English speech

TASK 1
You have taken part in an exchange programme. You spent two weeks in an
American family, attended a local school, participated in
Thanksgiving/Christmas/Halloween celebrations at school and with your host family.
You want to share your experience of staying with an American family, positive and
negative impressions of the celebration, and give advice to your schoolmates who
are going to the US next year.
Choose one of the options:
SPEECH E-MAIL GUIDELINES
Write 450-600 words.

Good evening, everyone,

It`s my pleasure to be here and share my thoughts on the trip to US. I`ll mention
some experiences I had, pros and cons and finally do`s and don’ts. Hope this speech helps
you develop an understanding of what to expect from your next year`s trip.

To begin with, my flight was about 10 hours. Lucky thing I got a couple of snacks and
movies downloaded. When we landed, my mouth opened like never before: “This airport is
huge!” Planes flying every minute from each of 9 runways. This feeling I will remember for
my whole life: “this is NYC!” The hosting parents met me right there and drove home in the
yellow cab just as shown in movies. It was 2 days before the Halloween celebration, so
everything around looked spooky and orange. Their apartment wasn’t that big for 4 people.
It is probably because of the high rent in the city that “never sleeps”. Nevertheless, I was
placed in the room with one of the boys, luckily of my age. Eventually we got on well and
now keep in touch with each other. Mostly our schedules intersected at lunch. Not only was
it nice to be around him, but it was also exciting to meet the whole family. During this time
the atmosphere of help and caring was present. Eventually, after a couple of days after my
arrival, it was time for Halloween.

Back in Ukraine I did not enjoy this kind of celebration. It was quite odd to praise the
monsters and wear those frightening costumes. However, there in America, as you probably
know, they treat it as a day of being silly, funny and amusing. Constantly you’ll see neighbors
competing for the biggest home decoration on the block. This atmosphere revealed a
thought in my mind: “what if it`s not that bad?” With all the sudden rush I had to run to the
nearest mall to find the costume that suits the celebration. Eventually, my spontaneous
decision resulted in the best Halloween pumpkin costume I`ve ever seen. It was fascinating
to watch people of different ages become kids again and wear extraordinary outfits to
impress others. Despite the day being entertaining, I found it rather befuddling. I was
unfamiliar with the tradition of going around the houses and asking, “trick or treat”. No
sooner had I sat on the couch that evening, than the doorbell rang. When I opened the door
there were two twins, approximately 7 years old, asking for treats. I, being unprepared, felt
uncomfortable to explain that I had no candies. The rumors spread quickly, therefore, the
whole evening people called our home “scrooge house”. As you understand I had nothing
like that in mind, this was just an unexpected and painful turn of events.
Speaking of unexpected, I`d like to share some advice with you all. When visiting
another country, the first thing you should do is research. This is an essential part of your
preparation for the trip. That way you may try to avoid embarrassing and awkward
situations. Focus on some traditions. If you are going to visit America at the time of some
kind of celebration, find out how they do it. This is your chance to immerse yourself into the
unknown world of new culture. Some things may sound peculiar, but your preparation will
come in handy.

I hope this speech helped you with preparation for your trip next year. Don’t forget
to do your research before going there. Thank you very much for your attention.

Word count: 591