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Part 2

Let’s take a close look at Part 2 of the speaking exam. Part 2 is very different form parts 1 and 3. Because in this section, you are going to give a short speech or monologue. So this section requires some special preparation. Let’s talk about strategy for Part 2. Okay, first of all, what to expect.

So for part two, you are going to receive a card with a prompt on it. Your prompt is basically just your basic question or topic that you need to discuss for your speech. Below your main question or topic on the card, will be 3 or 4 subpoints. These are points related to your main question or topic. But they are smaller pieces of information that you need to provide in your response about the main question or topic.

We’ll see in a minute when we look at the topic card, what those look like. So, in general, you have one minute to prepare. So, after you get your card, you will have a minute to plan your response. And then, you’re supposed to speak for one to two minutes for your speech. After your speech, expect that your examiner will ask you one or two follow up questions related directly to what you said in your speech.

So let’s look at an example topic card, okay? This would be a typical card for Part 2. At the top, we have sort of the first section of the card. And you notice here’s our main question or topic. It says, describe a place that was special to you as a child. Okay, so that’s a typical kind of part two topic that you would have to respond to.

Then below we see our sub-points, in the middle here this is our first group of sub-points, okay? And these are usually smaller bits of information and the all things that you need to include somewhere in your response as you respond to the question. So you notice here, say where this place is located, what the place looks like, and how frequently you went to this place.

Okay, so that’s the first set of sub points. And then 3, at the bottom, this is a more open question usually. Something that you could talk more about, and that’s a special part of these cards. And as we talk about responses in a second, I’ll describe why it’s important. Okay, just noticed these three main parts. All right, so preparing for Part 2.

It’s important that you get practice taking notes and speaking from your notes for this part because that a skill you’ll have to do when you do Part 2. You should use the question card provided to you to take your notes, so you’ll have something to write with and you can just take some quick notes on the question card that they give you. As you practice, taking notes and then giving your speech from your notes, make sure you time yourself.

Get your watch out, look at the watch as you plan, and then give your speech. Remember, your planning time is only 1 minute, which is not a long time. So as you practice these sample cards, you’ll need to practice getting used to the amount of time it takes to prepare for your Part 2 speech. Okay, the notes, specifically it’s best to focus your attention as you write your notes on the last subtopic on your topic card.

This was Part 3 of the card that we looked at on a previous slide, okay? Remember, the last question is one that you will have the most to say about. The ones before it are things you can just mention quickly at the beginning of your little speech. The last subpoint is the one that you can have more to say about. So, as a reminder, this one down here, this question should be the focus of your notes, okay?

Because that’s where you will have the most to say. These things are best to say at the beginning of your speech. Just say answers to these questions right away to get yourself talking, okay? You can just look at your card and say what you have to say about these three points. But then you’ll move to your notes to finish your speech, and that’s what you’ll wanna focus on down here.

When you write your notes, focus on the last point. Okay, so as you take notes, and we will look at some example notes in just a moment, as you take notes, make sure to keep it very simple, okay? You don’t really have time to write out full sentences and you don’t really want to be reading sentences during your speech anyway, they will count you down for that.

You need to plan notes that are just reminders so that you can speak with your normal and natural pace when you are giving your speech. Okay, now specifically as we look at that last subpoint on your topic card, what you should try to do is to come up with two main ideas for that one subpoint, okay? Okay, so two main ideas that you can discuss at the end of your speech. And you should write 1- 3 words to remind you of those ideas, okay?

So start with two main ideas for that one question. And any notes you can think of to remind yourself what to say. Not long, though, 1- 3 words is enough. And then if you can, think of an example or detail and write that down below each main point. Just as a reminder, these are notes to remind you not to give you detailed sentences or information.

You just don’t have time for that in Part 2. So if we were to look at an example, okay, so here’s my topic card, and remember, this was Part 3, I moved it to the top on this card just so I could show you some notes and you can remember what the topic was. But on our first card, we saw part 3 was way at the bottom. So this is the section that we want to focus our notes on.

And you remember, the question was, describe a place that was special to you. Okay, so in my speech I’m going to talk about a park that was behind my house, when I grew up. So this place was special to me when I was a child, okay? I have two main points about my park, okay? So these are my main points.

This was a place for adventure, that’s main point number one. And this was a place that had personal meaning for me, that’s main point number two. Then as details for each of my main points, I can say, okay, so for adventure here at the top, this main point, a detail I can describe about this place was that it was very safe for me to explore as a child.

Even when I was very small, my parents would let me go out and explore this park on my own. So that’s a detail I could add. There were many hidden spots in the park. There were little caves and little trees that were hollow in the middle and I could go hide there.

These are details related to why this park was a great place for adventure. Okay, and again it also tells you why it was special to me, okay? My second main point, my second reason this place was special to me was that it had personal meaning. My brother got married at this park, okay, so that made it special to me. And we had a very meaningful family reunion, so all my aunts, and uncles, and grandparents came to this park.

So this was a special place for me growing up as a child. All right, these are details related to my main point that this part had special meaning. Okay, so to review. Part 2 is a monologue response to a set of prompts on a card that you will receive from your examiner.

You have one minute to prepare a speech and you must speak for one to two minutes on the topic provided. You need to cover all the topics on the card, okay? So you begin your speech just by answering those simple topics in the middle of your card. Trying to get those details out of the way, and then you finish with the explanation of the third part of the card, which is a more open-end answer.

On our card, I focused my notes on why that place was special to me. To really get good at this, you need to practice that. Take those cards, practice taking notes on the last prompt on the card, planning two main ideas and details for that idea, okay? Time yourself. You need to really get the timing for taking these notes A=and then speaking from your notes as you go.

You focus your notes on that last, open-ended subpoint on your index card, because that one is going to be the most open question. Okay, so this was an introduction to Part 2 of the speaking exam. The questions on your card will be usually fairly basic and simple, but you simply need to plan responding with organization and structure with those notes that you create to help you speak during Part 2.