Speaking Unit 2 Food

Focus on Part 1 of the IELTS Speaking Test

WARM-UP

1. Look at the following types of food.Decide if each type of food is healthy or junk food and write the words in the table below.

2. Listen and mark the stressed syllable on each word.

VOCABULARY

3. Listen to some students answering Part 1 IELTS speaking questions.

• Speaker 1: My family and I always do our food shopping at the local markets because all the fruit and vegetables are so fresh.

• Speaker 2: I really like fast food, and my favourite is pizza - yummy!

• Speaker 3: I never cook because I don’t know how! My parents always cook for me.

• Speaker 4: I prefer eating in restaurants to eating at home, because you don’t have to do the dishes afterwards!

• Speaker 5: We usually eat toast or cereal with fruit for breakfast and on the weekend we might go out for bacon and eggs.

4. Now listen and repeat these sentences from the previous activity.

a. I never cook because I don’t know how.

b. I really like fast food.

c. I prefer eating in restaurants to eating at home.

d. My favourite food is pizza.

e. We usually eat toast or cereal for breakfast.

5. Match the questions below with the answers above.

i. What’s your favourite food?→d. My favourite food is pizza.

ii. Do you like to cook?

iii. Do you prefer to eat out or eat at home?

iv. What do you usually eat for breakfast?

v. Do you like fast food?

6. Listen and you will notice the important words in each example below are stressed: they are said louder and stronger than the other words.Underline the stressed words in each question.The first one has been done for you.

a. Tell me about your favourite food.

b. Do you like to cook?

c. Do you prefer to eat out or eat at home?

d. What do you usually eat for breakfast?

e. Do you like fast food?

7. Listen again and repeat the sentences using the same stress pattern as in the audio.

8. Now work with a partner to ask and answer the questions using your own words. Remember to stress the important words.

b. Do you like to cook?

c. Do you prefer to eat out or eat at home?

d. What do you usually eat for breakfast?

e. Do you like fast food?

PRONUNCIATION

9. Circle as many ‘food’ words as you can find in the two lines below.

Souphotdogtastepizzahutdonutsweetsnackoverweightsoftdrinkchocolatebigmaccarrotbreakfastchipchickennuggetdietfastmilkweighteat

10. Listen to check and put the words in the right category.

11. Listen again and repeat the words.

12. Now listen to the following sentences and repeat.

a. A soft drink is unhealthy because it contains a lot of sugar.

b. Pizza Hut is a worldwide fast food restaurant.

c. If you want to lose weight, you shouldn’t eat too much junk food.

d. A balanced diet is an important part of keeping healthy.

e. He eats a hotdog every day.

f. Chocolate milk is very tasty.

g. People often eat dumplings for breakfast in China.

h. I eat a carrot every day as part of a healthy diet.

i. Bananas are the perfect fruit.

j. He ate too many Big Macs and now he is overweight.

Often in English, the last letter of one word joins onto the next word. Listen to the following sentence: Chocolate milk is very tasty.

It sounds like: Chocolate mil kis very tasty.

This is because the final ‘k’ sound of milk joins with the vowel ‘i’ in is.This is a common feature of spoken English.If one word ends in a consonant and the next word begins with a vowel, the consonant links onto the vowel of the next word.

13. Listen to the following sentences and mark the linking sounds.

a. Soft drinks are not very healthy.

b. Pizza Hut is a fast food restaurant.

c. It’s important to eat healthy food.

d. He likes to eat a hotdog for lunch.

14. Listen again and repeat the sentences making sure you link words correctly.

15. Now say the sentences again to your partner.

Sometimes, you will need to ask the examiner to repeat the question.Here is some useful language to do this:

16. Listen and repeat the phrases after you hear them.

17. Work in pairs. Use the questions below to practise the language above. One person asks a question and the other asks for repetition using one of the examples above. Focus on using the correct intonation and make sure you practise with all of the examples.

Sorry, I didn’t hear you.Could you repeat the question?

• What’s your favourite food?

• Do you like to cook?

• Do you prefer to eat out or eat at home?

• What do you usually eat for breakfast?

• Do you like fast food?

GRAMMAR

18. Look at the following answer from the previous activity:

I prefer eating in restaurants to eating at home

Prefer is a verb which means you like something better than something else.

I prefer Chinese food to McDonalds.

When you are expressing preferences, you can also compare one thing to another.

I like hamburgers more than rice.

I don’t like McDonalds as much as KFC.

19. Look at the food in the table below.Which do you prefer for each option? Write your answer in the ‘your preference’ column. The first one has been done for you.

20. Write sentences about which foods you prefer using the ‘preference language’ given in the box above.

21. Now tell someone else about your preferences.

22. You can also use a comparative adjective to give a reason for your preference.

23. Write the comparative forms of each adjective below.Check any words you don’t know in your dictionary.

healthy _______________ +

tasty _______________

sweet _______________

oily _______________

greasy _______________

spicy _______________

delicious _______________

yummy _______________

24. Now decide whether the adjectives have a positive or negative meaning.Put a plus sign [+] next to the positive ones and a minus sign [-] next to the negative ones. The first one has been done for you.

25. Work with a partner and ask them which food they prefer.Use a comparative adjective (e.g. healthier) in your answer.

Put it all together

26. Fill in the gaps with your own answers.

27. Work with a partner to ask and answer the questions.