SPEAKING ENGLISH: Advice for Discussion (Part 3)

In part 3 (Two way discussion), How will you get your answers to get higher marks when an examiner ask you some questions such as "Is it necessary for immigrants to adopt customs and festivals that are celebrated in their new country?" or anything like that?

Here are some useful tips for successful students in your discussion with the examiner and even in daily conversation:

Comment on the question
Relate the question to their own experience
Divide up their answers
Use modal verbs, the past perfect and future tenses correctly

1. Comment on the question:

E.g.

Wow, that's a tough question. It depends on your point of view...
Yes, I've often thought about that....
That's interesting...
That's a big problem today...
Oh, that's very difficult to predict! I don't think ...

2. Relate the question to their own experience

E.g

That's very important because I am getting married next month.
That's an interesting question because I work in computers, so I often wonder what the future of technology will be.
That's a tough question because I am not an economist.
That's funny - the other day I was in Vietnam and someone asked me the same question.
My kids often ask me the same question.

3. Divide up their answers:

Use linking words to make your talk clearly.

E.g.

Well, that's an interesting question. I often suffer from the traffic problems everyday. Basically, there are three ways to look at this problem. One way is ...
I think there are several ways to solve this problem. One way would be ...
It depends on how you look at it. For example, if you were a parent, you would have one opinion, and a student, you might have another perspective.
I think two very different things will happen. First of all, there might be...
There have been several effects. One effect is that ...
I suppose you could break it up into two or three reasons. Firstly,...