Topic 1
Describe a skill you want to learn
There is a skill that I really want to learn. It is presentation skill. To do
presentation is a big and tough challenge for me because of my shame. I do not
feel confident and pleasant when standing and speak in front of many people. I
hope that taking part in a short course, in which instructor and the others are able
to provide me advices and experiences of making presentation; will make me
become a brave person. Additionally, I am working as a researcher and my job
requires me to do presentation often, to present my report or paper in
conference. That is the reason why I would like to choose presentation skill in
preference to other ones.
What skill university provided? Role of family for children to learn skill?
I have learnt a lot from professors and lecturers of my university. The knowledge
and understandings that I was taught are precious; among them, methodology or
the skill of doing research is the most important and valuable to me.
In my opinion, the family in general and parents in particular can play a very
important role for children to learn any skill. In other word, parents are the one
who encourage or discourage their children to do or not to do something. With
respect to me, my parents always supported me to learn and develop
methodologies, which are crucial to a junior researcher like me.
Topic 2
Describe a book that you have read
Reading has brought much knowledge to me and I have found interesting things
in many kinds of book. There is a book that I like to read the most; that is
“Vietnamese cultures” (or “Co so van hoa Viet Nam” in Vietnamese). Its content
is really attractive and helpful when makes reader understand more about our
nations and cultural values throughout the long history. You can find and assess
the richness of cultures, from the Northern area to Southern provinces and you


can be proud of our cultural achievements and heritages. I can be sure that you

will be attracted when reading that book.
Difference between men and women when choosing what to read
There are obvious differences between men and women. In general, the two
genders have different intention when choosing what to read. For example, in
terms of literature, women often like to choose novels which seem to be
romantic, while men have a tendency to look for detective or science fictions.
Meanwhile, cookery books are very attractive to women but not very interesting
to most of men, who prefer books on technologies or computing.
It is the common trend but anyway, which book that an individual choose also
depends on his or her hobby and personality. For example, a man could try to
read a romantic novel. It is normal thing and we should respect that.
Topic 3
Difference methods of transportation
There are many ways to transport and travel; among them, bike, motorbike, car,
bus, train, air plane, ship are popular. To ride a bike is the friendliest to
environment and really helpful to our health. The most notable weakness of
riding a bike is slow and it not a suitable vehicle when you are in hurry. You can
drive faster with a motorbike, it can approach small lanes and the most important
is that it is not really expensive. Many people choose car as their first option
when traveling but car is expensive and causes more air polluted. Bus, train and
airplane are public services. In big city, you can travel by bus but every bus is
always full of passenger. For long trip, train is a good choice due to its cheaper
price in comparison to airplane’s ticket, and you can see the landscape outside. If
you want to get to your target as soon as possible, you will travel by plane but it
is expensive trip.
Fixed tour or backpacking
Many people go traveling for the love of adventure when they yourself try to


discover new interesting things, that why they choose backpacking tour. Vice

versa, I myself prefer a tour which is fixed by travel agent. Why? Firstly, to
enjoy a backpacking tour takes a lot of time to find information about your trip
and your destination; it also takes you days to organize your tour. I still have to
keep working, so that I will choose a short tour. Secondly, a backpacking tour
seems to be dangerous to me. I dare not to throw myself to a tour about which
what you know is limited. It could make you nervous. And we should not
exclude any risk that you will have to face with; in that case, a professional tour
guide will be helpful.
Topic 4
Describe a friend? Who? When? Why friend? Why important? Influence?
You and I, we can not live without friend. Everyone has his or her own best
friend. As for me, my mother is my best friend; that is a truth. You need not to
ask when our friendship is set up because it is our natural feeling. I can share
everything with my mother and receive best advices from her. Sometimes, I get
good telling-off from mom for silly things that I made but I know that she just
wants a better me. I am now grown-up and mom also treats me as a friend of her.
She often talks to me when facing challenges. We keep exchange ideas on
various things. Where to find your best friend? In my opinion, she is not far
away but in front of you.
Important factors to make friend? What break-up friendship?
Friendships are an important part of life, but many of us find it difficult to look
for, make or keep friends. There are many important factors to make friend.
Making friend is a process including factors which I do not know what is the
most important but I can list some factors as follows. Firstly, it is loyalty. People
like to be assured that they can rely on someone in time of emergency and want
to feel that their friends will stick to them when things get wrong. Secondly, it is
honesty. In making friends, being honest pursues your friend to share and you


can make him or her to say things that they can not say to another one. Thirdly,

you should respect each other even when you do not have same idea about
anything. You also should care about your friend and be ready to listen to you
friend anytime and anywhere. All factors that I discussed above are also
important and if your friendship lacks of any factor, I am afraid that your
friendship will not last long or come to an end soon.
Topic 5
Describe job in the future? What? Requirements? Why like to do? How
suitable?
All of us have to work. Some person would like to take part in not only one but
also more than two jobs. I am now happy with researching mission at my
institute but in the future, I wish that I could be a visiting lecturer at universities.
I would like to bring knowledge and transfer all of my researching results to the
students, provide them necessary information and advice as well as experiences
of a researcher. All above these, I wish I could help all students develop
positively. Of course, it is not easy to become a good lecturer. I deeply know that
I have to work more carefully to find the best results; meanwhile, a good lecturer
must do speaking fluently to make presentation more attractive and be always
ready to face with tough questions from students.
Doing team work or working individually? Reasons? Details? E.g.
When I was student, I was encouraged to learn from not only professors but also
my classmates. Even now, when I have been working as a junior researcher, I
still realize advantages of taking part in a workgroup. That is why I often accept
the invitation to join a group to carry out a research project at any level. I realize
that to work in a group help me know how to organize a group, how to distribute
work to each member and how to collect all parts and make them become one.
Otherwise, I could develop myself, approach new understandings by learning
from senior researchers. What I discussed above does not mean that I refuse or


ignore the advantages of working individually. However, because of being at the

early stage of my career, I prefer working in group to working individually.
Topic 6
TV program? What? When? What is about? Why?
Tv is an easy way to entertain nowadays. Due to the development of cable as
well as digital tv, we have chance to watch many interesting tv shows. There is a
show that I like the most, it is so-called “Just two of us”. It is a singing contest
between showbiz stars. The show’s producer invites showbiz stars to join and
they will be divided in two every couple. Every Sunday evening, they go to the
stage and show the audience what they can do in singing. There are three judges
and their mission is to assess the performance of each couple. Audience can also
vote for his or her favorite. Of course, except professional singers, not all stars
can sing very well. However, seeing stars singing beautiful melodies on tv every
weekend and voting for them is a good way to relax.
Advertisement good or bad?
Most people do not like watching advertisement because it often interrupts their
favorite program. In fact, it is unpleasant when advertising program appears
every fifteen minute and separate an interesting movie into discursive parts.
Otherwise, producers always overstate their product’s quality and most products
are not as effective or good as they are in the advertisement. That the bad side of
advertisement. However, it is not really bad. It provides us information on
needed goods for daily life. And, the real one that troubles you is advertisement
producers and the one being responsible for broadcasting. If producers tell us the
truth about their products and advertisement is broadcast at acceptable duration,
it will not be ignored by customers and audience.
Topic 7
Thing you hate to be without? What? What it does for you? What happen
without it?


There are things or equipments or tools which are very important to me.

However, among these useful things, my laptop is more crucial than anything.
According to me, I do not want to be without laptop because it helps me either
work effectively or find information. Nowadays, due to everyone’s business, I
can not meet and talk directly with your friends and relatives but with an
internet-connected laptop, I can chat with them regardless the distance. Its
mobility makes me easily bring it along when I travel. I can not imagine one day
without my laptop when I feel that the world outside seems to be excluded,
when I can not get information. Additionally, my work is also negatively
influenced.
Modern technology like mobile phone and internet make relationship worse
while other can not live without.
It is an undeniable truth that modern technologies and inventions play a very
important role in our life today. Some people often look at the wrong side of
modern technologies like mobile phone or internet and consider that they make
human relationship worse. I do not ignore that even new technologies have some
bad effects on us but their advantages overshadow negative influences. If new
technologies are completely bad, they will not survive or be destroyed soon.
Mobile phone and internet have helped us too much, created conditions for
people to make and keep friendship regardless the distance of space and time.
“Every coin has two sides” and we should have an open look at the better side.
Topic 8
A hard decision you had to make? What to decide? Why difficult? Final
decision? Why decided?
Two years ago, I had to make an important decision. It was the time when I
worked for a famous university without a legal working contract. I had to decide
if I would leave or not. It was a really hard period of time and of course, denying
a job at a well-known university is never easy. Finally, after discussing with


some experienced professors, I felt that I should go away and look for new a

challenge as well as a friendly working environment. I hoped that my ability
would be realized and I would have chance to show what I am able to do.
Luckily, I soon found a new job at a research institute and so far I have been
very happy working there.
Your way of making decision? Quickly or carefully?
Decision-making is a part of our life. Sometimes, we have to face challenges and
they require us to do or not to do something. It is the time when we must make a
decision. I myself have had to make many decisions so far. In that case, firstly, I
will calmly analyze the situation in which I am. Secondly, to carefully think of
or assess my capability of dealing with the issue. Then, I myself should look for
someone, who is reliable and experienced, and ask him or her to give me
valuable advices. Sometimes, the advisors are very essential because they are
less nervous and stay calm. All after that, I will make my own decision. I mean
making decision is not easy, particularly when you must deal with serious issues.
Any wrong decision could lead to bad result, so that we should be careful when
making decision.
Chủ đề 9: Describle a piece of equipment you often use
There are things or equipments or tools which are very important to me.
However, among these useful things, a computer (a laptop or a PC) is more
crucial than anything. According to me, I do not want to be without a computer
because it helps me either work effectively or find information. Nowadays, due
to everyone’s business, I can not meet and talk directly with your friends and
relatives but with an internet-connected computer, I can chat with them
regardless the distance. I can not imagine one day without a computer when I
feel that the world outside seems to be excluded, when I can not get information.
Additionally, my work is also negatively influenced. That is the reason why I
always bring my laptop along even when I travel.


Impacts of electrical equipment on human’s life? Role of tenological

development? Advantages and disadvantages of computer and internet?
It is an undeniable truth that modern technologies and inventions play a very
important role in our life today. Some people often look at the wrong side of
modern technologies like mobile phone or internet; they consider that new
technologies make human relationship worse, and people seem to be lazier than
we were or using computer leads to a passive generations. I do not ignore that
even new technologies have some bad effects on us but their advantages
overshadow negative influences. If new technologies are totally bad, they will
not survive or be destroyed soon. Mobile phone and internet have helped us too
much, created conditions for people to make and keep friendship regardless the
distance of space and time; computer helps us working effectively and quickly
too much; new machines makes improvement in working capacity, etc. “Every
coin has two sides” and we should have an open look at the better side.
Chủ đề 10: Learning English
English is the most important language? The most suitable time for children to
learn?
In my opinion, the English language is so vitally important because it is spoken
in so many parts of the world. Businesses, educational fields, academic
domains, and even realms that deal with security all use English as a language of
communication. In a practical sense, one could survive without English, but
with the globalized nature of the world and commerce, knowledge of English is
quite essential. The knowledge of English could help to open many professional
doors.
If a child does not speak English as his or her first language, the best time to get
them to learn it would be during the time when they are thinking about doing
primary schooling. Primary schooling is extremely important and allows
children to expand their knowledge and grow up. Because of the rapid rate at


which children tend to learn at this age, English language training is definitely a

good idea.
Childhood hobby: what? How to develop? Why like doing?
Most children have hobbies. Like other child, I myself have my own hobbies,
among which I like to watch documents or listen to the stories about great
persons, like national heroes or great scientists, the most. When I was at primary
school, I often looked for books about them. Luckily, my parents and teachers
strongly encouraged me to do that. I felt that those great men inspired me very
much. The more I know about them, the more determined I am to study better
and better. I have kept this hobby so far and I will never give up this.
Are hobbies important? Hobbies of youngsters in your countries? What hobbies
should children develop to become adult?
Hobbies play an important role in developing one’s personality. A person may
lose interest in working or feel bored of it. Most people should take some time
off from their routine work and play games or go on picnic, movies or pursue
their hobbies. A hobby keeps a person active, busy and cheerful.
There is hardly a person who does not have a bobby. Not only the educated but
also the uneducated pursue one hobby or the other. Some of the common
hobbies are playing cards, petting of birds and animals, cooking, photography,
swimming, listening music, watching movies, surfing internet, traveling, etc.
What hobby that children should develop depends on his or her personality.
However, when a child has free time, some kind of hobbies like reading books
or taking part in sport activities or enjoying healthy entertainment could be a
good choice for them to develop at the best condition.
A place where you feel happy: Where? Who to go with? What to do there? Why
special?
Some places bring you the feeling of protection, comfort and peace. In my
opinion, no place can make me feel happier or more comfortable than my house.


Due to my own job, I have to live afar from my relatives and beloved. It is not

very far away from Hanoi; however, my business prevents me from going home
often. I have tried to return home at weekend once a month in order to visit my
parents, to gather with my sisters and brother and play with my either nephews
or nieces. Every moment which I spend at home is the greatest and happiest
period of time. When I am at home, there is no work, no business, but laughings
and happiness.
How does tourism affect a country? Advantages? Can cultures learn from each
other?
Tourism is very important to the country. Money from all over the world is spent
in the country which helps with the development of that country. Tourism also
helps with how popular the country gets since more and more people will go to
that country to go sight seeing. In addition, tourism creates seasonal jobs and
brings extra incomes for workers and employees.
Tourism gives us the opportunity to see unknown and uninteresting places. One
can come to discover new traditions, new customs and exotic foods and drinks.
Moreover, it is a great chance to meet people all over the world, make friends
and enjoy at the maximum during your vacation. Through any travel, we
understand more about cultures which we knew little and we can learn good
values of it.
A competition or tv show for only men or women? What kind of that? How do
you know? What people have to do? Prize?
In vietnam, there is a TV show for women only; that is New Vitality or “Suc
song moi”. After 6 years of broadcasting (since 2006), the program has given
women necessary and useful information, encouraging messages, fostering them
to change for a better life. The program is broadcast at 6.p.m every Sunday on
VTV 3. The producer of this program will invite famous people as well as
another character, who is an ordinary woman, to join and discuss and share their


experiences on topics. Just like every reality show, the program is around a

specific topic such as fashion, beauty, answering questions related to emotion,
stories of daily life, which are considered to be useful for women in general.
Traditional convention of women and men’s roles? Changes of women’s roles in
modern society?
For many centuries, in any eastern countries like Vietnam, women had been
underestimated. Only men could study and work and be the family’s
breadwinner while women must be stay at home to take care of household
duties. That’s what happened in the past. How about the moment? Of course,
women still do housework but now the vocation is also shared with men. In
some families, the fathers help their wives to pick children up, organize the
furniture of the house and even wash clothes or cook meals. Women also take
part in many social functions of the communities. They even achieve high
positions in their companies or offices. Women’s role is becoming more and
more prominent in the society.
Party that you enjoy: Whose? What celebrate for? Where? Who attended? What
did people do during party? Why you enjoy?
I have participated in many parties so far and there is a party that I am impressed
the most. That is a Mid-autumn party which was organized by young staffs of
my institute last year. At that time, I was a newcomer and trying to positively
integrate with senior staffs. That was a good chance for me to talk with the
others. Meanwhile, I can not stop smiling when seeing my colleagues’ children
to take part in mini games and sing beautiful songs of them. The children
seemed to really be confident and brilliant. I wish that we would hold another
Mid-autumn party and maintain that great atmosphere this year.
To name some of national celebrations? Who tend to enjoy: young or old?
National celebrations are waste of money or not?
We have several main national holidays in our country. The first and most


important is the Tet Festival. This is to celebrate the end of the lunar year and

welcome another one. Beside, held on the 10th day of the third month every lunar
year, Kings Hùng’s aniversary is an important nationa celebration. Still another
is Mid Autumn day. During this holiday we eat a traditional dish known as moon
cake.
Older people tend to enjoy national celebrations more than the younger
generation because they feel more connected to them. The younger people prefer
western holidays, such as Valentine’s Day, because they like the romantic
aspects which do not appear in national holidays.
I do not believe that spending money on government celebrations is a waste of
money. National holidays are an important part of our culture and help to create
a sense of being Vietnamese. However, the government should not spend too
much.