Checking/ Clarifying
Student A
Warmer
Choose one of the countries you know best or are most interested in and spell the place names for your partner as quickly as possible. You cannot look at what your partner is writing. The first team with all the names written with no mistakes is the winner.
Difficult Australian place names to spell
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Melbourne
Kalgoorlie
Adelaide
Whitsunday Islands
Byron Bay
Hobart
Ayers Rock
Difficult British place names to spell
Loch Ness
Birmingham
The Midlands
Leicester Square
Llandudno
Loughborough
Edinburgh
Blenheim Palace
Difficult British place names to spell Part B
Piccadilly Circus
Carlisle
Dumfries
Norwich
Caernarfon
Worcester
Taunton
Omagh
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Student B
Warmer
Choose one of the countries you know best or are most interested in and spell the place names for your partner as quickly as possible. You cannot look at what your partner is writing. The first team with all the names written with no mistakes is the winner.
Difficult Australian place names to spell
Broome
Port Macquarie
Adelaide
Derby
Meekatharra
Roebourne
Cape Leeuwin
Mount Kosciuszko
Difficult New Zealand place names to spell
Auckland
Whangarei
Thames
New Plymouth
Franz Josef
Blenheim
Stewart Island
Napier
Difficult British place names to spell
Eastbourne
Bournemouth
Southwark
Earl’s Court
the Isle of Man
Salisbury Cathedral
Durham Cathedral
London Dungeons
Checking Understanding Functional Language
To complete the task above, just like making sure you understand the questions the IELTS examiner asks you, you will need to use phrases to check your understanding. Write useful phrases for this in the box on the left.
| Phrases for the person being explained to | Phrases for the person explaining |
The examiner might also check that you understand. Write phrases they can use in the box on the right.
Put these phrases into the boxes above:
Do you know what I mean?
Can you repeat the last part?
Have I explained myself properly?
Do you see now?
Let me just check if I understand…
Is that clear (now)?
Can you explain that using different words?
I’m lost.
Did you say…?
Got it?
What does the word “…” mean?
Can you spell the first word for me please?
Sorry. Do you mean…?
Are you sure you understand?
Are you following me?
Can you say that again more slowly?
Sorry, I’m not following you.
You’ve lost me.
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Extras
Student A
Difficult Australian place names to spell
Cairns
Maroochydore
Leigh Creek
Perth
Warrnambool
Launceston
Difficult to Spell Famous British People
Sean Connery
Margaret Thatcher
Louis Theroux
Prince Charles
The Duke of Edinburgh
Sacha Baron Cohen
Henry Purcell
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Sir Isaac Newton
Horatio Nelson
Guy Fawkes
King Henry VIII
Common misspellings in the IELTS test/ Academic English
affect/ effect
government
receive
advertisement
accommodation
Extras
Student B
Difficult to Spell Famous British People
Florence Nightingale
David Attenborough
J.R.R Tolkien
Agatha Christie
John Logie Baird
King Arthur
Difficult to Spell Famous Australian People
Shane Warne
Steve Irwin
Harry Kewell
Kylie Minogue
Danni Minogue
Ian Thorpe
Kyle Sandilands
Evonne Goolagong Cawley
Dame Joan Sutherland
Guy Pearce
Steve Waugh
Difficult American place names
Cincinnati
Massachusetts
Mississippi
Philadelphia
Memphis
Common misspellings in the IELTS test/ Academic English
loose/ lose
college/ colleague
quite/ quiet
through/ thorough
breath/ breathe
Further Practice activities
Give instructions for how to get somewhere from the place where you are sitting now. Your partner should guess where you end up
Using an underground map, rail map or street map, give your partner instructions without using the name of any of the lines or the stations you change at and see if they can understand where the final place is.
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PDF version for easy saving and printing: IELTSChecking
Related pages
Checking/ clarifying games/ worksheets
IELTS Speaking games/ worksheets
300 more pages of IELTS Speaking classroom materials available at https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/ielts-speaking/
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