Personal information & Introduction What’s your full name? Are you working or studying? When do you usually get up? What’s the best time of a day? Hometown and Accommodation Where are you from? Where do you live? How’s the traffic around your home? Is it convenient for you to buy fresh vegetables and fruits? Do you live in a house or an apartment? Which one do you prefer? What’s on your apartment’s wall? How to improve your home? Where’s your hometown? What do you like most about your hometown? Are bicycles popular in your hometown? Do you like to live beside the seaside? What are the facilities in your community? Which room do you like most? If you can redesign your home, what would you do? What’s your flat like? What’s on the wall? What can you see from your window? Are there any fitness facilities near your home? How often do visitors visit your home? Weather and Season How’s the weather in China? Does weather affect people’s work performance? Jobs Why did you choose this career? Do many Chinese people shift jobs in a year? Do people perform differently at work in summer and winter? Would you like to change your job in the future? Why? Do you think your job is easy? Why? What are the facilities you usually use at work? Is your job interesting? Education What’s your major? Why did you choose it as your major? Is your major difficult? What do you want to do after graduation? Do you need any special facilities in your school subjects? What do you like most about your school? Who can learn a foreign language better? The elderly or the young? Do girls learn a foreign language more quickly than boys? What’s your suggestion on language learning? What’s the most difficult part of language learning? Do you prefer individual learning or group learning? Food & Cooking Who usually cooks in your family? What’s your favorite hometown dish? Can you cook? Why don’t you learn? Do you think it is important for children to learn how to cook? Do you like to eat out or cook at home? What are the benefits of eating at home? Leisure activities Do you often hang out with friends? Do you invite your friends to your home? How often do you meet friends? What do you usually do? What do you usually do at leisure? How do you organize time? What do you usually do in the evening? How do you spend your vacation? What do you like and hate to do during vacation? What was the last vacation you took? What do you do in your free time? Do you like reading? Did you read a lot in your childhood? What do you like to read now? Sports What’s your favorite sport? Do you like swimming? Culture Do most people ride bicycles in Shanghai? Why do children like to ride bikes? Do you think bike riding is safe in Shanghai? Why do people in China think bicycles are important? Did you learn to ride a bicycle when you were a kid? Do you think it is safe to ride bicycles in a city? Why? Why do you think kids need to learn how to ride bicycles? Travelling Where do you want to visit most? Do you like traveling? When was the last time you go traveling? What would you prepare before travelling? Shopping How often do you go shopping? Talk about your last shopping experience. Why do you like shopping? Do you prefer to go shopping with friends or alone? Do you like shopping? What makes you interested in shopping? Do you think shopping is a waste of time? Letter Is there any letter you do not want to reply? Do you often write letters? When is the last time you sent a letter? What was the letter about? Gift When do you usually give a present? When do Chinese people usually give a present? Is it difficult to give a present? Have you ever made a gift by yourself to somebody? Do you think it is necessary to give expensive gifts? Toy Your favorite toy Should adults play with toys? How do adults entertain themselves in China? Arts Is beautiful handwriting important nowadays? What kind of music do you like? What kind of music do you like? Should children learn to play musical instruments? Do you like painting? Health How do you maintain health? What’s your favorite sport? What healthy food do you usually eat? Family events How do people celebrate their birthdays in your country? Are birthdays more important for children than adults? Do you think birthday is a special day for people? How did you celebrate your last birthday? Do birthdays have any special meanings for children? Media How do you get news? Do you think it is important to get up-to-the-minute news? What do you think of advertisements? Do you like watching TV? Place Have you ever visited a museum? Is the visit beneficial? Law Can you drive? Are you allowed to drive a car in your senior high school? What is a suitable age, do you think, for your kids to start driving?
Part 2&3
Shopping Describe a special thing you want to buy in the future Will the special thing help you in your study? Do you like to go shopping? What are the effective ways of advertising? Why do you like shopping? Where do you usually go shopping? How often do you go shopping? What are the advantages and disadvantages of modern ways of shopping? Are there any differences between the old and modern ways of shopping? Media Do you like writing letters? Do you often write letters? What do you write? Describe a meaningful letter or card. Do you usually write by hand or using a computer? Do you keep contact with your friends by making phone calls or writing letters? Who do you usually receive letters from? Do you think hand writing is important nowadays? How can children improve their handwriting? Advertisement What are the advantages and disadvantages of adverting? Do people usually buy goods after watching advertisements? Are there any differences between the advertisements in magazines and those on TV? Describe an interesting story you saw on television What are the effects of televisions on family life? What are the effects of televisions on people at different ages? Are there any differences between interviewing online and meeting people face to face? Describe a TV program Describe a story from a TV programme Do you talk about the TV programme with other people? Do you think the programme will be changed in the future? How does the programme influence people? Is it educational? Is it fair for those TV stars to be paid huge salaries? Describe a TV programme you do not like. Are there many political programmes in China? How do they influence people? Describe a book Describe a book you read in your childhood. Describe a movie How many types of films are there in China? What are the mainstream films? Are there any differences between watching films in a cinema and at home? Do you prefer original films with subtitles or dubbed films? What kind of films are worth watching in the cinema. Describe an article you read in a magazine/newspaper. Place Describe a library Where is the library? Is it a campus or public one? Which parts of the library do you like and dislike? Should children go to public libraries? How about the elderly? Does the government have the responsibility to construct public libraries? Is it important to learn how to use a library? Describe how to use a library. How do children benefit from going to public libraries? How can the elderly benefit from libraries? Historical place Why do people go to historical places? Which is your country’s most famous historical place? Should people pay entrance fees to historical places? Describe a seaside place you want to visit How to save water? Does the urban area consumes more water than the rural area? Does china face the problem of water scarcity? Describe a concert hall Why is it important to preserve historic buildings? Describe your ideal house When was it built? Should the government invest in maintaining the historical places? Should government invest in creating more employment? What kind of housing do most Chinese people live in? Where is the housing? What are the differences between the architectural styles in the different areas in China? Should a company design its own buildings? Describe a room occupied by your friend Describe a polluted place. Describe a historical building. Describe a modern building. Would you compare modern buildings and old buildings? Do you like high buildings? Arts Do you think arts are important for people in the modern society? Do you think you can make money from your art? How do the elderly and the young view arts? Describe a handicraft Describe a children’s song Describe an oil painting Stages in life Describe an important conversation you had in the past. What was the situation? Who did you talk to? Why is it important to you? Describe a stage of life you enjoyed When was it? Who did you live with? What did you do? Why do you think the stage is important or enjoyable? When does a child become an adult? What cannot you do when you become an adult? Do you think the law is reasonable? If you want to make changes, when is the timing? Describe a happy event in your childhood Describe a family event. Would it be a shame to forget tradition？ Is it good for companies to hire elderly people? What role do elderly people play at home? Do young people change their attitude towards the elderly now? Education Describe a science class When did you attend it? What was it about? What do you think of distance learning? What do you think of home studying? What should the parents do to help their children if they choose home teaching? Do your parents help you when you study at home? Do you think studying at home is a good way to acquire knowledge for adults? Do you think studying at home is becoming more popular? Why? Should youngsters learn science? Why? Do you think boys can learn science better? When should students learn science? Should students learn history? How do we acquire the knowledge of history nowadays? What’s the point of acquiring the knowledge of history? Films with historical themes are very popular now. What do you think about them? Should history films retell authentic stories or should the stories be dramatized? How do the dramatized stories affect children? Language learning Describe something useful for your English learning. How do you learn a new language? Who do you learn with? Is learning a second language important? Will the learning of a new language change your understanding of local culture? In your opinion, which languages will become more popular in the future? What are the benefits of learning a foreign language? Are there any differences between the way the young and the elderly learn a language? Educational trip Can students benefit from educational visits? Should schools organize the visits? What’s your suggestion? What roles do parents play in a family? Health Do people live healthy life styles in China? Are people healthier now than before? Are PE lessons necessary for students? Abstract Describe a piece of advice What kind of advice do you usually follow? Who usually give advice? Where does the advice lead you? How to make young people follow wise advice? Nowadays, do the elderly give advice to children or vice versa? Is it important to give young people advice? Who often give advice in your community? Is old people’s advice more important than young people’s? A success How do you make a success? How should we define success? Is result more important than process when you pursue success? Does success lead to stress? A speech Why do people feel nervous when delivering a speech? Who should give speeches to children? Describe an important conversation you had. Are there any communication differences between males and females? Do you think communication skills are important? Help Tell me about an experience of helping someone Do you often help people? Do you think people are less willing to help others? Is it good? How should parents encourage their kids to help others? Do people usually do volunteer work in China? What do you think of the volunteer work in China? Describe a sound in nature. Object Clothes Describe what you wore on a special occasion What it was Where you bought it Whether people thought it was good or not Do you still keep it now? On what occasions do people wear informal or formal clothes? Do you think you can judge people’s character by what they wear? How? Describe something special you would like to buy in the future. Describe an electric appliance. Describe a photo. Describe something you made by yourself. Describe an old thing in your home People Describe a friend Have you ever lived with strangers? Are there any difference between the friendship among boys and girls? Describe a person who is good at cooking Describe a chef Describe a famous person you would like to meet Who he/she is How you knew him/her Why would people want to be famous? How does fame influence them? How would they change after being famous? Why are stars and celebrities famous? Why are some famous people remembered for a long time and others forgotten quickly? Describe a famous person in a foreign country Describe a person who helped you on an important occasion Who the person is. What was the situation. How he/she helped you. Describe a compeer What are the advantages and disadvantages of a strong family relationship? Describe an elderly person. Describe your roommate. Sports Sports event How do sports benefit children? How do competitive sports benefit children? What sports can be done inside a classroom? Describe a kind of extreme sports Describe a dangerous sport Season & Weather What’s your favorite season? Why do you like this season? What do you usually do in this season? What jobs are seasonal? Who takes seasonal jobs? How does bad weather affect people’s work? What should companies provide for its employees who work in bad weather? How does climatic season affect the local community? How does climatic season affect the local economy? What are the occupations where people have to work in bad weather? Do builders have to work in hot weather? What should builders take precautions against except the bad weather? Should builders be paid more? What should governments do to prevent global warming? How does climatic deterioration affect people’s lives? Gift Describe a gift you received Describe a thing you want to buy in the future Traveling Describe a trip that you did not make as you planned Do different people think of traveling differently? Are there any differences between business trip and tour? What technology will be brought along to assist in trip? Describe a trip you did not enjoy. Are there and differences between ordinary trips and business ones? What should you take when you are travelling? Law Describe a piece of law Leisure activity Describe a picnic Events Design a party you will hold Who will you invite? What will happen? Where will you hold it? Do you think family party is important？ Why do people in your country usually hold a party? What do you think about national celebrations? Do you think they are important? Describe a sports event Describe an event that made you happy recently Does money make people happy? Describe a memorable childhood event. Why do people often recall their childhood? Is it important to remember the past? Why is the young generation turning its back on tradition? Why are children more easily influenced by western culture? Describe a contest you attended. Food and cooking Do you usually eat healthy food? How should governments encourage people to eat healthy food? Science and technology Describe a machine or something electronic you want to buy. What modern appliances do you have in your home? What do you think of these appliances? Why? Some people cannot keep up with the development of science and technology. What should they do? Describe a tool for English learning Do you think it is important to develop science and technology? How does scientific research benefit space, medical, environmental and information technology? Do you think scientists from different countries should share their research findings? Who should pay for scientific research? Governments or individuals? Work Describe your job What will people take into consideration when they choose their jobs? Why do people shift jobs? Does your company offer any training courses? What do you think of workaholics? Why is it difficult for people to land jobs in your country? Why do people want to get promoted? What are the disadvantages of doing one job for a lifetime?
