Discussing Fashion

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Discussing Fashion

Part 1 Preparation

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Learning Objectives

In this lesson you will:

Practice answering questions based on Part 1 of the IELTS Speaking test.
Learn and practice some different ways to talk about fashion, language for making general statements, and phrases you can use to answer questions on topics you don't know much about.
Practice pronouncing /ʊ/ as in "pull" and /uː/ as in "pool".

Exercise 1

Warm-Up: Pronunciation Practice

Listen and Repeat

Listen and repeat after your tutor.

A) pull

B) pool

A) full

B) fool

A) look

B) Luke

A) stood

B) stewed

A) cookie

B) kooky

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.

Practice saying these tongue twisters with your tutor. First say them slowly, then try to speed up.

Tongue Twisters

Look! The blue pool is full of fools.
Kooky cookies, kooky cookies, kooky cookies!

Exercise 2

Helpful Vocabulary

Listen and repeat these words with your tutor.

Clothes and Places

high heels
leisure wear
boutique
jewelry
tracksuit
chain store
formal clothing
sportswear

Tell your tutor which of these can be worn and which are places to buy clothes.

For example:

"High heels are worn."
"A boutique is a place to buy clothes."

Describing Clothes

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.

casual

Adjective

formal

Adjective

uncomfortable

Adjective

stylish

Adjective

unattractive

Adjective

fashionable

Adjective

chic

Adjective

sharp

Adjective

Tell your tutor which of the above are generally used as positive descriptions and which are negative.

For example:

"Casual is generally positive."
"Uncomfortable is negative."

Exercise 3

Speaking Test Part 1 Dialogue

Read the dialogue based on Part 1 of the IELTS Speaking test with your tutor. You will be the examiner. At the end, you will need to answer 3 questions.

	Examiner Are clothes important to you?
	Saya Yes, clothes are very important to me. I think they're important to many women, mainly because we're more often judged on how we look, and clothes are a big part of this. Aside from that, I also really like fashion!
	Examiner What kind of clothes do you usually wear?
	Saya These days, I wear a lot of different clothes. I have to wear formal clothes for work, so I have lots of suits and high heels. At home, I tend to wear casual clothes, like sweatpants and T-shirts. And when I go out in the evenings, I like to dress up a bit. For example, I might wear a dress and lots of jewelry.
	Examiner Where do you usually buy your clothes?
	Saya I usually buy my clothes online. But I also like to shop at the little boutiques near my home, and some chain stores for socks and T-shirts.
	Examiner Do most of your friends and family follow fashion?
	Saya Generally speaking, my friends are quite fashionable. We like to wear chic and stylish clothes. My family aren't really into fashion though; my dad mostly wears casual clothing, but he has a sharp suit that he wears when we go out.

Questions

What does Saya like wearing when she goes out in the evenings?

Where does Saya buy her clothes?

Do most of Saya's friends and family follow fashion?

Exercise 4

Fill in the Blanks

Read the dialogue based on Part 1 of the IELTS Speaking test with your tutor and fill in the blanks. Your tutor will be the examiner.

	Examiner Are clothes important to you?
	Daisuke Generally (1), clothes aren't very important to me. I don't usually care what I wear, as long as I feel (2). I work out quite often, so I wear a lot of T-shirts and (3). My girlfriend (4) to buy any formal clothes that I need.
	Examiner Where do you usually buy your clothes?
	Daisuke In (5), I buy my clothes online or from the (6) stores near my house. I do really like expensive sports shoes, though. So I get those from a local (7).

Choose answers from the options below that fit in blanks 1 to 7

Answer Pool (Questions 1-7)

sweatpants
chain
comfortable
tends
speaking
boutique
general

Exercise 5

Part 1 Test Practice

Useful Language

Saya and Daisuke use these phrases to make general statements. Listen and repeat them after your tutor.

Generally speaking, ...
In general, ...
... usually ...
... tend to ...

Questions

Use the phrases above to answer these questions based on Part 1 of the IELTS Speaking test.

Are clothes important to you?

Where do you usually buy your clothes?

Do most of your friends and family follow fashion?

Exercise 6

Extra Practice

IELTS examiners might ask you questions on something you don't know much about. Here are some useful phrases to deal with questions about unfamiliar topics.

Useful Language

Listen and repeat these phrases with your tutor.

Well, off the top of my head I'd say ...
I hadn't really thought about that before, but ...
I'm not really familiar with this, but ...
This is not exactly my field, but ...
I would say ... although I don't know a lot about this topic.

Questions

Use the phrases above to answer these questions.

How has your taste in clothing changed over the years?

What decade do you think had the best fashion?

Do you think men and women have different views on clothing?

Are teenagers in your country generally interested in fashion?