#34 - IELTS Speaking test in Canada – June 2016 (General Training)

Test # 34

- What is your full name?

My name is Darshan Patel.

- What can I call you?

You may call me Darshan.

- What do you do, study or work?

I work. I run my own web designing firm in Ahmedabad, in Prahladnagar.

- Why did you choose this profession?

I’m a software engineer, and I have also studied management, therefore this profession was the best for me. Also, web designers are a lot in demand nowadays so it works well for me.

- Do you wear hats/caps? Do you like them?

I wear caps…I just had one big brown cowboy hat when I was in college but I didn’t wear it much….never found a liking for it.

- Why do you wear them?

I wear them every day as I ride to work on my bike and I don’t want my hair to be wrecked…and since I need a cap every day, I have bought quite a few different kind of caps so that I don’t repeat just the one or two.

- Why do people generally wear a hat?

To shade their heads from the sun…or maybe to hide their baldness…I think in my country these are the main reasons…and another reason can be for people who are fashionable and want to try hats with their look…some people also wear hats as it is a part of the uniform they’re wearing…for example, policemen.

- Does it represent any fashion?

Yes they do…nowadays young boys and girls were these very quirky beret caps…I think they are in trend right now…

- On what occasion people generally prefer wearing a hat?

Muslims generally wear a small round cap when they go to the mosques to pray, and in Hindu households, men wear a white cap called ‘Gandhi cap’ at the time they are a part of any religious or traditional ceremony.

- Do you read newspapers/magazines?

No I’m sorry, I’m not very fond of reading. For news, I usually watch the TV news channels.

- Do you think your language can be influenced by reading them?

I do agree to that…I mean if I’m a Gujarati and if I read English newspapers or magazines I can learn new words and how to use them in sentences like in the magazine. So yes language does get influenced.

- What is the last newspaper/magazine you remember buying?

I remember buying a magazine called Autocar from a train station vendor last year I guess. I was travelling alone at the time and didn’t have anything else to while away the journey.

- Do you think in 50 years newspapers/magazines will still exist?

Ummm I don’t know…I’d say not because people nowadays are actively promoting less use of paper because of environmental concerns. So I think in the next 50 years people might not publish a lot of physical magazines, and even newspapers would become electronic.

Cue Card

Talk about an item that you have or your family member has. Please say

- What is it?

- How does it look?

- For how long have you kept it?

My mother has a very old brass showpiece. It is fascinating for me because it is a miniature version of an Arabic oil lamp, just like we see in the cartoon Aladdin. It must have been in my family since at least 50 years because I remember seeing it from when I was 2 years old. I always wanted to play with it but my mother strictly warned me not to touch any showpieces from the mantelplace.  It always attracted my attention as it was a little dull golden in colour with very intricate carvings, in floral patterns, done on it. When I was small I was convinced that it is a real genie’s lamp from Aladdin, and my mother keeps it away from me lest I might summon the genie.

Discussion

- Is it good to have things like that?

Yes it is…even now when people come to visit us they admire these small showpieces that my mother has collected over the years.

- How does technology affect history?

I think it affects history in a good way. I mean we have the internet and it is accessible to everybody. There are hundreds of articles on the internet about history with pictorial representations as well. The TV channels also show many historical documentaries for better perception of the students.

- Do you think one can learn history online?

Yes as I said there are many articles on the internet about history. Some historians even blog and answer their readers’ questions.

- Do you think museums are helpful in learning about history?

Obviously! Museums preserve the artefacts and relics of the historical times and conduct researches so as to let the general people know about the various facts of their history.

- How do people learn history from seeing the items in a museum?

With the items displayed in the museum, a plank is also located by the side giving out all the information about the thing. Some museums also employ tour guides to explain every display to the tourists.

- Do you think it’s important to keep things in a museum?
Yes! Museums are also places of research for historians and along with keeping things on display, where else can these precious objects be kept preserved with security!  It is difficult to move them constantly from one place to another.