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IELTS SPEAKING Materials Q&A

IELTS SPEAKING RANGE OF QUESTIONS & SAMPLE ANSWERS
APRIL 2018

Q. Where are you from?
A. I am originally from Butwal. This town is located in Rupandehi district in the Lumbini Zone of Western Nepal. And for the time being, I am staying in Kathmandu, which is the capital city of Nepal. To be more specific I have been living here since the year 2015.
Q. What are the most common foods in your locality?
A. It’s quite a complex question for me because where I am originally from is a place where people are from different castes and ethnicities. However among the variations of foods common in this area I should choose chapatti, also called Roti as the most common food item. It is made of flour. Chapati or Roti with vegetable curry is very tasty and delicious. It is the most preferred food item for lunch, breakfast, and dinner. Among other food items, rice, chicken curry and different sweets are very common as well. 
Q. What is your favourite menu? Why?
A. My favourite menu item is MO: MO. It’s a delicious Chinese food item. Mostly I prefer to eat this item whenever I feel hungry in the breakfast time. Because of its taste and my personal preference of this menu in the breakfast, I consider it to be my most favourite menu. 
Q. What are some reasons that people eat at restaurants?
A. Social gathering, a variation of taste, different menu, fondness of exotic foods and access to ready-made foods are the main reason people eat in a restaurant. Eating in a restaurant offers a better environment, opportunity to meet people and to taste foods that are not usually cooked at home. Many people also eat at a restaurant to celebrate different events and to meet friends and relatives there. 
Q. Do you like to eat at a restaurant or at home? Why?
A. I usually do not prefer to eat at a restaurant because I like to eat homemade foods that are mostly cooked by my mother. My family has not got the habit to go to a restaurant and I guess from that I also learned to eat at home. My mother is an exceptional cook and she cooks delicious and tasty foods at home. My father always had the doubt on the quality of foods in a restaurant. That is why I scarcely eat at a restaurant.
OR
A. I usually prefer homemade foods. My mother is an excellent cook and I am concerned about the quality of foods we eat at outside. A modest meal in a quality restaurant is also very expensive in my city. For all these reasons I mostly prefer to eat homemade foods.
Q. Describe a popular food in your country? Why do people like this food?
A. Soup is a very popular food item in my country. In fact, we have a rich tradition of serving a variety of soups to our guests. The ingredients are easy to purchase from nearby shops, it is easy to prepare and it is healthy. For all these reasons soup has become a very popular food item among people in my country.  
Q. What is an important future plan you have?
A.  I never have a specific future plan. Instead of thinking about future I believe it’s better to focus on the present. In terms of the future plan, I want to lead my life happily and to have an honest life.
Q. What do you do in your leisure time?
A.  Usually, I spend my free time by reading books, using the Internet, enjoying movies and listening music. Sometimes I hang out with my close friends.
Q. Do you like music? What types of music do you listen often?
A. Yes, I like music very much. I often listen to music on my free time or whenever I feel stressed. Music is like very refreshing for me. Usually, I prefer classical music with meaningful lyrics. Contemporary rock music is also in my favourite list.
Q. Why do the teenagers like rock music?
A. I believe teenagers are attracted to the high-pitched music and heavy instrument used in the rock music. The rock singers represent the contemporary issues in their music and that’s another reason teenagers are attracted to the rock music. 
Q. Which one is better? Classical or pop music? Why?
A. That varies from person to person. While some people like listening to mostly classical music, other groups prefer pop music. The preference of music varies based on geographical location, age groups and level of education.  
I personally prefer classical music over pop music. But as I said, which one is better is solely dependent on a person’s preference of music.
Q. Who is your favourite musician?
A.  My favourite musician is A.R. Rahaman, who is basically an Indian musician. He won Oscar award for his tremendous contribution to the Indian music as well as inherent talent in music composition. He has a natural talent for music and has created several popular songs, lyrics. 
Q. Do you listen to foreign music or music of your language?
A.  I like listening both local and foreign music. I used to listen to Hindi music till I was 12 years old. But now I listen to both English and Hindi songs. 
Q. How politicians help make the world a better place?
A. Politicians are in the leading roles in a country. They are obliged to prepare a roadmap for the nation and also provide direction to other parts, like the economy, administration, improvement and infrastructure development of a country. Though not all politicians are honest, the world has still got many politicians who sacrifice their lives for the betterment of the nations. They make better policy to run the country, they protest unjust, they sacrifice their personal lives and make the nations prosperous. 
Q. What qualities a good leader should have in your opinion? 
A. A good leader is always honest. He will think and work for others and would not be tempted by any forces or pressure. He should have a clear vision. He could give direction to other members. He is an observer, mentor, evaluator and guide for others.
Q. What responsibility a good politician has towards his countrymen? 
A. Well, a good politician should focus solely on the development of the countrymen. They also should represent democracy. Political modernization is a key task for them in a country like Nepal. Further, political education of the followers, recruiting leadership etc. are going on but at a slow pace. Articulation of public interest should also be focused more and more. The entire political system should be more communicative to extend cooperation among the countrymen. The present weak maintenance of the democratic inputs should be rechecked and the politicians should make them stronger. They also should come forward to reduce income inequality, poverty, improve the livelihood of people and overall political conflicts. 
Q. Why young people these days want to stay away from politics? 
A. Generally, the young people in Nepal do not find any interest in to get engaged with politics. And a certain number of reasons are liable behind this matter. Frankly, the existing political system is not up to the mark and evaluation of the political activists is incomplete in most of the cases. Few incidents of corruption have also led to discouraging youths in keeping them away from politics. Besides, they are reluctant to politics as there is no specific financial gain. Most of the Nepalese youths prefer a peaceful life and when they get involved with politics, they lose the chance of a happy life too. 
Q. Do you think the political leaders in your country are doing exactly what people expect from them? Why/Why not?
A. This is a bit controversial issue. The political leaders of Nepal are not performing their roles in the right manner. The expectation of people is not fulfilled in most of the cases. They actually do not play their legislative and authoritative roles to move for the country's development. Still, poverty is a concerning issue in Nepal. Reduction of poverty becomes the prime agenda of political parties and leaders but in reality, they hardly can manage time to care for the issues. Restoring democracy to its fullest extent is the other responsibility of the political leaders, but they actually take less care in this regard. 
Q. Political conflicts often cause harm to people's life and property. Do you think politicians should be accused of any political instability and conflict and be punished?
A. Of course, the political leaders in Nepal should be accused and punished for the political instability and conflicts. Due to the political struggles, the lives and properties of mass people come under threat. It mostly happens when the political leaders cannot reach agreement on any issue. And their supporters cause the damages that are entirely unacceptable. Consequently, the ordinary people suffer a lot and even serious damages are caused to lives and properties. Families become helpless and in some cases, they lose their ways of living. Considering all the aspects, it is evident that all the matters take place for the negligence and insincerity of political leaders. Hence, there should be penalties against those leaders who are responsible for such ambivalence and conflicts.

PART 2 - Cue Card 
Topic: 
Describe a teacher from your past that you remember.
You should say:
  • What class the teacher taught you and how old you were
  • What subject did he teach
  • What the teacher’s special qualities and characteristics were
And explain why you remember this teacher.
[You will have one to two minutes to talk about this topic. You will have one minute to prepare what you are going to say] 

Possible Answer:
Throughout my academic life, I found and came into contact with several teachers whom I'll never forget mostly because of their personality and quality teaching. Such a teacher who I remember clearly was Mr Bhattarai who taught us English at our higher secondary level. 
I was then about 17-18 years old and was in class Eleven. He had an admiring personality and a different way of teaching. He was very punctual and honest and inspired us to be so. He never pressurised us on studying and always told us stories on different literal events. In his classes, we never felt bored. He had a gift of making the lessons interesting and attracting students to his stories. Much of the literature I now know is because of him.  
My major was Science and I have not studied English that much but whatever interest I grew on English was mostly his contribution. I can still recall the stories I heard from him. He never misbehaved with any of his students and all of his students admired him very much. I learned later on that he was an honest and benevolent man in his personal life. I still remember him because he was a good man, a wise mentor and a nice person who taught us things that we still remember.

Part 3: Details Discussion: 

Q. What kind of person makes a good teacher?
A. First of all, the person who has the passion for teaching would naturally become a good teacher. It is true for any other profession as well. Then deep subject knowledge, patience, rhetoric power, ability to convince and argue, fine interaction quality and good behaviours are some key points to become a good teacher. A good teacher inspires pupils and set examples for them. Finally, a person with compassion, ability to understand others’ psychology often excels as a good teacher.  
Q. Why people choose to become teachers?
A. For some people, it is their dream and passion to become a teacher. For others, it is just a job and they are teachers because they have not got any other better professions. For others, teaching is a noble profession and they never leave this profession even though they can switch their jobs. In many societies, people honour and respect those who are in the teaching profession and that is why many people choose to become teachers. 
Q. Do you think education will change in the future? How?
A. Though the core value and norm of education will always remain the same – to enlighten people, the form and system of education change over time. In the future technology would be greatly used to teach, learn and assess students in educational institutes and distance learning would be very popular among students. More subjects would be introduced and more technical and technological subjects would emerge. Practical experience in studies would be given more priority in the near future. 
The traditional classroom-based education would be replaced in some places with the computer and the Internet-based education system and more students would pursue their education from foreign universities and colleges than they do now.  
Q. How does technology affect education?
A. Technology has already been adopted in many educational institutes as it makes the process of learning and teaching easier and more convenient. Technology will replace some traditional ways of teaching and would make online classes and online assessment more popular. Students can access to a vast amount of information related to their subjects through the Internet and can read e-books. 
The time required to take examination and classes has greatly reduced and teachers now connect to their students via the Internet. Online courses, online teaching, online registration and certification have changed the way people used to study in the past. 
In my opinion, technology offers a huge flexibility and advancement in education and we have already started accepting these benefits. 
Q. Who do you should be responsible for teaching manners and good behaviour to young children - parents or teachers? Why?
A. Well, this is an interesting question. For some reason, I think family is the best place to learn good behaviours. In fact, it is the responsibility of parents to teach manners and good behaviours to their offspring. Before attending any academic institution, the children spend most of the time with their parents at home. So, I think this is the best time for them to learn good manners. And the teachers are responsible to nurture the manners to be used perfectly in the real-life situation. But if we rely on teachers alone, undoubtedly the young children will learn less than they are expected. 
Q. What modern techniques teachers should teachers adopts to make the teaching more fun and intuitive, especially for children? 
A. Well… Everything is changing in this modern era and similarly, the traditional ways of teaching have lost its appeal to students. Hence, the teachers should focus on some other aspects to make teaching more fun for children. Replacing the textbooks with multimedia slides may be an interesting way. Addition of graphical images or audio-visual documentation of the text or to represent some topics or information may provide some better results in teaching. Adopting some recreational activities during the class hours may also have some good results. These way students will not feel bored; rather get interested in the classes.


Sources: IELTS Mentor/Cambridge IELTS (April 2018)

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