(Question type: Task 1)
You will now be asked to give your opinion about a familiar topic. After you hear the question, you will have 15 seconds to prepare your response and 45 seconds to speak.
Some parents educate their own children at home. Others insist that their children should be sent to school. Which way of learning do you think is preferable and why?
Preparation time: 15 seconds
Response time: 45 seconds
It always helps to have specific, real-world examples to talk about—it helps to communicate more clearly, and it gives you more things to say.
In this case, you can more easily think of examples if you choose the side of how you were educated. If you were educated at a school, not at home, then that will probably be the best choice, because you can think about the good things of that school experience.
Of course, it’s possible that you went to a school and hated it. In that case, you should take the side of studying at home and explain with the negative experiences of a school.
In either case, look for the side that’s easier to argue based on your experience. Then take that side (even if you don’t believe it’s right).
I am absolutely against teaching kids at home. They need to go to school. I mean, there’s no guarantee that parents will be good teachers. Instead of just…relying… trusting the two parents to do a good job, uhh…kids should have an opportunity to learn from many teachers, and expand their horizons, too. I learned so much, for example, from my high-school teacher Dr. Qureshi, who was Muslim—my family is not very religious, so it was a unique perspective for me. Staying at home all the time will rob students of important chances for getting to know other points of view, and leave them with teachers who might not actually be very skilled or experiences… I mean their parents.