#3 - IELTS Speaking Test in Iran - Feb. 2016

Test # 3

- What is your full name?
It is (name_father's name_surname)

- Can I see your ID?

Yes sure! Here it is.

- Where are you from?
I'm from Mumbai, that's the capital of Maharashtra, in the western part of the country. I live in a suburb there, named Andheri.

- Do you work or study?
I am a student of management studies in the graduate programme of one of the best colleges in Mumbai, (college name). I'm in my third and final year now.

- What do you prefer to do in the evening? Why?
I usually prefer to complete my college assignments in the evening as I come home from my coaching classes at around 4 pm. I complete my work by 7 pm usually, and then I may go out to meet my friends.
- What do you do during the weekend?
I only have Sunday as my weekend as in my country people generally work 6 days a week. So as I have my college and classes till Saturday, I tend to sleep till late on Sundays, and unwind the whole day...maybe go watch a movie or go bowling. If need be, I also go for shopping.

- Do you do it every weekend? Why?
Well, as I get only 1 holiday in a week, my routine for that particular day hardly changes. Maybe once in a fortnight I and my friends might plan a trip to some tourist spots near and around my city, otherwise my Sundays are all pretty much the same.

- Did you do the same activities when you were younger?
Ummm no...when I was in school I used to go play with the kids in my colony, every morning and evening. I didn't have as much school work as I have now, so I used to complete it all on Saturday evening and keep my Sunday free for the things I liked. That habit has still stuck with me fortunately. My parents also took me out every second Sunday to a new restaurant or any new place that they felt I would enjoy.
- What don’t you ever do in the evening? Why?
I never watch TV in the evening. I as in don't have a habit of watching a lot of TV, and there are no good shows that I like that are telecast in the evening; I usually watch TV after 10 as my favourite shows start then till 11.30 pm.

- Do you like science?
Yes I like science. I am in fact fascinated by all the theories and principles of Science. I actually wanted to opt for Science stream as my field of study in college, but I had to opt for Commerce as I didn't score very well in my 10th standard to get admission in a good college. Nevertheless, I still enjoy reading scientific articles and journals.

- Do you watch any TV shows about science? Why?
Yes I do! I watch a fictional TV series by the name 'House MD'. It is based on the operations in a hospital in a city in the US with a bunch of doctors with different skills coping with the medical challenges put before them. Their ingenuity on proposing solutions for the patients' diseases is thrilling to watch.

Cue Card

Talk about a dinner with a friend that you had recently. Please say:

- Describe your friend.
- When and where was the dinner?
- What were you talking about?
I recently had some friends over from Canada. They actually are my classmates from school who moved there later on. Anyways, they were visiting Mumbai after 13 long years and we decided to go for dinner in a very authentic Indian cuisine restaurant. They insisted on having North Indian as they don't get very good North Indian food in Canada. We went to a place called Spice Craft. The ambience was made to look like a North Indian's home, and my friends liked the place very much. We got talking about each other meanwhile we waited for the food to arrive. We talked about our present careers and future goals, and personal relationships. We also got a bit nostalgic and reminisced about out school days and all the fun we had together. We also gossiped about some other classmates and the evening turned out to be a pretty great one! We enjoyed the food as much as we enjoyed each other's company, and I was really very glad to see my friends had a wonderful time!

Discussion

- Do you remember what you had for dinner then?
Oh yes! We ordered Indian cottage cheese curries and lentils, accompanied with sides called 'kebabs', followed by a rice preparation known as 'biryani'. We also ordered Indian sweets at the end, called 'gulab jamun' and 'jalebi'.

- Do you meet with your friend regularly? Why?
No, as I said they're from Canada, so I usually speak with them over Skype, that's an international calling application. I saw them this time after 13 years, since the time they left India, and they won't be visiting again very soon.

- Do you like to have dinner with older people? Why?
Yeah why not! I mean at family gatherings, or weddings, I usually meet and greet the older members of my family and we all dine together. I'm very friendly and talkative and I can normally chat with people of all ages.

- If your child was with you at the dinner party, do you think he/she would bother you?
I don't have children so I wouldn't know, but I'd like to say yes, because I do feel bothered by other people's kids, when they run around or spill food, and talk shrilly and interrupt their parents while having conversations. So yeah, if my child would not be composed, and would behave restlessly, I'd say he/she would've bothered me.

- Why do you think so?
Children generally become more excited when they come out at any event, than they are at home. They try to attract more attention and also tend to shout and yell a lot in this process. Eventually we have to continuously keep an eye on them, or reprimand them if they get too much out of hand. That's why I think it becomes a task not to be bothered by children when we go out.

- What is the solution?
I think children should be firmly taught how to behave in public. The importance of this difference in their behaviour at home and outside should be emphasized on them. Scolding or rebuking in front of people is not a good option, as they tend to become more unruly in most cases.

- On special occasions such as weddings people spend a lot of money on food, why do you think they do that?
People invite an lot of guests for a wedding. So they need the feast to be a very lavish one so as to impress the guests. Nowadays in my country, people have made it a trend to have at least 3 different types of cuisines in weddings, which naturally increases the spending on food. People try innovative ideas like having a chocolate fountain for dessert, having food counters that make dishes right in front of you as you want them made, and people also want fancy cutlery used. I think they do all this to be talked about among their relatives and friends as to how fancy was the party that they hosted. So all these things become very expensive for people eventually.