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Written by IELTS Mentor

IELTS Speaking Test # 60

Part 1 - Introduction & Interview

Let’s talk about the internet.

Q. How often do you use the internet?
Answer: I use the internet as often as 6/7 times a day at least when I am occupied working at my job. But when I am not working or not occupied with anything important, I use the internet every now and then to check my emails, to listen to some of my favourite music or to read some articles or news stories.

Q. What do you use the internet for?
Answer: I use the internet in order to keep in touch with my friends and families through emails and “chat messenger” as well as to conduct my day to tasks at the office. I also use the internet to check the status of my friends on various social media such as Facebook and Twitter and to read articles or news. Finally, I also use it to find some important information as well as to do some shopping online.

Q. Do you have your own computer at home?
Answer: Yes, I do have a computer at home, an old but powerful desktop computer. I use this desktop computer mostly to play some video games from time to time. However, for other uses, such as writing emails, preparing documents, or chatting with friends online, I use my laptop.

Q. What’s your favourite website? [Why?]
Answer: My favourite website is www.google.com because it is the best and most popular online search engine tool which provides information on virtually anything and everything in this world in seconds if not any faster. Another reason, for which Google is my favourite website, is that it allows me to search (including image and video search) in my own language.

Q. Do you think children should be allowed unsupervised access to the internet?[Why/Why not?]
Answer: No, I don’t think that children should be allowed unsupervised access to the internet because there are so many different kinds of contents on the internet which are not suitable at all for children. Besides, many criminal-minded people are on the internet who always try to take “unfair advantage” of the vulnerable children. This is why parents and other legal guardians should supervise their children's online activities.

Part 2 - Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card

[The topic for your talk will be written on a card which the examiner will hand you. Read it carefully and then make some brief notes.]

Describe a gift/present that someone gave to you which you liked a lot.

You should say:

• what the gift/present was
• who gave it to you
• why the person gave you a gift/present

and explain why you liked that gift/present so much.

[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.]

Model Answer:
I love giving and receiving presents whether they are small or big, and whether there is an occasion for it or not. However, I haven’t received many very expensive presents in my life, and so, when I actually got one from a person I adore so much, my joys knew no bounds!

It was actually a couple of years ago when I was celebrating my 25th birthday, and luckily my elder brother was also present there. By the way, my elder brother lives abroad for a job, and we don’t really see each other very often unless there is a very special occasion. However, even though celebrating birthday certainly didn’t fall in the category of such “special occasion”, I was so happy that my elder brother was just present there, nonetheless. Anyway, everybody brought their presents, and it was actually my brother who collected all those presents for me. Finally, it was the turn for my elder brother to give his “gift”, and we were all waiting in anticipation of something “magical”. And, magical indeed it was because my brother gave me a present which I always have wanted but never had the “means” to get one! In fact, it was a brand new and shiny black colour iPhone of the latest model with its perfect size, and my brother told me that he had to spend a lot of time to find that present for my upcoming birthday so that I would actually like it!

Anyway, I liked the gift so much so because it was from my brother whom I love so much. It was a good gesture than the price of it that made me love it more. I just liked the phone's shiny colour. I also liked the present so much because I could finally see some of my best friends’ live video, who are living and studying abroad, on my smartphone. Besides, since I was an amateur photographer and liked to take pictures of beautiful nature around me, my smartphone would help me a great deal in doing that. Finally, I liked the present so much because it allowed me to keep in touch with my friends and families without spending too much money as it allowed me to connect to the internet.

Rounding-off Questions:

Q. Were you surprised to receive that present?
Answer: Yes, I was indeed very surprised to receive the present primarily because my brother did not offer me any clue whatsoever about my birthday present. Besides, I was surprised also because my brother is an “economic” person who doesn’t exactly like to spend too much money in buying a gift unless there is a very valid reason to do so.

Q. Do you still have that present?
Answer: Yes, I still have the present, and I use it very carefully because it is an expensive gift. Besides, it helps me a lot in my daily life from preparing a document for my work to searching for important information online to chatting with my friends and any other things in between.
 

Part 3 - Details Discussion:

Now let’s talk about giving presents in your country.

Q. On which occasions do people in your country usually give presents?
Answer: Singapore is a gift-giving nation, and so, we love to offer gifts to our friends and families whenever we get an opportunity. But, to be more specific, we give presents during festival seasons, such as Christmas, Chinese New Year and National Day. We also give gifts during wedding ceremonies, wedding anniversaries and birthdays.

Q. How important is it to wrap presents in an attractive way?
Answer: In my culture, wrapping presents attractively is very important, particularly to Chinese Singaporeans, because it shows that you are polite, and it helps to make a lasting impression on the gift-receiving person. However, people in Singapore don’t use white or black colour to wrap their gifts because they are considered to be the symbol of “mourning” in my country.

Q. Do people who receive a present usually open it straight away, or do they open it later? Why/Why not?
Answer: In our country, people don’t usually open their gifts straight away because it is a cultural etiquette and a matter of politeness to open them later. Besides, opening a present straight away in front of other people may make the gift-giving person feel uncomfortable because he/she might think that his/her gift is not good enough in comparison to other peoples’ gifts.

Now let’s talk about official charities.

Q. How important is it for people to support and give aid to charities? Why/ Why not?
Answer: It is very important for people to support and give aid to charities as it would help the poor and needy in improving their lives. Besides, the act of charities makes donors feel good about themselves. Finally, if we don’t give aid to charities, the chances are that our society will become “restless” with crimes like theft and robbery. In other words, if we don’t give aid to charities, we, all in our society, will face the negative consequences of it.

Q. What do you think the role of official charities should be?
Answer: The roles of official charities should be to find out those who need the charities the most and then provide the charities to them so that they can use the donations to improve their lives. However, apart from that, the roles of charities should also include building businesses, hospitals, schools, orphanages and religious centres so that the poor and needy don’t remain dependent on charities for their entire lives.

Q. Why can charities sometimes help people more effectively than government organisations can?
Answer: Charities sometimes help people more efficiently than government organisations because charities usually are more focused and organized and hence are able to mobilize quicker when there is an emergency. Besides, charities usually don’t waste as much money and time as the governments because of the government's bureaucratic system. Finally, charities are effective sometimes than government organisations because they are better structured to help needy people.

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