English for easier, faster speaking, and we're  going to do that by looking at questions for  

the IELTS Speaking Test Part 1. Part one  is all about you and it's conversational.  

So even if you're not planning on taking this  test, it's going to help you with your general  

conversation skills. This is part of our Think  In English series where we get into your mind,  

we get it to switch to English, so you  can stop translating in your head.

As always, if you like this video or you learn  something new, please give me a thumbs up and  

subscribe with notifications. I'd love  to see you back here next Tuesday.

Training your minds to think in English  has several steps and levels. Today,  

we're focusing on spontaneous conversation. I'm  going to ask you a question, and I'm going to  

give you 15 seconds to answer. You can speak out  loud or not. You can just think it, but use only  

English. If the answer has to be more simple than  you want it to be in order to stick to English,  

that's okay. Right now, this exercise isn't about  putting together really sophisticated, complicated  

sentences. It's not even so much about expression  yet. It's really about getting your mind to go to  

English and practicing that. So speak as simply  as you need to. I'm going to ask you a question,  

and if you don't feel like you can answer it in a  sentence, then just start saying words that come  

to mind in English. I'll go over how to get more  sophisticated with this kind of exercise at the  

end of the video. The more you ask your mind  to go to English first and you practice that,  

the better you'll be able to express yourself in  English, the more quickly and the less translating  

you'll need to do. These questions are similar to  those you might get in the IELTS speaking section  

Part 1 where you talk about yourself and your  family. Let's start today with just one question.  

You'll have 15 seconds to think or say your  answer in English. What kind of art do you like?

Does that feel like a long time to have to try to  speak in English? And don't worry about it, the  

more you do this, the easier it will be, and like  I said, if you can't think of a whole sentence,  

just start with a word. Maybe you just repeat one  of the words, art, and then maybe this leads you  

to another word, sculpture, and then you go to  a sentence. I love sculpture. Or something like  

that. Start simple and build. If you can't,  just take off starting in a full sentence.  

You don't know the question ahead of time,  you have to think on your feet and you have  

this timer going, which can feel stressful,  just like a test or real conversation.

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers  here. It's just about you and expressing  

yourself and practicing expressing yourself  in English. What kind of art do you like?  

You could have talked about painting,  sculpture, or maybe your favorite museums. 

Or maybe you create art, you like to sketch, you  like to set up an easel and paint landscapes,  

or maybe you're like me, you love the performing  arts, opera, dance. I studied opera and I've  

done some performing. You can talk about your  experience creating art. Or maybe you really  

don't care about art. You could say that. Artists  never really interested me. I had to take an  

art class in college, and I found that I was  always distracted staring out the window.

You're going to have 12 questions in a row. If you  find you have a bit more to say in response to a  

question, then pause the video, and keep going.  There are all kinds of questions you would see  

in part one of the IELTS speaking exam.  Even if the question is a yes/no question,  

don't just answer with one word. Elaborate,  explain why you gave your answer.

Could you tell me about your typical weekday?

What do you usually do on the weekends?

What kinds of books do you like?

Have you traveled to other places? Where?

What do you do when you first  arrive in a new place?

What did you do on your last birthday?

Who are you closest to in your family?

What's your favorite food?

Do you enjoy cooking?

What are you planning on doing  in the next five years?

We covered a lot of different topics  there, but all relating to you.  

Probably some questions were easier  for you to answer than others.  

Now, we're going to talk through how to get more  sophisticated in your answers. Go back and pick  

three of the questions that were the hardest for  you to answer. Answer them and write them down.  

There's no time limit and you can and should  use a dictionary to translate what you need,  

or put together phrases that express how you  feel, or find a better way to express something.  

For example, let's take the question 'Do you enjoy  cooking?' Maybe your answer was no, and you had  

a hard time coming up with what else to say about  that. Let's think now, why don't you like cooking?  

Maybe you think it's boring. Well, you can use  the word boring. Or maybe you can find a more  

interesting word or phrase to use. Do a little  research, a thesaurus is a great place to go to  

get synonyms or words with the same or a similar  meaning. So i've typed in the word boring here.

On thesaurus.com, you can then click on a  word to see other synonyms for that word,  

or you can click over here to see the definition.  So this is a way to improve your vocabulary and  

learn related words, maybe some more sophisticated  words than the words you are planning on using  

now. Uninteresting. I also don't love that word  but another great thing to do is to go online  

and search for idioms for and then whatever  word you're looking for. Idioms for being  

tired or in this case, idioms for boring, and  chances are you're gonna find some resources.  

There are some idioms relating to the word or  the expression you're trying to find. Actually,  

mind numbing is what I had in mind when I was  thinking of another way to say boring. So this  

can be a great way to make more sophisticated  sentences by doing a little bit of research  

and looking up different ways to say something.  Build a more sophisticated answer, write it down,  

research it, take your time, then practice that  out loud. Study it. You probably won't have this  

question again, but you will have learned more  sophisticated language for expressing yourself.  

You will have gotten comfortable with a new  word or idiom that will pay off then.

Watch the question section of this video again  and answer your questions again. When you get  

to the question that you researched, don't just  read your answer. Speak it, or think it again on  

your feet and I guarantee what you put together  will be better than what you did the first time.  

So little exercises like this, trying to say  something, researching it, making it better,  

and then practicing that this new thing you  created. This can really increase your skill  

in expressing yourself. You know what? If you took  the time to research an answer to write one out,  

put it in the comments below so that  others can study it and learn from it.  

If you'd like more resources on training your  mind to think in English, see this playlist.  

I make new videos to help you  speak better English every Tuesday.  

Keep your learning going now with this video and  be sure to subscribe with notifications to stay  

on top of new videos. I also run Rachel's  English academy where I help my students  

take their spoken English to the next level.  Check it out at rachelsenglishacademy.com

That's it and thanks so much  for using Rachel's English.