NOTE: The model answers below are a Band 9.0 response, but this is not the only way these questions could have been answered.
Part 1 (4 to 5 minutes)
“Let’s talk about bags. Do you take a bag with you when you go out?”
No, not really – only if I’m going out for a longer walk, then I might take a small day pack with me. Normally I just put everything I need in my pockets. That’s not so bad in the colder months when I’m wearing a jacket, but in the summer it can get a little crammed with everything I want – there’s my phone, my wallet, the keys, loose change and other things.
“Do you use different bags for different occasions?”
Well, not really bags as such, but I do have different pieces of luggage I use depending on the situation. As I mentioned, I take a day pack if I’m going to the beach or somewhere like that – just enough for some food and drinks, and whatever else I need. If I’m going away for a longer period, then I’ll use a suitcase. I used to use a large back pack, but I found that didn’t really protect the things I was travelling with, so now I use a rigid suitcase.
“Have you ever lost a bag?”
Yes – and at the worst possible time! I was about to leave for a job overseas, and I went out to dinner with some friends the night before. I had taken a small bag with all the most important items, including my passport, and I left it at the restaurant. By the time I realised what I had done, the restaurant had already closed, so I went back the next day but it hadn’t been handed in, so I guess someone must have stolen it or picked it up by accident. I had to delay my flight and explain to my new employers why I wouldn’t be arriving on time, and then I had to pay for a new passport to be processed. All in all, it was a very silly mistake!
“Let’s go on to talk about art now. How interested are you in art?”
I would say that I like some art, but there’s a lot that I simply don’t understand. Some modern art doesn’t seem to have any value to me, although I have some friends who really appreciate it. I like sculptures though – there’s a place not too far from where I live where they have a lot of different sculptures, but it’s privately owned and is very rarely open to the public. I think they open it once or twice a year, and all the money they make on those days goes to a local charity.
“Do you enjoy visiting art galleries?”
I have been to quite a few galleries – I went to the Louvre in France, and I’ve also been to the Tate Gallery – but it’s not something I do regularly. My friend loves going to those kinds of places, and whenever we visit a new city, she always searches on the internet for any galleries. I much prefer visiting smaller galleries that open for just a few days – I think they’re called ‘pop-up galleries’ – and showcase the work of a local artist. I’ve actually bought a few pictures from these temporary galleries – the prices are much more within my budget!
“Can you draw or paint? Would you like to be able to?”
I don’t have any artistic talent – I can draw stick figure people, but that’s about all! However, the friend I mentioned before is very talented. She creates portraits with an air brush, and does some incredible work. She mostly paints famous musicians because she’s very interested in music, and I’m really amazed with the pictures she creates. A lot of people have told her she could sell them, but I think she just enjoys doing them and doesn’t really think about making it a job.
“Now lets talk about going for walks. Do you enjoy going for walks?”
That largely depends on the weather. In the summer, I love going for long walks along the beach. We live very lose to the west coast, so it only takes 20 minutes to get there, and there is a trail that runs all the way up the coast. In the winter I’m a lot less interested though – I really don’t do any exercise when the weather gets colder, but I have started going to our local swimming pool – the water is heated, and it’s good to do something active!
“Is you home town a good place for walking?”
The town itself isn’t, but as I mentioned, I live within 20 minutes of the sea. The town itself is too busy, and because the public transport system isn’t very good, everyone drives their own car. That means it’s not a very safe or convenient place to walk. I did hear recently, though, that the council is planning to pedestrianise the city centre, so that will make it a lot easier to walk around the shopping area at least.
“Did you do much walking as a child?”
Oh yes – we only had one car, so when my Dad was at work, my mum, my brother and I would walk everywhere. Mostly it was just to go shopping, but sometimes we would go a little further. There’s a small forest on the edge of town, and it would take us about an hour to get there, but that was a great place to spend a summer’s day. There was a small river there where you could cool off, and there were very few people there so it was very peaceful.
Part 2 (1 minute preparation then talk for 2 minutes)
| Describe something electronic which you own or would like to own
You should say
You should also explain what differences it makes / would make to your life |
Well I’ve actually been looking at getting one of those devices that measures your level of activity. There are a lot of different brands, but what I am really looking for is something that I can use to measure how many steps I take per day, what my heart rate is and that sort of thing. I have done some research online about them, and there is one that tracks every part of your day – including activity, exercise, food and sleep – and it helps you stay fit. It connects directly to your phone so you have a record of what you have done, and I think that would really motivate me.
One of the things I think I would find really useful is that it measures all of your activity, not just what you do in the gym. I had a gym membership for about 6 months last year, and I only went half a dozen times, so having this tracker with you at all times gives you some encouragement to just jog a little, or even just do some sit ups and pushups at home – anything just to get a little exercise. The other thing I think that would really help me is that you can set up groups, and achieve goals together – or even compete against one another! I am quite a competitive person, so if I know that my friend has done more exercise than me, or eaten better or even got more sleep, then I’ll push myself to match or exceed that.
The main difference it would make for me is of course my level of health. I work in a sedentary job, and sitting in front of a computer all day is not ideal. I don’t eat too much fast food – maybe once a week or so – but having a record of my food intake and exercise will really push me into making more of an effort. A colleague at work who also has one of these spends 15 minutes eating her lunch and then spends the remainder of her lunch break walking around the building where we work, and that’s the kind of thing I would love to start doing.
Part 3 (4 to 5 minutes)
“Is technology used much in the classroom in your country?”
Yes it is. A lot of students use tablets and laptops and the teachers use technology for presenting lessons. I suppose it makes teaching and learning more flexible than it was in the past when the main tools used were books and a whiteboard. I prefer typing to writing and notes I make on my laptop are easier to read if I go back to them. I can also make updates and changes more easily too. However, it is often the schools in the more affluent areas that use a wider range of technology – schools in poorer areas are often reliant on more traditional equipment.
“Can technology help teachers?”
I think so because it means that they can make lessons more interesting. Instead of just talking and writing information on the board, they can use audio, videos and so on. It helps to keep students engaged in the lesson I think, especially if they can make the lesson very interactive. I suppose teachers can keep all of their lesson files on computer too and access them and update them for future classes. It must make their job easier to keep electronic records of learning and their students’ progress too. However, there is also the potential that technology can negatively impact on a teacher’s ability to focus on the subject they are teaching if a student – or even the teacher – is spending too much time on the device and not focusing on the content of their lesson.
“Will the use of technology in education change in the future?”
I think it will change a lot. In the future there will be more virtual classrooms I think and more students will study independently online. In my opinion, technology will make learning more convenient, especially of adults who want to upskill and are also working full-time. Maybe there could be less social interaction with other students too though. Even so, I think we are a long way from the potential of computers replacing the role of a teacher. Despite advancements in artificial intelligence, I think there is still an innate desire from students to have human input into their learning.
“What part does technology have in children’s free time?”
So many youngsters spend a lot of time using technology now. I mean watching TV and movies, playing online games, spending time on their phones, using the internet for so many things. I think it might be the main form of entertainment for a lot of children now. I believe there is certainly a place for these forms of entertainment, but not to the exclusion of all other pastimes. I think it’s important to allow children time to build and create in a more physical manner – something as simple a wooden building blocks, for example, can help develop a range of skills that technology cannot compete with.
“What effect is technology having on traditional pastimes?”
I think people are becoming less physically active because of technology. Compared with children today, previous generations used to play outside much more. I think technology is also making us less socially interactive. We might text someone nowadays whereas before we would call them on the phone or go to visit them. I think technology is encouraging us to spend too much time isolated at home really. Also, as I mentioned, certainly developmental skills are not being learned as much as they were in the past – motor skills are best developed through physical play, and this is not something that most modern technology encourages or allows for.
“What are the benefits of technology as a way of relaxing?”
Well it makes lots of things very convenient and we really do have the world at our fingertips. We can listen to all kinds of music very easily online and watch all kinds of TV shows and movies very easily now. We can play games, either by ourselves or in a group of people with the same devices, so there is something of a social side to technology if it is used in the correct manner. Some people don’t switch off from their phones at all though, so maybe that creates a different kind of stress which isn’t actually very relaxing at all. As with most things, I think the main rule would be moderation – time spent playing on a phone or tablet is fine, but this should be balanced with other, more physical interests.
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