Podcast 2 - B1 Cambridge Preliminary Speaking part 2

Hello, and welcome to another episode and today I'm going to talk about the B1 exam, the Cambridge exam, and more specifically about the speaking exam. And part two of the speaking exam, which is talking about or describing a picture or photo. So here we go!

Now, if you have downloaded this podcast, there should be a photograph, which came with the podcast. If you open that photo, that will help you to follow this podcast. Open the photo now. In the exam, the examiner - he will say, he or she will say, in this part of the exam, "I want you to talk on your own about something. I'm going to give you each a photograph of..." and then he'll give a photograph to one of the candidates.

B1 Cambridge speaking exam photo

As you know, there are two of you. And he will give you a photo and say the theme of the photo. So you will probably describe a photograph, which is similar to your partner's photograph, or to the other candidate's photograph. So for example, he may say, "I'm going to give you a photograph of some people playing games." Now, what I'm going to do is to give the description of this photograph as though I were a candidate. And then I'll talk about the different elements of the description afterwards. Okay, so here we go.

In this photograph, I can see two men, they are playing a game. I think it's a game of chess. Behind these two men, there are three, no, I think four other men. I can't see what they're doing. But I imagine they are playing chess. Two men are sitting down, looking at the table. And there are two men standing up and watching the game. Now, the two men in the foreground are wearing shirts, they are wearing white shirts. So I imagine it's a summer's day, because it seems to be quite warm. The man on the right is also wearing a white cap. And the man on the left is wearing a blue cap. They seem to be very interested in the game, and are concentrating very hard. I can imagine they play chess, perhaps every day. Perhaps they meet here after lunch, and have a game with their friends. I imagine they're in the park, because in the background, I can see some trees. Or perhaps they're outside a bar or a cafeteria because I think there's a road behind them. In the picture on the left hand side, I can see a car. So that makes me think that perhaps that is a road there.

Good. So what did I do there? Well, first of all, when I started, I just gave a general description of the picture. I said, there are two men playing chess. Now, it's possible that when you are describing a picture, there are things in the picture that you don't know, in English, or you can't remember at the time of the exam. So try to think of another word. Don't just say something like, there are two men playing. Or it would be better if you said there are two men playing a game on a table. I don't remember what it's called. And that will show that you have sufficient English to be able to describe the situation, even though you don't know all the words.

Right. So that is a general description of what is happening. Then I talked about the people behind them. Now we can't really see what those people are doing. But it seems quite obvious, doesn't it, that they are also playing chess. But I can use words like maybe, or could be, or might be to make guesses about what is happening. They may be playing chess, or they could be playing chess, or they might be playing chess. Or we could say, perhaps they're playing chess, or I imagine they're playing chess. And then I described what the people are doing. There are two men sitting down. And it seems there are two men standing up and watching them. It seems - I say that, because I'm not too sure. But it looks like they are watching.

What I need to do now is to use prepositions to be able to locate different people or things in the picture. On the right, the man is wearing a white cap. And I also said in the foreground, in the foreground, means the part at the front of the picture, which is closer to us. And the opposite would be in the background. And I said that later, about the trees, the trees are in the background, we could be also more specific about other places in the picture. I also said, on the left of the picture, in the background, I can see a car. So I imagine that there's a road there. So possibly they are outside a cafeteria.

I think another nice thing is to also talk about what you think happened before, or what people do, perhaps, generally. Now in this picture, we can imagine that these men come here and have a game of chess maybe every day. Of course, I don't know that. But you can imagine this might happen. So you can make up a little story if you like, as I did. I imagine these two men come and play after lunch - a game of chess with their friends. So it's a nice little thing to add to your description of the picture.

So remember, when you're in the exam, try to keep calm, that's easier to say, isn't it, than to do! But try to keep calm, because it doesn't matter if you don't know all the words. But just remember, there are different parts to the test - to talk about the picture globally, in general, and then start to say what people are doing. And where people are in the picture. You can say what they're wearing. And if for example, they're outside, you can start to link the clothes they're wearing with the weather. For example, to say they're wearing shirts, so you suppose - you imagine it may be summer.

And remember if you don't know a specific word, try to use another word instead, or just avoid it altogether. But don't say, Oh, I don't know. Ah, and don't use your own language! Don't say something in your own language. It must be something in English. Okay, well I hope that has helped. Bye for now.

Listen to more practice on the Cambridge Preliminary speaking test part 2...