IELTS SPEAKING TEST
Part 2
Describe a speech you gave
You should say:
- When you gave that speech
- Why did you give that speech
- How you felt about it
Sample Answer
A brilliant orator is someone who can captivate his audience with his speech.
The art of eloquence is rarely taught in our schools these days.
Fortunately, we were lucky in having a teacher who encouraged us all to hone our oratory skills.
In fact, this teacher started an annual elocution competition in our school.
I would like to talk about one such competition in which I participated.
It was the time when our state government had started a campaign to raise awareness about reading books among school kids.
So, we were given the topic of ‘Importance of reading books’.
We had to prepare a speech and we were told that we had to finish it within 2 minutes only.
Around 30 students were going to take part in the competition , and each one had to deliver his/her ideas before the audience.
As I have mentioned, we were encouraged and assisted by that brilliant teacher. His name was John Simpson.
Mr. John Simpson was our English language teacher. He did his M.A. in English from St. Joseph College, which is a very prestigious college.
He was a voracious reader, and he introduced some great authors and their masterpieces to us in his English class.
We had 2 weeks to prepare for the competition. And he advised us all to read as much as possible on our topic.
I personally asked him to suggest some reference books and online articles that I can read.
He gave me a book called “Bibliophiles from around the world” from his personal collection. This book had interesting articles written by booklovers from all over the world.
I used this book and other online material to prepare my speech.
On the day of the competition, I was confident about my performance.
When my turn came, I spoke fluently for around 2 minutes, and when I concluded, there was a big round of applause by the audience.
In fact, my father, who was also present there, was moved to tears when he saw the appreciation I got from my teachers.
I won that competition, and I got ‘The Collected Works of Shakespeare’ as the first prize.
When I came home, my father was ready with another surprise. He gave me a hardcover copy of ‘Complete Sherlock Holmes Stories’.
I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, and I love Shakespeare too.
So, in one day, I got two favorite books that I still consider as my prized possessions.
It was a proud moment for me as well as for my parents. Since that day, I have never missed an opportunity to take part in any elocution competition that I come across.
IELTS SPEAKING TEST
Part 3
Why do people get nervous when delivering a speech in front of public?
In my opinion, the fear of public speaking is widespread among people because of lack of training at school level.
People think that making a mistake while delivering a speech will make them an object of ridicule.
This lack of confidence can be attributed to lack of training only.
They have terrible butterflies when they are asked to deliver a speech.
What are the way to hone our public speaking skills?
Preparation is the key to become good at anything.
A public speaker needs a rich vocabulary, and this can be acquired through reading diligently.
And then comes the practice part. One must practice speaking before a mirror or in front of a small audience at home. This can boost confidence.
What qualities a good orator should have?
The best quality is to keep the speech short. As brevity is the surest way to win the audience’s attention.
She should be audible and a clear speech would make the audience understand the message.
If it suits the occasion, she should not hesitate to crack a few jokes too, while delivering her speech.
What are the different types of lectures that you have attended?
Before pandemic, my friend and I went to Town Hall every month, where some leading personalities from different creative fields would talk about interesting things.
This would include topics like art, literature, music, poetry, and spirituality.
These days I watch videos of lecturers on YouTube.
Why is it difficult to deliver a speech in front of young children?
When your audience is quite young, it’s very difficult to keep them engaged for more than a minute or two.
Children also have a limited view of the world around them, and to talk to them we also need to talk in a manner that is understandable to them.
Very few speakers have that power to simplify their matter and present it in an interesting way to their young audience.
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cover Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay