IELTS Speaking Lesson about News
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Table of Contents
Introduction
In IELTS Speaking there are often questions about news.
That may be personal news, from family and friends, or news from the media, including national and international news.
In this IELTS Speaking lesson on the topic of news, you will learn how to talk about different kinds of news.
IELTS vocabulary: News
Let’s begin looking at mistakes many students make with the vocabulary of this topic.
Avoid this common mistake!
I heard a news yesterday X
You should say –
I heard some news yesterday😁
This is because the word ‘news’ is an uncountable noun. So you cannot use ‘a’ and you cannot put it in the plural. We have to use quantifiers like ‘some, little, much‘.
I’ve got some news for you 😁
I haven’t got any/much news 😁
So, remember – News is uncountable!
How to make it singular?
A piece of news!
(remember the spelling by thinking of PIEce of PIE!). We can also say,
An item of news
Tons of news, a bit of news, a plethora of news
COLLOCATIONS
Adjectives
- Breaking news / latest news / urgent news
- Updated news / out-dated news
- Good news / great news / tremendous news
- Unwelcome news / devastating news / traumatic news
- Fake news
Verbs
- To get/receive news
- To hear some news
- To catch up on the news
- I want to catch up on all your latest news =get up to date
A great source of collocations is
http://www.ozdic.com/collocation-dictionary/news
More examples
- I heard some _gloomy, happy, breaking (=brand new) ____ news yesterday
- Have you _seen, heard, read, caught up on____ the latest news?
- The news is _spreading___ like wildfire!
- This is __breaking, brand new ___ news, it has just been released!
Kinds of news
- International or foreign
- National or domestic
- Local
- Personal news (news about your family, friends, neighbors…)
Think of the typical greeting cards to get ideas of personal news.
(marriage, birthday, pass exams, funeral, newborn baby….)
- Have you heard, Tom has passed his IELTS test?
- I heard that Tom is getting married?
- I’ve just found out Alice is pregnant
- They have just had a new baby boy!
- They have invited me to the christening
IELTS Speaking part 2 tips
Look at this IELTS Speaking Part 2 question
“Describe some news you heard about recently”
Many IELTS speaking questions are deliberately open!
You can talk about national, domestic, local, or even personal news.
So long as you talk about some NEWS, and it is something you HEARD and it was RECENT (so not in your childhood!).
Don’t worry too much about the right and wrong answers.
1-minute preparation tips
- Get the first idea (good enough)
- Get 2 or 3 main points
- If time, think of an Idiom or some Collocations
Will the examiner give a bad band score for pauses?
No, but be clear about the difference between pause and hesitation.
Pause 😃
A pause is where you stop talking to think of ideas. This is good!
Hesitation 🙁
A hesitation is where you errr and umm, whilst trying to find the correct word. This will bring down your fluency score.
Fake news and believing everything you read
Here are a series of phrases you can use to discuss this issue.
I don’t believe everything journalists write; some of them can be economical with the truth or lie through their teeth.
To be economical with the truth = not tell the whole truth
You can also say (meaning the same)
- This story is stretching the truth
- To lie through one’s teeth = to clearly lie without trying to hide it
You can also say (meaning the same)
- They are telling blatant lies
- They are telling outright lies
- No, I don’t. Due to the reason that some articles available online aren’t reliable. Some are fake news.
Reliable (adj.) = trustworthy, credible, dependable
I tend to check everything from some alternative sources
Some information is misleading, so we have to be careful
I am always wary of (=cautious about, careful with) stories that paint things black and white (=say things are simple)
A rule of thumb (informal rule) is to be suspicious of (=wary of) stories shared on social media like Facebook
It’s hard to know for sure because everyone has their own agenda (=have your own objective/goal)
Generally yes, if the sources are really reliable – credible enough.
It depends on the source of the news and how authentic they are.
If it’s convincing enough but I would like to discover some reliable evidence first.
No, I don’t. It seems good journalism is vanishing these days.
No, because some news agencies are altering the real stories.
Many media platforms tell lies.
Irrespective of the truth, I just enjoy the news.
You can express uncertainty by saying…
I have mixed feelings about it.
I am on the fence.
I am in two minds about it.
IELTS Speaking tips
When speaking, we often personalise our speech, meaning we make it about us.
We may use expressions like those below to do this.
- to be honest
- I know
- you know
- the way I see it
- I think
- my take is = my opinion is
SPOKEN
I know some people say that clothes represent your identity and its a way of expressing your personality, but to be honest, for me, I take a much more pragmatic (=realistic) approach.
WRITTEN
It is said some people say that clothes represent your identity and its a way of expressing your personality, however, my approach is much more pragmatic (=realistic) approach.
If you write your answers out in perfect sentences, it will not sound natural, it will sound like you are a book!
Don’t write your answer out first,
Speak your answer first, then record it, then write it out.
Students' questions about news
Keith, do you think getting updated news is important?
To be honest, for me, I think, getting updated news is overrated (=not as good as people think)
I think we have been pushed into this society where the breaking news or the latest gossip is the most important and the most valuable,
but I think it’s nonsense.
I think the most valuable information is not necessarily the latest or the most updated, and it just pushes us to follow fashions and trends all the time.
So, I am actually an advocate (= a person in favor of) of not following the latest news.
I think you can pick out (=choose) pieces of news or items of news that are relevant and useful for you,
but I don’t think we should be dragged along with this current (here I am just using a metaphor of a river) of always chasing the latest news.
It’s just media hype that is there, to try and get us to buy newspapers or information.
Useful Links
Great website for teachers and students with new lessons about breaking news every week.
https://breakingnewsenglish.com
Study the news and the language of the news with the BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/lingohack
A great source of questions and answers is the Quora forum. Good for language. It is an open forum, so the facts may not be always correct.
https://www.quora.com/Do-you-believe-everything-that-you-read
More Free IELTS Speaking Lessons
If you liked this lesson, leave a comment below!
There are more lessons you can follow in the links below too.
NATION AND CULTURE in IELTS Speaking. Learn the essential vocabulary for this topic, as well as how to talk about the connection between nation and identity.
TV SERIES in IELTS Speaking. Vocabulary you need to describe different kinds of Television Series.
COMEDY in IELTS Speaking. Learn different types of comedy and idiomatic expressions related to comedy and jokes.
