Topic Easy Difficult

An important building A shopping mall Your school library

A trip To Hong Kong To Yellow Mountain

A famous person A singer / actor A politician / leader

Step 2: Vocabulary

The next step in the one-minute preparation is to write down as many examples of uncommon vocabulary as possible. The vocabulary must be directly related to the topic.

A good method is to ask the following question: "Can this word be used for many other topics?" If the answer is "Yes" then that word is NOT directly related to the topic.

Activity

Look at the following example. Topic: Describe some travelling you like to do.

Vocabulary:

exciting interesting opportunity tourism

sightseeing attractive backpack explore

excursion leave special mountain

Ask the question: "Can this word be used for many other topics?"

Topic-related words are:

tourism sightseeing backpack

explore excursion

The other words are not directly related to the topic and could probably be used for many Part Two topics, e.g., interesting (this word could be used for almost every 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.

Activity

Find uncommon topic-specific vocabulary for the following topics:

• A film that you have seen
• A song / piece of music
• A school subject
• A neighbor

Uncommon or topic-specific vocabulary is given for each topic card later in the book. Most of the vocabulary given in the Part One topic section of this book will he related to many of the Part Two topics and can be used in your Part Two talk.

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.

In Part Two, there are 3 basic tense requirements: some topics need mostly present tenses; others need past tenses, others need conditional tenses.

When you look at your topic card, decide which tenses you need to use.

Example:

1. Describe an activity you enjoyed in an English lesson.
   (Mostly past tenses) e.g.: The teacher asked us to pretend
2. Describe a place in a city that you know well.
   (Mostly present tenses) e.g.: This place is quite special because it has
3. Describe a vehicle which you would like to own.
   (Mostly conditional tenses and some present tenses for describing)
   e.g.: If I had a helicopter I would be able to...
   Helicopters are an expensive luxury.

When the examiner gives you paper and pencil for making notes, write down the type of tense on the paper. In this way when you look at your notes you will be reminded that you should be using a certain tense and this will significantly improve your grammar performance during your talk.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 846