Tips for First for Schools: Speaking Part 1
Strategies that learners need to work on to do well in Part 1 include:
Giving effective short answers
Consider how much more learners set themselves up to ‘expand’, if rather than answer with a perfunctory ‘yes’ or ‘no’ their opening take on a question is something like: ‘it depends’ or ‘not as much as I’d like’..
Expanding effectively on short answers
Consider how much more candidates give themselves to say if they give an answer both from their perspective and the perspective of someone else e.g. their parents, sibling, teacher etc…
‘My parents would probably say ….. but I …'
Referring to your partner’s answers in your own answers
Consider how much more effective it is to answer a question taking into account what has been heard before in the discourse rather than ignoring it…
'I’m not as keen as Georgios but ….'
Practising even just one of such strategies could easily take up a whole lesson so teachers need to use authentic exam material to focus on and practice something in a targeted way.
