tips and useful phrases for speaking

FCE tips: speaking part 2: describing pictures
Aims to help students compare and contrast different pictures.
Tip 1
In the exam, the examiner will give one of the candidates two pictures. The first
thing they will ask the candidate to do is to show the pictures to the other
candidate(s). This means that everyone has seen the pictures and it is therefore
perfectly acceptable to say 'this picture' and point. More complex language such as
'the top picture' or 'the former/ the latter' is, of course, even better.
Tip 2
The examiner will then give the candidate precise instructions about what they
should say about the pictures. The instructions always have two parts, so students
should listen very carefully.
Tip 3
If there is anything a student doesn't understand about a question, they should ask
the examiner to repeat. If they still don't understand, they should ask again. They
should remember that they are being tested on their speaking in this part of the
exam, not their listening comprehension. However, one thing they are being scored
on is their ability to actually answer the question they are asked.
Tip 4
Asking the examiner to repeat can actually be the perfect opportunity to show off
some complex language - e.g. 'I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch the last part', 'If I can
just check what you are saying, you'd like me to ', 'I'm not quite sure what
(contrast) means', etc.
Tip 5
The examiner almost always asks the students to 'compare and contrast the two
pictures'. They will never be asked to simply describe them. Any activities giving
oral practice of comparing language (more than, less than, (not) as __________ as,
similar to, etc.) and contrasting language (although, whereas, however, etc.) are
good practice for this. See lesson plan for examples.
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Tip 6

The second part of the question is usually about giving some kind of opinion e.g.
'Compare and contrast the two holidays and say which you would prefer'.
Language like 'in my opinion' and 'personally' can be very useful here.
Tip 7
Students should make sure they are talking to the examiner (and the other
candidate) rather than to the picture! This can be practised in the classroom by
getting students to turn over the picture once they have taken a glance at it, or even
getting them to do a task with imaginary pictures.
Tip 8
The examiner will interrupt the student speaking after one minute, even if they are
halfway through a sentence. Being interrupted is actually good, as it means they
haven't run out of things to say.
Tip 9
As the examiner takes the photos away from the first candidate, they will ask the
other candidate a question about those photos. Again, this is probably a question of
opinion, e.g. 'Which holiday would most people prefer?’ This only requires a short
answer, but is a perfect chance to show they have been listening to what their
partner said, with language such as 'As (Juan) said ', or 'I agree entirely with
(Lee Yan).'
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USEFUL PHRASES FOR FCE SPEAKING EXAM
PART 1
I'm speaking English for my own satisfaction / my job / in order to improve my
employment prospects.
If you want to go ahead these days, you need to have a good command of English
I always loved (the sea).
I'd love to visit places untouched by man.
However, there's no place like home.
That's a big question!
I want to be a useful member of society.

I'm keen on
I'm an avid (traveler, zapalony)
I haven't given it much thought until now.
PART 2 - COMPARING CONTRASTING
In both of these pictures there are …Both pictures ….………… is similar in that
it's ……………slightly more (adjective) than ………….far more (adjective) than
…………….considerably more (adjective) than… …… differ in several ways …
Another important difference is ……On the one hand …., on the other
……………while ………………… whereas… In contrast
…………………………Although …………., ……………………
The impression I get is that …. As far as I can work out, it's …
I could be wrong, but …… I wouldn't be surprised if …
This looks like it's ……. There's something that looks like …
It looks as if it might be … It's a kind of …
It could be ……………
I think he's probably ….ing Perhaps he's … ing
It comes across as if he's … He looks as if he's … ing
If I were …
What strikes me about the first picture is the fact that
This picture reminds me of
Judging from the photograph, the children
The man appears to be
From what we can see here, he must
There are many similarities
Both picture depict
Both picture are quite similar in that they show
When you give it a closer look it reveals
The first picture whereas the other picture
Another important difference is
Picture doesn't show as clearly as

Picture attempts to but I think picture does this more effectively
All pictures are interesting, but gives a stronger idea of
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It's difficult to tell from a photograph but this picture could have been taken in
I might be wrong, but I'd say that this picture
I would imagine/guess that this picture comes from
Picture is by far the best to show because
To me, picture is essential for this kind of publication.
I'm surprised there is no picture showing
A picture of would get the message across more effectively.
The cover would be so much better if we had a picture of
So let's look at the alternatives
The name for this escapes me at present, but it's for/it's like
The name for it is on the tip of my tongue
PART 3 & 4
Up to the problem in question
The main problem centres around
It's my belief
For my part
As I see it
As I was saying
I forgot to mention
I'm of the opinion that
To my mind
To my way of thinking
I am convinced that
I am inclined to believe that
Don't get me wrong but shouldn't we ?
Judging by they must be
is a separate issue.

Moving on to
Taking everything into account
I couldn't agree more.
I agree up to a point.
I think I see what you mean, but
I'm in two minds about it. / I'm ambivalent about
I don't see eye to eye with you here
That's true in a way, I suppose, but
I don't feel convinced
That's one way of looking at it. On the other hand
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Can you take a clear stand on that matter?
It brings to the question / idea / problem of
Perhaps we should put first? What do you think?
A strong point in favour of is that
What do you think should go next?
Are you happy with this order then?
Do you go along with that?
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