Speaking practice questions.

Pronunciation for the oral: which of these words is stressed on the FIRST syllable?

• photographer
• photograph
• photography
• photographic

Answer: photograph

'Photograph' is PHO-to-graph. The endings -er and -y pull the stress onto the second syllable (pho-TO-gra-pher, pho-TO-gra-phy) and -ic pulls it onto the syllable before it (pho-to-GRA-phic), so the whole word family has to be learnt aloud, not just spelt.

The examiner says: 'So the photograph was taken in a hospital?' You want to correct only the place. Which word do you stress in your reply 'No, it was taken in a school'?

• 'taken'
• 'was'
• 'school'
• 'it'

Answer: 'school'

English signals a correction by stressing the word that carries the new information. Stressing 'was' insists that it really happened, 'taken' contrasts the action, and 'it' contrasts the object; none of them corrects the place.

In the oral conversation the examiner asks: 'Do you enjoy team sports?' Which reply is the strongest for the interaction criterion?

• 'Yes, I do. Team sports are very good for young people.'
• 'Yes, but I would rather go back to describing the photograph now.'
• 'I am sorry, could you possibly repeat the question, please?'
• 'Not really — I prefer running alone, at my own pace.'

Answer: 'Not really — I prefer running alone, at my own pace.'

Interaction is credited for engaging with the actual question and giving a personal response the conversation can build on. The generic 'very good for young people' says nothing about you and gives the examiner nothing to follow up, returning to the photograph ignores the question, and asking for repetition only helps if you genuinely did not hear.

Which of these replies would sound too informal in the individual oral?

• 'I would say it depends on the situation.'
• 'Yeah, whatever, I guess it's fine.'
• 'That is quite a difficult question, actually.'
• 'I am not entirely sure, to be honest.'

Answer: 'Yeah, whatever, I guess it's fine.'

The oral is a semi-formal conversation with a teacher: spoken markers such as 'actually' and 'to be honest' are perfectly acceptable, but 'yeah, whatever' signals indifference and belongs to casual talk between friends.

A candidate spends the whole SL oral presentation listing the objects and people visible in the photograph. What is the main weakness of this presentation?

• It uses too many adjectives and not enough verbs of movement.
• It is likely to be finished long before the four minutes are over.
• It does not link the image to the prescribed theme or develop ideas about it.
• It gives the examiner nothing to correct in terms of grammar.

Answer: It does not link the image to the prescribed theme or develop ideas about it.

The stimulus is a starting point, not the subject: marks come from connecting the image to a theme and building ideas on it. Finishing early is a symptom of that missing development, not the problem itself.

Softening a claim in the oral. Complete with ONE word: 'Generally ___, teenagers spend more time online than their parents do.' (one word)

Answer: speaking

'Generally speaking' is a fixed hedging phrase: it presents a tendency instead of an absolute fact. Absolute claims such as 'all teenagers' are the easiest thing for an examiner to challenge.