IELTS Speaking Sample Answer from a teacher – Pt 1 Interview

  Here is an IELTS Speaking Sample Answer from the first part of the IELTS test: “The interview”. In Part 1, the examiner asks the candidate questions about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.

Examiners IELTS Speaking Part 1 Sample Questions

1. Where are you from?
2. Tell me something about your family.
3. What about your studies? Are you in the middle or end of your studies?
4. How long will your course take you to study?
5. Where would you like to work in the future after university?
6. Can you tell me something about Kazakhstan?
7. What are the best things about your culture that foreigners should know about?
8. Can you talk about food in your country?
9. Is television important in your country?

IELTS Student answers

Here you can hear Ica, from Kazakstan answering the questions. Ica part 1 Interview How do you think Ica did with her answers? I think she was very good.      

IELTS Speaking Sample Answer from a teacher

Here’s a different set of answers by me (pretending to be a student from Germany) to a variation of the first four questions. Hopefully you will hear some improvements in the variety of vocabulary and more complex grammar being used.

4 IELTS Part 1 Standard Questions

1. Where are you from?
2. Tell me about your family
3. Are you a student?
4. Where would you like to work in the future?

Full transcript of teacher’s answers

1. Where are you from? I’m from Germany. I live in the capital city, Berlin, but I don’t live in the city centre, I live in a suburb called Wilmersdorf.   2. Tell me about your family. Well, I’ve got two older sisters and one younger brother, so I’m right in the middle. My mum and Dad are divorced and they’re remarried. So, actually I have quite a lot of stepbrothers and stepsisters, so there are quite a few of us. I also have a large extended family with lots of uncles, aunts and cousins.   3. Are you a student? Yes, I’m at university. I’m studying business and economics degree. At the moment, I’m kind of in the the middle of my studies. I’m just over halfway through my course. I’ve got about a year and a half left. But if I get good enough marks when I graduate, I will go on to do a masters degree… probably. 4. Where would you like to work in the future? Hmmm, that’s a good question. I would like to start off working somewhere in Germany, maybe in a more business oriented city than Berlin, like Frankfurt or Munich. Then if I branched out and worked for a big international corporation in somewhere like London or NY, then that would be perfect.

ANALYSIS OF TEACHER’S ANSWERS

1. I’m from Germany. I live in the capital city, Berlin, but I don’t live in the city centre, I live in a suburb called Wilmersdorf. VOCAB:

• GOOD – Variety with ‘capital city‘, ‘city centre‘ and ‘suburb‘
• BAD – ‘Live‘ is repeated 3 times
• HOW TO MAKE IT BETTER: – Instead of repeating live, live, live…. say ‘I’m from‘ ‘My flat is in a suburb…‘. – You could also give more info like ‘I’m only a teenager, so I haven’t got my own place yet and I still live with my parents, of course‘

2. Well, I’ve got two older sisters and one younger brother, so I’m right in the middle. My Mum and Dad are divorced and they’re remarried. So, actually I have quite a lot of stepbrothers and stepsisters, so there are quite a few of us. I also have a large extended family with lots of uncles, aunts and cousins. VOCAB:

• GOOD – Variety with ‘older / younger‘, ‘Mum and Dad‘, ‘divorced / remarried‘, ‘stepbrothers / sisters‘, ‘uncles / aunts / cousins‘ and ‘large extended family‘
• BAD – ‘quite‘ and ‘lot‘ are both repeated twice
• HOW TO MAKE IT BETTER: – Instead of repeating lot…. say ‘loads of…‘ – You could also give more info (with even more new ‘family’ vocab), like ‘I really love my granny, because she is such a kind person and she always tells me interesting stories about…‘. – How about using some of Ica’s vocab from her audio above, like ‘We are very close‘???

3. Yes, I’m at university. I’m studying business and economics degree. At the moment, I’m kind of in the the middle of my studies. I’m just over halfway through my course. I’ve got about a year and a half left. But if I get good enough marks when I graduate, I will go on to do a masters degree… probably. VOCAB:

• GOOD – Variety of appropriate ‘education’ terms, like ‘university‘, ‘course‘, ‘studies‘, ‘marks‘, ‘graduate‘ and ‘degree‘ – Nice vocab chunks, like ‘at the moment‘, ‘I’m kind of…‘, ‘in the middle of sth‘, ‘just over halfway through sth‘, ‘to have sth left‘ – No repetition of language (apart from ‘degree’, but I think this is acceptable in this university context)
•   GRAMMAR:
  • GOOD – 1st conditional sentence, ‘if I get good enough marks when I graduate, I will…‘
  • BAD – Grammar slip: ‘I’m studying business and economics degree‘. I didn’t intend to say degree at the end of this sentence. I was just going to say ‘I’m studying business and economics’, which is correct. However, because I added the word ‘degree‘ on the end, the sentence was missing the article ‘a‘. In this instance, the correct version should have been, I’m studying for a business and economics degree.
  •     4. Hmmm, that’s a good question. I would like to start off working somewhere in Germany, maybe in a more business oriented city than Berlin, like Frankfurt or Munich. Then if I branched out and worked for a big international corporation in somewhere like London or NY, then that would be perfect. VOCAB:
    • GOOD – Variety of appropriate ‘work’ terms, like ‘business oriented‘, ‘international corporation‘ – Use of Phrasal Verbs, like ‘start off‘, ‘branch out‘
    • HOW TO MAKE IT BETTER: – Maybe use more ‘work’ vocab, like ‘do an internship / become a manager / office job / climb the career ladder / 9 to 5‘ – Maybe utilise more ‘desire’ vocab, like ‘I would love to… / It would be great if I could get a job with… / The perfect scenario would be to (infinitive)… ‘

    GRAMMAR:

    • GOOD – Comparative clause, ‘…in a more business oriented city than Berlin‘ – 2nd conditional sentence, ‘if I branched out and worked for… that would be perfect‘
    •     Come back soon for sample answers from student, Ica and also from SGI teacher, Bren in parts 2 and 3 of the IELTS speaking test. Good luck in your IELTS exam! If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments section below and I will try to help you.