IELTS Speaking Test - Sample 5
Part 1 - Introduction
- Hello. Could you show me your identification card, please?
- Hello. Sure, here you are.
Festivals--
Q. Tell me about the most important festival in your country.
A. Tet is the most important festival of the Vietnamese calendar. It marks the beginning of the lunar new year, which is celebrated in China as well. Festivities occur throughout the country, but this is a family holiday and many of the traditions of observance occur in the home. The official holiday lasts three days, but celebrations continue for at least the first week of the new year.
Q. What special food and activities are connected with this festival?
A. Food is an important part of the Tet celebrations. The Vietnamese believe that what a person does on New Year's Day dictates the course of the rest of the year, and eating a lot represents the hope that no one will go hungry in the coming year. In the days leading up to the holiday, the Vietnamese traditionally give gifts of food to family members and friends. The traditional meal includes foods such as bang, a bamboo, and pork soup; Banh Chung, a sticky rice cake filled with pork and beans; and orange sticky rice. Even the ancestors are given food gifts. Families leave a five-fruit tray at the altar.
Q. What do you most enjoy about it?
A. What I enjoy most about the festive is that I could see people spend some times with their big families once in a year. They would pray and dine in together, and it feels great to see that. People are usually busy at their colleges or office and during the Tet they get a long vacation and meet the people they care. I also like the way small kids celebrate this special day. They seem to be so happy and contended and all of them wear new dresses and that gives me immense pleasures.
Q. Do you think festivals are important for a country? Why?
A. Yes, I do believe that festivals are important because they could represent the identity of a county. And then festivals could also attract tourists and would boost the tourism industry sector. Working class people need vacations and the festivals are great ways to refresh the tiredness of people that they feel from the monotonous daily routines. The important festivals also bring people together and eliminate the classifications we have in our society.
Part 2 - Cue Card
Topic:
Describe a film or a TV programme which has made a strong impression on you.
You should say:
- what kind of film or TV programme it was, e.g. comedy
- when you saw the film or TV programme
- what the film or TV programme was about
Sample Answer:
Well, I do not watch TV that often nowadays but when I was a student, I used to watch televisions a lot. In those days, I watched mostly news and some selective TV programs. The TV program that made a strong impression on me was a documentary on Discovery Channel. Another favorite television program was an old action television series called MacGyver which was produced during the 80’s in America. It's produced for about 5 consecutive seasons, and it's considered as one of the top-rated TV serials in its era.
Vietnam Cable Television VTVcab in Vietnam that rebroadcasted the program. I was a teenager during that time.
The unique thing about it is that the main character, MacGyver did not like to use the gun as his weapon. Main asset is his practical application of scientific knowledge and inventive use of common items—along with his ever-present Swiss Army knife. The clever solutions MacGyver implemented to seemingly unsolvable problems—often in life-or-death situations requiring him to improvise complex devices in a matter of minutes—were a major attraction of the show, which was praised for generating interest in the applied sciences, particularly engineering, and for providing entertaining storylines. All of MacGyver's exploits on the show were 'ostensibly vetted' to ensure a basis on scientific principles. In the few cases where MacGyver used household chemicals to mix up poisons, explosives, or other items deemed too dangerous to be accurately described to the public, details were altered or left vague.
I believe that MacGyver had influenced so many teenagers in my era. I hoped that it could be remade in the future.
Part 3 - Detailed Discussion
People’s cinema-going habits nowadays
Q. Do you think the cinema has increased or decreased in popularity in recent years?
A. I believe that the popularity of cinema has increased in the past few years. It can be seen from the number of movie theaters that have been build in many big cities. It means that the demand of cinema has increased and more business people are investing on the building the cinema halls. Apart from that, more television channels are showing movies daily and the numbers of movie viewers are increasing day by day. The globalization and easy access to foreign films made it possible for people to watch movies that were produced and released on the other side of the planet.
Q. In your opinion, will this trend continue into the future?
A. Yes, I do believe that it will grow more in the future. It is because that we are living in the modern world where we have more opportunity to view the variety genres of movies from different countries. The working hours have become longer and the works are more stressful these days. This means that people need more entertainment to loosen their tense, and one of them is by going to the cinema. Movies are becoming more popular among the teenagers and because of the variety of movies people would go to watch movies more.
Making a film or TV drama of real/fictional events
Q. What are the advantages and disadvantages of making films of real-life events?
A. The advantages of making the film based on a real-life event are that we could learn many things from such films. For example, when we make a film based on a true story of World War 1 or 2, we can learn about the cruelties of war, therefore we should avoid any kind of wars and support the world peace. The real event movies are more important in terms of underlining story, lesson, historical figures, and facts. This type of film reveals the past among us and creates the lasting impression on the viewers.
However, among the drawbacks of such films, we can say that it is not easy to produce such movies that would be based on true facts and entertaining at the same time. Producers often need to put extra emphasize on choosing casts, costumes, and locations to make such movies. Such films might be biased sometimes and would spark a flame of criticisms. Then there is a chance that it won’t be able to attract all types of movie viewers and that the box office hits of such movies are often uncertain.
Q. How important do you think it is for a filmmaker to remain true to the original story?
A. Well, I think it depends on how the director wants to convey the message of the film. If his purpose is to show history, then I believe that it should stick to the original story. Meanwhile, if the aim of the films is for popularity or entertainment, then the director could develop the story.
Sometimes many books are converted to films and in such cases, the film makers often change the dialogues and story of the original one. If the story is a fictitious one, I think the film makers should change a bit to make the movie more attractive. However, if the story is based on a prominent historical event or person, then they should remain as much authentic and true as possible to the original event or character.
Censorship and the freedom of the filmmaker/TV producer
Q. Should films and television be censored or should we be free to choose what we see?
A. In my opinion, I think films and TV programs should be censored, since they might contain some in appropriate scenes which could be embarrassing for the whole family. The amount of violence, blood-scene, drug abuse and slangs used on TV programs and movies should also be censored as it might not be appropriate for people of all ages.
Many films show adults or violence scenes these days, and they should be censored, since it could have negative effects on people, especially on the children’s imagination.
Q. How do you think censorship laws will change in the next 20 years?
A. Well, even though I support censorship, but I think it will be lost in the future because people would be able to access films from many sources including the internet these days. For example, children will be able to download films in their tablet PCs and watch films that they like. Therefore it is important for us to monitor our children’s gadget these days, to ensure that they watch appropriate films.
The trends of movie censorship reveal the fact that movies are not censored as strictly as the used to be in the past. The freedom of creative arts will also be a dominating factor for the loose censorship of movies.
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