[The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]
Topic: Friends
Q. How often do you go out with friends? [Why/Why not?]
A. I am a university student and working as a part-time executive in a tour-management office. So, my schedule is much busier than they used to be. Due to this, I go out with friends once or twice in a month which was at least five to six times per month before I took the job.
Q. Tell me about your best friend at school.
A. My best friend is Emma Hutson, whom I call Emmi and she is in the same university I study in. ‘Tourism and Hotel management’ is our major and I spend a considerable amount of time with her each day. She was in the same school I used to study. She is a good human being and always supports me. She loves music and travelling, two of my favourite pastime activities and we share almost everything with each other. She is 25 and lives in the same city I reside in.
Q. How friendly are you with your neighbours? [Why/Why not?]
A. I am lucky to have some great neighbours who have been with us for many years. They are very close to me and I consider them dear friends. They are amiable and often visit us. We invite them to our house during every major celebration and we live in our neighbourhood happily. I like and respect them and value their privacy, and so do they. We do not hesitate to extend our helping hands to each other and thus we are more than neighbours.
Q. Which is more important to you, friends or family? [Why?]
A. I believe family comes first. No doubt, my friends are very important to me but family means something more special. They are like the same soul living in different bodies while friends are like fresh air who make our life more meaningful.
The reason I put my family ahead is the sacrifices they have made for me. They have abandoned their own happiness to make me happy and have done everything humanly possible to raise me up properly. Their sacrifices are unparallel and incomparable to anything else.
[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.]
You should say:
and explain why you would like to meet this writer.
Cue Card Answer:
How “successful” can a person become in life if he/she is too shy to even ask for a pen from another person? Well, the conventional wisdom suggests that he/she wouldn’t really go that far. But, with Joanne K. Rowling, one should be wise enough not to rely too much on “conventional wisdom” as she has pretty much defied all of it. In fact, the British novelist, screenwriter, film & television producer and philanthropist, best known for writing the Harry Potter fantasy series, Joanne K. Rowling is the ninth-best-selling fiction author of all time with an estimated 500 million of copies sold so far. If I ever get a chance to meet a writer I admire, it would be her.
Having born in 1965 in the United Kingdom, the 54-year old history-making author had an ambition of becoming a writer from an age as early as 6 years. In fact, at that age, she even wrote a book about a “rabbit with measles”. Having learnt “French” and then graduated from a university, J. K. Rowling took different jobs in London, but her favourite job was working for Amnesty International, a charity organization which campaigns against human rights abuses throughout the world.
But, it was in 1990 when one of the greatest fiction authors of all time conceived the idea of “Harry Potter” which eventually was published in her book called “The Philosopher’s Stone” in mid 90’s. Then, it was in the year of 1998 when the Hollywood film-making giant “Warner Brothers” secured the film rights to the book by offering her a handsome seven-figure sum of money, did she become the “author” J. K. Rowling as billions all over the world know her today.
Of course, many things had happened to this real-life tough character between these years from the death of her mother to a bitter divorce to surviving on state benefits. But nothing really moved her from her goal of offering the world a “Harry Potter” movie, a name she was really fond of from quite an early age.
Apart from what I have already known about this great, great author, I would certainly love to gather more by actually meeting her in person. In fact, if I ever get a chance to meet her, I would ask what was it exactly that inspired her to write the first book which made history. I would also like to know why she had requested for all the actors/actresses to be British in the “Harry Potter” movie, as well as why she preferred the movie to be filmed in Britain. Besides, there are always more to a person than what our naked eyes can see on news and media. So, it definitely would be quite an honour to meet a religious and “spiritually insecured” person like J. K. Rowling, who has donated a large sum of money to different charities, and tell her “thank you” as a token of appreciation for all of her wonderful works.
Discussion topics: Reading and children
Q. What kinds of book are most popular with children in your country?
A. In general, children in my country love to read books that have a lot of illustration images and comprise imaginary and interesting stories. Since colourful and clear illustrations and artwork support a simple storyline, most young children love them. They also read folktales and fables that are easy to read, comics, nursery rhymes, alphabet and counting books.
Q. Why do you think some children do not read books very often?
A. I think reading is a habit that should be nurtured. If someone feels the joy of reading, he will no doubt read whenever possible. But for many children, the scenario is different. They are more interested in doing fun staffs and playing with toys and other children than reading books as the latter one requires more attention and inscription. However, parents and teachers should often read to the young child to build the habit in them.
Q. How do you think children can be encouraged to read more?
A. I think parents have a great role here. Children like to mimic their parents and if parents have the habit of reading books, their offspring will also feel passionate about reading. Besides, we should buy books for them that have more illustration images and artwork and fewer texts. This will connect the young readers to books and they will feel interested to read more. Not to mention, we should often read interesting stories to them from books and this will be highly encouraging for them to pick a book and read on their own. Finally, teachers and parents can offer some sort of incentives and prizes to encourage children who do not like to read very often.
Discussion topics: Reading for different purposes
Q. Are there any occasions when reading at speed is a useful skill to have? What are they?
A. I believe we need the skill of speed reading to be able to extract some information from a lengthy passage and this skill is useful for us to do well in competitive exams. Sometimes teachers ask us to read in front of the whole class and our speed reading skill can save us from mumbling while reading. Besides, reading at speed is useful to complete an assignment, thesis work and find information from a website.
Q. Are there any jobs where people need to read a lot? What are they?
A. I believe doctors, teachers, researchers, computer programmers, writers, meteorologists, paralegals, historians, journalists and editors read a lot to do well in their professions. These professionals often read to learn new information, to solve a problem, to deliver a speech, to present writing to the mass audience, to get ideas and to pass exams to improve their career prospects. In fact, people from all professions should read to enhance their skills and knowledge as reading is always helpful to do better in a job.
Q. Do you think that reading novels is more interesting than reading factual books? Why is that?
A. I believe novels are more interesting to the general audience as they are often more intriguing and have thrilling plots to entertain the readers and surprise them every now and then. A good novel opens a new door to the readers and often presents the world from a different perspective. Not to mention they are fast-paced, thought-provoking and engaging.
Factual books, on the contrary, are based on real events and historical facts. The academics, scholars and serious readers are more interested in these books as they often want to learn rather than being entertained. Some factual books, however, are more intriguing and entertaining and are more widely read. For instance, “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank, “The Interpretation of Dreams” by Sigmund Freud and “The Second World War” by Winston Churchill are some factual books that have entertained and informed millions of readers throughout the generations.
This post was last modified on 17th April 2019 11:42 am