PART 3: TOPIC DEVELOPMENT

1. Topic: Several elements contribute to good health.

a balanced diet

regular Good [your own ideas]

physical health
exercise

avoidance of bad habits

As we all know “Health is gold” and there are several elements contributing to a
good health. They are a balanced diet, regular exercise and healthy habits or
avoidance of bad habits.
First of all, nobody can deny the fact that a balanced diet plays a vital role in a
healthy body. A balanced diet plan should include all daily nutritional
requirements from five groups of food; they are vegetables, fruits, grains, protein,
and dairy. A well-balanced diet provides the human body with essential nutrients
needed to allow the body to effectively perform different activities. The second
element is regular exercise. Obviously, benefits of physical exercise cannot be
missed. Specifically, regular exercise makes the heart stronger, the lungs fitter and
enables cardiovascular system to deliver more oxygen to the body. Last but not
least, staying away from bad habits is a great way to stay healthy. In other words,
people should not stay up late, eat too much fast food, drink and smoke. These bad
habits can cause many diseases as we get older.
To sum up, several elements can contribute to a good health; therein, a balanced
diet, regular exercise and healthy habits can be considered as indispensable ones.

Follow-up questions
1. Why do most people, especially youngsters, avoid doing physical exercise to keep
fit?
Answer: From my observation, youngsters nowadays are paying more and more attention
to their health and body by doing exercise. Nevertheless, many of them still ignore the
vital roles of regular exercise or even underestimate the benefits of sports. Two primary
reasons can be taken into consideration. On the one hand, heavy workload or hectic study
schedule may prevent young people from doing exercise regularly. They are exhausted
after a long day at work or at school; as a result, they don’t have much energy left to
think of keeping fit. On the other hand, some are addicted to online games or social
networking sites. In fact, they are willing to spend hours and hours playing games or
surfing Facebook or Instagram. Apparently, they are too busy with their virtual world to
put their phones down and play sports.
2. How do you define ‘a healthy lifestyle’?
Answer: In my opinion, “a healthy lifestyle” consists of three key elements namely a
balanced diet, regular exercise as mentioned earlier and a healthy mind. Our mind and
body are not separate, disconnected things; therefore, looking after our mental health and
emotional wellbeing is just as important as caring for our physical health.

2. Topic: There are several causes of stress.

heavy workload

personal relationships Causes of [your own ideas]

stress

health problems

Nowadays, there are several factors including heavy workload, personal

relationship and health issue that contribute to the growth of tension and stress.
As the world is increasingly competitive due to high expectations from
employers, workers are now required to work overtime with a tremendous
amount of workload. Therefore, tension and stress are inevitable. Furthermore,
issues in personal relationship namely break up, arguments, conflicts may
dedicate to the increment of pressure. While relationships are believed to provide
motivation, supports and comforts, they can be the primary cause of emotional
strain. Finally, health problems, whether our own or the one we love, can be
distress. Concerns about physical well-being of our family member can be
stressful, negatively impact the overall quality of our lives.
In conclusion, tension and distress come from many factors and learning how to
cope with it is an essential skill in our life.

Follow-up questions
1. What should be done to avoid daily stresses?
Answer: In my opinion, I would prefer to listen to my favorite music list to
overcome the pressure that comes from daily work. Furthermore, I sometimes
discuss with people I trust such as my parents, tutors, or siblings. They are those
people with experience and their recommendation may be beneficial for me in
coping with stress.
2. What does a stress-free working environment look like?
Answer: In my opinion, a stress-free working environment should not offer
negative competitiveness among employees. This helps create a friendly, pleasant
environment and release the stress of workers. Furthermore, a stress-free
environment includes comfortable furniture as it contributes to the productivity of
employees.

3. Topic: There are several ways to improve English.

listen to English programs

read English materials Ways to learn English [your own ideas]

practice
speaking with
native speakers

Thesis statement: English plays an integral role in the competitiveness of

employee and opportunity to study abroad. There are several ways to improve
English including listening to English programs, reading English materials,
and practicing speaking with native speakers.
Ideas - listen to English programs:
+ Free of charge
+ Improve listening skill
- read English materials
+ increase vocabulary
+ improve reading skill
- practice speaking with native speakers
+ improve communication skill
+ improve pronunciation
Conclusion: English is an essential part of our education due to its benefits
and popularity. Being qualified in English has tremendous merits when it
comes to studying abroad or seeking or a job.
Follow-up questions
1. What can English learners do if they can get in contact with native speakers?
2. How do social networking sites help people to learn English in general?
Answer: Social networking sites are tremendous sources of information. It
provides learners with enormous capacities of online classes where learners
can enroll online. Furthermore, learners can learn new vocabularies from
online articles, newspapers, magazines without charging any fee.

4. Topic: There are several benefits of living in the dorm / hall of residence on
campus.

widening friend network

saving time Living on [your own ideas]

campus

ensuring safety

Thesis statement: Living in the dormitory or hall of residence on campus

offers several merits including widening friend network, saving time, and
ensuring safety.
Ideas - widening friend network
+ dormitories are full of students compare to other
boarding houses.
+ include many students in one room
- saving time
+ dormitories are next to colleges
+ avoid traffic jam
- ensuring safety
+ strictly guarded
+ rigorous closing time
 Conclusion: Living in the dorm or hall of residence offer several benefits for
students including widening network, saving time and safety.

Follow-up questions
1. Why do some students prefer living off-campus?
Answer: Living off-campus, in fact, offer students certain benefits. Firstly,
they have no time constraints compared to dormitories. Furthermore,
dormitories are noisier as there are about 7-8 students per room leading to
distractions and noise.
2. What are some disadvantages of living in the university hall of residence for
students?
Answer: Disadvantages of living in the university hall can vary. First, noise
from other roommate may contribute to the distraction when students
attempt to study or work. Secondly, university hall bounds to the exact time
which may be demerits for some students who work at night shifts.

5. Topic: There are several benefits of studying abroad.

having better qualifications

improving Studying [your own ideas]

knowledge and abroad
skills

enriching life experience

Thesis statement: Studying abroad certainly offers learners with many

benefits namely having better qualification, improving skills and knowledge or
enriching life experience.
Ideas - having better qualifications
+ certification from many famous countries
+ obtain qualifications from prestigious universities
in the world
- improving knowledge and skills
+ improve English
 + gain knowledge from other countries
- enriching life experience
+ experience lifestyle in other countries
+ learn new cultures
Conclusion: Studying abroad provides learners not only knowledge from
universities but also life experience.

Follow-up questions
1. What are some possible problems students may have to face when studying
in another country?
Answer: When it comes to feasible issues students may encounter when studying
abroad; first and foremost, they may feel homesick. In fact, some students are
fortunate since they live with their relatives in other countries, yet it is mandatory
for others to spend years living and studying alone. Furthermore, culture shocks
are believed to be common for students when studying overseas.
2. In what ways can the returned students contribute to the development of their
homeland?
Answer: After gaining advance knowledge from other countries, returned students
can apply what they have learned to develop their countries. Their valuable
knowledge and skills acquired while studying abroad can be transfer to others
students, colleagues. Additionally, they can promote cultural exchange by
fostering international relationship and promoting their homeland’s culture and
value abroad.

6. Topic: There are several ways to protect the environment.

reducing wastes

organizing campaigns Protecting the [your own ideas]

environment

punishing illegal acts

 Thesis statement: Protecting environment is essential for every individual so
as to overcome pollution and green house effects. Some general activities
namely reducing waste, organizing campaigns, and punishing illegal acts
should be performed to address this global issue.
Ideas - reducing waste
+ minimize household rubbish
+ reuse plastic products
- organizing campaigns
+ propagate others about negative impacts of
pollution
+ take part in protecting environment activities
+ increase people’s awareness of protecting the
environment
- punishing illegal actions
+ strict penalties for polluting activities (litter)
+ impose taxes for those companies release
contamination
Conclusion: Environmental protection is every individual’ responsibility and
keeping our living habitats clean is mandatory. Otherwise, severe
consequence will be inevitable.

Follow-up questions
1. Who plays a more important role in protecting the environment: individuals or the
governments?
Answer: Both individuals and governments play essential role in protecting
environment. For instance, governments issue orders which help improve natural
habitats, yet trivial citizens obey or respond will obviously make little impact and
vice versa. The cooperation between authorities and individuals will in fact
contribute greater to the protection of environment compare to single effects of
one side.
2. Do you think the people where you live are doing enough to protect the environment?
Why? / Why not?

Answer: In my opinion, people in my neighborhood doing sufficiently to protect

the environment. Even though their household trash or electrical consumption
sometimes considered to be tremendous, they never exceed the alarming amount.
Additionally, trash is rarely to be seen on road as they are collected very usual
 which keep my living area clean and fresh.

7. Topic: There are several disadvantages of using social networks.

health problems

ignorance of study Social [your own ideas]

networks

lack of real communication

Thesis statement: Studying abroad certainly offers learners with many benefits
namely having better qualification, improving skills and knowledge or
enriching life experience.
Ideas - health problems
+ staying up late
+ negatively impact on eyes
- ignorance study
+ spend to much time on using social network
+ distractions
- lack of real communication
+ spend little time on actual conversations
+ reliance on text-based communication
Conclusion: Imbalance usage of social network is considered to be waste of
time, negative impacts on health and shortage of real communication.
First and foremost, abusing social network leads to some health problems. When
the users experience social media, they are easily to get addicted, and maybe stay
up late at night. So that, they perhaps will be late for school or work. In
Follow-up questions
1. In what ways are social networks positively shaping our lives?
Answer: Education and entertainment are 2 merits of social media offer for users.
Initially, social networks allow their users to access to enormous capacities of
information which is beneficial for their study. Secondly, social networks
improve the connection among people, contribute to information exchange. For
instance, learners can join many social sites that related to their major and discuss
prevailing subjects in their fields.
2. Is the issue of ‘cyber crime’ serious where you live?
Answer: Cyber-crime is considered to be uncommon in my neighborhood due to
their prudent usage of social media. In fact, people live in a well-educated
environment helps them deter attack from internet, or hackers.

8. Topic: Shopping online provides customers with several benefits.

convenient

flexible Online [your own ideas]

shopping

p
opular

Thesis statement: Electronic commerce has always been prevailing since the
very first day it has been developed. Some of the benefits of shopping online
include convenience, flexibility and popularity.
- Convenient:
+ Home delivery: saving time and effort
+ No physical store hours: available 24/7
- Flexible
Ideas
+ Flexible of paying methods
+ Variety in products
- Popular
+ anywhere that has internet connection
Conclusion: Several benefits of shopping online such as convenience,
flexibility, and popular has contribute greatly to its dominance compared to
traditional shopping method.
Follow-up questions
1. Why do some people just hate online shopping or even never try it?
Answer: It is believed that shopping online sometimes unreliable due to fake
or low-quality products. Customers cannot authenticate or check their products
before receiving. Therefore, purchasers occasionally receive products that is
not what they expected. Furthermore, shopping online requires internet
connection which is yet updated in many rural areas. This is the most common
barrier that deter the approach of electrical commerce to countryside
individuals.
2. What should online store owners do to enhance the quality of their services?
Answer: One of the most effective approach to improve the quality of online
shopping services comprise of receiving feedback from customers. The
services are meant to improve experience of buyers and it needs to be
constantly updated base on the feedback from purchasers.

9. Topic: Working part-time provides students with some benefits.

earn money

improve soft-skills Part-time [your own ideas]

jobs

widen social relationships

Thesis statement: Working part-time provides students with various benefits

from extra income, working experience or widen their social relationships
Ideas - Earn money:
+ extra income to pay for their daily expenses
+ support their parents and siblings
- Improve soft-skills
+ enhance communication skills
+ flexibility in conflicts overcome
- Widen social relationships
 + encounter clients, co-workers, …
+ take part in many social events
Conclusion: Part-time job not only offer students with extra income to support
their family but also working experience which are beneficial for their future
occupation.

Follow-up questions
1. For an undergraduate student, which is more critically important: having a
part-time job or focusing 100% on his / her studies?
Answer: In my point of view, balancing between studying in class and
working part time is the most optimized option. Both of them are advantageous
for students’ future occupation as they provide valuable knowledge and social
experience. On the other hand, fully concentrating on one aspect will certainly
result in their insufficiency of knowledge or experience which negatively
impact on their competitiveness with other students.
2. Are the part-time job options in your country the same as those in other
countries you have visited?
Answer: I rarely travel across other countries but as far as I concern, I believe
that there is little disparity between part-time job options in my country and
other countries. Some of the most common part-time work that mostly
preferred by students are waiters and waitress due to its trivial competitiveness
and simplicity. Another common job is tutor as students are not required to
learn any extra knowledge, they teach students what they have already learned
at schools.

10. Topic: Candidates should prepare several things to have a successful job
interview.

search
information about
the company

dress appropriately Job [your own ideas]

interview

appear confident
 Thesis statement: First impression in interviewing play an integral role in the
result of candidates. There are several aspects that interviewee can prepare to
optimize their outcome.
- Search information about the company:
+ background of company tells a lot about how
company operates
+ interviewer may have positive impression
- Dress appropriately:
Ideas
+ outfits should be suitable with company regulations
- Appear confident
+ avoid bashful gesture as they are sign of weakness
and unconfident
+ Confidence is one of the criteria in certain position.
Conclusion: Preparation before interviewing is essential for every individuals.
Some preparation should be done namely learn about company’ background,
suitable outfits or confident appearance are merits for interviewee.

Follow-up questions
1. Should the issue of salary or payment be discussed during a job interview?
Why or why not?
Answer: Salary is one of the most common criteria that should be initially
discussed due to several reasons. First and foremost, it helps candidates manage
their expense properly particularly for those who hiring rental room.
Furthermore, interviewee can avoid future misunderstanding about salary
policy. In some circumstance, salary is not clearly stated in the labor contract
contribute to arguments.
2. Should we sometimes tell lies during our job interview? Why or why not?
Answer: This is undoubtedly should not be occurred in interview due to the fact
that interviewers are well trained to figure out lies and exaggeration in our
details. When we telling lies, our body will certainly express signs such as
avoiding eye contacts, shaking or being bashful. Sometimes, interviewers
demand candidates to perform such tasks to authenticate our ability and if we
cannot perform well, negative result is inevitable.