Speaker A
Let's talk about travel. Tell me about the last place that you went to.
Band 9 IELTS speaking test example covering travel, future plans, social media, and online shopping insights.
Key Takeaways
- Travel preferences lean towards nature and beach holidays for relaxation.
- Future career goals involve entrepreneurship in home design and balancing family responsibilities.
- English proficiency is crucial for career and living abroad.
- Social media use is cautious, focusing on privacy and professional benefits while acknowledging mental health risks.
- Online shopping is favored for convenience and supporting small businesses but has environmental concerns.
Summary
- The speaker discusses recent travel experiences, highlighting Thailand and preferences for beach holidays over city breaks.
- Future aspirations include owning a business in home design and balancing travel with family life.
- English is considered essential for the speaker's future career and lifestyle.
- Social media usage is primarily Instagram and YouTube, with a preference for privacy and professional content sharing.
- The speaker expresses concerns about social media's negative impact on mental health due to unrealistic life portrayals.
- Online shopping habits focus on convenience, with popular platforms like Amazon and Etsy supporting small businesses.
- Reasons for online shopping popularity include avoiding crowded stores and valuing personal space.
- Potential disadvantages of online shopping include environmental pollution from increased deliveries.
- The speaker values supporting small businesses and customization in purchases, exemplified by buying a custom dog bed.
- The video serves as a model IELTS speaking test with natural, fluent responses suitable for Band 9.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
The last place that I traveled to was Thailand, Bangkok to be specific. Um, big city, but also has um places that are close by that you can travel to that
Speaker A
are not cities. It's more countryside or nature like Krabi. Um, one of my favorite countries in the world. It has the best food, the best people, quite multicultural, and uh just fun experiences. It has something for everyone, whether you're a
Speaker A
man, woman, old, young. Um, you can find something to do in a city like Bangkok or in a country like Thailand.
Speaker A
So, would you prefer a city break or a beach holiday? Definitely a beach holiday because um I grew up in a city and although it has its perks, I feel like sometimes it can be too much. So when I like to get away, it's definitely
Speaker A
to something that's more in nature and hence a beach holiday. Sun, sand, the ocean, peace, quiet, the slow life is definitely something that I'd like to get away to.
Speaker A
Is there anywhere you haven't been yet that you would love to go to? Several places. Istanbul, Turkey is at the top of that list. I haven't been to the Philippines. I'd really like to go to the Philippines.
Speaker A
Um, yeah, very many places that I haven't been to. I'm a huge fan of uh different cultures. So, any chance that I get, I'm excited to get out of my hometown and go visit other places.
Speaker A
Now, let's talk about the future. In 10 years' time, what job would you like to have?
Speaker A
I would like to have my own business. I'm a closeted entrepreneur. So, um, and it's always been my dream to be able to have a business of my own. Um, hopefully in the home design, buying and selling space. Uh, I have a passion for
Speaker A
interior design on a separate note. But yes, uh a businesswoman is definitely something that I hope I'm able to be in the next 10 years.
Speaker A
And will English be useful in your future career? Yes. Uh, where I come from, English is a very commonly spoken language and the places that I see myself living in, uh English is the official language. So English would not only be useful, it
Speaker A
would be necessary for me specifically. So yes. And in your future career, would you like to travel a lot or would you like to be in one location?
Speaker A
I think when I have children, I will slow down the traveling a little bit just to have some structure and uh a feeling of groundedness in their lives, especially when they're younger. But up until then, in the near future,
Speaker A
because I don't have any children at the moment, um I would love to travel as much as possible. So, a bit of both, I would say.
Speaker A
How do you think your life will change over the coming 5 to 10 years?
Speaker A
I don't know about how it would change, but I know how I want it to change. I would like to get married. I would like to start a small family. And by small I mean have three daughters. Um, that's big
Speaker A
to some people. Uh, I would like to start a business of my own and I would like to retire my parents and see them uh take care of their health and grow older in a safe place and um yeah and just be
Speaker A
healthy, happy, wiser hopefully. Now let's talk about social media. Which social media sites do you use the most?
Speaker A
Um, before we continue, I have a gift for you. I've analyzed hundreds of band nine transcripts from our successful VIP students and I've put the 100 most used words into a PDF for you. If you want that, go to the description or the
Speaker A
pinned comment. You can download it for free. Instagram. It's my most frequently used. I think it's the only one unless YouTube counts as social media, which in that case YouTube as well. And how much time do you spend on those social media
Speaker A
sites? It depends on the day. So on busy days when I'm working, I don't get a chance to spend too long on my phone or any social media in general. And then on the weekend when I'm rotting on my couch, uh
Speaker A
I can doom scroll for sometimes a couple hours. What kind of information do you feel comfortable and uncomfortable putting on social media? I feel uncomfortable posting any personal information. So I don't like posting anything about my family, about my
Speaker A
relationships, about too much about my friendships. I'm just not somebody. I'm private, so I don't like to post too much about it on social media. But um if it's something related to work, something that I can benefit off of
Speaker A
using social media to promote something or promote something that my friends are doing or you know just get more eyeballs on something, um I'm happy to post that on social media.
Speaker A
And is there anything that you dislike about social media? Yes, very many things. I think sometimes social media can have a very negative effect on your mental health. Sometimes sitting behind a screen and looking at the highlights of everyone else's life
Speaker A
makes you feel like you're not doing enough because you see all the things that people are doing, whether it's someone looking really good or someone getting married or someone buying a new house or a new car and it kind of gives
Speaker A
you a skewed perception of someone's life without showing you the negative things. And it's very easy to spiral and feel like everybody else has a fantastic life and I'm here and I have these problems and why isn't it working
Speaker A
out for me? And I think that's not a very fair representation of reality. A website that I bought something recently from is called Etsy. Etsy.com to be specific. Um, I bought a—oh, sorry. The website is basically uh a place where you can go and buy
Speaker A
things from small businesses or people that run businesses from their houses. So, it's uh art, craft. It's like very niche uh things that you can buy like keychains, mugs, and more importantly, it's from small businesses and um stay-at-home moms and that kind of vibe,
Speaker A
if that makes sense. What I bought was a dog bed for my dog. It was customizable, so I could get the size that I wanted and I could get the color that I wanted and get a custom dog tag. Um, I loved
Speaker A
it. I loved it because um not only was it something that uh I needed, it fit my home aesthetically in every way because it was—I could pick out the color, I could pick out the texture, I could pick out the height,
Speaker A
the width, everything. My dog loves it. Needless to say, she doesn't sleep anywhere else other than the bed. She's on it. She's probably on it right now.
Speaker A
When I go home, I'll see her on it. Uh, I also like the fact that I could support small businesses. I hope to be a business owner in the future. So, I like to support small businesses over big
Speaker A
corporations. And that's the end of part two. So, we've been talking about a website that you bought something from, and we're going to continue to talk about shopping online and online business. In your country, what are the most popular
Speaker A
things people buy online? Everything. We buy groceries online, where you buy electronics online, clothes, bags, shoes. Um, Amazon is probably the most uh famous website that you can buy things on and uh entirely I don't think people go to stores anymore.
Speaker A
It's very uh especially our generation. I think online shopping, you can buy everything online.
Speaker A
And why has online shopping become so popular in your particular country? It can be quite overwhelming in a place like India in the big cities to kind of go through all the stores. It's a lot of stimulus and it takes a lot of
Speaker A
effort to do it because there's a lot of people and it's a lot of interaction with people. It's a little bit noisy and it's, you know, um, so I think our generation, we're a bit uh I don't want to say introverted, but we
Speaker A
like a personal space a little bit more. So just the convenience of having being able to click things on a screen and have it shipped to your house and not having to interact with people is very enticing. So um for those reasons I
Speaker A
think people prefer to buy things online more than in store. Are there any possible disadvantages of the growth of online shopping?
Speaker A
Perhaps um in terms of how it may pollute the environment and I say that only because when you buy so
Speaker A
Um, and uh I think that in terms of delivery, in terms of packaging, in terms of shipping, uh, in general, I think can cause a lot of, uh, pollution to the environment that you don't need. If you go to a store and
Speaker A
pick up a shirt, you can just pick it up, put it in a bag, and bring it home.
Speaker A
But if the same shirt gets shipped to you, it comes in a lot more excessive packaging than is necessary. Um, can be quite uh damaging, a lot of waste.
Speaker A
Do you think it's justified that some brands charge more for you to purchase something in store compared to online?
Speaker A
It depends. I think for to be able to buy something in store, if they're able to create a certain experience that differentiates the the buying experience from a consumer's point of view, it would make sense. Um, but I imagine if
Speaker A
you're going to get the same product online and in store, although I understand it from the business's perspective that that's a brick and mortar store has a lot more overheads that they have to worry about. Thinking about it from a consumer's point of
Speaker A
view, if you can buy the same product online and in store and there's no difference in the experience, as a matter of fact, it's perhaps a bit more of an inconvenience to go to a store, I don't see why it should cost more.
Speaker A
And do you think that in the future shopping malls will continue to be popular or will they be less popular because of online shopping?
Speaker A
I think it depends on the place. in certain places. I recently visited Dubai. Um, and shopping malls are uh a part of the culture because they have such um extreme weather for many months of the year. Malls are where people are
Speaker A
able to spend a lot of their times when the outside weather conditions aren't as good. And I imagine that's the case for places where there's torrential rain in the monsoon season or it's really hot in the summer or really cold in the winter.
Speaker A
It's it's it has everything. It has food, shopping, entertainment. So I don't see it being something that will go out of style in a lot of places.
Speaker A
Um but I don't think that it will compete with online. I think online in the long term will continue to grow even more. And do you think some businesses in the future, for example, banks or travel agents will go 100%
Speaker A
online? I don't know about 100%, but I would say pretty darn close. A lot of the services that are offered by banks and travel agencies can be quite efficiently executed online. So, I'm trying to think of why there would be a
Speaker A
reason, at least travel agencies, I couldn't think of a reason why they would need to have a physical store. Um, with banks, they can have maybe a small section for their VIP clientele, but I would say pretty close to 100% of it
Speaker A
can be executed online. I'll leave the 1% for any extran extranuous variables that um I I can't think of at the moment.
Speaker A
Very good. That's the end of the test. If you want to hear Priyanka again, we have two more speaking tests, including some where I give detailed feedback on her performance. Check out this one or this
Topics:IELTS Speaking TestBand 9TravelFuture PlansSocial MediaOnline ShoppingEntrepreneurshipEnglish LanguageMental HealthSmall Businesses
