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hi, everyone.
This is my fisrt attempt.
The topic is the following:
Describe a sports event you enjoyed watching.
You should say:
what event you watched;
where you were;
who you watched it with
and explain why you enjoyed watching it.
I have very little practice in speaking, so I'd be grateful to get any piece of advice how to improve my speaking.
Thanks.
http://www.ieltsnetwork.com/download/file.php?id=341

Hi, Yura
Thank you for sharing your practice with us, and I hope that we can help you improve your speaking!
The first thing I noticed in your speech was that you read it. I know that when you make a speech it is important to know what you are going to say, but it is vital as you prepare for the IELTS that you avoid memorizing entire speeches. You won’t have but a minute to gather your thoughts and get ready to answer these questions. As you practice individual cue cards, you can get an idea of the kinds of things you might say in response to each, but don’t write out an entire speech. The interview is spontaneous. It’s not a test of how well you write or read., but of how well you can have a conversation in English.
Next, I heard that your vocabulary was excellent. You used words and phrases specific to your topic – football. I heard “drew the match,” “goal keeper,” “crucial,” “spare time,” “despite the fact that,” “in other words,” looking at the bright side,” (should be, “looking ON the bright side”), etc. You used the words correctly, and none of them sounded forced.
For pronunciation, I noticed that the short /i/ sound was sometimes a problem for you. You might try moving from the /ee/ sound (as in “sleep”), to the /i/ sound (as in “slip”) to practice saying the sound right. Also, some of your syllables are drawn out too long, as in “staaadium,” and “speeecial.” Shorten those syllables.
Your coherence was good. You answered the questions directly and provided good details. You used connecting words and transitions to help your ideas flow. Nice job there.
Fluency was good. You were speaking very quickly because you were reading. I would encourage you 1.) not to read and 2.) to speak a bit more slowly so that your pronunciation is clearer. Your speech was already at about 2 minutes and 35 seconds long speaking as quickly as you did, so you might need to cut out some of the less relevant details and focus on speaking more slowly and clearly in a conversational way to stay around the 2-minute mark.
I didn’t hear too many grammar mistakes, although the volume of the recording made it difficult to hear some parts, especially at the beginning. I did hear “We had a spare time,” which should be, “We had spare time.” If you try to record again, speak a little more loudly, please.
Best wishes as you continue to practice!

Hi, lmoore
Thank you very match for your criticism, it was really helpful.
I realize that I have problems with speaking, I mean the following.
I have difficulty starting a conversation instantly related to a topic, firstly I have to consider it, then I have to write my thoughts down and then I face my biggest problem I have to learn the topic by heart. As it turned out it is a challenge even if it is my own thought. That's why I have to read during recording, because it will definitely take me a lot of time to memorize entire speech. I'm going to keep practicing and I'll try to take into account your suggestions. I really want to succeed in ielts. Could you, please, give me some advice how I can avoid this problem.
Thanks, I really appreciate your help.

First, I would suggest that you practice cue card questions (you can find many for free online and on this forum) with a partner who speaks English. Pretend you are with the interviewer. The friend can read the questions to you, and you can then use a timer to time yourself for one minute making notes. Then talk to your friend, using just your notes.

If you don't have someone to practice with (there are lots of people on this forum looking for Skype speaking partners), then speak to yourself out loud, using the cue cards, taking notes for one minute, but NOT writing a speech and memorizing it.

It will definitely get easier with practice. Don't give up. You can do it!

Hi,
Could you, please, assess my new audio.
The topic is the following:
Describe your favourite season.
You should say:
- what the season is and when it occurs
- what the weather is like during this season
- what your typical activities are during this season
and explain why it is your favourite season.
Thanks for help, I appreciate it very much.

http://www.ieltsnetwork.com/download/file.php?id=365

Hi, Yura,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the summer months in your country. Now that fall is here in the northern hemisphere, your speech is reminiscent of the sweltering months that have just passed.
You are still reading your speeches, which makes it difficult to really assess your speaking as it naturally is in a conversation. I still encourage you to just practice speaking and record yourself after taking some brief notes. Writing out a speech is good writing practice for you, not good speaking practice.
Your pronunciation is good most of the time. You’re typically easy to understand, although the letter “i” often sounds like the long “e” as in “deep.” This is especially apparent when you say the word “differences” and “fit” in your speech. Practice saying words with short “i,” like “hit,” “miss,” etc.
Your speech was well-organized, and you used nice connecting words and phrases, such as “despite the fact that,” and “on the contrary.” Your fluency is also good. Your speaking speed is just right, and there aren’t pauses of silence when you speak, which is due mostly to your reading and not truly speaking in a conversational way.
Your vocabulary is also good, and I heard you use words like “temperate” and “overcast,” which indicate that you have a specific vocabulary for the topic of seasons and weather. When you say “40 degrees C,” just say “Celsius” completely.
I’m not sure if I heard you say, “months” when you said “summer months,” so be sure to enunciate your plural endings clearly when you speak. You also said “it also help them to be fit,” so watch that you say the correct verb ending as well. The verb “help” should be “helps,” since it goes with “it.”
Best wishes as you continue to practice!

Hi, lmoore
Thanks for the assessment, I'm going to keep practicing and next time I'll try to speak instead of reading.
Thanks for your help.

Hi,
Could you, please, assess my new audio.
The topic is the following:
Descire a close friend.
You should say:
- how long you have known this person
- how you met
- what kind of person he/she is
and explain why you like him/her
Thanks for help, I appreciate it very much.

Hi, Yura,

This speech definitely sounds rehearsed, but it is much more conversational as there are moments when I can tell that you are not reading off of a piece of paper. Nice work!

Your vocabulary was really strong in this speech. You showed knowledge of a lot of colloquialisms like, “monkeying around,” and “you know,” and “as far as I can remember.” You also used some more sophisticated vocabulary, like “decade.”

You had some difficulty with the word “disorderly,” or “disorganized” when you said, “disorderous.” I am not sure which of the former two you meant. “Disorderly” means to act inappropriately, especially in public situations.

As far a sgrammar goes, you showed knowledge of more complicated verb tenses, such as the present perfect, as when you said, “have known him.” However, you had some difficulty with subject / verb agreement when you said, “he always get on well,” which should be “he always gets on well.”

Organization was easy to follow, so this is not an area to worry about. You also used some good transitions.

Pronunciation is not usually an area of difficulty for you, but there were a few words that stood out.

-cracking jokes – It sounds like you’re saying, “crayking jokes.” The “a” is short, as in “apple.”
stand UP comedy - STAND up – STAND should be emphasized in this adjective, not “up.”
odd – When you say the word “odd,” make sure you say it with a short “o,” as in “dog.” It sounds like you’re saying it perhaps with a long “o” sound, as in “flown.”
admit – You’re making the “I” sound like “ee.” It should be a short “I,” like in “hit.”
flaw – This should sound like “flah,” but you sound like you’re saying, “floawuh.”

Best wishes as you continue to practice!

Hi, lmoore
Thanks for the assessment, I really appreciate you help.

Hi,
Could you, please, assess my audio, the topic is the following:
Describe an exciting competition or sporting event you have witnessed.
You should say:
- what the competition or sporting event was;
- when and where it took place;
- who won
and explain why it was exciting.
Thanks a lot.

Hi, everyone
Could you, please, assess my audio, the topic is the following:
Describe your dream job.
You should say:
- what qualifications or experience you would need
- what the job would involve
- what you think the most difficult thing about the job would be
and explain why it is your dream job.
Thanks a lot.

This is a response to the sporting event recording:

Hello,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts about this event. What a match it must have been!
It still sounds like you’re reading, if not from a speech directly, at least from notes. There were some places where you sounded more conversational, but it still sounds really rehearsed.
Consider these ideas when you practice pronunciation:
contrary – short o, open up your mouth more, as in the word HOT
trophies – long o, not short
ween – "Win" should have a short o.
scored/sports – say the r
atmoSPHERE – ATmosphere
As you can see, there are quite a few problems with the letter o, in its short, long, and r-controlled forms.
Here are some grammar notes:
Milan lose the game – Milan LOST the game
one of the best way – WAYS
watch it on the stadium – AT the stadium
delighted about – delighted BY
Regarding organization, you got off topic at the end talking about why you like football and how you used to play. Remember to answer only the questions asked and to provide details that are pertinent only to those questions.
You are very fluent as you speak, and you have a great vocabulary. Fine tune your speaking, and I am sure you will do well.

This is in response to the dream job questions.
This recording was much more on-topic than the previous one about the sporting event. I heard good vocabulary, such as “profound” and “prestigious.”
Be careful with the “s” sound in words like “guess” and “most.” The “s” sound in these words is voiceless, meaning you don’t feel a vibration in your throat when you say it. You’re pronouncing a “z” sound, which does make a vibration in your throat when it is spoken.
The set phrase “home appliances” is emphasized on the “i” syllable in “appliances.” You said “HOME appliances,” but it should be “home appLIances.”
Also, when you say “job,” it should be with a more open short o sound. Try this link to a video to help with the short “o” sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWeBQ3zI01w
Finally, when you said, “one of the world’s prestigious jobs in the world,” you should have said, “one of the world’s most prestigious jobs,” or “one of the most prestigious jobs in the world.”
Well done. Keep trying to answer the questions without any notes or written speech.

Hi,
Thanks lmoore for the assement, I appriciate your help, and I really need it, because I'm going to take the ielts exam in February.
Concerning pronunciation: the problem is quite clear for me, it is difficult to distinguish short and long vowels, I guess I need more practice. But the most pressing problem for me is the ability to speak immediately on the particular topic even with 1 minute to prepare to speak. It is not only about English, but sometimes it's rather difficult to organize my speech even in my native language, because topics are quite different and I have to find suitable words to express my thoughts and it takes time. That's why I write them down, then I read them several times and finally try to speak. Could you, please, give me a piece of advice how to overcom this problem? And I've got another question, is it possible to make a converstion via skype?
Anyway, thanks for you help.

As I think I've mentioned before, the best way to overcome this difficulty this to practice. I was suggested to practice with the conversation partner. Practicing these part two questions over and over again will help you. If you wish to contact me, you're welcome to do so by emailing me at the email address in the signature I have below this post.

I'm in favour of speaking to a partner, and actually I managed to do this, and try to keep in touch. But the point is that most of them aren't native speakers and it's qiute difficult to understand whether my speech is correct or not. What am I supposed to do in that case, I mean if I have a partner to speak but this person isn't native speaker?

Then either find the conversation partner that is a native speaker, or you record yourself and listen to yourself over and over again. Another good way to have better pronunciation is to listen to news broadcasts from the BBC or from Voice of America. You can find me on Skype at leylanorman, but I do charge a fee for IELTS preparation courses.

Thanks for your suggestion. Could you, please, give me more information about your courses, I mean tuition fee, schedule and so on.

I am happy to do that by email. Please email me at leyla@empowerenglishtutoring.com. You can also contact me on Skype at leylanorman.

Hi,
I would be appreciate you to assess my new speaking.
The topic is the following:
Describe a language other than English that you would like to learn.
You should say:
- what the langualge is
- where it is spoken
- what you think would be difficult and what would be easy about learning the language
and explain why you would like to learn it.
Thanks a lot.

Thanks for sharing this one, Yura! I have always thought learning German would be amazing. I love the way it sounds. That and Russian.
Anyway, you were definitely reading or working from a memorized text at the beginning, but it sounded like you were just talking in a conversational style toward the end of the speech. Nice work there.
Regarding organization, you really used transitions well. I head “ to my mind,” “on the other hand,” “in conclusion,” "would be the following," and “for example.”
The focus for improvement for this recording would be vocabulary. I say that because you said “I guess” about three times. Although it’s certainly more conversational, repetition indicates that you don’t have as strong of a vocabulary as you should, which I know is not really true. Try “I believe that,” or maybe, “I would think that.” I heard you use “a piece of cake,” which is a good one to use as it indicates you have a good understanding of some basic figures of speech in English. I also liked “absolutely no doubt at all.”
Pronunciation needs a bit of work as well, particularly the “s” and “sh” sounds. You often change these from voiceless sounds (where you cannot feel the vibration of your throat when you say them) to voiced sounds like “z” and “zh.” I heard this in several words, like ”guess,” which sounded like “gezz.”
A couple quick grammar notes: a lot of efforts – a lot of EFFORT (singular)
in the central Europe – in central Europe – no “the”
Best wishes as you continue to practice!

Hi,
Thanks lmoore for previous assessment. I would like you to evaluate this one.
The topic is the following:
Describe a piece of electronic equipment that you find useful.
You should say:
- what the piece of equipment is
- when and where you got it
- what you use it for
and explain why you find it useful.
Concerning "reading or working from memorized text" the problem is the following. When i think about my speech it sounds quite good, but when i try to speak out loud it sound awkward. A lot of gaps appear in my speech, because i can't recollect a particular world. Also, while speaking when i realize that i said smth. incorrectly i begin to think about my mistake and how correct it. After all i restart my speaking several times and what's why it sounds like memorized text. I know i shouldn't take care about my mistakes so much, but i think it's just a matter of time and practice. Any piece of advice?
Thanks a lot.

Agree with lmoore

Hi,
I would be really appreciate you to assess my new speaking.
The topic is the following:
Describe a hobby you enjoy.
You should say:
- how long have you been doing it
- how often do you do it
- what benefits you get from it
and explain why you enjoy it.
Thanks a lot.