Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Thank you. Now, in this first part, I’d like to ask you some questions
about yourself. Do you come from a large or small family?
My family is relatively large. There are 5 of us: my parents, brother, sister and
me.
I am a part time student, I only have 9 hours of class a week. I have three-hour
lectures every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and I am really enjoying the
courses. The professors are interesting.
That’s wonderful. And what sort of part time work do you do?
I am waiter in a restaurant on the campus of my university.
But, I shouldn’t complain. It’s a job and it does help fund my studies.
Let’s talk about friends. Do you have many friends at your
university?
Yes, I have a small handful of friends. But I suppose I would describe our
relationship as more study partners than friends. We don’t really socialize
outside of course-related topics.
Do you think friendships change as people get older?
Yes, definitely. I think life often makes demands of people and this can pull
friends closer or push them away. A good friend of mine recently had a baby. I
am very happy for him, but I know that this new development in his life will
mean he and I will spend less time together. This is fine, I mean, of course he
needs to spend time with his baby, but I think these sorts of life developments
can change the dynamics of a friendship.
Thank you. OK, let’s change topics. What do you do in your free
time?
I have several hobbies. I enjoy jogging. I try to get a jog in every day. I also have
a dog, so I spend quite a bit of time at the park. Um, I enjoy reading and surfing
the net. I keep an online blog. It is a diary of my day-to-day life. I enjoy watching
movies. I guess those are the main things I do in my free time.
Thank you. Now I’d like to ask you to speak one to two minutes on a
topic.
Normally, you would have one minute to plan your answer, but for
the sake of this recording we are going to skip this step.
Your cue card reads:
Describe someone who has had an important influence on your life.
For me personally, Mr. McGrady has influenced the way I see the subject of
music. I played saxophone in the high school band, and by watching Mr.
McGrady interact with the different instrument groups, I saw first hand how
these orchestral sections operate and come together to create music.
Mr. McGrady was also always trying to push students outside of their comfort
zones, and this greatly influenced me. For example, he encouraged me to join a
singing group that he had organized. I couldn’t sing then and I can’t sing now,
but it was encouraging to feel that he believed enough in me to ask me to join.
So, overall, I feel Mr. McGrady, firstly, acted as a wonderful role model.
Secondly, he taught me how to look at music differently. And thirdly he pushed
me to try new things. These are the three main ways he influenced me, and I’m
very thankful I had a teacher like him.
Thank you. You mentioned you hadn’t see Mr. McGrady in a few
years. Do you think you will see him again?
I hope so. I know he’s busy teaching his classes these days. I should drop by my
old high school and see him and thank him again for the things he has done for
me.
Do you think the role models young people look up to today are
similar to the role models young people looked up to 25 years ago?
Hmm, that’s an interesting question. I would say that the core values of today’s
role models are the same as 25 years ago. I think qualities like integrity,
diligence, benevolence and reliability will always be considered positive. I
suppose a difference today is that young people are exposed to more people
through different media channels, so the pool of potential role models increases.
I would say this is a positive thing, so long as parents ensure the role models
young people look up to are healthy ones. But to answer your question, yes, I
would say the majority of today’s role models are more or less the same as 25
years ago.
…singers, actors…
Well, I think they can be role models. But the fact that they aren’t completely
accessible to young people makes them significantly different. Young people
can’t call up a pop icon and ask them for advice, for example. But, so long as the
star is a good person, I don’t think they are a negative influence on a young
person. So, yes, pop icons can make good role models. But young people also
need role models they can talk to and learn directly from.
Are you anyone’s role model?
Am I anyone’s role model… Yes. My cousin has a son, named Ethan. He’s 5, and
I see him every other week because they live here in Toronto. I think Ethan
looks up to me. I guess that’s partly because I am a man in his life that is a little
younger than his father. I try my best to be a positive person so that he will
aspire to be one, too.