Describe an enjoyable experience you had in the countryside

Band 8 Sample

I would like to talk about last summer when I had an unforgettable opportunity to visit my hometown, which is a small village located in the north of Vietnam.

My entire family, including my parents, myself and my younger sister, decided to spend the day driving to the village. For my parents, this would be the chance for them to see their relatives who they hadn’t seen in a long time. And for me and my sister, we hoped to get a closer insight into the life of the locals as well as strengthen our family bonds.

So, the four of us hit the road really early in the morning, at about 5 a.m. And after about 4 hours of driving, we arrived at a peaceful and tranquil village. To my astonishment the scenery was completely different from the neighbourhood where I currently live. We admired the breathtaking landscapes of green paddy fields, winding paths and small houses standing next to each other. After that we went to visit our relatives who were all really friendly and warm-hearted people and greeted us with great enthusiasm. The whole morning was spent talking and chatting about our lives and old memories. At noon, our family was treated to a gourmet meal, full of local and organically grown ingredients. In the afternoon, one of our relatives took us to see the paddy fields and the village’s famous lake. My sister and I got to learn how to fish and feed the chickens, which was a novel experience since we had never done this before.

All of us were over the moon the whole day, which really was a once in a life time experience and would be embedded in our memory for a long time.

Vocabulary highlights:

1. get a closer insight into – learn more about
2. strengthen our family bonds – improve our family’s relationship
3. hit the road – to drive somewhere out of town
4. astonishment – great surprise
5. breathtaking landscapes – beautiful scenery of the natural environment
6. warm-hearted – very kind, friendly or nice people
7. enthusiasm – a feeling of energetic interest
8. gourmet meal – a meal of very high quality
9. organically grown – grown without the use of chemical fertiliser or pesticides
10. a novel experience – a new or original experience
11. over the moon – to be very happy
12. embedded – stuck deeply