The right way to move your mouth when speaking

English
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Everyone knows that the persons first language affects the way they sound when they speak English. For example
a person whose first language is Arabic will sound different speakingEnglish from a person whose first language is
Polish. But do you know why?
The answer is simple: mouth position. Mouth position means whether your mouth is open or closed most of the
time when you speak (whether your jaws, upper and lower teeth, are close together or wide apart).
Many people automatically use the mouth position typical to their first language when speaking English and it
makes their speech harder to understand. The reason were bringing this up is that once you know what affects
your pronunciation, you can work on it, and thus improve your Speaking IELTS score.
Georgie Taylor, a Speech Pathologist and accent specialist with over 9 years of experience, says that to speak
English more like a native speaker (and therefore more clearly) you need to open and close your mouth quite a
lot compared to languages such as Japanese, Cantonese or Russian, for example.
In this short video Georgie explains about the right way to move your mouth in English and even gives you a great
exercise to start your day. To make sure you understand every word we prepared a transcript of the video click
here to download.
If your pronunciation needs a bit of work, here is another great resource to try this page (click here) allows you
to record and compare your own pronunciation to that of a native speaker. Mimicking a native speakers
pronunciation is a very good way to improve your own.
P.S. The website you will be visiting, Star Pronunciation, offers online pronunciation courses that Georgie created
after working face-to-face for many years with international professionals and university students. If you decide to
seriously improve your pronunciation using any of Georgies courses, copy this textIELTSBlog and paste it at the
checkout and you will get a $45 discount (the discount text is case sensitive). This price reduction is exclusive to
IELTS-Blog.com visitors, not available anywhere else.
Get a self study book, for Academic click here, for General here.
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How to get people to understand your spoken
English
Did you know that pronunciation affects your IELTS score? It is a fact that 1/4 of your Band score depends on
how you pronounce English words.
If your English is generally good and your writing is easy to understand (be it your emails, notes, essays or
anything else), but when you open your mouth and say something people look lost, its probably because you
arent speaking clearly. It can be so frustrating when you think theres nothing wrong with the way you speak, but
people obviously struggle they move their faces closer to you (as if they want to hear you better), they keep
sayingI beg your pardon? or Say it again?, and from their answers you see they totally didnt get what you
were asking. Imagine what would happen if your IELTS examiner couldnt figure out what you were saying!
And the reason is your pronunciation. While learning English we pick up a way to pronounce words, and we stick to
it, but its not always correct. The trouble is, we are more concerned with what we say, than how we say it. We
rarely give our pronunciation a second thought, even though the way we pronounce words can make a perfect
sentence sound like nonsense.
But why cant they understand me?!
Georgie Taylor, a well-known Australian speech pathologist, says that these two basic things are very important
the rate and volume of your speech. Very often if you slow down and talk louder, people wont have to
concentrate so hard to understand you. Watch this short video where Georgie explains how you can easily fix
problems with these two areas and have an immediate improvement in your pronunciation:
If you know or suspect you have a problem with pronunciation, Georgie can help click here to watch her free
video lesson on commonly mispronounced words. She is the founder of Star Pronunciation course and helped
numerous people to finally be understood without repeating what they just said over and over again.
P.S. If you decide to purchase any of Georgies pronunciation courses, copy this text IELTSBlog and paste it at
the checkout and you will get a $45 discount (the discount text is case sensitive). This price reduction is exclusive
to IELTS-Blog.com visitors you guys get a special treatment from Georgie!
An IELTS Speaking question: What do you do for the
environment?
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If your exam is tomorrow and they ask you: How are you helping the environment? what do you say?
Well, here is an idea. Its not my idea, nonetheless its an excellent one. Everybody, meet Wayne Kirk and he will
teach you how tosave the world.
Wayne Kirk lives in Chengdu, China and he is a man on a mission. He started a project that will help us all to stop
the Global Warming by growing a plant that absorbs CO2 in unbelievable amounts.
The plant is Algae and it can convert 30 times more CO2 than any other plant. Growing it is easy and Wayne has a
very simple explanation how to start on his website. Click here to quickly learn and start reducing your carbon
footprint.
Why should you care? Well, if you decided to grow the plant, thats wonderful and you will be doing a favor to the
environment, your kids and your grand-kids, but even if you didnt this is something you can tell your examiner if
they ask you What have you done for the environment so far?
So go ahead, check projects website and enrich your IELTS things to say list!
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2 assumptions you shouldnt make about your IELTS
exam
This post is basically a common mistake alert. As you know Im receiving many emails from IELTS test takers
and they tell me about their exams, what went right, what went wrong, and we analyze the situation and what
should have been done differently.
And here is a point regarding the latest exam. As you know it was identical in many countries and apparently many
people had the same problems, because they werent mentally prepared.
Assumption # 1
People assumed that Task 1 in the Academic IELTS will be a chart or a graph and when they were given a
diagram, it came as a complete shock. As a result, it took them longer to get their heads around the task and they
spent over 30 minutes only thinking what they are going to write in their reports. Then its a chain accident if the
first task takes you longer, you dont have enough time for your essay and you are stressed, so the performance
goes down the drain.
This could have been easily solved by practicing beforehand. Guys, when you practice dont choose just graphs,
prepare for diagrams as well, its important to be prepared for whatever they throw at you and not things you think
are likely to appear. If youre under time pressure and have only a week to study thats fine, do just one or two
diagrams, but at least try yourself at it.

Assumption # 2
I dont know why, but people assume that IELTS questions never repeat when this blog is a proof to the fact that
they do, and quite often. Ive got an email from a student that said: You know what is really ironic? I saw my
speaking question the night before my exam on IELTS-Blog, but thought I will never get the same question and
didnt practice it.
Do yourself a favor go through the list of recent exams and familiarize yourself with the latest questions. The
best chances to get the same questions as before are, of course, in the Speakingtest, however in the Writing test
we too have seen that the questions were repeated over time.
And above everything else good luck with your preparation and I wish you an easy exam!
IELTS Speaking tips that helped Phuong get Band 7
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Doan Hung Phuong, Band 7 student, shares with us hissecrets to success in the Speaking test.
Speaking tips
Speaking is a weakness of analytic learners (who learn English from books and tapes). Moreover, in countries
where English is not a first language, improving your speaking in English is really difficult. Therefore, I dont have
much experience in practicing speaking. Here are some tips that I got from my teachers and some suggestions that
I think they might be helpful for you.
Pronunciation is the most important feature in speaking. If you speak correctly, academically and interestingly, but
no one understands what you are talking about, you certainly lose your points.
One of my teachers, who is fluent in 5 languages, shares his experience that pronunciation is the key of learning a
language. It might be true since native English speakers can pronounce a unfamiliar word correctly but dont know
how to spell it. Because English is a combination of many languages, there are no totallygeneral rules for
pronunciation. As a result, you must remember everything.
So how to pronounce the words correctly?
- Firstly, listen and learn what native English speaker said. As I mentioned, listening can help you in speaking.
You can correct yourself in basic words if you listen a lot. Moreover, listening can also help you to learn how to
stress important words, how to speak naturally and even how to organize your speech.
- Secondly, if you learn a new word, you must know how to pronounce it first. Typically, when people want to
learn new words, they revise these words again and again, and write it down so many times. But now, to improve
your speaking and listening, you must hear electronic dictionary pronouncing and repeat after it again and again.
- Thirdly, make sentences with new vocabulary. Everybody might know how to pronounce words correctly, but
when they combine them all together, they cannot pronounce correctly anymore, or even if they do, their sentence
may sound unnatural. The reason is they lack of intonation. Listening might solve this problem.
- Fourthly, practice pronunciation every week (3-4 times a week) by reading out loud a short passage. At first,
you practice to pronounce all the words in that passage correctly. Then read the whole passage slowly and
correctly (pay attention to ending sound).
Afterward, increase reading speed in each sentence (read here means you must speak out the words, not read in
your mind). If you speak quickly but start to pronounce wrongly, that means you reach your limit, dont speak
faster than that. And finally, you read the whole passage again at normal speed, or may be a bit faster than normal
a little bit, but you MUST include intonation.
To find material for practicing this exercise, you can visit this website: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com.
There are hundreds of short news and audio files spoken by a native speaker. I guarantee if you practice this kind
of exercise gradually, you pronunciation will improve a lot. (Note: this is the exercise of my teacher, who speaks 5
languages, as I mentioned before)
Now, to prepare for IELTS Speaking test, you should practice some more exercises:
- Pick a topic and stand in front of mirror to practice speaking test. You should go through all three parts of the real
speaking test. Standing in front of mirror will help you improve your body language and also your pronunciation.
You might find it strange that mirror can correct your pronunciation. In fact, there are some vowels and consonants
that you cant pronounce correctly if you dont know how to do that (not just simply remember the pronunciation).
- Try to speak naturally. You are advised to speak fast with intonation (the previous reading exercise will certainly
help you). You should learn and apply some verb phrases, idioms and slang expressions. This is not the key part of
speaking test, but it is better if you know, not only for your test but also for you speaking skill. If you want to get
7.0, you must master pronunciation, accuracy and intonation.
Important tip #1
When you practice in speaking, you must pay attention to the ending sound. But when you take the real test, dont
do that, because it will affect your fluency. In the real test, it is the time you show examiner what you got, not the
time you can show them how good you can correct yourself. Using experience you gained from practicing to prove
your speaking skill.
Important tip #2
Another wonderful way to practice speaking is to speak English in your dream. If you never do that, you do it now.
I have already spoken English in my dreams even before my teacher advice me to do so. I just watch cartoons in
English, films in English and listen to songs in English. As a result, I naturally dream in English. Actually, I can
control my dreams, lol, it is very interesting, try to do that. By doing that, I can think quickly in my mind, but I still
have problems when speaking my ideas out. So, you must do 2 previous exercises in order to improve speaking.
Get a self study book, for Academic click here, for General here.
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IELTS Speaking Test questions
Here are some real speaking test questions that students from India were recently asked in their exams:
Speaking test #1
Interview
- Is bicycle a good way to move around?
- Do you think that there should be a separate lane for bicycles?
- Why should a child have a bicycle?
- Are you working or a student?
Cue card
Describe a famous person, you should say:
- Who he/she is,
- Why he/she is famous,
- Whether or not you would like to meet him/her and why.
Discussion
- Which qualities should a famous person have?
- Why does the young generation copy them?
- Who were the famous people 50 years ago and who will be famous in the next 50 years?
- Should they have personal life?
- If you had a chance to become famous what would be your attitude?
Speaking test #2
Interview
- What is your full name?
- What can I call you?
- Can I see your identification?
- What do people usually do on weekends in your country?
- What do you do on weekends?
- Did you think art is important in life, such as painting and sculptures?
- Did you draw anything when you were at school?
- Are there any art galleries or museums in your home town?
Cue card
Describe an animal you saw, which you find very interesting. You should say:
- Where you saw it,
- How you felt about it,
- Why you think it was interesting.
Discussion
- What kind of animals do people have in their home?
- Tell me about an animal you saw which is very rare in your home town.
- Why do people have pets in their homes?
- Do you think people do not respect animals these days? What about 50 years ago?
- Earlier people used animals for their work. Now, what do people use to do their work?
- Researchers are being conducted on animals, is this a good idea?
- So many animals are extinct these days. What do you think about this? Why it is happening?
Speaking test #3
Interview
- Tell me about the recent changes in your home town.
- What is the meaning of your name?
- Why were you given this name?
- How may I address you?
Cue card
Describe the happiest recent event that you had.
Discussion
- What moments make other people happy?
- What moments are happy for the elderly?
- Are rich people happy?
Speaking test #4
Interview
- What is your full name?
- How may I address you?
- Where are you living?
- How long have you been living there?
- What are the advantages of your home town?
- Is there any swimming pool?
- Have you been to any swimming pool anywhere?
Cue card
Describe a famous person in your country.
Discussion
- Why do people want fame?
- How can a person become famous?
- What kind of people get inspiration from celebrities?
- What sort of people were famous in the past, 50 years ago?
As you know, the Speaking section in IELTS is now rated differently since half band-scores were introduced. This
post should answer the question so many students are asking what is the difference between Band 5.5 and 6,
what do I need to improve to get that extra half band? In my understanding (and according to what www.ielts.org
says), this is the difference between the band scores for the Speaking test:
Speaking Band 5.0
The candidate tries to keep the speech flowing but their hesitation gets in the way. The responses are rather short,
the candidate tries to use linking words but they seem forced. Only simple sentences are fluent, in the more
complex ones the coherence is much worse. There are repetitions of the same words and the same sentence
structures. The candidates pronunciation is not very good, which includes incorrect stress in words.
Speaking Band 5.5
The candidate gives short answers, is not willing to talk at length. Responses answer exactly what hes being
asked. He hesitates a little and sometimes uses linking words incorrectly. His vocabulary is simple but sufficient for
him to talk on the subject and make himself clear. The grammar of simple sentences is mostly accurate, but there
are several errors in more complex sentences, many of which are left incomplete. There are many mispronounced
words.
Speaking Band 6
The candidate is willing to talk at length, not always directly answering the question. The speech is mostly fluent
with some hesitation and repetition. Usage of linking words (such as however, on the one hand, then again, etc)
is there, but not always they are used appropriately or accurately. The vocabulary is large enough for the candidate
to speak on the given topic and he is easy to understand, even if there are some grammatical errors. The
candidate uses both simple and complex sentence structures; but it shows that the grammar in the complex ones
is harder for him to control . The pronunciation is mostly correct with occasional errors.
Speaking Band 6.5
The candidate can talk at length without much hesitation or repetition. His sentences are easy to follow the
information has a sequence and he uses linking words to move smoothly from one idea to another. His vocabulary
includes not only simple but also sophisticated words on the subject, even if sometimes the choice of a word is
inappropriate, the meaning is perfectly clear. Strong accent gets in the way of correct pronunciation.
Speaking Band 7
The candidate speaks smoothly without much effort. The linking words are used naturally and in the right places.
He doesnt cover the whole subject in his answers. His vocabulary is appropriate but not sophisticated and doesnt
show variations, the language is fluent but relatively simple. He uses some idioms and sometimes does that
inappropriately. The control of grammar is good, the mistakes are rare. His pronunciation is good and the accent
doesnt get in the way.
New tips by an IELTS examiner
I am sure that after reading my previous post, you couldnt wait for the next one. These tips were also shared by
that great guy, a former IELTS examiner, from my last post.
IELTS Speaking tips
If your goal is Band 6, you dont have to speak a complex English just dont make mistakes in the simple English.
Dont experiment with new words during your interview it is not the time. Use only words and phrases you are
sure about. For example, if you were reading a newspaper yesterday and saw a new word, but youre not sure
what it means or when people use it forget about using it in IELTS.

No one will judge you on your ideas, only on your English. If there is a movie you cant describe (your favorite) and
theres a movie can describe (that you have recently seen) choose the second one. They are not interested in the
truth, only in your English.
You have to think about what and HOW you are going to say.
Expose yourself to as much English as you can. Not just to learn new words and phrases, but also to practice until
you master them.
If you make mistake thats bad, if you correct yourself its not that bad. Examiners dont count your mistakes,
and it makes a good impression when you show that a mistake you have made was not intentional.
If you say economic instead of economy and make more mistakes like that its a Band 5 job. If you make just
a couple of such mistakes it could be band 6. If the examiner cant understand you its a band 4.
Band 7 people should show they can use a little of special vocabulary. Explain ideas very well, very clearly, and use
not just simple words, but more special words, like economic environment, favorable conditions, and so on.
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Tips by an IELTS examiner
I was fortunate to have met a very special person, a former IELTS examiner. He sent me an email and it was filled
with GREAT tips, real insider information and, of course, I wasnt going to keep all of that to myself .
IELTS Writing tips
It is better to write in regular, not very sophisticated English, than to use phrases or structures you dont fully
understand.
If you need Band 6 no need for complex sentence structure. If your goal is Band 7 then show advanced
sentence structure, language and vocabulary.
Dont write more than 260-265 words in IELTS Writing 2 task. Why? Not because you will get a lower mark, but
because of these 2 reasons:
1) It takes more time
2) More words = more mistakes

If you are told to cover specific points in your essay/letter cover every point, examiners do actually count them.
Dont overuse connecting words (like However, Furthermore, Moreover, etc) examiners are watching for you to
do that.
IELTS Speaking interview tips
Speak until they stop you, dont just answer the question and stop. Display you best English. Behave as if it was a
driving test keep going straight until told to turn right, left or park.
It is quite possible that you have to speak about something you have never heard of, or have no opinion of. If you
dont know the subject tell the examiner immediately, so he could ask you another question. If you dont tell him
and start trying to speak, he might think that it is not a knowledge problem, but a language problem.
IELTS speaking: what else to expect
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In the Reading or Listening sections it is quite easy to predict what will be your IELTS score. You do some tests
athome, count how many questions you answered correctly, do the math for example 34 out of 40 equals
approximately Band 7.
But how do you measure yourself when it comes to the Speakingtest thats the question!
And here comes answer: using the same criteria your examiner is going to use. I was looking for that information
and found it in the IELTS official site (of all places )
So basically this is what they say:
You belong to a Band 5 level if you
Keep sentences coming slowly (without pauses), repeat words and correct yourself.
Can use simple sentences easily, but the complex ones are difficult for you and it shows (you stop, get confused
or start to repeat yourself).
Cannot say the same thing in a different way (rephrase) or use a synonym for a word.
Use grammatically correct simple sentences most of the time. It is rare that you use more complex sentences
and when you do you make grammatical errors or it is difficult to understand what youre saying.
You belong to a Band 6 level if you
Can speak for some time keeping the right speed (like in yourfirst language), with little difficulties when you
repeat words, correct yourself or get lost in words and stop making sense.
Use some connective words, even if they are not always appropriate.
Can discuss topics (familiar or not) for a long time, using wide vocabulary and making yourself clear.
Successfully rephrase and use synonyms.
Mix simple and complex sentences when you speak, but the in complex ones you make lots of mistakes. Those
mistakes are mostly grammatical and the examiner can still understand you.
You belong to a Band 7 level if you
Have no problem speaking for some time keeping the right speed (like in your first language), your speech is
smooth and easy to understand, it is rare that you pause and look for a word to say, repeat or correct yourself.
Can discuss any topic using a lot of smart words, and you use English expressions correctly.
Use complex sentences without many grammatical errors. There are many more correct sentences in your
speech than incorrect.
I gave you here the descriptions of Bands 5,6 and 7 because these are the IELTS bands most people want to know
about, but you can see the full description of all bands here.
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IELTS Speaking what to expect (a Discussion)
The third part of the Speaking test is called discussion, but guess what you are going to do all the talking .
The topic of discussion will be related to the topic of the second part (a Speech / Cue card), but the difference is
that here you should EXPRESS AN OPINION and explain why it is what it is. This is the part where you should
compare two opinions, present several points of view, say what your perception is, what future developments
might follow, etc.
This part usually takes 4-5 minutes.
Just for you to get a feeling of what its like, click here to listen torecorded session , and here is the transcript,
all from official IELTS site.
This is really the part where youve got to have an opinion on anything and everything.
Any topic you get, you must have something to say about. So here is a good idea go over this list of
topics here and think about them a little bit, see what vocabulary you are going to need, try to discuss them with
a partner or just talk to yourself.
IELTS Speaking what to expect (a Speech)
The second part of the IELTS speaking test is the Speech (otherwise known as the Cue Card talk). The examiner
gives you a card with a topic and 3-4 questions. Then you have 1 minute to prepare a short speech in your head, if
you want you may write the main points on paper. After one minute ends, you should start talking and keep going
for 1-2 minutes.
Here is an example of such card from the IELTS official website:
Describe something you own which is very important to you. You should say:
- where you got it from
- how long you have had it
- what you use it for
and explain why it is important to you.
As you can see, your main task here is to DESCRIBE things. So try to do that as well as you can.
It is very important that you say something about EVERY question that is on the card.
The best thing is to say 2-3 sentences about every bullet. This way your speech will take at least one minute the
minimal time you have to speak.
A good way to practice (requires 2 people) is to give someone a copy of your card and to start speaking. Ask
him/her to put V on bullets youve talked about. Then look how many bullets youve missed in your speech. If you
study alone, you can record yourself and then listen and check for missing bullets.
Practicing with a clock is a very good idea. You need to get a feeling of how long 2 minutes take. When you will
speak in front of a real examiner, it is best that you dont look at your watch and if you have practiced enough
you wont have to.
And at last, for you to get a complete picture of the Speaking part 2 here is a sample question,
a recording and a transcript (all thanks to official IELTS website). Enjoy!
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IELTS Speaking what to expect (Interview)
Ive neglected the Speaking tips for a long time, so this post is about how to do well in the IELTS Speaking test. It
doesnt matter what module of IELTS you are taking, General or Academic the Speaking part is the same in both.
As you know, there are 3 parts in the Speaking sub-test: the Interview, Speech (cue card) and Discussion, read
the details about it here in one of my previous posts.
Now to the Interview: you can and should be prepared to questions they will ask you.
The questions are predictable, look at this great list I found in one of IELTS forums click here.
If you speak well, just go over it and prepare an answer in your head for every question. If you have someone to
practice with do it, if you dont I suggest that you record yourself. You can do that using your PC or a voice
recorder or even one of those MP3 players that can record voice as well.
To get the feeling of a real IELTS Speaking test you can listen to the sample of test here, look at the
questions here and thetranscript of the recording is here.
Best advice to those who speak not so well:
1) Write your answers on a piece of paper.
2) Memorize them.
3) Speak to yourself ask questions and answer according to whatever you wrote. It will improve your
pronunciation and make you more confident. This is how you overcome the initial shock of speaking English.
4) Practice a lot with your wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend, atfirst you may look at your paper, but after a while
stop doing that test your memory.
I prepared my students this way and it helped them a lot.
One more important thing in Speaking you can also receive half-bands, such as 5.5 or 6.5.
I will continue and prepare more Reading tips for you in my next post.