IELTS Speaking: When to be an Actor on Stage.

A random post on Facebook inspired me this morning.  Maybe I can pass on that inspiration to you as well.

 It started off with a very self-aware, but somewhat self-conscious plea for help. 

What to do if you're an introvert?

Or just not much of a talker? Acting!   My advice and an anecdote below... 

Joko MacKenna

I want to reinforce Teacher Rafael's comment about being an "actor/actress" during the speaking test. Many of us have either been taught that we shouldn't stand out and be too expressive or we have found through our own experience that life is easier and less troublesome if we don't chatter on, if we don't bring attention to ourselves. We feel more comfortable being quiet than having to deal with all those boring, tiresome people out there.

I'll never forget one student who I had in my class for an 8-week IELTS prep class. Somewhat plump, of mixed Myanmar-Chinese ancestry, a bit plain, and never in a good mood or friendly. She was a young woman who seemed angry with the world, didn't like people, but very clever as well. In class, for 7 weeks, she sat there with a frown, never saying much. and when she did, it was with an awful, flat, machine-gun sounding intonation that kind of matched her personality.

When I noted to her how she wasn't using any of the pronunciation features we were learning (word stress for meaning, intonation, chunking), her response was classic: "But teacher, that's not me. I don't talk that way."

I told her as I'm telling you now, you'll get better marks if, for those 12-14 minutes, you pretend you're someone else. Be an actress on the stage for once. Then you can go back and be introverted later and monotone later.

What always remember was how different she was in week 8 speaking practice. The quiet, introverted, sullen girl was gone and replaced by this "chatty Kathy" who was putting on the show of her life...



 
  Tell me about your favorite restaurant?

not actually her

OH MY GOD, I JUST went there, JUST last night! This restaurant is aMAZing! The food there is SO wonderful and TASTY! And last night was no different..we got there and they were FULL of people...

 

Word stress is but one of the features she didn't have in real life, but faked it for her last test with me. ..

Where was this speaker for the previous 7 weeks? 

Waiting for her curtain call, I guess..