IELTS Speaking Part 1: Lesson 1

• Introduce yourself briefly — under 60 seconds; they are here to talk, not listen.
• Round the group: name, why they need IELTS, target band, test date. Cap each at 45 seconds.
• Write every test date on the board in a column. Leave it up all lesson.
• Ask each student which of the four skills they think is weakest. One word each; note it privately.

The only teacher-fronted transmission stage. Board it fast and move.

Total: 11–14 minutes. One examiner. Face-to-face. Always recorded.

• Three topic sets, roughly 3–4 questions each, 9–12 questions, not more.
• The first set is decided by you — the examiner opens with “Do you work, or are you a student?” Prepare your work-or-study and your home/hometown; those are the only two openers you need.
• The examiner is reading from a script and will not react warmly. This is not a sign you are doing badly.

Myths to kill now:

1. It is not a knowledge test. No one verifies your answer — but inventing takes effort you need for the English.
2. There is no correct opinion.
3. The examiner interrupting you is normal.

• Pair students. Hand each pair a Set A card. Student A asks, B answers; then swap with Set B.
• Your job: circulate and write down what they actually say, verbatim. Do not correct yet.
• If they consent, record one pair on a phone; label with the date.

Then, the hinge (8 min of the 20):

Write 3–4 anonymised answers on the board, exactly as spoken. Ask: “What would stop this getting a 7?” Elicit; do not tell. Board the criteria they discover, grouped under the four marking headings:

Before you move on (2 min): each student privately writes one sentence — “The thing on that board that is most true of me is ______.” Private, kept, not collected. You revisit it in Stage 7.

Most 6.0 candidates give one of two broken answers:

Target: 2–3 sentences. Roughly 20–30 seconds. Present the frame:

Controlled drill (10 min):

• Fire a question at a nominated student (use Set B). They answer using the frame.
• The rest hold up fingers for how many parts they heard (1, 2 or 3).
• Aim for 12–15 questions in 10 minutes. If fingers say 1 or 2, don't discuss — say the number, re-fire the same question, take it again. Length only, no grammar correction.

Freer practice (8 min):

Back to pairs, Set C. Same drill, students count for each other. Introduce the 30-second timer for any rambler.

This is where 6.0 becomes 6.5. Board and let them notice:

Do you cook?
Did you cook when you were a child?
Will you cook more in the future?

Elicit: Part 1 deliberately mixes tenses across a topic set. A candidate who answers all three in present simple has shown no grammatical range.

Task: give out Set D. Before answering, students label each question with the tense it demands. Check as a group, then answer in pairs.

Range chunks — drill the weak forms, use at least two each turn:

• New pairs, not the diagnostic partner.
• Full simulated Part 1 on fresh sets: E, F and G. Ask only the first 4 questions from each — 12 questions in ~5 minutes.
• Examiner reads from the card without reacting. Listener completes the feedback sheet (Appendix B).
• Swap. Then feedback: one piece of praise, one fix. Enforce both.

Recap by eliciting:

1. 2–3 sentences. Answer → Reason → Detail.
2. Match the tense of the question.
3. It doesn't have to be true.

Then: “Look again at the sentence you wrote in the first half. Is it still the true one?” Ten seconds, silent.