Imagine you are just starting to watch your favourite TV series. The theme music is playing, you see a view of a city, then a neighbourhood, then a street, then a house, the camera goes in the front door of the house, into a room, then just as the music stops, someone speaks. You can use this to great effect at the beginning of IELTS Speaking Part 2. If you need to talk about an event or a place, start with the city, then a few words about which part of the city, then something about the area and then the building. You could call it setting the context. Show the bigger picture around what you are going to talk about, then concentrate on the specific place person, event or whatever. This is a really useful strategy for any kind of conversation, not just IELTS.
Introducing a Place.
A Friend’s House
I’d like to talk about my friend Richard, who lives in Edinburgh. Edinburgh is on an estuary on the east coast of Scotland, and Richard lives on top of one of the hills near the centre of town. It’s full of narrow streets and really old apartment blocks called tenements, but you get a marvellous view of the city and down to the coast. His house is …..…
A Place
I don’t know if you know, but Queenstown is in New Zealand’s South Island in the Southern Alps near the west coast and not too far from the south coast. There’s a huge lake there, and one day I ……..…
My Sister’s Cottage
My sister Fiona lives in a really historic part of south London called Blackheath. I went to visit her at her very old, but very expensive cottage.
Introducing People
My Mum
I come from a big, complicated family. My parents both divorced and remarried, so there are extended families on both sides. I love them all, especially the six grandparents I have, but the person I would like to talk about today, is my mum.
A Teacher
I used to go a small-town high school in the east of Scotland. Compared to some of the schools I have taught at, it was very small. saying that it had a wide range of teachers, from old to young, from adored to hated. Although my passion as for physics and maths, the teacher I would like to talk about today is my music teacher.
Someone Famous
I must say that there are an incredible number of celebrities I hate these days. They are famous for doing absolutely nothing except being on the internet, on TV or in an advert. They have no skill whatsoever. Some do, though, footballers, actors, musicians and so on are often hugely talented. The person I would like to talk about is one of them. Her name is Jennifer Lawrence, who has appeared in many successful movies and is also really enjoyable to watch being interviewed.
Introducing a Past Event
A Party
I’m not really a party person, so I don’t go out that often. However, I have quite a wide circle of friends, so now and again I will go to one of their parties. They have birthday parties, anniversary parties, parties to celebrate the birth of a child. Parties about anything in fact, but the ones I like best are when someone has a party just because they are bored and need cheered up. So the party I’d like to talk about today, is one such party that happened last year.
A Time When You Were Late
I’m usually a stickler for time keeping, in fact my old boss used to call me Mr Punctual because I was always on time for meetings and was hardly ever late. He didn’t realise that I find it really hard to be late because i think it is really impolite and unprofessional. There was a time that sticks in my mind when I was late, and it was terrible. I ……
A Sports Event
Most of my friends will tell you I am not a competitive person, but I do like watching football. On the TV, going to a stadium anything is ok, except watching online when the ball can stop at really awkward times. The football match I’d like to tell you about was Glasgow Rangers versus Hibs in Edinburgh.
Introductions
You can start just about any topic doing this, and as I said above, it works really well when making a presentation or even in conversation. Setting the context for what you are about to say, makes it much easier for your listener to understand you.
When you use this method in an introduction, you should always go from the large to the small. From the vague to the precise. You need to set the background for whatever you want to say. If it was a picture, for example, you would start talking about the background (say mountains) and the weather, then move closer to maybe a lake, then to the house by the lake, then to a man sleeping in a chair outside the house.
This is Also an Excellent Way to Tell Stories
You can also do this when you are telling a story in IELTS Speaking Part 2. Some parts of the story will be much more important than others. For example, you probably wouldn’t go into the same amount of detail describing a bus journey or eating breakfast as you would describing a party or a person (Unless, of course, the journey was really significant).
Zoom into the detail of the first thing, zoom out for the journey, then zoom in again for the next important part.
For example:
Describe a time when you got close to wild animals.
You should say:
Where you were
What the animals were doing
Who you were with
And what your reaction was
Zoom In
….…… One day, my mum and dad got us up much earlier than usual. We were a bit worried, but they said they had a surprise for us. My sister Julie and I were about 6 or 7 at the time. We crammed our breakfasts into our mouths and got ready as soon as possible. When we were checked and some small bags packed, off we went.
Zoom Out
I can’t remember much about the journey, except it was very slow.
Zoom In
Eventually, we arrived at Bristol Wildlife Park. It was so exciting. Julie and I had seen the adverts on the TV and were desperate to go and see the wild animals. You could even touch a bear, if you were brave enough!
This also makes you concentrate on the important parts of the story and not waste time.
Another Story Example from IELTS Speaking Part 2
Describe a talk that you gave to a group of people
You should say:
Who you gave the talk to
What the talk was about
Why you gave the talk
And explain how you felt about the talk
Zoom In
A long time ago, I used to play in a band sometimes, so I’m used to standing up in front of people and singing. This was a really useful skill when I started teaching, but in a classroom, you know your audience. Giving a talk in front of people you don’t know can be a daunting experience. The talk I would like to tell you about today was one such occasion.
Zoom Out
It was a talk to a local businessmen’s group that I did as a favour to a friend.
Zoom In
It wasn’t actually a talk about business, but more to do with socialising in a business situation, such as people from one company visiting another. Although there are sometimes rivalries between companies from different regions or cities, they do not compare with cultural issues that arise when these visits are international. One of my examples detailed how a drinking culture in one country led to serious trouble involving the police. Too much to drink at dinner, then going to a night club, was not a good mix for these guys.
Conclusion
Setting the context this way in an introduction not only helps the listener to understand clearly, but also makes you speak for longer. Furthermore, using this method to miss out irrelevant information in a story is an excellent way to show your coherence. Give it a try!