Part 2 samples speaking Ielts

Improve your english speaking with our IELTS speaking practice test. Designed for 2 people working together. Take the speaking test today. Should you use big words in the IELTS speaking test? Chris Pell, winner of the British Councils Teaching English blog award for his post ...

A law

In many countries it is now illegal to use a mobile phone while driving You could start

by talking about the popularity and benefits of mobile phones, and explain that people want to be able to answer calls wherever they are Then you could explain the dangers of being distracted while driving; this law could reduce the number of road accidents, and therefore save lives

Something naughty

1 I cheated in a test at primary school by looking at the answers in my book under the table

2 I was about years old, it was a lesson Give some more background about the lesson, the test, the teacher etc

3 I hadn't studied for the test, I didn't want to fail and have to retake the test at lunchtime Give reasons why you didn't have time to study

4 The teacher caught me and told my parents Explain their feelings: disappointed, angry, embarrassed Explain the punishment e.g they 'grounded' me for a week (informal expression, meaning 'they didn't allow me to go out or see friends')

Practical skill

1 I'm going to talk about driving, which is a practical skill that I use almost every day

2 I learnt to drive a car by taking lessons when I was 19 My parents paid for me to have lessons with a professional driving instructor I learnt by practising: first I had to get used to steering, changing gears and using the mirrors, then we practised things like reversing and parking I also had to learn the highway code

3 As a 19-year-old, I wanted to have the experience of driving a car, and I was fed

up with having to walk or take the bus or train whenever I wanted to go somewhere I also knew that driving would be an extremely useful skill

4 Being able to drive has helped me in so many ways The public transport where I live isn't very good, so I travel to work by car most days Having a car makes my life much easier when it comes to things like shopping or visiting family and friends (Last week, for example, )

Phone

I'm going to describe my mobile phone Possessing a smart phone was my dream My parents knew that and they bought it for me as a present when I passed the university entrance exam It’s a really nice phone with touch screen, so it’s very convenient to use

I use the phone to keep in touch with friends and family, for communication by voice, text and email It has various features like video, MP3 player, wireless Internet, digital camera and games It's easy to share photos and music I use it for almost everything, it even has a calendar that reminds me about appointments

My phone is an essential part of my life It holds my contacts, my photos, my music collection I've got instant access to my favourite websites It's like having my whole life

in my pocket I couldn't live without it

Laptop

I’m going to describe a piece of electronic equipment that I find useful It is the laptop I have had it for nearly two years and it was a gift from my parents on my birthday it’s not difficult at all for me to learn to use it because I just needed to look at the manual and follow the instructions about how to turn it on, turn it off, how to install software and many other things The most significant thing is that it is portable And its portability features offer several distinct advantages: first is its productivity When using a laptop, I don’t have to waste my time For example, I can manage my email during a long-hour commute by bus or do my homework in the university coffee shop during short break between lectures Second is its immediacy When I carry my laptop, it means I have instant access to various information, personal and work files Immediacy allows better collaboration between students, as a laptop can be flipped open to present a problem or a solution at anytime, anywhere I think it is really useful because it has everything integrated into the chassis I am a teacher of English and at school, I can use my laptop to

bring texts, sound, and pictures into a classroom With the laptop and things shown on the projector overhead, I can attract and retain students’ attention I can speed up the teaching process and make difficult-to-explain ideas straight forward This means that I can spend more time answering students’ questions and catering for other needs

Furniture

Furniture is a part and parcel of every home There is a lot of furniture in my home also There are beds and sofa sets, chairs and tables, cupboards and dressing tables But here I would like to talk about a piece of furniture that I use very often This is a study table I have this table in my room This is a special table which my father got made for me by a carpenter in my home town The body of the table is made of pure teak wood The top is

of board which has a grey mica topping This is bigger than a conventional study table It

is L shaped On one side I have set my desktop PC There are shelves on the top on which

I have set my books There are drawers on one side in which I keep my stationery material and CDs and DVDs There is a chair which can be slid inside the table when not

in use I find this table very convenient when I have to study or work on my computer I have a beautiful table lamp on one side The light falls on my books from the left side I just love this table So, this is one important item of furniture in my house

Kite

Kite flying is popular in my country Kites are often played with around the Qingming Festival in April I like kites very much and I can make kites myself Once, I made a kite

It was a beautiful swallow Firstly, I collected 3 sticks and paper The paper was adorned with paintings Secondly, I used 3 sticks to control the paper, one linked to its neck, the other two linked with its wing And then, the work was completed The kite flew lightly

in the sky as if the swallow was greeting the coming of the spring season

A toy: Lego car

One special toy that I remember getting was a Lego car It was a birthday present from

my parents I can't remember exactly how old I was, but I was probably about 10 or 11

The special thing about this car was that I had to build it myself out of hundreds of pieces

of Lego The pieces came in a box with a picture of the completed car on the front, and I had to follow step-by-step instructions to put all the pieces together in the correct way This wasn't an easy task because the car even had an engine, movable seats and gears It took me a day or two to make, and required a lot of concentration

When the car was finished it looked great, and I felt a sense of accomplishment I seem to remember that I didn't play with the car very much; the fun part had been the process of building it

Film

- one of the greatest films ever made

- a blockbuster movie

- a masterpiece

- a brilliant story

- the actors' performances are outstanding

- it's compelling to watch

3 idiots

Lessons:

- Never Try To Be Successful: Excellence always creates success So, never run after the success, let it happen automatically in the life

- Passion Leads To Excellence: When your hobby becomes your profession and passion becomes your profession You will be able to lead up to excellence in the life Satisfaction, pleasure, joy and love will be the outcome of following passion

- Learning Is Very Simple: Teachers do fail Learners never fail Learning is never complicated or difficult Learning is always possible whatever rule you apply

Farhan, Raju and are three engineering students who share a room in the residence of Imperial College of Engineering (ICE) Farhan is studying engineering to pursue his father's wishes over his own wish — to become a wildlife photographer Raju is studying

to raise his family's fortunes and get them out of poverty On the other hand, Rancho studies for his simple passion in machines and devices He believes that one should follow excellence, not success, as success will come itself if excellence is followed Eventually, Rancho has positively influenced his friends and they all become successful

TV programme (Discovery)

TV is always the media king It offers hundreds of TV programs to viewers Without going out of my house I can see a football match, take part in a game show or learn a foreign language, and I can even know what is going on the other side of the world My favorite program is called Discovery As to why it is my favorite, I would like to mention the following Firstly, it is not science fiction but a documentary on real life events and happenings For example, it had a program on the latest eclipse of the sun that occurred at the end of the year Secondly, it often has items about nature For example, last week it explained how some birds have adapted to survive in a desert This program not only helps me to relax but also is a great source of knowledge People should watch this program, especially children Because personally I think it’s good to extend their knowledge

A website

Facebook is a social networking website It's a free website that allows you to keep in contact with friends or find people you've lost touch with It's one of the most popular websites in the world, with millions of users in different countries

All of my friends use Facebook One of my friends sent me an email inviting me to join I signed up and I've been using it ever since

Facebook allows you to keep up to date with what friends are doing You have a profile page with information and status updates so that you can tell everyone what you're doing You can post messages to other people's pages You can upload photos and videos I find Facebook most useful for organizing my life, keeping in touch with friends and storing photos I think social networking websites have become part of everyday life

A garden

It’s my friend’s garden Having a garden is always my dream so I enjoy going there so much He lives about 1 hour away from me in the next town and we usually get together every week to catch up on what’s been happening and relax for a while Sometimes we

have lunch together in the garden or just chill out and have a couple of beers in the evening

It’s a beautiful place, it’s secluded and quiet, so it’s the perfect place to relax It’s surrounded by some really tall trees, and over the tops of them you can see the mountains far away It’s not really big about 200m2, but it’s full of trees shrubs, plants and flowers There are many different colours and that makes it interesting too I’m not much of a

‘naturalist’ but my friend knows all the names of the plants and flowers and can tell you all about them: where they come from, when they flower, things like that It faces West

so in the afternoon the sun shines right on it His dog loves sleeping under one of the big trees in the corner of the garden, where it’s nice and shady and cool

There’s a big wooden table and some chairs on the patio in the garden My friend sometimes works there with his laptop It’s a nice change from working in the office I guess And interestingly, there’s a hammock which is great for an afternoon siesta after lunch or for relaxing in the evening and watching the stars appear

It really is idyllic and I always look forward to going there to visit him and spend some time there It’s like disconnecting from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and that’s what makes it special – whenever I come back from spending some time there I feel relaxed and refreshed

Hobby: Photography

1 Think about question words: What, when, where, why, who with:

One of my hobbies is photography I’ve got two digital cameras: one small pocket-sized camera that I carry around with me, and one bigger, more expensive camera that I use on special occasions I take photos so that I have a record of the things I’ve seen or done Most of my photos are of friends and family, but I also take pictures of interesting things that I see

2 Describe opinions and feelings:

I like photography because it’s a creative hobby and it makes you notice the world around you I love capturing special moments or unusual or beautiful images, and it’s a great feeling to be able to look back through my pictures and relive different experiences

3 Tell a story related to the topic:

The last time I took photos on a special occasion was at my friend’s wedding a few weeks ago I got some great pictures of the bride and groom and their guests celebrating After the wedding I made an album of all the best pictures and sent it to my friend as a present

Something that makes u angry

A recent situation that made me angry was getting stuck in a traffic jam on the way to meet some friends It was last Sunday lunchtime, and I didn’t expect there to be much traffic; people don’t work on Sundays, so the roads aren’t usually very busy

Everything was going well until suddenly I saw a queue of cars on the road in front of

me I had no choice but to join the queue and wait to get past whatever was causing the delay It turned out that it was caused by some roadworks, and it took me an extra 30 minutes to get past them

Getting stuck in traffic congestion doesn’t usually make me angry, but this time it did, mainly because I wasn’t expecting it and I knew that my friends were waiting to meet me for lunch I felt frustrated and powerless because there was nothing I could do to change the situation, and I had no idea how long I would be sitting there waiting When I finally saw the reason for the congestion, I was relieved that I was close to getting past the roadworks, but I still felt a bit stressed knowing that I was half an hour late

Social problem: Teenage pregnancy

Causes:

- Society: Lack of sex education -> lack of sufficient knowledge of the preventive measures: using birth control devices or preventive medicine

- Parents’ fault: Many parents don’t have time to care about their children As a results, teens feel detached, lonely especially the teen girls They will seek love in other places such as in relationships with young boy or even older men, which can lead to teenage pregnancy

- Teenager: They are not mature enough to know how pregnancy can influence their lives

Effects:

- Cannot keep up with the class because they have to spend time to their children -> lead to a boom in the rate of students who drop out of schools

- Financial issues: the more people in the family, the more money you need to spend And this financial burden is usually on the teenager’s parents

- Teenagers are not mature enough to educate their children Consequently, their children are often not well-educated and might become the victims of social problems in the future too

A song

I love listening to music and I have many favorite songs One of the songs I frequently listen to is a French song named Bonjour Vietnam It is sung by Pham Quynh Anh, a Vietnamese Belgian girl, who has a beautiful and pianissimo voice I knew this song through a newspaper It has been a phenomenon for a long time in both Vietnam and overseas Many people, especially the overseas Vietnamese, got a lump in their throat, even burst into tears and commended profusely when they heard the song Obviously, I'm not an exception, every word in this song impressed on my memory with

a strange feeling The word Vietnam, which is resounded in the end of the song, has brought to every listener a holy feeling All familiar images of Vietnam were mentioned

in the song with a tenderly love through her voice The composer got the sources of inspiration from Quynh Anh herself He saw an image of Vietnamese women with a graceful act in her and they have evoked him some heart-breaking memories of the war in Vietnam Temples, statues of Buddha, paddy fields and roads, houses are very familiar to

us but she has never seen That's why the song has that name like this She wants to say hello to her motherland, to every simple things in that The song is all overseas Vietnamese's sentiments that were not born in Vietnam but are always tenterhooks to come back to their native country It has contributed to bring pictures of Vietnam to all over the world

A person you admire

I’m going to talk about my father because he has been a major influence in my life My father was always a good role model for me as I was growing up He’s hard-working, patient and understanding; he’s also got a good sense of humour and seems to get on well with everybody Hopefully I’ve inherited some of these traits

I admire my father because I think he brought me and my brothers/sisters up well; he was quite strict but always fair, and he has always been someone I can turn to for advice I think my father set a good example by working hard and having a positive outlook on life I remember that he used to leave for work early and come home quite late, but he always made time for me and my brothers/sisters

A famous person you admire

The famous person whom I like is a special singer His name is Ha Anh Tuan In my opinion, nowadays, there are lots of singers who sing kinds of music galore Therefore, it

is easy for you to have a person to admire and so do I I remember exactly the first time I listened to him At that time, he was a competitor in a contest named “Sao mai điểm hẹn” At that time, the person I wanted to watch was Hoang Hai because I had read an article saying that Hoang Hai was the prominent candidate However, inadvertently, I could not watch Hoang Hai’s performance but Ha Anh Tuan‘s performance I really was attracted by the way he sang He went to town in every melody I could say that his performance was out of the world I have many reasons why I admire him Firstly, he has

an outstanding way of singing which distinguishes him with others It is very natural and simple but precise Secondly, he is a kind of person who dares to think, dares to do and dares to accept, which influences me most He had temporarily abdicated his studying in Germany to come back to Vietnam to fulfill his passion of singing Next, I suppose he is