[The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]
Topic: Newspapers and Magazines
Q. Which magazines and newspapers do you read? [Why?]
A. I read the Daily Observer and the Daily Times almost every day. Reading newspapers is the first thing I do in every morning. The PC World and Reader’s Digest are two of my favourite magazines.
I particularly read the newspapers I mentioned as they offer great insights into news and in my view, they are not politically biased. I also like their editorials and world news sections. The PC World magazine helps me learn more about the technology, specifically about computers and tech world while Reader’s Digest is a great read for almost everyone.
Q. What kinds of article are you most interested in? [Why?]
A. I like to read the local and international news, sports sections, editorials, interviews, business and finance news, technology section and magazines and other supplements.
As a reader, I expect to get updates on local and international news, read editorials and interviews for an insight into an event and learn about the technological advancements. The magazines and supplements are entertaining and are easy reads.
Q. Have you ever read a newspaper or magazine in a foreign language? [When/Why?]
A. English is not mother tough and yet most of my favourite newspapers and magazines are published in English. So from this sense, I read newspapers and magazines in a foreign language every single day.
This, however, does not mean that I dod not read newspapers or magazines published in my language. Some of them are really impressive.
Q. Do you think reading a newspaper or magazine in a foreign language is a good way to learn the language? [Why/Why not?]
A. I definitely believe that reading newspapers or magazines published in a foreign language is a great way to learn the language. I have learnt this truth from my own experience. I would not say that my English is excellent, but the skill I have in this language has greatly been shaped by my habit of reading English newspapers daily and following monthly magazines like the Reader’s Digest and the PC World.
[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 enjoyed eating in this restaurant.
Cue Card Answer:
Thank you so much for this topic and the time to let me talk about it. I brainstormed for a minute to determine which restaurant excited me in a while and offered me a great dining experience. Several restaurants popped up in my mind and I decided to talk about the Absolute Thai, located on the ground floor of the Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
I went to the Berjaya Times Square with my wife and my five years old daughter a few months ago to do some shopping and at a time, we looked for an eatery to have our dinner. Several restaurants were there and my wife chose the Absolute Thai as she loves Thai cuisine. The ambient atmosphere and attractive decoration of the restaurant gave us a feeling that their food quality would be great. The way the staff welcomed us was also noticeable.
My wife mostly picked the menu we ordered and my daughter went for the ice-cream. We ordered Mieng Kam (a Thai appetizer of betel leaves and condiments), Pineapple Fried Rice, which was delicious, spicy minced chicken salad, green curry chicken and Pepsi. We had ice-cream as our dessert. I must say we enjoyed our dinner thoroughly.
It was around 8:30 pm and we were hungry. The menu was prepared with care and presented in a fabulous way. We savoured each of the items and the cook must have been an experienced Thai cook. Besides enjoying the taste of the food, we appreciated how the restaurant was decorated. It gave us a Thai impression which we were not familiar with before. The overall experience of dining here was excellent.
Discussion topics: Restaurants
Q. Why do you think people go to restaurants when they want to celebrate something?
A. I believe people want to enjoy the time with friends and relatives whenever they have an occasion to celebrate and restaurants offer both delicious food and large space. For many, accommodating many guests at their home is not possible while others want to concentrate on the party and socialising rather than cooking and decorating the house. Whenever we have an occasion to celebrate we prefer restaurant as they offer a better environment and a wide range of menu.
Q. Which are more popular in your country: fast food restaurants or traditional restaurants? Why do you think that is?
A. As far as I recall, fast food eateries were more popular when I was a teenager. These days, people mostly prefer traditional restaurants even though they are a bit expensive. I believe the health hazard of fast food is well-known among people and except low-income class citizens and school-going children, people in my country prefer quality restaurants over the fast food shops.
Q. Some people say that food in an expensive restaurant is always better than food in a cheap restaurant – would you agree?
A. To a certain extent, I would agree that an expensive restaurant has a better environment, amenities, and food quality. But it would be too generalised to fully agree to that as I have personally dined at a few cheap eateries which offer far better qualities and dining experience than many fancy restaurants in my city.
Discussion topics: Producing food
Q. Do you think there will be a greater choice of food available in shops in the future, or will there be less choice?
A. I believe the choice of menu will extend in the future. I can still recall only a handful number of quality restaurants in my city when I was a school-goer and they had a few specific menus. The number has already increased significantly as has their menus. People in this age of globalisation want to taste various foreign cuisines and the restaurants are bound to introduce new food items every now and then. This trend will keep on going and in future, more menus would be added to the existing one.
Q. What effects has modern technology had on the way food is produced?
A. I would say the modern technological advancement has revolutionalised the way we prepare and eat food. It may sound funny, but with the help of a new microwave oven and the internet, I have tried to cook a few menus which were impossible in the last decade. The use of tools like cookers, blenders, microwave oven, refrigerator and so on we can prepare a variety of food within a few minutes. The internet makes us universal cooks with access to hundreds of exotic menus. However, there is a catch- the food is often less healthy than they used to be in the past.
Q. How important is it for a country to be able to grow all the food it needs, without importing any from other countries?
A. I think being self-sufficient in food production is a great development for a country. It would eliminate the need for the excessive budget for imported food and would enhance the agricultural sector of a country. However, from a more practical point of view, not all countries have sufficient fertile farmlands and farmers to grow all the food they need. They can utilise the land and manpower to produce far more valuable materials and export those to other countries. So, what I am trying to say is – this decision should be based on the infrastructure, manpower and geographic location of a country.
This post was last modified on 11th April 2019 12:25 pm