42 TOPICS FOR IELTS SPEAKING PART 1 & SUGGESTED ANSWERS
PART 1
- Name
- Study/major/Work
- Hometown
- Living place & Accommodation
- Weather/Favourite Season
- Punctual
- TV program
- Museum/gallery
- Holiday/Public holiday
- Film
- Leisure Time
- Sports
- Fruits
- Math
- Sky
- Clothes
- Weekend
- Reading
- Sleep
- Tree
- Newspaper
- Text message or phone calls
- Memorizing
- Friend
- Traveling by train/car/taxi
- Public Transportation
- Letters VS email
- Swimming 29. Snacks
- Photography
- Help
- History
- Handwriting
- Music
- Colour
- Teachers
- Being in a hurry
- Being alone
- Team work
- Countryside
- Social network
- Hanging out with friends
NAME
- Who gave you your name?
- Does your name have any particular (or, special) meaning?
- Do you like your name?
- In your country, do people feel that their name is very important?
- Would you like to change your name?
- Is it easy to change your name in your country?
- Who usually names babies in your country?
- Do you have any special traditions about naming children?
- What names are most common in your hometown?
Answer Example:
My parents gave me my name, my father to be exact. Zhi means knowledge, and Lei means accumulation. So I guess my parents wanted to tell me that being knowledgeable depends on accumulation. You see, they put a lot of pressure on my shoulders with this name. I quite like my name, and I won’t change it for the world, because it is unique. I don’t think that anyone else in China has the same name. It’s part of my identity, and it is meaningful to me.
People in my country pay great attention to their names because they believe that suitable names will bring them good fortune. Sometimes they even change their names for their business and family purpose.
In China, I believe that fathers are in the position of naming their children. Sometimes they will look through some Chinese classical literatures to seek the meaningful words for their children.
Oh, there are some nick names that are very popular in China. For example, Lili means that their parents hope their daughters would be beautiful; and Kuan kuan, indicates that their sons would be magnanimous when they are grown up.
STUDY/WORK
Questions:
Do you work or are you a student?
Is that a popular subject in your country? What are the most popular subjects in China? Why
did you choose that university?
What are your favourite classes/ courses/ subjects at university?
Answer Example:
I’m currently a first year student at Ningbo university. My major is education which I believe is a very meaningful subject. In the future I hope to give back to society by being a responsible high school teacher.
Actually I believe it is quite popular, but only for girls. Since the job most people will apply for after studying education is teaching – girls in China tend to favor this career cuz it’s stable.
In my opinion business is probably the first choice for most people. Nearly everyone wants to be rich so they think that majoring in business would help them achieve this goal. I guess the second most prevalent subject would be computing. You know many students like to play computer games so there is no doubt that people are into that subject.
To be honest the main reason is because my score for the college entrance exam was not high enough to go to a better uni. Another factor I should mention is because Ningbo is my hometown and the uni is it’s quite close to home now – my parents might miss me if they don’t see me for a long period of time.
Children psychology is my all time favorite subject. As I have mentioned before, I would like to be a teacher and this subject teaches us how children think. It’s not only meaningful but also very interesting. I want to be a mother one day so I think it’s important to know why children do certain things or what not to say to children.
HOMETOWN
- What’s (the name of) your hometown (again)?
- Is that a big city or a small town?
- Please describe your hometown.
- How long have you been living there?
- Do you like your hometown?
- Do you like living there?
- What do you like (most) about your hometown?
- Is there anything you dislike about it?
- Do you think you will continue living there for a long time?
Answer Example:
Well, my hometown is the city of Huangshan, which is a small and quiet place. It is surrounded by the mountains so that it is a pretty nice place to live. The weather there is quite pleasant all year round, even in winter the temperatures are quite mild.
Although Huangshan is developing a lot recently, and expanding every year, it is still a traditional town as the new architectures are built in the old-fashioned way. I think that as a tourist city, it should preserve its own characteristic to attract the tourists. In addition, the food there is excellent. You can digest a lot of local snacks that can not be tasted elsewhere. In sum, I believe my hometown is definitely worth a visit.
I was born and raised there. I only moved out when I went to university in 2002. So I had lived there for about 19 years.
Well, my hometown earns a high reputation for its Huangshan Mountain which attracts floods of tourists every year around the globe. It is renowned for its graceful pines, unusual rocks, cloud sea and hot springs. I have been there for two times. I was really attracted by its magnificent natural scenery.
ACCOMMODATION
- What kind of housing/accommodation do you live in?
- Do you live in a house or a flat?
- Who do you live with?
- How long have you lived there?
- Do you plan to live there for a long time?
- (If you answer you haven’t lived there long) What’s the difference between where you are living now and where you have lived in the past?
- Can you describe the place where you live?
- Which room does your family spend most of the time in?
- What do you usually do in your house/flat/room?
- Are the transport facilities to your home very good?
- Do you prefer living in the house or a flat?
- Please describe the room you live in?
- What part of your home do you like the most?
Answer Example:
I live in the pretty spacious apartment in Beijing. I live in the 8th floor of a high-rise, and it covers a little more than 120 square metres. It is a fairly nice place. My apartment has six rooms – one living room, one kitchen, two bathrooms and another two bedrooms. All of them are well-decorated and furnished. There is a big bookshelf beside my kids’ room so that my boy can easily get books to read. In addition, we have a big balcony beside the dining table so that we can enjoy eating dinner and having tea there.
My family spend most of our time in the living room. We’d like to sit around a set of comfortable sofa there and chat with each other or watch TV. But when I am free, I would prefer to read the story books to my son.
I live with my wife and my kid. My apartment is pretty big so there is enough space for everyone. We rented the apartment four years ago. And my kid is in the kindergarten near my home, so we won’t intend to move around in the future.
We sometimes go out by car because it is not convenient to take a taxi in that area, and it nearly takes 30 minutes’ walk to the nearest subway station. So generally speaking, it is not good to go
WEATHER
- What’s the weather like today?
- What kind of weather do you like (best)? (Why?)
- What’s your favourite weather? (Why?)
- What do you usually do during your favourite weather (or season)?
- What’s the weather (usually) like in your hometown?
- Do you like that weather (or, that kind of climate)? (Why?/Why not?)
- How often is the weather good in your hometown?
- What did you do the last time the weather was good?
- Are there any bad points about the weather in your city?
- What is the typical weather in China like?
- Have there been any changes in the weather over the past few years?
- Does the weather ever affect what you do?
- How does the weather affect people (or, you)? (If yes, how?)
- How do you feel when the weather is cloudy?
- Do you always pay attention to the weather forecast?
- Can you give any examples of unusual weather?
- Do you like snow? (Why?)
- Would you prefer to live in a place that has just one, warm season that lasts the whole year or a place with different seasons?
- Do people in China play the same sports in different seasons of the year?
Answer Example:
It’s really freezing today. If I don’t have to take the IELTS exams, I would prefer to stay at home. Actually I prefer the cloudy day as it’s neither too hot nor too cold. And what’s more important to me is that this whether is perfect for photography as the light is soft and tender. So at this time of day, I’ll always go out with my camera to the forest parks to take photos.
In my hometown, as it is surrounded by mountains, the weather is quite pleasant, neither too hot nor too cold. Even in winter, the temperature is still quite mild. The weather is good almost all year round as my hometown is a tourist city and there is no industrial pollution out there.
The bad points about the weather in my hometown are that it doesn’t snow as heavily as up north like Beijing. It does snow, but is just a little bit. Every time I saw children having a snowball fight or making a snowman on TV, I really envied them. It was really pity.
I believe though China is a vast country, there are four distinct seasons in most places. But unfortunately in recent years, many places in summer are becoming boiling hot. I guess the
