How to think faster for the CELPIP Speaking Tasks

Speaker A: 00:00:00

In today's mini episode, I'll be answering a common question that maybe you also struggle with. Nadhi writes, Time is one of the most important factors on the exam.

Generating ideas is not a problem, but generating ideas in just 30 seconds is a problem. This is a very common challenge for CELPIP test takers. Maybe it sounds familiar to you too.

It feels hard to come up with something to say about a random topic in just 30 seconds for a speaking task response. For many test takers, this pressure causes them to freeze or to panic when they see the timer ticking away.

And instead of writing down a pile of great ideas to use in their answer, they instead draw a blank. Nothing comes to mind. If that's how you feel about speaking tasks on the celpip, then this is the perfect episode for you, my friend.

Here's what I promise you from the very start. The ideas I'm going to share with you are 100% approved for introverts because I am one.

And these ideas are also perfect for those who don't feel very creative. And best of all, they can be a lot of fun to try. How's that for a promise?

Today I'll give you three simple ideas you can start using right after this episode that will help you practice coming up with great ideas to talk about any topic that the CELPIP can throw your way Foreign hello there and welcome to the Speak English Fearlessly Podcast.

This is the podcast for motivated English learners who want to speak English fearlessly and learn practical tips and strategies to conquer the CELPIP exam.

I also love to feature encouraging interviews with regular people, people just like you, who are working towards becoming fluent in English so we can learn from their experiences together. Now, you might be wondering, who is this guy? Who am I? Well, my name is Aaron Nelson and I've been an English teacher for over 17 years.

I'm a certified Celpip trainer and I now help students prepare for the CELPIP exam through online classes. Now, now, before anything else, you've got to know that your mindset matters. Your mindset about this matters a lot.

And this might not be a fun idea for you, but it's an important one. When it comes to thinking about things to say on the exam, you've got to know that your goal isn't to be coming up with the absolute best ideas.

No, instead it's to come up with as many ideas as you can so you have some things to work with.

And in order to come up with many ideas, you need to stop judging the ideas that you are coming up with, Write them down without grading them good or bad. Just start dumping those ideas down. As you write them down, I promise you more will start to come.

Especially if you master the art of not grading those ideas as good or bad ones. Just put them out on paper so that you have things to work with. And as you start writing these ideas down, you'll find it's like priming a pump.

Have you ever heard that expression before to prime a pump? I grew up on a dairy farm and it was an old farm. I remember well our house where we lived. It was over 200 years old. It was an old farm.

And there was a little part of the farm that had an old pump. I think I've said the word old too many times. Sorry about that. But it had this pumpkin and it had this old. There I go again, saying the word old.

It had this ancient looking metal lever on it, and when you pulled it up and down, it made an awful creaking and crack, cracking sound. But when you did it the first few times, guess what came out? Nothing. Just air.

It took multiple pumps up and down, lots of noise, lots of hard work to push and pull and push and pull. And then finally water would begin to come. And of course, on the farm we had access to regular running water.

But this pump, I remember it being a pain to work with because of how many times we had to go up and down on that thing in order for water to start coming out. And once it did start coming out, the water was easy to make come out.

Like after you pumped it several times, it would just come out with ease is what I'm trying to say.

So I think that coming up with ideas is kind of the same once you start writing them down, Once you start giving yourself permission to just let them out without grading them, you'll find that your ideas will start to come. The second thing I want you to keep in mind mindset here is that you should aim for just three or four ideas that you can work with.

Just three or four, that's not a lot.

And when you have those three or four ideas, see if you can also come up with several details or several experiences or reasons that could support those three or four main reasons. And then as much as you can, if you can use your own personal experience to give part of this answer, the better your experiences matter.

Your experiences can help you when you are giving one of these answers to a speaking task.

Okay, so don't rule out the things that you have lived through, things that you've experienced because they can help you to give a great answer on the exam, if it fits, of course, into what the question is asking you for. Okay, now let's get to the fun bits that I promised. You need to try this game. I'm going to call it Story Tag.

I don't know if that's the real name for it, but it's a game that my son and I played the other day while we were waiting for a doctor appointment. Here's how it works. And by the way, when we played this game, we spent a good hour together and we had a great time doing it.

Now I'll tell you how it works. You're only allowed to say one word and then it's the other person's turn to say the next word in the story.

Like you're building a story together, but only one word at a time. So when you say a word, then the other person has to say what comes next. And you just go back and forth, back and forth.

And we went back and forth like that, as I said, for over an hour. And we had such a good time together. Our story took us everywhere.

Some of it was silly and foolish and fun, while other parts were actually attempts at putting a real story together. Like we were trying to get a character to do something or go somewhere. And what makes this game a perfect practice tool is this.

It encourages you to think fast and to think creatively to come up with what happens next. You can make the difficulty easy or hard by changing a few of the rules. Number one, of course, make sure that you're playing this in English.

Number two, instead of just coming up with the next word, try coming up with a complete sentence before you pass it along to your partner.

Instead of saying silly things, you can also make it a rule that you actually need to move the story along as well as have a good laugh about the funny things that you could come up with.

The game can last for as long or as little as you like, but as you get into playing it, you'll start to notice yourself thinking just a little bit quicker, which is perfect for your exam practice. So give that a try. See if you can work together to build a story one word at a time or one sentence at a time.

It can be as fun or as silly or as serious as you want it to be. Give it a try. I bet you'll have a great time. My next idea for you is called Watch and Predict.

This is also a great game to play with a friend or a family member, but you. You can also play it by yourself, though it's way more fun to play with others. And here's a bonus.

It can give you great practice for speaking Task four, which is all about making predictions. Hence the name Watch and predict. Best of all, this game requires you to watch a TV show or a movie in English. I know that's hard, right?

It's hard suffering that you get to sit down. You can make a bowl of popcorn, drink your favorite thing while you're watching this movie, but make sure that you play the game. All right?

As you watch, here's what you should do. Number one, make sure that it's not a TV show or a movie that you've seen before, okay? It should be a new one for you and for the people in the room.

As you watch, try hitting pause in the middle of a random scene and then predict what you think will happen next. To make it more difficult, make sure you add lots of details.

Make sure you try to explain why you think the character or the characters will do what you think they will do.

You can also listen to what your friend or your family member suggests and then either disagree or stick up for your idea, or try to build off of what they said. For example, you could say, well, after that, I think that they are going to do this. You see what I mean?

You're trying to build out what you think is going to happen, but make sure that you add as many details as you possibly can. Then, when you're done, press play and see how close you were to what actually happens in the story.

With a little extra work, this fun activity can also help you practice other speaking tasks. You could turn it into a speaking Task one practice, for example, which is all about giving advice.

If the scene is appropriate where you pause it, try putting yourself into one of the character's shoes on the show or in the movie and offer them advice about what they should do next. Make sure you pretend to actually talk to them.

Use their name, and make sure that you give a few suggestions with a few reasons why they should do what you are suggesting that they do. And of course, make sure that you are using the proper language for giving suggestions.

Like, you're not telling them that they have to do things, you're suggesting things. I think that you should do this. I don't think that you should do this. Perhaps you could try this. You see what I mean?

You're not telling them what to do, you're making suggestions. You could also turn this activity into a speaking Task two exercise, which is all about describing a past experience.

When you pause that scene, talk about a time when something similar happened to you. Make sure you include as many details and feelings from what you experienced as you can. How about this one?

You can also turn it into a speaking task 3 exercise where you are describing what you're looking at.

Make it into a game with the person that you're with to pause that random scene and then begin describing what you're looking at as you describe a certain spot. Have your friend or your family member go up to the screen and point to the area that you are talking about.

If you've done your describing job well, they should be able to find it easily. You can make these activities even more challenging by adding a timer to it.

Give yourself the same amounts of time you'll have on the exam to think about them and then answer each of these tasks.

And if you're interested in trying these ideas out, I've got them ready for you in a printable guide that you can download and use in your practice time. They also come with all the brainstorming and speaking times for each task you'll face on the exam.

And if you'd like to get your free copy as well as access to a mini course on speaking task one, just go to celpipsuccess.com resources that's celpipsuccess.com resources.

It's absolutely free and will give you a printable activity sheet that you can work on that details what we talked about today so that you can practice with your friends and have a good time at the same time. Remember this don't try coming up with the best ideas, okay? Focus on letting many ideas flow without judging or grading them.

The more you do this, you'll find that it's easier for you and your ideas to flow when you're facing the tasks on the exam. Just like that old pump that I was telling you about at the very beginning.

The more you prime, the more you go up and down, the more you practice this activity, the easier you'll find that your ideas will flow. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. I hope you've enjoyed it and that you go have some fun trying these activities out.

I'll see you right back here again next Tuesday. Bye.