Topic: Historic Place
1. How do people in your country feel about protecting historic buildings?
2. Do you think an area can benefit from having an interesting historic place locally? In what way?
3. What do you think will happen to historic places or buildings in the future? Why?
4. How were you taught history when you were at school?
5. Are there other ways people can learn about history, apart from at school? How?
6. Do you think history will still be a school subject in the future? Why?
Sample Answer:
Q. 1: How do people in your country feel about protecting historic buildings?
Answer: I believe people from my country would want to protect and preserve important historic buildings except maybe a few who put business ahead of their morality and rational thinking. We had our moments when people spontaneously protested the plan to demolish such sites in the past. Due to a huge public backlash and outcry, the authority had been forced to abandon their plan to build multi-storied commercial buildings by smashing the old buildings that have historical significance. Thus citizens in my country are sensitive about protecting anything that has historical importance.
Q. 2: Do you think an area can benefit from having an interesting historic place locally? In what way?
Answer: Definitely an area with an interesting historic place can reap the benefits from different perspectives. First, such a place would attract a huge number of tourists and help grow different local businesses. Besides, such areas are strategically important for the local government and it can bring more development projects to the area. The government takes extra measures to protect such areas from natural disasters and thus get more attention. On top of that, the flourishing tourism of the area spreads the local custom and tradition to other parts of the country. Thus the development of such a region occurs faster than other areas.
Q. 3. What do you think will happen to historic places or buildings in the future? Why?
Answer: That is hard to tell and all would depend on the future generation. If they feel that such locations and buildings are worth preserving, the authority would take steps to protect them. Otherwise, many of them, which are less internationally known, would disappear and would be converted to ultramodern commercial buildings. Prominent sites, on the other hand, would be preserved as they will attract many international tourists. Some of them will be debilitated due to the lack of maintenance and a few new ones would emerge as historic places and buildings in the distant future. The main reason some of the historic places and building will disappear is that they are less popular and can’t sell tickets to tourists. So the authority or the owner would like to convert them for business purpose. The urbanisation, pollution and the need for more buildings for the increasing population are threats to such historic sites.
Q. 4: How were you taught history when you were at school?
Answer: Our teachers mainly taught us history from the textbooks and we were lucky to have a few amazing teachers who explained how history is important to understand the future. They often explained important events and characters from history and told us how these events and powerful men have shaped future events. We were required to study history books and watch documentaries made on real historical facts and those were not included in our syllabus. Thus we were able to learn more about history. Our school authority took us to different museums and historic sites, generally two to three times a year, and those excursions were our chances to explore more and witness the artefacts from the past. I can recall one particular occasion when we were taken to a war museum and we learned how wars that we hate so much had such profound impacts on our human society.
Q. 5: Are there other ways people can learn about history, apart from at school? How?
Answer: I believe reading about history and researching them online is the best way to learn more about it. What we learn about history in our school is just the beginning. To truly explore the past, we need to read a lot of books and the book choices should be based on the interests of the readers. The Intenet is an amazing tool that can help us learn about our past and the interactive videos found on different websites are truly helpful. It offers us to dive deeper into history. Finally, travelling is an excellent way to learn about the world we live in and how this world was shaped by different civilisations. Someone who travels extensively learns about history faster and witness history instead of assuming them.
Q. 6: Do you think history will still be a school subject in the future? Why?
Answer: I believe history is not merely a collection of past events, stories of civilisations and powerful characters. It is rather a way to look at the future. Thus the importance of history in the future will increase and more students would be interested to learn about it than today. We are yet to comprehend the full potential of history and it is still frowned upon as a subject for weaker students. But in the future, we will realise how important it is for people to learn it for a prosperous future. So I do not see any reasons history will disappear from the school syllabus.
