IELTS Speaking Part 2 Sample Answer

This is a high-scoring sample answer for the following IELTS Speaking Part 2 question: Describe a story or novel you have read that you found interesting. Read them to understand what you need to talk about and the kind of answers you need to score well in your IELTS speaking test. For advice, strategies and tips on the best ways to answer (because 2 minutes is very long), this article will help.

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IELTS Speaking Part 2 Quiz: It Doesn’t Need to be Hell!

IELTS Speaking Part 2

Describe a Place You Visited Where the Air Was Polluted

You should say:
Where the place is
When you visited there
Why the air was not good
And explain how you felt about the place

Sample Answer

Text

I’d like to tell you about somewhere that was really polluted. The air was filthy and smelly and so on. But you know, it wasn’t in a big city. I’ve been to some big cities such as Bangkok, Shanghai and so on. Huge, huge cities that have been quite polluted. But the place I’d like to tell you about is a small village in the UK. It’s quite near Durham and it’s called Langley Park. And this is an old coal mining village, just sitting in the countryside. But the problem is, it sits at the bottom of a valley. And when I was there, I’m not sure about now, this is several years ago, but when I was there, everyone, everyone had a coal fire. Because the you know, because it was an ex-mining village, there was coal. You could go and gather coal quite cheaply, for almost nothing basically. And so people would burn coal. But the problem was, because it was in a valley, the smoke would rise, but it wouldn’t go anywhere. And so sometimes, you know, I had a friend that lived there and sometimes you could go out and it was like everybody was coughing and it wasn’t like, ooh, I can’t see or anything but there was this smell of coal and so on and it was really quite unhealthy. I was quite shocked to be quite honest with you. If they could have done something about that, you know, that would have been a lovely little village. I’m sure they must have done something by now, because quite frankly, the pollution there was appalling.

Audio

Less Common and Idiomatic Vocabulary

filthy – disgustingly dirty
smelly – having a strong or unpleasant smell
coal mining – the process of extracting coal, a fossil fuel, from the earth, either through surface or underground mining methods
valley – a low area of land between hills or mountains, typically with a river or stream flowing through it
smoke – a visible suspension of carbon or other particles in air, typically one emitted from a burning substance
appalling – causing shock or dismay

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