‫Here are some videos where we're going to focus on I am speaking task, too, so we're going to be looking
‫at some cue cards that have actually come up in previous AIDS tests.
‫And we're going to go through those cue cards for common topics.
‫And then I'm going to show you a model answer and talk about some of the great features of language
‫that I've included in the answer for the task to cue card.
‫So our first topic is going to be art.
‫Let's take a look at the first test card.
‫Describe a piece of art that you like looking at, you should say when you saw it, where it is, what
‫it looks like, and explain what you know about it.
‫So here we have all of the details that we need to include.
‫It's worth saying that, of course, we don't have to order our answer in the same order as the different
‫prompts on the cue card.
‫As long as we talk about most of the things we are asked, but specifically about a piece of art we
‫like looking at.
‫So let's take a look at the model answer.
‫It's kind of a tough question, really, as generally I'm not a huge fan of art, but if I really put
‫my mind to it, my favorite painting would probably be The Starry Night by Van Gough.
‫At least I think that's what it's called.
‫I'm pretty sure I've not seen the original painting, but it gets printed on loads of things you see
‫around, like postcards and things like that.
‫I've even seen a T-shirt with it printed on before.
‫Maybe I should buy one myself.
‫I can't quite remember where I saw it first, but I'm guessing it must've been quite a young age.
‫We might have even had a copy of it inside my family house.
‫The reason I really love this painting is because of the colors and how relaxing it looks, basically
‫it's a town seen at night, like a small town in Europe or southern France or something.
‫What's really weird about it is that the moon almost looks like a sun.
‫It's bright yellow, if I remember rightly, Van Gough often uses really fast, strong brush strokes,
‫and by doing this, the colors from the stars and yellow moon wash all over the painting, giving this
‫guy a really tranquil and inviting kind of look.
‫I would absolutely love to visit that town.
‫Maybe I should try and research where it was painted and head there myself.
‫I don't actually know too much about it.
‫I guess it's one of his more famous paintings and is probably worth a lot of money.
‫I can only afford the prints anyway.
‫So here we have our full model answer for the first test card for the topic Art.
‫Let's take a bit more of a focused look at some of the really great language used in this answer.
‫So highlighted in blue are examples of really great language that I've included in this response and
‫of course, we're beginning with it's kind of a tough question, really.
‫So this is a great way to begin pretty much any task to response.
‫It means that you're thinking about the answer.
‫And it doesn't mean it's too difficult.
‫It just means it's kind of a difficult question.
‫I'm thinking carefully about what I will say.
‫You can really use this phrase for pretty much any task to response, as generally I'm not a huge fan.
‫So if you saying you like something a lot, you can say I am a huge fan.
‫It's a very native phrase, a collocation.
‫Or if you don't like something, I'm not a huge fan.
‫So generally this person, which is me, of course, I'm not a huge fan of art, a very native phrase,
‫but if I really put my mind to it.
‫So that's kind of a bit of figurative language, put my mind to it.
‫It means to really think carefully.
‫So we're thinking carefully about something.
‫This is a great figurative phrase to use.
‫If I really put my mind to it and think my favorite painting would probably be this one.
‫OK, the next bit of language is here.
‫Pretty sure it's just a native sounding phrase.
‫I'm pretty sure you don't 100 percent know that.
‫You're pretty sure.
‫Maybe 70 percent sure.
‫Pretty sure.
‫A very native sounding phrase and another good piece of vocabulary loads, but it gets printed on loads.
‫So instead of lots, we can say loads.
‫And again, this is all showing the examiner that you can speak in a native sounding way and hear like
‫postcards and things like that.
‫I've highlighted that really because that's just showing a bit more detail.
‫So when we do the test to cue card, we really want to give quite a lot of examples and add extra detail
‫to our speaking.
‫I've even seen a shirt that Ed and here we have the next piece of highlighted language.
‫Maybe I should buy one myself.
‫So this is a rhetorical question.
‫I'm not expecting that the examiner will respond to me, but I'm kind of talking to myself and asking
‫myself a question that shows the examiner that you have a lot of confidence in your speaking by using
‫a rhetorical question I can't quite remember.
‫So using quite you'll see often that I try and use this phrase quite it's again, a native sounding
‫piece of language.
‫I can't quite I can't really I can't quite remember where I saw it.
‫It must have been it's quite again, a young age.
‫OK, our next piece is the reason I really love this painting.
‫Is that just a nice way to open up the next part of our speaking and it also shows organization.
‫So it shows that I am answering the prompts on the cue card.
‫We've got an opener here basically.
‫So this is me beginning my sentence with basically it can almost be a sentence filler as well, a conversation
‫filler.
‫So it means basically so to round things up to get right to the point, basically a nice opener here
‫we have what's really weird.
‫So again, a collocation here, which sounds very native and here it's bright yellow, if I remember.
‫Rightly so, yeah.
‫Native sounding and adding more detail.
‫It doesn't really matter if you aren't correct in these facts or if you completely create your own story
‫about the cue card.
‫The Examiner isn't marking for you being factually correct.
‫Just on the fluency of your language here we have giving this guy a really tranquil.
‫So this means peaceful, a great piece of vocal.
‫Larry, tranquil.
‫I would absolutely love so instead of just really love, I would love a lot.
‫Let's use expressive language.
‫This would of course, score high for lexical resource.
‫I would absolutely love our very native sounding.
‫Maybe I should try and research where it was painted.
‫So just adding more detail again.
‫So that really rounds up a lot of the great language in this model answer.
‫Let's take a look at the next cue card.
‫Describe a time you drew a picture or painted a piece of art, you should say, when this happened,
‫what it looked like, why you drew it and explain if you enjoyed this activity.
‫So still around the topic of art.
‫However, instead of asking, like the last cue card, what art you enjoy, here we are being asked
‫what art we have created a simple drawing, sketch painting, model sculpture, something like this.
‫If you haven't really drawn anything or painted a piece of art for a while, as many people won't have,
‫then you can quite simply make your own version of this story so you can think of a piece of art and
‫really just make a story about it.
‫The more you practice this storytelling, the more confident you will be to do it if you don't have
‫a real life example ready to hand.
‫So here I've created my own story, as actually I haven't drawn a picture, painted a piece of art in
‫a while.
‫So let's take a look at the model answer.
‫I used to really love drawing, but in the last few years, it's been something I've done less and less
‫of.
‫But the last real drawing I did that I can remember clearly was a doodle of a mountain village in Asia.
‫Actually, I stole the idea from a book I was reading at the time.
‫I think I even traced parts of it to this must have been a few summers back, maybe even four or more,
‫as that's when I was reading this book on Asian history.
‫You probably wouldn't call it an amazing piece of art, but I did draw it on the long haul because after
‫all, it must have taken me about three hours to complete.
‫Off the top of my head, I used only four colors in total.
‫I didn't have many with me at the time.
‫The rest are shaded in black with pencil.
‫That was a big tree hanging from the side of a mountain with small houses littered around it.
‫To be honest, maybe I can't remember it so clearly.
‫I've got a memory like a goldfish at my old job.
‫I used to travel at the end of the week to go home.
‫This was the best time to do some drawing or reading.
‫It was actually my favorite part of the week.
‫Often I would just draw silly pictures all the way back home.
‫At times, it was difficult to hold the pencil straight, though that was pretty annoying.
‫I think I should try and take a few more trains and buses.
‫That way I can do some more drawing again.
‫OK, so lots of detail in this answer, and once again, I did actually make this up.
‫Now I know that I've been able to write a full response.
‫However, this is a story that I've just created.
‫Now, this is a model answer that, you know, would score very highly.
‫But it's not something from my experience is actually I haven't done any real art in quite some time.
‫So I've made this story up by really putting together a few stories I know from friends and a piece
‫of art that I've seen a long time ago.
‫Here we have our really expressive, high scoring pieces of language, so let's go from the top and
‫here we have last few years, but in the last few years, this is a very colloquial sounding phrase,
‫the last few years.
‫So if you're talking about something that has happened from now previously, let's say three, four
‫or five years ago, you can say in the last few years it's something I've done less and less of.
‫So when you have been doing something recently, not as much as you would like, you can say I'm doing
‫that less and less or, you know, I've done less and less of it.
‫Here we have a great phrase, remember, clearly so clear and remember a very common collocations that
‫words that are often seen together here we have Dugal.
‫So instead of drawing or piece of art, we have a doodle, which basically means a sketch or something
‫that hasn't taken a long, long time.
‫It's something for Forna, a pencil drawing for fun.
‫That is reasonably quick actually.
‫So we have a nice opening sentence or phrase to our sentence here.
‫Actually, I stole the idea.
‫So this is organizing our thoughts.
‫And next up, we have I think I even traced so traced when we are tracing things, it's when we put
‫paper on the top of the picture and draw around the outside of the image.
‫So a pretty good piece of topic, specific vocabulary for art.
‫This must have been a few summers back.
‫So often we can say that seasons we say they were back.
‫So if there was something I did last winter, I could say, oh, a few winters before I might say a
‫few winters back.
‫I went skiing.
‫A very native sounding phrase here and here we have a piece of art.
‫This is what we call one masterpiece, a very famous work.
‫So something is well known.
‫For example, Mona Lisa.
‫That is a piece of art opening phrase here off the top of my head.
‫So a great way to organize our language.
‫Off the top of my head is an idiomatic expression, figurative language, idiomatic expression.
‫So there isn't anything coming really off the top of our heads.
‫It just means that we are thinking quickly.
‫And here we have there was a big tree.
‫So I'm adding lots of detail and examples into my answer to make sure that I'm really giving the examiner
‫lots to hear.
‫Remember, this is really your sort of few minutes to shine at, to be honest, a great opening phrase
‫here.
‫Remember it so clearly.
‫Remember, clearly so is using this collocation.
‫Again, here's another idiomatic phrase, which is a great one to use.
‫I've got a memory like a goldfish.
‫So in English we often say that goldfish have very short memories.
‫It may be that you do say this as well, but a great phrase, idiomatic expression to use is a memory
‫like a goldfish.
‫So I have a very short memory.
‫And lastly, just here, adding for detail, it was actually my favorite part of the week.
‫So it's just adding that extra bit of detail.
‫So giving more of your thinking through speaking.
‫So make sure that you really do give lots of examples and ideas.
‫So here are some of the great bits of language used in this model answer.
‫And if you want to go to the Q&A section and show me you are using this using some of these expressions,
‫then that would be a great bit of practice for you.
‫See you in the next lesson.