Ielts speaking strategies

To be honest/ I'm afraid/ honestly : these are what we call softening phrases. We use these phrases to be more polite when we get a negative answer, or to signal that we are going to give a negative answer or you are not proud of what you will say .

Examples: Do you enjoy reading?

• 
  To be honest , I don't really like reading.
  
• 
  Honestly , I don’t like reading very much.
  
• 
  I’m afraid , I don’t like it very much.
  

You are Japanese. How do you feel if you ask someone “do you like Japanese food?” and they say “I don’t like it” Does that sound a bit rude ? Yes, it sounds quite harsh. So you need to be more gentle with your negative answers or when you are not proud of something.
So it will sound better if you say “honestly, I don’t like Japanese food very much”
However, what if I ask you “do you smoke cigarettes?”
Can you say “To be honest, I don’t smoke” . Is it something you should feel ashamed of? No , you should be proud that you are not a smoker. Something like that, even though the answer is no, you don’t really need to get the fluency marker “To be honest/ I'm afraid/ honestly” in this case.

2. 
   Fortunately/ unfortunately: these are really great and easy-to-use words that students don’t practice enough. They don’t use them enough. These words are powerful and easy. We use these words to signal a positive or negative situation or condition, and we can use them in a combination. You can talk about the negative, and then, fortunately, a positive; or a positive, unfortunately, a negative.
   

Example_1'>Example 1: I remember it rained heavily that day (a negative) . Fortunately , I had my umbrella with me (a positive).
Example 2: My mother cooks for me every day (a positive). Unfortunately , she’s not a very good cook (a negative) .
So, we can use these things in a combination.
You should practice using fluency markers in a combination with one another .
Example 3: Do you enjoy reading?