Describing Problems on Vacation

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Part 2 Preparation

Intermediate

Learning Objectives

In this lesson you will:

Practice answering questions based on Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking test.
Learn and practice some different ways to talk about problems on vacation.
Practice pronouncing /ʃ/ as in "shave" and /s/ as in "save."

Exercise 1

Warm-Up: Pronunciation Practice

Listen and Repeat

Listen and repeat after your tutor.

A) save

B) shave

A) sip

B) ship

A) sew

B) show

A) sell

B) shell

A) sort

B) short

Quiz

Your tutor will choose 5 words and say them aloud. After each word, say whether it is from Group A or Group B.

Quiz Your Tutor

Choose 5 words and say them aloud. After each word, your tutor will say whether it is from Group A or Group B.

Exercise 2

Helpful Vocabulary

Describing Problems and Solutions

Listen and repeat these words with your tutor. If you don't know a word, ask your tutor to read the definition and example sentence.

issue

Noun

answer

Noun

difficult

Adjective

challenge

Noun

fix

Verb

deal with

Phrasal Verb

solve

Verb

repair

Verb

Tell your tutor which words relate to a problem and which relate to a solution.

For example:

"Issue relates to a problem."
"Answer relates to a solution."

Listen and repeat these phrases with your tutor.

Problems on Vacation

I got stuck in traffic ...
I had trouble with ...
I missed my connecting flight ...
My car broke down ...
My flight was delayed ...
I got lost ...
I got sick ...
The hotel was awful ...

Pictures and Questions

Tell your tutor what you see in each picture.

For example:

"Picture one shows a person whose car has broken down."

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5

Exercise 3

Speaking Test Part 2 Response

Read the following instruction based on Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking test.

Describe a time when you had to deal with a problem on vacation.

You should say:

what you were doing
what happened
how you solved the problem

And explain why you remember this experience.

Model Response 1

Listen and read as your tutor reads Patricia's response aloud. At the end, you will need to answer three short questions.

A few years ago, I went on holiday to Brisbane. At the time, my boyfriend and I were on summer vacation. Before we went, we thought it would be a good idea to rent a car.

One day, we decided to drive out to Fraser Island. However, it was a really long drive, and we got stuck in traffic. After about an hour, the car started making a loud noise, so I stopped on the side of the road.

We didn't know what the issue was, and so we weren't sure what to do. Eventually we called the rental company, and they sent someone to fix the car. Unfortunately, I hadn't bought car insurance so we had to pay to get the car repaired. It cost a lot of money! My boyfriend got so angry about how much money it cost that he broke up with me.

Why do I remember this challenging time? What have I learned? It was a difficult situation, but I learned to always get insurance when you rent a car! And to get a richer and nicer boyfriend next time.

Questions

Where was Patricia on holiday?

How did Patricia and her boyfriend fix the problem?

What did Patricia learn from the situation?

Useful Language

Patricia uses these phrases to talk about problems on vacation and to structure her response. Listen and repeat them with your tutor.

A few years ago …
At the time ...
However, ...
Eventually ...
Unfortunately ...
Why do I remember ...?

Exercise 4

Fill in the Blanks

Read the response based on Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking test and fill in the blanks.

Model Response 2

A few months (1), I booked a holiday on the internet. My wife and I decided to go to Greece, but at first, we had a terrible time!

Firstly, we had (2) with getting to the airport, because we got (3) in traffic. Then the flight was delayed, so we (4) our connecting flight in Athens. Before we (5) we had reserved a taxi from the hotel to pick us up, but the taxi got (6) on the way.

Eventually we got to the hotel, and it was awful. Our room was tiny, and there was no view. Then I ate something bad and got (7).

We decided we'd had enough after that so I started calling other hotels in the area. We found one that seemed nice and got over there as fast as we could. Thankfully, it was much nicer than the first hotel, and it had an incredible view of the Mediterranean Sea.

Why do I remember this (8) experience? Because it started off as the worst vacation of my life, but we ended up having a great time.

Choose answers from the options below that fit in blanks 1 to 8

Answer Pool (Questions 1-8)

went
missed
stuck
ago
trouble
lost
sick
difficult/challenging

Exercise 5

Part 2 Test Practice

Complete this task based on Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking test. You have 1 minute to prepare your answer and up to 2 minutes to speak. Your tutor will stop you when the time is up.

Describe a time when you had to deal with a problem on vacation.

You should say:

what you were doing
what happened
how you solved the problem

And explain why you remember this experience.