IELTS Speaking Test Patiala 2020
PART 1 – Introduction
[This part of the test begins with the examiner introducing himself or herself and checking the candidate’s identification. It then continues as an interview. In the interview, the examiner asks the candidate about his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics. ]
Topic: Festivals:
Q. Tell me about the most important festival in your country.
A. The most important festive in my country is “Eid”. A majority of our population are Muslims and this is why Eid is the most celebrated and most important festival in our country. We have two Eids – ‘Eid Al-Fitr’ and ‘Eid Al-Adha’, which are religious festivals and Muslims celebrate these two days with great fervour and religious spirit.
Q. What special food and activities are connected with this festival?
A. On the day of ‘Eid Al-Fitr’, which is a special day after a month of fasting, Indonesian people cook and eat a different variety of food including Ketupat and Rendang, which are served with spices and fried chicken. Among the activities, people go to pray in the morning, visits relatives and friends, wear new dresses and embrace each other to great people and cook delicious food to celebrate this day in a special way.
On the day of ‘Eid Al-Adha’, we commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to follow Almighty’s command to sacrifice his son. Muslims around the country observe this event with enthusiasm and religious ardour.
Home to the world’s largest Muslim population, Indonesia gets even more fascinating during the celebration of Eid.
Q. What do you most enjoy about it?
A. As a Muslim, I enjoy the way people forget their differences during the Eid days and embrace each other to wish them good luck. They pray in the mosque in the morning and then dine together with the invited guests. They visit the neighbours and relatives on the day and this is a great way to strengthen the family and social bonds.
People are usually busy around the year, but during the Eid festival, they get a long vacation and meet the people they care and love. I also like the way young children celebrate this special day. They are exhilarated the whole day and all of them wear new dresses, and it gives me immense pleasures to see them happy and juvenile.
Q. Do you think festivals are important for a country? Why?
A. Yes, I do believe that festivals are immensely important for a country and its people because these celebrations represent the cultural and national identity of this country. Besides, festivals also attract international tourists and boost the tourism industry. Finally, working class people need vacations and the festivals are great ways to refresh and invigorate ourselves from the monotonous daily routines. The important festivals also bring people together and eliminate the differences we have in our society.
PART 2 – Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card
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
and explain why this film or TV programme made such an impression on you.
[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]
[Examiner: All right? Remember you have one to two minutes for this, so don’t worry if I stop you. I’ll tell you when the time is up. Can you start speaking now, please?]
Model Answer 1:
I don’t really get to spend much time watching TV programs mainly because I remain busy with other priorities in life. But, sometimes, I do enjoy watching different kind of comedy shows and documentaries because they make me “think” differently. Today, I would like to talk about one such comedy show which made a great impression on me.
I watched the program about a couple of years ago in the absence of my family who were out on a visit to see a “terminally” ill relative of them. Coincidently, the comedy show was also about an “elderly” ill person, with “limited” mobility, who wanted to find his “love” for the last time before dying.
But the problem was, of course, no woman was willing to put up with the old man because he had a very “tight fist”. In other words, he was a very “stingy” man with no intention whatsoever to spend any money on others, even if it meant spending on his “wife”! In fact, he was so “stingy” that he even liked to “sleep” on his money sometimes due to his fear of getting them stolen by others. Anyway, finally, one elderly lady became kind enough to marry him on one condition. And the condition was, the old guy would need to stop sleeping with his money. The guy happily agreed. But, after the marriage, the guy still kept sleeping with his money. The wife saw it and angrily reminded about his “promise”. The guy very calmly answered that “he was not sleeping with his money any more, rather the money was sleeping with him!” Needless to say, that was the moment when I simply burst out in laughter!
I really liked the comedy show mainly because it did highlight on a very natural human instinct which “pushes” people to go to any length, even if it is “lying” or “cheating”, in order to find “love” regardless of age or sex. It also made me realize the fact once again that even though sometimes “money” is what helps us “buy” love, it pushes us away too.
Sample Answer 2:
Nowadays, I do not watch TV much, but when I was a student, I used to watch television a lot. I liked many TV programs and watched them regularly during that time. The TV program that made a strong impression on me was a documentary that I watched on the Discovery Channel.
The TV program was called “The sacrifice of genius” and it was a serial that had 10 episodes in total. I watched every episode and enjoyed them thoroughly. This was mainly a documentary serial which emphasised the sacrifice the famous and genius scientists like Marie Curie, Thomas Edison and 8 other scientists made in their life.
I watched the TV program during the third term of my university years. In our local time, the program was broadcast at 9.00 pm every Thursday. It showed the life and work of the famous scientists and the sacrifices they made for others to make the world a better place. These stories were presented in a fascinating way and each episode was made painstakingly. I got the impression that I was actually watching those great scientists and their works in person!
I have learned so many things about the lives of these scientists and the sacrifices they made. Those sacrifices were unbelievable and after watching this program, I could not stop thinking about those famous scientists and their supreme dedication.
This program has helped me judge life from a different perspective. I realised that working hard to bring something important for others can be more meaningful than our personal achievements like wealth and fame. I later searched for more details of those scientists and other famous people and learned about their life and work. I was actually inspired by this program and started learning deeply about the people who made the world a place where we no longer need to live in the darkness and do not have to compete with the wild animals to collect our food.
Model Answer 3:
My favourite television program is an old series which was produced during the ’80s in America. The title of this serial was “MacGyver” and it was an action TV series. MacGyver was produced for about 5 consecutive seasons, and it was considered as one of the top-rated TV series in its era.
RCTI was the local television station in Indonesia that broadcasted the programme. The TV series was usually played once a week for about one hour, and I remember that it was played on Friday Night at 7.00 pm. So as a teenager during that time, I would have sat in front of the television from 6.45 pm and waited for the programme to start. On the very next day, my friends and I would discuss what had happened in it, how cool and exciting the episode was and how smart and talented Mr MacGyver was.
The unique thing about it is that the main character, MacGyver, did not like to use a gun. Instead of using rifles, that we see many heroes do, he used his creativity in creating tools to fight his enemies. I remembered that in one of the episodes, where he was locked by his enemy in a garage, he found some tools, that are used to open the gate of the garage, he escaped from this place.
I believed I learned some positive things from this series. I learned that we should be encouraged to use our creativity rather than using our physical power and weapons. I believe that MacGyver had influenced so many teenagers during my era and I hope that it would be remade in the future.
PART 3 – Detailed Discussion
Discussion topics:
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 recent years. It can be seen from the number of movie theatres that have been build in many big cities during the past few years. Apart from that, more television channels are showing movies daily and the numbers of movie viewers are increasing day by day. Globalisation, as well as easy access to the internet, has made it possible for people to watch movies that are made on the other side of the planet.
The large TV screens, internet facilities and movie streaming service like Netflix have contributed to the increasing demands for movies all around the world.
Q. In your opinion, will this trend continue into the future?
A. Yes, I do believe that the popularity of cinemas will keep on rising in the future. It is because we are living in a modern world where we have more opportunities to enjoy various genres of movies from different countries even without going to a cinema hall and that facility will enhance in the future. Office hours of the working class population have become longer these days, and it will become even longer in the future, which means that people need some sort of entertainment to unfix their tense and work pressure. And enjoying a favourite movie is a great way to achieve that.
Moreover, movies are becoming more popular among teenagers and because of the variety of movies and the use of technology, people would go to watch movies more than ever before.
Making a film based on real/fictional events:
Q. What are the advantages and disadvantages of making films based on real-life events?
A. The advantages of making films based on a real-life event are that we can learn many things from such films. For example, when we watch a film based on World War I or II, we can learn about the cruelties and catastrophic outcomes of wars. Therefore we should learn to avoid any kind of war and support world peace. The movies based on real events are more important in terms of their underlining stories, lessons, historical figures and facts. This type of films reveal past history to us and create a 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 emphasis 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 the possibility of 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 filmmaker wants to convey the message of the film. If his/her purpose is to present history to the audience, then I believe that it should strictly adhere to the original story. Meanwhile, if the aim of the films is to entertain people, then the director could develop and change the story.
Sometimes films are based on books and novels and in such cases, the filmmakers often change the dialogues and story of the original one. If the story is a fictitious one, I think the filmmaker should change the story to some extent to make the movie more attractive. However, if the story is based on a prominent historical event or a famous person, it should remain as much authentic and true as possible to the original event or character.
Censorship and the freedom of the film-maker/TV producer:
Q. Should films and television be censored or should we be free to choose what we see?
A. In my opinion, films and TV programmes should be censored since they might contain some inappropriate scenes which could be embarrassing for the whole family. The amount of violence, blood-scene, drug abuse scenes and slangs used in TV programmes and movies should also be censored as it might not be appropriate for people of all ages.
Many films use unnecessary adult or violent 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 necessary censorship, I think it will be extricated in the future because people would be able to access movies from many different sources including the internet. 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 gadgets to ensure that they watch appropriate films and TV programmes.
The trends of movie censorship reveal the fact that movies are not censored as strictly as they used to be in the past. The freedom of creative arts will also be a dominating factor for the loose censorship of movies in the future.
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