#32 - IELTS Speaking test in Nigeria - May 2016 (Academic Module)

Test # 32

- What is your full name?

My name is Anand Patel.

- Can I see your ID?

Sure!

- Where are you from?
I’m from (city name), which is in (state name), in the (western/southern, etc.) part of India.

- Do you work or study?

I'm studying (course name) from (college name) in (location/city). I’m in the (first/fifth/last) semester/year of my course.

OR

I’m working as a (designation) in a local/international/private/government) firm called (company name).

- Describe the city you presently live in.

(You may talk about the weather/climate, facilities, environmental conditions, accessibility options and entertainment centres of the city. For eg. Ahmedabad is a metropolitan city, which has been declared as a megacity by my country’s government because of the rapid technological and infrastructural development. In terms of safety too, my city is one of the best in my country with the crime rate being very less. The job opportunities are increasing too and hence the lifestyle of the people is also developing for the better.  )

- How effective is the public transport in the city?

The public transport is very effective. The government has introduced a system of dedicated lane for buses which makes us reach our destination faster without being halted by the traffic. This system is called the BRTS. However this network isn’t spread out to all parts of the city which is unfortunate.

- What is the difference in public transport in this city and other cities you visited?

I have found the public transport in Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta much effective than my city’s. Mumbai has the largest network of local trains moving around the city, Delhi has the same system going on with metros, and I find that better than Mumbai’s. Calcutta has a network of subways and trams and that too is quite impressive given it was one of the oldest developed systems of India. My city’s growing now so there’s still a long way to go.

- Do you have flowers in your house?
Uhhh no I don’t…We don’t grow them but we do place them in vases if we get them from somewhere…like a gift or something.

- Why do people plant flowers?
Flowers are very pretty looking and also make any place fragrant…there are psychological reasons for this that having flowers around will make the aura of the place positive and happy.

- Have you cared for a personal flower?

By personal flower if you mean a flower exclusively for me, then yes I have cared for a rose that I got in college on Valentine’s day by my date that day. I came home and placed it in a vase and let it be there till it started drying out. I used to change the water every day and did my best to keep it fresh for as long as I could.

- Do people value flowers in your country?
Yes they do! Apart from being the beautiful creations of nature, flowers have a prominent place in our scriptures as worthy offerings to Gods so people take a lot of care of flowers and value them highly.

- Do you read newspapers or magazines?
Yes, I read The Times of India; it’s a leading English daily in India. And I read magazine only when I’m waiting somewhere and they’re available as the reading material. I haven’t subscribed for any magazine personally.

- Why do you read newspapers?
I read them to stay updated with everything’s that’s going on in the world. Newspapers have some really good philosophical texts too that provide you with some rich reading experience.

- When was the last time you bought a newspaper?
Today morning. I have a subscription for The Times of India and it gets delivered to my house every morning. So technically the last newspaper I bought was today.

Cue Card

Describe a public place in your country. Please say

- why people go there
- who usually goes there, and
- what is so interesting about this place.
I’d like to talk about India Gate, located in the capital of my country, Delhi. The India Gate is a war memorial, serving as a memorial to 82,000 soldiers of the undivided Indian Army. It was established in the 19^th century. The most intriguing thing is that 13,218 war dead are commemorated by name on the India Gate. A structure consisting of black marble plinth, with areversed gun, capped by war helmet, bound by four urns, each with the permanent light is erected under the India Gate to commemorate Indian soldiers killed in the defence of their country. Almost everyone who visits Delhi goes here to see this magnificent structure. The roads around India Gate are called Raj Path, and they are one of the cleanest places in our country with lush greenery on both sides. A lot of residents of Delhi come for a picnic in the lawns around India Gate on weekends.

Discussion

- Should there be rules for public places? Why?

Yes there should…as a public place is open for everyone’s use I think certain rules relating to sanitation and civic sense should apply…like penalty on spitting and throwing trash.

- What happens if there are no public places in a city?

Umm it’s quite hard to imagine a situation like this…I can say that lack of public places in a city deters the community spirit of the people…for example if the city has a big garden, everyone would want to use it, this would enable people of all backgrounds to come together at a common place and share common interests like jogging, or relaxing on the garden benches, or joining laughter clubs there and so on…

- Why would the government want to build public places?

To encourage people of all communities of their city to find a common place to get together without any barriers or limitations...for example my city has a Riverfront route which is built by the river flowing through my city. People from all corners of my city come here to walk or relax without any hesitations and strangers also end up having good conversations.

- What challenges would it face most likely?

Ummm the challenges can be of funding for such a project as a public space is supposed to be large and it requires a lot of money to build up on this. That and the issue of space…there’s very less palaces in major cities for the government to build anything that is widespread like a garden or an amphitheatre or something.

- Do you think newspapers will not be in existence in the next fifty years? Why?

The answer to this one is a little tricky. I want to say yes looking at the technological developments of e-newspapers and also the fact that we wouldn’t have a lot of paper to use by then, looking at the rate of trees being cut today. But, there are some people who have a strong habit of reading a physical newspaper every morning, and these ‘some’ are actually a lot in my country, so it may not become totally in-existent in the future.