What is a monologue?
(Guia del Candidato)
Monólogo: en esta fase cada candidato hará una breve exposición o charla durante 3.30 a 4 minutos
sobre el tema de la ficha. El examinador indicará a cada uno de los candidatos el momento de empezar y
les hará una señal para que terminen la exposición de manera adecuada. Durante la exposición, los
examinadores no intervienen, salvo si se rompe la comunicación o si la producción no se ajusta a la
consigna.
In the table below, you have a list of topics that may come up in task one of the oral expression exam. It’s
by no means exhaustive, but will give you an idea of what you should be prepared to talk about more or
less.
Success Culture and Identity Internet crime
• What is it? • Adapting to other • Identity theft
• Happiness? cultures • How can we fight
• How do you obtain it? • Differences between cybercrime
cultures • piracy
Health and Medicine Leisure and Entertainment Work
• Public vs. private • Changes in leisure • Work /life balance
• Alternative vs. • Relaxation • Types of work
traditional medicine • Hobbies • Unemployment
• Pharmaceutical • Socialising • Flexible working hours
companies • In the digital era • Working at home
• Medicine and • Effect of economic • Retirement age
technology crisis on leisure • Lifelong learning
• Binge watching: • Job for life?
Netflix, HBO etc • New generation:
• Social networks and overqualified?
leisure • How to look for a job
Animals The Environment Body Matters
• Animal rights • Endangered species • Men and women
• Vegetarianism • Climate • Cosmetic surgery
• Animals in • Global warming (justification/when)
entertainment • Carbon footprint
• Keeping pets • Natural resources
• Sustainable
development
• Recycling
• Green cities
The Family Books Sport and Television
• Changing models • Ebooks • Sport on television
(blended families, • Piracy • Portray of women in
same-sex • The future of books sport
partnerships, the • Text books • Too much money in
nuclear family) • Audio books sport?
• Leaving home • Sports people as role
• Marriage/divorce models?
Transport Dress code Traditions
• Reducing traffic in • Importance of dress • Attitudes toward
cities • School uniforms traditions
• Eco-friendly cars • Dress for work • Traditions and
• Low-cost airlines • Dress of ethnic globalisation
minorities • Prohibition of
traditions
Social networks Travel Education
• How they have • Gap year • Public vs. private
changed our lives • Once in a lifetime trips • Homework?
• Concerns about • Space travel? • University fees?
privacy • Cultural awareness • Curriculum reform
• Children and social • Impact of travel on the • Bullying
networks environment • Single sex vs. mixed
• Social networks in • Why do we travel? sex schools
business and • Responsible travelling • Separating children
education with different abilities
• The future • The role of the teacher
• Your profile • Home-schooling
Languages The Arts Immigration
• English a lingua franca • The arts in Spain • Present situation
• The future of (appreciation of, • Solutions
languages? financing) • Spain (a nation of
• Language barriers • Cinema immigrants)
• Job opportunities • The future? • The effect of
• Best ways of learning • Artists: nature vs. immigration on the
• Anglicisms, for or nurture economy
against? • The hiring of illegal
• Multilingual schools? immigrants
Consumerism Newspapers/Journalism Technology
• Responsible • The future of • Technophobe vs.
consumerism, newspapers technophile
throwaway society • Political biases • Drawbacks
• Chain stores vs. local • Influence of social • Technology in
stores media education
• Fair trade • Public vs. private • Future?
• Second hand journalism • How have different
• Compulsive buying • The speed of news technological devices
• The accuracy of news changed our world?
• Traditional vs. online • Online dating
newspapers
• Pay TV
• Tabloids/sensationalist
journalism –
broadsheets
Television Nature vs. Nurture
• Celebrities Creativity
• Reality TV Climate change
• Programmes: cooking,
survival, dancing
• Sensationalist or
informative?
The monologue is the first part of the oral exam and it lasts approximately 4 minutes.
This is a semi-prepared task and the examiners are looking for a variety of language,
good pronunciation and coherence in what you say. Here is some advice on a structure
and expressions you can use:
1) ORGANISE YOUR MONOLOGUE 7) STATING SOMETHING AS A FACT
• In my monologue I’m going to focus on/talk • As everyone knows…
about/deal with three/four major issues. • It is generally accepted that…
2) TO GRAB THE ATTENTION OF THE • There can be no doubt that…
AUDIENCE: • It is a fact that…
• Nobody will deny that…
• Rhetorical questions • Everyone knows that…
Example: Are children and teenagers watching 8) GIVING YOUR OPINION NEUTRALLY
too much TV these days?
• I think…
Remember that when you ask a rhetorical • I feel that…
question you don’t have to answer it, it’s just used • In my opinion, …
to make the audience think and make your topic • As far as I’m concerned…
more interesting. • As I see it…
• In my view…
• Interesting facts • I tend to think that…
Examples: according to an article I read recently, • From my point of view…
… / Did you know that…? / I would like to share 9) GIVING A STRONG OPINION
an amazing fact/figure with you.
• I’m absolutely convinced that…
• Stories • I’m sure that…
Examples: Let me tell you what happened to • I strongly believe that…
me…/ Suppose…/ Imagine…/ Say… (=imagine) • I have no doubt that…
• There is no doubt that…
• Problems to think about • I am absolutely certain that…
Examples: Suppose you wanted to…/ Imagine 10) EXPRESSING UNCERTAINTY
you had to… / What would be your first step?
• I definitely doubt if that…
• Quotations • I am not sure that…
• Examples: as … once said, …/ To quote a • I am not certain that…
well-known writer, … / To put it in the • As far as I know…
words of… 11) GIVING REASONS
3) INTRODUCING A POINT
• The reasons for this is (that)…
• First of all, I would like to point out… • I base my argument on…
• The main problem is… • I tell you all this because…
• The question of… 12) REPHRASING OPINIONS
• Speaking of…
4) ENUMERATION OF POINTS • What I mean to say was…
• Let me put this another way
• First of all, I would like to say… • Perhaps I’m not making myself clear…
• In addition to that… • The basic idea is…
• Moreover, … • One way of looking at it is…
• Furthermore, … • Another way of looking at it is…
• Another example of this is… 13) INDICATING THE END OF YOUR TALK
• First, second, third…
• Finally, … • I’m now approaching the end of my
5) MOVING TO THE NEXT POINT presentation.
• Well, this brings me to the end of my
• This leads directly to my next point. presentation.
• This brings us to the next question. • As a final point, I would like to say…
• Let’s now move on to… • Finally, I would like to highlight one key issue.
• After examining this point, let’s turn to…
• Let’s now take a look at…
6) GOING BACK 14) DRAWING CONCLUSIONS AND SUMMING
UP
• As I said/ mentioned earlier…
• Let me come back to what I said before… • The obvious conclusion is…
• Let’s go back to what we were discussing • Last but not least…
earlier. • The only possible solution/conclusion is…
• As I’ve already explained, … • In conclusion we can say that…
• As I pointed out in the first section, …
