আই.ই.এল.টি.এস - স্পিকিং টিপস
পাঠ ১ : আপনার উত্তরের ব্যাপ্তি বাড়ানোর উপায়(IELTS SPEAKING PART 2)
IELTS এর পরীক্ষার এই অংশে আপনাকে ২ মিনিটের জন্য একটি বিষয় নিয়ে কথা বলতে হবে। আর এই বিষয়টি হবে পরীক্ষকের পছন্দ অনুসারে যা আপনি পরিবর্তন করতে পারবেন না। আর এই বিষয়টি হতে পারে আমাদের আশেপাশে ঘটা যেকোন ঘটনা যার সাথে আমরা পরিচিত , যা সহজেই আমরা বর্ণনা করতে পারি ।
কিন্তু অনেক পরীক্ষার্থীদের জন্য এই অংশটা ভয়ের কারণ হয়ে দাঁড়ায়।এখন প্রশ্ন আসতে পারে কারণগুলো কি?আর এগুলো থেকে পরিত্রাণের উপায় বা কি? প্রথমে আমরা ভয়ের কারণগুলোর দিকে লক্ষ্য করি
আমরা আগেই বলেছি এই অংশের জন্য বরাদ্দ সময় ২ মিনিট, কিন্তু তাই বলে আপনাকে তারা কোন প্রকার প্রস্তুতির জন্য সময় দিবে না এই রকম কঠোর পদ্বতি কিন্তু নয় IELTS , আপনাকে ১ মিনিট সময় দেয়া হবে আপনার ভাবনাগুলো কে গুছিয়ে নেওয়ার জন্য, আপনি কি বলবেন তার মানসিক প্রস্তুতিকালিন সময় এটি । কিন্তু অনেকে ভয় পেয়ে যায় তারা এই ১ মিনিট সময়ের মধ্যে কি ভাববে, এ কারনে সবকিছু গুলিয়ে ফেলে । আরেকটি গুলিয়ে ফেলার কারণ হচ্ছে এ ২ মিনিট সময় ব্যাপী একজন অচেনা মানুষের সাথে কি ভাবে কথা বলবে সেই স্নায়ুচাপে(নার্ভাস)ভোগা।
আর আমাদের এই পাঠের প্রচেষ্টাই থাকবে যেন আপনারা এই রকম কোন সমস্যার সম্মুখীন হন। এখন আসা যাক সমস্যার সমাধানে কি করা যায়, এই পাঠে কিছু টিপস দেওয়া হবে যা আপনাদের চর্চার মাধ্যমে সে সকল ভয়ের হাত থেকে কাটিয়ে তুলতে সাহায্য করবে বলে আমার বিশ্বাস ।
এখন একটি আপনি নিজেকে একজন পরীক্ষার্থী চিন্তা করুন এবং আপনার ...।।
প্রশ্নটি এরুপ:
Describe someone who has had small influence on your life.
You Should say:
Who the person is?
How long have you known her?
What qualities the person has?
Explain why they have had such an influence on you?
এখন আমরা সেই Cue Card টি দেখছি যেখানে কিছু বিষয় আছে আপ্নাকে অবশ্যই সেই বিশ্যগুল নিয়ে কথা বলতে হবে কিন্তু আপনি যদিশুধু এই প্রশ্নগুলোর উত্তর দিতে চান তবে আপনি অল্প সময়ের মধ্যে কথা বলার বিষয় হারিয়ে ফেলবেন কিন্তু আপনার কথার মাঝে যদি এই প্রশ্নগুলোর আবহ থাকে তবে আপনি পারবেন ।
আপনার কথা বলা শুরুর ২ মিনিট আগে আপনি এই দুইটি জিনিস করতে পারেন যা আপনার পরীক্ষার ২ মিনিট ইংরেজিতে ফুঁ দেওয়ার আগেই শেষ হয়ে যাবে ।।
১) Using ‘question’ prompt:
ইংরেজিতে কিছু question prompt আছে যেমন—
Who
Which
Whom
Where
How
When
পরীক্ষার সময় আপনি এই prompt সহ আরও কিছু prompt চিন্তা করুন যা আপনার কথা বলাতে সাহায্য করবে,একটা উদাহরণ দেখলে আরও পরিষ্কার হবে বিষয়টি
When - When did you meet? Where – Where did you meet?
২) একটি গল্পের কথা ভাবুন ঃ
আপনি এই ব্যক্তির সাথে ঘটেছে এই রকম কোন ঘটনা ভাবুন, অথবা তার কোন গল্প সম্পর্কে
ভাবুন যা আপনার বিষয়ের সাথে সঙ্গতিপূর্ণ,আর আপনার হাতের ওই ১ মিনিট সময়ের মধ্যে তা নোট করে রাখার চিন্তা করুন, আলোচ্য প্রশ্নটির উত্তর এই রকম হতে পারে
IELTS Speaking Part 2
The person I’m going to talk about today is my teacher from high school. (who) Her name was Miss Sabina and she taught quite a few subjects at the school. She had been working there for quite a few years when I met her I think. (where) We met for the first time in my English class. (more about ‘who’) I remember this well because she was quite young compared to most of the other teachers in the school so I was surprised that she was a teacher! In fact she looked more like she could be one of the older students!
(How long) So I met her when I was 15, and that was 10 years ago. I don’t actually know her anymore as we lost contact soon after I left the school, but I still remember her very well for several reasons. (What qualities)Firstly, she was very kind. She always treated all the students very well in the class, and I can’t remember her ever shouting at anyone. Also, she had a really good sense of humour. She would make jokes in the class which most of the other teachers never did. The other teachers were very serious all the time. And she made the classes a lot of fun and very interesting, something that I think is very important otherwise you start to get bored. Oh, and also she explained things very well and very clearly. Often teachers are not able to do this in a way that students can understand, especially when it's complicated subjects.
So those are the qualities that she had. (why such an influence) The reason she had such an important influence on me is because I was quite a shy person at school and not very confident, but she helped me to change this. (tell a story) Each year, there was a school play that would be held in front of all the parents, and that year, when I was 15, Miss Chadwick was organizing and directing the play. I really didn't want to be in it because I was so shy, but Miss Chadwick insisted that I take one of the roles, and it was one of the main roles which meant that I would have to do a lot of speaking! I was so nervous. Anyway, I went ahead and did it, and on the night I did really well and really enjoyed it. And that really boosted my confidence and this has helped me to this day.
So my teacher Miss Chadwick is the person who has influenced my life and I will never forget her.
Speaking rules you need to know
1. Don’t study grammar too much
This rule might sound strange to many ESL students, but it is one of the most important rules. If you want to pass examinations, then study grammar. However, if you want to become fluent in English, then you should try to learn English without studying the grammar.
Studying grammar will only slow you down and confuse you. You will think about the rules when creating sentences instead of naturally saying a sentence like a native. Remember that only a small fraction of English speakers know more than 20% of all the grammar rules. Many ESL students know more grammar than native speakers. I can confidently say this with experience.
2. Learn and study phrases
Many students learn vocabulary and try to put many words together to create a proper sentence. It amazes me how many words some of my students know, but they cannot create a proper sentence. The reason is because they didn’t study phrases. When children learn a language, they learn both words and phrases together. Likewise, you need to study and learn phrases.
If you know 1000 words, you might not be able to say one correct sentence. But if you know 1 phrase, you can make hundreds of correct sentences. If you know 100 phrases, you will be surprised at how many correct sentences you will be able to say. Finally, when you know only a 1000 phrases, you will be almost a fluent English speaker.
Don’t translate
When you want to create an English sentence, do not translate the words from your Mother tongue. The order of words is probably completely different and you will be both slow and incorrect by doing this. Instead, learn phrases and sentences so you don’t have to think about the words you are saying. It should be automatic.
Another problem with translating is that you will be trying to incorporate grammar rules that you have learned. Translating and thinking about the grammar to create English sentences is incorrect and should be avoided.
3. Reading and Listening is NOT enough. Practice Speaking what you hear!
Reading, listening, and speaking are the most important aspects of any language. The same is true for English. However, speaking is the only requirement to be fluent. It is normal for babies and children to learn speaking first, become fluent, then start reading, then writing. So the natural order is listening, speaking, reading, then writing.
First Problem Isn’t it strange that schools across the world teach reading first, then writing, then listening, and finally speaking? Although it is different, the main reason is because when you learn a second language, you need to read material to understand and learn it. So even though the natural order is listening, speaking, reading, then writing, the order for ESL students is reading, listening, speaking, then writing.
Second Problem The reason many people can read and listen is because that’s all they practice. But in order to speak English fluently, you need to practice speaking. Don’t stop at the listening portion, and when you study, don’t just listen. Speak out loud the material you are listening to and practice what you hear. Practice speaking out loud until your mouth and brain can do it without any effort. By doing so, you will be able to speak English fluently.
4. Submerge yourself
Being able to speak a language is not related to how smart you are. Anyone can learn how to speak any language. This is a proven fact by everyone in the world. Everyone can speak at least one language. Whether you are intelligent, or lacking some brain power, you are able to speak one language.
This was achieved by being around that language at all times. In your country, you hear and speak your language constantly. You will notice that many people who are good English speakers are the ones who studied in an English speaking school. They can speak English not because they went to an English speaking school, but because they had an environment where they can be around English speaking people constantly.
There are also some people who study abroad and learn very little. That is because they went to an English speaking school, but found friends from their own country and didn’t practice English.
You don’t have to go anywhere to become a fluent English speaker. You only need to surround yourself with English. You can do this by making rules with your existing friends that you will only speak English. You can also carry around an iPod and constantly listen to English sentences. As you can see, you can achieve results by changing what your surroundings are. Submerge yourself in English and you will learn several times faster.
5. Study correct material
A common phrase that is incorrect is, “Practice makes perfect.” This is far from the truth. Practice only makes what you are practicing permanent. If you practice the incorrect sentence, you will have perfected saying the sentence incorrectly. Therefore, it is important that you study material that is commonly used by most people.
Another problem I see is that many students study the news. However, the language they speak is more formal and the content they use is more political and not used in regular life. It is important to understand what they are saying, but this is more of an advanced lesson that should be studied after learning the fundamental basics of English.
Studying English with a friend who is not a native English speaker is both good and bad. You should be aware of the pros and cons of speaking with a non native speaking friend. Practicing with a non native person will give you practice. You can also motivate each other and point out basic mistakes. But you might pick up bad habits from one another if you are not sure about what are correct and incorrect sentences. So use these practice times as a time period to practice the correct material you studied. Not to learn how to say a sentence.
In short, study English material that you can trust, that is commonly used, and that is correct.