IELTS Practice tasks 2
Practice tasks 2:
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The arts
In addition to the words and phrases which appear in the General Vocabulary section of this book, you may also find some useful words and phrases on pages 61 and 62. You will find some sample answers on the following two pages, but try to do the tasks first.
In addition to the words and phrases which appear in the General Vocabulary section of this book, you may also find some useful words and phrases on pages 61 and 62. You will find some sample answers on the following two pages, but try to do the tasks first.
SPEAKING
PART 1
Answer these questions. Try to speak for about 4 or 5 minutes in total.
• Do you enjoy attending cultural events in your home country?
• Have you attended any interesting cultural events recently?
• Are there any museums or art galleries you’ve been to that you would recommend to others?
• Would you consider yourself to be artistic in any way?
PART 2
Look at this task and spend one minute thinking about what you are going to say (you can make notes if you like). Then talk about the topic for between one and two minutes.
Describe a book, film or play that you particularly enjoyed.
You should say:
what it was called and who wrote or directed it
what it was about
who the main characters were
and explain why you particularly enjoyed it.
PART 3
Answer these questions. Try to speak for about 4 or 5 minutes in total.
• Do you think that learning about the arts (for example, painting and music) at school is as important as learning other subjects like maths and science?
Why / Why not?
• How important do you think it is for museums and art galleries to be free to enter?
• Do you think that seeing a painting, sculpture or other work of art in a museum or gallery is more rewarding than seeing it in a book or on the internet?
WRITING
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Governments should spend less money on subsidising the arts (for example,theatre, cinema and music) and instead spend more on essential things like education, healthcare and public transport. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
PART 1
• Do you enjoy attending cultural events in your home country?
Write at least 250 words.
Practice tasks 2: Sample answers
SPEAKINGPART 1
• Do you enjoy attending cultural events in your home country?
I live in a village which, despite its relatively small size, has quite a lively cultural scene. There’s a local dramatic society which puts on plays two or three times a year, and I enjoy going to those. There’s also an art society, a photographic club and a few other cultural groups who hold exhibitions and shows once or twice a year. However, for anything else I have to go to the nearest city, which is two hours away by bus. I go there when I can, if there’s something I really want to see, but getting into the city takes time and of course costs money. So yes, I do enjoy cultural events, but I don’t do so as often as I’d like.
• Have you attended any interesting cultural events recently?
Last year our local dramatic society put on a performance of Goethe’s ‘Faust’. It was interesting and unusual because instead of performing the play in a theatre, they did it outside in the village. Each act took part outside a dif erent building in the village, like the town hall, the church and so on. So instead of sitting down and watching the play, the audience followed the actors around the village and then stood there to watch the action. Also, instead of being set in the sixteenth century or whenever, the play was set in the 1920s, so the actors were dressed in 1920s clothes and there was a jazz band which played before and after each scene. I thought that was really clever and original.
• Are there any museums or art galleries you’ve been to that you would recommend to others?
I think one museum I love and would really recommend is the Muséed’Orsay in Paris. I was in the city on a weekend break a couple of years ago and hadn’t actually planned on going there, but the weather wasn’t very good, so it seemed like a good idea. Anyway, the Musée d’Orsay has the biggest collection of impressionist and Post-impressionist art in the world. Artists like Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Degas are all represented there. However, one of the best things about this museum i the building itself. It’s a converted railway station, still with many of the original features like the glass ceiling, the station clock and so on. Visually it’s really quite stunning.
• Would you consider yourself to be artistic in any way?
That’s a good question. I suppose it depends on what you mean by artistic. I’m not very good at painting, but I can draw a little, and I especially like drawing pictures of my friends, usually exaggerating their features like their hair, nose and mouth. And I’m really keen on photography. Not holiday pictures or things like that, but more abstract things that I see when I’m out. Shapes, shadows and details on buildings, that kind of thing. Does that count as being artistic? I also have a guitar which I’ve sort of taught myself to play. But not very well, I’m afraid to say. Actually, that’s one regret of mine, not learning how to play a musical instrument. I have a friend who plays the piano and I’m really
jealous of her!
• Have you attended any interesting cultural events recently?
Last year our local dramatic society put on a performance of Goethe’s ‘Faust’. It was interesting and unusual because instead of performing the play in a theatre, they did it outside in the village. Each act took part outside a dif erent building in the village, like the town hall, the church and so on. So instead of sitting down and watching the play, the audience followed the actors around the village and then stood there to watch the action. Also, instead of being set in the sixteenth century or whenever, the play was set in the 1920s, so the actors were dressed in 1920s clothes and there was a jazz band which played before and after each scene. I thought that was really clever and original.
• Are there any museums or art galleries you’ve been to that you would recommend to others?
I think one museum I love and would really recommend is the Muséed’Orsay in Paris. I was in the city on a weekend break a couple of years ago and hadn’t actually planned on going there, but the weather wasn’t very good, so it seemed like a good idea. Anyway, the Musée d’Orsay has the biggest collection of impressionist and Post-impressionist art in the world. Artists like Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Degas are all represented there. However, one of the best things about this museum i the building itself. It’s a converted railway station, still with many of the original features like the glass ceiling, the station clock and so on. Visually it’s really quite stunning.
• Would you consider yourself to be artistic in any way?
That’s a good question. I suppose it depends on what you mean by artistic. I’m not very good at painting, but I can draw a little, and I especially like drawing pictures of my friends, usually exaggerating their features like their hair, nose and mouth. And I’m really keen on photography. Not holiday pictures or things like that, but more abstract things that I see when I’m out. Shapes, shadows and details on buildings, that kind of thing. Does that count as being artistic? I also have a guitar which I’ve sort of taught myself to play. But not very well, I’m afraid to say. Actually, that’s one regret of mine, not learning how to play a musical instrument. I have a friend who plays the piano and I’m really
jealous of her!
PART 2
Describe a book, film or play that you particularly enjoyed.
You should say:
what it was called and who wrote or directed it
what it was about
who the main characters were
and explain why you particularly enjoyed it.
I don’t really enjoy big Hollywood films, you know, with lots of special efects and famous actors. I prefer watching films made by small, independent film companies, which are more interesting, more unusual,perhaps a bit more adventurous. Anyway, I recently saw a wonderful comedy set in New Zealand called ‘What We Do in the Shadows’. I can’t remember the name of the person who directed it, but he’s quite well known in New Zealand, I think. And there weren’t any famous big-name actors in it. Anyway, it’s a sort of documentary, a fake documentary, about a group of vampires who share a house in Wellington. Like a real documentary there isn’t really a story. We just see these vampires sitting around the kitchen table and chatting, or arguing about whose turn it is to do the washing up and cleaning, just like ordinary flatmates do. The camera also follows them as they go out at night to look for victims or meet up with their vampire friends. The main vampire in the house is called Viago. He’s a really funny character, very uptight and obsessed about keeping the house clean. The other vampires are called Vlad, Deacon and Petyr, and they all have their own characteristics. Deacon, for example, likes knitting and dancing. I particularly enjoyed this film because it was funny, clever and original. In fact, it was very dif erent from anything I’ve ever seen before.
Practice tasks 2: Sample answers
PART 3
• Do you think that learning about the arts (for example, painting and music) at school is as important as learning other subjects like maths and science?
If a school’s responsibility is to prepare its students for the real world then, yes, I do think they should teach about the arts. Things like maths and science are important because they’re practical, they’re skills that we might need when we start work. However, learning about the arts means that we can function more ef ectively with more people in more social situations. If all you can talk about is football or last night’s television, then that’s going to limit your ability to interact socially. If you can talk about the arts, recognise paintings or sculptures or classical music and so on, then that will widen your social skills. I think that means that you’re more likely to succeed in life.
• How important do you think it is for museums and art galleries to be free to enter?
I think that if museums and galleries want to encourage people to learn about and enjoy art and culture, then they should be free to enter. Most people I know would pay to see a film, a concert or a sporting event, but they probably wouldn’t pay to go into a museum or an art gallery, so they wouldn’t do it. However, there’s a problem. If museums don’t charge an entrance fee, how can they operate? I imagine they cost a lot to run, and of course the paintings and objects cost a lot to buy. Some museums compromise. They make entry free, but they ask visitors for a voluntary financial contribution. I’m not sure how successful this is, because I guess that not everybody would donate.
• Do you think that seeing a painting, sculpture or other work of art in a museum or a gallery is more rewarding than seeing it in a book or on the internet?
I’m not so sure about books, but the internet is a great way of looking at, for example, a famous painting. You can zoom in on the painting to look at details, which you can’t do in a gallery, and the pictures are often accompanied by a detailed explanation of what you’re looking at, or provide links so that you can see other works by the same artist. On the other hand, there’s a certain feeling you get when you see a famous painting for real in a museum. I can’t explain it, but it’s really quite exciting. You’re looking at the actual work of art, not its virtual version, and there’s a connection, a feeling that you’ve somehow got closer to the artist. It’s much more rewarding.
• Do you think that learning about the arts (for example, painting and music) at school is as important as learning other subjects like maths and science?
If a school’s responsibility is to prepare its students for the real world then, yes, I do think they should teach about the arts. Things like maths and science are important because they’re practical, they’re skills that we might need when we start work. However, learning about the arts means that we can function more ef ectively with more people in more social situations. If all you can talk about is football or last night’s television, then that’s going to limit your ability to interact socially. If you can talk about the arts, recognise paintings or sculptures or classical music and so on, then that will widen your social skills. I think that means that you’re more likely to succeed in life.
• How important do you think it is for museums and art galleries to be free to enter?
I think that if museums and galleries want to encourage people to learn about and enjoy art and culture, then they should be free to enter. Most people I know would pay to see a film, a concert or a sporting event, but they probably wouldn’t pay to go into a museum or an art gallery, so they wouldn’t do it. However, there’s a problem. If museums don’t charge an entrance fee, how can they operate? I imagine they cost a lot to run, and of course the paintings and objects cost a lot to buy. Some museums compromise. They make entry free, but they ask visitors for a voluntary financial contribution. I’m not sure how successful this is, because I guess that not everybody would donate.
• Do you think that seeing a painting, sculpture or other work of art in a museum or a gallery is more rewarding than seeing it in a book or on the internet?
I’m not so sure about books, but the internet is a great way of looking at, for example, a famous painting. You can zoom in on the painting to look at details, which you can’t do in a gallery, and the pictures are often accompanied by a detailed explanation of what you’re looking at, or provide links so that you can see other works by the same artist. On the other hand, there’s a certain feeling you get when you see a famous painting for real in a museum. I can’t explain it, but it’s really quite exciting. You’re looking at the actual work of art, not its virtual version, and there’s a connection, a feeling that you’ve somehow got closer to the artist. It’s much more rewarding.
WRITING
The subject of whether governments should subsidise the arts at the expense of services like education, healthcare and public transport is controversial. Some say they should and some say they shouldn’t, and both groups have valid arguments. Those who oppose the subsidising of the arts in favour of essential services focus on the key word, ‘essential’. Healthcare saves lives, education teaches us important skills which we will need throughout our lives and public transport helps us get around while reducing our reliance on cars, thus helping the environment. In my country, the government is often criticised for not putting enough money into these essential services. For example, our national health system is stretched to its limit. There aren’t enough doctors, other healthcare workers are underpaid and the hospitals themselves are underequipped. Surely, people argue, saving a human life is more important than
paying an opera company to do a world tour. Those who support subsidising the arts also have a compelling argument. Our film-making industry, our theatres, our museums and galleries and so on are
part of what we are, they are part of our culture and our heritage. Furthermore, they help to bring in money. People will pay to go into an art gallery or see a show, that money provides employment, and the employees then pay tax which goes back into the economy and ultimately makes its way into the healthcare or education system. This cycle helps to keep the country running. Speaking personally, I probably agree more with the first group than the second. After all, when I’m ill, I don’t go to an art gallery for a bit of culture. I head to my doctor and hope she can make me well. On the other hand, I hate to think how empty my life would be without art and culture. In conclusion, I believe that these should be subsidised, but perhaps the money could come from another source, such as a national lottery
Good 👍❤️