Filling silence/ thinking aloud in IELTS Speaking
IELTS Speaking Part Two
Warmer/ Lead-in
Choose one of the following topics and speak about it as long as you can. Your partner will time how long you speak from the first word you say to the last word you say, minus how much time you spent being silent.
Everything you did yesterday evening
How to get from where you are sitting now to the nearest station
If you got on well with your brothers and sisters when you were younger, with examples
Some gossip people have told you or you have read
What kinds of music you have in your music collection, with examples
What kinds of videos you have in your video collection, with examples
Films you like and dislike and why
Sports stars you like and dislike and why
Music you like and dislike and why
The history of your country or a foreign country
Food you like and dislike and why
Types of holidays you like and dislike and why
Your morning routine
Your hobbies in the past, present and future
Your life story
Your work in the past, present and future
Pausing for thought phrases presentation
Write phrases that people in your group used or could have used to fill silence in the activity above and/ or during IELTS Speaking (Parts One, Two and/ or Three).
| Phrases to fill silence when you need time to think when you start speaking: |
| Phrases to fill silence when you need time to think in the middle |
| Phrases to fill silence when you are nearly finished speaking |
Use the mixed phrases below to help, the brainstorm more.
Mixed phrases
- Can I add that…?
- Can I stop there?
- First of all…
- I can’t remember much about that, but…
- I can’t think of anything else to say
- I can’t think of the word.
- I forgot to mention…
- I think I’ve covered everything
- I’d like to talk about…
- I’m going to talk about…
- I’ve never really thought about that before, but I would say…
- Is there anything else I should add?
- Let me give you an example.
- Let me have a look at the question again.
- Let me see.
- Let me start by saying…
- Let me think.
- That’s a difficult question
- That’s about all I can say about that
- That’s an interesting question
- The first thing I should say is…
- The other thing I should say is…
- What else was I supposed to say?
- What was the last point again? Oh yes, …
- What’s that called?
- Where shall I start?
Check as a class. Many other phrases not above are also possible, so please check if you wrote something different.
Change partners. Take turns doing the first speaking task above, but this time with less and less help from above, in this order:
- use as many different phrases from the table as you can, with your partner ticking them off as you use them
- only use the mixed list above to help
- do it without looking at the phrases, but trying to use that kind of language if you need to
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PDF for easy saving and printing:
Related pages
Filling silence/ Pausing for thought/ Thinking aloud page – COMING SOON
Lovely resource for a busy, i will use it and add to it. Thanks