‫Hello and welcome back to another elite speaking lesson.
‫Today, we're really going to focus on native clear pronunciation of key phrases and expressions which
‫are commonly used within the alt speaking test.
‫So I've listed out mapped out 40 very common phrases and expressions which are used often throughout
‫the alt speaking test.
‫And I think that it's really useful and important that you're able to use these expressions and to say
‫them pronounce these expressions with clarity.
‫So we're going to go through we're going to do a pronunciation rehearsal with me using native pronunciation
‫techniques such as contractions or linking sounds as well as like glottal tease, these kinds of things.
‫So it's really important that you practice with me.
‫It's also important to say before we move on, that there's no correct accent to use.
‫Many students often ask me, what's the best accent to use in the alt speaking test?
‫There is none.
‫The main focus is on clarity.
‫But if you can use native techniques within pronunciation like contractions, that's going to help improve
‫your band score.
‫But you don't score extra marks for using American or British accent.
‫There's no better accent.
‫And in fact, you can also use a neutral accent too.
‫There's nothing wrong with it, just a plain English accent.
‫Neutral, as long as it's clear and easily understood.
‫Okay, so we'll work through these 40 expressions.
‫I'll talk about the different interesting parts of the expression in terms of pronunciation, and then
‫we'll see the expression used within a sentence.
‫Try and repeat this lesson.
‫So you might want to rehearse this a few times.
‫You might want to try every day for a couple of weeks and see if your pronunciation has improved.
‫Repetition of rehearsal with the lessons within this course is really important, and it's something
‫that will help you in not just this lesson, but many other lessons too.
‫Okay, so let's take a look at our first expression, which is today I'm going to talk about.
‫Now, do take note of I'm gonna I'm going to it's not I'm going to I'm going to am going to try repeat
‫after me today.
‫I'm going to talk about.
‫Today I'm going to talk about.
‫And just try this short part here.
‫I'm going to.
‫Today I'm going to talk about.
‫And also take note that about it has no end RT sound as a glottal T.
‫Today I'm going to talk about.
‫Okay.
‫So let's see this used within a sentence.
‫Today I'm going to talk about my least favorite sport.
‫Today, I'm going to talk about my least favorite sport.
‫Well, I think I'll tell you about.
‫Okay.
‫So this is probably not so much to add here in terms of different sounds, I think.
‫Kyle So there's a slight linking here, I think Kyle.
‫Kyle Or it sounds like a boy's name.
‫Kyle I think.
‫Kyle So try repeat after me one more time then we'll see within a sentence.
‫Well, I think I'll tell you about.
‫And let's see this used within a full sentence.
‫Well, I think I'll tell you about my trip to Spain.
‫That's an interesting question.
‫So you'll note here that that son, that son, that son, there's a linking sound here that an isn't
‫so clearly pronounced independently.
‫It's not that's Anne that san that's an interesting question.
‫That's an interesting question.
‫And in a sentence.
‫Yeah.
‫That's an interesting question.
‫Let me see.
‫And one more time.
‫Yeah, that's an interesting question.
‫Let me see.
‫Today.
‫I'd like to discuss.
‫Today.
‫I'd like to discuss.
‫One thing I'd like to point out here is the strong schwa sound in, too.
‫It's not to, it's to.
‫One more time.
‫Today I'd like to discuss.
‫And in a sentence.
‫Today, I'd like to discuss my love of cinemas and movies.
‫Today, I'd like to discuss my love of cinema and movies.
‫One interesting link in sound here is love of love of my love of.
‫It's almost a difficult thing to say with the sounds.
‫My love of love of.
‫Let's try one more time.
‫Today, I'd like to discuss my love of cinema and movies.
‫In my experience.
‫In my experience, it's better to work in teams than independently.
‫Okay.
‫Not so much to add here.
‫Just good to try and repeat this after me.
‫So let's do one more time the whole sentence, then we'll move on.
‫In my experience, it's better to work in teams than independently.
‫Okay.
‫Our next expression is what happened was.
‫So try repeating after me.
‫What happened was.
‫So one thing to note here is the very strong glottal t.
‫On what we don't say what happened was we say what?
‫What?
‫What happened was.
‫And in a sentence, what happened was my friend completely missed the train.
‫What happened was my friend completely missed the train.
‫Back when I was.
‫So looking at back, we really don't stress the sound of the final K.
‫It's more like back glottal sound here.
‫Back when I was.
‫One more time.
‫Back when I was.
‫Back when I was just a little kid.
‫So before we move on, there's just a few things to point out here in this very British sounding sentence.
‫Back when I was.
‫Juster.
‫Juster So there's a strong link here between.
‫Just try after me.
‫Juster.
‫And little by little, you could maybe pronounce the tea a little bit stronger if you want to sound
‫more posh.
‫Little, little kid.
‫But let's do more native.
‫Just a little kid.
‫Back when I was just a little kid.
‫One more time.
‫Back when I was just a little kid.
‫Okay.
‫Moving on.
‫Thinking back on it.
‫Try repeating after me.
‫Thinking back on it.
‫So the Bakken Bakken Bakken it back in it.
‫Thinking back on it.
‫There's a link here between the back and the on, so try one more time after me thinking back on it.
‫And in a sentence.
‫Well, thinking back on it, we should have planned a bit more carefully.
‫When I look back.
‫Couple of things to note here.
‫When NYE.
‫So there's a linking sound here when I look back.
‫So the last case out for back, it could be pronounced or probably more natural without when I look
‫back.
‫One more time.
‫When I look back.
‫When I look back on university, I feel really happy.
‫Important to note here that we are actually linking back conn again.
‫So the k sound is pronounced but joined with on.
‫Let's try this one more time.
‫When I look back on university, I feel really happy.
‫And expressing opinions.
‫A very useful expression for alt speaking in my opinion.
‫In my opinion.
‫In my opinion, England's weather's pretty cold.
‫So there's quite a few different sounds of note here.
‫So we've got the possessive England's and then we've got where there's here and it's actually weather
‫is contracted to weathers.
‫So try this.
‫Just the two words there, England's weathers.
‫England's weather's.
‫England's weather's pretty cold.
‫Pretty cold.
‫England's weather's pretty cold.
‫And the whole sentence.
‫In my opinion, England's weather's pretty cold.
‫Almost a tongue twister there.
‫Great practice.
‫This example sentence, let's move on.
‫For me.
‫So for is the word here that we need to be careful with our pronunciation over and it's the strong sure
‫sound for for me.
‫For me, it's important to balance family life with work.
‫I feel that.
‫There's something of a glottal ti here instead of.
‫I feel that.
‫Try one more time.
‫I feel that.
‫I feel that art is just as important as education.
‫I've always considered.
‫So there's a link between the first two words.
‫I've always loved.
‫Always.
‫I've always.
‫I've always considered.
‫And the full sentence.
‫I've always considered riding a bike a great way to get around.
‫As far as I'm concerned.
‫As far as I'm concerned, cities are great places to live.
‫And here we have some expressions when you're really expressing a strong opinion.
‫I'm absolutely convinced that.
‫Let's try the first two words.
‫It is a linking sound here.
‫I'm absolutely.
‫I'm absolutely convinced that.
‫I'm absolutely convinced that online news is dangerous.
‫I'm 100% certain.
‫I'm 100% certain that I'll live in Australia at some point.
‫This is actually a quite difficult example sentence.
‫The the the focus phrase and 100% certain isn't really the difficulty the phrase is after can be quite
‫tough.
‫Let's look at that.
‫I'll live in a lot of linking here that I'll live in.
‫The tile live in.
‫There's a there's a link between the tile live in.
‫Live in.
‫Let's try the tile.
‫Try after me.
‫The tile.
‫The title.
‫That are live in.
‫That I live in.
‫I'm 100% certain that I'll live in.
‫I'm 100% certain that are in.
‫And altogether and 100% certain that live in Australia at some point.
‫Quite a tricky one there.
‫Maybe one that we could repeat a few times to get.
‫Right.
‫Let's move on to the next one.
‫I'm certainly sure.
‫I'm certainly sure she was having a tough time.
‫And here we have some expressions for discussing possibilities.
‫I suppose that.
‫I suppose that talking with my mates can be pretty fun sometimes.
‫Perhaps.
‫Notice the sugar per.
‫Perhaps.
‫One more time, perhaps.
‫Perhaps I'll try and study for my post-grad degree soon.
‫It's quite lightly.
‫It's quite likely.
‫Notice here that I'm not stressing the tea in quite or in likely one more time.
‫It's quite likely.
‫It's quite likely I'll move home after my studies.
‫Let's try that and expression.
‫After my studies.
‫I'll move home after my studies.
‫It's quite likely I'll move home after my studies.
‫It's unlikely that.
‫It's unlikely that my country's government will sort it out.
‫This final expression saw to tout.
‫There's quite a lot of linking sounds there, and it basically is an expression of very colloquial British
‫expression to mean fix.
‫Fix something, sort it out.
‫Try and repeat after me.
‫Sort it out.
‫And the whole sentence.
‫It's unlikely that my country's government will sort it out.
‫I'd say.
‫I'd say owning a pet could be a real exciting experience.
‫And some phrases for agreeing and disagreeing.
‫We're not going to take a look at some examples.
‫Sentences here will just repeat the expressions.
‫I couldn't agree more.
‫To agree.
‫Tigray.
‫Couldn't agree.
‫I couldn't agree more.
‫You're absolutely right.
‫I'm afraid I can't agree there.
‫Can't agree there.
‫I can't agree there.
‫I'm afraid I can't agree there.
‫I'm not sure I can agree.
‫Okay.
‫Some expressions for comparing and contrasting.
‫Similar to.
‫London is quite similar to New York in many ways.
‫Much the same.
‫My new job is much the same as my previous one.
‫In comparison to.
‫Swimming in comparison to football is much more fun.
‫In contrast to.
‫You notice a change the two sound there, it's probably more natural to say to one more time.
‫In contrast to.
‫In contrast to my sister.
‫I'm not so sociable these days.
‫In contrast to my sister.
‫I'm not so sociable these days.
‫Okay.
‫So we'll look at some expressions you can use when asking for clarification.
‫Yeah, it's something that students are very shy of.
‫But if you do need to ask for clarification or you have a question for the examiner, do so do feel
‫confident to ask.
‫And these are some expressions that you can use.
‫So repeat after me.
‫Sorry, I didn't quite get that.
‫There's actually quite a lot to take in with this expression in terms of native pronunciation.
‫So didn't becomes din din and there's no ti there didn't din and then.
‫I didn't.
‫And quite without the tea.
‫I didn't quite.
‫Sorry.
‫I didn't quite.
‫And then the glottal tease.
‫Get that.
‫Altogether.
‫Sorry, I didn't quite get that.
‫Could you say that again, please?
‫One more time.
‫Could you say that again, please?
‫So it's the same the middle section I didn't quite becomes I didn't quite and then catch that is an
‫idiomatic expression meaning understand.
‫Repeat after me.
‫Sorry, I didn't quite catch that.
‫If you want to sound more academic, you can say didn't.
‫So let's try one time with that.
‫Sorry, I didn't quite catch that.
‫Okay.
‫So let's take a look at some generally useful common expressions that you can also use a lot within
‫ER speaking and do make sure you repeating after me.
‫That's an interesting question.
‫Notice the linked san at the start.
‫That's an interesting question.
‫Let me think about it.
‫That's an interesting question.
‫Let me think about it.
‫I'd have to say.
‫I'd have to say I laugh at most jokes.
‫And now with that, I'd have to say that I laugh at most jokes.
‫I can't get enough of it.
‫This is kind of an idiomatic expression, which means that you really love something.
‫I love ice cream.
‫I can't get enough of it.
‫I love ice cream.
‫I can't get enough of it.
‫Looking back, I'd say.
‫So another expression here for remembering.
‫Looking back, I'd say I should have studied more in school.
‫Off the top of my head.
‫So this is an idiomatic expression again, basically meaning the first thing I can think of is one more
‫time.
‫Off the top of my head.
‫The hardest book I read was Crime and Punishment.
‫Something of a rhyme in there.
‫Let's try that one more time.
‫Off the top of my head, the hardest book I read was Crime and Punishment.
‫To be completely honest.
‫To be completely honest, I've never really liked my hometown.
‫On the other hand.
‫On the other hand, it was difficult but rewarding in many ways.
‫Okay.
‫So that brings us to the end of this pronunciation focused lesson.
‫I would really suggest you could really spend quite a long time running through this video and repeating
‫after me.
‫I would maybe suggest that if you're really wanting to improve on your natural pronunciation, to have
‫two or three weeks where you run through this lesson once a day and repeat after me as much as possible,
‫I'm sure that after two or three weeks you'll find that your pronunciation is beginning to improve,
‫become more natural, clear and native to.
‫So it's definitely something I would recommend you to try.
‫And yes, that brings us to the end of the lesson.
‫So I'll see you back in the course.