Aptis Speaking Part Two Activities

A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Practising Part Two of APTIS Speaking activities.

By: Alex Case

Level: All Levels

Theme: Education & Learning

Study Area: Exam Traps and Tricks

Download Lesson Plan (PDF) 250 KB

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Lesson Plan Content:

Aptis Speaking Part Two activities

Personalised practice for Aptis Speaking Part Two

Describe a photo that is on your smartphone/ mobile phone, computer, or social media, trying to remember it or imagine it if it’s not in front of you now. Your partner will listen, suggest more things to say, and ask (personal and/ or opinion) questions about the photo.

Do the same for a (real or imaginary) photo of one thing on this list of Aptis topics:

Your desk
Your house or flat
The building in which you work or study (office, school, uni, etc)
A stadium you have been to
A night out with friends, classmates or colleagues
Somewhere you visited on holiday
A meeting you attended
Inside a museum that you visited
Someone making something that you saw
Yourself making something
A presentation or speech that you gave or listened to

Aptis Speaking Part Two speaking longer games

Work together to use as many of the useful words and phrases on the next page below as you can to describe a photo, ticking them off as you use them.

Look at a photo that your teacher shows you. Speak about it for as long as you can, in as much detail as possible. When you stop, your partner will get a point for each extra (new true) sentence that they say. However, you can dismiss sentences which can’t be true about that photo, you already said, etc.

Aptis Speaking Part Two speaking longer and longer

Look at a photo that your teacher gives you. With your partner, take turns describing the picture in more and more detail, starting with quite a short, basic description, and getting longer and longer each time. You can repeat what you and your partner said before and/ or say different things. The other person should time the speaking, taking time off for silence. Stop when the next description is shorter than the previous one, then work together to make a perfect description of about 45 seconds.

Aptis speaking part two meeting criteria game

Describe a photo for exactly 45 seconds. Your partner will listen and give you one point for each of these things that you do during that time:

start straightaway
describe the person
describe the background/ setting
guess/ speculate
not repeat/ use a wide range of different language
speak right up to or past the time limit

You will then get one extra photo for each point that you scored (so you have more choice of photos to speak about the next time that it is your turn to speak).

Useful language for Aptis speaking part two

Use as many phrases below as you can while you describe real or imaginary photos.

a girl/ a boy
a woman/ a man
above – under/ below/ beneath
almost certainly
at the top/ near the top – at the bottom/ near the bottom
behind
big/ large – small/ little
busy/ crowded – quiet/ empty
clearly
could (possibly)
(almost) everyone
face/ expression
I can see…
I can’t see… clearly but…
I guess (the location/ setting)…
I imagine (they feel)…
I’m not sure what the name is in English, but…
I’m sure
in front of
in the background – in the foreground
in the countryside – in the city
in the middle
in the top right (hand) corner – in the bottom left (hand) corner
in/ inside
is wearing/ is holding/ is carrying/ is sitting/ is standing/ is…ing (…)
It includes…
long – short
looks (as if/ like)
may/ might (well)
maybe/ perhaps
most people
must
near/ close to
next to
obviously
old – (brand) new/ modern
on the left – on the right
on/ on top of
probably
seems (to)
some kind of
some people
someone/ somebody
something like
somewhere…
square/ rectangular – round/ circular
The setting…
the woman/ she/ the man/ he
There are two/ a couple of/ a few/ some/ a lot of… (as well).
There is (also) a/ an/ one/ a little/ some/ a lot of…
This is a picture of…
This photo shows…
We can see…
wooden – metal
young – middle-aged – old

Ask about language above which you couldn’t use, are not sure you used correctly, etc.

Brainstorming useful language for Aptis speaking part two

Without looking above, brainstorm phrases for describing photos into these categories.

Starting the description

Location

Describing people

Describing objects

Speculating/ Guessing/ Unsure language

Positions (in the photo and/ or compared to other things)

Look at the mixed list above to help, brainstorm more, then compare your answers as a class or with the suggested answers.

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