Teacher Toolkit 

PTE Academic 
Speaking 
 
   

 
 

Table of Contents 
Features of Spoken English 4 
PRONUNCIATION 4 
VOWEL SOUNDS 4 
WEAK FORMS 5 
WORD STRESS & REDUCED VOWELS 5 
CONSONANT SOUNDS 5 
CONSONANT CLUSTERS 6 
ASSIMILATION 6 
ELISION (DELETION) 6 
LINKING 6 
SENTENCE STRESS 7 
ORAL FLUENCY 7 
RHYTHM 7 
INTONATION 8 
PHRASING 8 

Strategies for Read Aloud Items 9 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 1 10 
PREPARATION ACTIVITY 2 1​1 

Strategies for Repeat Sentence Items 1​4 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 1 1​4 
PREPARATION ACTIVITY 2 1​6 

Strategies for Describe Image Items 18 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 1 19 
PREPARATION ACTIVITY 2 2​1 

Strategies for Re-tell Lecture Items 2​5 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 1 2​6 
PREPARATION ACTIVITY 2 28 

Strategies for Answer Short Question Items 3​1 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 1 3​2 
PREPARATION ACTIVITY 2 3​3 

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PTE Academic Speaking 

 
The teaching toolkit contains helpful information and activity ideas for preparation classes for the 
Speaking section of PTE Academic. 
 
Use the ideas and recommendations to build lesson plans that will give test takers an opportunity to 
practice answering the different question item types in this section of the test.  
 
Consider adding your own source texts and other learning materials as well to ensure that learners 
engage with you and others in the class as much as possible when preparing. 
 
The toolkit for the Speaking section includes: 
 

● An outline of the key features of spoken English, focusing on pronunciation and oral fluency. 

● Two strategies for each item type. 

● Two classroom preparation activities for each item type. 

   

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Features of Spoken English 

PRONUNCIATION 
Test takers need to use the features of connected speech to score well for Pronunciation. 
 
The features of connected speech most commonly taught are: 
● Vowel sounds 
● Weak forms 
● Word stress and weak vowels 
● Consonant sounds 
● Consonant clusters 
● Sentence stress 
● Stressing content words 
● Assimilation 
● Elision 
● Linking sounds. 
 
Native and non-native speakers of English from different nations and regions pronounce vowels and 
consonants differently, which makes up their accent. The scoring engine for Speaking recognises 
over 200 variations of native and non-native speaker accents. 

VOWEL SOUNDS 
English uses about 20 vowel sounds. There may be more or fewer, depending on the variety of 
English. Vowel sounds can differ greatly according to the variety of English spoken.  
 
Vowel sounds can be combined into diphthongs, two vowel sounds spoken together. There are 
about 9 diphthongs in English, again, the number depends on the variety of English. There are also 
three triphthongs, three vowel sounds spoken together, although again, the number varies slightly 
depending on the variety of English. 
 
The correct pronunciation of vowel sounds is not always easy for test takers. Depending on test 
takers’ first language, some will be more difficult to pronounce than others. Mispronunciation of 
vowel sounds often negatively affects intelligibility. 
 
By far the most common vowel sound in English is the schwa (/ə/). It is the unstressed vowel that 
appears in the unstressed position of most words. It is important for test takers to use the schwa in 
their speaking. 
 

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WEAK FORMS 
Function words, conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions, auxiliary verbs and articles are generally 
reduced to weak forms in connected speech by reducing the vowel to the schwa sound (/ə/). Weak 
forms are pronounced more quickly and softer than content words. 
 
For example: 
and -> /n/ 
you -> /jə/ 
to -> /tə/ 
is -> /əz/ 
the -> /ðə/ 
 
Weak forms contribute to intelligibility, as it is difficult for a usual speaker of English to understand 
speakers who use the full form of function words in their speech. Listeners find it difficult to identify 
the important content words when speakers use the full form of function words incorrectly.  

WORD STRESS & REDUCED VOWELS 

Each word with more than one syllable has one syllable which is stressed and pronounced slightly 
longer, more loudly and with a slightly higher pitch than the unstressed syllables. 
 
It is important to pronounce words with the correct word stress, or it will be difficult for the listener 
to understand. 
 
As well as the meaning and spelling of each new word, it is important for test takers to learn the 
position of the stressed syllable of each new vocabulary item they learn in order to be able to 
pronounce new words correctly. Longer words may have a primary, slightly louder and longer stress, 
as well as secondary stress. 
 
In dictionaries primary stress is shown as ˈ, and secondary stress is shown as ˌ. 
 
The vowels in the unstressed position are reduced and generally replaced by a schwa (/ə/) sound. 
The vowels in the stressed syllable are pronounced fully. 

CONSONANT SOUNDS 
English has about 24 consonant sounds, depending on the variety of English. 
 
The correct pronunciation of consonant sounds is not always easy for test takers. Depending on test 
takers’ first language, some will be more difficult than others. Mispronunciation of consonant 
sounds affects intelligibility less often than mispronunciation of vowel sounds. 

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CONSONANT CLUSTERS 
A consonant cluster is two or more consonants in a row, with no vowel in between. They can occur 
at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of a word. Test takers generally find them difficult to 
pronounce, especially if their first language disallows consonant clusters by positioning a vowel after 
each consonant.  
 
Long consonant clusters are sometimes reduced in connected speech if they are at the end of a 
word.  
 
For example:  
acts -> /æks/ 
 
When consonant clusters are formed by the end of one word and the beginning of the next, they are 
often reduced.  
 
For example:  
and they -> /ənðeɪ/ 

ASSIMILATION 
Assimilation is the loss or changing of a sound due to the influence of the sounds around it. It is 
used to make the sounds easier and quicker to pronounce. It can occur within a word, or between 
words, when the final sound of the first word is influenced by the first sound of the second word. 
 
For example: 
cupboard -> /kʌbəd/ 
hand bag -> /hæmbæg/ 

ELISION (DELETION) 
Elision occurs when a /d/ or /t/ occurs as the final sound of the first word, when the final sound is 
lost in connected speech to make the sounds easier and quicker to pronounce. There is a slight 
pause between the words. 
 
For example: 
said no -> /sɛnəʊ/ 
can’t do -> /kɑːnduː/ 

LINKING 

Blending 

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English speakers link words which are pronounced in connected speech, making word boundaries 
sometimes unclear to non-native speakers. Linking allows the words to be pronounced quickly and 
more easily. 
 
Words are blended, or linked together directly, when the first word ends in a consonant and the 
second word starts with a vowel, and also when the first word ends in the same sound as the second 
word, when they share the sound. In this case the consonant is elongated slightly (juncture). 
 
For example: 
ten eggs -> / tɛnɛgz/ 
several loads -> / sɛvrələʊdz/ 

Intrusion 
When the first word ends in a vowel and the second word starts with a vowel, words are linked with 
the insertion of a /r/ a /j/ or a /w/. Intrusion can also appear within a word. 
 
For example: 
saw a -> /sɔːrə/ 
see elephants -> /siːjɛlɪfənts/ 
following -> /fɑləʊwɪŋ/ know it -> /nəʊwɪt/ 

SENTENCE STRESS 
English is a stress-timed language and so content words, nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs, 
the words which carry most meaning in sentences, are stressed. Stressed words are pronounced 
slightly louder, longer and in a slightly higher pitch.  
 
Function words, prepositions, articles, pronouns, and auxiliary verbs, are not usually stressed, and 
are often spoken with their vowels reduced to weak forms. 
 
Test takers need to be able to recognise content words to stress them in their speaking, and 
recognise function words to reduce their vowels in order to score well for oral fluency. 

ORAL FLUENCY 

RHYTHM 
English is a stress-timed language which gives it its rhythm. Speaking with the rhythm of the 
language will result in the speaker sounding natural and fluent.  

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INTONATION 
Intonation is a major feature of the rhythm of English. When native speakers speak English, the pitch 
of their voice rises and falls meaningfully. This is clear when asking questions: 'Wh-' questions end 
with falling intonation, 'Yes'/'No' questions end with rising intonation, and question tags can either 
end with rising or falling intonation, depending on their meaning.  
 
Sentences in English generally end with falling intonation, unless confirmation is being sought from 
the listener. When saying lists, rising intonation is used on each element of the list, until the last one, 
which falls to indicate the end of the list. 

PHRASING 
In English speech is broken up into sense groups or phrases with slight pauses at the end of each 
one. Each sense group has a focus word, which carries more meaning. The focus word is stressed. 
The focus word is generally at the end of the sense group.  
 
The position of phrase boundaries and the pauses between them affects meaning. 
 
For example:  
Why are we eating / David? vs. Why are we eating David? 
 
   

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Strategies for Read Aloud Items 

Use punctuation to help decide where to pause when 
reading. 
 
Test takers will have 30-40 seconds to look at the text before the microphone opens, so they must 
use this time to break the text up into meaningful chunks, using the punctuation as a guide.  
 
This will show test takers the places where they can make a tiny pause and alter their 
intonation—going up when they begin reading a chunk and falling a little when they end a chunk. 
Using appropriate pausing helps test takers to read more fluently and give the full meaning of the 
text. Look at where the pauses / are indicated in the example: 
 
Photography’s gaze widened during the early years of the twentieth century / and, / as the snapshot 
camera became increasingly popular, / the making of photographs became increasingly available / to a 
wide cross-section of the public. / The British people grew accustomed to, / and were hungry for, / the 
photographic image. 

Stress the words that carry important information. 

 
When test takers read the text, they should stress the words that help to convey meaning, by 
reading them in a slightly louder voice and adding emphasis to key syllables, e.g. development. They 
should also use rising and falling intonation patterns to show how the ideas are linked or are coming 
to an end.  
 
Look at the patterns in this text: the stressed words are underlined, and the rising and falling 
intonation is marked by up ↑ and down ↓ arrows: 
 
The ​development​ of ​easy-to-use​ statistical software ↓ has ​changed​ the way statistics is being ​taught​ and 
learned​ ↓. Students can make ​transformations​ of ​variables​ ↑, create g
​ raphs​ of ​distributions​ of ​variables 
↑ , and select among ​statistical analyses​ ↓ ​all​ at the click of a button ↓ . H
​ owever​ ↓ , even with ​these 
advancements ↓ , students sometimes find ​statistics​ to be an ​arduous​ task ↓ . 
 
 

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PREPARATION ACTIVITY 1 

Aims of the activity 

● To help learners divide a text into chunks (sense groups) to improve oral fluency. 
● To assist learners with practice in terms of reading a short text aloud. 

Assumptions 
● Learners have not worked on chunking before. 
● Learners are at least B1 level (the item is at a B2 level). 

Materials needed 
● A ‘Read Aloud’ item text, with both chunked and unchunked versions. 
● A sound file for the ‘Read Aloud’ item. 
● Scoring criteria for ‘Read Aloud’ items. 

Time 
● 20 minutes. 

Activity Plan 
1. Lead-in 
 
Elicit the meaning of words from the text that you think your learners will not know. Pre-teach any of 
them that they do not know, or know how to pronounce correctly. Drill the ones they don’t know, 
making sure to make the stressed syllable obviously stressed. 
 
Ask them to guess in groups of three or four, what the text is about from the words they have just 
been working with. 
 
2. Explaining chunking 
 
Elicit from learners what chunking is. It can be defined as ‘dividing texts into meaningful phrases, 
shown in reading by a change of the pitch in their voice and a short pause. Also, elicit from them 
what punctuation mark helps them know where to chunk.  
 
Give learners the text which has already been chunked and read it to them, raising the pitch of your 
voice slightly at the beginning of each chunk and dropping it slightly at the end of each chunk and 

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pausing slightly at the slashes. Ask them to read the text to themselves quietly and think about 
where the slashes are placed.  
 
Ask learners why the text has been chunked in that way (sense groups) and elicit from them if they 
think it’s easier to read and understand a text which is read with chunks. 
 
3. Chunking text 
 
Ask learners to work in pairs. Give each pair the text for chunking, or project it on the board. Ask 
them to draw slashes where the chunks end. Remind them of the punctuation marks which can help 
them, but also remind them that they cannot just rely on punctuation. This is because English 
speakers chunk more often than would be suggested by punctuation marks. 
 
4. Peer check 
 
Ask the pairs to split and find a new partner to check their work with and encourage them to resolve 
any differences they may have, to end up with a similarly chunked text. Ask a volunteer learner to 
tell the class where they have placed the slashes, and elicit from the rest of the class if they agree. 
 
5. Reading practice 
 
Ask the learners to read the chunked text to each other, using the features of connected speech and 
pausing slightly at the chunk slashes. Once they have completed the task, elicit from learners how 
successful they were with chunking the text. 
 
6. Homework 
 
Ask learners to use slashes to chunk a short paragraph of text at their level and to read it into a 
recorder (if possible), and email the recording to you. Check their work either by checking the 
chunking slashes or the recording and give feedback. 
 
 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 2 

Aims of the activity 

● To prepare learners for the Read Aloud item type on the test. 
● To improve learners’ reading aloud skills, focusing on oral fluency and pronunciation. 

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Assumptions 
● Test takers know how to chunk a text. 

Materials needed 
● A ‘Read Aloud' text. 
● A stopwatch or smartphone. 

Time 
● 20 minutes. 

Activity Plan 
1. Lead-in 
 
Organise learners into groups of three or four and give each group a copy of the text. Briefly 
introduce the topic of the text and ask learners two to three prompting questions that touch on the 
topic of the text.  
 
2. Focus on vocabulary and pronunciation 
 
From the text, pick out some words which are most likely to be difficult to pronounce for learners, or 
new words that they do not know.  
 
Then, elicit from learners what the meanings of these words are. If no learners in the class know the 
meaning of a word, give them the text and ask them to try to parse the meaning from context clues. 
 
Review how these words are pronounced correctly, and drill words that learners are struggling with 
the most. 
 
3. Focus on the text 
 
Ask the learners to read the text to themselves and mark the meaningful chunks of the text using 
slash marks (/). Learners should also mark the stressed words, and note intonation with arrows (↓ 
or ↑). 
 
After the learners have marked the text, read the text aloud yourself (or play a recording). If you 
read the text in class, remember to use features of connected speech while reading. Learners 

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should read the text as they listen, marking any prosodic features they notice. Ask a learner to time 
your reading to use as a model. 
 
4. Shadowing 
 
Learners must first read the text softly to themselves as they listen to the text being spoken, trying 
to copy the prosodic features. If they are having trouble keeping up, repeat this two or three times. 
 
Ask learners to read the scoring criteria for Read Aloud items before organising them into pairs. 
Each pair needs a timing device. One learner must read the text aloud, while the other learner times 
and notes how the reader is performing according to the scoring criteria. The learner who is timing 
should give their feedback once the first learner has completed reading. After this, they must switch 
roles and repeat. 
 
Consider noting the pace at which learners are speaking as well. Speaking slightly slower than 
normal could be a good strategy for scoring well on these item types. 
 
5. Feedback 
 
Elicit feedback from learners regarding specific difficulties they had meeting the scoring criteria. 
Then, ask learners to give you their times for reading the text. Acknowledge the learners that were 
closest to the model response time. 
 
6. Homework 
 
Learners can practice this in their own self-study as well by using recordings of other short texts. 
They should aim to read the text at the same speed as the original reader, using the prosodic 
features of the text. Encourage learners to send you recordings of their readings for further 
assessment. 
   

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Strategies for Repeat Sentence Items 

Listen to the phrasing of the sentence as it is read aloud. 
Test takers will be scored on the correct word sequences that they produce for this item type, so the 
more phrases they understand, the better their reproduction of the sentence will be. If test takers 
listen for meaningful phrases in the sentence, they will have a better chance of repeating what they 
hear accurately.  
 
For example, there are three phrases in this sentence, separated by / and each one carries a 
separate message that has its own meaning: 
 
Next week’s tutorial / on Tuesday / has been cancelled. 

Copy the stress and intonation patterns of the sentence. 

Test takers should make a mental note of the way the speaker uses stress and intonation on the 
recording. These patterns help to convey the meaning. They will score better by speaking calmly and 
clearly, copying this stress and intonation.  
 
For example, look at the pattern in the example and note how the stressed words or syllables are 
underlined, and the falling intonation is marked by down arrows: 
 
I’m ​go​ing to attend the b
​ riefing​ ↓ for ​students​ ↓. 
 
 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 1 

Aims of the activity 

● To prepare test takers for the Repeat Sentence item type. 
● To improve test takers’ pronunciation of vowel and consonant sounds, including consonant 
clusters. 
● To practice using correct intonation. 

Assumptions 
● Test takers have had some prior pronunciation practice. 

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● Learners are at least B1 level (The item is B2 level.) 

Materials needed 
● No specific materials required for this activity. 

Time 
● 15 minutes. 

Activity Plan 
1. Lead-in 
 
Ask the learners if they should copy the accent of the speaker in the test and if they should copy the 
vowel and consonant sounds of the speaker. Ask the learners what sounds they have difficulty with. 
Write them on the board and drill them in isolation, then in words and with minimal pairs, e.g. work 
/wɜːk/ vs. walk /wɔːk/, or even threesomes: work /wɜːk/ vs. walk /wɔːk/ and woke / wəʊk/ if your 
learners are quite good at this. 
 
2. Sound discrimination 
 
Write a number of words on the board which include sounds the learners have problems 
pronouncing. Make sure there are minimal pairs on the board, but not placed together. Elicit the 
pronunciation of each word and drill. 
 
3. Sound identification 
 
Ask the learners to write the words in their books using the same pattern as on the board. A word in 
random order shall be shared with the learners. The learners will then need to point to the word on 
their paper. Once they have done that, they should check with the learner next to them to see if they 
have pointed to the same word. When they have finished checking their answer in pairs, point to the 
correct word on the board while pronouncing it. This should be done one by one after each word, 
rather than all of them at the end.  
 
4. Check 
 
Check with the whole class after each word. If learners have made mistakes, draw their attention to 
the part of the mouth where the sound is made and whether it is voiced or unvoiced. Give them 
other words they know with the same tricky sound and drill them. 
 
 

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5. Pair pronunciation and discrimination 

 
Put learners in pairs. Give each pair of learners a list of words with tricky sounds for them. Ask one 
learner to read a word and the partner to point to the word the other learner said. Ask the speaker 
to confirm that that word is the one s/he said. If not, they should ask you to tell them if it was a 
problem with the speaker’s pronunciation or the listener’s discrimination. 
 
6. Peer check 
 
Ask the learners which sounds they did not agree on and drill those sounds in words on the chart.  
 
7. Homework 
 
Work through this kind of short activity regularly, to improve on pronunciation and intelligibility. 
 
 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 2 

Aims of the activity 

● To prepare learners for the Repeat Sentence item type on PTE Academic.  
● To improve learners’ working memory. 
● To practice using correct word order. 
● To practice chunking.  
● To practice pronunciation and oral fluency. 

Assumptions 
● That learners know English word order. 

Materials needed 
● Repeat Sentence items with a sound file. 
● Extension activity sentences. 

Time 
● 15 minutes. 

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Activity Plan 
1. Lead-in 
 
Ask the learners how many words they think they can repeat at one time. Ask them what they think 
is the point of testing sentence repetitions.  
 
2. Pronunciation practice 
 
Drill the base sentence together in open class until the learners can say it fluently with correct, or 
near-correct pronunciation.  
 
3. Extension activity 
 
Learners take it in turns to add the word or words you say to them to extend the base sentence. See 
Extension activity words in red below. All learners need to say the base sentence, then learner A 
adds the first word/s given, then learner B adds the next word/s given to the sentence learner A 
created, etc.  
 
1. Literature​ ​is important. 
 
2. Using​ literature is important. 
 
3. Using literature i​ n the classroom​ is important. 
 
4. Using m
​ ulticultural​ literature in the classroom is important. 
 
5. Using multicultural literature in the classroom is important as s​ chools have become diverse. 
 
6. Using multicultural literature in the classroom is important as schools have become m
​ ore 
diverse. 
 
4. Drill  
 
Drill each of the sentences to build up to the full sentence. Drill the longer sentences using back 
chaining to keep the intonation correct if required. 
 
   

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Strategies for Describe Image Items 

Focus on the main information in the image. 
When test takers look at the image, they should ask ‘‘What is the main idea being shown by the 
image?’’ and ‘‘What are the details relating to the main ideas?’’. They should use their Erasable 
Notebook to note down key ideas and phrases that relate to the main information and the 
explanatory details. These can be put into sentences when they start to speak: 
 

Organise the description of the image. 

If test takers organise what they say, they will get a better score. This is because a well-organised 
answer is more likely to cover the main information as well as the additional details, and also talk 
about implications or conclusions based on the information. Look at how this sample description is 
organised:  

‘‘The graph describes the main countries to which New Zealand exports goods.  

Um, Australia is the largest single country. New Zealand exports 21% of its goods there and this is 
followed by the USA, which receives 14% of New Zealand’s goods.  

The next largest markets in order are Japan (11%), China (6%) and the UK (5%); 43% of New Zealand’s 
exports go to countries other than these big markets.  

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New Zealand is very dependent on the Australian market as a destination for exports; perhaps it 
needs to diversify and seek other markets, such as building up exports to China.’’ 

 
 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 1 

Aims of the activity 

● To prepare learners for the Describe Image item type.  
● To identify and create overviews to Describe Image graph items.  
● To improve learners’ ability to identify the main features of an image. 
● To practice note-making from a graph. 
● To practice using the language of describing graphs. 

Assumptions 
● Learners understand the requirements of the Describe Image item type. 
● Learners can interpret bar graphs. 
● Learners can use the features of connected speech. 

Materials needed 
● Describe Image sample item.  
● Describe Image sample response transcription and sound file. 
● Access to a recorder and stopwatch for each learner. 

Time 
● 40 minutes. 

Activity Plan 
1. Lead-in 
 
Ask the learners to discuss in pairs the answers to the following questions: 
● What is the best way to take photographs? 
● How important is it for you to take high-quality photos? 
● What would help you improve your photography skills? 
 
 

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2. Language of describing graphs  
 
Give learners a copy of the graph on paper, or projected on the board. Determine whether they 
understand the meaning of ‘built-in’, ‘interchangeable’, and ‘lens’. Whilst working in pairs, learners 
are to discuss the words and expressions they would use to describe the graph, as well as the words 
and expressions they used to describe the graph. Check that they understand the meaning of them 
all.  
 
Collect them for pronunciation practice. Elicit any useful ones that they may have missed, and check 
understanding of them. Do some pronunciation work on the words and expressions you have 
collected if required. Pay attention to the features of connected speech, including stress, weak 
forms, etc., and drill the pronunciation of these words and expressions. 
 
3. Overview 
 
Elicit from the learners how they can get off to a good start with their description. Elicit what the 
overview is for and where it is placed in the description. Provide the following sentence starters for 
overviews to the learners in pairs on paper or by projecting them on the board. Ask them to choose 
the one/s they think are the best and why. 
 
A. The graph shows (​the number of digital camera sales with built-in and interchangeable lenses 
from 2010 to 2018 in millions.​) 
B. It can be seen from the graph​ the number of …
​  
C. The graph explains t​ he number of​ …. 
D. This graph is about ​the number of​ …. 
E. It describes t​ he number of​ … 
F. Here are some statistics on ​the number of​ … 
 
Ask the learners in pairs to create a good overview for the graph provided to them, starting with ​The 
graph shows​. Ask them to practice saying the full overview using connected speech and check the 
pronunciation of a few learners and correct where necessary. 
 
4. Choosing and note-making of important features 
 
Ask learners in their pairs to identify the most important feature of the image and note it down. Elicit 
this in open class and check that they have identified the most important point. Write it in note form 
on the board. If they have other points, which they thought were the most important, deal with 
these and explain why they are not the most important point.  
 

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Write them underneath the most important point, as examples of less important elements of the 
image. If they mention any that are peripheral to the main meaning of the image, (e.g. colors of the 
parts of the bar chart) or any points which are not features of the image, explain why these are not 
relevant to the description.  
 
5. Image description 
 
Ask learners to take it in turns to respond to the image. The learners should be in pairs with the 
graph in front of them. Ask the learners to get out their smartphones and get ready to time, using 
the stopwatch, and record, using relevant apps. Remind them to start with an overview.  
 
The first speaker should start by clicking r​ ecord​ on their smartphone and saying their name as they 
start to speak, using the notes they made earlier. The listener should listen and keep time. The 
listener should also let their partner know when they have five seconds left, by holding up their 
hand and when they have used all the 40 seconds by saying ‘Stop’. The speaker should stop the 
recording at 40 seconds.  
 
They should then listen to the recording and point out positive and negative aspects of the 
description, especially the overview. They should then change roles, with the first listener speaking 
and recording while the first speaker keeps time. When they have finished, they should have 
another discussion regarding this attempt. 
 
6. Reflection 
 
Elicit from the learners what they feel they did well, and not so well. If you have time, you can ask 
one or more pairs to play their recording and ask the class to comment, paying special attention to 
the overview. 
 
7. Commenting on the recordings 
 
Learners can send their recordings to everyone in the class for comment. 
 
 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 2 

Aims of the activity 

● To prepare learners for Describe Image item type on PTE Academic.  
● To practice listening for main points. 

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● To improve learners’ ability to write about relationships, possible developments, conclusions 

or implications. 

Assumptions 
● Learners know how to take notes from a spoken text. 
● Learners can interpret bar graphs. 
● Learners are at least B1 level (The item is at B2 level.) 

Materials needed 
● Describe Image item.  
● Describe Image sample response transcription and sound file. 

Time 
● 30 minutes. 

Activity Plan 
1. Lead-in 
 
Ask learners to discuss the following questions in groups of three or four. 
● Which of the following adjectives best describe your feelings towards global warming: afraid, 
motivated, angry, helpless, guilty, optimistic, or uninterested? 
● Which of these feelings do you think is most common among teenagers when considering 
global warming? 
 
2. Focus on the item 
 
Show the image to the learners, either by giving them a copy, or projecting it on the board. Elicit 
from them why the percentages of each bar in the chart do not add up to 100%. 
 
Ask the learners in their groups to find four points they could talk about in this image and rank them 
from most to least significant. Allow for the learners to discuss them in open class and elicit from the 
learners what they need to do for this item type. 
 
3. Sample response  
 
Ask the learners to have paper and pen ready to note down the main points of the description they 
are going to hear. Learners are to take notes as the sample response is played. They should 
compare their notes with the learner next to them to see if they have the same points in their notes. 

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The recording may be played again if required. Ask the learners to check with their pairs again to see 
if they have the same points. Elicit from the learners the main points as mentioned in the 
description. Write the notes on the board as they give them to you.  
 
Ask the learners to compare in pairs the main points in the sample response with the three or four 
main points they thought they could talk about from earlier in the activity. Ask them if they had the 
same main points and discuss any differences. 
 
Ask them to look at the instructions, scoring criteria and image, and discuss in pairs if all aspects and 
elements of the image were addressed, and if any were added which were not in the image. Ask 
them how the response could be improved to score a higher mark for Content. (The sample 
response does include relationships, but does not include possible developments, conclusions or 
implications, which often come at the end of the description, but may be mentioned elsewhere.) 
 
4. Relationships 
 
Remind learners of the need to include information about relationships, possible developments, 
conclusions or implications in order to score above 1 for Content. In open class, elicit what kinds of 
relationships, possible developments, conclusions or implications could be relevant to this image. 
 
Ask learners in pairs to look at the image and find at least one relationship, a possible development, 
and a conclusion or implication. In open class feedback, call on pairs to give their relationships, etc. 
and write each one on the board in columns under the appropriate headings: Relationships / 
Possible Developments / Conclusions or Implications. If there is a column with no examples, elicit 
from the learners at least one for that category. 
 
5. Scoring 
 
Share the scoring criteria for Describe Image with the learners. Discuss it with them and ask them to 
score the response they have listened to according to each of the three criteria. Elicit the scores they 
assigned to the sample. Encourage discussion by asking why they think that score is correct and also 
encourage them to give examples. 
 
While the sample response would clearly score very well for pronunciation and fluency, it would not 
score well for Content, due to the fact that only relationships are mentioned. 
 
6. Practice the item 
 
Ask learners to work in pairs to look at the graph and give their responses, one after the other. Their 
responses should be timed by the partner of the speaker, who should stop the speaker at 40 

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seconds. Remind them that they must start within the first three seconds and not stop for more 
than three seconds during their response. If they do, their response will score zero. 
 
7. Feedback 
 
Determine who managed to get all the elements into their response in the given 40 seconds. 
Learners may also send you their sound files for feedback if they recorded their responses. 

   

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Strategies for Re-tell Lecture Items 

Make good use of the image to predict the topic of the 
lecture.  

Test takers should take three seconds before they listen to the recording to quickly look at the image 
on the screen. They should use this time to think about the vocabulary they might hear. This will give 
them an idea of the topic of the lecture and help them predict what they will hear when the 
recording begins:  

Make good use of the 40 seconds speaking time.  

Test takers only have 40 seconds to speak and make sure that they include all the main points of the 
lecture. If they repeat ideas, correct themselves or hesitate, they will use up valuable time and lose 
score points. So test takers should keep talking and ignore any mistakes that they make. 

 
 
 
 

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PREPARATION ACTIVITY 1 

Aims of the activity 

● To prepare learners for Re-tell Lecture item type on PTE Academic.  
● To practice reading aloud.  
● To practice taking notes from a spoken text. 
● To practice re-telling a lecture in 40 seconds. 

Assumptions 
● Learners understand the requirements of the Re-tell Lecture item type. 
● Learners can take effective notes from a spoken text. 
● Learners can use the features of connected speech. 
● Learners are at least B2 level (Item is C1 level.) 

Materials needed 
● Re-tell Lecture sample item copied enough times for half the learners in the class to have a 
copy and response. 
● Re-tell Lecture item sound file. 
● Re-tell Lecture item transcript. 
● Re-tell Lecture sample response sound file. 
● Re-tell Lecture sample response transcript. 
● A recorder and a stopwatch, preferably on a smartphone. 

Time 
● 40 minutes. 

Activity Plan 
1. Lead-in 
 
Discuss the meaning of ‘perfectionist’ in open class. Ask the learners if any of them think they are 
perfectionists or if they know any perfectionists. Then, put them into pairs to discuss the following 
questions. 
● What are the benefits and drawbacks of being a perfectionist? 
● Would you like to live with a perfectionist? Why? / Why not? 
● What kind of jobs would be most suitable for perfectionists? 
● Refer them to the image for the item and ask them which learner they think is the 
perfectionist in the image. 

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2. Note-taking  
 
Tell the learners that they will be listening to an excerpt from a lecture on perfectionism in the 
workplace and put them into pairs. Give one learner a hard copy of the Re-tell Lecture text. The 
other learner should have a pen and paper ready for taking notes. The learner with the text should 
read the lecture at normal pace using the features of connected speech. The other learner should 
listen and take notes. 
 
When they have finished, they should look at the transcript together with the notes to check that the 
main points and key words of the text have been included in the notes. If some aspects have not 
been included, they should revise the notes from reading the transcript. 
 
3. Organising notes 
 
Both learners should then organise the notes, so the main points of the lecture come first, followed 
by the less important, supporting points. 
 
4. Check 
 
Elicit the notes from the learners and write them on the board. Elicit how to arrange them in a 
logical sequence and number them accordingly on the board. Discuss any that are questionable, or 
missing. 
 
5. Describing characters, aspects and actions, their relationships, the underlying 
development, implications, and conclusions 
 
Ask the pairs to think if there is a character, aspect and action to describe from the lecture, and then 
any relationships, underlying development, implications and conclusions to the lecture. Ask them to 
write these down in note form under their notes. 
 
Elicit these elements from the learners and write them in note form on the board. Ask them which 
ones are the most appropriate and why. Discuss with the learners why some are more suitable than 
others with reference to the text. 
 
6. Re-tell the lecture 
 
Ask the learners to get back into their pairs, and the learner who read earlier in the lesson, should 
now speak and record their speech. The speaker should record their name at the beginning of the 
recording. They should use the notes of the main points to include as well as the notes on describing 
characters, aspects and actions, their relationships, the underlying development, implications and 

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conclusions from the board. The other learner should time the speaker, giving a hand signal at 35 
seconds and stopping them at 40 seconds.  
 
When the speaker has finished, they should discuss the strong and weak points of the re-telling and 
any other issues they had. They may like to listen again to give examples of areas of strength and 
weakness in relation to the scoring criteria. They should then reverse the roles. 
 
7. Feedback 
 
When all the learners have finished, you should elicit any issues they had with the task, areas they 
found easier and more difficult, and their strengths and weaknesses. 
 
8. Homework 
 
Ask the learners to review their notes and their initial recordings and re-record their response. You 
can ask them to send their best recording to you for assessment and comment if you like. 
 
 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 2 

Aims of the activity 

● To prepare learners for Re-tell Lecture item type on PTE Academic.  
● To practice taking notes from a spoken text. 
● To practice re-telling a lecture in up to 40 seconds. 
● To evaluate another learner’s speech. 

Assumptions 
● Learners know the requirements of the Re-tell Lecture item type. 
● Learners can take effective notes from a spoken text. 
● Learners can use the features of connected speech. 

Materials needed 
● Re-tell Lecture sample item. 
● Re-tell Lecture item sound file. 
● Re-tell Lecture item transcript. 
● Re-tell Lecture sample response sound file. 
● Re-tell Lecture sample response transcript. 

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● Re-tell Lecture scoring criteria. 

● A recorder and a stopwatch, preferably on a smartphone. 

Time 
● 40 minutes. 

Activity Plan 
1. Lead-in 
 
Arrange learners in groups of three or four and ask them to come up with some ideas for innovative 
construction materials that may be used to build houses and other buildings in the future. You 
might like to start them off by eliciting one or two (e.g. sustainable concrete, bricks made from 
plastic waste, etc.) and then let them work together to come up with some more. Elicit those they 
have thought of in full class and discuss the likelihood of them being available soon. 
 
2. Focus on the item 
 
Remind learners of the requirements of the item type and explain that they will be focusing on 
Pronunciation and Fluency is in this activity. Ask the learners on one side of the classroom to list the 
most important parts of pronunciation that they need to focus on in this item type, and the learners 
on the other side of the classroom, the most important aspects of oral fluency that they need to 
focus on. They should work in pairs or small groups. Elicit their answers and draw up a list on the 
board. 
  

Focus on pronunciation  Focus on oral fluency 

Vowels and consonants  Smooth rhythm and phrasing 

Assimilation and deletions  No hesitations, repetitions, false starts or 

phonological simplifications 

Word and sentence stress  Word emphasis 

  Acceptable speed with no long pauses 

 
3. Note-taking 
 
Remind learners of what is required in the item type. Ask them to have their screen with their 
cursor, or some paper and a pen ready to take notes as the recording is played. Ask them to take 
notes as the recording is played. Play the recording initially once only. 

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Ask them to check their notes with their partner to see if they noted the same main points and most 
important supporting details. If not, play the recording again for them to improve their notes.  
 
4. Re-tell the lecture 
 
In pairs, ask the learners to use their notes to re-tell the lecture in their own words. They should 
speak one by one and time each other’s response to 40 seconds maximum. They should record their 
responses. 
 
When they have both finished recording their responses, they should replay each recording and 
evaluate their pronunciation and oral fluency according to the list of features on the board. If they 
are not happy with their responses, they could record again and check to see if they have improved. 
 
5. Sample response 
 
Ask learners to listen to the sample response and check that they have the same key points and 
supporting ideas as the sample response. Play the sample response once only. Elicit from the 
learners what differences there were between their own responses and the sample response. 
 
6. Reflection 
 
In class, elicit from the learners what was most difficult in the task and how they could improve their 
responses in the future. 
   

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Strategies for Answer Short Question Items 

Do not pause for too long when answering the question.  

Test takers hear a short question and then the recording status box will change to recording.  

They should start their answer as soon as this happens. If they 

wait for more than three seconds, the recording will stop and the 
item status will change to ‘completed’, which means that they 
have lost their chance to give an answer.  

When test takers have started talking, they should not stop for 
more than a second or two. If they stop for three seconds whilst 
speaking, the recording status will change to ‘completed’ even if 
they haven’t finished 

If the status changes to ‘completed’, test takers have to click ‘Next’ to move on to the next item. This 
also applies to speaking item types Read Aloud, Repeat Sentence, Describe Image and Re-tell 
Lecture. 
 
Do not try to give a long answer.  

The instructions for this item type tell test takers how to answer 
the question:  

You will hear a question. Please give a simple and short answer. Often 
just one or a few words is enough. There is no point in saying more 
than you need to say. Marks are awarded for a short, accurate 
answer. There are no extra marks for additional words​.  

For example, for this question, ‘What type of periodical is 

published on a daily basis?’; both these answers would score the same marks: 

● Newspapers  
● It’s newspapers that are published every day. 

 
 

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PREPARATION ACTIVITY 1 

Aims of the activity 

● To prepare learners for Answer Short Question item type on PTE Academic. 

Assumptions 
● Learners understand the requirements of the Answer Short Question item type. 
● Learners can use question forms. 
● Learners are at about B1 level (Item is B1 level). 

Materials needed 
● Answer Short Question item. 
● Answer Short Question item sound file. 
● Answer Short Question item transcript. 
● Answer Short Question sample response sound file and transcript. 

Time 
● 15 minutes. 

Activity Plan 
1. Lead-in 
 
Elicit from the class how they should answer the Answer Short Question items. 
 
2. Task 
 
Give each pair of learners a list of five reasonably frequent concrete nouns. Make sure they can 
pronounce them using the correct vowel and consonant sounds and put the stress in the correct 
position, encourage them to learn to spell them all correctly, too. 
 
Ask them to research the meaning of their words if they don’t know them already. Then, write five 
questions, one for each of their words, which elicit each of the words as the answer. 
● E.g., soccer field. 
● What do you call the place where people play soccer matches? 
 
 
 

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3. Try it out 
 
Mix up the pairs of learners, and make sure that each learner is with a new partner. They should ask 
their new partner their questions and keep a tally of which ones they get wrong. 
 
If there were any which were wrongly answered, they should find a new partner and ask them. If 
that learner doesn’t know the answer, they should continue asking new partners until one gets the 
answer/s correct.  
 
If there are some questions which no-one in the class can answer, deal with it in full class by asking 
the person who created the question to answer it. The problem may be that the question was not 
correct, or the answer was a word the learners do now know. 
 
4. Homework 
 
They should find another five words at their level, and write five more questions, one for each word, 
which elicit each word as the answer. These can be kept and used in full class as warmer activities at 
the beginning of class, or at the end of class if there is a little extra time.  
 
 

PREPARATION ACTIVITY 2 

Aims of the activity 

● To prepare learners for Answer Short Question item type on PTE Academic.  

Assumptions 
● Learners understand the requirements of the Answer Short Question item type. 
● Learners can use question forms. 

Materials needed 
● No specific materials needed for this activity. 

Time 
● 15 minutes. 

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Activity Plan 
1. Lead-in 
 
Elicit from the class how they should answer the Answer Short Question items. 
 
2. Task 
 
Ask each pair of learners to make up a list of six reasonably frequent concrete nouns. They can use 
the GSE Teacher toolkit, ​https://www.english.com/gse/teacher-toolkit/user/vocabulary​ to check the 
level of the words they choose. Make sure they can pronounce them using the correct vowel and 
consonant sounds and put the stress in the correct position, make sure they can spell them all 
correctly, too. 
 
Then ask them to formulate questions which test the meaning of the words they have chosen. Elicit 
an example from them: 
● E.g., soccer field (B1) 
● What do you call the place where people play soccer matches? 
 
3. Try it out 
 
When they have their six questions and answers, they should each take three of the six they made 
up. The whole class should stand up and circulate, asking their questions to as many learners as 
they can, and checking their answers. When they have asked their questions to most, if not all, of 
their classmates, they should stop and sit down again 
 
4. Feedback 
 
Elicit from the learners which of their questions were most difficult and ask them to ask the class to 
see if anyone can answer. They should then give the answers. Check that they have the correct 
meaning and know how to pronounce them correctly. If the words are worth teaching, then drill 
them. 

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