Students practice for their CAE speaking exam, Part 2, paying special attention to speculating about the images. I prepared this activity for my CAE students to help them with part 2 of the speaking exam, so-called “long turn” where they are supposed to compare pictures, express their opinion, and speculate. Students practice the language of speculating through working with slightly more obscure images.
The Task
Students work in pairs taking turns to describe the same set of pictures (choosing two out of three). Each student has a table of useful expressions they should include in their description. The objective is to use as many expressions as possible. Every time they use one, they cross it out. There are two minutes to complete the task. The partner listens for mistakes and monitors whether target structures are used correctly. After finishing the activity, see who managed to use the most expressions from the table, and try to come up with a model answer with the whole group.
For more activities for Advanced students take a look at this grammar activity and listening activity.
Personal Experience
At first my CAE students were quite surprised with the pictures (“I can’t see their faces, how am I supposed to know what they are feeling?!“) and that was exactly my point; to make them think outside the box, and add more speculating to the picture description (the element they often forget about). The competition component is optional, however, students usually enjoy keeping score.
Materials
Speaking Part 2 Places_Expressions
Speaking Part 2 Places_Expressions_BW
Awesome content. It’s been helping me to practice more with my students and myself too
Amazing! Love it! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Thank you for your kind words, Aggy 🙂
Brilliant content – had been hoping to find something like this to help my students – they do tend to get bogged down with describing photos!