Speaking Test 16-20

SPEAKING TEST 16
PART I
Let’s talk about your habits. 
Examiner speaking: What is your typical day like? 
I get up at 7 o’clock then go to work at 7:30. I will be ready at my own desk at about 8 o’clock. At 12, I often eat my lunch box prepared from home. After finishing work at 5pm, I head home. I have dinner with my family at 7 pm. Before going to bed at 10 o’clock, I take a shower, watch TV and read my favorite book. What a boring day, isn’t it?
Examiner speaking: Do you have any habits that annoy other people? 
I think my habit of keeping the TV volume a bit too loud annoys my family. They often shout “turn it down or I’ll break it!” at me.
Examiner speaking: What do you usually do when you are upset? 
Sometimes I listen to upbeat music to cheer myself up, but sometimes I like to listening to sad songs that really suits my mood at that time. 
Examiner speaking: What’s the weather like today? 
Today it’s a bit too cold and windy. Elderly people and children can easily get sick these days.
Examiner speaking: Do you prefer hot or cold weather? Why? 
I prefer cold weather to hot weather. Because in hot weather I feel very uncomfortable. I hate sweat. Moreover, in winter, my skin becomes prettier. I love winter fashion too.
Examiner speaking: Could you recommend some activities to do in different kinds of weather? 
In hot weather, you can go swimming, play beach volleyball, or play in waterparks. While in cold weather, you can go to the gymnastics, go jogging and running in the morning. You can even go skating.
PART II
Situation: A group of people is planning a trip from Thai Nguyen to Ha Giang. Could you suggest the best means of transport? Which do you think is the best choice? 
There are THREE options for you to choose: 
- Train 
- Boat 
- Coach 
The answer: I choose coach because coach is safe, cheap and comfortable. The distance from Thai Nguyen to Ha Giang is about 250 km and it takes about 4.5 hours or 5 hours to travel. Going by coach is relaxing and the cheapest among the three options. You can even sightsee through the coach window. Moreover, you can reach almost exactly where you want to arrive at by coach because it is easy to travel in roads. Travelling by train is noisy and more costly and boats can give you seasickness which is really awful. More importantly, you have to take taxies or buses from train station or boat port if you want to reach the place.
PART III: TOPIC DEVELOPMENT (~ 5 mins) 
Topic: Reading should be encouraged among teenagers. 
1. What is the difference between the kinds of books read by your parents’ generation and those read by your generation? 
2. Do you think that governments should support free books for all people? 3. In what way can parents help children develop their interest in reading? 
=> Reading is an important skill that all parents need to encourage their children to master. A person who can read well is more likely to perform well in school, graduate from college, and get a higher paying job. Obviously, reading expands a child’s vocabulary, introduces them to different writing styles and techniques, requires them to understand complex ideas, and exposes them to new ideas and knowledge that covers a wide variety of topics.
1. What is the difference between the kinds of books read by your parents’ generation and those read by your generation? 
Due to different time and circumstances, our parents’ generation and our generation have distinguised kinds of book to read. My parents often read books about Vietnamese histories, about Uncle Ho, about how to do proper offerings to the ancestors, while I like reading romantic, detective novels, newspapers on economy, technology, entertainment, celebrities, etc.. My parents’ generation tends to like Vietnamese traditional things or something in the past while my generation loves books about updated and modern things.
2. Do you think that governments should support free books for all people? 
Not really. I think governments should support free books for poor people in difficulties, for those who can just afford their basic needs. For other people, books should not be free because books are of precious intellectual property, people should pay to read and master the knowledge.
3. In what way can parents help children develop their interest in reading? 
Parents can provide a good role model by reading themselves and reading often to their child.
They can provide varied reading materials: some for reading enjoyment and some with information about hobbies and interests, for example, about animals, drawing, cooking, etc
They can encourage activities that require reading, for example, cooking (reading a recipe), constructing a kite (reading directions), etc..
Establish one evening a week for reading (instead of watching TV).
 SPEAKING TEST 17
PART II
Let’s talk about your cooking. 
Examiner speaking: Who does the cooking in your family? 
Everyday, my mother and I do the cooking in my family 
Examiner speaking: Do you think cooking is a task that only women should do?Why?/ Why not? 
In my opinion, cooking is a task that both men and women should do because the men should help the women cook whenever they are busy in their jobs or assist them for the family’s parties or celebrations
Examiner speaking: Do you like cooking by yourself? Why?/ Why not? 
I strongly like cooking because it helps me to improve my own skills of cooking and I am very glad when I try my best to cook for meals for my family. I think all members in my family are also happy to enjoy them. 
Now, let’s talk about TV programs. 
Examiner speaking: What’s the worst TV programs you’ve ever seen? 
I find TV programs very interesting and useful so I think they are not too bad. 
Examiner speaking: How much TV do you watch every day? 
Because I am very busy in work so I don’t have much time to watch TV. I only wacth TV in the evening with my family.
Examiner speaking: What are some advantages of watching TV? 
Nowadays, television has become the most popular media of human. There are many advantages of watching TV. At first, TV programs provide us with useful information about science, nature, society, entertainment, etc. Secondly, by watching TV, we can see many things happened all over the world. Finally, watching TV helps us relax after strained working hours. 
PART II: Situation: Your brother is going to hold his wedding. He would like you to give advice on who should be invited. Which do you think is the best choice? 
There are THREE options for you to choose: 
- All acquaintances 
- Only close people 
- Only the ones that invited you to their weddings 
 The answer: In my opinion, only inviting close people is the best choice for my brother’s wedding. As you can see, the wedding is seemed to be the most important event in life, therefore, inviting close people such as relatives, neighbors or close friends to the wedding has become a general rule. The presence of close people will make you happy from their congratulations and they may help you to prepare for your wedding.
Two left choices are really unreasonable. Inviting all acquaintances may make your family confused. Your family can not control the number of guests invited to the party and accommodate them considerately. Inviting only the ones that invited you to their wedding makes your wedding no longer significant in the event that you don’t want to invite them for any reason. Moreover, there is a bad case that they come to the party as a duty or responsibility when they only give you an envelope with money and come back home. 
PART III: TOPIC DEVELOPMENT (~ 5 mins) 
Examiner speaking
Topic: Too much TV can harm children. 
Affect children’s behaviour
How much TV is enough for children? 
Do you think that governments should limit the programs for children? Why?/ Why not? 
How can parents control what their children watch on TV? 
 => There are some negative sides of watching TV a lot among children. The first point I want to say here is that watching TV can affect children’s behavior. Nowadays, TV programs show a lot of violent scenes that make children tend to imitate their actions and become more aggressive. This is very dangerous because the children’s behavior becomes out of control and they can break the laws. Moreover, watching TV a lot can make the chidren’s eyes tired because they have to look at the screen for a long time in a short distance. This thing can cause some problems to their eyes. Next, the children who spend much time sitting in front of TV become more passive and lazier. They rarely move their body parts and they become a coach potato that is one of the main reasons for over weight problems. Besides some disadvantages of watching TV such as affecting children’s behavior, causing eye-diseases or overweight problems, I think watching TV too much result in poor social development. Children who watched excessive television as less cooperative, less imaginative, less enthusiastic about learning, and less happy than those who watched little or no TV.
1. How much TV is enough for children? 
 In my opinion, children should spend less than one hour watching TV in their free time. 
2. Do you think that governments should limit the programs for children? Why?/ Why not? 
Government should develop the useful programs that help children develop comprehensively and some entertainment programs should be encourage for relaxing them after strained studying hours. Government should limit violent programs that are not good for children because those programs affect their behavior. 
3. How can parents control what their children watch on TV? 
I think there are some ways that help parents control what their children watch on TV. The first way is that parents should choose the suitable channels that are appropriate for children’s age and give them the fixed time to watch everyday. Moreover, parents should find the ways to lock the bad programs that can have a bad effect on chidren’s development. More importantly, parents should create healthy enviroment for chidren to play and study from the outside world by encouraging them to take part in outdoor activities that make children heathier and more active, dynamic rather than watching TV at home. Finally, parents should give some punishment to chidren if they don’t obey parents’ rules. 
 SPEAKING TEST 18
PART I
Let’s talk about money. 
Examiner speaking: How much did you spend last week?
As usual, I spend 300,000vnd per week. But last week, I had to buy a gift for my mother for her birthday. Therefore, the total amount of money I spent last week was 800,000vnd.
Examiner speaking: What do you spend most of your money on?
I spend most of my money on books because I like reading. Each month, I use the considerable amount of money to buy some books of my favorite authors.
Examiner speaking: Can money buy happiness? Why?/ Why not?
In my personal opinion, money cannot buy happiness. Money can buy things that make us feel good in the short time. Money just helps us cover our needs. For example, when we are hot and we need an ice cream, we can use money to get it, then we feel happy. However, when we don’t feel hot, eating an ice cream will not make us happy anymore.
Let’s talk about shopping.
Examiner speaking: What is your favorite place to shop?
I like to go shopping at a small shop near my department because it takes me few minutes to go on foot and it has reasonable prices.
Examiner speaking: What was the last thing you bought for someone else? Where and why did you buy it?
Last Saturday was my mother’s birthday. Because it’s winter, I bought her a wool scarf of a famous brand at the mall. It was blue, which was my mother’s favorite color. Having seen this gift, she was extremely happy.
Examiner speaking: Do you prefer going shopping on your own or going with other people? Why?
I tend to go shopping with my friend especially whenever I go to buy clothes. We go window shopping before deciding what we buy. She is really an expert in shopping. She gave me a lot of useful advice. I am very excited to go shopping with her.
PART II: Situation: Your brother would like you to give him some advice on how to lose weight. Which do you think is the best choice? 
There are THREE options for you to choose: 
- Skip meals 
- Use drugs 
- Exercise regularly 
The answer: The best way to lose weight is to exercise regularly. Firstly, doing exercises helps reduce belly fat and strengthen the muscles. Moreover, exercises allow more energy released and help us stronger and healthier. Jogging or going to the gym every day is the good method.
Nowadays, some people often skip their meals or use drugs as the ways to lose weight. These are acceptable in a short time because they can have negative influences on our health. If people don’t eat any of three meals in a day, they tend to die of eating and therefore they can eat much more in the next meals without control. As a result, they become fatter. Using drugs can be able to affect negatively to center nervous system and social activities such as low thinking and memory, ineffective work, easy mistake making, In conclusion, it is necessary to exercise every day to maintain a nice and healthy body.
PART III: 
Topic: Online shopping is a convenient way for people to buy things. 
Have you ever bought something online? Which? 
Do you think that online shopping will be more popular in the future? Why?/ Why not? 
Are there any disadvantages of online shopping? 
=> Hello Ms/Mr Today, it’s my pleasure to be here and talk to you about the topic: online shopping – a convenient way to buy things. My talk will be divided into four parts according to four reasons why people like online shopping.
People like to buy things through online shops for some reasons. Firstly, online shopping helps people save time. Instead of walking along the street and going to the many shops to choose the satisfying things, we now just stay at home and select products very fast through online shopping. Moreover, there are thousands of products available in the online shops. We just go to the website, type key words, then we can see the images and information of products we need. Another reason that makes online shopping more popular is competitive price. Because of the availability of products in the Internet, shoppers set their prices in the most reasonable way to gain most profit and catch much attention of customers. Based on the price set, customers can easily compare the prices of each product and choose the one they prefer. Finally, online shop’s owners don’t need to charge rent so the price of products in online shops tend to be cheaper than that of products bought in the other shop.
That’s all of my talk. Thank you for listening.
Have you ever bought something online? Which?
I usually visit online shops to buy clothes, shoes or accessories. I am a worker so I don’t have much time to go window shopping.
Do you think that online shopping will be more popular in the future? Why?/ Why not?
I believe that online shopping will be more popular in the future because of its all advantages. Online shopping helps people save time selecting thousands of products and purchase the things at the cheap and reasonable prices.
Are there any disadvantages of online shopping?
When buying something online, customers only look at the images of products, customers cannot try them before buying. So if they decide to buy and this product does not fit, they cannot be repaid money. There are a number of unreal online shops. When customers buy products online and pay on the credit card, they receive products with lower quality than these they see on advertisement. Even worse, they can receive nothing at all. Therefore, when buying online, customers should take care of such situations.
 SPEAKING TEST 19
PART I
Let’s talk about museum
Examiner speaking: Do you like visiting museums? If yes, how often do you visit museums? If no, why not? 
I’m really interested in visiting museums. Sometimes, I take my son and his cousins to city museum at weekend. 
Examiner speaking: What are usually displayed in the museum where you live? 
Our city museum shows 54 Vietnamese Ethnic characters. People can find information about foods, clothes, culture, festivals everything is displayed lively.
Examiner speaking: How is visiting museum good or not good for young people? 
Nowadays, young people are not interested in history because of boring. Museum which has not only enough historical knowledge but also lively exhibits. That is the good base for children development.
Let’s talk about special events of your country. 
Examiner speaking: What are important events of your country? 
There are many different important events in my country each year: Lunar New Year, Vuong King death anniversary, Mid-Autumn festival
Examiner speaking: Can you name one or two things in common that people in your country celebrate all events? 
In each event, people always burn insence for reminding their original point.
Examiner speaking: Do you think it is a good idea to celebrate all such events in the same way? 
Every event is the culture typical for each country. Changing is good, however, we have to pay attention to respect and preserve the national characters.
PART II: Situation: An optional subject will be added to the curriculum for secondary students in your city. Which do you think is the best option for secondary students? 
THREE options are suggested: 
- cooking 
- swimming 
- sewing
I will choose cooking because: 
+ It helps them to cook for themselves
+ Children will know how hard their parents are to cook 
+cooking make them appreciate the food more
I don’t choose swimming and sewing because:
+ It might be dangerous for children to do these
PART III: TOPIC DEVELOPMENT (~ 5 mins) 
=> I think knowing a new language is really good. Firstly, language and culture are closely related. When you know a new language, you know a new culture also. You understand what people like to do or hate to do. You are living another life. Secondly, you can get a lot of information easily. Therefore you can show your own ideas and become smarter.
- If I introduce to foreign learners, I will introduce them our poems because I like it so much
- No, British and Vietnamese behave differently 
 SPEAKING TEST 20
PART I
Let’s talk about secondary schools around where you live. 
Examiner speaking : Are there many secondary schools where you live?
Yes, there are. Exactly 3, my neighborhood is quite populous, so there are a lot of children. Therefore, there is a need for schools, especially secondary schools. And a new school is now being built, which will be a modern school in both facilities and teaching methods.
Examiner speaking: What do these schools have in common?
Well, they are all newly built and equipped with modern facilities, such as new desks and chairs, televisions, air-conditioners, projectors, and so on. In addition, the teachers are quite young but well trained. They are very lovely and enthusiastic.
Examiner speaking: In what ways do you think schools play an important part in the Vietnamese educational system?
Schools do play an important role in Vietnamese educational system. Schools provide talented people. As we all know, in Vietnam education mostly means schooling. We have kindergarten, primary schools, secondary schools, high schools, universities and colleges and even higher levels. Schools are the main source of talented personnel supply. Of course, there are many talented people who do not receive schooling, but the number of these people is too small. 
Examiner speaking: When did you start learning English? 
I started to learn English when I was young, exactly when I was in grade 3. I first had English lessons then.
Examiner speaking: Do you think English is a good subject for students to learn at school? Why/ Why not?
I think English is definitely a good subject for students to learn at school, and even the best. English has so many advantages and applications in future job and without English people will have a lot of difficulties in the current context of integration.
Examiner speaking: Do you think that students are learning too many subjects at school now? 
Yes, I do. There are too many subjects that they have to take. Especially primary school students have to learn so many subjects, a lot of which I think are useless for them. And students need time for relax and playing, but entertainment time is quite out of their reach now.
 PART II: Situation: You are planning to take your students to participate in outdoor activities. Which do you think is the most suitable one for your students? 
THREE options of activities are suggested: 
- visiting the zoo 
- camping 
- drawing 
The answer: I am planning to take my students to participate in an outdoor activity and I plan to take them to the zoo. I know my students really like animals. Going to the zoo helps them to widen their knowledge and satisfy their interest. And I think Thu Le Zoo is quite suitable a place for us to go to. It is quite large with a lot of games for children to play. But most importantly, there are a lot of cages of animals which students cannot see at any other places. And my plan for that day is that we will start off in the morning, go around the zoo and sightsee and play games for about three hours, then at noon we leave the zoo for a restaurant for lunch. While having lunch, I will ask students to talk about their feelings after the trip. This is really necessary, giving them an opportunity to express themselves, talking about what they have learned from the trip, and especially enhancing their love for nature and animals. I hope the trip will raise their awareness of protecting nature and animals and at the same time, provide them with interesting and enjoyable moments.
PART III: 
Topic: Marking by teachers at school is good for students. 
Motivate students to learn 
 -
Do you think marking
by teachers to students at school should be encouraged
?
Teachers’
Marking
Your 
own 
ideas
Facilitate students 
with better teaching 
methods
Create a 
competitive 
learning 
environment
Do you think teachers’ marking at school always work ? 
What are the downsides of overuse of punishment at school? 
=>Marking by teachers at school is good for students. In my opinion, this is true in four aspects.
First, marking motivates students to learn. Students always want their efforts to be recognized and marking is an effective method to do so. If s student gets a good grade, which means their achievement is recorded, he will tries his best to have good results again and again.
Second, marking creates a competitive learning environment. When a student in class gets good grades and is praised before the class, others definitely want the same. And they will make continuous efforts to have good results, too.
Third, marking facilitates students with better teaching methods. Traditional teaching methods do not always work and there are needs for better ones. And marking makes it easy for students in learning. 
Finally, my own opinion is that marking is a mirror of student’s capabilities. Though this is not absolute, to some extent marking reflects a student’s efforts and is a measure to evaluate their abilities.
Anyway, marking is effective.
Do you think marking by teachers to students at school should be encouraged?
Yes, I do. Marking will help reinforce students’ studying morale. And without marking, a big number of students will not pay attention to studying, no pressure and then no efforts made.
Do you think teachers’ marking at school always work?
Not always. Sometimes marking causes pressure on students, and so many students as well as parents are stressed and even obsessed to try to get good marks.
What are the downsides of overuse of punishment at school?
Overuse of punishment has some drawbacks. Punishment makes students lose their interest in studying. Punished students get bored and depressed, so they cannot concentrate to continue to study.
Punishment also makes students afraid of studying. They will look at studying with a pessimistic view that studying is stressful and full of punishment and no joy at all. 
In conclusion, I think punishment should be abolished