1. The third question that the examiner will ask you is: “Could you tell me where you’re from?” (Or, “Can you tell me where you’re from?”)
Again, this is an indirect question, which really means, “Please tell me where you’re from.” So don’t begin your answer with, “Yes.”
· Just saying, “I'm from Heilongjiang” or “I'm from Harbin” is answering the question but, since these questions are checking your identity, you should give a more exact answer, i.e., don't just say the name of the province where you are from and don't just say the name of the city or town – say both.
· In Chinese, you say the province first and then the city or town. But in English, it is the reverse of this – you should say the city or town first, followed by the name of the province.
· Some candidates say: “I come from Shenyang, Liaoning Province.” That answer is not wrong but it could be a little better. How? By using the contracted form of English: “I’m from Shenyang, Liaoning Province.” As a general rule, you should use contracted English as much as you can, or as often as you remember in the IELTS Speaking test. It’s the natural way to speak English and it’s more fluent.
· Definitely do not say: “I came from Shenyang, Liaoning Province.” The question is a present tense question and you should use the present tense in your answer.
· For this question, it is suitable, (and perhaps a good idea) to add a small amount of extra information if you want but try to say it quickly and in a short sentence. For example you could say: “I’m from Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province.” Or, “I’m from Shenyang, Liaoning Province. That’s in north-east China.” (In that sentence, don't put sentence stress on the word ‘China’ because if you are doing the test in China, the examiner knows you are from China so there is no need to emphasize that word.)
· Make sure you don’t make a grammatical error such as: “I’m from Shenyang, Liaoning, north-east of China.” ‘North-east of China’ means out of China (for example, Korea). The correct phrase here is, ‘in the north-east of China’ or, ‘in north-east China’.
· Don’t say your town or city belongs to a certain province or part of China – that’s an incorrect usage of ‘belong to’. Instead, you should say it is ‘in’ a certain province or part of China.
· Similarly, don’t say your town or city is ‘of’ a certain province or part of China – that’s also incorrect. For example, “I'm from Shenyang of Liaoning Province.”
· If you come from a small city, town or village then it is perfectly acceptable to add that kind of information to your answer: “I’m from Bai Shan City, a small city in Jilin Province, not far from the border with North Korea.”
· If you do the test in your hometown (city), you should say something like this: “I’m from here, Beijing.” And put the stress on the word, ‘here’. Don't answer the question in the same way you would if you were doing the test away from your hometown. Your situation is different to many other people and you should express this difference.
· If you do the test in your hometown (city), don’t say: “I’m a local people” – ‘people’ is plural! However, it is quite natural to say, “I’m a local person; I’m from here, Beijing.”
· If you’re from Beijing and you do the test in China, don’t say: “I’m from Beijing, the capital of China.” I think the examiner knows that Beijing is the capital of China!! But if you do the test overseas, for example in Australia or England, that answer is suitable.
· Also, if you do the test in your hometown it sounds a little inappropriate to use the word ‘come’ in your answer because you never traveled to get to the test; you didn’t ‘come’. For example, “I come from Beijing.” sounds a little strange if you are doing the test in Beijing. On the other hand, “I’m from Beijing” sounds better, but as stated above, you really should express the fact that your situation is different to that of other candidates.
· It is not suitable to say something such as: “I’m from Qingdao, a beautiful coastal city in Shandong.” Why is this not suitable? Firstly, it sounds like an advertisement. Secondly, and more importantly, the word, ‘beautiful’ is your opinion but the four questions in the introductory phase of the test are really asking for facts, not opinions. It would be acceptable if you just said, “I’m from Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong.”
Describing Qingdao as ‘beautiful’ is not a major problem and you shouldn’t worry too much about making that kind of slightly inappropriate reply. The major problem with that answer is that you could cause the examiner to suspect that your answer came from an IELTS book, instead of being your own, original language. On the other hand, if you said, “I’m from Xian, the capital of Shaanxi Province and it's also a famous historical city”, the answer would be more acceptable because the words, ‘famous’ and ‘historical’ sound more like facts rather than opinions.
· Throughout the test, don’t ask the examiner questions – it is the examiner who asks the questions! It is inappropriate (although quite natural in a normal, non-test situation) to say something such as: “I’m from Xian, the capital of Shaanxi Province. It was the ancient capital of China for several dynasties. Have you ever been there?”
· Some candidates worry about which place they should say when they answer where they come from. You should choose the place where you grew up. If the address on your application form is different to the place where you grew up, it is entirely appropriate, and a good idea, to quickly explain your situation, for example: “Well, I grew up in Changchun, Jilin Province but I've been studying in Beijing for the past four years.” Examiners know that many people move to different places to study or work.
· Some people think that they should answer by saying the name of the place where they were born. But if you were born in Wuhan and your family moved to Beijing when you were eight, you probably don't know much about Wuhan. In this example, to say that you were from Wuhan would not normally be a problem in the introduction phase of the test but it could cause a problem later in the test. For example, there is often a Part 1 topic, ‘Hometown’, and the examiner might ask you to talk about Wuhan. If this happened, you would then have to explain your true situation because you don't remember much about Wuhan. It would have been much better if you had explained your situation in the introduction phase of the test because if you wait until you are forced to explain your true situation, the examiner might start to wonder if you really are the person on the application form! Be honest and clear when you answer the 4 introduction questions. In the other parts of the test, it doesn't matter if you tell a few small lies (or even big lies!) – this is an English test, not an interview for a job – but keep in mind that it is more difficult to talk in detail and convincingly about things that are not true. And if the examiner realizes that you have told a (major) lie, he or she could lose some respect for you. This would not normally affect your score but if the atmosphere of your ‘conversation’ (the test) is spoiled then the examiner might be a little less patient or friendly and that could affect your performance.
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