UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature

Language proficiency

Week 1

Lecturer: Lê Tấn Cường .MA -PhD Student

Cellphone: 096.331.8588
Email: cuonglt@hcmussh.edu.vn
 Nice sentences/ phrases in Unit 2
1. What is one positive social movement that you would 14. In your view, what are the most powerful incentives
like to see in the future? that motivate people to take actions?
2. The movement for transparency aims to get organizations 15. I never thought that I would do something like that.
to be open with information. 16.Becoming a doctor is my dream.
3. The two movements led to political changes in the UK and17. I grew up in China.
Iceland.
18. I knew that my mother is someone who never complained
4. Speakers may also include opposing viewpoints to about anything.
present both sides of an issue. 19. Surprisingly to us, many people want to know something
5. Another example is the case of the global financial crisis else about their doctors.
of 2008. 20. They want to know about their doctors first so that they can
6. Transparency is about what organizations choose to make an informed choice.
disclose. 21. Within a month, my employees were getting calls asking
7. Back in 2004, a journalist named Brooke began for me to be fired.
requesting information. 22. Here’s what other doctors have said.
8. Her professional goal and personal mission is to practice23. This has brought me close to my parents.
patient-centered care.
9. The student pursued her goal of becoming a doctor.
10. The respondent gave very detailed and helpful answers.
11. The patients received a small sum of money as an
incentive for taking part in the medical trial.
 Nice sentences/ phrases in Unit 4
1. Does the photo give you a positive impression about the “huge increase” of data that “is changing our lives”?
2. How do you feel about them knowing it?
3. Do you think it illustrates the idea of datatainment?
4. Film and television are probably the two factors of the entertainment industry that generate the most revenue.
5. Using technology, it is relatively easy to log numerous bits of data about what happens during professional
sporting events.
6. As a result of overlooking how bored consumers were with formulaic dramas, the analysts incorrectly predicted
that the new TV show would be popular.
7. The success of the video game was notable because so many people had predicted that it would be a failure.
8. What is so impressive about them?
9. In your view, what has been the most revolutionary change in the society in the last decade?
10. Which of these cities would you most like to visit?
11. Improvements in manufacturing allowed the items to be made faster.
12. What traits might help you be successful in this job?
13. What is something you would like to eliminate from your life?
14. Many things we do with technology, such as searching the internet, rely on machine learning.
15. In what ways is it a good thing that humans generate more data every year?
16. The amount of data produced in China and the US will be roughtly equal.
17. Today we’re going to be discussing big data.
18. What we find is that when we have a large body of data, we can fundamentally do things that we couldn’t do
when we only had smaller amounts.
19. This is how society stored and transmitted information.
 BAND 9 IELTS
PART ONE: SPEAKING TEST
Let’s talk about where you live:
Where are you from?
I am from Taipei city, which is the capital city of Taiwan.
Do you live in a house or in an apartment?
I live in a modern high-rise apartment complex. It’s a wonderful place to live because it
has lots of amenities such as a gym, sauna, and swimming pool.

Which room of your apartment do you like most?

Oh, it’s definitely the living room. I live on the 25th floor and it has lots of windows that
give me a bird’s eye view of the city. I love to sit on the sofa and drink my coffee in the
morning and enjoy the fantastic view.

If you could change one thing about your home, what would it be?
There are a couple of things. I guess the main thing is that it has become a bit run
down. My dad really needs to renovate our apartment…you know…paint the
walls…that sort of thing.
 BAND 9 IELTS
PART TWO:
Describe some good news that you received recently you should say:
* When you heard the news* who told you the news
• what the news was and explain why this was good news.

Well, last week I heard some fantastic news from my best friend. She told me that she
had won two tickets to the cinema from a competition held on the radio. The reason
why this is great news for me is because she has promised to take me with her!

Not only do we get to see a movie we also get to have a free meal at the mall that the
cinema is in. It’s an Italian restaurant, and I simply adore Italian cuisine.

We plan to go there this weekend. I’m really looking forward to it because recently my
weekends have been kind of dull and monotonous….. You know I’ve really just stayed
around the house and been a bit of a couch potato… Just watching TV and surfing the
Internet.

So I’m really lucky to be able to hang out with my dearest friend, and at the same time
enjoy a night out on the town eating great food, catching a movie, and not having to
pay a cent!
…..
 BAND 9 IELTS
PART THREE:
Let’s talk about good news
What sort of good news do young people often receive?
Well off the top of my head I would say it is often news about their grades. You know
study is such an important part of young people’s lives and after working flat-out it is
always great to get good grades. As well as this, getting a job is another important
piece of news. The market is so competitive these days and landing a good job is
critical to one’s career.

Does good news make us feel happy for a long time?

No, not really. We feel excited at first, but I think the feeling wears-off quickly! It’s a
pity really. Unless of course, it is something that affects us for a long time…like …I
don’t know…winning the lottery or something. I’ve never been that lucky!

Do you think young people will be happier in the future?

Well, I think it’s difficult to say. Technology seems to be providing lots of exciting
opportunities in terms of entertainment. However, at the same time lots of global
problems seem to be brewing such as climate change and decreasing standards of
living. I guess it’s always hard to predict the future.
…….
Thank you this is the end of the speaking test.
 Findings from the sample
1. Use single words at C1 level (ex: brewing, renovate, monotonous…)
2. Use collocations (groups of words are frenquently found together) (ex:
hang out with, surf the Internet, fantastic news…)
3. Use idiomatic words. (ex: a couch potato, bird’s eye view, having to pay a
cent…)
4. Use various grammatical forms (ex: The reason why this is great news for
me is because , Not only do we get , Technology seems to be providing ..)
5. Use cohesive devices (to link ideas together) and fillers… (ex: so, As well
as this, unless of course, well, like….)
Eucharia, Ireland
Fashion, well, I can only go shopping once a year so I'm not very fashion conscious. I like clothes
that fit me rather than, and suit me, rather than brand labels. I especially love shoe shopping when I
go home and my aim is to look nice, not particularly fashionable, but classic, that'll do.
Jim, England
Fashion isn't really important to me. I just want clothes that look fairly smart and don't smell. If they
got holes in them, that's no good but I'm not a follower of fashion.
Jeannie, United States
Is fashion important to me? Not really. I usually wear whatever is comfortable. I don't usually care
about name brands or anything like that. I just go with what looks best on me and, yeah, it's got to be
cool.
Fashion is not so important to me, but I do sometimes like to put an effort into how I look and into my
appearance. I think that fashion expresses who you are and it can differentiate you from others but
however on the other hand, people can judge you on fashion and your appearance and this is not a
good thing. You should look further than the appearance.
Rina, Canada
Fashion is not important to me. I try not to be a slave to corporate logos and I just know what I like
and I dress the way I like and if I see something that is in fashion and I like I'll wear it and if I see
something that isn't in fashion, or is in fashion and I don't like it, I won't wear it.
Marion, Ireland
No, I don't think fashion is very important. I think it's more important to wear clothes that you're
comfortble in and clothes that express your personality in some way, so perhaps sometimes I'll see
something that's the latest fashion and I might like it but usually, if it's something a bit crazy, I don't
like it, but sometimes, then after awhile, after I see a lot of people wearing it, it grows on me.
https://elllo.org/english/Mixer001/T009-Fashion.htm
 IELTS Speaking part 2 (Sample)
1. A really important decision I’ve made recently is to study
abroad, which is the reason I’m here talking to you now.

2. No-one from my family has ever had the chance to study

Describe a major
abroad before. My parents were actually hoping I’d start
decision you have taken working for our family textile business as soon as I graduate.
in your life.
You should say: 3. I think it’s too soon to join the family business though. I
– What the decision was really want to study marketing – especially fashion marketing –
– What other choices and English so I can sell our company products to buyers all
were available to you over the world. If I study fashion marketing in the UK, I can
– Why you made the learn how to do business in the fashion industry, which is of
decision you did course very competitive and fast-moving.
And explain if you think
the decision was a good 4. As for whether it was the right decision, I’m pretty confident
one. it was and I can’t change my mind now anyway because I
borrowed money from my parents to pay for my tuition. I’m
going to do my best to finish my course and I will go back to
my country with new ideas that will help expand our business.
All I need now is to get a good score in IELTS. So, anyway,
that’s an important decision in my life.
 Comments from examiners
This IELTS candidate scores highly by:
ü Getting straight to the point and saying what the decision was in the very
first sentence
ü Paraphrasing the topic: A really important decision
ü Using a range of tenses – past simple, present simple and present perfect –
with great accuracy
ü Using a wide range of grammatical forms such as a conditional sentence (If
I…) and a cleft sentence (All I need now is…)
ü Signaling parts of the question: As for whether it was the right decision…
ü Avoiding over-formality and using expressions such
as actually and pretty that are appropriate to conversational style
ü Providing a summarizing sentence to wrap up the response
 Mini project
Card 1
IELTS Speaking Part 2 – Describe an interesting job you plan to get after
graduation

You should say:

– What the job is
– How you know about it
– Why you like it
And explain how you get ready for it.
Your task:
- Plan for the talk (30 minutes) (pay attention to words at B2-C1,
collocations, cohesive devices, fluency, thought chunking..)
- Make a short video of 2-3 minutes (10 minutes)
- Upload it
- Check out 2-3 clips from your friends (10 minutes)
- Write some short comments about what you actually learn from your
friends (after watching their clips)