1. Speaking Part 1
Topic: Languages
- How many languages can you speak? [Why/Why not?]?
Well, I can use 2 languages. I was born and brought up in Vietnam and so you can say I speak Vietnamese fluently. I know English as well because it is taught as a compulsory subject in most schools in my country.
- How useful will English be to you in your future? [Why/Why not?]
I think knowing English increases my chances of getting a good job in a high-profile company or of finding a scholarship to study abroad. You know, English is the most commonly spoken language in the world, so this language will give me a big advantage over others.
- What do you remember about learning languages at school? [Why/Why not?]
English was the only foreign language I learnt at high school and sadly, at that time, I was not a big fan of the subject in any case. Attending English classes was a real nightmare for me because our teachers’ idea of teaching was to stand at the podium and read from the textbook for the entire 45 minutes.
- What do you think would be the hardest language for you to learn? [Why?]
I actually tried learning Japanese a while back and yes, it is certainly the most challenging language I’ve ever known. Everything fell apart as soon as I started to learn by heart three different alphabets, including Chinese characters. After struggling in my Japanese class for a few weeks, I realized that I was not cut out for this language.
2. Speaking Part 2
Describe a website that you bought something from.
You should say:
- What the website is
- What you bought from this website
- How satisfied you were with what you bought
- And explain what you liked or disliked about using this website.
Sample Answer:
I’m going to talk about “TiMart.vn”, one of my go-to websites when it comes to handicraft products.
I first used this website about 2 years ago when I needed to buy some hand-made ornaments for my friends in Australia.
What I like most about this website is the variety of products it can offer. The website’s owners, who apparently have a great passion for Vietnam’s traditional crafts, manage to get the most beautiful and meticulously-made products from thousand-year traditional craft villages all over the nation and sell them with rather reasonable prices. Shoppers can easily find their ideal souvenirs within a few clicks in a wide selection of one-of-a-kind artistic products, ranging from pretty ceramic teapot sets to mesmerizing lacquer vases. I believe that anybody who appreciates arts and culture will definitely like these beautiful gifts.
For me, this website is a great place to find a gift for your foreign friends and is an interesting source of information about Vietnam’s arts. Besides displaying their products, the owners of the website also upload many videos about famous tourist attractions and world-acclaimed heritage sites in my country.
3. Speaking Part 3
Topic 1: Shopping online
- What kinds of things do people in your country often buy from online shops?
If there’s an online business in Vietnam that is never out of fashion, I suppose it must be clothing as clothing is an essential item in people’s lives and seasonal fashion has never failed to keep the market heated. Shops selling accessories are also really common on the Internet, especially on Facebook.
- Why do you think online shopping has become so popular nowadays?
The most obvious reason is that it saves time. With just a couple of clicks of the mouse, shoppers can purchase almost everything they need. Besides, when shopping online, they can enjoy the freedom to figure out which online store offers the most affordable item.
- What are some possible disadvantages of buying things from online shops?
Of course, online shopping does not come without its disadvantages. For many people, the most annoying thing is shipping costs. If they buy something from another country, costs can rise significantly. Also, when it comes to buying clothes or footwear, it is difficult to estimate the size of the products properly so people can end up making a bad purchase.
Topic 2: The culture of consumerism
- Why do many people today keep buying things which they do not need?
In my opinion, there are a few psychological reasons beside their tastes and the money they have. Let’s face it, we are all swayed by marketing. Advertising not only makes us remember and recognize brands better, they also work through our emotions, affecting our preferences and changing our attitudes towards products.
- Do you believe the benefits of a consumer society outweigh the disadvantages?
Unfortunately, I cannot see any benefits from it. Consumerism encourages people to have more desire, manipulates them into wasteful purchase. More importantly, it leads to overproduction, which is the primary cause of the exhaustion of natural resources as well as the ever-increasing amount of toxic waste.
- How possible is it to avoid the culture of consumerism?
I think the solution is all about attitude and the perspective of life you have. Although it’s not very easy to get rid of some of the behavior we have adopted for a long time, if we can really think about all negative effects the culture of consumerism may have on our life and the natural world, changes can start, slowly but surely.
