Part 1
Your Work or Your Studies
What do you do (in a typical day) at work?
Do you like your job?
Would you like to change your job?
Do you think you will need to receive any training in the future?
What job would you like to do in the future?
Why are you taking the IELTS test?
Do you think the first day at work is important?
What subjects are you studying?
Why did you choose that subject?
What school (or university) do you go to?
Why did you choose that university (or, school)?
How do you like your subject?
What's your favourite subject at school?
What's the most difficult part of your course?
What's the most interesting part of your course (your subject)?
For you, what's the most interesting part (or subject or class) of your course?
Do you think it will be easy to find that kind of work?
Did you like your first day at university?
Do you think the first day at university is important?
Your Home& Your Accommodation
Do you live in a house or a flat?
How long have you lived there?
Do you plan to live there for a long time?
Please describe your home a little.
What are the benefits (or, advantages) of living in a flat/house?
What's your favourite room in your home? (Why?)
How do you think your home (your house or your flat) could be improved?
What is the environment like around your flat/house?
Is it easy to travel to and from your home?
Would you say it's a good place to live?
Where do you come from?
Where do you live at the moment?
Does your whole family live there?
Tell me something about your hometown.
What would you recommend a tourist see in your hometown?
Do you prefer to live in a big city or in the countryside?
Would you say it's a good place to grow up?
Would you say that's a good place to live?
Do you plan to live there/here for a long time?
What (other) city would you like to live in (in the future)?
What's the traffic situation like in your hometown (or, where you are living now)?
Neighbours
Do you know your neighbours?
How often do you talk to (or, see) your neighbours?
Do you prefer to have young people as your neighbours, or old people?
Do you think it's important to have a good relationship with your neighbours?
What sorts of problems (conflicts) can people have with their neighbours?
In what ways can neighbours help each other?
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Travelling
Have you ever been on a long trip? (If yes, say where you went!)
Do you like travelling? Why?
Which country would you like to travel to (in the future)?
Advertisements
Are there many advertisements in your country?
Why do you think there are so many advertisements now?
How do you feel about advertisements?
What kind of advertisement do you like the most?
Have you ever bought anything after seeing (or hearing) an advertisement?
Where can we see (or, what are the various places where we can) advertisements?
Do you prefer advertisements on TV or those in magazines?
Do you think advertising plays a very important role in today's world?
Fruits and Vegetables
Do you like to eat fruit(s) and vegetables?
How often do you eat fruit and vegetables?
What fruit(s) (and /or vegetables) do you especially like to eat?
Did you like to vegetables when you were a child?
What are the benefits of eating fresh fruit (or, fresh fruits and vegetables)?
How much fruit and vegetables do you think a person needs to eat (everyday) to stay healthy?
Transportation
Do you (know how to) drive a car?
Do you think it's important to get a driver's license?
Do you think it's important to drive well?
In the future, when you have a child, at what age will you allow him or her to get a driver's license?
Do high schools in your country have driving classes?
Do you think it would be a good idea to have driving classes in high school?
Weather
What's the weather (usually) like in your hometown?
What changes are there between the different seasons in your country?
What's your favourite season? (Why?)
(Similar to above) What sort of weather do you like?
Do you usually pay attention to the weather forecasts?
Does the weather ever affect what you do?
Do you (or, do people in China) do the same things in the different seasons of the year?
Shopping
Do you like shopping? C
Do you prefer shopping alone or with others?
What time of the day do you prefer to go shopping?
When was the last time you went shopping? C
Do you prefer to buy things in small shops or in big shops such as supermarkets and department stores?
Is there anything you dislike about shopping?
Art
Do you like drawing / painting?
Have you ever taken a class in (drawing or) painting?
When you were a child, did you have art classes at school?
Do you think children should have art classes in school?
Why do you think people buy paintings?
Why do you think people like to put paintings (or other artwork) on the walls of their homes?
Have you ever bought a painting?
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Sport
Do you like (to play/to do) any sports?
What sports are most popular with young people today?
Did you take part in any (organized) sport in school?
Do you think sport is important?
Are there any sports facilities near where you live?
In the future, what sports would you like to play?
Cooking
Do you like cooking?
Who usually does the cooking in your family (or, in your home)?
When did you learn how to cook?
In the future, do you think you will be cooking more than you do now, or less? (Why?)
Reading
Do you like reading?
What (sorts of books) do you like to read?
How much time each day do you spend reading?
Did you read much when you were a child?
What did you (like to) read when you were a child?
For children, what are the benefits of reading?
What books (or, what things) have you read recently?
Sounds
Do you prefer a quiet environment or an environment with some sounds?
What natural sound do you like the most?
What sounds do you dislike?
What sounds remind you of your childhood?
Collecting
Did you collect anything when you were a child?
Do you still collect them now?
Why do you think people like collecting things?
If you had a lot of money, what would you like to collect?
Languages
What language do you usually speak?
Would you say it's a difficult language to learn?
What language would you like to learn in the future? (Why?)
Flowers
Do you like flowers?
Do flowers have special meaning in your culture?
On what occasions do people in China give flowers to other people?
When was the last time you gave flowers to someone?
Do Chinese people ever grow flowers at home?
Part 2&3
Place
Describe a garden or park you visited and liked.
Do you think it's important to have gardens or green spaces in cities?
What role do these places have in the lives of city people?
What are some examples of outdoor activities that people like to do?
How do you think big cities affect the (rural) areas surrounding them?
Describe a school you enjoyed going to when you were a child.
Which do you think is better, students studying in big classes or studying in small classes?
Do you think teaching young children is important?
Do you think everybody is suitable for becoming a teacher?
What are the qualities of a good teacher?
Besides schools, what other places can people can learn something from?
Describe your ideal house
When was it built?
Should the government invest in maintaining the historical places?
Should government invest in creating more employment?
What kind of housing do most Chinese people live in?
Where is the housing?
What are the differences between the architectural styles in the different areas in China?
Should a company design its own buildings?
Describe a place you have visited
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Why many people want to live in this place?
There’s many problem in transportation in this place?
So why many people still wants to live in this place?
How this place affects people?
Why people like to live in the city?
Describe a small shop you often go
How do you look upon online shopping?
Are there any changes in the way people shop today and the past.
Is there any difference between the shopping habits of the old and young?
What is the difference between going to the shopping mall and going to a small shop?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of online shopping?
Why men don’t like shopping?
Do you often go shopping? Why do you like it?
Do you think that it is good for children to go shopping?
What type of shop is close to your house?
What type of shop do you usually go?
What is the difference between going to the supermarket and going to a small shop?
Introduce a place with a good water resource
What is the importance of water?
Why do people use more water now than before?
What kind of the policy should the government make to save the water resources?
Why do people like to live in a place close to water?
What can they do if they live close to the water?
Why children like swimming?
Describe a historical site
What are the types of historical sites?
Why do people nowadays dislike visiting a historical site?
In what ways can people get to know history?
Do you think TV programs that focus on history can make people interested in history more? Object/ Thing
Describe a modern building that you think is interesting.
Do you prefer old buildings or modern buildings?
What do you think are the advantages of modern buildings over old buildings?
Do you think the (outside) appearance of a building is important?
Do you think government buildings should be more practical than attractive?
Do you think interesting modern buildings can be used to attract tourists?
What facilities do you think modern cities should have?
Describe something you bought recently but have never used
When people go shopping, do you think they are more concerned about price or quality?
When people go shopping, do you think they are more concerned about the appearance of the product or its quality?
Why do we have garbage collection services in our towns and cities?
What things can be recycled?
Describe a walk with a friend that you remember.
What are the benefits of walking?
How do you think people could be encouraged to walk more?
Describe a TV program that you watched but didn't like.
Have TV programs changed in the past few years? (If yes, how?)
Do you think there should be more educational TV programs?
What do you think can be the result if a person watches too much TV?
Do you think TV celebrities are good role models for children?
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reasonable?
Describe a well-known story from your country.
Why do you think (little) kids like listening to stories?
Describe a leisure activity you would like to do.
What are the most popular leisure time activities in your country?
Do you think it's important for students and working people to have some leisure time?
Some people think that spending time on hobbies is a waste of time. What do you think?
Why do you think some people choose a certain leisure activity or hobby and other people choose to do a different leisure activity?
What are the differences between the leisure activities that men like to do and those that women like to do?
Why do you think some leisure-time activities are becoming more popular while others become less popular?
What do you predict the future leisure time activities in China might be?
Some parents think that their children should spend all of their time on study and no time on leisure activities. Do you agree?
Do you think children (in your culture) should have more leisure time?
A Healthy Lifestyle
What do you think are the differences between healthy food and 'junk food'?
What things do you think people in China need to do in order to improve their health?
Do you think modern people do enough regular exercise?
Do you think it's important for children to learn about a healthy lifestyle?
Do you think the media can play a role in educating people about health?
Do you think it's a good idea for employers to encourage their employees to live a healthy life?
How can employers do that?
Describe a film
What kind of movie is popular in China? Why?
What is the difference between Chinese movie and foreign movies?
What do you learn from watching movies?
Do you think it is important for a movie to be advertised?
If foreign movies without advertisement, will it still be so success?
Do you think a movie will be success without advertisement? If yes, why?
What kind of people prefer to watch foreign movies than Chinese Movies in China? Why?
What is the difference between Chinese and Foreign movies?
Describe an interesting news you have read recently
If you want to be a journalist, what kind of personality you should have?
Do you think news affects people? How does it affect them?
How to improve the journalism in your country?
Can media affect people?
Why news is important to people?
Do Chinese people read news everyday?
Are Chinese people interested in local, domestic or international news?
What do you think about entertainment news?
Do you think internet will replace TV or radio or Newspaper?
Describe an interesting wild animal from your country
What kind of relationship do people and animal have?
What is the difference between having a pet now and having a pet in the past?
Is it better to have a dog in city or rural area?
Is vegetarian conducive to protect animals?
Do you think animals should be killed? Why?
Why do people raise pets?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of raising pets?
Why is it popular to raise pets?
What can we use animals for?
Are you a vegetarian?
Should animals be kept in cities or countryside?
What are some of the problems related to raising pets?
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Describe an ideal job
What is the job,
what kind of things you can do ,
what's the difference between the job you are doing.
Why do people change jobs?
What kind of people can give career advice to you?
Event
Describe a relaxing day you had once after a period of hard work.
Where do people go nowadays when they want to relax?
Is there much difference between the way old people relax and the way young people relax? (Why?)
Do you think sleeping is a good (or, an effective) way to relax?
In your country (China), how many days of leave (vacation from work) do most working people get (or, have)?
How many days per year do you think a working person should have for holidays?
Describe an exciting message you received by phone, email or text message.
What sorts of skills do you believe are important for good communication?
Do you think communication skills can be taught or are they part of the nature of a person?
Why do you think many people prefer to use the telephone to communicate rather than speak face-to-face with people?
Do you agree that (cell-phone) text messages can cause people to quickly change their plans?
Do old people and young people today generally use the same methods to communicate with each other?
Describe an outdoor eating
Do people eat more healthily than before?
How do you think of traditional food?
Do you think some traditional food is going to be deserted by people?
What can the government do to help people eat healthy and diversified food?
Describe one of your family events.
How is Chinese special wedding? Why is important? Will it be changed?
What is the difference between modern wedding and traditional wedding in your culture?
Describe a memorable childhood event
Why do people often recall their childhood?
Is it important to remember the past?
Why is the young generation turning its back on tradition?
Why are children more easily influenced by western culture?
Describe an event that you have joined and made you happy
Why are people interested in doing something special?
Which way of relaxation do you like?
Some people think that having a family event will waste a lot of money, what is your opinion?
What family event can make you happy?
Do you think money can bring happiness?
What can make people happy when they are old?
Describe an important conversation you had.
Are there any communication differences between males and females?
Do you think communication skills are important?
Describe an educational trip
Can students benefit from educational visits?
Should schools organize the visits?
What’s your suggestion?
What roles do parents play in a family?
Describe a party you will hold
Who will you invite?
What will happen?
Where will you hold it?
Do you think family party is important?
Why do people in your country usually hold a party?
What do you think about national celebrations?
Do you think they are important?
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Person
Describe a famous artist you admire
Do you think art (or, the arts) is (are) important?
How has art changed (in China) in the past few years (or, decades)?
How important do you think it is for children to have art classes in school?
What are some good ways to teach art to children?
Do you think art and literature (or, the arts) should be taught in universities?
Describe a family (not your own) you enjoyed spending time with.
Can you think of any activities that younger family members and older family members (usually/often/sometimes) do together?
Describe an elder person you know and admire
Do people like to be old?
Do elder people need to be educated?
Is there any lesson for elder people?
Describe a famous person you would like to meet
Why would people want to be famous?
How does fame influence them?
How would they change after being famous?
Describe a person who helped you on an important occasion
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a strong family relationship?
Describe a family friend
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