IELTS Speaking: Hometown vocabulary and ideas

Question 1

**cost of living **

Answer 1

The cost of living is fairly reasonable – although in some areas house prices are extremely high

Question 2

pace of life

Answer 2

There’s a fairly slow pace of life where I come from.

Question 3

**atmosphere **

Answer 3

It’s got a really relaxed atmosphere. People are always ready to stop for a chat with their neighbours.

Question 4

pollution

Answer 4

Sadly, it suffers badly from pollution. Air quality is terrible – mostly from traffic fumes.

Question 5

overcrowding

Answer 5

Like most cities there’s a real problem with overcrowding. Most people live in tower blocks and

Question 6

poverty/wealth

Answer 6

Some areas are much poorer than others. You don’t see many beggars on the streets
but there are definitely some very deprived areas.

Question 7

**sense of community **

Answer 7

There’s a real sense of community in our village – people are always prepared to stop for a chat

حس تعلق اجتماعی

Question 8

**amenities **

Answer 8

_ something that makes a place comfortable or easy to live in
The hotel is in the city centre, close to shops and local amenities.
houses that lack basic amenities (=basic things that people need, such as heat and running water)

A bonus of living in a large town is that there are all sorts of amenities. The local library is especially good.

Question 9

suburbs

Answer 9

I actually live outside the city in the suburbs – it’s a lot quieter there though the amenities aren’t so good.

Question 10

outskirts

Answer 10

Probably the best area to live is on the outskirts of town –
you can get a house with a garden there which is difficult to find if you live in the centre

حومه شهر

Question 11

**inner city **

Answer 11

The** inner city** has changed quite a bit recently. It was slightly rundown but it’s now been modernised and the old warehouses have been converted into apartments

Question 12

neighbourhood

Answer 12

It’s a fairly quiet neighbourhood generally – though it can get extremely busy in rush hour and the school run.

Question 13

shopping precinct/district/mall

Answer 13

The centre of town has been pedestrianised and is really one
big shopping precinct now and you can find shops selling all the major international brands.

to change a street or shopping area so that cars and trucks are no longer allowed
( خیابانی را ) فقط مخصوص عابران پیاده قرار دادن
( خیابانی را ) فقط در دسترس عابران پیاده قرار دادن
ممنوع بودن عبور و مرور وسایل نقلیه در یک خیابان، کوچه

Question 14

**industrial zone/business parks **

Answer 14

One thing that has changed is that lots of companies have moved
out into business parks on the edge of town.

Question 15

residential area

Answer 15

I live in a fairly quiet residential area – it’s slightly out of the city centre but it’s easy enough to take a bus or taxi into town.

Question 16

**housing estate **

Answer 16

Some of the housing estates can be a little rough and can be a little dangerous late at night.

مجتمع مسکونی بزرگ

A housing estate is normally an area with new build cheaper housing

Question 17

**back streets **

Answer 17

The back streets have much more character than the main shopping roads
and that’s where to go if you want to find good local food and traditional shops.

Question 18

the high street

Answer 18

The high street (always used the definite article) is a British English term
for the main shopping street in towns.

The high street is much quieter nowadays and is full of charity shops and estate agencies. I guess it’s the effect of the online shopping revolution.

خیابان مهم شهر در کسب و کار و خرید و فروش

Question 19

**parks/green spaces **

Answer 19

Although the city is very built up there are still plenty of green spaces and the parks are often full at lunch time with office workers enjoying a bit of sun.

Question 20

**the commuter belt **

Answer 20

My family doesn’t really enjoy city life so we live in the commuter belt and that way we get the best of both worlds.

The commuter belt is an area around a major city where commuters live – it’s often a greener area

Question 21

**congestion/traffic jams **

Answer 21

The congestion in the centre is terrible and there are almost
permanent traffic jams in some parts.

Question 22

bus route/bicycle paths

Answer 22

Like a lot of people I now try to cycle into work the traffic is so bad. It’s easier now the city council have specially designated cycle paths.

Question 23

rush hour

Answer 23

The morning rush hour makes things much worse but it
isn’t so bad in the school holidays when the mums aren’t doing the school run.

Question 24

**commute **

Answer 24

As I live a little way out I need to commute to work – it’s a sacrifice but living in a quieter area is worth it for me.

Question 25

**night life **

Answer 25

As it’s only a small town there isn’t much night life but there are still a few bars where you can meet your friends.

Question 26

**festivals/culture/museums **

Answer 26

It’s a major cultural centre and there’s almost always some sort of festival going on.

Question 27

restaurants/bars/cafes

Answer 27

I really enjoy eating out and so I spend a lot of time in the cafes in the city centre – the free wifi also helps!

Question 28

restaurants/bars/cafes

Answer 28

I really enjoy eating out and so I spend a lot of time in the cafes in the city centre – the free wifi also helps!

Question 29

**sporting facilities **

Answer 29

One problem is that apart from a few tennis and basketball courts
there aren’t many sporting facilities – unless you’re into running around parks of course.

Question 30

**schools/universities **

Answer 30

It’s a popular place to live just because the local schools are so good.
Lots of young parents try and move here.

Question 31

**quiet/peaceful **

Answer 31

It’s a fairly quiet town especially at night when the shops are closed as there isn’t much by way of nightlife.

Question 32

**lively/bustling/vibrant **

Answer 32

Although it’s a fairly small place it’s really lively too – that’s especially true when there’s a festival on.

Question 33

industrial

Answer 33

It’s a university city but it’s also fairly industrial as there are quite a few factories on the edge on town.

Question 34

cosmopolitan

Answer 34

It’s really cosmopolitan as the university attracts people from all over the world.

Question 35

**provincial **

Answer 35

It’s not as large as the capital but it’s still one of the most important provincial cities in the country.

Question 36

historic

Answer 36

There’s lots of great architecture to enjoy as it’s a famous, historic city and you can still see the old city walls in some places.

Question 37

green

Answer 37

I really enjoy living in quite a small town as it’s so green – there are plenty of parks about.

Question 38

sleepy/dull

Answer 38

I’m afraid I find it a bit sleepy – nothing much happens there and most young people can’t wait to move somewhere else.

Question 39

**friendly **

Answer 39

You could call it friendly I suppose – everyone is always ready to stop for a chat.

Question 40

Ideas for discussing your home town
Sometimes it can be hard to find interesting things to say about your home town. In these videos I talk about some of the places I have lived – they’re all quite different. The aim here is to give you ideas for talking about your home town. Listen and decide which of these ideas you could apply to where you live. There are practice questions below.

Question 41

In this video I talk about a village. I answer the questions

where it is
what makes it special
why I like it and dislike it

Answer 41

I grew up in a fairly small village in the south of England. There were about 300 or 400 inhabitants I suppose . It was in the commuter belt the area just around London. Half way between town and country. It wasn’t in the countryside proper really.

What set that place apart and made it special was its sense of community. Even though it was quite a small place there was a really active social life which centred around the village shop, the village hall and the cricket team as it happened

What I enjoyed most about living there was growing up in quite a rural environment and being able to just go on my bicycle and explore the local woods or forests or whatever I wanted to do. The downside was it was quite isolated and there weren’t that many people there and if I wanted to go shopping or do something different I had to go the town where there more amenities and things to do.

Question 42

**Different aspects of a city
**

Answer 42

One place I spent quite a long time living was Oxford where I went to university. It is of course a famous university city known throughout the world for the colleges and its beautiful architecture.

It is also though a city of contrasts. There are different sides to Oxford. There’s the university of course but Oxford was one of the centres of the British car industry and even though that’s an industry that is now dying it is still and if you went round the outskirts of Oxford you’d find more deprived areas than the wealthy neighbourhoods where you find the university. But more than that Oxford is also a major tourist centre nowadays and if you visited Oxford and went into the town centre what you’d see most of all are shops and market stalls selling t-shirts, mementoes and souvenirs for the tourists to take home and say that they had visited Oxford,

Question 43

A cultural city and the seasons

Answer 43

The place where I’ve probably lived longest is a city in Romania called Craiova. Now you’ve probably haven’t heard of Craiova – it’s slightly off the beaten track. It’s not the sort of place where people choose to visit and that’s a shame because it is in many ways a great cultural centre. It has an excellent university, museums and art galleries and most of all it’s one of the most important centres of theatre in Romania.

But what I recall most about Craiova is how the climate affected how people lived and the character of the city. In summer the weather was very warm and so if you went out in the evening or even quite late at night to the city centre you’d find hundreds bars and cafes open and people sitting out on the pavement enjoying a long meal or just sitting and talking and having a drink – taking the night away.

But in the winter it was a completely different story. In winter the weather was very hard and harsh and nobody much went out and the centre of the city became a bit of a ghost town and everyone was at home watching the tv sitting in their apartment or their block with their family. So the whole character of the city changed according to the weather.

Question 44

A changing city

Answer 44

In some ways the most interesting place I’ve lived is Wuhan in China. It’s famous nowadays for coronavirus but it wasn’t there when I was there luckily enough. What interested me about Wuhan was the contrast between the old and the new and how the city was changing.

In some ways when you visit Wuhan you see another large metropolis. It is a city of over 10 million people and it has exactly what you’d expect_ a city like that to have. It has appalling traffic and you wouldn’t believe the congestion and it also has the skyscrapers and the shopping malls. And if you walk down the streets of Wuhan you’re likely to see the same brand names and shops as you’d find in any other city – from small boutiques selling designer clothes to the fast food outlets such s MacDonalds.

But if you wander off the main roads and look at the back streets. There you find a different way of life. The way of life there seems much more traditional and there you’d find the old style markets and food stalls selling noodles and pancakes and all the traditional Chinese foods and you’d also find shops there selling traditional Chinese items

There’s a very sharp contrast between the modern city you find on the main roads and the more traditional city you find when you look at the back streets.