5.3. Telling a Story
Open with when and where, tell the bullets as the order of events, and say what you did next.
Now I'm going to give you a topic and I'd like you to talk about it for one to two minutes. Before you talk, you'll have one minute to think about what you're going to say. You can make some notes if you wish.
Describe a time when you had to change your plans at short notice.
You should say:
- what the original plan was
- why you had to change it
- what you did instead
and explain how you felt about the change.
The short version
A story card wants four moments: the plan, what went wrong, what you did, how it left you.
Open with when and where: Last June, the morning of my cousin's wedding.
The bullets are the events in order. Tell them in that order.
Past simple for what happened. Past perfect for what was already arranged.
What you have to do
A story card asks about a time something happened: a change of plans, a journey, a time you helped someone. You get one minute to note a word or two per bullet. Then you talk for one to two minutes, until the examiner stops you. The bullets are the events in order, and the and explain line asks how it left you. The talk is marked on fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, so one event told in order beats a summary of many.
Getting the tenses right
Tell the events in the past simple: she called, I cancelled. Use the past perfect for what was already arranged before the story starts: I had booked a coach. Use the present for anything still true: It is the same route I take to work. An opening in the present, I'd like to talk about, is fine. Wrong: I have been to the coast last spring. Right: I went to the coast last spring.
Step by step
- 1Read the card for the four moments it wants
Read the topic line twice, then the three bullets and the and explain line. On a story card they are four moments: the plan, what went wrong, what you did, and how it left you. Write one or two words beside each: wedding, June, car died, motorway, train, arrived late, laughing by the end.
- 2Open with when and where
Your first sentence puts the listener in a time and a place. This was last June, the morning of my cousin's wedding, on the motorway outside Leeds. Not I'd like to talk about a very memorable experience. When and where give you the next sentence for free: what you were doing there, and who with.
- 3Take the bullets as the order of events
The bullets are the events in the order they happened. Tell them in that order. Let each one start a section: The plan was..., Then..., What I did instead was.... Give each about 20 seconds, two or three sentences. Put one thing that happened in each: who called, what the man at the desk said, which train you got. The and explain line is your close, in the present: I still...
- 4Cut the summary sentences that tell instead of show
Cut It was a very memorable experience, I learnt a lot from it and it was really stressful. They sum up instead of telling. After them there is nothing to say. Replace each with the moment it stands for. Not it was stressful, but I rang the venue three times and nobody picked up. Feelings go in as what you did: I was annoyed for five minutes, then I packed a bag.
- 5If stuck, say what you did next
A story has a built-in next sentence: what you did next. If a bullet runs dry, say So the next thing I did was... and follow yourself to the next event. If you have reached the end with time left, say what you do differently now. Keep going until the examiner stops you.
Describe a time when you had to change your plans at short notice. You should say: why you had to change it
At about six that morning my flatmate came into the kitchen holding her phone and said the trains from Leeds were cancelled, all of them, because of a landslip near Doncaster. I checked the app twice, because I did not believe her, and then I rang my cousin, who was already at the hairdresser and could not talk for more than a minute.
One moment, told in the past simple with the things that happened in it: the phone, the landslip, the hairdresser. Nothing is stressful or memorable, and the listener knows exactly why the plan changed.
Quiz time5 questions
Each drill gives you one line from a story card and works on one step. Practise the judgement, not the whole talk.
Open with when and where
Three candidates begin their talk on this card. Choose the opening that puts the listener in a time and a place.
Read thisDescribe a journey that did not go as planned.
Which opening gives when and where?
Spot the summary sentence
Three sentences from a talk on this bullet. One tells the examiner how the story felt instead of telling the story. Which?
Read thisDescribe a journey that did not go as planned. You should say: what happened on the way
Which sentence contains the error?
Turn a note into a spoken sentence
These are one candidate's notes for the bullet. Say them as one or two spoken sentences in the past that give when, where and what the plan was.
Read thisDescribe a time you arrived late for something. You should say: where you were going
sister's graduation / Manchester / 10 am train / left phone at home
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Keep the story moving
The candidate has said what they lost and gone quiet. Choose what they should say next.
Read thisDescribe a time you lost something important. You should say: what you did about it
Which sentence keeps the story moving?
One bullet, out loud
Speak for about 20 seconds on this one bullet, using a time of your own. Say when and where it was, then the moment it stopped working, in the past simple.
Read thisDescribe a time when a piece of technology stopped working when you needed it. You should say: what went wrong
Describe a time when a piece of technology stopped working when you needed it. Say what went wrong.
Record your answer (30s maximum)
0:00 / 0:30
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
The full talk
Below is a full talk on the change-of-plans card at the top of this lesson, spoken from the notes shown first. Read it once for the four moments: the plan, the call, the towpath, and what the speaker does now.
Describe a time when you had to change your plans at short notice.
Notes: coast coach, Sat last spring / friend cancelled, fever / canal towpath, lock bench / annoyed then fine / walk from the door now Talk: I'd like to talk about a time I had to change a weekend trip last spring. I had booked a coach to the coast for the Saturday morning. The plan was to walk a cliff path with a friend of mine and get the last coach back that evening. I had been looking forward to it for about a month, mainly because I had not been out of the city since the winter. Then at around ten the night before, she called. Her youngest had a fever and she could not leave him. I was annoyed for about five minutes, because I had already packed a lunch and charged my camera, and then I cancelled the coach and stayed where I was. What I did instead was walk the canal towpath behind the station. It is the same route I take to work, but I had never once walked it slowly. If you go east you get past the retail park after about twenty minutes and it turns surprisingly green. I sat on a bench by the lock for half an hour and ate the lunch I had packed the night before. Nobody I knew was there, and I did not speak to anyone all afternoon, which I think was the part I actually needed. I remember it because I almost wasted the whole day at home, waiting for a better plan to appear. Now if a trip falls through I pick a walk I can start from my own front door. If I had stayed in that Saturday, I would probably still be thinking about that cliff path.
The plan: a coach to the coast, booked, in the past perfect. What went wrong: the call at ten the night before, in the past simple. What the speaker did instead: the towpath and the bench by the lock, with the things that happened there. How it left them: a habit now, in the present. Notice that no sentence says it was stressful or I learnt a lot. The feelings are there as what the speaker did: annoyed for five minutes, then the coach cancelled.
Your turn to speak2 questions
Find the tense slip
One sentence uses the wrong tense for a finished past time. Which?
Which sentence contains the error?
Record the journey
Use a sequence, one turning point, a feeling, and a close. Do not describe beaches and hotels.
Describe a memorable journey. Say where you went, how you travelled, what happened on the way, and why you remember it.
Record your answer (120s maximum)
0:00 / 2:00
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Tips
- One event, not a summary of many
A card about a journey wants one journey, and one thing that happened on it. Three trips in two minutes gives the examiner three summaries and no story.
- Feelings are things you did
Instead of naming a feeling, say what it made you do: you rang three times, sat down on the kerb, or laughed. The listener works out the feeling and you get another sentence.
- The present is for the close
Keep the events in the past simple. Switch to the present only at the end, for what is still true or what you do differently now.
Recap
Read the card for its four moments: the plan, what went wrong, what you did, how it left you.
Open with when and where, then tell the bullets as the order of events in the past simple.
Cut the summary sentences, and when a bullet runs dry, say what you did next.
Next: Part 3, where the questions leave your own life behind.