Mark Teacher’s Free Weekly IELTS Newsletter
Week 6: Health & Being Healthy

IELTS Warm-up Questions: Health & Being Healthy

Warm-up Questions: 

• Would you consider yourself a healthy person?
• How much exercise do you do each week?
• Have you ever tried going on a diet? How did it go?
• Who is the healthiest person you know?

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Watch this short video lesson to understand how to use the Present Perfect to describe your general life experiences (such as achievements, accomplishments, and professional or educational milestones). We’re going to apply this to Part 2 topics in a moment!

IELTS Grammar Lesson

In this week’s Grammar Lesson, I’ll show you the best way to start IELTS Part 2 answers.

Grammar Lesson – How to Start IELTS Part 2 Answers

Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking Test requires you to speak about a specific topic, experience, ambition, person, or place for up to 2 minutes.

2 minutes give you lots of time to impress the examiner with your English!

Plus you get 1 minute to prepare, and a little bit of preparation goes a long way! So take advantage of your 60-second preparation time to create the perfect introduction to any Part 2 answer. Here’s how:

Step 1: One of the best ways to start your Part 2 answer is by sharing some of your general life experience in connection with the Part 2 cue card.

Here are some examples:

Topic – Movies

• “I’ve seen a lot of great movies.”
• “I’ve never been a big movie-goer.”

Topic – Books

• “I’ve always been into reading.”
• “I’ve never been a big reader.”

Topic – Colleagues / Friends

• “I’ve worked with lots of interesting people.”
• “I’ve made some great friends through work.”

Recognise the grammar? It’s the Present Perfect! (The same as the video).

Because you’re going to talk about your own life experiences over the course of your life, the Present Perfect tense is the most appropriate choice.

Also, because it’s the Present Perfect, you can add clauses with ‘for’, ‘since’ or other phrases to make your answer longer and more complex (perfect for IELTS!)

For example:

Since …

• I’ve loved animals since I was a kid / a child / young
• I’ve tried lots of new sports since I started / left university
• I’ve made lots of changes to my lifestyle since I started working
• I’ve met lots of friendly and funny people since I moved here / I moved to [city / country]

For …

• I’ve been interested in history for a while now
• I’ve tried to lead a healthy lifestyle for a long time
• I haven’t seen my relatives for ages (a very very long time)
• I’ve enjoyed reading sci-fi novels for as long as I can remember

Other phrases:

• I’ve met lots of funny people in my life
• I’ve worked with lots of interesting people over the years.
• I’ve met some very intelligent people throughout my life / career.

Step 2: [and / but / so] + Paraphrasing

25% of your overall IELTS Speaking score is based on your ‘Lexical Resource’. This is a fancy, academic way of saying ‘your vocabulary level’. One way to show off your vocabulary is by paraphrasing the cue card.

Here are some examples. Look at the Present Perfect and see the words I have paraphrased.

• Describe a book you read recently

“I’ve been a big fan of reading since I was a kid, and one novel that I recently finished was called ‘Chickenhawk’ by Robert Mason.”

A book = a novel

+ that

You read = I finished

• Describe an occasion when you lost something important

“I haven’t lost many things in my life, but a time when I misplaced something really valuable was when I left my laptop on a plane.”

An occasion = A time

+ when

You lost something = I misplaced something Important = Valuable

• Describe a person who likes to talk a lot

“I’ve met lots of chatty people over the years, and one person who can’t stop talking is my friend Stacey.”

A person = One person

+ who

Likes to talk a lot = can’t stop talking

What are those words in the middle? (that / when / who)? It’s a relative pronoun and it helps connect your Present Perfect and Paraphrasing sentence together.

From these examples, you can tell that:

• An object = that
• A time / an occasion = when
• A person = who
• A place = where

However, if you feel stressed and nervous in the exam, the safe choice is ‘that’. ‘That’ is correct 99.99% of the time! So if you are doubting yourself, go with ‘that’!

So now your Part 2 Introduction Strategy looks like this:

Present Perfect + [and/but/so] + Paraphrasing

There is a Step 3 but is a little bit more complicated, and probably too long for this newsletter. But in my IELTS Speaking E-book, you can find even more detail explanations and examples, as well as Workbook Controlled Practice activities so you can practise until your Part 2 Introductions are a walk in the park! (super easy).

Loving the Grammar Lesson? It comes from The Complete Edition of my IELTS Speaking E-book, (including Audio Book and Workbook). Get even more high band IELTS tips below!

IELTS Vocabulary and Levelled Reading

This week, the levelled reading will be Part 2 introductions (the first 20 ~ 30 seconds of a full answer),  so you can see the Present Perfect and Paraphrasing skills you’ve just learnt in action!  

Level 1: Beginner  Level 2: Advanced 

IELTS Part 2 Cue Card #1

Describe a healthy lifestyle you know. You should say:

• How you know it

• What it is

• What you would do living this lifestyle

And explain why it is healthy

• Level 1: I think people have become more interested in their food and their diets, so one healthy lifestyle that I’ve heard a lot about recently in vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is probably one of the oldest and most famous diets there is and it involves eating no meat, although you can eat food from animals like eggs, milk and cheese.
• Level 2: I think people have become more conscious about their food and their diets, so one healthy way of life that I’ve heard a lot about recently in vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is probably one of the oldest and most well-known diets there is, and it involves eating no meat, although you can eat produce from animals like eggs, milk and cheese.

IELTS Part 2 Cue Card #2 

Describe something you do to stay healthy

You should say:

• What it is

• When and where you usually do it

• How you do it

And explain why it can keep you healthy

• Level 1: I’ve always tried to stay healthy by exercising and eating healthily, and one of my favourite ways to keep healthy is hiking. I first tried hiking a few years ago while I was on vacation, and I haven’t stopped since! Hiking is a great outdoor activity that involves walking up mountains or along trails in the countryside.
• Level 2: I’ve always tried to stay fit by exercising and eating right, and one of my favourite ways to stay in shape is hiking. I first tried hiking a few years ago while I was on vacation and I have definitely caught the ‘hiking bug’! Hiking is a great outdoor activity that involves walking up mountains or along trails in the countryside.

Do you want to see the complete 2-minute sample answers to these questions? Good news! I’m creating the biggest IELTS Sample Answer Video Library on the internet!

I’m uploading dozens of new high-band example answers (written and recorded by myself) every week! Soon, there will be over 100 different IELTS Speaking Topics, containing hundreds of high-band Part 2 and Part 3 answers.

Simply by watching native English sample answers, you can learn:

• High-band vocabulary
• Useful ideas you can use in your own IELTS Speaking answers
• Phrases to connect your ideas
• Pronunciation tips – including native English stress and intonation
• Strategies to approach different IELTS question types.

Never be stuck for ideas or words again!

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Get lifetime access to all current and future high-band sample answers for just $10.00! 

Links and Resources

You can find even more IELTS-appropriate vocabulary, collocations and phrases about Health and Being Healthy here:

• http://www.freecollocation.com/search?word=healthy
• http://www.freecollocation.com/search?word=health

Can’t stand exercising? Here’s how you can stay in shape without breaking a sweat!

• https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-ways-to-lose-weight-without-diet-or-exercise

IELTS Practice Questions

Putting it all together:

Part 2 Cue Cards and Part 3 IELTS Speaking Questions about Sports, Health and Keeping Fit

Part 2 Questions: 

#1 – Describe a healthy lifestyle you know. You should say:

• How you know it

• What it is

• What you would do living this lifestyle

And explain why it is healthy

#2 – Describe something you do to stay healthy. You should say:

• What it is

• When, where you usually do it

• How you do it

And explain why it can keep you healthy

Part 3 Questions

• What do old people in your country do to keep fit?
• What kind of sports are popular in your country?
• Is health important for society as a whole?
• Should governments introduce laws that will protect people’s health?
• What should schools do to teach children to take care of their health?
• How can the media improve or influence people’s knowledge about health?

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Happy Learning!