B1 PRELIMINARY

SPEAKING
Collect and edit by Ms. Minh Vy
Part 1: 2 mins - Respond

Part 2: 3 mins - Describe

Part 3: 4 mins
Make & Respond

Part 4: 3 mins - Discuss

Part 1: Respond to questions, giving
factual or personal information
◦ Part 1 consists of a series of personal questions that the
examiner asks candidates.
◦ And it is divided into two phases :
◦ Phase 1: the interlocutor asks the names , the origin of
the candidates and what is their profession
or occupation .
◦ Phase 2: in this phase the interlocutor asks the
candidates other questions about their preferences,
their hobbies, etc.
Part 1: Watch
the video to
take notes
- Verb tenses
- Vocabulary
- Adjectives
- Grammar points
Part 2: Describe
◦ In this part, candidates have to describe a photo in
about 1 minute.
◦ For each candidate there is a different photo, and the
theme is also different.
Part 2: Watch
and take notes
Part 2: Describe
◦ The interlocutor (examiner) is going to ask you to describe an
image, and is going to do it in the following way:
◦ Now I'd like each of you to talk on your own about something. I'm
going to give each of you a photograph and I'd like you to talk
about it.
◦ Candidate A, here is your photograph. It shows people at a
party .
◦ Candidate B, you just listen.
Candidate A, please tell us what you can see in the photograph.
Structure to describe any photo
◦ What works best is a description that goes from the most general
to the most specific.
◦ There are 4 parts in a description of a photo in 1 minute:
◦ Brief overview : we talk about the scene itself, without focusing
on any particular detail.
◦ Long description : we focus on the details, always from the most
general to the most specific.
◦ Speculation : we infer ideas of things that we see in the image.
◦ Less relevant details
→ The most natural thing is for them to mix with each other.
How to start a photo description

◦ Recommend starting with a single sentence that answers the following

questions:
◦ Who?
◦ Doing what?
◦ Where?
◦ When? (optional)
◦ To introduce this sentence, you can always use one of the following
expressions:
◦ In this picture, I can see…
◦ This picture shows…
For example
◦ Who : an Asian family
◦ Doing what : having lunch
◦ Where : in their garden
◦ When : a beautiful sunny day
→ In this picture, I can see an Asian
family having lunch in their
garden. And it's a beautiful sunny
day.
Practice
◦ Who :
◦ Doing what :
◦ Where :
◦ When :
→ This picture shows a family having a
picnic at the garden. It’s a beautiful
sunny day.
Practice
◦ Who :
◦ Doing what :
◦ Where :
◦ When :
→ In this photo I can see a group of
tourists visiting the field on a beautiful
sunny day.
Practice
◦ Who :
◦ Doing what :
◦ Where :
◦ When :
→ This is a picture of people queuing in
front of an ATM, perhaps in the evening.
Giving the general description of the
scene
How to describe the details of a photo

◦ The important thing is that our speech goes from the

most general to the most specific.
◦ So now you have to ask yourself what is most important.
For example
◦ In the photo below, which is more important: the family or the trees in the background?
◦ That they are sitting around a table or that the woman has a bouquet of flowers?
◦ Depending on how you answer these questions in your head, your description will be more or less logical.

There are five people in the picture: three of

them are sitting around a table and two of them
are standing up. They all seem very happy.

On the table, there are plenty of dishes with

food and some glasses with orange juice. I can
also see a bottle of water on the left.
How to speculate on a scene

◦ Simply means getting ideas of things that may be happening in a photo.

◦ For example, here we could say something like this:

The man in the middle looks older than the

others, so he might be a grandfather and the
other people could be his children and
grandchildren.

The man on the left is holding a present and

the woman on the right is holding some
flowers, so I believe it might be someone's
birthday or anniversary. That's probably why
they are all so happy.
Less relevant details
◦ Finally, if you have already described the main scene in full
◦ have speculated on what may be happening
◦ you can also talk about other details that are not as important as:
◦ Time
◦ Photo background

It must be summer or spring, because it's

really sunny and the family are all wearing
short sleeves.

In the background, I can see some grass, a

few trees and the neighborhood's houses.
In this picture, I can see an Asian family having lunch in their garden. And it's a beautiful
sunny day.
There are five people in the picture: three of them are sitting around a table and two of
them are standing up. They all seem very happy. On the table, there are plenty of dishes
with food and some glasses with orange juice. I can also see a bottle of water on the left.
The man in the middle looks older than the others, so he might a grandfather and the
other people could be his children and grandchildren. The man on the left is holding a
present and the woman on the right is holding some flowers, so I believe it might be
someone's birthday or anniversary. That's probably why they are all so happy.
It must be summer or spring, because it's really sunny and the family are all wearing short
sleeves. In the background, I can see some grass, a few trees and the neighborhood's
houses.
A GREAT VOCABULARY
LIST TO DESCRIBE IMAGES
Structure
◦ Always use the same structure.
◦ You will not have to think about how to describe a
photo but only what vocabulary to use.
VERBS TENSES
◦ To describe a photo in a basic way you only need two
verb tenses:
◦ Simple Present : This picture shows a family…
◦ Present continuous: They are having lunch in the
garden
USEFUL VERBS
◦ Useful verbs: The following verbs can almost always be
used.
◦ There is / are…: There’s a lot of food on the table.
◦ is / are holding: The man on the left is holding a
present.
◦ is / are standing: The woman is standing on the right.
◦ is / are sitting: … three of them are sitting around a
table.
◦ is / are lying: There's a woman lying on the sofa.
◦ Descriptive adjectives: a beautiful sunny day sounds
much better than a sunny day .
◦ Avoid long pauses: try saying something like let me
think or let me see when you need some time to think.
◦ Verbs and expressions to speculate:
◦ look / seem + adjective: They look quite happy.
◦ look / seem like + noun: They seem like a family.
◦ seem to be doing: They seem to be celebrating a
birthday or anniversary.
◦ maybe / probably: Maybe / Probably it's the
grandfather's birthday.
◦ could / may / might be: The man in the middle might
be the grandfather.
◦ must be: It must be someone's birthday or anniversary.
◦ I think / believe: I think they are celebrating
someone's birthday or anniversary.
◦ Always justify your speculations : They seem to be
celebrating a birthday or anniversary. I say so because
these two people are holding a present and some
flowers.
◦ Time and season: you can almost always talk about the
weather or the season of the year, but leave it until the
end if it is not particularly important in the image.
Parts of an image: if you think it is necessary to mention something that is
in a particular place in the photo, you can use the following expressions:
◦ Basic place prepositions:
◦ on / in / under
◦ next to / behind / in front of / opposite
◦ over / above / below
◦ Useful random expressions: In this subcategory I am going to give you a few expressions that are usually
quite useful because you can use them in almost any description.
◦ a group of people
◦ sitting around a table
PICTURES TO PRACTICE
This pictures shows a group of young people
( who ?) having a meeting ( doing what ?) in an
office ( where ?).
There are four women and two men. Three of
them are sitting down on a sofa and three of
them are standing up behind it. In the center ,
there is a beautiful woman explaining
something, and the other people seem to
be listening to her. Maybe she's the boss and the
others are her employees.
In front of her , there's a table with a laptop, a
pen and some paper. The woman on the
right , in the foreground , might be taking some
notes.
In the background , on the right , I can see a
large piece of furniture with some small
plants. There's also a glass wall and a door.
In this picture, I can see two children
taking a photo in the countryside.
There's a boy and a girl, who might
be brother and sister or just friends. He is
standing on the right and he's holding a
camera, which is on a tripod. The girl is
standing on the left , probably posing for
the picture. They are very young
children, maybe around 5 or 6 years old.
The boy is wearing a light gray shirt and a
pair of beige trousers, and the girl is
wearing a beautiful red dress.
The scene is lovely , because the ground is
full of small, yellow flowers, and in the
background there are many tall
trees. It must be a forest.
This picture shows a group of teenagers playing
soccer on a football pitch on a sunny day.
I can see 4 or 5 teenage boys, divided in two
teams. One of the teams is wearing red and white T-
shirts and shorts, whereas the other team's kit is black
and white.
In the center of the picture , there are two boys
fighting for the ball, and behind them there’s another
player looking at them. He's a little chubby. They are
all playing on a grass pitch.
In the background, I can see the goal and the
goalkeeper, as well as a lot of vegetation, especially
trees. It's a beautiful sunny day , but I think it must
be too hot to play football, because
it's probably summertime.
Part 3: Discuss
◦ In Part 3 the candidates have to interact with each
other.
◦ The interlocutor poses a situation to the candidates and
gives them a series of images to help the conversation
flow.
◦ Candidates have to speak up and decide the best
option for the situation at hand.
◦ An agreement is not mandatory
WHAT’S IN PART 3?
◦ The third part of the B1 Speaking consists of a conversation between the
candidates to try to reach a conclusion.
◦ The conversation is preceded by the Interlocutor's instructions and will be
based on a series of images that provide ideas for the conversation on the
topic at hand.
◦ The dynamics for this task is as follows:
◦ The Interlocutor gives the instructions.
◦ The candidates speak for 2-3 minutes.
◦ The Interlocutor interrupts (if necessary) to finish this part.
see an example of what
the interlocutor's instructions are like
and what the images that accompany
this activity are like.
SAMPLE SPEAKING
PART 3
SAMPLE CONVERSATION FOR PART 3
- Candidate A: Shall I start?
- Candidate B: Of course, yes.
- Candidate A: Well, I think going fishing might be a good idea . Many people find it relaxing. What do you
think?
- Candidate B: I agree, but maybe he needs to go far to go fishing. Something like swimming is healthier
and it's closer to his house, probably . What's your opinion?
- Candidate A: Well, you may be right . Swimming is a very healthy sport. And what about cooking?
- Candidate B: Cooking is great, but if this man works a lot, probably he wants to do something outside his
house, so maybe cooking is not the best idea. I think hiking in the countryside with his dog is better, don't
you think?
- Candidate A: Ah, I think so, too . Walking is healthy and he can spend time with his dog, which is
nice. And, honestly , if he's tired he won't want to go to a club. What do you think?
- Candidate B: Of course not . And painting and reading, I believe they're boring and not very active, so in
my opinion the best option is to go hiking with his dog. Do you agree?
- Candidate A: I completely agree with you . It's healthy and he can have a good time outdoors.
Useful expressions for Part 3 of PET
Speaking
◦ Useful expressions to start the conversation
◦ Shall I start?
◦ Of course!
◦ Do you want to start?
◦ Okay, I'll go first.
◦ Would you like to start?
◦ Yes, thank you.
◦ Useful expressions to express agreement or
disagreement
◦ Of course (not)
◦ I (completely) agree (with you)
◦ I think so to
◦ That's true
◦ You may be right, but ...
◦ Useful expressions to give your opinion
◦ I think ...
◦ I believe ...
◦ I suppose ...
◦ In my opinion,…
◦ The way I see it,
◦ … Is a good choice.
◦ … Is the best option.
◦ Useful expressions to ask your partner's opinion
◦ What do you think?
◦ What do you think about…?
◦ What's your opinion?
◦ … Don't you think?
◦ … Isn't it?
◦ Do you think… is a good idea?
◦ What / How about (doing) sth.?
THE PROCESS OF SPEAKING PART 3
1. START THE CONVERSATION
2. EXPRESS YOUR OPINION ABOUT ONE PICTURE DEPENDS ON THE GIVEN TOPIC
3. ASK YOUR PARTNER’S OPINION ABOUT YOUR IDEA
4. DO STEP 2 AND 3 AGAIN
5. UNTIL THE FINAL STEP, MAKE THE FINAL DECISION
Part 4: Discuss
◦ In this part the interlocutor will ask questions to the
candidates that arise from the theme in part 3.
◦ This interlocutor will be able to ask independent
questions to each candidate or ask them to speak to
each other.
Title Lorem Ipsum

LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET, NUNC VIVERRA IMPERDIET ENIM. PELLENTESQUE HABITANT MORBI
CONSECTETUER ADIPISCING ELIT. FUSCE EST. VIVAMUS A TELLUS. TRISTIQUE SENECTUS ET NETUS.