SKills - Speaking - An Example of Brainstorming on Topics for Speaking Tests

Michelle's brainstorming on topics for Speaking Tests
using an FCE textbook (B2 CEFR)
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Read and do something similar, expanding on topics and connecting them to language points. Send them in!

Monologues:
Giving information about yourself
Giving information about your culture
* Naturally, linked to other language functions: Comparing, contrasting issues, people, places, objects. Speculating about those issues - would. (hypothetical situations)

Dialogues:
Getting goods and services (mostly practiced in Year 1 & 2)
Comparing, contrasting issues, people, places, objects. Speculating about those issues - would. (hypothetical situations)
Discussing and evaluating a topic/issue, a situation
* This combines with knowing how to keep a conversation going, knowing how to overcome communication problems - communicative strategies

Giving information
Remember: This of course may mix with other language functions, because interviews and conversations mix functions in real life

Origin * Occupation * Holidays * Hobbies/Interests * Food & Meals * The Media * Learning languages

Where do you come from? (Giving info)
What do you do (work, study)? What do you do for a living (work)? I'm a. but at the moment I'm unemployed/working as a.
Where do you live? Have you always lived there/here?
What is it like (where you live)? (Describing places)
Would you live anywhere else, if you could? (Speculation)
Do you work or study? (Giving info)
What subjects are you studying?
What are your plans for the future? (Plans or speculation?)
What are you hoping to do when you leave/finish school/college? (Speculation or plans?)
How do you usually spend your holidays? (Giving info on routines, habits - present simple + frequency adverbs)
Where did you go for your last holiday? (Giving info on past events - past tenses, time clauses like "when/while, as soon as, before, after".)
Where would you most like to go for your next holiday? (Plans or speculation?)
What do you think you gain from visiting other countries? (Giving opinions)
What are your hobbies/interests? (Giving info)
What kind of music do you most enjoy listening to?
Do you like doing any sport?
Are you interested in reading? What sort of things do you read?
The most popular food in your country (Giving information, describing eating habits)
Do people usually go out to eat or do they prefer to eat at home? (Giving info about your culture)
What do you enjoy doing at weekends? (Giving info about yourself)
What did you do last weekend (Giving info about a past event)
Do you enjoy watching TV? Which are your favourite programmes? How often do you watch TV? (Giving info about your likes and habits)
How often do you go to the cinema? What kind of films do you enjoy watching? (Giving info about your leisure likes & habits)
Who are your favourite stars? Why? (Describing people)
Why did you decide to learn English? (Giving info - explaining reasons)
How important will English be for you in the future?
What do you enjoy most about learning another language?
Do you plan to learn any other language(s) in the future? Well, I'm actually learning other languages at the moment! I'm .

Comparing, contrasting, speculating

Eating out: home-made meals, fast food restaurants, local restaurants, exotic food.
Television: soap operas, the news, cartoons, quizzes, contests, interviews, commercials/ads, films/movies, reality shows.
Travelling: with or without luggage/baggage, alone or with people, where to, in what means of transport/transportation.
Playing musical instruments: kinds of music/instruments & feelings.
Childhood: children yesterday and today, childhood memories.
Seeking information: sources of info - people, the media, other. difficulties, are they reliable?, which are more reliable?, why?, which are easier to decipher?

Discussing & Evaluating

People & Travel: means of transport/transportation, cheapest?, safest?, most appropriate for what?, saving oil, preventing pollution, taxes for driving your own vehicles downtown/in the city centre?
Communications: keeping in touch with people, ways, characteristics, quality; is it important to know what is happening in your country/the world? Computers, books, papers. Do you keep up with the news? Over information/Too much info .
Raising money: is it easy? What can you do? Do you give money to beggars? Do you like giving money to people who stand in/on the street with collecting tins?.
Decoration: ideas for decorating your room/house, description, house/school/office, expenses, works of art, importance.
Holiday jobs: students, useful experience, which would you be willing to do and why? Which would you never do and why?, earning money vs. being interested in the job, work and leisure - importance.
Looking after people or things: who, when, what, why, where. the elderly, children, the disabled, nursing, babysitting, are you good at looking after yourself?
Water: importance, ways to get water, what can you drink when water is not safe?, water shortage, droughts, saving water.