IELTS Speaking Test – Sample 92

IELTS Speaking Test # 92

Part 1 Topic: “Traffic where you live”.
Part 2 Topic: “Describe a game or sport you enjoy playing”.
Part 3 Topic: “Children’s games” & “Games and competition”.

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Part One – Introduction & Interview

[The examiner asks the candidate about him/herself, his/her home, work or studies and other familiar topics.]

Traffic where you live:

Q.  How do most people travel to work where you live?
Answer: Transportation in Iran is easy and accessible from almost every point since Iran has a long paved road system linking most of its towns and all of its cities. Anyway, where I live in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, most people travel to work by bus. However, a great many people travel to work by using the “Metro” or the Tehran subway system as well.

Q.  What traffic problems are there in your area? [Why?]
Answer: Even though Iran has a long paved road system linking most of its towns and cities, the problem is that there isn’t enough public transportation on the streets. As a result, a city like Tehran with almost 14 million people suffers from bad traffic congestion pretty much all the time, but worse during the morning peak hours, as many people use their “automobiles”.

Q.  How do traffic problems affect you?
Answer: Because of the really bad traffic situation in Tehran, I usually face a tough time in “managing” my time since I don’t know for sure how long it will take to go to my work or come back from there. Besides, because of spending long hours in the city traffic congestion most of the days, my social life has also been somewhat affected since I don’t get enough time to spend with my friends and cousins.

Q.  How would you reduce the traffic problems in your area?
Answer: I would recommend updating and enhancing the existing roads and introducing a more robust metro rail system in the country. Besides, I will improve the public transportation so that people are discouraged from using their private cars, which is one of the main contributors to the unbearable traffic congestion in my city.

 

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 game or sport you enjoy playing.

You should say:

• what kind of game or sport it is
• who you play it with
• where you play it

and explain why you enjoy playing it.

[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?]

The answer to this Cue Card Topic

 

Part 3 – Two-way Discussion:

Discussion topics: Children’s games:

Q. How have games changed from the time when you were a child?
Answer: Games have changed a lot from the time when I was a child. For example, there were very few or no computers, online or video games during the days of my early childhood. Nor were there many interesting game toys or puzzles to encourage children to play indoors, as we have today, with which we could play any games. In fact, during my childhood, the only way we could play any sports was to play outdoors. But these days, more and more children are choosing to play their games inside their own homes.

Q. Do you think this has been a positive change? Why?
Answer: No, I wouldn’t really like to think that these kinds of changes affect children positively. Children these days aren’t encouraged to go outside of their homes and become physically active, which is absolutely important for children’s physical and cognitive growth. Besides, children are not getting enough chances to socialise with their friends and peers, and, as a result, are not developing many good social and communication skills that are necessary to succeed in their lives as adults. Of course, by playing some of these online or video games, children do develop their “intelligence”, but they also make children “violent and aggressive” at the same time.

Q. Why do you think children like playing games?
Answer: Children just like to play, whether they are playing a certain sport alone or playing with their peers, primarily because it is just their nature to be “playful” as long as they remain young. But, if we want to be more precise, I would say that the children like playing games because they love challenges, and they “learn” new things as well as new skills by playing different kinds of games. But, above all, children have a lot of fun when playing any sports, and the studies show that there is no better way to teach children than having them play games which they really enjoy.

 

Discussion topics: Games and competition:

Q. Do you think competitive games are good or bad for children? In what ways?
Answer: In my opinion, competitive games, depending on, of course, what kinds of competitive games they play, are good in general because they teach children how to become tough, careful, intelligent and positive when facing any difficult situation in life. Besides, playing competitive games usually helps us identify what kinds of particular skill sets, talents or potentials the children have so that they can work even more on them in order to improve themselves even further. However, we will have to make sure that playing competitive games doesn’t make children competitive so much so that they develop “jealousy” and “hatred” for their “opponents”.

Q. How can games sometimes help to unite people?
Answer: Games do sometimes help unite people, from different countries and backgrounds, in some common causes, such as when playing any game to raise funds in order to help people during their time of distress. Even the little drink that we enjoy after finishing a game helps us share some laughs and fun among each other, no matter how ‘different’ we are from each other. Besides, when playing any sports by inviting and bringing different kinds of people together, we usually develop a kind of social bond and friendly relations with each other that may prove to be vital for the unity and benefits of our society as a whole.

Q. Why is competition often seen as important in today’s society?
Answer: We are living in a materialistic and capitalistic society where everybody is competing fiercely with each other to get his or her ‘fair share’ of the world. And that’s exactly why our world is moving forward. In fact, as a result of this competition, we come up with better ideas, better products and better services which help improve our living standards even more. It is the “competition” which helps us hope to have even a better future for our children in this world. So, no wonder “competition” is seen as important in today’s society.