Speaking topics: General topics for Session 1

TOPIC LIST	SPEAKING GENERAL FOR SESSION 1
Talk about family	I come from quite a small family really. For example, I just have one little brother who lives away from home as he’s studying uni in HCM city. But my extended family is fairly big. Thing that I like doing most with my family is to have a nice long meals with good food cooked by my mom, we would talk about everything in daily life and make some jokes to each other.  In my family, I’m closest to my mom, we always got on and we hardly ever fall out. We spent a lot of time together and she’s taught me about everything in life.  My family is everything to me. They are my best friends. They always support me when things aren’t going well and when things are going well. I know they’ll always be there for me no matter what
Friendship	For me, a good friend has to be reliable. I can’t stand being stood up or having my emails and texts ignored. As well as that, a friend should be someone you can have good fun with. There are many things in life to be serious about, but friendship shouldn’t be one of them.  However, I don’t think friends are as important to me as family. Friends come and go, but family are always there whether you like it or not. But sometimes, you’ve known a friend for so long that they can become like a family member. You can really be yourself with them and you may even argue quite often like shiblings (anh chi em ruot) do. Friendship can change as we get older. I definitely find that I have less in common with somefriends than I used to. I think because we often grow apart from old school friends or old colleagues. The people I feel I have most in common with are friends I met at university. Im not sure why, but somehow we always have lots to talk about.
Describe a good friend	One of my best friends is a girl called Chinh. I met her at university, acutally she was my freshman roomate at domitory. So, we’ve known each other for a good decade. What kind of person is she. Well, she’s really outgoing and sociable – she was always going out with friends or joining volunteer clubs at school. She’s so creative, always thinks of new activities we could join and make up stories to make me laugh. She’s also a very determined person. When she gets into something, she gives 100%. However, she can be a bit impatient; she gets annoyed when her fellows aren’t as efficient as her. And sometimes, she over-protects her own opinions that makes her a bit full of herself, which I say is a drawback. Ask for why I like her, well, she’s actually quite different from me.  I was constantly amazed by her open-mindedness, she’s never judgemental. I wish I could be like that. At uni, she would often suggest doing something and I would go along with it, and because I’m laid back, I never felt overwhelmed by her. We’ve never fallen out. Because we live in different cities, we don’t see each other that often. But we try to catch up on a fairly regular basic, say once a month
Talk about a TV channel	I rarely watch traditional television channels nowadays; I much prefer searching for interesting programmes or videos online. So, although it is not traditional TV channel, I would like to talk about a website which I think is kind of a modern version of a TV channel. It is called TED, which stands for ‘Technology, Entertainment, Design’, and it is a great place to watch short talks and presentations about all sorts of interesting topics. The good thing about the videos on TED is that I can watch them whenever I want. I have ted.com saved as one of my favourites on my laptop, and I tend to visit the website every now and then to check whether there is anything new. I often watch TED videos on my phone while I’m travelling. The reason why I like watching online videos on TED is that I learn something new every time I watch one. The tagline for the TED website is ‘ideas worth spreading’, and this really sums up the captivation of the site for me. Instead of watching meaningless soap operas and talk shows on TV, I would much rather spend 10 minutes watching someone talk about a breakthrough in technology, science or healthcare
Describe a website that you often use	Facebook is a social networking website. It is a free website that allows you to keep in contact with friends or find people you have lost touch with. It is one of the most popular websites in the world, with millions of users in different countries. All of my friends use Facebook. Two years ago, one of my friends sent me an email inviting me to join. I signed up and I have been using it ever since. Facebook allows me to keep up to date with what my friends are doing. You have a profile page with information and status updated so that you can tell everyone what you're doing. You can post messages to other people's pages. You can upload photos and videos and you can even play game online there. I find Facebook most useful for organising my life, keeping in touch with friends and storing photos. I think social networking websites have become part of everyday life.
Describe your hometown	I come from Vung Tau, which is a famous place for its extensive beaches and magnificent sea-view, including two famous beaches Front Beach and Back Beach. Tourists always prefer sightseeing at Front Beach (Bai Truoc) to go swimming in Back Beach (Bai Sau). Bai Truoc is considered as the façade(‘sa:d) of Vung Tau city. Besides the best location, the beach is also preferred for having many nice restaurants and elegant hotels. Sparking, colorful and bright light boulevard (‘bu:lva:)make Bai Truoc more beautiful. Meanwhike, Back Beach is well-known for its over 10 kms of fine sand seaside. The beach is always excited and busy with tourists. At weekends or on holidays, there are thousands of people coming here for swimming and entertainment. Vung Tau is really a favorite resort & entertainment destination for not only  national tourists  but also international-visiters
Talk about your job and your study	I’m an IT engineer. In my current job, I’m responsible for monitoring projects’ database and taking care of all the office machines.  As for me, it is quite a boring job, and it doesn’t have much promotion prospects. The only reason that keeps me doing this job is the decent wage. But for sure it’s not my lifetime job. My dream job would be to work as a secondary-school teacher. The reason is… that such a job carries high prestige and a rewarding one. It would be interesting and there would be good job security. If I got that job, I would probably have it for life. In Vietnam, having a university education is very important and can help you into a better career. All top companies recruit (re’kru:t) graduated for their top positions. There for you’d get a better start. However, it’s fair to say that a university is not everything, and it’s what you do with it that matters.  You can have a degree yet still get overtaken by somebody who isn’t university educated but gets promoted over you because they work harder
Talk about holiday	Vietnam has many traditional and religious holidays but NONE can be compared with New Year festival, Tet Nguyen Dan or in short…Tet Tet has become so familiar, so sacred that when Spring arrives, the Vietnamese, wherever they may be, are all thrilled and excited with the advent of Tet. They feel an immense nostalgia, wishing to come back for a family reunion and taste the particular flavours of their homeland. Family gather and making the traditional Banh Chung, the cake of sticky rice, green bean and pork, which is a must on Tet. Traditionally, no cooking is done during the three days holiday, so all food must be prepared beforehand. At midnight on New Year’s Eve, a ceremony called ‘ Giao thua’ is held in which a sacrifice (lễ cúng) for the spirits and the ancestors is made on a lovely candle-lit altar in the open air near the home. During Tet festival, all stores are closed and businesses are interrupted for at least 3 days. On the fourth day, life regains its normacy (n). Some things are considered to be very bad luck if done at Tet, such as: -          Clean house during Tet -          Look fretful or show any anger or grief -          Break dishes The growing popularity of Western festivals, like Christmas or New Year will somehow reduce the meanings and make some activities in Tet lose its unique charater like: family reunion, house redecoration for instance can take place in these above occasions instead of Tet. Festivals are the crystallization (sự kết tinh) of cultural, spiritual and physical activities that have been chosen, maintained and improved over many generations
Talk about wedding ceremony in VN	In Vietnam, wedding is very important, not only to the couple involved, but also for both families. Thus, it is usually including quite a few formal ritual observances (n): sự tuân thủ/lễ nghi. The Wedding day is usually chosen well in advance (trước) by the groom and the bride’s parents. On the wedding day, the groom’s family and relatives go to the bride’s house bringing a lot of gifts wrapped in red cloth. These gifts must include: betel leaves and areca nuts, wines, fruits, tea… The groom’s family would stop in front of the bride’s house. The leading couple should enter the house first bringing a tray with wine and tiny cups on it. They would invite the bride’s parents to take a sip. By accepting the toast, the bride’s family agrees for the groom family to enter their house. The groom’s family would introduce themselves and ask permission for their son to marry his bride. The Master of the Ceremony (usually a respected person among the bride’s relatives) instructs the bride’s parents to present their daughter. The bride then follows her parents out. She is in Vietnamese traditional wedding Ao dai, which is usually in red. The wedding ceremony starts in front of the altar. The bride and the groom would kneel down and pray, asking their ancestors’ permission to be married, also asking for blessing on their family-to-be. The couple then turns around and bow down to the bride’s parents to say thank for raising and protecting her since birth. They then bow their head to each other, which means to show their gratitude (lòng biết ơn) and respect toward their soon-to-be husband or wife. The groom and the bride then exchange wedding rings. The ceremony is ended with a round of applause(n) Today, a lot of Vietnamese couples have their wedding ceremony done in Temples or Churches which is very much similar to Western style, including exchanging vows. However, they still maintain Vietnamese traditional ceremony in the bride’s home before heading to churches or temples