Contar experiencias
The first speaking task is two or three minutes of talking about something that happened to you. What is being marked is whether you can move a story along and connect two past tenses, so these are the markers that do that work.
Situar en el tiempo
Hace unos años
A few years ago
Hace plus a length of time, and the verb goes in the preterite.
Cuando era pequeño
When I was little
Sets the scene, so the imperfect.
En aquella época
At that time
Un día
One day
Opens the event after the scene has been set.
Al principio
At first
Al final
In the end
Not al fin, which means at last.
Desde entonces
Since then
Desde entonces no he vuelto. · I haven't been back since.
Mover la historia
Resulta que…
It turns out that…
Opens the surprising part.
De repente
Suddenly
Mientras…
While…
Mientras plus the imperfect is the background; the preterite interrupts it.
Entonces
Then
Total que…
So anyway…
Spoken only, and it jumps to the end without telling the middle.
Lo que pasó fue que…
What happened was that…
Después de eso
After that
Valorar la experiencia
Fue una experiencia inolvidable
It was an unforgettable experience
Me sentí muy…
I felt very…
Sentirse plus an adjective that agrees: me sentí orgullosa.
Lo pasé muy bien
I had a great time
Lo pasé in Spain, la pasé in Latin America. The DELE accepts both.
Fue un momento difícil
It was a hard moment
Aprendí que…
I learned that…
A strong way to close: it turns an anecdote into a point.
Volvería a hacerlo
I'd do it again
The conditional, and an easy way to show it.
Nunca lo olvidaré
I'll never forget it
Ganar tiempo mientras piensas
A ver…
Let me see…
Buys a second and sounds native. Silence does not.
Pues…
Well…
Es que…
The thing is…
¿Cómo te diría?
How shall I put it?
Buys the most time of any of these, and sounds thoughtful rather than stuck.
No sé si me explico
I'm not sure I'm making sense
Hands the turn back for a moment without ending it.