hi there it's Asiya I just want to tell you that I really enjoy helping you with
IELTS it makes me feel like we're all part of one great big family the IELTS family hey
why don't we talk about family today it's a topic that often comes up in IELTS speaking
and you may need some Advanced vocabulary to talk about it yes let's get started
in part one of the speaking test you may have lots of opportunities to mention your
family members and family memories let's look at some useful vocabulary
your extended family includes your grandparents Uncle aunts cousins nieces and nephews if we just
talk about you your parents and your brothers and sisters we can say your immediate family
one great word that means brothers and sisters is siblings and they can be younger or Elder than you
notice that we use the adjective odor not older we can say for example my elder brother is a doctor
we use odor to make comparisons his four years older than me sometimes the questions are not
directly related just to family questions about holidays for example what was the best holiday
you've ever had can easily get you talking about your family I remember one time I must have been
seven or eight years old and practically the whole extended family my parents my three eldest
siblings my uncle announced my cousins and my grandparents rented a house near the beach so that
looks like a large family compare that to well I was an only child and my parents got divorced
when I was very small my mom remarried so I have a stepfather and a half sister and lonely child is
a child with no siblings please know the article and I'm an only child they say only children are
spoiled or rude and badly behaved because they get all the attention as an only child myself I don't
think that's true and yes sometimes marriages do not last and a couple can separate or live apart
or divorced which means to legally separate but people can remarry get married to another
person and the child or children from the first marriage then have a stepfather or stepmother
in this example the mother had a baby with her second husband a half-sister or half-brother
if the stepfather or stepmother has children from another marriage they become stepsisters
or Step Brothers complicated sorry maybe it's a good idea to draw your family tree and if
you're married don't forget to include your husbands or wives family those relationships
are not always the best or so they say but what do we call people from those families
actually my laws are really great especially my mother-in-law who must be the best
babysitter in the world and then there is my brother-in-law who's one of my oldest friends
a happy family so your in-laws simply means your husband or wife's immediate family members
and we put the stress on the first vowel in-laws we can also talk about interesting
characteristics we share with family members one interesting part one question about photos is
do you have a favorite family photo this could be a good opportunity to mention similarities
and differences between family members look at these verbs to look like to take after
if there's someone in your family you resemble physically we say we look just or exactly like
or even a bit like someone else I look exactly like my grandma if you look very different you
could say I don't look at all like my sister we used to take after someone to mean that our
personality is similar or that we're interested in the same things so to talk about the photo yes
there is one with just me and my grandparents the day I graduated everyone says I look just like my
dad the same nose and eyes but I think I take after my mother she's very stubborn just like
me I'm sure you know someone who has the same profession as another older family member look
at this great idiomatic expression to describe that to follow in someone's footsteps my younger
sister followed in her Father's Footsteps she was the only one of us who wanted to be an engineer
just like him the rest of us are teachers and journalists to follow in someone's footsteps
means to do the same as someone has done before of course let's not pretend that it's easy being
a family member I mean how many TV series are all about family rivalries especially sibling rivalry
seems that just because your brother and sister you don't have to like each other
tibling rivalry means competition and arguments among brothers and sisters
someone lucky could say there was barely any sibling rivalry in our family
however often that's not the case and there are lots of ways to talk about these rivalries
well I don't get on at all with my brother we used to be close when we were small but over
the last few years we've Grown Apart and at any family get-together we just end up arguing it
sad really so when we talk about relationships we can say either it's good we get on or we get
on well with each other or bad we don't get home or we get on badly
we can be close to someone that is to have a very positive and strong connection when a relationship
changes it can become cool or distant people see less of each other take different paths in life
they grow apart another useful verb is to drift apart which expresses the idea of a
slow breakdown in relationship we begin to see less and less of each other we just drifted apart
that would make any special family event even at a time when family members need
to celebrate her birthday for example at a family get together a little difficult
they say that sometimes this family conflicts can affect the whole sections of one family or
even divide the family too but remember that families already have two sides one comes
from your father and the other from your mother the problem is that on my father's side of the
family they are all very creative and artistic and they just don't see eye to eye with anyone
on my mother's side who are all very practical and don't see any point of painting or poetry
yes families have sides and notice the preposition on my mother's side of their family and if you
don't share the same opinions the expression not to see eye to eye with is a perfect way to show it
we can also use it positively so if you share the same feelings and opinions as someone else
you can say we see eye to eye we've been talking about part one questions so far do you know that
each IELTS speaking test begins with just one of five topics family home Hometown work or studies
you can download my PDF guide with questions and some vocabulary for each if you follow the link
in the video description can you talk about your family in Parts two and three of ayat speaking
oh yes there are plenty of opportunities for example you may be asked about family
differences or differences between Generations do all the people enjoy the same types of films
do all the people use the internet and social media a generation gap is a difference between
people of different ages in opinions and style for example I come from a very traditional culture
where we are taught to treat the elderly with respect it's an important part of our upbringing
after all we can learn so much from them of course we should be polite and respectful to everyone we
should treat everyone with respect though here we're talking about older people the elderly
part of the way you've been educated or taught from Early Childhood it's our upbringing to use
the noun and if you want the verb you can say it's part of the way we are brought up
always notice the passive form I was brought up by my grandparents and please note that you
learn from someone we can learn a lot from the elderly now that I've mentioned grandparents
that reminds me that in part three of the speaking test it's quite possible that the
examiner will want to discuss with you aspects such as the roles and responsibilities family
members have in different cultures let's take some likely IELTS questions and the first is
how many generations live together in your country it's very common to find three or
even four generations living under the same roof in our culture we don't see taking
care of elderly relatives as a burden we owe them so much for making us what we are today
what about you do several Generations live together in the same house under the same roof
your relatives are your family members who can be young or at the opposite extreme elderly
but taking care of them is not a heavy unpleasant task like a burden why because we have to repay
them for everything they did for us we owe them that a kind of moral debt not a financial one
here is another part three question should it be this sole responsibility of the family to take
care of the elderly what about the government I know that in many places the elderly or
senior citizens often end up in private or public residential homes but if it is at all possible the
family members should be the primary Caregivers for their loved ones their duty to do so sometimes
we think that the words like elderly or old are negative so we can say instead or senior citizens
now if someone cannot take care of himself or herself another person a caregiver can help do it
and perhaps that's the right thing to do your duty for a person you love your loved one or loved ones
in the plural form or now we're coming to the most important part married couples take a look at this
question let's talk now about husbands and wives should they have different roles within the family
on the whole the traditional gender-based roles where man is the breadwinner and the
woman has all the household duties a fast becoming a thing of the past
there are more and more families where both of them equally share responsibilities especially
when there are children involved interesting there is a lot of talk these days about gender
can we really say for example that a man must go out and work and bring money into the house
that is be the breadwinner and the woman must stay at home cleaning and cooking doing the household
duties if you think that's completely out of date you can say that's a thing of the past
and if we divide responsibilities we share them equally that takes us to a question about children
what responsibilities do parents have towards their children you mean apart from the basics
like feeding and clothing them well it's important that they instill the right kind
of values in their offspring by teaching them how to be caring responsible in the videos
If you give a baby or a child food you feed them and when you trust them you clothe them
feeding and clothing announced that describe that precisely again we mentioned values
positive ones the right kind and we have to constantly establish in a child's mind these
values through our own behavior and teaching we have to instill them in our Offspring please note
that the noun Offspring doesn't just mean children you can only use it to talk about someone's
children my Offspring his offspring I think now we all agree that family plays a very important role
in all our lives but just how important what about friends we all know that especially when we're
young our friends mean everything to us but can that cause a conflict in the family look at this
question which are more important to you family or friends that's a difficult one they say that you
can't choose your family but you can choose your friends and yes there is some truth in that but
family is where we belong and there are bones that cannot be easily broken no matter what happens
maybe you've had that expression you you can't choose your family before and we often use it in
the sense of admitting that family connections or bonds are very strong and cannot be easily
broken in spite of possible differences because there is this sense of belonging to your family
but especially when you're young when we are teenagers sometimes there are some issues
for one reason or another not all your friends will be accepted by your parents and you get some
signs of disapproval often because they think your friends may have some bad habits or they're afraid
they will influence you negatively that they have a bad influence on you can also talk about a good
influence too but don't forget your parents love you and only want the best for you or as we can
also say they have your best interests at heart take a look at this part three IELTS question
what conflicts can arise between a person's family and a person's friends I think there can be issues
when you start inviting your friends home and maybe your parents don't approve of them for one
reason or another they may think they have a bad influence on you I know they only have your best
interests at heart but when you are at that age it's sometimes not easy to see that we could go
on but I think that's more than enough for one day you can download my PDF guide with IELTS speaking
questions and vocabulary right here and now it's time for us to spend some quality time with family
and friends thank you so much for watching me good luck with your preparation and your exam bye