Speaking Topic 1 - Family & Friends

Our first speaking topic is Family & Friends. If you are new here, you may want to learn more about how the online speaking group work.

1- Discussion questions for Topic Family & Friends

Do you have a large or small family? Do you have any brothers or sisters?
Do you think it’s good to be the only child in the family?
What are your parents like?
Do you spend much time with your family ?
Who are you closest in your family?
Do you prefer spending time with your family or friends?
Who is your best friend?
Are you still friends with people from your childhood?
Is family important in your country?

These are suggested questions. You may not want to limit your conversation to those questions. Feel free to add your own and raise any question to your partner during the online meetup. To keep your conversation as long as 1 hour, you can print out or open the meetup guide on a new tab to help you follow through the topic.

2- Suggested videos – Topic Family & Friends

You need to train your ears to get familiar to how native speakers talk about Family & Friends, and also to broaden your vocabulary.

eJOY Epic – Laptop

If you own a PRO eJOY account, you can learn with the following video to practice listening comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary.

Learn with IELTS Speaking – Part 1 – Friends & Culture.

eJOY App/ Go web – Mobile & Laptop

Below are English videos that you can practice with 4 skills (listen-speak-read-write) on eJOY App and eJOY Go web.

How to learn on eJOY App
How to collect joys to unlock video on eJOY App (For eJOY Basic account)
How to learn on eJOY Go

3- Prepare for the talk

This is the to-do list for you:

Watch the suggested videos to get some ideas and vocabularies. Add new vocabularies from section 5 as well, if you need them. Use eJOY extension (laptop) or eJOY Reader app (mobile) to save them.
Write your own answers to the questions in section 1 of this article. Try to answer them out loud by yourself as well.
Install Skype on your device & create an account if you don’t have one. Make sure your internet work well and you have a quiet place.
Print out or open the topic guide

Please be noticed that you will use Skype to talk with your speaking partner:

Audio call is used to make sure the connection stable
Have free talk and maintain your conversation as long as possible with no limit.
Turn on recording so that you will have your audio file to review after the talk
We will help convert your file into script and you can review your word choices and learn from your partner.

4- Check in to find your speaking partner for topic Family & Friends

When you have done the homework, try your best to write down the answers to the discussion questions (Section 2) and do rehearsal on your own. And then, fill out the check-in form to help us find your perfect speaking partner who has the same English level, same level of confidence, and same time slot with you. Don’t forget to open the meetup guide when you start the online talk.

5- Từ vựng tham khảo

Nuclear family
Receive primary education
My house is close to school
My house is 5 minutes far away from school
Friends from childhood
Close-knit family
Drift apart
Lose touch with sb
Have a lot in common
Share the same ideas
Get on well with
Have/in good term with
Have a good relationship with
That sound great
Wow, amazing
I’m so sorry to hear that
Get on well with,
Keep in touch
Far away from my apartment
My Dad and I, we’re not that close
I like the melody, the sound very energetic, touching, romantic, girly
I join the school musical team
What? is that true? surprised
Oh, you are the matchmaker
Speechless
Talkative
I’m quite the opposite.
It’s the same here in my company
My brother is 3 years younger than me
I work too far away
Oh really? Such a coincidence
I love crowds, I love being busy with children
Japanese are polite, cold-hearted, reserved, introvert
They are notorious
Such a long winter break
We would go skiing
They retire, stay at home and enjoy their life
She was very caring, thoughtful,
She has a pain in her legs
Couples should share housework equally
I want my husband to share the housework
Housework should be split between husband and wife
Independent , assertive, sharp, feisty (active, forceful, determined)
We share some common values
How many times in a year / how often do you get back to Vietnam?
Things are getting worse. We get used to it. We have to live with it. It becomes part of our daily lives.
I totally agree
I’m so sorry to hear about that
Doing housework, running errands
Separated not divorced
Really, such a long time
You must be very lucky
Prioritize family over career
I’m too busy to have a boyfriend. I’m too busy for a relationship
Have no time for dating
I moved 10 times in 3 years , after each relocation i had to make new friends again
I haven’t seen them for years
Close to each other
Meet each other very often
Family is far more valuable than anything else
Family is the most important in life
Family is worth more than anything