SPEAKING TIPS & SAMPLE SCRIPTS

Situation
Your brother has been given the opportunity to study in England on a government
scholarship. You and your family are very proud of him. Decide on a special gift for him
to prepare for his trip abroad.

Task A: Suggest that they give him cash. Say why.
Task B: Discuss which of the following would be most useful.

i. cash

ii. a computer

iii. some suitable clothing

iv. some Malaysian foodstuff



Candidate A

Task A: Suggest that they give him cash. Say why.

Good morning to the examiners and my fellow friends. Im very happy that my brother
has just received a scholarship to study in England. My relatives and I would like to give
him a special gift. We all think that the best gift is money because it will be very useful
for him.

The first reason is with cash he can buy the things that he needs when he gets there.
There will me a lot of things that he will need like new books, stationery, clothes and
food. He will also need to pay for transportation like taking the bus or train to go to the
university campus. As we know, it is very expensive in England so any money we give
him will be very useful.

Secondly, my brother can use the money to buy a mobile phone when he gets to
England. I think this is very important in case of emergencies so we can contact him
easily. Furthermore, he can sms us and keep us updated with his progress in his
studies there. Hence, if we really miss him we can just give him a call.

Finally, I also think giving him money is the best choice because it is light and doesnt
take up a lot of space. If we were to give him a computer, books or winter clothes it will
be very heavy and bulky for him to bring to England. Therefore, I think that it is much
easier to bring money and buy those things when he gets there.

In conclusion, these are some of the reasons why I think giving him cash is the best
choice. To me, it is the most useful gift we can give him. Thank you.

Candidate B

Task A: You suggest that they give him a computer. Say why.

A very good morning I bid to one and all. My relatives and I are very proud of my brother.
He has just received a scholarship to study in England and so we would like to give him
a special gift. We believe that the best present for him is a laptop computer.

Firstly, as a university student, my brother will have to do many assignments. If he has a
laptop computer he can bring it everywhere and consequently, do his work anytime and
anywhere. Thus, he will not have to share the computers at the computer room with
other students and he will be able to do his work more quickly and efficiently.

Another point is that when he boards the plane from KLIA to London, he will be able to
bring the laptop with him easily because it is compact and light compared to a desktop
computer. Hence, it will not be too much trouble to transport it to England.

Last but not least, if he has a laptop he will be able to connect to the internet. This has
two main advantages as firstly, he can do a lot of research online. The world wide web
is a fountain of information so it will be very useful for him to make full use of this
technology. Furthermore, he can keep in touch with friends and family here in Malaysia
by e-mail.

In short, a laptop computer will prove to be very useful to my brother. He can do his
assignments, research for information and keep in touch with us using it therefore it will
make the best gift. Thank you for listening.
Candidate C

Task A: You suggest that they give him some suitable clothing. Say why.

To the examiners and my fellow candidates, a wonderful morning I bid you. My brother
was lucky enough to receive a scholarship to study overseas. We want to send him off
with a nice gift so we have decided to buy him some suitable clothing.

The main purpose for buying him some suitable clothing is because the weather in
England is very different from the weather in our country. There are four seasons there
so he will need to have different clothes for different situations. For example, we can
buy him some sweaters, cardigans, scarves, snowcaps, thick socks and gloves and
many more. These will definitely keep him warm in winter.

The second reason is we think that he should have clothes that reflect our Malaysian
identity. This is because he will be a young ambassador for our country so if he has a
few sets of traditional clothing like the Baju Melayu or formal Batik shirts, I am sure he
will not only look good but promote our culture overseas.

Lastly, neat clothes make a good impression. For instance, if we buy him some
everyday clothes like jeans and trousers with nice shirts and matching ties, this will give
him a good feeling about himself so he will walk a bit straighter and talk a bit wiser.
Moreover, people will look at him and have a good impression about Malaysian
students.

To conclude, I think that the best present to give him is some suitable clothing because
it will be very useful and will reflect positively on him. Thank you very much.

Candidate D

Task A: You suggest that they give him some Malaysian foodstuff. Say why.

I would like to wish everyone here a very good morning. As we all know, my brother has
won a scholarship to study in England. Therefore, some relatives and I have decided to
give him some Malaysian foodstuff as a going away present.

First and foremost, one of the main problems Malaysians face when studying overseas
is that it is hard to find Halal food. We feel it is a good idea to give him some Malaysian
foodstuff because it will take time for him to get used to the place and find out where to
buy Halal food. Thus, in the meantime he can enjoy the Malaysian foodstuff that we
have given to him.

The next reason is because some of the foodstuff we are used to having here in
Malaysia is quite hard to find in UK. Most students studying overseas really enjoy eating
Maggi Mee and sambal belacan. For instance, it is also hard to find the right spices for
curry and rendang and so on so if we supply him with enough Malaysian foodstuff, he
can eat it whenever he misses home.

The final point I have is that he can use the Malaysian foodstuff we give him and cook it
for the Westerners there. Sometimes, universities organise events like Malaysian Night
and so he and his friends can cook some Malaysian specialities for them to taste a bit of
our way of life. Hence, the Malaysian foodstuff will be very useful to promote our culture.

In a nutshell, giving my brother Malaysian foodstuff to take with him to England is a
good idea. This is because he will have some familiar food to eat when he misses home
and he can also share it with his new friends. Thank you for listening to my opinion.


Task B: Discuss which of the following would be most useful.

i. Cash

ii. A computer

iii. Some suitable clothing

iv. Some Malaysian foodstuff

* Work together in your respective groups and complete the following discussion.

A: Good morning once again to everyone. We are here to focus on the issue at hand
which is __________________________________________________________. I
would like to invite anyone of you to kickstart this discussion by giving us your point of
view.

B: Allow me to begin. First of all, Im happy that our brother has won the scholarship to
study in England. Therefore, we must decide what would be the most useful gift for him.
In my opinion, I strongly believe that _______________
_________________________________________________________________. This
is because I think he can _________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.

For example, ______________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.

C: I see your point but how about getting him ______________________________. In
this way, he can use it to ___________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.

D: I dont quite agree with you because ____________________________________
_________________________________________________________________. I
think it would be more useful if we bought _______________________ for him. Does
anyone agree with me?

A: Yes, I agree with you. To add to your point, I feel that ______________________
_________________________________________________________________.

This is so he will ___________________________________________________.

C: Im afraid I dont see eye to eye with both of you. Buying that as a present for him is
not the most useful gift because __________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.

Moreover, ________________________________________________________.

Can you all understand what Im trying to say?

B: Indeed, I do see your point of view but I still feel that the most useful gift is
__________________ because it can ___________________________________.
Another reason is ___________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________. For
instance, _______________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.

D: Thats an interesting perspective and I agree with you that ___________________
_________________________________________________________________.
However, I think we should consider other points. We should also think about buying
him _______________________________________________________.

If he gets this as a present, he can ______________________________________ and
____________________________________________. Wouldnt you agree?

A: Im not sure I understand what you are saying. Can you explain it again, please.

D: What I mean is we should buy him _____________________________________
because it will me more useful for him when he is studying in England. This is because
___________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.

A: Aaah I see. Yes, I think it would be a very useful gift too. This way, he can
_________________________________________________________________.

C: Thats a good point, but dont you think if we gave him _____________________ it
will be the most useful for him as a student. I still believe that this is the most useful
because _____________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.

Remember, we need to think of the best and most useful choice.

B: I agree with you, Candidate C. In addition, he can use this gift to _____________
______________________________________________________________________
_______________________. So candidates A & D, what do you guys think?

D: Now that youve explained it like that, I also agree that it will be the most useful. In
fact, he could also use it to _________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.

A: As for me, I feel that it is also the most useful. When he arrives at his university in
England, he will be able to ____________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________.

C: Thats right. Well, after listening to all the points on the four choices we have, I think it
is time to make a conclusion.

D: Yes, I think so too. Does everyone agree that we should give our brother
_______________________________________ as a special going away present?

All: Yes, I agree.

B: In a nutshell, we all agree that _______________________________ is the best
choice because firstly, he can _________________________________________,
secondly, ________________________________________________ and finally
_________________________________________________________________.

Thank you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The End~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What to conclude if after 10 minutes of discussion.
A) Agree = 3, Disagree = 1

Conclusion: To conclude, MOST OF US agree that ______________________

is the best choice because ________________________________.

___________________________________________. Thank you.
B) Agree = 2, Disagree = 2

Conclusion: In conclusion, we were unable to make a solid decision because

SOME OF US stongly believe that the best choice is __________ because
_______________________________________________ while THE REST OF US
think that giving him _______________ is the most useful because
_________________

___________________________________________. Thank you.
C) All Disagree

Conclusion: In a nutshell, we were unable to come to an agreement on which of the four
options is the best choice. It seems ALL OF US strongly believe in our own points so as
we have run out of time, we think that we should each buy him a gift individually. Thank
you.