Get Speaking with Prompts

Preparing to Speak

In this section:

How to use prompts to get speaking more confidently, fluently, and more accurately.

Every day I share a speaking prompt. But do you know how to use them? This post will talk about how you can start using speaking prompts to effectively improve your English every day.

Practice Daily with Speaking Prompts

I often ask students what they do between our classes to improve their English and often they tell me that they don’t do much. Or, if they do do something, they only practice while having conversations with other people. They speak 2, maybe 3 times a day, but not every day. Does this sound like you?

While having conversations is an important step to improving, they don’t really give us an opportunity to improve errors. When speaking, it’s common to make mistakes and either fix them quickly and then carry on talking, or ignore them completely. In fact, conversations without corrections are often the perfect place to create what we call “fossilized errors”. Fossilized errors are errors that you make subconsciously, using an incorrect form as if it were correct. They usually develop when we don’t receive enough correction while learning. While they are hard to fix, it's not impossible. However, because it takes a lot of drilling, repetition and work, conversations are not the best time to work on them. 

Following the ideas outlined in this activity will help you finally get speaking English more confidently, more fluently, and more accurately. 

What is a Speaking Prompt?

A prompt is either a short question, statement, or image that is used as a starting point for writing or speaking. In this activity, we will focus on speaking.

You will:

I share a speaking prompt every day in three places. You can find my prompts here:

You can also use your own prompts if you'd like. 

Overview of this lesson

The activities mentioned in this post should

What this lesson is not about

The activities below recommend repeating the same answers or phrases over and over again. However, this activity is not about memorizing answers for an exam.

Never pre-prepare or memorize templates for your Cambridge exams

Some students believe they can pass their exams simply by trying to predict topics and then pre-preparing and memorizing answers or templates to use. However, this will not work:

However, repetition is the key to fluency. So, there will be a lot of repetition in these exercises. This is so you get comfortable saying the phrases, using the vocabulary, and saying things correctly.

Once you get the basics down, you'll be able to altar and add onto your answers. In the end, you'll become a more confident and fluent user of English. 

The basics

When answering a question, never give a one word answer, such as "yes" or "no".

Instead, expand on our answers to show off our English and find out what you know and won't know. This will give you more English to analyze while doing the activities mentioned in this lesson, and you'll have more opportunities to improve as a result.

A better strategy:

You should use this strategy not only when doing this activity, but also with your teachers, tutors, language partners, and on your exams. You can even use it in real life in conversations in your native language.

Note: It is important that you answer the question directly. Some students think they need to impress the examiner so they start answers with long introductions. However, this is bad for a few reasons: it is often confusing and makes it sound like you didn't understand the question; also the examiner may interrupt you to move on to another question before you've gotten to your answer. Therefore, its much better to say the answer first and then add additional, supporting details after.

What you'll need

For this activity, you will need the following things:

Lower-Intermediate Students

Step 1: Write it out

Bonus tip: Get a correction!

If you can, get someone to correct your text before reading. 

Who to ask: Anyone with an upper-intermediate or advanced level of English can help you - it does not need to be a native English speaker!

Step 2: Say it and record yourself 

Step 3: Listen and check

Step 4: Record again

Step 5: Repeat the process

This process is great because:

Repetition = Fluency. We need to say or do something hundreds of times before it becomes automatic and natural. This helps speed up this process.

Step 6: Try it from memory

If you want, try it from memory. To prepare for this, do the following:

* base form = the verb without -S or any endings. For example, if my answer says: "Every day he goes to the store" my note might say "go" and "store".

Language Focus

When learning a language, it can be overwhelming (=it can seem like there's too much to do!). There are just so many things you need to know! 

At this level focus on learning:

Getting Corrections

If you can, get someone to correct your text before reading. 

Who to ask: People with an upper-intermediate or advanced level of English can help you! You do not always need to get help from native English speakers.

Intermediate and Upper-Intermediate Students

At this level, you can still begin this activity as a writing activity. In that case, refer to previous section for lower intermediate-level learners.

Step 1: Prepare to speak

Step 2: Say it and record yourself

Step 3: Listen and check

Note: Did you make a lot of errors? That's okay! Try to identify your biggest errors first and work on those before the others. Read more about this here. 

Step 4: Listen again, but take better notes

Now prepare to say a similar answer again, but with your corrections:

* base form = the verb without -S or any endings. For example, if my answer says: "Every day he goes to the store" my note might say "go" and "store".

Step 5: Record again

Step 6: Repeat the process

This process is great because:

Repetition = Fluency. We need to say or do something hundreds of times before it becomes automatic and natural. This helps speed up this process.

Language Focus

This this level, you should already be able to talk about:

but now you can add more details and be more specific.

You should also learn how to talk about other people and hypothesize about situations you are not part of (=make guesses and speculate). On the B2 First and C1 Advanced, for example, often those part 2 questions (and even part 3 and part 4 questions) are about other people and their experiences (for example, a question might be: "Why might they have done these activities?" or "How might this person be feeling?".  We can use the prompts to practice this kind of language: simply change the prompt, if needed. For example, if the question is directed at you ("What kind of movies do you like?") pretend it was directed to someone else and then say your answer ("What kind of movies might other people like?").

Getting Corrections

There are two ways you can get feedback and corrections on your work: 

Who to ask: Either an advanced-level speaker of English or a proficient / native speaker of English.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT BE ASHAMED WHEN YOU GET FEEDBACK.

You do not need to apologize or feel bad! Getting this kind of feedback and discovering mistakes is essential so never be embarrassed! You cannot fix your errors if you don't know what they are. So, empower yourself and discover your errors!

Advanced Students

At this level, you should be able to talk about pretty-much anything and discuss it at length. You should also be able to use a range of tenses. 

Step 1: Prepare to speak

You will want to adapt this activity depending on what you're preparing for and what you'd like to do in English. For example:

Step 2: Say it and record yourself

Step 3: Listen and check

Common mistakes to look out for:

At this level, it's still common for advance-level learners to make the following mistakes:

It is hard to get a C1 certificate or band 7+ in IELTS if you are consistently making these kinds of errors when speaking, so use the activity to work on these answers.

You may also consider doing this activity as well to work on eliminating these bad habits. 

Note: Did you make a lot of errors? That's okay! Try to identify your biggest errors first and work on those before the others. Read more about this here. 

Step 4: Listen again, but take better notes

Now prepare to say a similar answer again, but with your corrections:

* base form = the verb without -S or any endings. For example, if my answer says: "Every day he goes to the store" my note might say "go" and "store".

Step 5: Record again

Step 6: Repeat the process

This process is great because:

Repetition = Fluency. Remember, we need to say or do something hundreds of times before it becomes automatic and natural. You can repeat your answer several times, if needed. Aim for getting the target errors you want to fix correct. It’ll be hard at first, but I guarantee, over time it will get easier, and also eventually you’ll be able to say the corrected version without even thinking. This will then let you be more flexible when using English, and you’ll be able to altar, change or add on to your ideas and answers in time. You’ll become more spontaneous, yet be correct at the same time  So, it’s a great process and it’s an exercise worth doing. 

Language Focus

At this level you should be able to:

Note: advanced, C1-level English does not mean:

Instead, aim for learning and using the same kind of language you'd use in everyday normal situations, such as with friends, colleagues, or even strangers on the street. This will really help with your fluency and make your answers more cohesive and easier to understand. 

Extending the prompts

At an advanced level, you should be able to use a range of tenses and be able to speak about topics at length. You can use the prompts either to practice your range or prepare for a monologue even when the questions seem simple

The IDPOF method

To expand on answers, I like to use what I can the IDPOF method. IDPOF stands for: Introduction Description Past Opinion and Future. 

Strategy:

I
D
P
O
F

The letters stand for: Introduction, Description, Past, Opinion and Future

I - Introduction - introduce the topic by answering the question directly

D - Description - extend your answer by describing the topic

P - Past - talk about the past somehow in relation to the topic. For example, maybe you could talk about an experience you had with the topic, or talk about how it's changed over time

O - Opinion - share an opinion about the topic. This could be your opinion, or what others might think of the topic

F - Future - talk about the topic in the future. This could be what you'll do with the topic in the future, or how it might change, for example

This strategy should give you lots to talk about. You shouldn't have any problems talking for two to five minutes, just remember to stay on topic.

Getting Corrections

There are two ways you can get feedback and corrections on your work: 

Who to ask: Either a proficient or native speaker of English.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT BE ASHAMED WHEN YOU GET FEEDBACK.

You do not need to apologize or feel bad! Getting this kind of feedback and discovering mistakes is essential so never be embarrassed! You cannot fix your errors if you don't know what they are. So, empower yourself and discover your errors!

What should I do if I make a lot of errors?

So it's quite possible that you make a lot of errors - do not panic! It's fine. Remember, the first step in fixing our errors is knowing what they are, so you're on the right path!

How to fix errors effectively:

Getting feedback on writing

I've suggested several times in this post about getting feedback on your writing or speaking.

I am planning a follow-up video where I will discuss this.