two years ago and I placed it in the living room, this carpet had been knitted by one of my ancestors, so it is a very old carpet. It is very big in size and it covers the whole floor in the living room it was made from real organic Iranian wool. That's why it keeps the room warm and comfy. We are lucky we have this carpet because it has a traditional value. Although this carpet is too heavy to carry, it is very easy to move it around into different rooms in the house if we want to do so. It is very difficult to clean by a hoover so it is very important that we take our shoes off before going into the living room where the carpet is. Not to mention there is a risk of stealing it in case of burglary.

[Simon]

Hi Nisha,

Read this information:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2011/10/essay-correction.html

[Sarahe]

Is fluency more important or using smart words?
Actually when I try to remember smart word and good grammars, I lose my fluency;
What is more important? I have my interview a week later! Please guide me to work on better quality of which of them

[Mean Tran]

Hi Simon
How are the best sentences to describe about size, colour, shape, material, position,...of an object??

[Khatira]

hi.who wants to improve speaking?please contact with me garayeva.khatira@hotmail.com

[asjid]

i want to improve my speaking pls u add me on skype,my id is ch.asjid3