GCAS Strategies 6 Fluency quick wins

Smooth water

Maintain a smooth flow

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Vincent Guth via Unsplash

In this lesson, we will begin talking about fluency. You will learn simple strategies you can use right away.

Introduction
  1. What is fluency?
  2. Is fluency important in the GCAS test?
  1. Fluency is the ability to speak smoothly.
    • fluency ≠ speed; 
    • fluency ≠ accuracy.
  2. Fluency is very important. 
    • GCAS is a speaking test. Speaking clearly and powerfully will boost your score.

If your student seems surprised that fluency ≠ speed, model it. Speak like you are thinking out loud, e.g.:

I decided to join The English Farm because I love to teach the English language to adult learners.

Warm Up

Your teacher will ask a question. Try to answer fluently.

Question: 

Why did you choose to join your present company?

After your student answers, ask:

How do you think your fluency was? 

Language

Here are five basic strategies to improve fluency. Discuss them with your teacher, and practice each one: 

  1. Respond immediately.
  2. Confirm the question by repeating a key word or phrase.
  3. Use fillers.
  4. Slow down.
  5. Say what you can.

There are a lot of ideas here. Discuss each one. It might take more than one lesson. 

  1. Respond immediately.

Say something right away. It shows you've understood the question. This was covered a little in GCAS 2.

  • e.g.: "That's a good/interesting/tough/big question."
  1. Confirm by repeating a word or phrase.

Use a strong tone, either rising or descending. This is good for three reasons: 

  1. it buys time;
  2. it shows you understand; and
  3. it shows you are careful about what is asked. 
  • Practice.

Say: "I'll ask a question; you repeat one or two key words." 

  • How do you build an ongoing customer relationship?
    • e.g.: "Ah, customer relationship. Well..."
  • What is the key to a strong marketing campaign?
    • e.g.: "A marketing campaign... Hm..."
  • What's the biggest technological breakthrough of the last 20 years?
    • e.g.: "Hmm, technological breakthrough, let's see..." 
  1. Use fillers. Avoid long silences by using thinking phrases: 
  • Let me see/think... 
    = I need a little time to think about this.
  • How should I put it...?
    =  I have the language; I'm just thinking about how best to phrase it.
  • It just slipped my mind. Hm.
    = I knew it, but I've just forgotten. 
  • Off the top of my head, I'd say...
    = I haven't thought about this very much, but here is a quick answer.
  1. Slow down. Powerful speakers usually speak slowly. Nervous people tend to speak too quickly.
  • Slow. Down.

NOTE: Slowing down is so important that it comes up in every fluency lesson.

  1. Say what you can. This has a few implications:
  • Choose a topic that suits your English (when possible).
    • Try to talk about things you are good at talking about in English. Remember, there are some topics or ideas you can discuss in your native language that you can't discuss well in English.
  • Use sophisticated language you know.
    • Decide on a natural idiomatic phrase or advanced grammar pattern. Work towards mastering it.
  • Make something up.
    • You can give an opinion that's not actually what you believe, or tell a story that's not true, as long as it's logical. 
  • Leave out detail you'd add in your native language.
    • If you can't translate it, don't say it. 
      • Your level is lower in English than in your native language. That's okay!
      • English is just different from your native language. Some things can't be said (or, at least, can't be said the same way).
Practice

Now, let's go through some more questions. Practice answering fluently.