Welcome to another IELTS lesson. In this lesson we are going to look at the beginning of your IELTS speaking test. This is when you walk into the IELTS speaking examination room and you greet the examiner for the first time.

Well, we all know that the IELTS speaking test has 3 sections. This is before part one begins, you will need to greet the examiner and do an identification check. Although this part is pretty simple and easy, I want to give you some tips to make a better first impression. We often call this as part zero. There are four questions to parts zero and I am going to give you the questions and give you some useful tips so that you can be confident in your answers and give a good first impression to the examiner. So let’s start with the first question.

1. In the first question examiner will introduce him or her and will give their name. So the examiner is going to say, “Good afternoon, my name is Michael Oliver, what’s your full name?”

Or maybe they might say, “Could you tell me your full name please?” and you need to answer, “Good afternoon Michael.”

Now you can give the examiner‘s name or not, it’s your choice. And then you can say, “My name is ‘Your Name’.”

Now it’s a simple question and a simple answer but I still have some tips. So the first tip is, if you’re going to use the name of the examiner and say “Good afternoon Michael.”; please don’t give a title, this is incorrect in English. We don’t use titles with first names, so if you are going to use the name of the examiner only say, “Good afternoon Michael.” but if you don’t feel comfortable in using the name of the examiner it’s fine, there’s no problem. You can just say “Good afternoon.”

Now when you give your name there are two tips I want you to remember. The first Tip is when you say your name; please don’t say “My name IS ‘Your Name’.”

You must use the contraction ‘My name’s ’Your Name’. Now the reason this is important is because this is a part of pronunciation, when you contract the word from my name is to my name’s, then this is a higher level pronunciation. So remember that for the rest of your exam and try to use it as much as you can.

And the next tip is when you give your name, please don’t say it quickly, I want you to say the name clearly because sometimes it is difficult for the examiner to hear and understand names so you need to say your names slowly and clearly. And of course the next tip is to smile. Don’t forget to smile.  This is your chance to greet the examiner and be friendly and show confidence, so smile, look at examiner in the eyes and relax.

2. The second question is very easy. The examiner will ask you “What can I call you?” and there are three ways that you could reply.

First you could say “You can call me…..”  Or you could say “Just call me….” or “Please call me…”

So these are three possible answers that you can give. Now for some tips.  My first tip is, please don’t explain why people call you this. That is part of the real test and this is only the greeting we are discussing so you’re going to give the examiner simple, clear answers, you don’t need to add more information.

3. So let’s have a look at the third question.

The third question, examiner will ask you “Where are you from?” or the examiner might say “Could you tell me where you come from? “Now let me give you some possible answers. You could say, “I’m from Delhi” or you could say, “I come from India” You could also add more information if you want, not too much, just a little bit. If you want you could say I’m from Calcutta which is in the east of India. Now it is good to add a little bit more information. It’s friendly but also it shows the examiner, good grammar.  ‘Which is in the east’ this is a clause which means it is high score grammar, so you are already showing the examiner that you have good English.

Now let’s have a look at some tips. Please don’t explain any further. You can give the location and stop. Don’t say anymore as these are simple questions and simple answers.

Also don’t ask the examiner any questions. So for example don’t say “I come from Delhi, have you been there?” Don’t give the examiner recommendations, don’t say “I come from Delhi and I think you really should go there.” So please don’t do that. Just keep it simple short and accurate.

And the last tip for you is to take care of the pronunciation for the names of the cities where you come from. Please try to use the English pronunciation so for example, for Calcutta, please don’t say Kolkata and please say Calcutta. The reason that we do this is because you’re showing the examiner that the English pronunciation is natural for you.

4. Let’s move to the last question, question number four and the final question.

The examiner will ask you “Could I see your identification please?” or the examiner might say “Can you show me your identification please?” Now for your answer, of course you need to give the examiner your identification, and you can also say, “here you are.” or, “Sure, here you are.” or “of course here it is”. So you can choose any of those answers. Now some tips from my side. Identification is often called ID so if the examiner asks you for your ID, it’s the same, it means identification. Keep your answer short, just a few words, don’t make it any longer.

And the last tip is, it is possible for you to actually say nothing and give the examiner the identification but I think it’s nice just to say something. These are all the very polite and perfectly normal to say in that situation.

So above are the four questions for parts zero for greeting the IELTS examiner and doing the identification check. Please read the article again and practice answering the questions correctly and remember smile, relax, be confident and start your test in the right way.

Well that’s all.

I’ll write to you in my next IELTS lesson. Till then Happy Studying!