Q. What place do you most like to visit? [Why?]
Q. How often do you visit this place? [Why?]
Q. Why do you like it so much?
Q. Is it popular with many other people? [Why?]
Q. Has it changed very much since you first went there? [In what way?]
Q. What place do you most like to visit? [Why?]
Answer: The place, I like to visit the most, is called the “White Cliffs of Dover” in Kent. I like to visit this stunning coastline, which has been saying ‘hello’ and ‘farewell’ to thousands of people crossing the English Channel for centuries because of its gorgeous geology with dazzling white chalk faces, sharp edges rising 350 feet above the sea level along with the layers of wild and lush grasses.
Q. How often do you visit this place? [Why?]
Answer: I like to visit this place, one of the most famous landmarks in the UK, if not the most, twice a year because visiting beautiful places is one of the few things that I really enjoy out of my very busy work life, and White Cliffs of Dover seems to top the list of those places which helps me relax the most because of its stunning natural beauty.
Q. Why do you like it so much?
Answer: I like visiting this place so much because of its unique feature. In fact, there are very few places on this earth where one can see such a long stretch of coastline which is completely made of white chalks. I like it also because this place, standing tall as the guardians of the island, has witnessed many historical events such as the unsuccessful Roman invasion of Julius Caesar and being on the frontline of the First World War and the Second World War.
Q. Is it popular with many other people? [Why?]
Answer: Yes, it is popular with many other people because of Dover Castle the largest castle in the UK, and the Bronze Age boat apart from the stunning looking White Cliffs are the centre of attractions to many visiting tourists. In fact, in the past few years, an average of 3.4 million people chose Dover for a day trip, and of them, over 500,000 people chose to stay there overnight.
Q. Has it changed very much since you first went there? [In what way?]
Answer: Yes, it has changed since I visited this place last time as people can enjoy an annual plant fair event now where beautiful flower plants, as well as vegetable plants, are displayed for the public view. Besides, the number of visitors had also significantly increased since I visited there last time.
Q. Do you like to have flowers in your home? [Why/Why not?]
Q. Where would you go to buy flowers? [Why?]
Q. On what occasions would you give someone flowers?
Q. Are flowers important in your culture? [Why/Why not?]
Q. Do you like to have flowers in your home? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: This is an interesting question and I would be delighted to answer that. In fact, whenever we have a special occasion at our home, we buy flowers and consider it an integral part of the celebration. For instance, if it’s a birthday or a marriage anniversary, we buy different types of flowers and love to have them at our home. Flowers are refreshing and enhance the appeal of the celebration.
Q. Where would you go to buy flowers? [Why?]
Answer: If I need to buy some common types of flowers, I go to a nearby floral shop that sells a good variety of flowers and flower bouquets. It offers fresh flowers and home delivery. However, if I need to purchase a flower which is not so common like chocolate cosmos or night lily, I order them from a large online shop which specialises in making bouquets for different occasions and has a great variety of flowers.
Q. On what occasions would you give someone flowers?
Answer: In our country, we can give someone flower almost on any occasion to congratulate or wish good luck to this person. Perhaps giving flowers in a sad and mournful event is not recommend and apart from that, I can present someone flowers anytime for any occasion.
Q. Are flowers important in your culture? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Flowers are extremely important in our culture. They represent purity, innocence, happiness, selflessness and good fortune. A large number of people offer flowers to the deity they pray to while others find it a source of freshness and beauty and give them to their dear and near ones.
Q. What’s your favourite colour? [Why?]
Q. Do you like the same colours now as you did when you were younger? [Why/Why not?]
Q. What can you learn about a person from the colours they like?
Q. Do any colours have a special meaning in your culture?
Q. What’s your favourite colour? [Why?]
Answer: My favourite colour is pink and I guess many other girls like me also have a fascination with this colour. Pink, a delicate colour that means sweet, nice, playful, cute, romantic, charming, feminine, and tenderness. Pink is the colour of the universal love of oneself and of others. I love it more than any other colour.
Alternative Answer: My favourite colour is blue – the colour of the ocean and the sky. This colour is associated with depth and stability and symbolizes wisdom, trust, confidence, intelligence, faith, and heaven. From my childhood, I had been attracted to this colour and always preferred blue pairs of jeans. I believe blue is a colour that suits me and perhaps this is one of the reasons I like it so much.
Q. Do you like the same colours now as you did when you were younger? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Yes, pink has always been my favourite colour. My father bought me a beautiful pink doll when I was only 4 years old and my parents painted my room pink in my childhood. Since then I am in love with this colour and interestingly it is still the same.
Alternative Answer: White and red were my favourite colours up until I turned 19. Strangely, I started realising the importance of blue colour when I started travelling extensively. I watched a movie titled ‘Blue’ and then did some extensive research on this colour. Besides, my fascination with the blue pair of jeans also enhanced my weakness in this colour.
Q. What can you learn about a person from the colours they like?
Answer: I believe the choice of colours often represents some personality traits and this tells a lot about a person. For instance, people who choose black as their favourite colour are often artistic and sensitive and those who love the green colour are often affectionate, loyal and frank. Clearly, these are generic descriptions but provides the clue to assessing different personality types that exist within a group. More scientifically speaking, the choice of colours defines someone’s preference and could be used to speculate that a person’s life experience and preferences.
Q. Do any colours have a special meaning in your culture?
Answer: White is considered the symbol of peace and red for violence in our culture. Interestingly, red is sometimes referred to as the colour of friendship and sacrifice which contradicts the earlier meaning of this colour! As far as I know, Green, in our country, represents nature and prosperity while yellow is the colour of sunshine and happiness. Finally, black is considered something gloomy and sad and relates to the dark past in history. However, black is often revered, by some people in our country, as the colour of intelligence and mystical world.
Q. How often do you make telephone calls? [Why/Why not?]
Q. Who do you spend the most time talking to on the telephone? [Why?]
Q. When do you think you’ll next make a telephone call? [Why?]
Q. Do you sometimes prefer to send a text message instead of telephoning? [Why/Why not?]
Q. How often do you make telephone calls? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: I do not use a landline that much except for some official purposes, but I use a mobile phone very extensively and daily.
I use the mobile phone to make or receive calls, send or receive text messages and sometimes to use the internet. I often play games on my mobile phone and listen to my favourite music. There is scarcely any day when I do not use it.
Q. Who do you spend the most time talking to on the telephone? [Why?]
Answer: I believe that would be my mom. She is very close to me and starts worrying if she does not hear from me for more than a few hours. She calls me a few times each day whenever I am out and I can tell her virtually anything. For these reasons, she is the person I spend the most time talking to on a telephone or on a mobile phone.
Q. When do you think you’ll next make a telephone call? [Why?]
Answer: I will call my mom after I leave the exam hall to let her know that I am fine and my exam went very well. I will call her as I am sure she is eagerly waiting to hear from me and to know how well I had performed in the exam.
Q. Do you sometimes prefer to send a text message instead of telephoning? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Yes, sometimes sending a text message is more convenient and makes more sense than calling someone. For instance, if I’m in a meeting or in a crowded place, I would prefer SMS than phone calls. Moreover, if I need to send an address, a number or an email ID, I would rather send a text message than to call the intended recipient.
Q. How popular are bicycles in your hometown? [Why?]
Q. How often do you ride a bicycle? [Why/Why not?]
Q. Do you think that bicycles are suitable for all ages? [Why/Why not?]
Q. What are the advantages of a bicycle compared to a car? [Why?]
Q. How popular are bicycles in your hometown? [Why?]
Answer: Well, I would say bicycles are moderately popular in my hometown. It was widely used when I was a child and I have seen so many people using bicycles to reach their destinations. In fact, the majority of people used to ride bicycles to travel to and from their offices at that time. But, the motorized vehicles have become more popular these days and this trend has decreased the prevalence of bicycles. However, It’s a good sign that many young people these days are using bicycles.
Q. How often do you ride a bicycle? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Honestly speaking, I scarcely ride a bicycle these days. Busy lifestyle, faster speed of motorized vehicles and our apathy to get involved in physical activities have forced us to use a bicycle less often. Once in a while, I ride a bicycle and that’s primarily to have fun and not to travel. Personally, I more often use a car than a bicycle because the former one is faster and more comfortable to ride in.
Q. Do you think that bicycles are suitable for all ages? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: Yes, I absolutely believe that bicycles are suitable for people of all age groups. Bicycles are cheap, have almost zero maintenance costs, and good for the environment and for our health. Since it doesn’t take much physical labour, children, youth and senior citizens alike can ride it without any hassle. The health benefits of riding a bicycle are unparalleled and that’s why people from all age groups should consider this as their primary means of transportation.
Q. What are the advantages of a bicycle compared to a car? [Why?]
Answer: Bicycles have far more benefits than cars except for the fact that a car is faster. The most important advantage of riding a bicycle is that it keeps us healthy. Bicycles do not pollute the air and they are environment-friendly. They are cheap and requires no costly maintenances or services. While cars take larger spaces to be parked into, bicycles do not. Considering the environmental consequences, bicycles could be a great replacement for motorised vehicles in our hometown.
Q. What type of photos do you like taking? [Why/Why not?]
Q. What do you do with the photos you take?
Q. When you visit other places, do you take photos or buy postcards? [Why/Why not?]
Q. Do you like people taking photos of you? [Why/Why not?]
Q. What type of photos do you like taking? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: I often experiment with my camera and mobile phone camera and that’s why I like to take a wide range of photos that include nature, people, gift items, sky, river, flower and so on.
However, I am inclined to take photos of people. Some of the best photos that I took were taken in unknown places where people posed for my camera. Their genuine smile, sad expression and sometimes bewilderment make the photograph worth cherishing.
Q. What do you do with the photos you take?
Answer: After I take around 20-30 photographs in my camera or my mobile phone, I connect it to my laptop and sort out the best clicks. Then I name those phones according to the theme and prepare those to upload to my Flickr account. Flickr is a great photo storing and sharing website owned by Yahoo! and it offers enormous storage space. Sometimes, I share a few pictures with my friends on Facebook and Instagram. I usually print a photo if I want to gift it to someone or frame it.
Q. When you visit other places, do you take photos or buy postcards? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: I used to buy postcards whenever I visited a new place with my parents in my childhood. Perhaps I did so to bring souvenirs of the places I had been to. But with the increasing use of the smartphone and cameras, we can now take our own picture and video and frame it to our digital storage. In this age of technological advancement, we are more inclined to take picture and video and then share those with friends and family rather than purchasing souvenirs, especially postcards.
Q. Do you like people taking photos of you? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: If someone asks me firsts and I feel like being captured in a photo, I do not mind. Otherwise, I do not prefer to be in a photograph, especially with less known or unknown people. I think this is a personal choice and I am not the type of person who likes taking selfie or self-photograph now and then.
Q. Did your parents choose your name(s)?
Q. How did your parents choose your name(s)?
Q. Does your name have any special meaning?
Q. Is your name common or unusual in your country?
Q. If you could change your name, would you? [Why/Why not?]
Q. Did your parents choose your name(s)?
Answer: Yes, my parents selected my name. When I was born, my parents wanted me to have a great name, at least to them. I have heard from my mother than my father brought a baby-name-book even before I was born. So the credit of my name solely goes to them.
Q. How did your parents choose your name(s)?
Answer: I learned that they were inspired by a name they found in the book and they took the surname from my grandfather. Thus they combined the name and selected it for me. However, this was the final step they went through to pick my name. As far as I know, they had to choose from hundreds of names, spend considerable hours to finally become satisfied with the name.
Q. Does your name have any special meaning?
Answer: My name is very special to me as it is to my parents. The first part of my name, Clyde, came from the name of a river, more specifically it is a Scottish river. The river was close to the location where I was born and I believe my parents wanted me to be as big as a river! The second part of my name, which is Entriken’, is the family name of a famous ancient dynasty from Great Britain.
Q. Is your name common or unusual in your country?
Answer: Statistically speaking, this is not a very common name. However, from my experience, I can tell that I have personally met at least 10 others with the same name but with a different family name.
Q. If you could change your name, would you? [Why/Why not?]
Answer: My name is very special to me and I would never change it. For anyone, his/her name is quite unique and significantly important. I might take an alias someday if I need to ghost-write some articles, but changing my real name to something for the sake of modernism or style, is something I will never accept.
1. Weather
- What do you like to do in different seasons?
I don’t really care about the seasons. To me, weather affects what I do. If it’s hot I will be do outside activities like playing sports or hanging out. If it’s cold I’ll stay inside and probably take a good nap. - What are the differences between different seasons?
Well summer it’s hot and winter’s cold. Also, while fall is a bit chilly, spring is often warm. If you live in Saigon or other tropical areas, you won’t even have a chance to experience autumn and spring. How unfortunate! - What season is good for travelling in your country?
In my opinion, any season is good for travelling. Coastal cities are perfect desitnations during the summer months. Meanwhile, Vietnamese often travel abroad to watch the snow with their own eyes since we dont’t have snow in Vietnam.
Vocabulary
- Take a good nap: ngủ ngon
- With their own eyes: tận mắt
2. Travelling
- Where do you like to travel to?
It depends on the weather. If it’s hot I would love to go to the beach but if it’s cold then I prefer going for a picnic in the countryside. - Do you prefer to travel alone or in a group?
In a group, definitely. This is because it’s much more fun. I love having my family as my travel partners so I could have some quality time with my loved ones. If I ever travel solo, I probably just suffer from a very bad break up. - Is Vietnam a good destination for tourists?
Yes and No. Vietnam is a beautiful nation with so many historic buildings and breath-taking natural landscapes across the country which are definitely worth visiting. However, there are also many tourist traps and scams for foreigners.
Vocabulary:
- Have some quality time: có khoảng thời gian quý báu với ai
- Breath-taking: đẹp đến ngạt thở
- Tourist traps: bẫy lừa đảo (khi đi du lịch)
Holidays
1. Do you like travelling?
Honestly speaking, I’m not really into travelling. In fact, I rarely leave town unless there is a family vacation or a company trip. I guess the main reason I dislike travelling is the burden of booking tickets and finding accommodation. I’d rather stay home than go through all of that.
2. What is your favourite holiday?
Of all public holidays, I like Independence Day the most. Vietnam’s Independence Day is celebrated on September 2nd, which is right before the beginning of the school year. Around this time of the year, the atmosphere on the streets is always super vibrant and lively.
3. Are there many tourists visiting your country during that holiday?
As far as I know, there are tourists visiting during Independence Day, but rather than because of the holiday, it is mainly due to the lovely autumn weather in September. It’s the perfect time to stroll around the city while taking photos of the autumn leaves.
4. What do you often do on holidays?
I don’t do much during holidays. Since I’m a family-oriented person, I tend to stay home on these days and spend some quality time with my family. We love hosting big parties and inviting relatives over.