​How to extend your talk in Stage 2 when you are asked to talk about an event

One of the most common categories of topics used in stage 2 involves the task of talking about an event in your life (eg "Talk about a time you made a purchase and was disappointed"). These can be challenging because you have to quickly remember an event but also make sure you leave room to explain the impact this event had on you. An important principle is that you are not working to extend details but extend your language because details take a lot of energy to produce in language.

Here are a few pointers:

​1.Provide a long opening. Give plenty of background before giving action ( actions take more energy and linking words so they are more difficult)
Eg
Well I have had a lot of happy days and it is hard to remember them in great detail but I guess the happiest day of my life was the day that I won top prize in a basketball game at school. At that time I was a student and was preparing for my exams.

2. Just give 3 events – a beginning middle and end but do not overdo the events. Take notes on your structure.

3.Use transitional; statements
Eg So the reason that I think this event was so important to me was......

4.End with a summary that is more than just “so that was my happiest day. Try to add on a bit more. A good extension here is talking about the future
Eg
So that was my happiest day. I hope one day I can meet up with my classmates again because it was really an incredible time together

5. Pace yourself with pauses. People tend to talk too fast in this stage. Speak quickly but give plenty of pauses. Don't be afraid to look down at your notes


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One of the most common categories of topics used in stage 2 involves the task of talking about an event in your life (eg "Talk about a time you made a purchase and was disappointed"). These can be challenging because you have to quickly remember an event but also make sure you leave room to explain the impact this event had on you. An important principle is that you are not working to extend details but extend your language because details take a lot of energy to produce in language.

Here are a few pointers:

​1.Provide a long opening. Give plenty of background before giving action ( actions take more energy and linking words so they are more difficult)
Eg
Well I have had a lot of happy days and it is hard to remember them in great detail but I guess the happiest day of my life was the day that I won top prize in a basketball game at school. At that time I was a student and was preparing for my exams.

2. Just give 3 events – a beginning middle and end but do not overdo the events. Take notes on your structure.

3.Use transitional; statements
Eg So the reason that I think this event was so important to me was......

4.End with a summary that is more than just “so that was my happiest day. Try to add on a bit more. A good extension here is talking about the future
Eg
So that was my happiest day. I hope one day I can meet up with my classmates again because it was really an incredible time together

5. Pace yourself with pauses. People tend to talk too fast in this stage. Speak quickly but give plenty of pauses. Don't be afraid to look down at your notes


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Pronunciation: Rhythm 

Rhythm is a part of pronunciation but it also affects your fluency because good rhythm affects your oral smoothness. Therefore if you are trying to improve your speaking grade, this is a good one to work on.
 
Rhythm relates to the speed and strength of individual words in a sentence. English is often considered a stress-based language, often compared to the playing of a drum with its hard, slow, soft, and fast sounds. Some words are pronounced hard; others are pronounced together with other words very quickly. 

There are patterns to rhythm which connect to grammar, and they are applicable when the speaker is not trying to emphasize any words intentionally.


Patterns of English Sentence Rhythm


1. Strong and Slow words

 
Generally, the following types of words are strong and slow meaning that they can generally be heard more easily than other words. Moreover, they tend to be more important in discovering the meaning of a word (ie content words). The following are the categories of words that are often strong and slow.

1. Nouns [dog, house, John, the teacher, etc]
2. Most verbs [run, build, study, jump, find, leave etc]
3. Adjectives (except possessive adjectives) [big, cold, fantastic, strange, many, etc]
4. Adverbs [fast, quickly, happily, a lot etc]
5. Interjections [by the way, say, excuse me, well.., so…]
6. Pronouns in transition statements [As far as I am concerned, In my opinion, etc

2. Weak and Fast Words


Most English words are weak and join quickly with other words. These are called function words. For example, if you say “I am going to the bank” the “to the” will be joined together like one word “t”. The vowels of these words generally use the phonetic symbol Ә , since it is this symbol that best represents a weak sound.

1. Prepositions [e.g. in, at, on, etc]
2. Articles [e.g. a, an, the]
3. 'Be' verbs [e.g. is, am, are, was, were]
4. Auxiliary verbs (modals) [e.g. will, are is should, can may could, have does did, etc)
5. Pronouns (except in transitions) [e.g. I he she you, etc]
6. Object and possessive pronouns [e.g. me, my him, his, her, them etc]
7. Infinitives [e.g. to]
8. Conjunctions that do not start clauses (compound sentence conjunctions [and, but, or]

 

3. Mildly Stressed Verbs

1. Many common verbs that are used so often are mildly stressed. Such verbs include have, had, see, went, saw, take, took, say, said, think, thought, tell, give, gave, find, found and told.
2. Some nouns that are followed by a possessive pronoun (e.g. my mom) can be mildly stressed. Such nouns include friend, mother, father, guy, girl, boy, man. However, they may also be strongly stressed depending on the context.