What To Do When You Lost Words In IELTS speaking?
Many students find themselves in the critical situation of how to start an answer. It is quite common to have nerving wrecking or mind got blank facing IELTS interview. It may be difficult if you are preparing for IELTS exams alone and it is advisable to join some IELTS coaching center in Jalandhar or nearby your area.
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So here are some phrases to help you to get yourself started and give you enough time to think about your answer.
The foremost technique which would help you is to use words from the question and paraphrase itself. For example, what is your favorite car? You can simply start by using words ‘Well, my favorite car is.. Ferrari..’. This will buy you enough time to prepare and elaborate on your answer. It is sure that nobody bothers that you are telling the truth. The only need is fluency.
If you are completely lost and even a single idea is not knocking your mind then you can start defining the concept or words of the question. For example if you encounter a question ‘Is it good to be non-vegetarian or is it immoral?’ You can answer it by defining the question that ‘non-vegetarian is a person who eats meat from the animals’ or can start by ‘Well, I am a non-vegetarian myself, and enjoy eating meat and I do not think eating meat is immoral in any respect’ or ‘it is about the values and beliefs of an individual to consider eating meat moral or immoral’.
In the Task Card section, the questions get trickier. To get some more time to prepare your answer you can initiate as ‘Well, that’s a really interesting question, I like it and I would have to start by saying…’ This phrase will give you extra seconds to think up an answer.
Following are some phrases you can remember and utilize when you find yourself stuck in any part of the interview. Using these phrases you can escape from ‘umm’ or ‘aah’ saying situations.
To begin with…
I would like to begin by stating that…
Well, in my opinion…
I’d like to start by saying…
That’s a really interesting question…
If I have to give an example from my personal experience, I would say that…
Actually, I’m glad you asked me that…
I personally believe that…
From my point of view…
I’d like to discuss…
First of all…
From my perspective…
Well, to answer your question…
What an intriguing question…
Well, I don’t have much personal experience with the subject/topic, However, I believe…
Finally, it is OK to take a pause to think about your answer and even it comes in good books that at least your answer is not memorized. Instead of being panic or say what comes into your head, it is better to think about your answer.
Good luck!
