1.
PART ONE In this part, the interlocutor asks questions to each of the candidates in turn. You have to give information about yourself and express personal opinions.
PART TWO In this part of the test, you are asked to give a short talk on a business topic. You have to choose one of the topics from the three below and then talk for about one minute. You have one minute to prepare your ideas.
A: What is important when...?
Considering setting up a staff canteen
●Employees' opinions
●Cost to the company
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B: What is important when...?
Working as a teacher
●Sharing expertise
●Deciding responsibilities
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C: What is important when...?
Negotiating a contract with a customer
●Customer needs
●Available budget
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PART THREE In this part of the test, you are given a discussion topic. You have 30 seconds to look at the task prompt card, an example of which is below, and then about three minutes to discuss the topic with your partner. After that, the examiner will ask you more questions related to the topic.
For two candidates
Trade Delegation
The company you work for is considering whether to send a trade delegation to a country which is a potential new market.
You have been asked to help plan the trip.
Discuss the situation together and decide:
●what the advantages and disadvantages of sending staff on the trip might be
●what kinds of information about doing business in the country the staff need to know before the trip.
For three candidates
Trade Delegation
The company you work for is considering whether to send a trade delegation to a country which is a potential new market.
You have been asked to help plan the trip.
Discuss the situation together and decide:
●what the advantages and disadvantages of sending staff on the trip might be
●what kinds of information about doing business in the country the staff need to know before the trip
●what the company should achieve during the trip.
Follow-on questions ●What other plans for the trip would it be necessary to make in advance?
●What follow-up steps do you think companies should take on returning from a trade delegation?
●If you were offered a place on a trade delegation, would you accept it? (Why?/Why not?)
●What do you think is the best way to give a good impression of a company when doing business abroad? (Why?)
●Why do you think companies sometimes use sales agents to sell their products in other countries?
●How important would it be to speak the language of the country that a trade delegation is visiting? (Why?/Why not?)
INTERLOCUTOR FRAMES
To facilitate practice for the Speaking test, the scripts followed by the interlocutor for Parts 2 and 3 appear below. They should be used in conjunction with Tests 1-4 Speaking tasks. These tasks are contained in booklets in the real Speaking test.
Interlocutor frames are not included for Part 1, in which the interlocutor asks the candidates questions directly rather than asking them to perform tasks.
Part 2: Mini presentations (about six minutes)
Interlocutor:
●Now, in this part of the test I'm going to give each of you a choice of three different topics. I'd like you to select one of the topics and give a short presentation on it for about a minute. You will have a minute to prepare this and you can make notes if you wish. After you have finished your talk, your partner will ask you a question.
●All right? Here are your topics. Please don't write anything in the booklet.
[Interlocutor bands each candidate a booklet and a pencil and paper for notes.]
Interlocutor:
●Now, B, which topic have you chosen, A, B or C?
●Would you like to talk about what you think is important when [interlocutor states candidate's chosen topic]? A, please listen carefully to B's talk and then ask him/her a question about it.
[Candidate B speaks for one minute.]
Interlocutor:
●Thank you. Now, A, please ask B a question about his/her talk.
[Candidate A asks a question.]
Interlocutor:
●Now, A, which topic have you chosen, A, B or C?
●Would you like to talk about what you think is important when [interlocutor states candidate's chosen topic]? B, please listen carefully to A's talk and then ask him/her a question about it.
[Candidate A speaks for one minute.]
Interlocutor:
●Thank you. Now, B, please ask A a question about his/her talk.
[Candidate B asks a question.]
Interlocutor:
●Thank you.
●Can I have the booklets, please?
Part 3: Collaborative task and discussion about seven minutes)
Interlocutor:
●Now, in this part of the test, you are going to discuss something together.
[Interlocutor holds the Part 3 booklet open at the task while giving the instructions below.]
Interlocutor:
●You have 30 seconds to read this task carefully, and then about three minutes to discuss and decide about it together. You should give reasons for your decisions and opinions. You don't need to write anything. Is that clear?
[Interlocutor places the booklet in front of the candidates so they can both see it.]
Interlocutor:
●I'm just going to listen and then ask you to stop after about three minutes. Please speak so that we can hear you.
[Candidates have about three minutes to complete the task.]
Interlocutor:
●Can I have the booklet, please?
[Interlocutor asks one or more of the following questions as appropriate, to extend the discussion.]
Examples:
●Do you think magazines are a good way to keep staff informed? (Why?/Why not?)
●Do you think companies of all sizes should have staff magazines? (Why?/Why not?)
●Is it important for senior managers to contribute to staff magazines? (Why?/Why not?)
●Would you like to contribute to staff magazines? (Why?/Why not?)
●Do you think an internal company website would be a good way of keeping staff informed? (Why?/Why not?)
●Do you think magazines for customers are a useful marketing tool? (Why?/Why not?)
●Thank you. That is the end of the test.