TEST 1 SPEAKING CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH IELTS 6

CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH IELTS 6

TEST 1

SPEAKING

PART 1 The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, him/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics Example Dancing → Do you enjoy dancing? (Why/ Why not?) → Has anyone ever taught you to dance? (Why/ Why not?) → Tell me about any traditional dancing in your country. → Do you think that traditional dancing will be popular in the future? (Why/ Why not?) → PART 2 Describe someone in your family who you like. You should say how this person is related to you what this person looks like what kind of person he/she is and explain why you like this person. You will have to talk about the topic for 1 to 2 minutes. You have one minute to think about what you’re going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish. PART 3 Discussion topics family similarities Example questions In what ways can people in a family be similar to each other? Do you think that daughters are always more similar to mothers than to male relatives? What about sons and fathers? In terms of personality, are people more influenced by their family or by their friends? In what ways? Festivals and the media Example questions: Where can people in your country get information about genetic research? How do people in your country feel about genetic research? Should this research be funded by governments or private companies? Why?

ANSWER KEY

Model Answer PART 1 Dancing: Q.  Do you enjoy dancing? [Why/Why not?] Answer: Unfortunately, I don’t really enjoy dancing mainly because I have never really been good at it. Besides, I was never really interested to learn dancing either. But, most importantly, I have always felt that “dancing” is such a “domain” which should be dominated and ruled by those who really enjoy this art. Q.  Has anyone ever taught you to dance? [Why/Why not?] Answer: Actually, nobody has ever taught me how to dance simply because I was never really interested in learning to dance. Besides, learning Japanese traditional dancing is not really that easy since they usually require a strong back and strong legs, neither of which I possess, to perform, in my opinion. Q.  Tell me about any traditional dancing in your country. Answer: Most Japanese traditional or folk dancing is related to food producing activities such as planting rice and fishing. One such traditional dance (neither slow nor fast) is called “Noh Mai” which is done to the tune of music, made by flutes and small hand drums. A woman usually performs this dance. Q.  Do you think that traditional dancing will be popular in the future? [Why/Why not?] Answer: Yes, I do think that traditional dancing will be popular in the future since more and more people all over the world are becoming interested to learn about their “national heritage” in order to revive some of their old traditions and cultural aspects as a symbol of their “national pride”. PART 2 1 am never really a kind of person who likes to admire other persons (well, for a girl, I am a rather “free-spirited” person) even when they should be. But, when it comes to my elder sister, I can’t help admiring her even on her worst days. My sister is about 5 years older than me, and since my childhood, she is the person who looked after me in the absence of my parents (they were both working parents). I can still vividly remember those days when I was allowed to play outside with my friends, and I didn’t want to return home, but it was my elder sister who had pulled me up with her two hands and pretty much “snatched” me from the playground. I can also remember those special times when my elder sister kept playing cartoon movies one after another until I actually chose the one which I decided to watch in the end. My elder sister and I loved baking chocolate cake together, and this memory goes back to those days when I had just probably learned to write a full sentence and draw an elephant without any help. Anyway, I don’t really see my elder sister now because we both have different work and school schedules these days. I really admire my sister mainly because she is a truly loving and patient person for her age. In fact, in my 25 years of life, I have never seen my elder sister get mad at me even though I have done plenty of things to annoy her. As an elder sister, she knew her role perfectly well in the absence of our parents as I remember her cooking for me and feeding me even during the days when she fell sick. Finally, I admire my elder sister because of her sheer determination which made her study for a PhD degree at night after having a full-time job during the day time.  PART 3 Discussion topics: Family similarities: Q.  In what ways can people in a family be similar to each other? Answer: Similarities among family members are a common phenomenon in pretty much every family. While these similarities can be evident in many physical features, including eyelashes, eyebrows, hair, nails and physical builds, they are more noticeable in facial features such as nose, eyes and the shapes of the faces. People can be also similar in their behavioural patterns, such as tempers and other human emotions, and talents when they belong to the same family tree. Even some “medical conditions”, like blood pressure and diabetes, can be carried on to the gene structures of people as well if they belong to the same family tree. Q.  Do you think that daughters are always more similar to mothers than to male relatives? What about sons and fathers? Answer: No, I don’t really like to subscribe to the “conventional thoughts” which suggest that daughters are always more similar to mothers than to male relatives nor do I think that fathers and sons are more alike. If contrary to what I just told holds true, we wouldn’t exactly be able to see sisters in a family look and behave differently from each other just as brothers in the same family who are completely different from each other. In fact, children can look like either parent or other relatives in their family tree. Many children can even look completely different from any of the existing family members. Q.  In terms of personality, are people more influenced by their family or by their friends? In what ways? Answer: In my opinion, people generally are more influenced by their families than friends primarily because a family is where a person spends most of his or her time, especially, when growing up as a child. And, whatever people learn from their families, as children, remain with them one way or another for the rest of their lives. As a primary caregiver to children, it is the family who teaches children how to talk, and how to behave with others. Sometimes, children just naturally tend to pick up the behavioural patterns and personality traits, such as talking, humouring and criticizing, of their family members just by watching them from up close. Genetic research: Q.  Where can people in your country get information about genetic research? Answer: Japan started its Human Genome Research in 1989 to lead the International Human Genome Project, an initiative taken by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), in order to uncover the role of the human gene in human health and diseases. So, apart from NHGRI, people also can get genetic research related information from the National Institute of Genetics in Mishima, Shizuoka in my country. Besides, some leading universities in Japan like the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University and Osaka University can also help people with genetic research related information. Q.  How do people in your country feel about genetic research? Answer: People in our Japanese society, in general, are very much in favour of scientific and technological advancements. And, as a result, when we see that DNA home testing is gaining popularity, since more and more people seeking answers to their “risk” of diseases, we, Japanese, are not really that surprised. However, we are also in favour of following scientific ethics at the same time, and that’s exactly why our government has strictly forbidden any kind of genetic editing in fertilized human eggs in order to give childbirth. Q.  Should this research be funded by governments or private companies? Why? Answer: I like to think that genetic research, or any other research for that matter, should be run and funded by the governments only mainly because the governments will be able to have better oversight and control of the research programs than private companies. Besides, if private companies are allowed to fund such types of researches, they will most likely “abuse” the research findings by doing something totally “unethical” for the “profiteering” purposes, just as it has happened on many occasions in the past with other research programmes.