IELTS SPEAKING TOPIC: MOMENT & EVENT

Sample & Mock Test

Part one

Umm, If I could go back in time, I wish I could change nothing and live my life as I lived right now. I always take the opportunity that I am interested in and I believe that regret of not trying will eat us alive.

I think most people would agree that time moves fast when we're having fun. Whenever we're kicking back and relaxing or lost in the activity we are engage in, we tend to stop paying attention to the time, which begins slip through our fingers much like sand. The moment we snap back into reality and are no longer engrossed in the activity we are partaking in, we start to pay more attention to the time as we anxiously wait for the next interesting activity to come along. At this moment, we feel time moves at a snail's pace.

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Part Two

You should say:
what the event was
where it happened
what you saw and did
why you remember this event so well

There are numerous happy events in my life that I can recall and among them, I would like to talk about the time when my family gathered to make the Chung cake for the Tet holiday.

The Lunar New Year, or Tet, is a very special traditional holiday in my country. It was probably my most favorite holiday when I was a small girl as my family had a lot of activities to celebrate
this occasion. 

Among them, making the Chung cake made me excited the most. The Chung cake is made of glutinous rice, green beans and fat pork, wrapped in banana leaves in the shape of a square. I often played with my older brother when my parents prepared the ingredients for the cake. And then, my father lit a small fire to boil the cake overnight.

It was perhaps the only time of the year when I was allowed to stay up late. While my family was sitting around the warm fire, my grandmother would tell the old legendary story about the Chung cake to commemorate the filial affection of Lang Lieu prince to his father and remind us of the long – lasting Vietnamese tradition.

In recent years, my family has not had enough time for making the Chung cake on our own. However, to me, a ready – made Chung cake that we buy from a local market cant bring the special feeling and replace the taste of a Chung cake from my childhood. I hope that my family can continue our tradition in the coming years.

You should say:
whose wedding it was
who was there
what happened
how you felt.

Today, I’m gonna share with you a wedding of my friend that I attended. Last month, I received a wedding invitation from my old friend from primary school. The wedding was held at the beginning of April. We have been close to each other for over 15 years, therefore, I definitely wanted to attend at all costs, due to the fact that we hadn’t had a chance to get together for ages.

Her wedding ceremony took place at The Sum Villa, located near West Lake. It was decorated impressively with a lot of lights, candles and flowers around the room. There were three glamorous wedding photo albums, showing tables right at the centre of the official gate. The principal colours were likely to be white and violet, so all the guests were requested to wear clothes with one or both of these colours. Personally, I wore a white dress with small accessories.

It was meant to be a casual wedding, which I had never attended before. It turned out to be refreshingly informal. One of the best moments that really touched me was when the bridegroom sang a song for the bride and all the guests sang along with him. Also, he made a photo clip by himself marking their 4-year romance, to show to everyone in the room. It was no surprise that everyone clapped their hands and cheered them. 

Of course, I was no exception. It was also a good chance to catch up with my old friends and we all had a great time. We definitely made the most of the occasion and took a lot of pictures with the bride and the bridegroom. I gave my friend a gift to celebrate her wedding day. I had given much thought to my wedding present when I was choosing it, and I wished her lots of happiness for the future.

You should say:
what it was
who gave it to you
how you played with it
why it was special for you.

I have many toys in my childhood and at different stages, I prefer different toys. However, among them, a Teddy bear is the most special one to me and I still keep it at my closet until now.

I guess that all kids love a furry friend and so did I. However, what made the bear really special to me was that this was a gift from my father on an occasion of my 5th birthday. Everything about it was so different from other stuffed bears. 

At that time, my father was working far away and I missed him so much. I thought that he could not come back to celebrate my birthday party as he had did before. To my surprise, on my birthday, he suddenly came home and brought with him a lovely Teddy bear. Missing him, I ran into him and my father gave me big hug, then kissed me. I was so excited about the Teddy bear. When I squeezed it, it said I LOVE YOU by the most sweet and lovely voice on Earth.

Looking at it made me immediately think about my beloved father. His physical presence on my birthday was like gold to me. You know, it is really hard to not have one of the most important people to you in your birthday. I would never forget that special moment and the Teddy bear means so much to me.

You should say:
what it is
how (or when) your family first got this thing
how long your family has kept it
why this thing is important to your family.

When it comes to an old thing I keep in my family, I want to talk about the transformer that I got from my parents on my 10th birthday. On that day, my parents bought me a transformer as a birthday gift. 

When I opened the gift box, I was really astonished by what I was seeing in front of me. It was an awesome transformer that I had been dreaming about for ages. The moment I saw this transformer, I fell in love with it. 

It was pretty huge and looked like a hip yellow car, and it could be shifted from a car to a robot action figure and back again. The transformer had a really nice color scheme and finish. And it came with a nice handgun like the weapon and different accessories. 

It was super cool! And with the transformer, there was a card from my parents saying, “Sweetie, you mean everything in the world to us and you are forever the apple of our eyes. Happy Birthday! Love parents.” 

I am telling you, although I was pretty young at that time, those words impressed me a lot. Until today, I still keep this toy. It has been over ten years since I got it. I love it not only because of the toy itself, but also because of the sentimental value it has for me. The value is irreplaceable.

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Today, I am going to share with you an old possession that my family has kept for a long time. It is an antique terra-cotta dish, which is displayed in an honoured position in the living room.

This old dish originated from feudal times in Vietnam, although I am not sure of the year exactly. It might have belonged to the Nguyen Dynasty. It is made from pottery material with some small artificial fissures, and it was my grandfather’s favourite thing when he was still alive. 

There is a village picture painted in blue in the centre of the dish. When I was a child, my grandfather used to tell me the story of this dish. His close friend gave it to him to celebrate his house-warming in the past. They had been companions in arms for a long time, so that was the reason why he really treasured their ties and that gift as a reminder of their friendship.

There is a lot of other modern furniture arranged in my house nowadays, however, this antique object is still a treasured possession for each member of my family. We have kept this antique dish for over 30 years, even when my grandpa passed away and left it for my family. Whenever I look at this dish, it always reminds me of my grandfather as a fond memento.

You should say:
what it was
who gave it to you
what it looked like
why they gave it to you
how you felt about this gift.

It just happened on last year of my birthday. My sister bought me a strapless dress as a present. I felt surprised because this dress is not my taste. My sister said she bought it for me because she has never seen I wore any this kind of dress. She told me, girls should have to care your appearance and strapless dress is one of the most vital items in my wardrobe. 

The dress comes from a famous luxury brand and I know lots of my friends dream for it. You know, the dress is black with understated decoration on the hemline.

Although I love this gorgeous dream, it could be worn only on formal occasions. So I wore this dress in my graduation ceremony party. A lot of my classmates were fascinated by it and came to ask me where they could buy it.

You know, as I said I had never dressed like that before. But after that time, I became more confident and changed my dressing style.

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Part three

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Other Vocabularies

Use used to to describe routines from the past that do not happen anymore.

• I used to complain a lot about this job, but it's taught me so much.
• I used to have more responsibility before, but now I'm much more relaxed at work.

Use didn't use to to describe things that happen now that did not happen in the past. Notice, in the negative form, there is no d in use to.

• I didn't use to spend so much time dealing with other people's problems.
• In the other department, I didn't use to get a say in the bigger decisions.

Notice that for past events that only happened once, you can't use would. Use expression like these to reminisce:

• Remember when we would make believe that we were married? 
• Remember when we would explore the farm next door?
• Yep. You'd imagine you were a detective.
• When I was really young. I'd play make-believe.
• Those were the days. I'd swim all summer!
• Life was simpler back then.
• Gale took her first step when she was 10 months old. She would walk and fall around each room of the house, and then she'd start again.

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