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This episode of Zdenek's English podcast is sponsored by a brand new podcast, The Footglitch Podcast.

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An English learning podcast about football by the same podcaster that records this podcast.

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Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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Shut up! I'm listening to Zdenek's English podcast.

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You're listening to Zdenek's English podcast. By far the greatest English podcast on earth for

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English learners since sliced bread. My name is Zdenek and I'm your host.

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Hello guys, welcome back to Zdenek's English podcast. And today's podcast, I hope, is going

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to be to the point because I'm talking to Ben from the To The Point English YouTube channel.

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Hi Ben, welcome back to the podcast. Hi Zdenek, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.

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Anytime, man, anytime. It's been a while since I talked to you last time. How have you been?

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Yeah, I'm very well. Not much news, to be honest. Just making YouTube videos and preparing people

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for their Cambridge exams, that type of thing. But yeah, all good here. How are things with you?

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Yeah, not too bad. I'm in Vietnam, so I'm preparing for going back to Europe for a few months.

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The plan is to probably come back here after that. But we will see. It's still open more or less.

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Well, it's nice to have the option, isn't it?

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Doesn't really matter where you are when you record stuff online.

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No, exactly. That's the beauty of it. You can live anywhere in the world with a half decent

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internet connection and you can keep it going.

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Exactly. So Ben, just to remind my listeners, you are an English teacher, a YouTuber, and I would

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say you're something like a Cambridge exam specialist. You specialize in teaching exams

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such as Cambridge First, Cambridge Advanced, and Cambridge Proficiency. The old names were FCE,

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CAE, CPE. I still use them. And do you?

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Yeah, it's strange. It's a mix now. When I make a video and I put the description of what's in the

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video, I have to put both the old names, for example, CPE and the new name, C2 Proficiency,

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because some people still use the old name and some people only know it as its new name. So it's

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all a bit confusing. But yeah, FCE is the B2 first, CAE is C1 Advanced, and CPE is C2 Proficiency.

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Those are the three Cambridge exams that I specialize in. That's right.

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There's going to be a generational divide, Ben, I think. The boomers will always use FCE,

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CPE, CAE. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. That's true.

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And then the generation Z. They will never have heard of these

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acronyms. So they will be so confused. Exactly. It took me months, if not years,

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to get used to the new names. And now we're in the middle. Yeah. So it depends who you're talking to,

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really. Some people have no idea what the CAE is. Some people have no idea what the C1 Advanced is.

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But yeah, I think Cambridge should maybe invent a completely new name.

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Or just start again, because it's so confusing at the moment. I think there are a lot of changes

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coming in the next few years. If you do that, Ben, you know what's

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going to happen. You're going to have a three-way confusion. Yeah, that's true. And I wouldn't have

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enough space on my YouTube video thumbnails to put all the different names in. And the keywords

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as well. There's a limit for your keywords as well. Exactly. Yeah. It's crazy.

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All right, Ben. So just to remind our viewers and listeners, I say viewers because this is also

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published on my YouTube channel, on the Teachers Thenek YouTube channel.

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We have done a podcast. It was back in 2020, I believe, during the COVID time.

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And since then, I remember when I was doing that with you, you were like one of those YouTubers,

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like me, I would say, with just a couple of subscribers. But since then, you have come a

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long way. Your YouTube channel has taken off. And we can even see behind you, there is that,

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what do you call that? The placard? What's that? I call it a plaque, but I think they call it the

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YouTube button. It's a button, I think they call it. But it's like a plaque. Yeah, that's the

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plaque. Yeah, that's the button. Is that silver? That's the silver one. Yeah, it's not real silver.

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But it is quite nice. I haven't checked, but you can feel it's quite good. It's quite heavy and it

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feels quality, but it's not real silver. But yeah, that's the 100,000 subscriber button. You say,

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I don't remember the word you used that it's taken off. It was like a spike. So as you said,

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I was kind of just chugging along at a few hundred or a few thousand subscribers. And then it took

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off for about two months and then it went back down again. So I don't know what happened. I think the

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YouTube algorithm got excited and started recommending my videos all over the world.

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And then it calmed down and now it's just continuing. So I reached the 100,000 subscriber

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mark about two years ago. No, a year and a half ago. So now 150,000. So it's all good.

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As you know, it's not just about getting subscribers. It's about helping people. I

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think it's the beauty of being online, having an online presence. You can just reach more people

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and help more people as you do. Yeah, but that number is kind of, it's like in this world of

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content creation, it tells you something. So you have reached out to so many people and people

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have been following you. And that's a good thing. And I'm kind of proud that I knew you back then

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when you were not famous yet. It makes me feel proud that you were on my podcast. I knew there

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was potential in you. You spotted it even before everyone else did, before the algorithm did.

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Absolutely. Or maybe it was because of my appearance on your podcast.

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I don't think so. It created the first ripples. I doubt that.

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I think it, I don't know. Who knows how the algorithm works. But it's a good story. It

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would be a good story. Yeah. Yeah. It's all down to you. Maybe it was the same

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other people who have appeared on your podcast, who have now have hundreds of thousands of

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subscribers. It's all down to you. And those that don't, we don't talk about them.

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Oh, no. Don't mention those. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

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And also one more thing we should say is that you've been on my YouTube channel a few times

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because you are a West Ham fan. You support the Hammers. And I used to run this show called

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English, Learn English with Football, where I would review the Premier League weekend.

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And occasionally you came on as well to talk about West Ham matches. So that we have done

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that too a few times. Yeah. Haven't we? Yeah. It's good fun. It's good fun to talk about something

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that we enjoy other than teaching English. Of course, we both enjoy teaching English,

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but it's our job. But something we have in common, which is football in this case.

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And exactly. Yeah. And you have a bit of a connection with West Ham too. I do. I do.

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The Czech players. Yeah. Absolutely. So, okay. Well, I invited you Ben today. First of all,

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I really wanted to catch up with you because... Hi, I am Serkan. I like the Achievers' Chamber

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because it helps you practice whenever you want.

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For more information about the Achievers' Chamber, go to teachersdenek.com.

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I really wanted to catch up with you because I thought it was a nice opportunity to do it.

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Now that you have the silver button. No, I'm kidding. I'm joking. I'm joking. Yeah.

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I really think it's a nice opportunity to discuss with you something related to exams because

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there's another connection. Now that I'm living in Vietnam, Ben, I teach quite a few exam classes,

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but as you may guess, here it's more about the IELTS exam. Well, would you say that a lot of

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the stuff that we can talk about, there's a lot of overlap between the IELTS exam and these Cambridge

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exams that you mentioned? Yes. And other exams too, I think. I mean, there are some tips that I give

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that... I'm thinking of the B2 First, C1 Advanced, C2 Proficiency Cambridge English exams, but they

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are completely valid for other exams. There's some things that just apply to all exams or most

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English exams, really. So yeah, I mean, I don't specialize in IELTS, but I know the general

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format and I know there are some similarities to the Cambridge exams. So yeah, a lot of the tips

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and preparation should be quite similar too. I assume you teach kind of all the skills,

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don't you? Because the thing is I only teach IELTS speaking here.

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Okay. That's what I do. No, no. I teach all the skills. I have online preparation courses,

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which look at every single part of every paper of the exams. So I give tips on how to do the

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use of English, the reading, the writing, listening, and speaking. I think some people

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struggle with different areas. A lot of people do struggle with the speaking. I think the writing

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paper is probably the one that most people struggle with the most, but also listening.

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So it depends. I mean, these are very difficult exams, the Cambridge exams, even the B2 First,

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which is the lowest level that I teach or that I help students prepare for. It's a difficult exam.

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It's a really tough exam. So when you talk about the C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency,

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when you talk about the C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency, they're tough and you need to

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prepare well and you need a strategy and you need to know how to approach every part. It's the same

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for the IELTS. Absolutely. Well, you mentioned writing being the toughest part. I took the exam

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back in 2017 just to see. I think at the time I wanted to go to the Middle East to teach in the

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Middle East. Someone told me that I would need to prove my level to them, not being a native speaker.

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And I did get eight in IELTS in the end, but only because I completely messed up the writing part.

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I only got seven in writing and that's after having written a master's thesis in English and all that.

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So it's not like I can't write. It's just I didn't prepare properly for it and I didn't have enough

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time to proofread it and I wrote too much. So I got only seven and as a result my overall score

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was eight. I was just half a point away from getting 8.5 in overall score just because of that.

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And that would have been C2 level, right? Now I'm like borderline C1, C2, I guess.

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Yeah. I still think I'm C2 but like I need to... Zdenek, you are C2. You are definitely a C2

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English speaker without a doubt. I can tell you that. Oh thank god. But that's the frustrating

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thing about exams is that you don't always get the score that you deserve or kind of deserve.

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I mean if you had prepared for the writing you would have got that score and I see that so often

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with my students they kind of either they don't prepare enough for the exam in general or they

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neglect the writing paper because nobody likes writing essays or reporting things. I can't stand

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it. I can't bear it. Yeah. That's the thing that everybody... Yeah. Everyone will find an excuse

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and it's such a pity because it could... In your case it can mean the difference between C1 and

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C2 or B2, C1 or even a pass and a fail. So well obviously you can't fail the IELTS but with the

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B2 first, C1 advanced and C2 proficiency you can. But it's... I know nobody likes it. Nobody enjoys

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writing essays. Ben, sorry to interrupt you. I don't even like teaching it as a teacher. I've

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got my own preferences. I know exactly who I love to teach, what sort of levels I love to teach.

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For example, I don't like teaching the little children. It's not for me. Thank you very much.

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I prefer adults or teenagers at most. I know. Yeah. And then what to teach. So I can also

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become a specialist. So here in Vietnam they are quite happy about the fact that I teach IELTS

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speaking because of my pronunciation which is very clear and also that's what they do here.

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The Vietnamese teachers teach the passive skills, let's say. And what do you call it? Not passive

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skills. The receptive skills. Whereas the foreign teachers teach the productive skills

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and especially speaking. Yeah. Well writing is one of the productive skills but as you said nobody

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likes doing it or teaching it. And I find that my students who bite the bullet and decide to

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practice writing an essay or one of the other tasks, they really want me to do everything for

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them. They want me to say what phrase can I use here? What linker can I use here? What grammar

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should I use? And I do give them as many tips and as much help as possible but at the end of the day

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it's them that has to write the composition. They have to think about what content they want to

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include and how they want to present the information and express their ideas. And it's practice.

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Unfortunately at the end of the day that's the only way to improve especially writing. It's

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just by doing it. And it's just sitting down and starting. You don't have to, the first time you

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do it, you don't have to write a complete essay in 45 minutes. You can take your time just write

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a one paragraph introduction paragraph one day and just get started. And as I said it's so

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frustrating as a teacher who helps students prepare for the exam to see these results statements where

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you know people could get an A in speaking, an A in use of English and maybe a C or a D level in

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in the writing just because they didn't prepare. That's a huge discrepancy isn't it? Well, Ben,

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Ben, first of all let me remind everyone yeah to the point English with Ben is the name of your

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channel, your YouTube channel. That is also a dot at the end isn't there? Like a full stop after Ben.

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Full stop yeah. Okay I don't remember doing that. I've just checked your... That's the point I guess.

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That's like a little joke like an inside joke. Probably when I came up with it years ago when I

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here when I set up my YouTube channel I probably did do that on purpose yeah. I think it's it doesn't

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matter if you when you're searching for the YouTube channel in the search bar. I don't think it

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matters if you don't if you don't add the full stop there but I think it is there anyway so that's

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where people can find your YouTube channel but you also mentioned that you've got some courses.

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Yeah so where can we find that then? Well in the description of pretty much all my

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YouTube videos you'll find the link to my online courses also on my website which is TTPenglish.com

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so TTP like from to the point TTPenglish.com.

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Yeah and also I have an Instagram account which I'm relatively active on not not very but you can

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find the link there but yeah to be honest I because I was specializing in the Cambridge exams

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through my YouTube videos I was getting a lot of interest from students who wanted me to help them

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prepare. They wanted classes preparation classes and I didn't have enough time to be able to

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take on all the students so I thought what can I do? Well I'll just record basically my classes

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that I give you know with all the slides all the information all my tips and I'll make them into an

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online course so although I can't give the the classes myself people can go on and they see the

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the video lessons and like as I said I'd look at in detail at all the different parts of of the exams

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and there are advantages and disadvantages to online courses but I think there are more advantages

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they're cheaper first of all than face-to-face classes overall. You can do them at your own pace

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at your own time from your house or from even if you're on the train or on the bus traveling to

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work or school whatever. You're offline you download it somewhere exactly yeah yeah and you

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can repeat the the lesson as many times as you as you want. That's true without without getting

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embarrassed and you know nobody needs to be embarrassed. Exactly.

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You know nobody needs to know exactly yeah if you if you missed something just rewind the video

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but students can contact me as well there's a discussion option on each of the lessons where

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they can ask me and I reply to every question I get so I think as I said before this online world

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is amazing and I think it's so it's good for for us as teachers but also for for the students there

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are so many options now. Absolutely okay well thank you for telling us about that and now the

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next part of the show is Ben I have prepared something for us. You know how I told you that

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I teach IELTS speaking here well one day I prepared an exercise for my students. Basically it's a

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couple of statements about the exam it's just sort of like generic statements to do with the exam.

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It's like thinking of let's say pros and cons and and do's and don'ts in this kind of sense

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and I thought what we could do is go through all these statements one by one and I'm going

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to basically pick your brain about it again this is this was made for IELTS but I think it's going

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to apply to to all those Cambridge exams as well it's going to be very similar I think the the

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I think the the main difference is that you describe pictures there right there's one exercise we have

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to we have images and you have to describe them right and well yeah I'll just correct you there

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because you don't have to describe them that's the big that's quite important because you're never

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asked to describe the pictures you're asked to compare and and answer the questions you're right

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yeah you're right you're right yeah compare them and sort of you don't talk about what what you see

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visually it's not it's not about like telling telling the examiner that oh there's a bird in

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the top left corner exactly I guess you could say but what you need to do is to go sort of beyond

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that and talk about that topic in a more abstract sense let's say it's it's inevitable that you will

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have to say what is in the picture and in you know what in the pictures but you have to do it in a

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way in which you are comparing not just describing so you could say in the first well in fact I

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always recommend to my students to say in the first picture we can see well no sorry I always

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recommend we say in both pictures we can see people playing musical instruments for example

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in the first picture there are two people playing the guitar or playing guitars whereas in the

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second picture the people are playing the drums for example so there's a lot of ticked a lot of

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boxes ticked already I can I hear it all then I hear it all present present continuous there is

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a linker there there's all sorts of things going on at the same time and then I think it's about

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this this exercise is about proving to the examiner that you can use comparative language

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language used for comparing right so structures like it's not as as and far more than and

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and stuff exactly yeah exactly and also speculative vocabulary because you'll get

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right depending on the exam one or two questions and well really we're talking about the b2 first

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and c1 advanced here but and the questions will be like what might the people be feeling so you

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can't say the people are feeling very happy because you don't know you're speculating you

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say well the people might be or perhaps they are feeling happy or it looks like they are happy that

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type of thing and my personal favorite would be to use speculative language to talk about the past

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so this is here's my here's my sentence I would say well this picture must have been taken in a

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in a I don't know in a city right so you say yeah must have been plus ed exactly oh my god

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that's like the examiner will be over the moon if you say that you'll get a pass immediately you

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could finish the exam there examiners wet dream we could say yeah probably yeah literally but

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but yeah that might have they might have been maybe they look tired so you say that the people

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in the picture look tired they might have been running they might have been running so yeah that's

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that structure past speculate speculation so little things like that which they're not easy

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but they're once you learn them exactly you can use them it's almost whatever the picture you have

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exactly it's a it's a strategy it's like it's what i'm trying to instill in my students i'm trying to

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jump drum it into them that you have certain structures they can kind of almost always use

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if you're clever about it if you can improvise and you can sort of see um think outside the box

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and it's it's really possible to do that like yeah there are certain structures which which are

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so flexible you can almost always use that like the one i just told you where it must have been

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taken so listen it's specs you're using modal verb to speculate about the past it's also in

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passive this is like oh my god yeah it's perfect and you can almost always say that because every

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every every picture someone must have taken the picture right yeah yeah and and there is a location

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where the picture was taken okay yeah it may not always be relevant to say that but it's kind of

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easy to to do if it's your first sentence or something and and and once you use this it's

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also going to affect your your confidence i think because you know yes you have done it and then

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you just keep going you know it's like your springboard or something i think it will affect

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your confidence once you've used it but also before knowing that you have that up your sleeve

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that you you have this fantastic grammatical structure that you can use then that that will

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make you feel more confident you're not just going to you're not going into the unknown without

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anything prepared you think okay well i can use it's the same with vocabulary there are certain

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absolutely words you can use whatever the pictures are so you just feel more confident that you can

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you can you're going to impress the examiners somehow absolutely so you can you you can relax

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a little bit and and just just do it put but it's all about preparing because you know we're talking

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about one task in the speaking paper of a big exam so you have to have that attitude to every

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single part of the exam and it takes time to develop a strategy because there are other things

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to take into consideration too but i you may be asked you may ask me about those now so i won't

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i won't go on because we have to think about time management and that type of thing so yeah

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speaking of time management this is exactly what i struggle with here on the next english podcast

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and sometimes i tend to go off on a tangent yeah and so uh it's exactly what just happened because

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i was about to go through those statements with you and then for some reason we ended up talking

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about images and pictures but that's okay that's okay here on this podcast you know

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we are forgiven it's not anything goes anything goes it's not such a big deal okay so i've got

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15 of them so um i mean we could we could try to go fast or just or just cover just a few of them

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doesn't matter um we'll see what happens um let's just wing it so when the first statements and i

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just a disclaimer all of these i made them by myself yeah so if you don't like any of them or

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you think think they're hogwash then just it's okay you can you can always uh question them as

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well so if you're confident it's okay to take the cambridge exam or iot exam without preparation

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then what do you think no i disagree completely i guess you're expecting that answer yes i think

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that's one of the biggest mistakes people make and one of the the number one reason one of the

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number one of the main reasons that people fail is overconfidence especially with the c2 proficiency

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a lot of people have a really good level of english it's true that perhaps they have a c2

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level of english so they they think they don't need to prepare for the exam that's a huge mistake

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you you maybe you wouldn't fail but you wouldn't get the score that you could possibly get just by

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preparing understanding what you have to do what is what is asked of you what again time management

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having a strategy for each part i've seen it so often that people underestimate the exams

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that they don't really understand what they're getting themselves in in for and then they they

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don't pass yeah or they don't get the score they could get so yeah definitely even though their

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english might be actually or their english proficiency might be actually really really

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high level and they could even be native speakers because if i occasionally i check these sort of

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statistics online about where the ios takers are from and you go through the countries the native

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speaker countries they they are actually not or not on the top of the list which you would assume

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they are not and i always wonder why and it's probably because of that you know you probably

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the takers they know they're native speakers and they get complacent about the exam

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or i have no idea why this is happening i don't know i mean i don't know if those

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people from those native speaker countries are actually native english speakers or they're just

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living they have to say what their first language is and and okay the first language is english

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so it could be someone i don't know from south africa it could be some i know is some some

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indian people from india but not all of them they have english as their first language

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it could be someone from great britain canada usa but yeah they think oh okay what's this exam

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about oh it's going to uh tell me what my english level is right yeah yeah yeah there are four skills

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you just quickly look at it i was like okay this is a piece of cake but then then it's not because

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it's not it's not especially i think the writing part might might be the one that because the

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speaking that usually kind of shows right you can kind of shows if you can speak english or not but

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yeah the writing part also the the listening could be tricky as well because it's listening

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could not only listen it's multitasking it's a lot of multitasking you need to be really focused i

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you know i i do the tasks before i teach them before i prepare and i struggle i'm

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i usually get the questions right but i have to really concentrate because you have to understand

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what again if you do if the first time you do any of these tasks is on the day of the exam

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you're going to struggle because absolutely it will be very overwhelming it just it's going to be

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you'll be in for a shock so yeah even even native english speakers would need to prepare

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absolutely you just need to go go through that experience of just familiarizing yourself with

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the format with the exam format so i think this one is you know there's there's no doubt about this

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and that this this is absolutely absolutely wrong so my second question is asking examiner questions

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is okay what you what you stand on this ben in the speaking paper yes obviously yeah it's all

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about speaking by the way they all these questions are these are all about speaking okay i mean the

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first one was kind of about everything it's more general yeah yeah um uh no you shouldn't ask the

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it depends i mean you can ask them to repeat the question there's no problem with asking them to

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repeat the question you don't lose marks you won't be penalized for that i mean just do it once don't

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don't ask it three or four times but um but generally no it's not an interaction with your

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with the examiner it's you i don't know with the iELTS but in the cambridge exams you have

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you will have a partner or at least one partner maybe two and there will be interactive tasks but

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yeah you shouldn't really ask the examiner his or her opinion or to react and always makes me laugh

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when i'm when i'm explaining this to my students i always tell them okay so when the examiner asks

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you where where you're from and what you i don't know what what you do in your free time don't

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don't end don't answer the questions answering that question by saying and what about you

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just don't do that no it's maybe your instinct is to do that because you're polite and you

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want to you know you think you should be natural but no it's not it's not it's not important what

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the examiners think or where they're from so no just answer the questions and interact with your

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partner when necessary right that's that's for the cambridge exams because in the iELTS exam there

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is no partner right but when it comes to examiners just they're like i don't want to say a fly on the

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wall it's not it's not the exact expression but they they are there only to ask you questions

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and and assess your english in the cambridge exams the there are two examiners in the room

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there's the interlocutor who's there to ask the questions and monitor the time and just

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make sure it all goes to plan and then the assessor who is more like a fly on the wall

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they won't participate in any of the tasks but they will be taking notes and evaluating and

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assessing your performance so yeah there are two examiners but you only respond to the interlocutor

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and in the iELTS exam there's only one person and that person also assesses your speaking as

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far as i know because i know one iELTS examiner here in vietnam actually i cannot tell his name

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or her name if it's if it's a woman and i'm not supposed to because they have to remain

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undercover right anonymous yeah top secret top secret yeah but they they they told me some

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ins and outs but the iELTS exam so yeah yeah it's good right uh yeah i completely agree with you ben

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so number three it's a good idea to correct yourself when you realize you've made a mistake

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yes i would agree with that one yeah not if you realize like 30 seconds or a minute or two minutes

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later don't don't go back and say oh by the way that mistake i made two minutes ago i meant to

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say that no just if it's at the same moment as if you make a mistake and you realize immediately

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then just yeah correct yourself and then again in the cambridge exams that assessor who's waiting to

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to take notes will will not will not note that mistake you've corrected yourself so it's it's

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it's forgotten and forgiven what if i did what did i what if i did the following ben what if i said

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oh by the way the mistake i meant the mistake i made two minutes ago i i feel really ashamed

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about that and had i not made that mistake i would now feel so much better now this would be a mixed

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conditional then wouldn't that be wonderful it would be a very impressive mixed conditional

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that's great but it would be irrelevant i think they would say because that's not that wouldn't

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be the task whatever the question the the interlocutor asked you wouldn't be about that so

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unless unless it's a question about making mistakes yeah in that case you could use it as an example

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for example that mistake i made two minutes ago had i not made that mistake yeah etc so but yeah

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in general i i think you should just focus on the task you're on these hands speaking yeah these

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speaking tests pass so quickly that in the cambridge english exams they're about 15 or 16

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minutes you don't have time to sort of think back to the mistakes you've made or to analyze yourself

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you just have to stay in the zone and focus on the task at hand as you said yes and i've got one

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student yeah i'm not going to say what their name is but they always apologize after making a mistake

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so that's another thing i would say you should probably avoid doing because it's just it only

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slows you down and reduces your confidence and it's going to you're going to end up being

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self-conscious and don't do that don't apologize for making mistakes like you can you can say it

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once you can say i'm sorry or something yeah it just don't constantly apologize every single time

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you make a mistake just to acknowledge yeah that you've made the mistake is you're wasting

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your your your time basically yeah and a very limited time precious time in the exams you know

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the time they give you is for you to to demonstrate your level so you have to use every second

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to the best the best of your ability to take advantage of every second and embrace embrace

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the fact that you may occasionally make mistakes because everybody does and it's part of the

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learning process as we always say us the english teachers and if you're not at that c2 level like

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you're expected to make mistakes so just get on with it yeah you can still get an a in your exam

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if you make a mistake or a few mistakes i think that's a mistake or misunderstanding

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yeah especially with the c2 proficiency i think people think if you get an a in the c2 proficiency

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you're perfect you're basically a native speaker you're fluent it's not the case you can get an a

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you can make mistakes and still get an a in all of the exams it's not about perfection it's just

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demonstrating your you know your high level of english absolutely i couldn't agree more

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so number four rambling and going off topic is better than staying silent

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that's it so we've got like two extremes right two extremes someone

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someone who doesn't talk much or or makes long pauses and on the other on the other side of the

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spectrum you've got a candidate who just talks too much and often doesn't follow the the main topic

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yeah i think neither of them are ideal you want to try to avoid both but i would say the rambling is

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better than silence you know the examiners need something to evaluate they need to give them

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content so exactly saying anything is better than saying nothing that's what i was hoping for

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and anyway the interlocutor in the cambridge english exams is responsible for interrupting

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you if if you if they feel the answer is too long or they have enough information then they

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just will interrupt you say thank you okay ben so next one on my list here is it's always a good

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idea to take risks using high level vocabulary even if you are not sure i mean let's let's say

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you don't know exactly how to pronounce it or you don't know if it's an idiom you don't know

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the grammar around it is there is there an article or not which preposition should i use so where do

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you stand on this one that's a tricky one because i think you should i wouldn't say you should take

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risks um because this is an exam i think when you're in class or in in real life situations i think

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you it's a good idea to practice different vocabulary different idioms expressions even

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if you're not 100 sure because that's that's how you learn by using them but in an exam they are

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evaluating you know if you're using the appropriate words and expressions it probably depends on the

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level too i mean if you if you attempt a high level idiom in the b2 first exam the examiners

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are going to appreciate the attempt even if you don't get it quite right but at c2 level for

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example you're expected to be more precise with your with your vocabulary you should use the right

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preposition you should you know you should get the word you know with binomials for example you

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should use them you know you don't say cheese and chalk you should say chalk and cheese those little

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details that are important at c2 level but if it's a trinomial it's gonna be even worse yeah is it

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tall dark and handsome or is it is it handsome tall dark or is it handsome dark and tall you got it

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right the first time i think instinctively is tall dark and handsome yeah it just flows for me it

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flows flows better yeah tall tall dark and handsome but i mean that that is a tricky question because

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i i would encourage students in general to to have fun and experiment with and not experiment but

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risk take risks as you said try different types of expressions in other situations but in an exam i

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think you should probably play it a bit safer and don't take so many risks would you agree with that

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or i would to the point to a point personally i think it's worth taking at least a little risk

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otherwise i think your your speech might might end up being very boring and mundane and

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so i would say there's there's there's a good balance to taking some risks and not taking any

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risks at all but you're calculated risks a calculated risk yeah absolutely um

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i think yeah it's it's okay it's okay with idioms let's say it really depends on the level as you

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said but like if i'm not sure i don't know there are so many idioms where i'm not sure if if it's

384
00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:20,560
with the or uh for instance right and i feel like if you're clever about it and you for example you

385
00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:26,400
say it very fast it's almost it you can't almost hear the difference between uh and the sometimes

386
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:36,560
so that's one way of bypassing that i suppose yeah yeah i think the sometimes i see

387
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:42,640
i have students who are really obsessed with the vocabulary they think that they just have to include

388
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:50,000
seven advanced expressions in every or words in every sentence and it just sounds unnatural and

389
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:56,000
they don't get some of them quite right and it can be quite difficult to understand them sometimes

390
00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:02,160
because they're just trying too hard and it's not about using lots of advanced vocabulary it's about

391
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:10,400
using the appropriate vocabulary for the context and if sometimes that vocabulary that appropriate

392
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:15,440
vocabulary happens to be an advanced word or expression fantastic but i think you have to be

393
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:25,200
careful when you try to force vocabulary into into your your answers um it's a balance it's a

394
00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:32,880
balancing act you have to sound natural after all and yeah that includes sometimes using pauses and

395
00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:40,880
using pauses and stuff like that and vague vague expressions like stuff like that and you know yeah

396
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:47,600
and don't just use idioms for the sake of using idioms although i am i may be a hypocrite because

397
00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:53,840
i sometimes tell my students do exactly that in a clever way though just don't over do it don't

398
00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:58,800
over do it if you're confident i think you need to be confident in that you're you know how to

399
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:03,120
use the idiom and that you're using it in the right context with the right order of the words

400
00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:10,000
because they can be difficult but um if you another problem is that some people start using

401
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:13,760
an idiom and they get stuck in the middle because they're not really sure how to finish it and they

402
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:21,200
start panicking and just um as long as you don't put the horse before the cart you are exactly

403
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:25,600
exactly or is it horse is it card before the horse card before the horse yeah don't

404
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:31,280
put the cart before the horse yeah it's a good example yeah yeah because obviously it's more

405
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:36,320
natural for the course to go in front of the cart so the opposite would be strange that's the idea

406
00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:43,280
of the idiom yeah that was a joke yes yeah all right uh that's what you could do as well like

407
00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:48,720
if you if you if you tell this idiom and it's a joke i mean i'm not sure that one of the statements

408
00:42:48,720 --> 00:42:56,080
is about jokes but actually i should find it now let's see where is it

409
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:05,920
god i cannot see it now anyway it will come sooner or later

410
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:16,800
okay how about this one then you should never use the same words as the examiner used in the exam

411
00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:19,440
um in the question sorry in the question

412
00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:28,720
okay uh never that's a very strong word a very definitive word no i i wouldn't say

413
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:36,960
i think you can use the same words i think you should try to paraphrase or find synonyms when

414
00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:44,480
you can but i sometimes it's kind of inevitable or it's very difficult to avoid using the same words

415
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:51,520
and i mean that's similar in the writing paper too some i see students sometimes writing

416
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:57,520
all any word except the word that's in the question and that sometimes is very unnatural so

417
00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:03,440
similar with the speaking you don't want to if you can avoid sort of repeating any vocabulary

418
00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:10,720
whether it's the the examiner yourself repeating words you've already used or your partner

419
00:44:10,720 --> 00:44:17,360
uh you want to try and avoid that as much as possible but sometimes it's not possible so

420
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:22,800
it's not a big problem sometimes you can repeat the words and then add a synonym or use a synonym

421
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:28,960
later or paraphrase but i wouldn't say never no yeah i i completely agree with you and i think

422
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:33,120
it boils down to the word itself like if it's if it's a word like if someone asks you a question

423
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:41,600
about computers what's this what's a synonym for computers yeah exactly machines machines

424
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:48,640
that compute learning machines it just doesn't make sense and i've seen things things like with

425
00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:54,240
children when children is in the question and people say teenagers or adolescents or toddlers

426
00:44:54,240 --> 00:45:00,400
or it's not the same and yeah those are all types of children but children is more general so

427
00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:05,840
you're specifying and it's not it's a good idea to find if you can find a synonym but

428
00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:11,840
kids kids is fine a good synonym in speaking for for children so yeah be careful with that it's

429
00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:20,000
again it's common sense really it is yes okay it's better to be nervous about the exam

430
00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:27,600
than overconfident what do you make of this yeah i would agree with that i would say yes

431
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:35,120
i think it's natural to be nervous it's almost everybody gets nervous before an exam not you

432
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:41,040
know there are a few very confident people that don't get nervous but it's completely natural and

433
00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:47,120
nerves being nervous can help you to focus um that's why we get nervous i think to help us

434
00:45:48,000 --> 00:45:55,200
do these difficult things well if you know if you weren't nervous you probably wouldn't

435
00:45:55,200 --> 00:46:01,840
force yourself to prepare enough and focus on the day of the exam so yes i would definitely say it's

436
00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:07,040
better to be nervous than overconfident but again it's the balance you don't excessive nerves can

437
00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:14,080
can cause can be a hindrance in the exam because you you can't think clearly so if you can just

438
00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:19,040
take deep breaths and try to control your nerves a little bit then that's great but definitely

439
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:25,360
better than being overconfident can you be overconfident and nervous at the same time is

440
00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:33,440
that even possible uh i don't think so but perhaps i think some people are very confident before the

441
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:40,000
exam but the moment they're in the exam room they suddenly get nervous and that that's a problem

442
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:45,840
because they they then hadn't prepared and they have the the worst of both worlds they're not

443
00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:52,240
prepared and they're nervous yeah well said well said all right just it's a good opportunity one

444
00:46:52,240 --> 00:46:59,680
little motto slogan i say don't be scared be prepared because the way to avoid or to overcome

445
00:46:59,680 --> 00:47:04,720
nerves is to be prepared you know the more prepared you are the less nervous you will be usually

446
00:47:04,720 --> 00:47:14,720
absolutely yeah absolutely how about this one being well dressed keeping eye contact and using

447
00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:25,120
body language and hand gestures matters uh yes i think the other body language and hand that

448
00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:33,920
non-verbal communication is important it's not evaluated there's no like it's not part of the

449
00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:40,400
marking criteria but it does again talking about the cambridge exams where you have a partner

450
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:44,080
you should look at your partner and sort of turn your body towards them when they're speaking

451
00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:49,280
to show you that you're paying attention and nod your head when when you agree

452
00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:56,240
smile when they say something funny that type of thing that's part of communication so yes i think

453
00:47:56,240 --> 00:48:03,920
that matters being well dressed again it depends i mean yeah don't go in probably i wouldn't

454
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:09,600
recommend you go to the exam in shorts and t-shirt i mean well a t-shirt that should be okay but you

455
00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:18,960
don't need to wear a suit or anything like that but don't be a slob these these things make an

456
00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:25,520
impression but i don't think that's so important to be honest iron iron your clothes before you

457
00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:34,960
can i take the exam before before um sorry can i take the exam in a uh west ham united shirt

458
00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:42,160
or arsenal shirt arsenal no west ham yes you you'll get bonus points if you take it in a west ham

459
00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:48,160
united shirt and if i take if i if i take a spurs shirt that that would definitely make me fail the

460
00:48:48,160 --> 00:48:54,160
exam you wouldn't be allowed through the door you'd be sent home immediately to get changed

461
00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:59,040
to wear something more appropriate yeah if i were the examiner i would do exactly the same

462
00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:08,800
yeah exactly yeah all right it's desirable to be funny and try to make the examiner laugh

463
00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:20,880
i'm gonna say no i disagree because i but not completely because i think if you

464
00:49:20,880 --> 00:49:25,200
you have so much to worry about and think about for the exam and it's you know you're gonna be

465
00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:29,920
nervous so you're gonna be focusing on doing the tasks to the best of your ability and

466
00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:35,040
using good vocabulary grammar interacting thinking about your pronunciation the time

467
00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:44,000
so to have to think i have to make jokes as well i would say no however if you do have an opportunity

468
00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:50,240
to say something funny or just keep it light-hearted i think that demonstrates to the examiners that you

469
00:49:50,240 --> 00:49:57,200
are confident and you you have a good command of english so i don't think you should worry about

470
00:49:57,200 --> 00:50:03,920
it but you know if you if you're that type of person then don't hold back you know if you feel

471
00:50:03,920 --> 00:50:10,160
you want to say something funny go for it and i guess i'm lucky in this because it actually humor

472
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:16,640
is my coping strategy i remember when i was at university before before every single exam i was

473
00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:21,760
the funniest person in the room you know there's like a waiting room of all the students waiting

474
00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:26,720
for the exam i was making everyone laugh and that was because i was nervous about the exam

475
00:50:26,720 --> 00:50:33,200
and that was the way to calm myself down i don't know where it comes from why it happens and what

476
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:39,200
it's it's weird because like when i when i want to be funny it doesn't always come right but when

477
00:50:39,200 --> 00:50:44,720
then then when i'm really nervous or when something really matters to me i get into this state of

478
00:50:44,720 --> 00:50:50,800
trance or what you might call it and suddenly i start cracking jokes these are not jokes like

479
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:55,360
your typical jokes but you tell a story these are more like situational jokes you know

480
00:50:56,320 --> 00:51:01,600
yeah so so then when i took the iELTS exam i remember the examiner kept laughing all the time

481
00:51:02,160 --> 00:51:08,000
i couldn't believe it i just i don't i don't know i even hadn't slept the whole night before the

482
00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:14,240
exam i i swear to you i just 30 minutes maybe one hour maximum and then this happened so i don't i

483
00:51:14,240 --> 00:51:19,440
don't know well yeah i think that's good if that helps you to relax then yeah do that i think as

484
00:51:19,440 --> 00:51:25,600
long as you're using good grammar good vocabulary when you're telling these or making funny comments

485
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:31,760
then i think it's definitely not a bad thing it's you're not going to lose marks the only thing is

486
00:51:32,560 --> 00:51:36,720
i don't want people to think they should come in with a joke prepared like saying knock knock

487
00:51:36,720 --> 00:51:44,480
who's there that type of thing just if it if it comes up naturally in you know in the exam or

488
00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:48,560
answering a question then great if you're that type of person yeah i don't think i could do that i

489
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:55,840
think and yeah you'd need to the one good thing is you'd need to have a pretty good level of any

490
00:51:55,840 --> 00:52:01,920
language to be able to to make jokes and let's be honest not everyone is good at being funny and

491
00:52:01,920 --> 00:52:07,440
telling jokes like people people have a different level and ability exactly and so as i said like i

492
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:12,320
wouldn't i wouldn't come with jokes like you could you could you could come with the joke of

493
00:52:13,520 --> 00:52:22,160
the iELTS examiner and a candidate and another interlocutor went to a bar and then it's not

494
00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:26,960
gonna work it depends how it finishes but i think it's funny but like it's not it's irrelevant kind

495
00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:31,440
of it's irrelevant and inappropriate perhaps but i think the important point here is that you don't

496
00:52:31,440 --> 00:52:36,320
have to take it so seriously this is an exam and people are from very intense and very serious

497
00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:44,720
but you can be light-hearted and just enjoy this the the moment um i know it's easy to say and very

498
00:52:44,720 --> 00:52:49,440
difficult to do but if you can have that attitude it changes your experience completely you know

499
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:56,000
how i told you i know an iELTS examiner we often have beer and we talk about this and he says to

500
00:52:56,000 --> 00:53:01,600
me okay now i have let the kid out of the bag it's a he but that's as far as i am willing to go okay

501
00:53:01,600 --> 00:53:11,040
i can't reveal his name i think the famous famous last words be careful yeah yeah but well basically

502
00:53:11,040 --> 00:53:17,120
what he tells me is that it's it's often for them it's like a routine and they every time is the

503
00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:21,680
same right all the time and then when there's someone who's who's different who's funny who's

504
00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:29,760
attempting humor it's like a breath of fresh air for them then so yeah i can imagine yeah these

505
00:53:29,760 --> 00:53:35,280
these examiners see dozens of sometimes they see dozens of candidates every day and you know they're

506
00:53:35,280 --> 00:53:39,360
asking the same questions and often getting the same answers or very similar answers so if you

507
00:53:39,360 --> 00:53:46,560
get the student who's more relaxed and light-hearted and and i can imagine they would appreciate it

508
00:53:46,560 --> 00:53:50,960
i mean they're professional and they will be evaluating what you're saying but it does

509
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:57,120
demonstrate that you you're confident you have a good command of the language so yeah that yeah it's

510
00:53:57,120 --> 00:54:02,800
like the idioms don't force it in for the sake of it but if it comes up naturally like a joke or a

511
00:54:03,600 --> 00:54:08,000
funny comment then go for it you say they're professional and all that but i would also

512
00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:14,560
add that they are also human beings yeah so yeah exactly if you make their life if you make their

513
00:54:14,560 --> 00:54:21,600
day better they are probably going to end up giving you a half a point more you know it's there they

514
00:54:21,600 --> 00:54:27,040
might not even be sure themselves is this person eight or seven point five and then they they

515
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:31,680
remember the joke you told them and the fact that you made them laugh you know it's a nice guy

516
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:39,920
yeah exactly nice guy friendly yeah yeah give them an eight give i think it's uh yeah as you said

517
00:54:39,920 --> 00:54:45,120
they're human beings you know it just reminds me of a video because i was recently teaching a lesson

518
00:54:45,120 --> 00:54:49,760
when i was sort of playing some videos of candidates which i found which i had found on youtube

519
00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:57,040
and there's one video on youtube a guy taking the iELTS exam i don't know if it's if it's like

520
00:54:57,040 --> 00:55:02,960
staged or anything if it's if it's real i don't think it's really it's just it's a pure comedy

521
00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:08,960
gold pen because there's a candidate yeah he the in the title it says it's 1.5 so his english is

522
00:55:08,960 --> 00:55:16,320
really poor but the funniest bit for me is when they ask him in part two of the exam about his

523
00:55:16,320 --> 00:55:24,240
favorite teacher and he basically says that i don't have a favorite teacher i am my teacher

524
00:55:25,040 --> 00:55:31,760
teachers zero he doesn't use verbs much he says teachers zero i am the best teacher

525
00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:38,400
i'm like all teachers suck don't do that you're just basically insulting the the examiner because

526
00:55:38,400 --> 00:55:44,240
the examiner is probably an teacher as well an ex english teacher or or still an english teacher

527
00:55:44,240 --> 00:55:51,440
right so yeah yeah that's not a good strategy just use common sense you know yeah i think he's not

528
00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:57,280
doing himself any favors there maybe that's why he got 1.5 it's one of the reasons is making enemies

529
00:55:57,280 --> 00:56:04,320
it's such a funny video it's such a funny video it's just just typed right down um in the search

530
00:56:04,320 --> 00:56:13,680
bar i'll 1.5 and you will find this guy taking it such a such a funny dude honestly all right um

531
00:56:14,880 --> 00:56:21,200
okay i've got about six more yeah let's let's let's do it lying about your life and

532
00:56:21,840 --> 00:56:23,760
your opinions isn't the worst idea

533
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:32,640
uh i agree it's definitely not the worst idea i think it's absolutely fine the examiners don't

534
00:56:32,640 --> 00:56:38,320
they couldn't care less whether you're telling the truth or not they're just evaluating what

535
00:56:38,320 --> 00:56:43,760
you're saying so it's not sorry how you're saying it i always make that mistake they're evaluating

536
00:56:43,760 --> 00:56:51,120
how you say it not what you say so yeah the only if if you get a question and you think i i don't

537
00:56:51,120 --> 00:56:59,040
know like um what's your favorite uh tell us about your favorite holiday abroad and i said

538
00:56:59,040 --> 00:57:02,800
well i've never been abroad i don't know what to say invent something is that when i went to

539
00:57:03,760 --> 00:57:10,320
africa when i was 17 i traveled or just invent something the problem with that is it's always

540
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:15,840
more difficult to lie than to tell the truth so if you do have a true anecdote or something

541
00:57:15,840 --> 00:57:22,640
honest to say then go with the honest option but yeah they're not evaluating your honesty

542
00:57:22,640 --> 00:57:27,600
they're evaluating your english level so yeah yeah that's exactly what i would say it's

543
00:57:27,600 --> 00:57:34,000
it's much easier to tell the truth it's much much easier to tell a personal story so what one thing

544
00:57:34,000 --> 00:57:39,360
you could do is if if something that hasn't happened to you has happened to one of your

545
00:57:39,360 --> 00:57:45,920
close friends or or a relative that that may work because you probably know the details of the

546
00:57:46,480 --> 00:57:53,120
of the story uh otherwise you should really be confident about being able to

547
00:57:53,120 --> 00:58:02,160
yeah make things up and embellish you know your story let's say yeah otherwise i wouldn't

548
00:58:02,160 --> 00:58:07,120
recommend it is in my opinion ben it's even it's even fine to say i don't know if someone asks me

549
00:58:07,120 --> 00:58:13,120
about my favorite art art gallery or anything to do with art it's my least favorite topic i would

550
00:58:13,120 --> 00:58:20,800
just be completely honest with it i would say i'm i'm afraid i'm no expert uh in this field i know

551
00:58:20,800 --> 00:58:27,760
nothing about art and then i would also justify it i would say why i know nothing about it and

552
00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:33,520
uh that's it that's what i would do you know yes i think honesty is the best policy and you're not

553
00:58:33,520 --> 00:58:38,080
as you said you're not expected in these exams you're not expected to be an expert in any field

554
00:58:38,080 --> 00:58:44,000
you're not expected to have any special knowledge so be honest yeah the important thing is to you

555
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:51,120
can't just say i don't know you have to say to be honest i'm not it's not my area of expertise but

556
00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:57,360
what i would say is blah blah blah say something just whatever it is say something but i do think

557
00:58:57,360 --> 00:59:03,120
in general honesty is the best policy but you can lie one important difference between the iELTS and

558
00:59:03,120 --> 00:59:08,000
the the cambridge exams my understanding is in the iELTS you have some time the students have

559
00:59:08,000 --> 00:59:14,160
some time to prepare their answers for part two for part two okay so it's only the second part

560
00:59:14,160 --> 00:59:19,200
they have one minute to prepare and you get a cue card as well so it's like a structure it gives

561
00:59:19,200 --> 00:59:25,360
you a structure usually you have to describe someone or something uh that happened to you or

562
00:59:25,360 --> 00:59:29,760
you're describing a physical object or something like that and you can and the candidate can take

563
00:59:29,760 --> 00:59:34,480
notes right they can write you have one minute to prepare and then you speak for two minutes and you

564
00:59:34,480 --> 00:59:41,520
can use your notes uh to talk about that thing in the cambridge exams you never you get in parts

565
00:59:42,400 --> 00:59:48,960
let me think in part three of this b2 first and c1 advanced you get 10 seconds or 15 seconds to read

566
00:59:48,960 --> 00:59:54,480
the information on the paper but you don't have time to prepare so that makes a difference if you

567
00:59:54,480 --> 01:00:00,000
you can't invent a story and then sort of tell the story you just have to start speaking and

568
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:04,880
you have to think as you're speaking so that makes a difference to whether you tell the truth or

569
01:00:05,520 --> 01:00:10,800
yeah or invent something i think it's better to it's better as you said to to be honest because

570
01:00:10,800 --> 01:00:17,840
it's easier to develop and to express your right express yourself but it's not compulsory you can

571
01:00:17,840 --> 01:00:24,080
lie the examiners don't care exactly yeah yeah because they're hard how could they possibly know

572
01:00:24,080 --> 01:00:32,160
no exactly yeah yeah okay um if you're not so confident it's okay to speak with a low volume

573
01:00:36,400 --> 01:00:44,080
uh it's okay no i i recommend you project and speak clearly the the examiners need to

574
01:00:45,040 --> 01:00:53,840
hear you and understand you so yeah don't mumble try to pronounce just your words clearly and

575
01:00:53,840 --> 01:01:01,520
try to project so when you say it's okay i i recommend that you try to consciously

576
01:01:03,120 --> 01:01:08,320
speak loudly well not loudly you know loudly enough for the shout shelter the examiner

577
01:01:09,760 --> 01:01:16,160
yeah just just project yourself enough so that they can hear you but yeah yeah yes is that your

578
01:01:16,160 --> 01:01:21,360
answer yeah yeah yeah yeah maybe i worded it in in a weird way i've just realized but the point is

579
01:01:21,360 --> 01:01:28,480
i've i've come across some some students who just because of being really shy and introverted and

580
01:01:28,480 --> 01:01:35,280
and not confident they end up being so quiet that you then that you can barely hear them and i think

581
01:01:35,280 --> 01:01:40,720
that's that's a problem because their english is probably much better than they are able to show

582
01:01:41,360 --> 01:01:46,960
because of that so if that's who you are you have to work on this it's super in my opinion it's

583
01:01:46,960 --> 01:01:53,200
really important yes if the examiner is not even able to hear what you're saying how can they

584
01:01:53,200 --> 01:02:00,080
hear that grammar that that vocabulary that that they need to hear in order to tick the boxes

585
01:02:00,080 --> 01:02:07,520
and give you that score so you have to do something about this if this is you it's crucial to to work

586
01:02:07,520 --> 01:02:12,880
on it really i think it's um you have to think of it like as a performance you're not really being

587
01:02:12,880 --> 01:02:19,200
yourself you're performing so yeah i know people are shy and introverted but you just have to

588
01:02:19,200 --> 01:02:24,880
i kind of have to it's an act for that for those 15 minutes and when you're preparing practice by

589
01:02:24,880 --> 01:02:30,400
recording yourself on your phone listening back it's a horrible experience but you you'll get used

590
01:02:30,400 --> 01:02:35,600
to you'll realize then that actually i do i really speak like that do i speak so quietly and do i

591
01:02:35,600 --> 01:02:40,800
mumble so much so then you you can make an effort exactly you will you will fall in love with your

592
01:02:40,800 --> 01:02:46,400
own voice in the end it's like the picture of dorian gray or something i don't know about

593
01:02:46,400 --> 01:02:51,040
most people hate the sounds the sound of their own voice but yeah over time yeah you get used to it

594
01:02:51,040 --> 01:02:56,320
yeah you get used to it you get comfortable with yourself and yes and i think that that's almost

595
01:02:56,320 --> 01:03:01,120
true for everyone right even i when i started my podcast it was the same for me and now it's like

596
01:03:01,120 --> 01:03:08,640
i'm i don't i don't care at all yeah that's true yeah yeah so yeah but yeah you need to

597
01:03:08,640 --> 01:03:15,040
need to make an effort i think to make sure that the at least the the examiners can understand you

598
01:03:15,040 --> 01:03:20,880
and hear you clearly yeah and this can definitely be learned this is a skill like treated as a skill

599
01:03:21,600 --> 01:03:26,800
yeah don't just don't just some people just make excuses you know i've heard yesterday someone told

600
01:03:26,800 --> 01:03:34,640
me it's about luck the exam is about luck i said no it's not about luck like that's yeah yeah okay

601
01:03:34,640 --> 01:03:40,240
it's like when you say life is about luck it kind of is right if something happens that like an

602
01:03:40,240 --> 01:03:46,080
accident or something that it's more like circumstances that you were in in my opinion but

603
01:03:46,800 --> 01:03:53,200
if the problem with saying that is because it will affect your own mindset and that it's you can use

604
01:03:53,200 --> 01:03:59,120
it as an excuse not to prepare or or just not to put in put in the hard work that's the problem

605
01:03:59,120 --> 01:04:04,560
with that statement for me yeah factually it may even be correct because you don't really if they

606
01:04:04,560 --> 01:04:08,880
ask you about football if they ask me about football i'm more likely to get a better score

607
01:04:08,880 --> 01:04:15,360
that's just the way it is because i know way more vocabulary good vocabulary and all that but

608
01:04:16,000 --> 01:04:20,880
you know what i mean you should not you should definitely not think like that it's a bad attitude

609
01:04:20,880 --> 01:04:25,440
to have and as you said you're making excuses before you've even started so yeah if you do

610
01:04:25,440 --> 01:04:29,680
get a question on something you have no idea about then you just have to deal with it you have to

611
01:04:29,680 --> 01:04:37,680
just just just relax and and answer it as you can again they don't care if if you have no idea about

612
01:04:37,680 --> 01:04:43,120
football and you don't you can't even name a football team or a football player it doesn't

613
01:04:43,120 --> 01:04:49,840
matter just answer the question it's really the questions are prompt to give you an opportunity

614
01:04:49,840 --> 01:04:55,360
to speak and so that the examiners can evaluate the content of what you're saying so don't worry

615
01:04:55,360 --> 01:05:00,720
too much about how you answer the question or what and whether you're giving a really superficial

616
01:05:00,720 --> 01:05:06,880
answer or for me for me if they ask you about something you have no clue about just just have

617
01:05:06,880 --> 01:05:11,200
have it prepared first of all don't say i don't know instead of saying i don't know say i have

618
01:05:11,200 --> 01:05:18,240
no clue i haven't got a clue that's an idiom right but they start like that i don't have a clue but

619
01:05:18,240 --> 01:05:26,160
or say say i'm no expert at all because yeah i'm not knowledgeable in this subject like prepare a

620
01:05:26,160 --> 01:05:31,680
sentence like that prepare for that contingency have some have some like structures like templates

621
01:05:31,680 --> 01:05:37,680
template structures that you can use and then in my opinion the best approach is just a bit of

622
01:05:37,680 --> 01:05:42,960
self-deprecation even like make it fun like make it fun for yourself like it's like almost like

623
01:05:42,960 --> 01:05:49,040
some kind of improv improvisation and they just explain why you don't know anything about it

624
01:05:49,040 --> 01:05:53,680
that's the way that's the way i would do it like why why why is it that i i know nothing about

625
01:05:53,680 --> 01:06:00,560
arts or why is it because i've never been into it because every time someone invited me to go

626
01:06:00,560 --> 01:06:06,880
with them to an art gallery i i chose to to see a football match instead i chose to play football

627
01:06:06,880 --> 01:06:11,680
match something like that yeah yeah super simple yeah it's funny i remember in one of my classes i

628
01:06:11,680 --> 01:06:16,240
had a student who there are a lot of questions about technology in the cambridge exams probably

629
01:06:16,240 --> 01:06:20,960
in iELTS too and every time this student got a question on technology she was sorry i just

630
01:06:20,960 --> 01:06:25,840
i'm not at all tech savvy i don't know about that's a nice expression absolutely by the end

631
01:06:25,840 --> 01:06:30,480
you know she attended lots of classes and she got so many questions she became an expert she

632
01:06:30,480 --> 01:06:35,360
started to get started to read articles about technology because you know she she realized

633
01:06:35,360 --> 01:06:40,480
she's going to need to to speak about them and speak about that topic in the exams but but you

634
01:06:40,480 --> 01:06:44,560
don't need to become an expert on every topic you just need to be able to answer the question

635
01:06:45,680 --> 01:06:51,360
well and as you said expand i love the way you answered that your own question about art just

636
01:06:51,360 --> 01:06:56,720
that's what i will do anecdote you know expand as you said you can say i haven't another nice

637
01:06:56,720 --> 01:07:02,960
idiom is i haven't the foggiest i haven't i haven't got the foggiest but that but is so important

638
01:07:02,960 --> 01:07:06,400
because that signals that you are going to keep speaking you're not just going to say i don't know

639
01:07:06,400 --> 01:07:11,680
i haven't got the foggiest full stop no yeah i'm going to say something so the examiners

640
01:07:11,680 --> 01:07:15,040
can evaluate my level that's the idea of the exam

641
01:07:17,280 --> 01:07:21,040
or you could also say i don't i don't give them the money i don't what is it i don't give the

642
01:07:21,040 --> 01:07:26,320
monkeys about this right something i don't give a monkeys i don't give them monkeys yeah i don't

643
01:07:26,320 --> 01:07:31,520
give a monkey i don't give them monkeys about technology since i'm not next question because

644
01:07:31,520 --> 01:07:37,200
i know that tech savvy but since you're asking me this then i might as well try try to answer

645
01:07:37,200 --> 01:07:41,840
i mean there's so many ways you can approach this just just treat it as a as a challenge and

646
01:07:41,840 --> 01:07:47,120
be prepared for that contingency it's always going to happen right it not always but it

647
01:07:47,120 --> 01:07:52,960
there's a there's a good likelihood that it may happen so be prepared to to say something like

648
01:07:52,960 --> 01:08:01,680
that have a strategy have a strategy yeah i agree more what's like an escape route or something all

649
01:08:01,680 --> 01:08:10,000
right um to score high in pronunciation it's it's good to have a native like accent

650
01:08:15,040 --> 01:08:21,040
no i would say well again the way you've worked it's good native like i don't think that's

651
01:08:21,040 --> 01:08:26,960
necessary i mean that we have to understand the difference between pronunciation and accent

652
01:08:27,760 --> 01:08:34,720
you are expected to be able to pronounce the words clearly you know using the right intonation

653
01:08:34,720 --> 01:08:41,840
right word stress pronouncing individual sounds as they should be pronounced but this word as they

654
01:08:41,840 --> 01:08:46,800
or this you know i say as they should be pronounced who is to say how they should be pronounced there

655
01:08:46,800 --> 01:08:52,720
are many different accents native english accents and many different non-native english accents

656
01:08:53,360 --> 01:08:58,560
and they're all valid it doesn't matter your accent in the cambridge exams i'm sure it's the

657
01:08:58,560 --> 01:09:03,760
same in iELTS it's fine it's about pronunciation you need to be able to pronounce clearly so i

658
01:09:03,760 --> 01:09:10,320
wouldn't compare yourself to a native english speaker because first of all which one there are

659
01:09:10,320 --> 01:09:16,400
millions and you know do you want to speak with a london accent a newcastle accent a scottish accent

660
01:09:16,400 --> 01:09:23,360
a californian accent a brisbane accent so i don't think you should think like that i don't think

661
01:09:23,360 --> 01:09:29,440
you should think about whether you're pronouncing as a native word but you need to pronounce

662
01:09:29,440 --> 01:09:36,160
correctly i mean when accent and pronunciation overlaps and it can be a problem for example

663
01:09:36,720 --> 01:09:42,960
the pronunciation of the h italian and french speakers have a big problem with this that they

664
01:09:42,960 --> 01:09:48,880
often don't pronounce the h so let's say yeah and cockneys that's true exactly native many

665
01:09:48,880 --> 01:09:58,800
native english accents hello mate all right um i can't think of an example how you how have you

666
01:09:58,800 --> 01:10:04,560
been how you been how have you been so how you been so that's the big question i mean you

667
01:10:04,560 --> 01:10:09,840
shouldn't do that in the exam whether you're a cockney or not because that could be confusing

668
01:10:09,840 --> 01:10:17,200
you should pronounce like you say i stayed in a really nice hotel it should be hotel or i'm very

669
01:10:17,200 --> 01:10:23,680
happy um or my my health is not so good should be i'm very happy my health is not so good i thought

670
01:10:23,680 --> 01:10:28,560
you were talking about elves now like exactly well that's it can get confusing it could get

671
01:10:28,560 --> 01:10:36,800
confusing couldn't it so you have to it's it's a very sensitive and controversial question because

672
01:10:36,800 --> 01:10:41,440
you know in real life i don't think it's a big problem i love all accents i love the italian

673
01:10:41,440 --> 01:10:46,240
accent the french accent i love all accents and in general you can understand them but it's

674
01:10:46,240 --> 01:10:53,680
sometimes it is a problem it can be confusing so in an exam situation you should pronounce individual

675
01:10:53,680 --> 01:11:01,920
sounds correctly whatever that means yeah just you have to sound intelligible and that's that's the

676
01:11:01,920 --> 01:11:10,160
key word for me yeah that's something you should be able to discern decode your your message right

677
01:11:10,160 --> 01:11:15,600
and exactly i should follow some sort of you say like it's hard to say what the standard is but

678
01:11:18,160 --> 01:11:23,040
it should sound like english basically and the other thing another point i would make is that

679
01:11:24,400 --> 01:11:30,080
basically you say that we shouldn't really think about that but then all all learners are obsessed

680
01:11:30,080 --> 01:11:35,920
with sounding like a native that's the issue that that's why all this marketing is a thing sound

681
01:11:35,920 --> 01:11:41,040
like a native yes but it's it's we we both know it's it's wrong if we are english teachers we are

682
01:11:41,040 --> 01:11:45,440
on the other it's it's the wrong perspective it's it's it's not a good way of looking at it because

683
01:11:45,440 --> 01:11:52,000
i i've lived in spain for 21 years i speak spanish relatively fluently but i have an english accent i

684
01:11:52,000 --> 01:11:58,560
don't think i will ever lose that english that accent and years ago i worried about it and it would

685
01:11:58,560 --> 01:12:06,000
i would probably feel embarrassed not embarrassed but you know i would worry more about my accent

686
01:12:06,000 --> 01:12:14,640
now i i don't care i you know over time you learn or you just naturally lose some aspects of

687
01:12:15,600 --> 01:12:20,640
the your pronunciation of the use of that accent but if you force it and you try to

688
01:12:20,640 --> 01:12:25,840
imitate a native speaker it's good for practice the shadowing technique and all that but this

689
01:12:25,840 --> 01:12:31,520
obsession with trying to be or sound native it's not healthy i don't think it's not a good

690
01:12:31,520 --> 01:12:37,280
a good way to look at it you're putting too much pressure on yourself as well and it's just yeah

691
01:12:37,280 --> 01:12:43,920
and often it's like something unrealistic like the goal of sounding like a native is just most of

692
01:12:43,920 --> 01:12:49,840
normal human beings just don't ever achieve that and that includes that that includes me you would

693
01:12:49,840 --> 01:12:56,160
most native speakers with 99 of native speakers from the uk would know that i don't come from

694
01:12:56,160 --> 01:13:02,720
the uk they would just know right although i do get from some people like i i sound like a native

695
01:13:02,720 --> 01:13:09,680
and some people think that i i'm from a native english-speaking countries it has happened to me

696
01:13:09,680 --> 01:13:18,080
but is that even a point it's not it's not no i mean you you there's something i mean there's

697
01:13:18,080 --> 01:13:24,720
nothing wrong you obviously you speak very very well you have a very good level of english in

698
01:13:24,720 --> 01:13:29,120
general but thank you there's something that tells me that you're not a native speaker but that's not

699
01:13:29,120 --> 01:13:34,880
because you're making any kind of mistakes with your pronunciation it's just something but the

700
01:13:34,880 --> 01:13:39,920
same way that i can tell that somebody from newcastle is not from london it's just a different

701
01:13:39,920 --> 01:13:46,320
a different way that they speak it's not a problem at all it's nice as i said i love accents but it's

702
01:13:46,320 --> 01:13:51,680
um it's something you shouldn't obsess about and shouldn't it should happen naturally and

703
01:13:53,040 --> 01:13:57,040
don't force it because when you hear people trying to sound like i was going to say the

704
01:13:57,040 --> 01:14:03,120
queen of england because the king of england i guess it sounds a little bit silly because

705
01:14:03,120 --> 01:14:07,200
you're not going to get it right and nobody speaks like the king of england except the king of

706
01:14:07,200 --> 01:14:14,400
england anyway so just just let it happen naturally it's about being careful with

707
01:14:14,400 --> 01:14:20,560
individual sounds but not not necessarily trying to sound like a native it's exactly unrealistic

708
01:14:21,360 --> 01:14:26,080
okay ben we are recording this on zoom and we have about two minutes left so i'm gonna i'm

709
01:14:26,080 --> 01:14:35,360
gonna do one more but i'm i will ask you to be to be concise concise so my next one is you should

710
01:14:35,360 --> 01:14:42,160
keep your answers succinct and to the point see what i did there very nice

711
01:14:42,160 --> 01:14:50,960
perfect final question yes yes you should in general that's the short answer that's the succinct

712
01:14:50,960 --> 01:14:57,280
succinct answer because you don't have much time and it's answer the question and expand a little

713
01:14:57,280 --> 01:15:03,120
but not you can't you know you can't tell your life story just to answer the question expand a little

714
01:15:04,240 --> 01:15:11,440
and that's what you just did you've proven your own point and that's what i would i would expect

715
01:15:11,440 --> 01:15:18,560
i would expect if i'm honest i would expect nothing less from ben from to the point english yeah to

716
01:15:18,560 --> 01:15:24,240
the point english channel exactly i have to remind myself to be to the point sometimes that's why i

717
01:15:24,240 --> 01:15:31,520
gave gave my channel that title because it helps me to to keep it in mind yeah no i think it's

718
01:15:31,520 --> 01:15:37,840
quite a quite an interesting name like a catchy catchy name but also slightly unusual as well

719
01:15:37,840 --> 01:15:43,360
in some in some way so i think it's interesting yeah well all right ben the english with sorry

720
01:15:43,360 --> 01:15:46,880
go on yeah no no go on yeah i was just i was gonna say the english with ben part is very important

721
01:15:46,880 --> 01:15:51,840
because if you google english with ben my channel comes up because you get english with lucy english

722
01:15:51,840 --> 01:15:57,760
with so many different people so english with to the point is kind of extra but english with ben is

723
01:15:58,320 --> 01:16:04,080
this way people find me usually that's right well thank you very much ben for talking to me about

724
01:16:04,080 --> 01:16:11,040
the cambridge exams and going through these statements and well i hope to speak to you

725
01:16:11,040 --> 01:16:16,560
soon again yeah thank you for having me it was a pleasure said denik no worries man take care

726
01:16:17,120 --> 01:16:25,040
thank you too take care bye bye thanks a lot for listening for more information visit my new

727
01:16:25,040 --> 01:16:31,120
website teachersdenik.com where you can find out about my speaking group for high-level english

728
01:16:31,120 --> 01:16:37,680
learners called the achievers chamber and download my free course unlocking your english potential

729
01:16:37,680 --> 01:17:01,840
eight secrets to fluency that's teachersdenik.com