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HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH NATURALLY IN YOUR IELTS SPEAKING EXAM | Tips I Used To Get A Band 9.0
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Feb 9, 2024
These are the techniques that I used to speak English naturally in my IELTS Speaking exam. These five practical tips are what helped me speak more confidently and naturally. You have to make sure that you sound natural in order for you to get the highest band score in your exam. Actually, getting a band 7.0 or even a band 9.0 in the IELTS Speaking exam is never complicated at all if you really know how to communicate your thoughts in English naturally. I hope these IELTS Speaking techniques discussed in this video can help you as well. #ieltsspeakingband9 #ieltsspeakingspeakenglishnaturally #speakenglishnaturallyandfluently
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In this video, you will learn 5 techniques on how to speak English naturally in your actual IELTS
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speaking exam. These techniques helped me achieve the highest band score in the speaking test
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Hello everyone, welcome to IELTSdragon, where you can learn IELTS speaking techniques
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and sample answers from the perspective of a non-native English speaker who successfully
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got a band 9 in just one take. The first technique on how to speak English naturally
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that can definitely impress the examiner is to use rhetorical questions. But what on earth are
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rhetorical questions? Take a look at this example. Let's have the topic of shopping. And one of the
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questions is, do you like shopping? Let's apply a rhetorical question to our answer. And our answer
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is, yes, definitely. Well, who doesn't like shopping? I do believe that everyone loves shopping
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as it's one of the ways to relieve stress. As for me, shopping is a quick fix for my loneliness
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Now, I want you to look at my answer. I said, who doesn't like shopping? That is an example of a
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rhetorical question. I asked that question as part of my answer, but I was not literally asking
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the examiner so I could get answer from him. No. I was just using it to make a point or to make
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a statement. Like, no one in this world hates shopping. We like buying things, may it be from
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an online shop or an offline shop. The use of rhetorical questions is very common in public
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speaking or even in normal conversations because it actually helps engage the listener or the person
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you're talking to. And that sounds very natural. In other words, rhetorical questions are questions
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asked in order to make a statement that do not expect an answer. They are used for dramatic effect
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or to engage the listener. Some common examples of rhetorical questions are, who cares
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And if I'm talking about how privileged children are these days for accessing the internet
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I can say, do these kids really know how privileged they are for living in this generation
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where the internet is accessible? Those are examples of rhetorical questions. I don't need
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answers to those questions because basically, they are statements. Now, I just want to clarify
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things here. I'm not saying that you use those examples in your answers. No. I'm just showing
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those examples for better understanding of my point. When you make a rhetorical question
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you have to make sure it is aligned with a topic or when the question is pretty obvious, like
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do you like shopping? Well, that's pretty obvious. Everybody loves shopping. So, that's why I said
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who doesn't like shopping? The second technique on how to speak English naturally is... Okay
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this time, I don't want to spoon feed you. I want you to realize the technique on your own
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And you can only do that when you look at this example. Let's take a look at the example. The
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first example is about fish or fishing. And the question is, do you like eating fish? I want you
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to pay close attention to the sample answer because you will realize what's the second technique that
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can definitely help you speak more naturally. All right. So, let me read the sample answer here
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Frankly speaking, fish is not my cup of tea. Although fish is loaded with wonderful nutrient
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protein, vitamin, which is essential for our brain and eye development, I still have extremely
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antipathy with fish. As I was a little girl, when having eat fish, I choked on a fish bony
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and then fish became a terrible obsession for me. Look at that sample answer. What do you think
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is the main problem with that answer? I bet you now have an idea of what's the second technique
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on how to speak English naturally. So, the second technique is don't force yourself to
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use advanced vocabulary words, especially if you don't know how to use them correctly
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Instead, use words that are natural in conversation. Now, I want you to look at the sample answer again
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The speaker used several advanced vocabulary words, but unfortunately, she didn't know how
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to use them correctly. So, it's like she's forcing herself to use advanced vocabulary words, but it
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ended up being so unnatural. By the way, I got this sample answer from the comment section
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of one of my videos, because last year, I asked my viewers to comment their answers in the comment
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section, so I could help them improve their answers. And this is one of those answers that I got
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So, I actually helped her, and this is how I improved her answer. So, let me read it
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Frankly speaking, eating fish is not my cup of tea. Although fish is loaded with essential nutrients
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that are good for the body, I still can't eat fish because it reminds me of my traumatizing
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experience. When I was a little girl, a fish bone stuck in my throat while eating, and it took me a
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while to get rid of that fish bone out of my throat. Since then, I stopped eating fish
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So, that sounds natural, and I was not forcing myself to use advanced vocabulary words
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Let's have another example, and the topic is about tidiness. The question here is
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are you a tidy person? Let me read a sample answer which was shared by one of my viewers
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And here it is. Are you a tidy person, by and large? Yes, I am a very tidy person. The reason
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why? I can't work or study in a messy place. Does it sound natural to you? Do you think
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native English speakers answer that way when they are asked, are you a tidy person? Do you think
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they would say, by and large? I don't think so. That doesn't sound natural at all, right
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So, I helped her improve her answer, and I said, yes, I am. It's impossible for me to work or study
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in a messy place, so I always make sure to make things organized at home and even at work
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as it gives me peace of mind. That sounds natural, right? Do please remember that majority of
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examiners are native English speakers. It's their language that we non-native English speakers are
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using, so they can easily spot someone who is trying hard to use advanced vocabulary words
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but doesn't really know how to use them correctly. My piece of advice is just use words that are
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natural in conversation, but if you really want to use advanced vocabulary words, then make sure
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you know how to use them correctly, like 100% sure. The third technique on how to speak English
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naturally in your IELTS speaking exam is to accept that you may make mistakes. Let go of
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perfectionism. You may make grammatical mistakes, but that's alright, because grammar is only 25
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of your overall score. We all make mistakes. Even native English speakers make mistakes
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when they speak their own language, and that's pretty natural. Although I get a bad 9
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I still make mistakes. My grammar is not perfect. My way of pronouncing the words is never perfect
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During my exam, I didn't pressure myself to speak English with perfect grammar. No, because I
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couldn't be perfect. What I did was I only focused on delivering my thoughts clearly, confidently
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and naturally, and I just did my best to hold a good conversation with my examiner. That mattered
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most to me, and it worked really well. When you look at the public copy of the IELTS speaking
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band descriptors, you will see that even band 9 has forgivable mistakes, like grammar slips
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These are the mistakes that even native English speakers make from time to time. But I'm not saying
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that you shouldn't study grammar. No, you still need to study English grammar, because that's very
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important. What I'm trying to say here is it's okay to make minor mistakes. That's not a big problem
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Some test takers are so concerned about grammatical mistakes, they keep on thinking
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not to commit grammatical mistakes. As a result, they lose their train of thought, and that's a big
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problem. Do not allow yourself to be preoccupied with a fear of committing grammatical mistakes
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Instead, focus on delivering your thoughts clearly, confidently, and naturally, and make sure
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that you really understand the questions. The fourth technique on how to speak English
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naturally in your IELTS speaking exam is to control your nervousness. Have you noticed
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that when you are so nervous, your mouth becomes dry, and it's really hard to enunciate the words
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Being nervous does not only affect your train of thought, but it also affects your pronunciation
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If you cannot enunciate the words, then your examiner will not be able to understand you
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That's a big problem. Well, I was also nervous when I took the exam, like you, like everyone else
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That kind of feeling is pretty normal. However, you need to control your nervousness. So, how did I
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control that kind of feeling? When I entered the room, I smiled to my examiner and greeted him
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politely. And I was so happy seeing him smiling back at me, because it made me feel comfortable
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The moment when I felt comfortable, I became confident, and I was able to enjoy the conversation
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with my examiner. The next technique on how to speak English naturally is to avoid speaking so
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fast. Just speak at a normal pace. Neither fast nor slow, just normal. Okay, do you think that was
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pleasant to listen to and easy to understand? I don't think so. So, avoid speaking so fast. Don't
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think that if you speak so fast, you sound like a native English speaker. No, it doesn't work that
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way. Speak at a normal pace, neither fast nor slow, just normal, because you will surely be understood
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Some of my students speak so fast. They try to show off their English skills, and it's really
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hard to understand everything that they say whenever they speak so fast. Avoid doing such a
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thing. Speak at a normal pace, because if not, your examiner will not be able to understand you
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It's really pleasant to listen to someone who speaks at a normal pace, because you can definitely
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understand every word that comes out of his mouth. That's what we need to do. We have to make
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sure that we are understood by our examiner. If you want to learn more techniques on how you can
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definitely ace your IELTS speaking exam, consider watching the videos that appear on your screen
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right now. I'm pretty sure they can definitely help you. You can get lots of ideas in there
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Thank you so much for watching this video. Until next time, have a lovely day. Bye
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