is it possible to get a band 9 in IELTS speaking absolutely and in today's video I interview a student who did just that [Music] hello this is Keith from the Keith speaking Academy and the YouTube channel English speaking success now it is true right that it is extremely difficult especially for non-native speakers of English to get a band 9 in IELTS speaking but it is possible and in today's video I interviewed jorbik from Uzbekistan who recently got about nine in his IELTS speaking amazing right so we have a conversation where we go through different IELTS
topics and questions so that you can listen to and learn from his answers and I also highlight some of the features that make him such a confident band 9 speaker now a note very few people actually need a band 9 in IELTS speaking for most it's not a necessary goal it's not a realistic goal because it takes years and years to build up to that level okay so I don't want you to feel that you have to speak like this I just want this video to guide you to show you a great source of language
and inspiration listen let's Dive In joburg hello how are you nice nice to see you too good am I pronouncing your name correctly yes you're doing a great job it's your big deal big okay great and where are you from jewelry yeah I'm from Uzbekistan I'm from um and but I've been living in in Tashan for the better part of six years now ride okay tell me a bit about tashkin and what it's like well Tashkent is growing by lips and Bounds I would say because of all the investment um and dashing is really what
we could call a growing Multicultural City I see a lot of people from different backgrounds especially in uh more um affluent parts of the city but generally yeah it's a great City to to be living um I enjoy living in Tashkent and Tashkent I I think it has a population of two or three million people at this point uh I don't know the exact statistics but from from what I can guess that's what it is it's quite big so do you get a lot of tourists in Tashkent yes um especially nowadays um I'm not sure
if if this season um determines how many tourists uh come to Tashan but I believe the fact that we now have um you know a lot of brood and I think many people in Uzbekistan to Uzbekistan come to um you know enjoy food I think our food is probably one of the best things we can offer to tourists as well as our history um so we do have a lot of tourists I see a lot of people enjoying Tashan Metro um in Tashan Metro is like really famous so when you there's incredible architecture um you
know Soviet architecture you can see um yeah I think yeah nice and so tell me what do you do there well I I run a test prep Center we we help students prepare for the IELTS exam and sat but although we are focusing on the latter more um you know next year next academic year okay great so at the start of the IELTS speaking test you get some introductory questions normally about um where you live what you do work or study right here joebeck talks about the town where he's living uh Tashkent and also about
a little bit about his job he uses a wide range of vocabulary to show his control of these topics right um he talks about people with different backgrounds in the city affluent parts of the city affluent meaning wealthy um he says it is growing by Leaps and Bounds by Leaps and Bounds meaning quickly and a lot and he has a nice trick he talks about the population he says it's about two million and I don't know the exact statistics but I guess that's it very useful phrases don't worry if you don't know the exact name
or the exact numbers just show off your English saying well I don't know the exact statistics right the numbers lovely he talks about tourism great collocations he talks about the tourist season incredible architecture and the use of these collocations helps his fluency so he can continue talking over a long sentence almost without pausing absolutely brilliant let's get straight back in okay great um so I'm gonna ask you a few questions on an interesting topic which is the topic of Happiness right so I'd like to know what makes you happy well I think happiness is a
state of being and um I don't think happiness is something that you preach to you know you get hold of um but these days um I think things that make me happy is when I spend time with my friends and I you know we usually go to a sports bar and watch football today hopefully we are watching Manchester City play cup at the FA Cup so you know when I spend quality time with my friends that's that makes me happy nice and as a child um what made you happy as a child well as a
child you know literally anything under the sun I think makes you happy it's very easy I I guess I was lucky enough to have Carefree childhood you know I I didn't have you know for example abusive parents or whatever um I I had a really um thankfully I had a good childhood so my I was happy when um you know my parents took me to the park when they bought me a toy you know those kinds of things made me happy when I was a child and do you feel happy at work yes um I
I derive a lot of pleasure from what I do um and that's why I do what I do I talk um to a lot of people people from all walks of life you know I am quite an extroverted person so I think that's the main reason why why I do what I do you know I enjoy talking to people and especially when they um get the results they want and you know I feel quite satisfied with what I have been able to do you know help them somehow um in their pursuit of maybe going to
a good University or improving their job prospects absolutely and in the future what do you think will make you happy um in the future probably is settling settling down and starting a family of my own um I'm actually working on it so that will make me happy and I also have plans um to expand my business of this education center so in summer we are you know deciding we've decided to Rebrand and hopefully grow this um you know test prep Center and include more tests in our curriculum fantastic sounds exciting I'm sure that'll make you
happy as well as well as the family project that you're on nice um now you mentioned earlier going to a sports bar I'd like to ask you a bit more about sports um so generally what sports do you like well like I said I enjoy football a lot because as a kid I wanted to be a football player and I I find myself reading a lot of Articles from the athletic it's a very good publication I watch a lot of football and I go to the gym five times a week um yeah I'm quite into
fitness and um yeah these are two sports I do and I we're watching so with football how did you learn to play football um I I think I was natural you know um I think I was an actual in a sense I I can triple easily and I guess you know not to toot my own horn I I guess I'll have a good Vision too you know when I'm in the pitch I'm able to um see and sense what other players in my team are going to do so I think it's when I play football
I do quite a good job not to not to sound too braggy right exactly um and do you think sport is important for young people yes definitely I mean if you do Sports I mean you you are in shape and you look better and you feel better um I think it's important that people maybe go to the gym at least three times a week um and and I mean I think I started going to the gym like a year ago and I honestly think this habit um is something that I should have started much earlier
probably maybe when I was 18 or 17 probably why do you say so um because now I feel like my life has been uh transformed and I'm a lot more positive than um I was before you know when I get I guess endorphins the the chemicals I guess you you know that you release and when you do exercise and and you feel much better I feel more energetic in the morning and and small things don't make me angry anymore I believe and uh well when I look at myself I feel a lot better and the
most important question who is going to win the FA Cup final today um I'm rooting for City honestly many people might not like my saying that um because of you know cities um association with um you know oil rich countries but I am um rooting for City because I want pep to win a treble and one more time right and I think the team is doing an incredible job especially defensively they are incredible this year yeah you're absolutely right they've come on incredibly well let's have a look at some of the language that came up
when talking first of all about happiness he said I'm happy when I spend quality time with my friends quality time great collocation very common meaning time when you're focused and present with your friends right anything under the sun lovely expression meaning anything and everything right he liked anything under the sun as a child a Carefree childhood another good collocation meaning a childhood when he has no worries and then he says I deride a lot of pleasure from what I do means I get a lot of pleasure but very very nice vocabulary I notice also generally
he's using adverbs as connectors at the beginning of sentences which helps his fluency he says literally anything under the sun thankfully I had a good childhood hopefully I can grow the business and these adverbs really help you connect start a sentence and guide The Listener which is really really good talking about um sport he said I'm quite into fitness so I like Fitness uh a little quite not a little not a lot in the middle um he says I was a natural at football I was a natural at something means you didn't have to work
hard at it it just came naturally and then he shows off his vocabulary in football I can dribble easily that was unexpected right to dribble when you're running with the ball at the same time um and then he says a lovely idiom not to toot my own horn but I was very good at football to toot my own horn is to brag or say I am the best at something so it's a good expression when you are saying you're good at something but you don't want to brag right in Britain we say to blow my
own trumpet but I recognize the American idiom very very similar right and the final note on his grammar right look at this sentence I should have started much earlier because my life has been transformed talking about going to the gym I should have started is the present perfect with a modal talking about something in the past that didn't happen but you wanted it to um my life has been transformed present perfect describing the change from the past to the present since he's been going to the gym this is a complex grammar sentence and I think
the important thing is not that jorbeck is thinking how to create complex grammar and use difficult tenses it just came naturally because he has practiced these structures so much that when he wants to express an idea it just comes out naturally that's the way to do it right you can't be overthinking in the test it just has to come naturally from years of practice brilliant let's move on to the next part part three you're moving on from the FA Cup let's um let's talk about festivals traditional festivals as well because I I don't know much
about Uzbekistan I mean I've got to put my cards on the table so when it comes to traditional festivals um I mean in your country what are the most important traditional festivals um navruz comes to my mind um now this is the most important Festival it's it has zoroastrian Origins but it's still uh practiced in uzbekistani and it's like well it marks the beginning of Summer no not not summer spring it marks the beginning of Spring and it's the 21st of March I believe that's the when day length and night length maybe I'm I'm not
too sure about it but that's the most important a festival that celebrated Nationwide and the girls put on a special Uzbek tress called atras in Atlas and and usually they cook um something called sumalak um it's an it's a national meal and that's cooked in a big um how do you say it in a big pot I believe and it's cooked over over a day yeah like it takes it for it to be ready and I think that's the most important Festival in Uzbekistan although nowadays um like what's happening in one part of Pakistan a
flower festival is taking place okay right interesting what about young people I mean uh do young children like to learn about traditional festivals um I'm not sure if young people are really you know willing to learn about um I think it has to do with how globalization has sweeped um and has a had a sweeping effect on all countries and then we don't necessarily really enjoy being part of these celebrations I I don't see my for example Brothers little brothers enjoying these festivals as much as they enjoy uh celebrating say Halloween and I think nowadays
young people I think are more into what you would call shared International um culture as opposed to their own culture they seem to be less in um and what is the word in tune with their own culture I guess okay so do you think that maybe governments should be promoting local festivals more yes definitely I think governments should promote uh so that they preserve their cultures and traditions I think it first of all is a great way to improve Unity um in a solidarity within the nation I think people when people um participate in these
kinds of communal activities um they feel a sense about you know belonging to this nation and then when they enjoy these festivals with other people from their own country um I think it gives them a lot of pride in the fact that they are unique in certain respect and I do believe yes government should invest a good amount of money into promoting these kinds of festivals and how can they do it what's a good way I think now social media is the best way to to do that I think so they they could you know
get contact get in contact with influencers and the influencers can you know share how they're part of these events you know for example these influencers have planned meetings in the same way maybe they're part of these festivals and then young people join in um these festivals and I think it's a good way to um to encourage the participation apart from influencers I think and maybe promoting it on I'm not sure if traditional media is still going to be helpful in promoting these kinds of events but generally yeah probably influencers most hopefully and um would you
agree that people spend too much money on celebrations and festivals um yes I think um on celebration sometimes they end up spending too much money um like especially weddings I think obscene amount of money spent especially in my country um because I'm in for a day to me um you know that seems a lot that seems to be a lot of money I mean for for a band for a um for for all the you know refreshments and drinks and for food obviously um a lot of money is needed and I believe um sometimes some
some acid a sit down is necessary between people so that they know how much money is going into this event so that they don't sell this after the event in debt or like financially struggling right okay let's talk about dual Beck's um performance in these part three style questions right overall it's great because he develops his answers he's giving examples quite specific examples which helps show off his vocabulary and he just gets into the flow you can just feel this Rhythm as is speaking let's talk about a few different aspects um he says he talks
about one festival called uh I think it was nazarus or navras and he said it marks the beginning of Spring it marks it indicates right or shows the beginning of Spring um like Christmas marks the birth of Christ he wasn't too sure about it being the longest day or the shortest day in the year but remember the facts don't matter in IELTS it's your English that matters a note about using words in your own language it's fine he does it a few times he said on on navaras that they cook something called smellak it's a
national meal I've never heard of smellik I don't know what it is but he says they cook something called so it's clear what it is and then he goes on to explain what it is so don't worry about having to translate words all the time you can use words like festivals and dishes names of films and books in your own language just make it clear what it is um also I'd like to draw your attention to self-correction he does make one or two mistakes but he did correct himself he said globalization sweeps instead of swept
but he stopped and went globalization has had a sweeping effect which is perfect so he stopped corrected himself and carried on it's what a native speaker would do it's absolutely fine right and it's great language right globalization has had a sweeping effect if you can imagine a broom moving everything underneath it or changing everything globalization moves everything with it right it's lovely there's another example of looking for the right word and what I love about this is that he he just stops and takes his time so he said talking about young people right he said
they seem to be what is the word in tune with their own culture so he can't remember exactly the expression so he stops and actually says what is the word and then he says it perfectly in tune with their own culture right they're in tune with something means they're on the same wavelength um that they are connected very strongly with their culture it's absolutely fine again what a native speaker would do so take the time to stop and pause if you feel something's not right and then carry on he shows off great vocabulary right talking
about the government how they can promote these festivals improve unity and solidarity feel a sense of belonging it gives them a lot of Pride and these Expressions just roll off his tongue without thinking he's just you can feel he's in the flow that's what you get from lots and lots of practice really and I love this expression at the end he says it's an obscene amount of money is spent on weddings an obscene amount is a lot right it means a disgusting amount too much a lot and notice the use of the passive tense it's
nice right and I noticed all the way through his pronunciation is just about flawless I mean his words stress sentence stress the Rhythm and intonation is very natural he has connected speech it's really really nice but remember right over IELTS speaking over the whole test you need the fluency to show your vocabulary that range of grammar as well as pronunciation and jorbic he has it all and he does really really really well so great let's listen in now as we talk a bit about advice and tips for students right okay well let me change the
direction that's our IELTS conversation um let me switch a little bit because I mean you are a teacher as well as a student I mean you told me recently that you you did the IELTS test you you got about nine in speaking which was absolutely awesome I mean congratulations that's so good um but I think it's not come easily and you know tell me a little bit how about well let's say how you've how you've learned and prepared for IELTS and advice you'd give to other students um at this point I don't really prepare for
the test because I do teaching and I when I am teaching that's basically you know equates with preparation I guess that's preparation for me um but I I believe what what I do with my students we prepare for you know Common IELTS topics for example I mean you you tend to do that a lot in your channel like let's assume in part one you should definitely have answers for your hometown home and workout studies and and all that you know your interest and how you spend your weekends and those kinds of questions you need to
get ready um in the same way in speaking in part three a lot of the questions that relate to the trends um so social trends so you need to keep your braced at what's happening in the world and then what's your attitude towards that and and I believe the best thing you can do to get prepared for this exam is to look at common IELTS topics and there are so many websites online and then you check what common IELTS topics um they usually have in the exam and you prepare for those topics and it's very
likely that you're going to have one of them in your exam right nice very very good advice I totally agree yeah common topics is great now you're I mean your spoken English is Flawless and students thinking about developing their speaking skills what advice would you give them how can they do that oh thank you for compliment but yeah I think there's a lot of room for improvement I found myself like every now and then when I when I listen to myself I find myself mispronouncing a word or like I've been because my muscle memory um
has been like personalized I guess and there are certain fossilized errors and I find myself like mispronouncing word and then obviously it's difficult to learn a new one because you need to unlearn and relearn um but I would encourage anyone who's um trying to speak better is to expose themselves to English as much as possible um so I think input is number one thing so I think a lot of people rush to start making output and they want to speak immediately and I think they'd help us with some some polyglots promoting speak from day one
I honestly don't buy that um I I think you should you know try to you know take your time just expose yourself again to use the the same word um English as much as possible do me watch movies um you know I I believe I personally like um sitcoms a lot because they're short they're funny and I believe a lot of people enjoy comedy um and and then you listen to whatever you're interested in I I think nowadays there has been a I mean now that everyone makes the podcast so so I think you can
listen to a podcast on on whatever you happen to enjoy if there is a um if there is if you're interested in fashion I'm sure there is somebody making a podcast about it and you listen to that and when you in language learning it's very important that you keep things fun and and when do you keep things fun when you are listening to OG things or reading watching things you're interested in I I'm I think that's what's going to be helpful that's brilliant that's very very good advice I think focusing on things you enjoy doing
is great um and yeah overall I mean there's so much material out there I mean you emphasis size the exposure to the language and that input and listening which I totally agree um and I guess nowadays there's no excuse because there's so much on the internet if you can navigate around it and find good stuff there is plenty plenty of stuff I've seen your interview with Steve Kaufman I guess Kaufman yeah that's right yeah yeah you guys also talked about language learning and you know how it should I think happen um while I think there
is no one way to go about learning a language um I think what he has as a method in in his own um a website it's called it's called Eight lingo or something like that I think he's he's got a lot of good advice too and you they can check out your video with him too yeah absolutely he has a lovely seven point kind of system to to learn languages and one of the points is do stuff you enjoy so you're motivated which is really really good excellent um well this has been really really interesting
it's been fascinating I'm sure students would like to find out more about you I mean if people are watching want to where can they find you um I'm mostly active on telegram so I've got a telegram Channel that's called your Bex and IELTS um so I'll put that in the link below Global search and put it uh they'll find my channel and I also run a YouTube channel um it's called Exiles standardized tests um and I make videos mostly on reading um at this time um at this point and but I'm I'm thinking of doing
more you know speaking and YouTube like writing videos too right fantastic so you're offering the full not just speaking you're offering the full four skills development right fantastic that's great well listen uh diorbeck thank you so much for joining me today it's been really interesting um and um great advice for the students okay fantastic take care we'll speak again soon thank you bye all the best bye-bye some very very nice advice from joburg so just to summarize his key tips were a first prepare common topics second expose yourself to the language right get lots of
input and also read watch and listen to things that you enjoy absolutely brilliant great um listen if you want to find out more about jobik and his telegram channel YouTube channel the links are all down in the description below I'm sure he will be an inspiration not only for the students of Uzbekistan but students all around the world thank you so much jobik and to all of you for watching if you've liked it please do subscribe to my channel English speaking success turn on the notifications and if you want the key points from today's interview
there is a PDF in the description below you can download that for free great thank you so much for joining me have a great week and I'll see you in the next video take care bye [Music] foreign [Music]
