ISE III - Interactive Phase

The examiner will describe  a situation to you. You will have to ask questions to find out more information, make comments and express opinions. You must keep the conversation going and involve the examiner in the interaction or the examiner will conclude this phase early.  This part lasts 4 minutes. 

Be sure to read the information about the collaborative phase in ISE II Part 1  and Part 2

EXAMPLES of how to begin:

Examiner: My boyfriend really adores climbing. Recently he persuaded me to go on a climbing holiday with him in the Alps. It was a terrible mistake.

Candidate: Really, why was it such a terrible mistake?

Examiner: Well, the worst thing was that I was terrified!

Candidate: That must have been awful. Didn't your boyfriend help you? .....

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Examiner: Young people do seem to be rather unhealthy these days. I think I know the reason for this.

Candidate: What do you think the reason is? 

Examiner: Well, of course, the main reason is the fact they eat so much fast food.

Candidate: Do they?  I don't think they do much in my country, apart from perhaps pizza. What kind of fast food do you mean? 

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Here are some more  prompts for the interactive phase:

1) I have always been a vegetarian, but sometimes I have a problem explaining to my friends the reasons why.

2) There was an interesting article n the paper the other day explaining why there is a high rate of unemployment among young people these days. 

3) My best friend can be really annoying. She's really nice, but often doesn't tell me the truth, and this makes me rather suspicious of her.

4) Sometimes I think children spend far too much time on the computer. they never seem to spend any time playing sports or even actually talking to their friends.

5) In my view, it's high time everybody took some responsibility for saving the planet. there are so many things we could all do.

6) Sometimes when I read the newspapers I wonder how much of what I read is rue. It seems to me every story is exaggerated and sensationalized. 

7) Recently I made a decision which might have been a big mistake. I lent a lot of money to a friend of mine. 

8) My friend claims she has 215 friends on a social networking site, but I'm not sure that this is real friendship. 

9) My elderly uncle is rather old and forgetful now and I really don't know what we should do about the situation. 

10) My friend's daughter has just returned from her gap year and has just told her parents she doesn't want to go to university any more. They are furious but maybe she's right. 

11) I used to think all these theories about the meaning of dreams were complete rubbish, but having heard a friend's story, I'm not so sure. 

12) It is often thought that sports are a brilliant way of teaching children all sorts of different skills, but I must admit that I'm not totally convinced. It could end up with children feeling totally humiliated.