Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SPEAKING PART 2
2015
30. Describe a place near water (such as a river, a lake or the ocean) that you enjoyed
visiting.
31. Describe a pleasant surprise you had.
32. Describe a subject you didnt like before but have interest in now.
33. Describe a piece of good news you heard from TV or internet
34. Describe a situation when you received some useful advice.
35. Describe a time when you got lost.
36. Describe an unusual building you have visited
37. Describe a situation (or a time) when you helped someone.
38. Describe a project that you were once involved in (for example, a project at work or a
homework assignment at school or university).
39. Describe a historical building in your country/ hometown.
40. Describe a long journey/short trips you would like to make again
41. Describe a family member you would like to work with.
42. Describe an ambition you have not achieved yet.
43. Describe an interesting website you have visited.
44. Describe something interesting you learnt from the internet
45. Describe a situation that others didnt tell you the whole truth.
46. Describe a friend who you think is good leader.
47. Describe something you really want to buy in the future
48. Describe a movie you would like to watch again
49. Describe a vehicle you would like to buy (or own)
29. Describe a happy family event from your childhood that you remember well.
There are numerous happy events in my life that I can recall and among them, I would like to
talk about the time when my family gathered to make the Chung cake for the Tet holiday.
The Lunar New Year, or Tet, is a very special traditional holiday in my country. It was
probably my most favorite holiday when I was a small girl as my family had a lot of activities
to celebrate this occasion. Among them, making the Chung cake made me excited the
most. The Chung cake is made of glutinous rice, green beans and fat pork, wrapped in
banana leaves in the shape of a square. I often played with my older brother when my
parents prepared the ingredients for the cake. And then, my father lit a small fire to boil the
cake overnight.
It was perhaps the only time of the year when I was allowed to stay up late. While my family
was sitting around the warm fire, my grandmother would tell the old legendary story about
the Chung cake to commemorate the filial affection of Lang Lieu prince to his father and
remind us of the long lasting Vietnamese tradition.
In recent years, my family has not had enough time for making the Chung cake on our own.
However, to me, a ready made Chung cake that we buy from a local market cant bring the
special feeling and replace the taste of a Chung cake from my childhood. I hope that my
family can continue our tradition in the coming years.
Prepared by Nhung (8.5 speaking IELTS) Edited by ielts.vinh@gmail.com
19. Describe a paid job you ever did or someone you know ever did
I remembered the time when I enjoyed working as a waitress/waiter at a cafeteria in the
campus. It happened few years ago while I was a sophomore student in university. I learnt
about this job from an online advertisement and I immediately jumped at the chance. Despite
of being a business major, I still enjoyed this job very much as it offered me so many
opportunities for self development.
My main responsibilities included serving food and drinks for customers and assisting the
chefs in preparing for meals at peak hours such as lunch time or dinner time. At the end of
each day, we also performed cleaning duties, such as sweeping and mopping floors,
vacuuming carpets and tidying up server station. There were 10 other students working at
the same post as me on a 4 hour shift basis. We registered our shifts based on our
personal schedules so it is very flexible.
I loved this job for several reasons. Firstly, it offered me enough money to afford the cost of
living and support my parents in covering a part of my tuition fee. Secondly, it gave me an
opportunity to expand social networks by making friends and talking with many people from
different backgrounds around the campus. Furthermore, I learnt vital soft skills, such as
communication and teamwork skills, which are very important and beneficial to me.
Prepared by Nhung (8.5 speaking IELTS) Edited by ielts.vinh@gmail.com
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13. Describe an indoor game that you liked to play when you were a child.
When I was a little girl, I enjoyed playing chess. It commenced when I was in primary
school. Because I was a very naughty girl and often hanged out with neighboring kids for
hours, my father taught me to play chess in hope of keeping me staying at home.
Every day, my father woke me up early and drove me to the sport center near my house. I
participated in a chess class with a teacher and other students. I was taught that chess is
probably the most prevalent board game in the world. There are two players in a game and
the winner would be the one who can trap the King of the other player.
Normally, the class took place for an hour but I often lingered for another half an hour to
rehearse with my classmates. I found it very challenging and difficult to learn the moves
but the passion for playing chess gradually grew in me, even without my acknowledgement. I
could stay at home all day long and play chess with my dad.
There were several reasons why I was craving for playing chess. Firstly, playing this
intellectual game challenged myself and improved my logical thinking. In addition, I could
have a sense of satisfaction when outwitting my opponents tactically. Last but not least, I
made a lot of friends with talented children in my chess class and we still keep in touch until
now.
Prepared by Nhung (8.5 speaking IELTS) Edited by ielts.vinh@gmail.com
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26. Describe a time you were friendly to someone you didnt like.
I would like to share with you my experience when I had to be friendly to one of my
classmates I did not like. In my second year of university, I had to collaborate with her to
carry out a group project in a financial investment class.
There were just two of us on the team, and our task was to invest in the simulation stock
market. We had to make decisions on choosing which stocks were profitable and worth our
investment. Each groups performance would be compared weekly and at the end of the
semester, we would have to present our project in front of the whole class.
However, the problem was that we had never really like each other for several reasons.
Firstly, despite of the fact that we were at the same age, she always thought she was better
than me and disregarded my opinions. Furthermore, she was not responsible for our
project. She often showed up late in group meetings and missed the deadline for her given
tasks.
The project was vital as it contributed 50% to our final results of that semester. Therefore, I
had no choice but cooperated with her in order to finish the project. Despite our many
arguments, we completed the task on time and had an excellent group presentation. From
this experience, I learnt that sometimes you can work with others even though you do not
get along with them.
Prepared by Nhung (8.5 speaking IELTS) Edited by ielts.vinh@gmail.com
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2. Describe a subject that you did not like in the past, but now you like it.
As a high school student, I learned a number of subjects. Among them, I was not really into
history at the first time. The reason was really simple: I disliked the teaching method of my
teacher. It was boring, and I will tell you why.
He was a lazy teacher, I thought. He just copied words, facts and figures from the book to
the board and made us to write down what he wrote. Then he told us to memorize all
information if we did not want to receive a low score for this subject. This made me and my
classmates sick.
Later when I grew older, I had a chance to watch a movie about Vietnamese history. The
movie is about King Ly Cong Uan relocating the capital city from Ninh Binh to Hanoi more
than a thousand years ago. I really liked the film and realized that history is not as boring as I
thought. After that I managed to read more historical articles and watched more historical
movies, and now I am really interested in history.
I think the Ministry of Education should adjust the school curriculum or train teachers how to
deliver history lessons more successfully and attractively. Without any action, many
Vietnamese pupils still hold a negative attitude towards history.
(Prepared by ielts.vinh@gmail.com)
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