Part 1
BicyclesHow popular are bicycles in your home town? [Why?]
Really, they’re not so popular. Some people use them for exercise, at the weekends mainly, but it’s quite rare to see somebody traveling on a bicycle. I don’t think most people consider a bike a viable mode of transport – they see them as more for exercise.
Personally, at the moment I don’t use a bicycle at all. When I was a young boy I used to have a bike and used it several times a week when the weather was nice. But at the moment I don’t have a bike and I prefer to go running for exercise rather than go cycling… maybe when I’m older I’ll go back to using a bicycle for exercise because it’s less demanding than running.
Yes, they’re suitable, there’s no argument about that. Anyone from children to elderly people can use a bike as long as they are able to control it and deal with traffic, if they live in a city.
What are the advantages of a bicycle compared to a car? [Why?]
There are many benefits of a bicycle. Firstly, it doesn’t cost as much to buy as a car. It’s cleaner for the environment, it’s quieter and it’s less dangerous from the point of view that I don’t think anybody riding a bike has ever managed to kill another person in a car or even on another bike.
Then there are the obvious health benefits. Cycling provides good exercise for everyone… it’s not like doing a difficult exercise class in the gym or anything like that… even older people can cycle and go at their own pace. It’s an excellent cardiovascular workout and if you do it regularly it can have a very positive effect on your health.
Another benefit of a bicycle is that if you use it for transport, when you arrive at the place you’re going to, you can easily park it, sometimes with a car it’s not so easy to find parking.
Part 2
Describe something you do to help others
You should say:- what you do
- who you help
- how often you do it
I’ll tell you about my tutoring - it’s something I do a couple of times a week. I help some children at the local elementary school who have difficulty with certain subjects. I usually do Math and English, because I’m good at those and like them.
I normally go on a Tuesday and a Thursday and maybe have three or four children in each group.
The first group I do is for Math. I receive information from their teacher about the lessons they have seen in class and any particular problems the children have been experiencing.
Then we work together to try and help the children understand the subject better and work through some exercises or activities to practice what they have learned.
After the Math group, I have the English group, again there are probably around three or four children, and we practice the language they have seen in their previous lessons and try to sort out any problems they might have.
I like to create different practice activities for them. That way, they can have fun while learning English. This group is my favorite because they find English interesting, and enjoy it when they can get it right.
Why do I tutor these two groups? When I was at school, I wasn’t very interested in Math. I thought it was quite boring and I wasn’t very good at it.
However, I had a tutor, she was very inspirational, and she made me understand how important it is for many things in adult life.
When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a doctor, but I didn’t realize that I would need a good grade in Math to go to Medical School in the future.
Thanks to my tutor, she helped me tackle Math differently, and, eventually, I became very good at it.
That’s why I like helping these children – because my tutor helped me when I was about their age – and it probably changed my life.
IELTS Speaking Part 3
Helping others - people in the community
Discussion Topics
What are some of the ways people can help others in the community? Which is most important?
One example might be when an adult or several adults form or take charge of a community group for young people.
Maybe a sports team, club, or other youth-orientated organization.
Neighbors can also help other people in their community by taking care of elderly people or maybe volunteering at centers that help elderly people or other members of the community.
Some people help out at food banks, charity shops, and other places that provide services for other people in the community in need.
Then there are community groups that protect the rights or interests of local communities where people discuss issues that might affect their community and what could be done to encourage or discourage certain developments.
I think they are all important because they affect many people in different ways. In general, groups all have the same purpose - to make the community a better place to live. And that is always a good thing.
Why do you think some people like to help other people?
Maybe because it makes them feel good being able to help someone else.
It might be because they were once helped by somebody in their past and they would like to return the favor.
People help other people for many different reasons, it’s almost impossible to generalize, but I think that if a person can see that another person needs help it is almost an instinct to offer help if the person can.
It’s one of the foundations of many societies; those that can help – help those that can’t.
Some people say that people help others in the community more now than they did in the past. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
I don’t know if that is true or not. It might be the case that there is more help available nowadays for many more people who need help. But it is not always provided by individuals in the community.
Sometimes it is provided by government agencies or organizations or even charity organizations.
So I guess there might be more help but it’s not simply people in the community helping other people in the community – it’s a more structured help system than in the past.
In many places, the sense of community is less than it was due to the mobility of the workforce and people in general.
Often, once children have grown up and found work, they don’t live in the same place as their parents and indeed their parents may even choose to move elsewhere when they retire, for example.
Social mobility has increased and has affected the fabric of communities.
Community Services
What types of services, such as libraries or health centers, are available to the people who live in your area? Do you think there are enough of them?
Where I live in particular is quite a small place. But we have most of the services you’d expect.
There’s a medical center, library, several parks, an excellent fitness, and health center with a large swimming pool and many facilities for people with physical disabilities or problems who require physiotherapy.
In general, there seem to be enough public facilities for the local population because I never hear anyone complain that we don’t have something really necessary.
If people need to use other facilities then they are available a short distance away in the next town which is bigger than where I live.
Which groups of people generally need the most support in a community? Why?
That would probably be the elderly and those people who have difficulty living independently or need special care services for whatever reason.
They need more support than other people because they may have physical or medical conditions that make life more challenging for them or they may simply be less able to look after themselves.
Then children and young people… they must have facilities and support for them to make sure they get good opportunities to develop skills and abilities other than those at school and have safe places to play and participate in sports activities and things like that.
Who do you think should pay for the services that are available to the people in a community? Should it be the government or individual people?
In my opinion, it’s the same thing. I mean, individual people pay their taxes so that the government can provide many of these services such as hospitals, health centers, libraries, schools, and so on.
They develop these services with money from taxpayers… generally… that’s where the funding comes from.
It seems sensible that essential services are provided by the government, or under government supervision, and maybe additional services that are not deemed essential might be supplied and funded directly by the community if there is enough demand for the particular service.
Then of course there are public services that are partially subsidized by the government and people pay a reduced cost to use them. There is a fitness center near where I live which operates like that.