IELTS Speaking Sample – Describe a time when someone visited your home

Describe a time when someone visited your home

You should say:

•  Who he or she was

•  When it happened

•  What you did

•  How you felt about the visit

Band 8 Sample

So it was around 4 months ago since I invited one of my very close friends to come over to my house for dinner. It was Christmas Eve, and my friend is an expat living far away from home. As I didn’t want him to spend his Christmas alone, I asked him to join my family for a special family dinner. My friend is an American, and since he couldn’t have turkey on Thanksgiving that year, my mom decided to make turkey for him that night.

One of the funny things I remember about that night was that pretty much all the cooking appliances in my house were electrical, even the stove and all of a sudden it was a blackout an hour right before dinner time so by the time my friend got to my house, none of the food was ready. I was a quite embarrassed, but my friend was pretty cool about it. We lit up the candles and my dad went out to buy some bread and ham. We were talking and eating while waiting for the power to turn back on. We had an absolutely amazing time talking about the cultural differences, how hospitable Vietnamese people are, and how the language barrier didn’t stop him from getting to know the locals.

Anyway, we got to eat the turkey after a 2 hour delay. Even though my mother made it quite differently from the way my friend’s family did, he really enjoyed it. And I must say that my parents absolutely adored him after that night. Since then, he has been coming over more often and becoming a very close friend to our family.

Vocabulary highlights

1. An expat: a person living outside their own country

2. A blackout: a period when there is no light as a result of an electrical power failure

3. The cultural differences: the differences between 2 cultures

4. The language barrier: the difficulties in communication experienced by people or groups speaking different languages

5. Adore: love someone very much

By ZIM Academic English School