FCE. SPEAKING PART 1. EPISODE 2. LEISURE TIME

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¡Hola a todos!

Bienvenidos a un nueva lección de ABC English Levels con Valentina. Vamos a seguir con trucos y consejos para el speaking del examen de Cambridge First Certificate (FCE). Veremos cuáles son las cosas que suelen preguntar los profesores y cómo debemos contestar nosotros. También veremos un vocabulario útil y seguiremos con más consejos como en la primera parte. Recuerda que me puedes hacer cualquier comentario o sujerencia mediante el formulario de contacto.

¡Espero que te guste!

11 PODCAST. FCE. SPEAKING 1, EPISODE 2

Hello! This is ABC English Levels and Valentine here. Get to know more about us and our courses on our website abc-englishlevels.com. Those who are preparing for any official exams should try our new interactive courses from A1 to C1 level as they cover all necessary topics, grammar and vocabulary, test your pronunciation and practice your listening, reading and writing skills. A native teacher will lead you throughout all lessons. We will support you answering your questions via emails, in writing or audio forms, or podcasts. Don’t miss our free demo on our eLive English page!

What you will learn

We continue talking about Speaking Part 1 of the FCE exam.  In today’s lesson, you’ll learn what typical questions the examiners ask and how to answer them. Also, you’ll know the useful vocabulary on common topics for Part 1 of the Speaking test and a helpful tip. Well, let’s start!

Topics of the exam

Apart from the opening ‘Where are you from?’ and ‘Do you work or study?’ you can be asked about your hobbies, friends, family, studies or work etc. Let’s see what questions you can expect for some topics.

QUESTIONS ABOUT FREE-TIME ACTIVITIES

• Is there a sport or another activity you enjoy doing? (What is it? Why do you like it?)
• If you could learn a new skill, what would it be? (Why?)
• Do you like reading? (What do you read? Why do you like it?)
• Have you seen an interesting film recently? Tell me about it.
• Have you ever tried any unusual activity? (What was it? Did you like it?)
• Would you rather stay in or go out? (Why?)
• How often do you work out in your free time? (Is it enough to stay fit?)
• How has the way we spend our free time changed in recent years? (Why?)
• How do you think your free time will change when you have kids? (Is possible to juggle work with bringing up children?)

From the previous lesson, you already know that it’s necessary to pay attention to grammar structures in the examiner’s questions as well as avoid too short responses. The best way is to give one or two details. To understand how it works, you can think of a couple of additional questions for each examiner’s question. (I give them in parenthesis). It’s a rule of thumb for journalists to write an article. Let it be the rule for you too. What/who, when, why, how etc. are the question words to help you. How does it work? Let’s see.

Examples

Examiner: Have you seen an interesting film recently? Tell me about it.

Mind grammar, it’s present perfect simple; implied questions could be: What film, When you watched it, Who with, What it is about, Did you like it?

Your reply: Yes, I have. (What film?) It was ‘The name of a film’, (when and where you watched it?) which I saw at the cinema last week. (Who with?) My girlfriend invited me. (What’s it about?) It’s a love story (drama, thriller, etc.), which I find too schmaltzy (threadbare, dull, etc). (Did you like it?) So, frankly speaking, I didn’t enjoy it very much.

FYI

FYI: ‘Schmaltzy‘ means excessively sentimental, sugary. ‘Threadbare‘ means something overused so that it’s not convincing any more.

We watch films on TV but see them at the cinema.

In case you haven’t watched any recently, your answer could be: Well, I haven’t recently watched any interesting films as I’ve been too busy with my studies (work). But I would like to enjoy an action movie or whodunit. I’m fond of these genres.

FYI: ‘whodunit’ means a detective story, it’s a contracted form of ‘who has done it’.

As you see, the idea is going a bit further than just ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers by giving brief comments.

A TIP

If you want to say something but realise you don’t know enough words for this, make up another thing within your vocabulary limits. That is to say, adapt what you say to your vocab. Don’t worry if it’s a fib. Remember that children and fools tell the truth). Nobody cares, really. What they want from you in the exam is to see your speaking skills. So, go ahead! Feel free and speak! If you aren’t sure how to describe windsurfing, which you really practise, describe another activity, swimming for instance, though you can’t swim but know the words to talk about it! Got it?

FYI

FYI: ‘fib‘ means an unimportant lie, fiction. The proverb ‘Children and fools tell the truth‘ means that sometimes it’s beneficial to tell a small lie, and only children and fools are not aware of this.

USEFUL VOCABULARY. FREE-TIME ACTIVITIES

Some words and phrase can help to make a favourable impression on your examiners. Let’s consider some of them.

Words and expressions

Work words are in my 8th podcast. Find useful vocab to describe your leisure time.

When: on weekdays, at weekends, during the week, on a free day, on holidays, during a sabbatical year (a year off), etc.

Preference: I would rather (I’d rather) do sth than do sth else. I prefer doing / to do sth.

Likes: I’m fond of/keen on/interested in/into doing sth.

Dislikes: I dislike/hate/can’t stand doing sth.

Characteristics of activities: (+) enjoyable, healthy, relaxing, extreme, cheap, fun, challenging, rewarding. (-) Tedious, dangerous, monotonous, dull, boring, expensive.

Start sth: take up, give it a go, have a go, try.

Go swimming, surfing, running, shopping, etc.

Do exercises, activities, archery, yoga, karate, judo, etc.

Play: hockey, football, chess, volleyball, etc.

Wishes: I’m eager to (do sth new), I have a hankering to (go somewhere), I can’t wait to (try sth), I’m looking forward to (sunbathing).

Use vocabulary in practice

We normally work or study on weekdays and have rest at weekends. During the week, we would rather relax at home than go out and hang out with our friends. Some activities can be enjoyable and challenging, others cheap and healthy, or relaxing. For any of these reasons, we are into something/we are fond of/we are keen on/we are interested in doing a certain activity. When we take up a new activity, we start doing it. We may take risks, that is do something despite possible negative consequences. Often, we must have a go, or, in other words, try something to have a clue, which means be able to understand or deal with something. Never played chess or handball? Give it a go! If you have a hankering to go windsurfing or do archery or yoga, why not try it?  We may never become sports stars, but we’ll have something to say about it. We sometimes wish the things were different from what they are, and we can think: If I had more spare time / more money / less work, I would (definitely) travel more because… And here everybody gives their own explanation.

This is it for today. In the next lesson, we’ll learn to talk about other topics that can appear in an exam. Thank you for listening. Follow us, learn with fun and take care! This was ABC English Levels and Valentine. Good luck!