Topic outline
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This resource supports the following syllabuses for examination from 2024:
- Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language 0510
- Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language 0511
- Cambridge IGCSE (9-1) English as a Second Language 0993
- Cambridge IGCSE (9-1) English as a Second Language 0991
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Videos
The participants in these videos are not taking a real examination but demonstrating the structure of the Speaking test and performance levels. Centres are not required to submit video recordings.
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Specimen Speaking Test Video 1
Speaking Assessment Card B - Moving house
Whole test - click to watch video
Video transcript
Speaking Assessment Card B
Teacher/examiner: Hello.Centre number: AB123
Centre name: International Centre
Examination: English as a Second Language
Examiner name: Mrs S Ellis
Date: 1 April 2024
Candidate number: 0002
Candidate name: Mouna Farhat
Speaking Assessment Card B
Teacher/examiner: First, we will start with a short warm-up where I will ask you some questions to find out more about you. This part is not assessed. After the warm-up there are three assessed parts to the test: an interview, a short talk and a discussion.
Teacher/examiner: Where do you live?
Candidate: Er, I’m live in France, er in a small town, um and …
Teacher/examiner: Tell me about the town.
Candidate: Yeah, it’s a little town but it’s quite dyamic because they are a lot of students and er and um also there’s also a lot of stuff to do around so it’s really nice and it’s actually in the middle of the France so we can, we are closed off from a lot of other place places.
Teacher/examiner: What did you do during your last holiday?
Candidate: Er, during my last holidays I went with my dad in south of France in a camping, er so yeah.
Teacher/examiner: What subject do you most enjoy at school?
Candidate: Er, at school I really enjoy er literature, and also art because I like to draw and to, I don’t know to paint, so yeah.
Teacher/examiner: The first assessed part of the test is an interview. I am going to ask you some questions about shopping. Try to say as much as you can for each question. Before we start, do you have any questions?
Candidate: No.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about your favourite place to shop?
Candidate: Um, my favourite er place to shop is er the shopping shopping centre sorry because er there are a lot of, er is plenty of different shops so I, I have a lot of choice, and I like to go there.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about something you bought recently and why you bought it?
Candidate: Er, last week I bought er a necklace to my mum because it was her birthday, so, this was the last thing I, I bought.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me more about what the necklace?
Candidate: Er, it’s a sliver necklace with a heart and um yeah, that’s all.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think all shopping will be online in the future? Why? Why not?
Candidate: I think err it can happen because err lot of er things start to be cheaper and umm some shop are even only online, umm maybe it’s cheaper for some er business, so yes but I think er the customer still prefer to see the product, to touch, to try and er to see it for real before to buy, so it’s possible but maybe not, no.
Teacher/examiner: Ok, can you tell me about why you think people don’t like shopping online?
Candidate: Um, because they can’t try, they can’t touch, they can’t touch the product, and maybe sometimes they need to be err to be err to get advice from er the sellers, so yeah, I think it’s really important.
Teacher/examiner: Thank you. The second assessed part of the test is a short talk. I will give you a card and you will have one minute to read it and think about what you want to say. You should talk about the points on the card. You can’t make any written notes, but you can ask me if there is anything you do not understand. You may keep the card until the end of the short talk. Here is your card.
Teacher/examiner: You now have up to two minutes to talk about the topic on the card. I will stop you after two minutes, but do not worry if you have not finished your talk. Would you like to start?
Candidate: Yes. So, um my family is planning to move err to move on another place, so if I have to choose between an apartment er in the city and a house in the countryside, I think I prefer um I think each of this two option have some advantage and inconvenience, but I think I prefer to be in a house in a countryside because it’s bigger a bigger place, with a bigger garden I suppose and in in somewhere maybe more relaxed than err in the city centre, so I think I definitely choose er the countryside. Um, the apartment in the city can be good too because you are closer from everything, er maybe closer from your friends if er if they are living in the city too. But er I think it’s louder, more noisy than err the countryside. Um, yeah, so I think the advantage when you are in the city centre is to be closer from all the shop, all the places you need, er but er it’s not comfortable as to be in err in the countryside.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think there are any disadvantages in the countryside?
Candidate: Yeah, I think I think er to be in the countryside um you you can be far from the city centre so you need to get err to um to to take the train or the bus er and I don’t know what and in my age it’s…
Teacher/examiner: Thank you. Can I have the card back, please? Now let’s move on to Part 3 of the test.
Teacher/examiner: Now let’s move on to Part 3 of the test. Now I am going to ask you a few questions related to the topic you have just talked about. This part of the test will last approximately three minutes. Before we start, do you have any questions?
Candidate: No thank you.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think that children should be involved in making the decision about moving house?
Candidate: It depends. I think yes, because er I think they can feel better to be involve and to know that the their parents care about their opinion, so of course it can be good but it depend the age of er the children because er when you are a child maybe you are more more thinking about your own your own steps, so yeah, but err the main decision er have to be take by the parents, yeah.
Teacher/examiner: There is an opinion that people who live in the city and people who live in the countryside are different. What do you think?
Candidate: Can you repeat please?
Teacher/examiner: There is an opinion that people who live in the city and people who live in the countryside are different. What do you think?
Candidate: Yeah I think er that there a huge difference because I think people er who live in the city centre maybe are I don’t know it’s not as [unclear] but maybe they are more stressed than the people from the from the countryside, they are always in a rush or always in the transport or is I don’t know, it’s er I think it’s it’s really stressful. Um, people in the countryside are more relaxed and just I think when they get home they forgot about the the city part, they just start a new time.
Teacher/examiner: In many cultures, older family members live with the younger family members. Do you think this is a good idea?
Candidate: Yeah I love this idea. Because er it depend depends if you are close from your family or not but um I think if you love your family and you are well together, um I think it’s even um better for the well-being of er you and your parents for example to live together when they get older because you know that they are just next to you so you can keep watching on on them and I think you feel better on this way. And even I for I think for your parents it’s more it’s more comfortable because er they know you, they are not afraid or scared to ask you anything, so they are in confidence.
Teacher/examiner: Thank you and, many people think it is a good idea to live in different countries if you can. Do you agree?
Candidate: Yeah. I think um at one stage of your life it can be really interesting because you are a lot of thing about you about your [unclear] about a lot of things so it can be really interesting and you are out of your town and your habits and everything so you learn to be I think more independence and responsible. So yeah, but, I mean in my opinion not for all the life because I think there are one stage or you want to be [unclear].
Teacher/examiner: Thank you. This is the end of the test. End of recording.
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Specimen Speaking Test Video 2
Speaking Assessment Card C - A new film
Whole test - click to watch video
Video transcript
Speaking Assessment Card C
Teacher/examiner: Centre number: AB123Centre name: International Centre
Examination: English as a Second Language
Examiner name: Mrs S Ellis
Date: 1 April 2024
Candidate number: 0001
Candidate name: Ibrahima Thiam
Teacher/examiner: First, we will start with a short warm-up where I will ask you some questions to find out more about you. This part is not assessed. After the warm-up there are three assessed parts to the test: an interview, a short talk and a discussion.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about your friends?
Candidate: Um, what exactly about my friends?
Teacher/examiner: Tell me about who your friends are.
Candidate: Well um most of my friends are like me, passionate about computer science and um we like to er practise a lot together, we also like to game together. To play a lot of, a large variety of games, yeah.
Teacher/examiner: What subject do you most enjoy at school?
Candidate: As I said I really like computer science and um I want it to become my job later.
Teacher/examiner: What kind of music do you like?
Candidate: I listen to a lot of kind of music like for example classical music, or jazz or rap.
Teacher/examiner: Thank you. The first assessed part of the test is an interview. I am going to ask you some questions about travel. Try to say as much as you can for each question. Before we start, do you have any questions?
Candidate: No.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about the things you always take with you when you go on holiday?
Candidate: I always think about taking my electronics, which electronics I should take first, for example my computer or er my video games, and after that I figure out which kind of clothes should I take by checking the weather there, yeah and also medicine.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about a journey you enjoyed?
Candidate: Um, I really enjoyed going in New York in United States. I stayed there for a month and I visit a lot of place, like Central Park or also the, a famous bridge there.
Teacher/examiner: Tell me more about that holiday.
Candidate: Um, it was hard at the beginning because I couldn’t make myself understand by people. They had a really strong French accent and my English wasn’t really good so [unclear] my [unclear] improved a bit, yeah.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think flying is the best way to travel long distances? Why? Why not?
Candidate: I think that travelling by using flights is the best way to travel long distance because it’s faster and you secure people always try to um make sure everything is ok, but I wouldn’t recommend it to people who are afraid of heights, of heets, and also, I think that’s the only bad point, yeah.
Teacher/examiner: And what about any other bad points? Why not?
Candidate: Sorry?
Teacher/examiner: Are there any other reasons why it is not good to travel long distances?
Candidate: Well umm, I maybe because people are not really comfortable with a lot of having been with a lot of people and when you er and it’s kind of it’s expensive most of the time, so yeah.
Teacher/examiner: Thank you. The first assessed part of the test is an interview. I am going to ask you some questions about travel. Try to say as much as you can for each question. Before we start, do you have any questions?
Candidate: No.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about the things you always take with you when you go on holiday?
Candidate: I always think about taking my electronics, which electronics I should take first, for example my computer or er my video games, and after that I figure out which kind of clothes should I take by checking the weather there, yeah and also medicine.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about a journey you enjoyed?
Candidate: Um, I really enjoyed going in New York in United States. I stayed there for a month and I visit a lot of place, like Central Park or also the, a famous bridge there.
Teacher/examiner: Tell me more about that holiday.
Candidate: Um, it was hard at the beginning because I couldn’t make myself understand by people. They had a really strong French accent and my English wasn’t really good so [unclear] my [unclear] improved a bit, yeah.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think flying is the best way to travel long distances? Why? Why not?
Candidate: I think that travelling by using flights is the best way to travel long distance because it’s faster and you secure people always try to um make sure everything is ok, but I wouldn’t recommend it to people who are afraid of heights, of heets, and also, I think that’s the only bad point, yeah.
Teacher/examiner: And what about any other bad points? Why not?
Candidate: Sorry? Teacher/examiner: Are there any other reasons why it is not good to travel long distances?
Candidate: Well umm, I maybe because people are not really comfortable with a lot of having been with a lot of people and when you er and it’s kind of it’s expensive most of the time, so yeah.
Teacher/examiner: Thank you. The second assessed part of the test is a short talk. I will give you a card and you will have one minute to read it and think about what you want to say. You should talk about the points on the card. You can’t make any written notes, but you can ask me if there is anything you do not understand. You may keep the card until the end of the short talk. Here is your card. You now have up to two minutes to talk about the topic on the card. I will stop you after two minutes, but do not worry if you have not finished your talk. Would you like to start?
Candidate: Yes ok. Um, if a new film is coming out, um I think that going into the cinema would be a good idea because the experience like audio and visual is really better, and you have total immersion into the movie. The, everything is made for you to be fully focused on the movie and it really helps you. Um, it will also be a good idea to watch it online because you like considering the fact that you’re in your home, you can you you’ll be at ease and you can eat whatever you want without worrying about, about worrying about wasting the experience of other people, and it’s um also cheaper in most of the case. I think if I had to choose one I would say watch it in the cinema because er as I said, the immersion is total, the audio and visual are really good and also, also er you are with other people that share the same er intention of watching this movie and you can exchange with them after or even maybe during the movie, so yeah.
Teacher/examiner: Can you talk about using a laptop?
Candidate: Um, it’s true that the screen is less big that in a cinema but it’s cheaper in most of the [case] when use your laptop and it er, you can be in er you can be at as comfortable as you want by using it.
Teacher/examiner: Do you have anything more to say about new films?
Candidate: Um, I recently watched one which was Batman in the cinema and er as I said I was fully immersed and I was understanding everything that was said even though it was in English, but I also watched it on my laptop, and even though I wasn’t …
Teacher/examiner: Thank you.
Candidate: Ok. Teacher/examiner: Thank you. Can I have the card back, please?
Teacher/examiner: Now let’s move on to Part 3 of the test. Now I am going to ask you a few questions related to the topic you have just talked about. This part of the test will last approximately three minutes. Before we start, do you have any questions?
Candidate: No.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think film stars make good role models?
Candidate: Well, can I ask what do you mean by role models?
Teacher/examiner: Role models is someone who you look up to, or you admire.
Candidate: Well I think that film stars really good role models because they show us that we can be a different person while just acting it. And when we saw, see them in movies we can feel like they really are immersed in their person, in their characters, for example um I can I can see think the example of um John Cena who was a catcher and also plays movie and he play a different character in both of the roles yeah. So we what we can learn from them is like if you act like someone you can also become this person.
Teacher/examiner: Ok. Is working in the film industry a good career choice?
Candidate: I’d say this is a good career choice because first of all you win a lot of money from it, and um you’re also even after even after playing movies, if you want to start your own company because you will have been famous, because of the movie, you can you all have already an advantage compared to other people who want to start and are not really famous, yeah.
Teacher/examiner: Many people store a lot of information and photos on their mobile phones. Is this a good idea?
Candidate: I would say that if you are are fully confident that your information are in a good place and that they won’t be able to use it against you, that could be a good idea but if it’s sensitive sensitive informations, I think that they shouldn’t trust their phone company to keep it in their phone, because it’s not really safe.
Teacher/examiner: Can you talk about why it is not safe?
Candidate: As I said, um for example Apple, most of most of the people have their picture in their um memory and Apple can access to it whenever they want, and people won’t notice it because it’s, … Apple are the company is the one who produce the phone, and as I said as I said they can access whenever they want so you can’t really trust them when you put sensitive information in it.
Teacher/examiner: OK. How important is to have the latest smartphone?
Candidate: It’s not really important. What is most important is having a phone that you can use for your needs, and um, but if you are in the electronics it I think it should be important to have the news, the newest phone because it gives you a good it gives you a good image around for your clients who will come to visit you and it will also make a good publicity too.
Teacher/examiner: Thank you. This is the end of the test. End of recording.
Teacher/examiner: Speaking Assessment Card C.
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Specimen Speaking Test Video 3
Speaking Assessment Card D - Celebrating a birthday
Whole test - click to watch video
Video transcript
Speaking Assessment Card D
Teacher/examiner: Centre number: AB123
Centre name: International Centre
Examination: English as a Second Language
Examiner name: Mrs K Feliciani
Date: 1 April 2024
Candidate number: 0001
Candidate name: Natalia Gomez
Speaking Assessment Card D
Teacher/examiner: Hello.
Candidate: Hello.
Teacher/examiner: First, we will start with a short warm-up where I will ask you some questions to find out more about you. This part is not assessed. After the warm-up there are three assessed parts to the test: an interview, a short talk and a discussion.
Teacher/examiner: Where do you live?
Candidate: I’m living in Columbia in the capital of Columbia is Bogotá. Um, near to the centre city.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me something about your interests?
Candidate: Um, yes, I really enjoy to learn about everything, so I think I want to study different subjects about the basic knowledge, knowledge, so um I am interesting about the history and philosophy. And also in other hand I, I really enjoy dance and er likes artistic things, sing, dance or theatre as well so um I think that I can do everything that I want. I enjoy, I can do it. I, I really enjoy to learn new things in my life.
Teacher/examiner: What would you like to do when you finish school?
Candidate: Um, I was thinking study first, because I want to study a lot of subjects. So I want to study first history, and then decide then what happen. And also I plan to enter to agency agency of dance, or model maybe. I don’t know, I am thinking, yes.
Teacher/examiner: The first assessed part of the test is an interview. I am going to ask you some questions about holidays. Try to say as much as you can for each question. Before we start, do you have any questions?
Candidate: No.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about places where people like to go on holiday in your country?
Candidate: Um, yes. Colombia is so common to do a kind of road road trip in car because it’s beautiful, the view, the landscapes, so there are many er trips, like for example for 10 hours or 12 hours to the city another city. And it’s good because you can er know all the all the country, it’s beautiful, it’s a good experience, it’s cheaper as well. And there um usually people go to the cities that are near to the sea and it’s so beautiful the view there and it’s cheaper so it’s so common in my country too.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about your last holiday?
Candidate: Er, yes, my last holidays was the last year, I went to Paris er with my old sister because they are, she is studying there [unclear]. So I visit her, and was amazing really good, I really like it. And then, after a while, I was in UK after that. Visit all of city all of cities of UK, and was good.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think it is a good idea to go on holiday abroad? Why? Why not?
Candidate: Um, yes. I think depends er what do you want to do in your holidays, and what money you have to travel or not. Um, but if you want to have the complete experience, to know new cultures or to know some different er some different of your daily routine, of your daily holidays, it’s a good idea you can you can learn more and depends um of your money that you have in this moment. But yes it’s a good idea I think.
Teacher/examiner: Why would it not be a good idea to go on holiday abroad?
Candidate: Why not? Maybe it’s expensive. So, you need more time before to plan your holidays before to travel. Um, also you need to know some things er before, about the culture, or countries, or rules in the different country because it’s so different of your life, so you need to be prepare for the new country that you are going to visit because it’s it’s difficult, it’s different, can be another language, so if you don’t er speak the same language, or you don’t know how to work the currency or you know, whatever, it’s important, than you need more time before to plans so maybe.
Teacher/examiner: The second assessed part of the test is a short talk. I will give you a card and you will have one minute to read it and think about what you want to say. You should talk about the points on the card. You can’t make any written notes, but you can ask me if there is anything you do not understand. You may keep the card until the end of the short talk. Here is your card. You now have up to two minutes to talk about the topic on the card. I will stop you after two minutes, but do not worry if you have not finished your talk. Would you like to start?
Candidate: Yes. Ok. The best way to make it memorable for your friend, um her birthday or his birthday, I think it depends of what kind of friends is you, because it’s a close friend of you, maybe you need to take time to to think about what you want to do for her. Um, of is a friend like, just friend, is doesn’t matter. But also it’s important to know what kind of thing that your friend like it, for example, in my opinion, I don’t like that organise a surprise party because I think it’s more for the guests and not for the people that are in his birthday, so um depends, really depends. Er, if you organise a surprise party you need to do a budget before because you you you gonna spend some, a lot of money in this, and not just in your in your friend, also in the guests of the party so, I think it’s good idea but depends. And also I think a disadvantage of the of the surprise party can become a bad experience because people use this kind of party to do, er to get drunk, and to do bad things, so maybe the person that that are in her birthday is not gonna have a good time a good time and is not idea. So I prefer to give a special gift, I think it’s more memorable because if a if is a good friend of you is a close friend of you, you need to think and you need to to take time time to think about the special gift. Even is a a small things, that doesn’t worry. If you er know your friend and you know let her know that you know your friend and you listen that that small things, small details about her, about her life, about her life, doesn’t matter if a small things. Like I think the most important in the birthday is that you feel another person is special like.
Teacher/examiner: Perfect. Thank you. Can I have the card back, please? Now let’s move on to Part 3 of the test. Now I am going to ask you a few questions related to the topic you have just talked about. This part of the test will last approximately three minutes. Before we start, do you have any questions?
Candidate: No.
Teacher/examiner: Is it better to celebrate special occasions with family or friends? What do you think?
Candidate: Um, it’s better I think with friends, because er it it’s environment that you enjoy more, because your family is people that you used to see every week, every days, and maybe you can have some bad relations with between your family, so in my opinion I prefer like er special occasion with your friend because you choose your friends, you can choose who are your friends, so you can enjoy more, I think.
Teacher/examiner: What is more satisfying: to receive a gift or to give one?
Candidate: Um, for me, it’s more satisfying to give a gift, because you can see the other person happy, and that make me happy to me, like, if you know that the other person are so grateful with you and the other person feel special its make me happy. So yes, I prefer giving a gift.
Teacher/examiner: Some people think that you can only be friends with people who have similar interests to you. Do you agree?
Candidate: Can you repeat the question, please?
Teacher/examiner: Some people think that you can only be friends with people who have similar interests to you. Do you agree?
Candidate: Um, yes I am agree. Um, no I am not agree, sorry. I think that it’s good if you have friends with the same interest um because that makes the sense of the relation friendship, like you can talk about things with them so, doesn’t matter, never mind for me, yes.
Teacher/examiner: Many people think that it is better to go to a shop to buy certain things rather than buy them online. What do you think?
Candidate: Um, I think it’s better go to the shops to to see the quality of the things that you are gonna buy. But in some cases is necessary to do do online cos some things don’t, you can’t find in your country you’re not near from you so it depends that you are necessary.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me a little bit more about that? Give me some examples.
Candidate: Um, for example, … I think in the future everything is going to be online, and it can be easier for everyone, but if you don’t taste the the things that you’re going to buy, it’s important also, and also if you need to change it, for example you buy something, but it’s not good, as it’s it’s a wrong, have a mistake with the company you cannot like change the the product. So I think it’s important to still with the stores in the malls or like nowadays.
Teacher/examiner: Well done. Thank you. This is the end of the test. End of recording.
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Specimen Speaking Test Video 4
Speaking Assessment Card E - Reducing pollution
Whole test - click to watch video
Video transcript
Speaking Assessment Card E
Teacher/examiner: Centre number: AB123
Centre name: International Centre
Examination: English as a Second Language
Examiner name: Mrs K Feliciani
Date: 1 April 2024
Candidate number: 0021
Candidate name: Romain Esteban
Speaking Assessment Card E
Teacher/examiner: Hello.
Candidate: Hi.
Teacher/examiner: First, we will start with a short warm-up where I will ask you some questions to find out more about you. This part is not assessed. After the warm-up there are three assessed parts to the test: an interview, a short talk and a discussion.
Teacher/examiner: What subject do you most enjoy at school?
Candidate: Umm. Back at school my favourite subject was probably math. Um, and I think it’s [unclear] I love logical things, and just thinking and resolving some problems.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me something about your family?
Candidate: Um. My family. Umm. I don’t have any siblings, although I have two cousins which I really like.
Teacher/examiner: Where would you like to go on your next holiday?
Candidate: Japan. I love the Japanese culture.
Teacher/examiner: The first assessed part of the test is an interview. I am going to ask you some questions about food. Try to say as much as you can for each question. Before we start, do you have any questions?
Candidate: No.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about your favourite food?
Candidate: My favourite dish is sushis. Yeah I really like sushi. As, as I said, I love the Japanese culture and um food in Japanese culture is a very important part, so sushis are like the most relevant, favourite dish for me.
Teacher/examiner: Do you prefer eating at home or in a restaurant?
Candidate: I would say eating in a restaurant, cos umm, when I am eating at home it’s very in the routine, it’s just eating out. I am not really like enjoying the moment. But when I’m in a restaurant usually it’s with um relatives of mine so I, I feel like I more I enjoy it more in the restaurant.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think young people should learn about healthy eating habits? Why? Why not?
Candidate: I strongly agree with it because umm when it comes to umm being thrown in er the adult world and how it works umm you need, basically you need to provide yourself all you all you will be required from you to develop yourself and to evolve in that way. So and being healthy and eating is a major part, so that should be teached in school.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me a little more about that?
Candidate: Umm, in school, we are not really learning anything about how to manage living by yourself and being responsible, um, yeah they should um they should provide some cooking courses, and healthy cooking courses.
Teacher/examiner: The second assessed part of the test is a short talk. I will give you a card and you will have one minute to read it and think about what you want to say. You should talk about the points on the card. You can’t make any written notes, but you can ask me if there is anything you do not understand. You may keep the card until the end of the short talk. Here is your card.
Teacher/examiner: You now have up to two minutes to talk about the topic on the card. I will stop you after two minutes, but do not worry if you have not finished your talk. Would you like to start?
Candidate: Yes. Well, my best friend now, er were feel very concerned about those umm global warming issues recently. And, and it came to our mind to help in all way to narrow the pollution down. In fact we were thinking about two ideas. The first one was none using plastic, but when we um decided to put it into er all life it um it um rapidly became very difficult because we are basically using plastic everywhere and every time. Also, actually plastic is not by itself a danger for all planets, because it er some some research say that actually the plastic is not umm fully unrecyclable so a lot of er of the er global plastic used is recyclable. Um, another idea was to walk or to cycle to school and that one was quite easier because er, for me, I am living really near to my school, although my best friend’s living a bit more far, it was still doable, so actually we achieved to er reduce the pollution in our own way. Um, the one I preferred was actually er not using plastic because it certainly would have er impacted the environment, more, much more than not using the car or the bus.
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me a bit more about that?
Candidate: Well, in order to narrow the pollution down, or [lesser], I would say that, it requires way more than just not going to school by the bus or with a car especially because now we have much more electric cars and even the hybrid cars.
Teacher/examiner: Thank you. Can I have the card back, please? Now let’s move on to Part 3 of the test. Now I am going to ask you a few questions related to the topic you have just talked about. This part of the test will last approximately three minutes. Before we start, do you have any questions?
Candidate: Do we start directly?
Teacher/examiner: We will be starting … yes. Young people care more about the environment than the older generation. Do you agree?
Candidate: Well umm it is commonly said actually but in fact I think it’s just a question of … of time, I would say, because 50 years ago the the issue and the [matter] of the global warming and the pollution weren’t that obvious as it is now because there were less proof … [ unclear] proof that does exist. So I, I really think that as a person or grandparents or parents we’ve been as concerned as we feel as youngsters than they did.
Teacher/examiner: Is it the school’s responsibility to teach young people about the environment and other global issues?
Candidate: Yes I think so, because er school is … a major part of the student life obviously and a lot of them don’t have the opportunity to discuss about subjects like that at home, because basically the parents don’t really want to go into those kinds of topics. Um, sometimes they are overwhelmed by work so they just want to chill out a little bit. And also I think it is very quite, it is very easy actually in my opinion at school to develop into, to introduce those topics. We are basically going through a lot of different classes, a lot of different courses, and all those can be um used to introduce those topics. For example, when we are learning languages, we are learning vocab and that vocab can easily be related to er the global warming or the polluting.
Teacher/examiner: Some people think that all air travel should stop to protect the environment. What do you think , and why?
Candidate: I think that’s a beautiful idea, but er hardly possible to in fact be realisable and er in my opinion it it's not gonna really stop what's happening, actually. It's quite the bay, the same thing as saying we should stop um all those gigantic boats that are basically bringing food everywhere in the world and exportations between countries, but that's impossible to do. I think that the most important in that in that in that matter is to focus on er details that actually can make the difference.
Teacher/examiner: Some people think that we should buy fewer things to reduce pollution. Do you agree?
Candidate: All the consenting is the real problem, that's right. And, dealing with it is umm in fact something we have to do. Basically, there's a huge gap between some countries and others in our world. For example, we can take the umm France, France. Actually, if you compare it to any other country in Asia, in South Asia, they are consulting way more. And if all countries because of technology, because of evolution are basically going to that point of consumption, it's going to be a mess, so we have to deal with it. We have to put up with what's happening.
Teacher/examiner: Thank you, this is the end of the test. End of recording.
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Audios
The participants in these audio recordings are not taking a real examination but demonstrating the structure of the Speaking test and performance levels. The audios were recorded by Cambridge teachers and their learners.
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Specimen Speaking Test Audio 1
Speaking Assessment Card E - Reducing pollution
- Whole test - click to listen
Audio transcript
Speaking Assessment Card E
Part 1: Interview
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about your favourite food
Candidate: Ok. I have talking about it before t-that’s hotpot, um, it’s a traditional Chinese food that we put some ingredients like beef, pork, vegetables into a large, er a large boiled like soup, a large pot er of boiled soup. Um It is really spicy and um and it is er, it tastes really delicious so I like its taste, but er when I also like when people eat it we gather around a large table and share the same pot. I think this can make us more familiar and strengthen our relationship um so I really like this food and it can give me some warmth from when it is really cold in winter.
Teacher/examiner: Do you prefer eating at home or in a restaurant?
Candidate: Um It depends on different situations. Um so sometimes when I feel really depressed and I want to eat something really delicious to cheer me up, I will go to some restaurants to find some new food that I haven’t tried before um but sometimes if I want to treat some friends in my home or eat with my family um I will try to er cook by myself and…yeah.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think young people should learn about healthy eating habits. Why or why not?
Candidate: Um I, I think they should learn about the life, the healthy eating habits because that’s about um that’s, that’s really important for their health um I know a lot of people don’t want to eat a lot of things healthy because they think that the taste really is awful um but er I think it is a balance we should er… it’s something that er is both tasty and healthy to let us have a healthy body.
Part 2 Short talk
Candidate : So, nowadays I think pollution is really um important problem around er all the countries in the world and people are now all try to er figuring out some ways to increase this problem, to decrease this problem and um so um I think er we can do something to try to reduce pollution by our, by ourselves and the first, I think using, er not using plastic um I think it’s a little bit difficult for most of people and, of course for me, because plastic is really important in our daily lives. We have plastic bags to …to…when, when we want to buy something and we have plastic boxes for the food when we ask for a delivery, so er not using plastic is really difficult, but I know nowadays er … some plastic er which is not so… will not damage the environment that are currently used, like the straws in the maybe, in the novelty shops they try to use the plastic that are not so harmful.
And the second way to reduce pollution is walking or cycling to school. I think that’s, that’s easy for me er and I think er for most of the students that er live near the school because um we don’t have to walk or cycle for a long time, er but for me because I live just near my school so I can walk, actually I really walk to school every day um so I think that’s what we can do and it’s simple and it’s really good for my health. We can have some little exer…, exercise by, by doing, by walking to school so I prefer to… prefer to walk to school .
Part 3 Discussion
Teacher/examiner: Do you think young people care more about the environment than the older generation. Do you agree?
Candidate: Yes, um because I think that the older generations they do a lot of things that they do not know that will harm the environment and because our country was not so developed before, so our country is really developing so fast so we can, er we just want to develop so er we don’t know that what we do will harm the environment where we can care so much so er the older generation will maybe build a lot of house, build a lot of buildings er so our environment will be damaged and the younger generations um because the development or technology um we found, find a lot of new methods to improve the environment um and we care more about it er by doing maybe just little things in our life like not using the plastic bags or walk to school.
Teacher/examiner: Some people think that we should buy fewer things to reduce pollution. Do you agree? What do you think?
Candidate: Um I don’t agree with him because um I think er that’s not the solution to er stop the, the, to stop it, to stop the erm pollution in the right way because we can’t buy, we buy fewer things but er our civilisation, our society is developing and er buying fewer things will just make it er develop slower um so I think that’s not the solution to deal with this problem from the, the past, so um so I don’t agree with him.
Teacher/examiner: Thank you. This is the end of the test. End of recording.
- Whole test - click to listen
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Specimen Speaking Test Audio 2
Speaking Assessment Card E - Reducing pollution
- Whole test - click to listen
Audio transcript
Speaking Assessment Card E
Part 1: Interview
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about your favourite food?
Candidate: My favourite food it’s strawberry cause I really loves eating different kind of fruit and after I taste most of them I found out that strawberry is er taste really good I think it’s sweet, er, and especially in this season. Yes.
Teacher/examiner: Do you prefer eating in a home or in a restaurant?
Candidate: Er, in a home, I think, cause in my family my dad it’s really good at selecting fruits so er he always bring the most sweetest and the freshest to me and I can have it in home.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think young people should learn about healthy eating habits? Why or why not?
Candidate: I think we should because er nowadays really er lots of people er including student loves to eat junk food which is really unhealthy for them er especially in Europe er lots of people it’s getting overweight it’s a really unhealthy er phenomenon so I think young people should learn more about how to keep health and eat health food.
Part 2: Short talk
Candidate: So er I think these two option is really useful to produce the pollution cause er in the Shanghai it’s a really er modern city which er caused a really er heavy pollution and I think these two are really easy for me to do because not using plastic, taking this as an example, er in my family we usually take our own bag for shopping er which can reduce next time and also er lots of shops including multi store or convenience store they are using the plastic which is can be er released so which will not cause the pollution of the environment
And walking or cycling to school it’s, it’s hard for us er because sometimes er if we live far away it’s really hard to walking or cycling like we must take the bus or er come by car, but there is another way, for example, take metro or subway comes to school it will reduce pollution er rather than come by car. So in my opinion I prefer the not using plastic point because as I mentioned before it’s more easier for me to do and that’s it.
Part 3: Discussion
Teacher/examiner: Do you think young people care more about the environment than the older generation. Do you agree?
Candidate: Yes, um because nowadays many people almost every people have a phone er especially the young generations and er many adults er from the governments trying to tell us the information about the pollution of our city er so the most people who know this information is the younger generation cause the elder don’t pay attention to their phone or internet and er maybe they don’t have the er opinion to keep er the reduce the pollution.
Teacher/examiner: Some people think that all air travel should stop to protect the environment. What do you think?
Candidate: Er, er I disagree about this opinion cause take Shanghai to Beijing as an example I, I have just discussed this topic to my roommate last night er when I was young I went to Beijing by airplane and it’s only takes 2 to 3 hours, I think but she er went there by train which takes 7 to 8 hours, er, and I think it’s a really, er, it’s a way to waste our time and maybe we can like reduce the quantity of air travelling but do not spend it for all of them and sometimes it’s really useful for us to travel.
Teacher/examiner: Thank you. This is the end of the test. End of recording.
- Whole test - click to listen
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Specimen Speaking Test Audio 3
Speaking Assessment Card E - Reducing pollution
- Whole test - click to listen
Audio transcript
Speaking Assessment Card E
Part 1: Interview
Teacher/examiner: Can you tell me about your favourite food?
Candidate: Er, my favourite food is the noodles er as er it is, er it has many types of the noodles such as the, such as, types and er it can also be eaten by with many sauces, such as the potato or just er eat er like it with soup.
Teacher/examiner: Do you prefer eating at home or in a restaurant?
Candidate: I prefer to eat at home because er my parents er... both of my parents can cook well and er I think, I think the restaurant outside er …er, I don’t like to eat outside although, er yeah although some restaurants are very delicious and I prefer to eat my parents er cook.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think young people should learn about healthy eating habits. Why or why not?
Candidate: Er … I think er…er young people should to learn about this because er for er young people it is important to be health, er er, if young people healthier they can ch-…they can learn more knowledge or can do something they like er more freely, and if they are unhealthy they are many, er such as, such as if they are so fat, they can’t do, do, some sports free such as basketball or the, or the football and the healthy eating habits also can helps us to grow our lives.
Part 2: Short talk
Candidate: As we all know the pollution in er, … er, around the world is very serious and er so it is very important for us er to stop using more and more plastic er products such as the plastic bags or the plastic er, the plastic plant. In my opinion the option to stop using plastic is to, er to make a post or to talk about others that factors that use more plastic and make them know the, know purposes that don’t use plastic can bring er and the other, the other one is the air pollution, er as we all know the carbon dioxide is very serious and it cause the global warming so er we should, er, try our best to er to go to school by walk or go by cycle by bike …by bike. It is an effective way to st …, to reduce the pollution er to the air and can help er can help protect our planet and more … and can help er protect our planet better.
Part 3 Discussion
Teacher/examiner: Do you think young people care more about the environment than the older generation. Do you agree?
Candidate: Er, …I agree because er the young people um er sometimes the young people prefer, er prefer to prefer to er care about their own feeling more than the others or the planet’s the feeling and this will er cause that they will … cause that the um pollution and the er the older generation um er in their opinions they think that er the planet er is very er precious and they have er, and they have the thought to to protect them and the young people don’t.
Teacher/examiner: Do you think it is the school’s responsibility to teach young people about the environment and other global issues?
Candidate: Yes, er I have seen that er there are some posters er to say that we should er protect the environment and to stop use, stop using er some one time, one time products like the chopsticks
Teacher/examiner: Do you think, like you said chopsticks there, some people think that we should buy fewer things to reduce pollution. Do you agree?
Candidate: Yes, I agree er because to buy less things like er wood and plastic er, er we can reduce the, we can reduce the cost of the wood and er the wood is also er one way to er reduce the air pollution and it can also and the trees have also other advantages such as to er to stop the sand from the North and to protect the source(?) and give the rare animal a home. Teacher/examiner: Thank you. This is the end of the test. End of recording. - Whole test - click to listen
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