SPEAKING SAMPLE PART 2: Describe something you bought that was difficult to use at first. Last month, my friends and I experienced So as technology progresses you'd think that technological devices and gadgets would become more intuitive and easier to use but that was obviously not the case with the thing I bought. It’s called the gimbal which is kind of a camera stabilizer and I bought it at the HongKong airport, if my memory serves me right. At the time we were traveling through Hongkong and my wife suggested that | should make travel vlogs. Given that | travel so much and | think we were just browsing around and the salesperson suggested that we should give this a try and | think I paid 300 bucks for it which at the time | thought it was criminally expensive because it was 300 bucks for what was tantamount to basically a selfie stick. So it was extremely difficult to use at first because of the number of things. First of all, it is the interface. Now, I’m not the most tech savvy person in the world but at the same time I don’t think of myself as a technophobe either but the software that accompanies the device was just really challenging to navigate. The device itself was also really kinda awkward to hold and maneuver, it was really hefty and I guess | was just really inexperienced when it comes to camera equipment. But after a few days of using it, | slowly got the hang of it and it became a lot easier to use. The difference that it makes to the quality of the videos and the vlogs was just night and day. The shots were lot more stable and it just feels like something that was professionally produced rather than something that an amateur or home vlogger puts out on The Internet. Bey mys} Pyne] (9.0 IETLS)Describe a historical event/era in your country Independence day, VN managed to break the shackles of colonization and then became a sovereign country. I think this event is kind of usher in an era of economic prosperity, and everybody's lives became dramatically better. So | guess I’m not that interested in history or this event as | was saying, but | think | should be. | think it would give me an appreciation for our nation and our heritage, our heart, our forefathers.” So this question is really giving me a hard time. I actually don’t know the first thing about history, kind of embarrassing to admit this. Of course | took History when | was in school but most of that stuffs kind of went over my head. So this question is really difficult for me. Having said that, ! guess I could tell you about a historical era or more correctly an event that everybody is supposed to know about, it is the Independence day of VN. This event took place on the September 2nd 1945. And of course I learned about this event extensively when | was in school, given it was important. However, it has been a while, so my recollection of what my teacher taught me may not be very accurate, so bear with me here. So basically before the Independence day, VN was under the oppression of the French colonial empire. But after this Original sample by TZ Ee OL)Describe a place full of colours When thinking about a place full of colours, | can't help but visualize the vivid painting of of the Phung Hung Mural Lane which, as much as I know, is a joint project by the Hoan Kiem District People’s Committee, the KOREA Foundation and The United Nations in Vietnam. The project aims to recreate photos of Hanoi people living in the past time, in the post-colonial era. | think the murals have lived up to people's expectations. | mean, when you look at these nostalgic paintings of the bygone era by these archwalls, against a modern setting, creating such a wonderful juxtaposition. | think this corner isn’t just perfect for the youth to take a | photo or selfie, but It’s also a wonderful place for people of our father and grandfather | generations, people who actually lived in this era. It’s a great moment for them to relive their youth at the time living in these old houses and travelling in these trams. | think it’s a wonderful place for people from all age groups. ‘And you know what, I think the vividness of | this place isn’t just reflected by the mural paintings but also by the hanging lanterns and the botanical plants alongside the street.| And when | think of the Tet holiday spirit, | immediately think of flowers, they just add an incredible boost of vibrancy to the atmosphere. And the lanterns, they might look a bit pale but trust me, they do come fo life by the night| time. It’s really wonderful for photos. It’s a really children-friendly place, for sure. It will be a great childhood memory for them in the way that they think back 10 or 20 years. It} will be a great memory. 4 Bry aoa melt] (8.5 IELTS)Well first of all, being a university graduate with major in media and socio-cultural communication, it should come as no surprise that reading newspapers is something | have to do on a daily basis, just to keep myself updated of global events. But the problemis, | find buying printed newspapers a real hassle, because my hectic schedules wouldn’t allow me to travel to a news stand in wrap. And that’s where the online news come in. So out of the websites that | subscribe to, | would personally put The New York Times on top of the list. Now I guess introducing to you what The New York Times is would be awfully redundant, since you would've probably been too familiar with how powerful and influential it is. The New York Times is one of the powerhouses of the publishing industry, with around 3 million total subscriptions for its online format, if I'm not mistaken, which I think quite impressive. So, the reason why I chose to pay an annual subscription fee for The New York Times, is because | find it to be a very reliable source of news. Well, | believe that The New York Times has presented some of the most accurate and deepest articles, as well as opinion editorials you can find about US and foreign events. And on top of that, what I think sets The New York Times apart from other periodicals is the fact that it has super intense coverage on any particular matter. In fact, during my thesis research on Trump’s use of social media platforms - particularly Twitter - | gained tremendous understanding of the topic through reading dozens and even hundreds of articles presented on The New York Times. And I was really grateful for that! Now, in another aspect, | would say that the subscription fee of The New York Times can be quite discouraging for some people. | mean to pay a few dollars per month for an online edition of news can be quite expensive for some people. | would totally comprehend that but at same time, judging from my own experience, | think for only that amount of money for the readership on The New York Times would be so invaluable and would not disappoint you. Thay Duy Long (8.5 IELTS)Describe a foreign person who you have heard or known that you think is interesting Ie was quite hard to decide who to talk about for this | topic because there are so many people I could have chosen, but I have decided to talk about Zendaya. She is an American actress who acquires a reputation for her role as Rocky Blue on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up. Zendaya is an incredibly hard-working woman, not only is she an actress but she is also a singer, dancer, author, and model. Besides she is renowned for being outspoken and down-to-earth, she has received many awards and nominations in the primetime Emmy award or Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, In terms of her personality, she has a wicked sense of humor and seems really easy to get along with. | suppose that this is another reason why she has become so popular because she just seems like a normal person ~ the girl next door. She doesn’t seem +] standoffish like some famous people and I guess this is why people love her. How do | know about her? Well, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I guess it would be roughly 8 or 9 years ago. When she was in the series Shake it up. As you can guess, I've become her fan ever since, and | can say that she was propelled to stardom after starring in Shake it up. ‘Above all, what impresses me the most about Zendaya is her amazing sense of style. She has a keen eye for fashion, knows how to mix and match clothes, and turns every piece of clothing into high-end outfits. That's why she is a fashion chameleon, therefore, many people, including me, | take a lot of style cues from her. Although she is still relatively young, she has a quite remarkable life. I guess and | hope that in the very near future she becomes the greatest actress in the world. | have no doubt that she can do this because she is an extremely determined person and works hard to be successful. CrP el) eT = be5)‘SPEAKING SAMPLE PART 2 Describe a time when you helped a friend There is this one particular saying that I'm extremely fond of ‘A friend in need is a friend in deed’. And so I try to help my friends whenever | can and with whatever I can. A few years ago, one of my colleagues was having a high school reunion party. In case you didn't know, in Vietnam, this is the kind of social event where a bunch of overly confident people just brag about their personal achievements after graduation. No one with little success in life and some sense would ge anywhere near it but my good friend kinda dug herself a hole when she agreed to ploy a part in throwing the party. Most of her classmates are married while she has reluctantly been a proponent of the single positivity movement. In other words, she would be trapped ina room thronged with happy and annoying couples. That was where | came into play. She needed a fake boyfriend to get her through this dull evening, someone to bend her friends’ ears about her fictional achievements. Being a great friend myself, and, you know, partly to earn 30 quid, | put on a show, rented a suit, did my hair and borrowed a fancy motorbike. || When we got there, it took me literally seconds to realize her class was full of patronizing, rude and arrogant people. | couldn't understand how she managed to put up with these people for 3 years. And so I did exactly what good friends should do, ying through my teeth, selling my coworker to her inconsiderate friends while trying to undermine some snobs. I was rather pleased with my performance as I was able to help her out although I might have overdone it a little bit when talking about her new mansion. But it didn’t matter really because in the end, she was awfully delighted. is Bia fe] (8.5 IELTS)es SPEAKING SAMPLE PART 2 Describe a famous athlete you know By Trung Hieu (8.0 IELTS Teacher) I'm a major sports fan and my favourite sport is football. I'm a 12-year supporter of Liverpool football club, a team in the English League, so the athlete I'm going to mention is one of the best players of this team, his name is Virgil Van Dijk. Virgil is 2 Dutch footballer and he plays as a centre back, which is a defender in the central area in front of the home team's goal. He has in- credible physicality, he is almost 2 metres tall, extremely well-built and unbelievably fast. There aren’t many players who are big but have incredible pace like him, which makes him an absolute beast on the field. Normally big de- fenders like him wouldn't be so skillful with the ball, but he is. His skill sets are unmatched among defenders, he can control the ball with complete ease and composure. But what turns him into a world-class player is his football IQ and mentality in contending situations. Most defenders when facing an opposing at- tacker would try to tackle the ball as early as possible, but Virgil almost never makes the frst move unless he has an edge. He would anti pate the opponent’s move, wait for him to slip up and then gradually take control of the situa- tion. These traits make him a leader in every team's defense and a nightmare for every at- tacking player in T-on-1 situations. Ever since he stepped foot in Liverpool's locker room, he has completely elevated and upgraded our team, making us one of the best sides in the world of football. He played a salient role in our winning one English League title and one Euro- pean League title in 2018 and 2019. His talent was acknowledged as he was granted the award of Best Player in Europe in 2019.SPEAKING SAMPLE PART 2 Describe a time when you helped a friend Well, Fd like to think of myself as a kind-hearted person so I've always tried to help my friends and my family whenever | get the chance. The most recent time I gave someone a hand was actually a couple of weeks ago when I helped my friend prepare for his English exam. My friend and I go way back. In fact, we got on like a house on fire when we first met and he has helped mea zillion times. So at the time, | didn’t mind returning the favor when he asked for my help. Now you gotta know that English has never been his strong suit since he goofed off at school and cut class way too often. When his English exam was approaching, he started to feel anxious and turned to me for help. Needless to say, I was no less frantic than him ‘cause | didn’t know where to start. | mean, he seriously lacked vocabulary and his grammar was nothing short of disastrous. He couldn't produce a | long enough sentence without making mistakes. So what | did was to calmly walk him through all the basic grammar points and bone up on the most needed vocabulary. On top of that, we practiced speaking | entirely in English before the exam. Thank God he wasn't as helpless as | thought he was, | mean, pretty much what our teacher taught him was like water off a duck’s back. But when he told me the result he'd got, | was astonished because it was much higher than we expected, It’s still imprinted in my mind his big smile at the time, you know, he was suffused with happiness. As for me, not only was I super elated but also relieved ‘cause | could finally got rid of him, at least for a while. Beau iss) (8.01ETLS)Describe an art or craft activity (e.g. painting, woodwork, etc.) that you had (at school). Well, I'm going to talk about my experience of reproducing a masterpiece of Vangogh - “Irises” several years ago when | have just revived from a traumatic break-up with my ex and hails of examinations at school. “Irises” capturing a bed of purple irises really carved a deep impression on me about a piteous artist's resilience and grand passion for art because this is the first subject Vangogh depicted in the asylum. And even though he was isolated from the external world, this painting with a profusion of blossoms and large regions of luminous color symmetry apparently showed admiration and joy. Regarding my reproduction process for this treasure, I first used the grid method to accurately imitate the outlay of the original work on a linen square canvas, and then meticulously concocted shades of needed colours on my usual plastic pallete before little by little re-illustrating each layer of the painting from the far to closer vision. The colour concoction is always the most challenging stage to me as | tend to subconsciously put a sunshine tint to all my colour mixtures. As a result, my reproduction artworks always look brighter than the original one. And this time - with Vangogh’s artwork was no exception. This might reflect my positive mind about life, though. So, you may be able to imagine how my ultimate product looked like. | was basically successful sketching elements quite the same as the original even though some sophisticated outlines of iris petals should have been a bit more natural with more subtle winding bits. And the overaching colour should have been overcasted with a bit more bluish tone. But frankly, | was pretty satisfied with the finish. The artwork reproduction process helped me to contemplate each tiny bits of the painting at a closer distance, understand the fuller story of the eminent painter conveyed through this artwork, and how powerful art can be in preserving human’s emotions regardless of time. After days of completing my own reproduction, | remembered that | also somehow found a strong force of euphoria, energy, and creativity arising back to my mind, which may have proven the miraculous impact that “Irises” can have on people. Cé Thuy Tién (8.0 IELTS)DESCRIBE A WORK OF ART I would consider myself as an art person, I have seen so many stunning paintings. But the stand out for me is Mona Lisa, which is an immaculate painting by Leonardo Da Vinci who is an internationally many paintings that perfectly capture the essence of the Renaissance. But his signature work of art is, hands down, Mona Lisa. I first saw the painting a couple of months ago at a local art gallery in the vicinity of my house. It was just a reproduction of the Mona Lisa. It couldn't possibly do justice to the Real McCoy. But still | was really struck by the painting. The painting looks amaring. The colors are predominantly dark tones which give off a sombre vibe. And the focal point is a lady with a mysterious smile. For thousand of years, many scientists have been trying to decipher the meaning behind that smile. And when it comes to my feeling to the paintings, as | was saying, | haven't seen the original version by myself. But seeing its replica, | was completely transfixed. And | wish that in the future, | could contemplate the genuine Mona Lisa. Xx C6 Thu Thuy (8.0 IELTS)Describe a building Today I'm gonna describe to you about this iconic building, and it’s called the Bitexco Financial Tower. Since its completion in 2010, this building has been ranked the tallest building in town and has gradually become a landmark of the city due to its unique shape, which really resembles the Vietnam's national flower - the Lotus. But in my opinion, it looks more like a corn. So, given its distinctive design, this building really stands out from all the building in town. As you approach the heart of Saigon, you can easily see it from far away. The skyscraper is located on Hai Tricu street in District 1, which is kinda like a central business district of Saigon. As you can guess, many financial institutions like banks, auditing firms have headquarters here inside this building. In addition to that, District 1is also avery touristy area. So, this building is often frequented by many locals and tourists. In fact, | often go there on weekends, as it’s the best time for me to experience the vibrant atmosphere. I can see myself blending in the hectic stream of people. ttNow, this building serves a wide range of purposes. Essentially, it’s a shopping mall that houses a bunch of high-end stores. You can literally find anything here, from chic clothing to flashy snteakers, and some lovely souvenirs or accessories for your beloved ones. But obviously, the prices are just a little bit steep, so you have to think about it before making the decision. This building also leases office spaces, but the rent is prohibitive because of the location and the view. So you can only spot offices of large corporation while exploring in here. There is a skydeck on the 49th floor of the building. In my opinion, this is what the building is all about as it rewards the visitors probably the best panoramic view of Saigon. | mean, it’s just breath-taking. There are loads of reasons to explain why I love this place so much. First of all, I can browse all the shop and maybe, you know, just maybe, splurge on something extravagant and fancy. Sometimes, if | feel up to partying, | can easily grab a drink by hitting the bar on the 52nd floor, or I can just hang out at the Observation deck and admire the stunning view of the city. So alll in all, | always have an absolute blast every time I come here.” Thay Phat Nguyén (8.5 IELTS)