IELTS Speaking Band 9.0 - Advanced Answers

Summary

In this video, the speaker shares insights about their daily routine, from waking up early to indulging in personal activities like meditation, journaling, and yoga. They reflect on the simplicity of their weekdays versus the freedom of their weekends. The conversation also touches on topics like dreams, email habits, and exercise preferences, revealing a practical yet thoughtful approach to life. The speaker offers an honest perspective on family dynamics, sharing experiences about visiting friends and family in Taiwan. Throughout, they demonstrate impressive fluency, vocabulary, and pronunciation, offering constructive feedback for improvement in coherence and response depth.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker's daily routine consists of waking up at 8 a.m., brushing their teeth, eating breakfast, and driving to work.
• 😀 Weekends are reserved for personal activities like writing, meditation, and yoga, offering a break from the workweek.
• 😀 The speaker has an interest in writing and dreams of retiring to the countryside to write novels and live with animals.
• 😀 The speaker enjoys slower exercises such as yoga and swimming but finds the gym to be boring and tedious.
• 😀 Pilates is considered an effective exercise for toning the body and muscles, even if it doesn't burn as many calories.
• 😀 The speaker enjoys visiting close friends and family, especially when they reunite during holidays or personal celebrations.
• 😀 Attending family gatherings can be stressful due to personal questions from relatives, such as inquiries about marriage and children.
• 😀 The speaker values family dinners as an important part of maintaining connection and communication within a family.
• 😀 The importance of parents helping with homework is acknowledged, as it positively impacts a child's mental health and development.
• 😀 There is an emphasis on distributing chores fairly within a family, although exceptions are made when one family member is the primary breadwinner.
• 😀 The speaker’s pronunciation and fluency are highly rated, with Band 9 scores for pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, but suggestions are made to improve coherence by developing answers further.

Q & A

How does the speaker describe their daily routine?

The speaker follows a consistent daily routine, waking up at 8 a.m., brushing their teeth, washing their face, having breakfast, driving to work, and coming home to cook dinner and watch Netflix. They describe it as very average and mundane.

What activities does the speaker enjoy on weekends?

On weekends, the speaker enjoys activities like meditation, writing, journaling, and practicing yoga. They also express interest in horse riding.

How has the speaker's daily routine changed since childhood?

The main change in the speaker's daily routine is that they now go to work instead of school. They also mention having more free time on weekends, which allows them to engage in activities they enjoy.

What is the speaker's opinion about dreams?

The speaker believes that dreams can reveal repressed emotions and stress. They also mention that some people might be able to predict the future through dreams, though they are on the fence about its credibility.

How does the speaker handle email communication at work?

The speaker prefers to complete tasks before responding to emails. They believe it is more efficient to reply with the requested work or file, rather than sending a simple acknowledgment.

What is the speaker's stance on receiving promotional emails?

The speaker generally dislikes promotional emails unless they are from a brand they follow or a sale they are interested in.

What kind of exercise does the speaker prefer, and why?

The speaker prefers slower exercises such as yoga and swimming because they don't want to break a sweat. They also find the gym tedious and boring, but would like to exercise more frequently.

What are the differences in exercise preferences between the speaker's generation and their childhood?

The speaker believes that people still engage in similar types of exercise but might do so less often. They note that while cycling and tennis were popular in the past, nowadays people might spend more time dancing on platforms like TikTok.

How did the speaker enjoy their trip to Taiwan?

The speaker visited Taiwan for three weeks, where they reconnected with old friends like Shirley, Tiffany, Eva, and Jackie. They enjoyed catching up over wine or tea and visited a friend’s new restaurant. They also attended a friend's wedding and celebrated with their friends who had recently had babies.

What are some key family celebrations in the speaker's culture?

The speaker highlights Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival as major family celebrations in their culture. They emphasize that any celebration is an opportunity for families to gather, even if it can sometimes be stressful.

What is the speaker's view on family gatherings?

The speaker acknowledges that while family gatherings can be enjoyable, they can also be stressful due to probing questions from relatives, such as inquiries about marriage or having children. They feel that such questions can detract from the relaxing purpose of a family visit.

How important does the speaker think it is for families to share meals together?

The speaker considers it very important for families to eat dinner together. They believe it helps to foster a sense of connection and communication within the family.

What is the speaker's opinion on parents helping children with homework?

The speaker believes that it is a good thing for parents to help their children with homework, as it provides support for their mental health and emotional well-being.

How does the speaker view the sharing of household chores in a family?

The speaker believes that all family members should share household chores. However, they acknowledge that if a parent is working most of the week, they may not need to contribute as much to household chores.

What did the speaker learn from their feedback session about their performance?

The speaker learned that their fluency, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary were strong, with a band 9 score across the board. They were encouraged to work on developing answers more thoroughly during discussions, as they sometimes list too many things in response to questions.