Topic - Giving gifts:

Q. When do people give gifts or presents in your country?

Q. Do you ever take a gift when you visit someone in their home? [Why/Why not?]
Q. When did you last receive a gift? [What was it?]
Q. Do you enjoy looking for gifts for people? [Why/Why not?]
 

Q.  When do people give gifts or presents in your country?

Answer:  In my country, we mostly give gifts to others on a special day like a birthday, a wedding
ceremony, and on an anniversary day. It's a widely followed custom to exchange gifts during the
Christmas holidays. We often buy gifts for a classmate, colleague or a teacher on their farewell days.
Besides, we often buy candies to children and flowers to our relatives whenever we visit their house.

Q.  Do you ever take a gift when you visit someone in their home? [Why/Why not?]
Answer:  Yes, I most often buy a gift on such an occasion. I do it as it is a broadly followed convention in
our country, and the idea of giving a host some sort of gifts is exciting, especially when the host loves the
gift. Besides, it's a token of appreciation and a good gesture as a guest.
Q.  When did you last receive a gift? [What was it?]
Answer:  Well, that's an interesting question and it reminds me of a gift that a close friend of mine gave
me a few weeks ago. Maria went to Italy last November to visit her grandparents and after she returned,
she gave me a perfume made in Italy. 'Gucci Premiere Eau De Parfum' that she gave me was expensive
and I really appreciate her gift.
Q.  Do you enjoy looking for gifts for people? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Yes, most of the time I love to browse different shops to find a suitable gift for someone I care
for. Finding a suitable gift idea and then getting the item can be time-consuming, but it represents our
care and love for the person we are presenting the gift. If the person likes the present, the time we spend
to find it worths every second of it.

Gifts
1. Do you like to receive gifts? (Why? / Why not?)
Yes, especially on special occasions like my birthday. I think it’s a way for other
people to show their love and respect towards me.

2. What kind of gifts do you like to receive? (Why?)

I don’t have a particular gift that I’m fond of. I love getting surprises from other
people’s gifts.

3. What gifts did you receive in your childhood?

The gift I remember the most is a big doll. I still remember vividly my dad gave me
that doll on my 8th birthday party. At that time, the doll meant the world to me
because it represented my dad’s love for me.

4. Do you like giving gifts to people? (Why? / Why not?)

I only love giving gifts to my relatives or close friends. I consider gifts as a symbol of
love, so I only give my love to my loved ones.

5. What gifts did you give to others in your childhood?

Just some non–material gifts because at that time, I only received a little pocket
money from my parents. I just could afford some small gifts like pencils, notebooks
and things like that.

Discussion Topic - Giving gifts.

Part 1: Introduction & Interview
Q. 1. When do people give gifts or presents in your country?
Answer: In my country, people give gifts or presents on a number of different
occasions, such as marriage ceremonies, wedding anniversaries, birthdays,
mother’s day, father’s day and valentine’s day. People also give gifts during
different religious festivals such as “Eid” holidays and Christmas holidays.
Sometimes, people give gifts on graduation ceremonies also.
Q. 2. Do you take a gift when you visit someone in their home? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Yes, I do take a gift when I visit someone in their homes primarily
because the act of gift-giving makes me feel good. Besides, I like to take gifts
also because the people, who I am taking gifts for, appreciate it as the act proves
that I really care for them. Moreover, if a family has kids and I present them with
a gift or a present, they become excited and joyfully express their delight.
Q. 3. When did you last receive a gift? [What was it?]
Answer: It was about a couple of months ago when I received a gift for the last
time, and the gift was a smartphone. My cousin brought the gift for me when he
travelled to abroad, as he joined a new job.
Q. 4. Do you enjoy looking for gifts for people? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Yes, I do enjoy looking for gifts for people because it is really gratifying
to be a part of a good cause, especially, if it involves making someone happy.
Besides, it also gives me an idea as to what kinds of new gift items are available
in the market.
Q. 5. Do you like flowers as a gift? [Why/why not?]
Answer: Yes, I do like flowers as a gift because they are just naturally beautiful
with great colours and smells. Besides, I like flowers also because they represent
good wishes and luck. Flowers have a special meaning in our culture and we all
love flowers as a gift.
 

Part 3: Details Discussion

Q. 1. What is the purpose of gift-giving in our life?
Answer: Generally speaking, the purpose of gift-giving in our life is to show how
much someone really means to us, and also that to celebrate the person who the
gift is in honour of, and to adore them for the occasions at hand, such as their
birthdays or wedding anniversaries. Sometimes, the purpose of gift-giving in our
life can also be aimed at making someone’s life easy and comfortable by offering
something like a “toaster” or “washing machine”, for example. Besides, the
purpose of gift-giving can also be aimed at amending our past bitterness and
misunderstanding in order to “renew” our relationship. Finally, gift-giving acts can
also be considered as a way to develop understanding between two different
cultural traditions.
Q. 2. What kinds of gifts are popular in your country?
Answer: The kinds of gifts, that are popular in my country, largely depend on the
occasions on which gifts are offered. Of course, people give gifts in my country
even when there are no occasions for it.  But, normally, things like nice dresses,
watches, books, pieces of jewellery, perfumes, cosmetics, aeroplane tickets to go
for a holiday, mobile & smartphones, computers & laptops, television and
electronic appliances like coffee makers & micro oven are popular gift items in
my country.  Sometimes, people also like to offer handcraft products, cash,
flowers, greeting cards or things that are made with their own hands, as gifts in
my country. Finally, different types of toys and dolls are popular gift items in my
county when we intend to give gifts to a child.
Q. 3. What kinds of gifts people can give to others when there is no special
occasion?
Answer: In my humble opinion, I don’t really think that we should make any
distinction between the “gifts offered on an occasion” and the “gifts offered
without any occasion”. Having said that, however, I think that gifts like
storybooks, novels, books on spiritual uplift, books on motivational stories, and
world travel guides can be considered as great gift ideas when there are no
occasions for gift-giving. Besides, just offering some cash, gift cards or gift
certificate can also be considered as some great gift ideas where there is no
special occasion. It all just depends on the mood of the gift offering persons.
Q. 4. How has the gift-exchanging trend changed over the last few decades?
Answer: Gift-giving is a beautiful universal act that is ingrained in each and every
culture for thousands of years, but it has changed over the last few decades. For
example, before several decades, people used to give gifts mostly on different
kinds of occasions like birthdays, Christmas and other religious occasions, just to
name a few. But today we don’t really have to have an occasion for it.
Sometimes, in the past, people also used to choose some unique products as
gifts after visiting some distant and interesting lands and buying them from there,
but today gifts can be anything that is easily found at a local shop. Finally, unlike
the past, these days we can choose and send gifts online by using internet
technology.
Q. 5. Do people today still give the same kinds of gifts that people used to give,
many years ago?
Answer: No, I don’t really think that people today still give the same kinds of gifts,
with some exception, like that of many years ago, depending on the culture and
their eras. For example, during the ancient times, people, or “caveman” used to
choose an animal tooth, a tree bark, or a unique-looking stone as gift items,
which could then be worn as necklaces or other accessories. In the same way,
the ancient Egyptians, among some of the first civilizations to practise the
tradition of gift-giving, used to offer “flower grains”, “crops” and “jewellery” as gift
items. Finally, in the middle ages, people used “love songs”, “washbasins”,
“personalized garments” and “sewing strands of hair” as gift items for their loved
ones.

In the modern era, however, we have books, chocolates, electronic items,

greeting cards, air tickets and flowers as common gift items.
Q. 6. Do people today still give the same kinds of gifts that people used to give,
many years ago?
Answer: Yes, I think that it is a good idea for people, who are doing business with
each other, or for that matter, people, who are involved in any other professions,
to exchange gifts as the practice allows them to build a strong and meaningful
relationship among them or minimize/eliminate the cultural differences among
them. Of course, we must make sure that such “gift-giving” practice doesn’t affect
“the normal professional or business ethics”, but, again, there shouldn’t be any
“bar” on exchanging gifts among people, because of their professions, if it helps
them bring closer emotionally, professionally, socially and culturally.

IELTS Speaking Part 3 topic: Gift.

1. What is the purpose of gift giving?

2. How has gift giving changed since your grandparents’ time? How?

3. How important is gift giving in a relationship?

4. What is more important when it comes to giving a gift, cost or effort?

Why?

5. Do you think that people have become more materialistic when it comes
to giving gifts, as compared to your grandparents’ time?

6. How has modern technology changed the nature of gift giving? How?

Q. 1. What is the purpose of gift giving?

Answer: People love giving gifts primarily because it is just “customary”

to give gifts in order to celebrate on some occasions with her friends and
families. However, on a deeper level, we give gifts because it helps to
create a stronger bond between the gift recipients and the persons,
offering the gifts, by showing their love and appreciation for each other’s
valuable role and presence in their lives. Besides, a person exchanges gifts
with somebody also because it provides a tremendous psychological boost
to the recipient which, in turn, helps strengthen his/her resilience to cope
with the adverse moments of life.

Q. 2. How has gift giving changed since your grandparents’ time? How?

Answer: Yes, I would say that gift giving has changed since my
grandparents’ time. Back in those days, people used to give gifts mostly on
some special occasions, such as birthdays and wedding anniversaries, but
today, one doesn’t really have to have an occasion for it. Besides, unlike in
the past, people today expect “personalised” gifts with some kinds of
thoughts behind them. Finally, today we can choose a lot more things as
gift items which we didn’t have in the days of our grandparents.

Q. 3. How important is gift giving in a relationship?

Answer: I think that it is absolutely important to exchange gifts in a

relationship between partners because it would help cement and carry
forward a healthy and loving relationship. Besides, exchanging gifts is not
just a simple gesture of appreciation, but giving the right gifts at the right
time also shows how much a person really cares for his/her partner or
understands his or her partner. Finally, when a relationship goes through
some troubling times, a well-thought gift can go a long way to repair the
“damage” by bringing the partners closer to each other.

Q. 4. What is more important when it comes to giving a gift, cost or effort?

Why?

Answer: In my opinion, the effort is more important than the cost when it
comes to giving a gift. For example, if a person chooses an expensive gift
for his or her partner, but the partner doesn’t like it because it just doesn’t
go with him/her styles or colour preferences, then the costly gift actually
becomes “useless”. On the other hands, if a person gives a lot of thoughts
and times in choosing a gift in order to make sure that he/she really
understands what his/her partner likes or prefers, then the gift, no matter
how “cheap” it is, would surely go a long way to impress the partner.

Q. 5. Do you think that people have become more materialistic when it

comes to giving gifts, as compared to your grandparents’ time?

Answer: Yes, I would certainly like to think that people have become more
materialistic, when it comes to giving gifts, primarily because we are living
in a very “materialistic” society. Besides, our culture has grown more
commercial, where “gift giving” – expensive gifts that is, has turned into a
booming industry. Finally, media these days also play a crucial role in
fostering an “unrealistic” expectation among people to buy “perfect gifts”
without necessarily understanding the idea of a “perfect gift”.

Q. 6. How has modern technology changed the nature of gift giving? How?

Answer: Modern technology, like the internet, e-commerce and online

shopping, has revolutionized the nature of gift giving by making it fast,
affordable and convenient. In fact, we can choose the perfect gifts for our
loved ones for any occasion, even if they live in another corner of the
world, from the comfort of our homes on the internet and have them
delivered to their doorsteps in hours, if not any quicker! The best thing
about this modern technology is that we can actually get the opinions on
the “gift ideas”, before actually buying them, from our friends and families
almost instantly because we can send the ‘pictures’ to them through emails
or messenger services. We can even send someone a gift card so that the
recipient can choose his/her own gift from a collection of items.
Two-way discussion: Gifts
 Do you enjoy giving and receiving gifts? Why or why not?
Well, it may sound weird to you that I do not like to give or receive gifts.
Receiving gifts is a bit troublesome for me. I am a bit introvert and thus I do not
like to socialise much rather prefer solitude. So, when it is about receiving gifts, it
refers that I have to spend more time on socialising with the other people.
Besides, in return, I have also to present any gifts in some other ways and
accordingly, I have to socialise again. But, if I do not receive or give gifts to or
from anyone, I will have my own peace. Usually, gifts are presented in different
occasions or events and if I go there, I have to gossip with people such events
which are unpleasant to me.
 Who usually gives you gifts?
Thank you for asking. Usually, I receive gifts from my intimate people and family
members. They give me different attractive gifts marking different occasions.
They know me and my nature, and so when they present me anything, they
usually avoid extra words with me. Most of the cases, my mom is a pioneer to
give me gifts. She, most of the times arranges for everything for me and as she is
well aware of my introvert nature, tries to make everything simple and trouble-
free. If someone wants to present me something, they submit the gift to my mom
and she gives the gift to me based on my mood.
 Who do you give gifts to?
Uhh! It is a bit embarrassing for me that I do not give gifts normally. But when it
is a must to give gifts, I do not impede the process. I give gifts to my relatives,
friends, classmates and some other intimate people of mine. Generally, I give
gifts on special events or anniversaries I am invited to. But I do not attend the
events or occasions rather ask my mom to convey my best regards and present
the gifts. She, then, attends the invitations with my gift. But when it is about
family invitation or party to any relative’s place, I attend there and most of the
time I remain silent.
•  In your country when do people usually give gifts?
Usually, in Australia, people exchange gifts and this is a common tradition here.
 Gifts are mostly exchanged or offered during the Christmas Day. Besides,
presenting gifts in occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, marriage or at any
special events is very usual here. The people, who receive the presents, become
highly glad and it is the kids who become happier when they receive the gifts in
their birthdays or in other events. The adult people also become happy when
they receive gifts marking any event or occasion. If any event is organised
marking such an issue like birthday, marriage anniversary, or to recall any
special day or event, the invited guests bring the gifts and hand them over to the
host.
 What kinds of gifts do they give?
Well, there are no specific types of gifts are given. It mostly depends on the event
type and choice of the gift provider. In most of the cases, people are invited to
marriage ceremonies and they try to give gifts to the newlywed which could be
useful for them to start the family. I have also seen that some of the people are
presenting hard cash in envelopes. I think this is one of the best gift ideas. When
it is about birthdays of kids, toys are usually presented. If the birthday is for any
adult, the gifts are selected using the gender and preference of the individual
who will receive.
 Do you think gift-giving customs are different now than they were in the past?
How?
Ummm! No, I do not think so. It appears to me that everything is all the same as
it was in the past. To make it clearer, let’s take an example. When people used to
be invited to the marriage ceremony of their near and dear ones, they used to
give gifts appropriate for the couple. By the same way, there are no changes at all
in the gift items. Exchanging gifts was a tradition during the Christmas and still,
the tradition is going on. The gift items might have changed a bit with the change
of time but the customs have remained the same as it was before.
•  Do you think they will change in the future? How?
Well, you know, future is uncertain. But I think there would be no change in this
process. We are living in the current age and 30 years ago, the current age would
have been considered as future, right? So, if I count from the past, I am in future
(based on the past) and find there are no notable changes. Thereby, I think there
would be no such changes regarding the gift-giving customs and manners. But it
may happen that the gift items may be improved or the old items might be
replaced with the modern ones. There would be no other changes, I think.