Describe a piece of good news you heard

You should say:

• what this news was
• when and where you heard it
• how you heard it
• And explain why you think it was good news

Band 8 Sample

I’m going to talk about the time when I received the official notification of my scholarship to join an exchange program in Japan about three years ago. It feels like a long time ago but I can still remember the day quite vividly.

At that time, I was a soph0more at university and one day I came across an advertisement for a two-month cultural exchange program in Japan for students from Southeast Asia. I was really eager to apply for this program and luckily my application was accepted and I was also nominated for a scholarship.

So about 2 months later, I received an email from the Scholarship Committee informing me that I had been chosen to receive a full scholarship which would cover all kinds of fees and living expenses for me during the program. I think my heart skipped a beat and I screamed out loud when I saw the word “Congratulations” in that email. I was really proud of myself to be chosen from hundreds of candidates to win this scholarship.

It was definitely the best news of the year. If I hadn’t won the scholarship, my living expenses would have been such a heavy financial burden for my parents, but thanks to the generous grants that I received, I could really enjoy my time in Japan without worrying about the money. To this day I still keep this lucky email in my inbox to remind me of that special occasion.

Vocabulary highlights:

1. vividly – brightly coloured or very clear
2. soph0more – a student in the 2^nd year of study at university or college
3. cultural exchange program – an exchange of students between two countries to learn more about the others culture
4. eager – to be interested or excited about doing something
5. nominated – to be suggested for something.
6. my heart skipped a beat – to be very excited.
7. screamed out loud – to yell in excitement.
8. heavy financial burden – a large debt or large amount of money to have to pay.
9. generous – to be helpful or to give support.