TIPS TO TACKLE THE ORAL EXPRESSION TASK

How to start
There are many ways of starting a monologue. Have a look at the following
ways of starting:

1) Stating the name of the topic, saying what the main points of
your speech will be, offering a definition.
MANNERS

Id like to start by introducing the subject of my topic which is MANNERS. I have

divided this little talk in 3 parts: Firstly, The IMPORTANCE OF MANNERS,
secondly DIFFERENCES IN MANNERS BETWEEN GENERATIONS and thirdly
and lastly DIFFERENT MANNERS WORLDWIDE. Let me start with the first item
and the definition of manners:

ROYALTIES

First of all, let me start with a brief definition of downloading related to the royalties
which have to do, indeed, with the sale of illegal copies or downloads of CDs and
DVDs containing music, movies or software without the consent of the creators (
the well known copyright).

You all have probably heard that illegal downloading is threatening the film
industry because watching illicit copies of new films becomes increasingly
commonplace. This is the reason why the governments are trying to develop
techniques for blocking websites that infringe copyright law.

HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

- Measures to prevent the collapse of the system

- Pros and cons of private medical insurance

- How to deal with health tourism

Im going to talk about the Spanish Healthcare System. The items that Im going to
explain are the collapse of the System, pros and cons of private medical insurance and
health tourism.
Our Healthcare System is against the ropes although we have the 6th best healthcare
system in the world. Unfortunately, this is something that our children maybe wont get
to know.
All of us are currently worrying about the economic crisis
 2) Asking a rhetorical question:

BILINGUAL EDUCATION

What could be more charming than having a child who speaks any foreign
language whether French, English, German or whatever it is?

Being bilingual is a skill that brings many benefits when a child becomes
adult, from traveling abroad to learning new cultures. The possibilities are
endless.

3) Starting with a fact and moving on to offering your opinion:

HEALTH AND BEAUTY

Experts agree that childhood is the best age to start learning a new language even
though the mother tongue is not very well known yet.

Our parents and grandparents didnt know about gyms, spas, plastic surgery and body
treatments whereas now they are becoming more and more popular.

From my point of view, body care is really important because of two reasons : Health
and Beauty.

Regarding health, there are many ways to get fit, such as cycling, running, walking but
many people choose join a gym, maybe it is funny because you meet people and being
muscular is trend.

Body care is important because image is an overrated quality. Many jobs require people
to have a nice image, especially in shops and front line services.

4) Starting with a passive structure:

LEARNING A LANGUAGE

Its commonly accepted that nowadays learning foreign languages is essential.

To start with, I would like to highlight that there is a wide variety of foreign languages
everybody can study or learn. And of course a lot of places and ways of learning them .

But, the fact that English is one of the most useful languages to communicate all over
the world, speak volumes of its relevance.
How to conclude
1) Offering a brief conclusion:
In conclusion, I want to say that have good manners changes over time and is dependent
on the situation and the people involved.

As far as Im concerned, and to conclude, I think that education is the key to changing
public attitudes towards music, movies and software piracy.

We are the owners of our time and we spent it as we want. It is true that we have to
work, we have to do certain tasks, but the last decision about the way we spend our time
is ours.

Never before have we suffer so many mistakes and strange phenomena like
Spanglish. We have to be careful with all the bad uses we make of languages.

2) Stating a fact, prediction:

French is growing fast, and growing in the fastest-growing areas of the world,
particularly sub-Saharan Africa. The latest projection is that French will be spoken by
750 million people by 2050 (currently English speakers are about 900 million, and so
are the Mandarin speakers).

3) Offering an opinion:
In my opinion, I disagree with the taxes on prescriptions because this is a dissuasive
measure but not an effective one. Also therere a lot of people chronically ill who need
medicines over long periods and this measure is not fair for them. This is also the case
of the unemployed who cant allowed to pay for medicines.
General tips
Be organized: do not jump from point to point
when you start talking about one of the items in the
speaking card, finish with it and move on to another
one. If you want to mention something you have said
before, use proper phrases:
- as I have already said
Be cohesive: use a wide variety of connectors and
discourse markers that make your speech fluent.
- Having said thatI would also point out that
- I strongly agree thatnonetheless
- Whats more
Etc, etc, etc
Use a wide variety of vocabulary and grammar
structures. If you dont, you wont be achieving your
goal. Students failing to do so, will be considered
intermediate level and will not pass the exam.
If you do not have a lot of ideas about the topic, try
to organize the little you know in good language.
Resort to personal experiences or general opinions,
but not to the point where you are telling an anecdote.
- I am not an expert in the topic, however
- As far as I know..
- Should my experience be of any value
 Transition words to connect ideas
1) Words showing addition of one point to another
additionally, again,
along with that idea we could also mention,
as previously stated, as stated earlier,
that could be (the solution) as well,
at last, at length, at the same time, besides,
equally important is (the fact that)
eventually, extending, likewise,
meanwhile, moreover, next, other, overall, presently, second, similarly, since,
soon, subsequently, supplementing, then, therefore, thus, to begin with, too,
while
2) Words introducing a condition to what was said before

as long as, even if, even though, given that, granted that, granting that, if, in case, in the
event that, only if, on the condition that, provided that, providing that, so long as, unless

3) Words introducing examples or details

as a case in point, as an illustration, by way of example, by way of illustration, for

example, for instance, in other words, in particular, namely, specifically, such as, that is,
that is to say, thus, to illustrate

4) Words introducing a personal opinion

as far as I am concerned, as for me, as I see it, from my point of view, from where I
stand, I believe, I consider, I feel, in my opinion, in my view, I question whether, I
think, it is my belief, it seems to me that, let me say personally, that/this is my
viewpoint

5) Words showing a difference between ideas

although, but, contrarily, conversely, despite (this), even though, however, in contrast,
in spite of, instead, moreover, nevertheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, on the
other hand, or, otherwise, rather, still, unlike, whereas, while this may be true, yet

6) Words showing a result

accordingly, as a consequence, as a result, because, consequently, due to, for this

reason, hence, if not, in other words, in that case, otherwise, owing to, since, so, so that,
that being the case, that is, that is to say, then, therefore, through, thus, under the
circumstances, with the result that

https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/bien-well/fra-eng/style/connect-eng.html
Grammar structures you should use
-ing structures
Schooling in Spain is compulsory and free until our children are sixteen years old.
Then, teenagers can choose between continuing their studies or entering the labour
market.

Being bilingual is a skill that brings many benefits when a child becomes adult, from
traveling abroad to learning new cultures. The possibilities are endless.

inversion
Never before have youngsters felt so aimless

Not only should we worry about endangered species, we should also take some action.

Reporting verbs
Some citizens question the usefulness of a cycle lanes in a city where drivers do not
respect cyclists.

The workers representatives recommend that new strikes should be carried out.

Predictions and probability

Global warming will definitely become more of a problem in the near future.

In the coming decades we will be investing more in renewable energy sources.

Oil is bound to run out

Participle clauses
The corporation shut down the plant, leaving many workers unemployed.

Participle clauses
Sentence connectors (however for emphasis, even though, while, even so
Although these are more important in writing, you can also use them in formal speech.
 As well as
As well as praising their children, parents should tell them off when they misbehave.

Plural and number agreement

The data never tells you where the food was sourced from.

A large percentage of small local farmers struggle to survive.

Verb patterns
Revise your verb patterns. You NEED to know whether a verb is followed by ING, TO
INFINITIVE, or INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO!!!!

Work hard and youll succeed!!!