In part 3 of the trinity, whether it be the ISE II (B2) or the ISE III (C1), the candidate needs to carry out a conversation with the examiner about a topic chosen by the examiner.
It is important to remember that the examiner is looking for a free-flowing, easy to maintain and informal conversation. It needs to be maintained by both the examiner and the candidate, but it is important to remember that as the candidate you are being assessed. This means that you need to show off the necessary skills for language use to complete the assessment of Trinity.
Candidates need to:
Inititiate and Respond.
This means that you need to ask and answer questions. Candidates must be clear on how to form short questions (What is your take on this?), full questions (How long have your been working in this way?), negative questions (Wouldn´t it be a better idea to ask for permission first?) and also question tags (It is really amusing, isn´t it?)
It is important for candidates to listen well to the examiner to ask the right types of questions and avoid repetition.
Giving your own opinion.- In my opinion, …
- In my eyes, …
- To my mind, …
- As far as I am concerned, …
- Speaking personally, …
- From my point of view, …
- As for me / As to me, …
- My view / opinion / belief / impression / conviction is that …
- I hold the view that …
- I would say that …
- It seems to me that …
- I am of the opinion that …
- My impression is that …
- I am under the impression that …
- It is my impression that …
- I have the feeling that …
- My own feeling on the subject is that …
- I have no doubt that …
- I am sure / I am certain that …
- I think / consider / find / feel / believe / suppose / presume / assume / reckon that …
- I hold the opinion that …
- I dare say that …
- I guess that …
- I bet that ….
- I gather that …
- It goes without saying that …
Develop and Maintain the conversation.
Candidates need to give their opinions on the topic and also make sure the conversation does not end too quickly, it should last for about 3-4 minutes. They need to (develop) offer new and interesting information to expand the scope of the topic. It is important to make it interesting!
Link to other topic. To expand on topics and make them more interesting it is important to relate your points to other topics or to your personal experiences. It is fine to have a strong opinion, but it needs to be reinforced with a good link. Linking phrases:- As I have said before…
- With respect to the point on…
- Regarding…
- Like I have said…
- In relation to…
- Taking into account…
It is important to try to come to some type of conclusion, or at least go towards an agreement or disagreement. This demonstrates organisational skills and the communication skills needed to achieve the level B2 or C1.
Some suggested topics could be:
- Lifestyles – We are much healthier than those who lived 50 years ago. Discuss diet, exercise and addictions
- Stereotypes: Our generation is much more tolerant than our parent´s generation. Discuss – women´s rights. racism and xenophobia.
- Economic issues: The financial recession has created a lost generation. It´s not fair because it was through no fault of our own. Who should be held accountable for this tragedy?
- The media: Communication is far better than it has ever been and there are not disadvantages to this. Discuss
- Ambitions: People are much more career focussed than in the past, because of this people tend to have children later and later. What issues have arisen due to this?
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