IELTS Speaking Part 2 A Short Talk

TRANSCRIPT

Well, we all come across difficult and complicated situations when it is not possible to rely only on yourself and you need to ask somebody else for support or for help. I would like to tell you about one person I know very well and who is always ready to help me if I need it. This is my friend Dmitry.

He is a very reliable and honest man. He gives me a hand if I need it, and he doesn’t ask me for anything else in return. .. What is more, he is able to keep secrets and he doesn’t tell lies or bad things about me, behind me …

To prove it, I would just give you an example. I remember having some problems with math when I was at university, and if I hadn’t studied together with him, I would have failed an exam for sure … but luckily for me
he shared his knowledges and skills about math … he taught me how to cope, and how to deal with different kind of equations, so, finally, I passed an exam and went to another term .. well, it was very kind of him. What else? We are still friends and affect each other in a very positive and good way.

Fluency and Coherence

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Lexical Resource

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy

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Pronunciation

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ATTEMPT 2

TRANSCRIPT 2

Er … we all come across difficult and complicated situations … er … when it is not possible to rely only on yourself and we need to ask somebody else for help or for support, so I have decided to speak about my friend, Dmitry. Dmitry is the best friend of mine and it seems to me we have known each other for ages, since we met at university.

And … er … I think you may wonder why he is the closest friend of mine and what qualities he has, so let me say a few words about his character. My friend is very, very reliable, trustworthy, tolerant and honest person. What is more, he is always ready to back me up and he never, never asks for anything in return, and of course, I appreciate it a lot. Er … then …er … Dmitry is a man who will never betray me or tell bad and really terrible things or lies about me behind my back, and … er … of course, I like all those qualities a lot.

Er … to illustrate the point, let me give an example, I remember having some problems with math at university, I mean calculus and different kind of differential equations, and it was really difficult for me to catch up with the rest of students. Er … but luckily for me, my friend taught me how to deal, how to cope with the differential equations, and finally I managed to pass my exam. So, frankly saying, if I hadn’t studied together with my friend, I would have failed my exam.

And … er … finally, as for influence on my life, er … you know, if I hadn’t passed my final exam, I wouldn’t have graduated from my university, and now, I wouldn’t have my job, and I wouldn’t be a professional in my field, and I wouldn’t be a successful man and things like that, so his help has affected my life significantly.

Fluency and Coherence

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Lexical Resource

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy

You use some complex structures with some flexibility (mixed and past conditionals, subordinate clauses) and you frequently produce error-free sentences, though some grammatical mistakes persist. For instance, you tend to omit articles in sentences like “he is A … person”, you do not always use plural nouns where necessary (different kindS of), and you make some uncountable concepts plural (knowledge). The last three types of mistakes are all about basic structures. So, I recommend you do some remedial grammar practice tasks on the use and omission of articles and revise the theory to do with uncountable nouns. I suggest you practise this doing error-correction exercises, not gap-fill tasks. By and large, your answer with mistakes on noun and article usage corresponds to band 5, and to band 7 or higher without them.

Pronunciation

You show some effective use of pronunciation features, and can generally be understood throughout, though mispronunciation of individual words or sounds reduces clarity at times. Pay attention to ways of saying perfect modals in structures like (modal + have + V3) – the H in HAVE must not be pronounced, it is “dropped”. Devoicing of final consonants in word endings (-s and -ed) is rather an issue you have to address. Watch out the way you pronounce “equation” – this word must rhyme with “nation” and not with “occasion”. Your intonation is not very natural, but it has minimal effect on intelligibility. This roughly corresponds to band 7, but your actual exam score may well be as low as band 6 or as high as band 8 depending on how your pronounce topic-specific lexis.

Comments OffTags: education·help·mathematics·person·science

Sample Task OTG-002 – Describe a present which you very much enjoyed receiving. (a wedding trip)

May 24th, 2009 · sample answer

You should say
* what it was
* who gave it to you
* what the occasion was
and explain why you were so pleased to receive it.

ATTEMPT 1

TRANSCRIPT 1

Um well any person during his or her life receives many gifts, but there is always one special present you like the most in comparison with the others, and that makes you feel happy every time when recall it.

I would like to tell you about such a gift I got about 5 years ago, and that was a wedding trip to Italy for me and for my wife. I was very excited to get it because I hadn’t even expected anything like that. The gift was given to me erm by my parents and by my wife’s parents … somehow they had managed to organize everything and to cooperate with each other, and buy everything secretly, so we were very glad to get our flight tickets and some other docs/docks on our wedding day.

Then um the reason why I was so happy about that gift was that I had never been in Italy and I hadn’t seen Rome and Venice and other things but I was very eager to do such a thing, and of course during our trip we ate pasta and pizza, and saw different kind of tourist attractions and so on. Well, it was a really great time, and I liked it a lot. We enjoyed this trip very much.

Fluency and Coherence

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Lexical Resource

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy

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Pronunciation

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ATTEMPT 2

TRANSCRIPT 2

Er … I have a number of amazing gifts I’ve received from my parents, my relatives or beloveds but the one and the special one I’m going to tell you about now is a wedding trip to Italy for me and for my wife … er … I got about 5 or 6 years ago.

As for the reasons… er …why this gifts was unique to me … er … first of all, it was very, very expansive, secondly, it enabled me and my wife to spend our honeymoon in a 5 star hotel in Italy by the sea, and what is more, some extra features, such as visiting Rome, Venice and some other historical and very famous places, were also a part of this trip.

Er … I think you may wonder who gave me such a gift, so let me say a few words about my parents and my wife’s parents. Er … somehow, they had managed to cooperate with each other and buy this trip secretly. So, what I’m saying is that I didn’t expected it, and actually, nobody expected it, and we all were quite surprised.

Er … you know … er … wedding presents are supposed to be received on a wedding day, so we got our wedding trip to Italy on our wedding day after making an official registration, our parents just handled us an envelope with tickets and some other necessary documents, and of course, they said some good and warm words.

And … er … to conclude … er …let me explain why I was so glad to receive this gift. Er … first of all, I had never been in Italy but I wanted to and during our trip we visited a lot of interesting places, we ate pizza and paste, and of course, we drank famous Italian wine. Er … another thing that my wife …er … was always quite interested in learning languages, especially Italian, so it was a really good opportunity for her to practice her Italian with native speakers, and finally, it was just a really good way to relax after our exhausting wedding, and to start a new life.

Fluency and Coherence

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Lexical Resource

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy

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Pronunciation

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Comments OffTags: object·present·trip·wedding

Sample Task PTG-001 (Variation) – Describe an activity you enjoy doing in your free time. (computer games)

May 24th, 2009 · sample answer

You should say
* what kind of activity it is
* how often you do it
* what equipment you need to do it
and explain why you enjoy doing it.

ATTEMPT 1

TRANSCRIPT

Well, I’m going to tell you about one thing I like to do more than anything else in my free time. It is playing computer games, and, actually, I’ve been playing computer games since I bought my first computer and my first CD, and I don’t intend to give it up because I like … it very much.

I am just crazy about shooter video games and my favourite one is Call of Duty. This game is all about ?Broad/World War II and the thing I like the most about this game is that everything is seen not only from the viewpoint of one country, for example, American soldiers, but also from the point of the others, for example, British or Soviet soldiers.

Then, erm of course, like any adult I have some responsibilities I have job, so my free time is limited and I usually play computer games after … erm my work hours or after workday or at the weekends, and, of course, not everybody is happy, especially my girlfriend, because she wants me to spend as much time as possible with her rather than erm with the computer.

Another thing I like about this hobby is that you don’t have … to have a lot of money or this hobby doesn’t require you to have a very expensive equipment, because you just need to have a computer, a keyboard, and a mouse, and, of course, some your favourite CDs or DVDs with computer games, and after that you can enjoy your free time.

Then, erm, of course, and a certainly there are some reasons why I like playing computer games, and the first one is that it is really good way to relax and I also think that computer games help me to release or to get rid of bad and negative emotions, and help me explore or experience something new while I am playing.

Fluency and Coherence

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Lexical Resource

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy

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Pronunciation

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ATTEMPT 2

TRANSCRIPT 2

Er … there are quite a few things I like doing in my free time but the one I have chosen is computer games. Actually, I’ve been playing computer games for ages, since I bought my first computer and CDs and …er … I don’t intend to give it up because I like it a lot. Er …for example, my favourite computer game is Call of Duty and as for the reasons why I’m just crazy about this game. Er …first of all this is a shooter, secondly, everything is seen not only from the one side, as usual, but also from the others, so what I’m saying is that I can choose and play as a Soviet or an American or British soldier and it appeals me a lot.

I think …er … you may wonder if I have some free time for playing. Well, like any adult I have some responsibilities, I have a job, so my free time is limited, so I am play computer games … at … er … the weekends or after my work, and of course, not everybody is happy about that, especially my girlfriend because she wants me to spend as much time as possible with her rather than with my computer.

Er … another thing I like a lot about my hobby is that you don’t need to have a lot of money, and equipment is quite reasonable and affordable, you just need to have a PC or a laptop if you want to be a mobile player, secondly, of course, you need to have a mouse, a keyboard and a set of your favourite CDs.

So, by and large, I like playing computer games because this is a really good way to get rid of or release my bad emotions, secondly, it enables me to discover or experience something new, and finally this is the best way to kill my spare time, for sure.

Fluency and Coherence

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Lexical Resource

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy

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Pronunciation

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Comments OffTags: activity·computers·games·leisure·pastime

Sample Task PTG-001 – Describe an activity you enjoy doing in your free time. (language learning)

May 24th, 2009 · sample answer

You should say
* what kind of activity it is
* how often you do it
* whether you need company to do it
and explain why you enjoy doing it.

ATTEMPT 1

TRANSCRIPT

I’m going to tell you about activities I enjoy doing in my free time. Erm, well, I like learning foreign languages, particulary I like studying English and why am I doing so? Well, probably the answer to this question is that, erm, knowing another language is a tremendous asset, it gives you a completely different view of the world, you see things in a different lights. It allows you to communicate with people from all over the world, and , erm, you can, erm, read scientific works, erm, this is actually important to me, cuz, my work is related with science and it is well known that many, erm, works are published in English and It is really useful to know a foreign language, and, but I think the main thing why I’m doing that is just because I like it, and I really enjoy, erm, studying English, and, erm, I do that pretty often, I should say I speak English everyday, and, erm, I read a lot, I read books related with my profession, I read news, I speak to people, I write, erm, letters and etc. Erm, I think, (sigh) the main problem I have with my hobby is that I don’t have a partner to speak to, so, erm, It’s not so interesting to learn it without a person you can speak to, just, erm, (laughs), I think it’s, erm, kinda weird (laughs) to speak to yourself, but anyway this is my hobby.

Fluency and Coherence

You link basic sentences but with repetitious use of simple connectives and some breakdowns in coherence. This corresponds to band 4. The good thing is that you produce simple speech fluently, without noticeable pauses, and it is more complex communication that causes fluency problems. This descriptor corresponds to band 5, so your average is 4.5. I recommend listening to some model answers on the topic of your choice paying particular attention to how the speakers link their ideas together. You should also benefit from filling in a short talk template. It will give you an idea as to what is expected from you in terms of structure and coherence.

Lexical Resource

You manage to talk about the topic but use vocabulary with limited flexibility. You misinterpret the task and talk about activities as opposed to one activity at first. You also include some irrelevant detail, and yet you do not demonstrate a wide range of vocabulary – what you say is rather common vocabulary. Another thing to worry about is that you rarely attempt paraphrase – you need to demonstrate that you can do that. There are also some inappropriacies in word choice (eg related with). That’s approximately band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

You produce basic sentence forms with reasonable accuracy, and you use a limited range of more complex structures. So there are very few mistakes, and the main problem is that you do not say anything complex enough to score higher than band 5. You need to work on combining simple sentences into complex-compound ones using a range of cohesive devices. It is also a good idea to throw a few conditionals (if .. , …) and passives into your talk. So, it is not about your not knowing grammar, but rather about learning to demonstrate what you know – techniques and strategies.

Pronunciation

You can generally be understood throughout, though mispronunciation of individual words or sounds reduces clarity at times. This is between bands 5 and 6. Here are some problem pairs of words that impede comprehension – assert vs asset, thing vs thin, walks vs works. You will benefit from doing some remedial pronunciation work on the sounds you tend to get wrong.

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ATTEMPT 2

TRANSCRIPT 2

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Fluency and Coherence

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Lexical Resource

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy

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Pronunciation

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Comments OffTags: language learning

Sample Task EES-001 – Describe a film you enjoyed watching. (“Friends”)

May 24th, 2009 · sample answer

You should say
*what kind of film it is
*where and when you saw it
*what it is about
and explain why you enjoyed watching it.

ATTEMPT 1

TRANSCRIPT

Well, there is one film I liked watching a lot and I would like to tell you about that. The film is called Friends and actually Friends is a well-known and famous throughout the world TV show about some friends. This is comedy with a lot of striking and humorous jokes.

Unfortunately, I d?n’t remember when I saw th ..it the first time, but I do remember I was at home and the film was broadcasting when it caught my eye because of some fascinating and amazing jokes, and a stories and I ending up watching it erm

What is it all about? erm Well, this comedy is about some friends and their daily .. life about relationships between them, about relationships ..with their parents about problems at work and at university and things like that, but actually the point is that everything is told and seen in a very funny funny way and I like it a lot. …

Then, erm the reason why I loved watching this film is that because the plot was really good because of .. actors and celebrities were really good and performed in a really good and positive way then and, what is more, I was at the same age as main heroes so I was able to understand their jokes and could laugh ..at myself together with them … and if course .. erm I liked watching this movie because of the way like everything was told and shown and everything .. was done in a very very funny and comic way.

Fluency and Coherence

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Lexical Resource

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy

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Pronunciation

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ATTEMPT 2

TRANSCRIPT 2

Er … I have a number of my favourite films but the one I’m going to tell you about now is called FRIENDS, and I would like to do it because I liked watching this film a lot and more than anything else. Er … FRIENDS is a quite popular and famous TV show all over the world with many fascinating, amazing and, of course, humorous jokes.

Er … unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly when I saw it at the first time but if I am not mistaken it was about 6 or even 8 years ago, when I was at home, and I was just turning over TV channels when some very funny jokes appealed to me and … er … caught my eye, so I spent the rest of my evening watching the film.

Er … I think you may be interested in getting some elaborate information about FRIENDS, so let me say a few words about a plot. There are six friends in this comedy; all of them are young, and have different jobs and occupations, for example, one of them is a doctor and so on. They fall in love, they make friends, they break up their relationships and things like that. So, in the other words, this is all about relationships between friends, parents, and about problems at work or at university.

Er … to conclude let me explain why I liked watching this film a lot. First of all, because of humour and jokes, of course, secondly, because of actors and celebrities, they performed in a very, very marvelous way. Another thing … er … that I was at the same age as the main characters were, so I was able to understand their jokes and I was able to laugh at myself together with them, and, finally, of course, … er… because everything was shown and seen in a very, very comic way and I like it the most.

Fluency and Coherence

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Lexical Resource

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy

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Pronunciation

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Comments OffTags: film·show

Sample Task PTG-001 – Describe an activity you enjoy doing in your free time. (reading)

May 23rd, 2009 · sample answer

You should say
* what kind of activity it is
* how often you do it
* whether you need company to do it
and explain why you enjoy doing it.

ATTEMPT 1

TRANSCRIPT

erm Reading is very enjoyable pastime. It is very popular in Russia as well it is very popular erm in my family. erm Almost every family, not except for my family, has a home library and traditionally literature and reading is very important subject in school education. I read quite a lot, erm mainly magazines, newspapers, reports and … articles. erm From beginning, I’ve tried setting aside an hour a day to .. to read during a day, but there are always interruptions. erm For me, the best place to read is … under the covers with my feet up .. and erm before I go to bed. I read actually every evening. erm Sometimes …it is bedtime when I’m too tired to read erm and the best thing for me is mornings and evenings. erm Sometimes I commute to work and the journey takes an hour. So I don’t make calls on my mobile erm and I take a book and just enter a different world.

Fluency and Coherence

You maintain flow of speech and produce simple speech fluently. This corresponds to band 5. To score higher, you need to demonstrate that you are able to develop topics COHERENTLY, which requires that you use a RANGE of connectives and discourse markers.

Lexical Resource

You manage to talk on the topic, but you use vocabulary with limited flexibility, i.e. you hardly ever attempt paraphrase. This corresponds to band 4.5. Using “in other words” at least once would have got you a solid band 5.0. To get a higher score you need to do exactly what you are asked to do, i.e. you need to DESCRIBE what you are talking about so that the listener could visualize the scenes you are referring to. Another way to boost your lexical resource score is to give specific examples, e.g. you could have specified what periodicals and articles you read, and which books your prefer in terms of topics. You also have to make sure that you cover all the prompts. In your talk you do not say whether you need company to practise reading. Nor do you say WHY you enjoy reading. You do say that it is enjoyable, but you do not explain why it is so. There is also a problem with personalizing your talk. You are asked to describe an activity that YOU PERSONALLY enjoy doing. What you do is talk about reading in your country in general, and that is somewhat irrelevant and sounds like a talk on the importance of reading in Russia at first, which is slightly off topic.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

You produce basic sentence forms with reasonable accuracy, and use a limited range of more complex structures. That’s band 5.0. To score higher, you need to demonstrate that you can use a RANGE of complex structures flexibly.

Pronunciation

Mispronunciations are frequent and cause some difficulty for the listener. There are words that are mispronounced (e.g. literature, interruptions, library, feet), words that are incorrectly stressed (e.g. pastime, newspapers, bedtime), and pairs of words in which the wrong word is stressed (e.g. too tired). This is band 5, which can easily lapse into band 4 if you make too many pronunciation mistakes. Pronunciation practice is strongly recommended.

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ATTEMPT 2

TRANSCRIPT 2

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Fluency and Coherence

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Lexical Resource

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Grammatical Range and Accuracy

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Pronunciation

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Comments OffTags: activity·books·leisure·pastime·reading

Sample Task PTG-001 (Variation) – Describe an activity you enjoy doing in your free time. (taking photos)

May 22nd, 2009 · sample answer

You should say
* what kind of activity it is
* how often you do it
* what equipment you need to do it
and explain why you enjoy doing it.

ATTEMPT 1

ATTEMPT 1 Transcript

I really enjoy taking photos …erm … in my spare time. … I take photos when I am on holiday or go overseas. … erm … To take photos, I need a camera and various lenses for it to take … portraits or …. …. small objects or landscapes. … …. I bring many many photos from holidays ….erm … and I take my camera erm to everywhere … to everywhere I go. I think I enjoy to do so because it helps me to stop the moments, to freeze them, and erm to memorize events and happenings, and feelings. I also like to take photos of people and … the last time I was taking pho … photos was on the May of 9, on the Victory Day and I took many photos of erm elderly people, of … veterans … and it was really …really wonderful time.

Fluency and Coherence

You speak with long pauses and demonstrate limited ability to link simple sentences. This corresponds to BAND 3. To boost your fluency and coherence score, you need to use a range of LINKING WORDS and COHESIVE DEVICES. To avoid awkward silences, you need to start using FILLERS and SMALL TALK CLICHES

Lexical Resource

You use simple vocabulary to convey personal information and you have insufficient vocabulary for less familiar topics to attempt paraphrase. This corresponds to band 3.0. To improve your lexical resource score you need to practise parahrasing and giving specific examples. You should try to DESCRIBE as much as you can to help your listener to visualize, “hear”, “taste” and “feel” what you are talking about.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

You produce basic sentence forms with reasonable accuracy, but you hardly ever attempt any complex structures. Most comprehension problems seem to be caused by errors in word choice and are rather a matter of working on your lexical resource. This corresponds to band 4.0. You could help your grammar score by combining simple clauses into complex-compound ones when you compare, contrast, and give examples or reasons.

Pronunciation

You can generally be understood throughout, though mispronunciation of individual words or sounds reduces clarity at times. This corresponds to band 5.0. You would benefit from doing some intonation practice tasks. You also need to be careful not to stress words incorrectly (e.g. memorize) as this tends to cause comprehension problems

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ATTEMPT 2

TRANSCRIPT 2

I have a number of hobbies such as reading, studying languages and travelling, but the one I’m going to tell you about is taking photos. I’ve been interested in eh photography for 5 or 6 years, roughly since I first travelled abroad. To be precise, um I went to Bulgaria then and it was in August.

Um as for how often I take my camera, I would say that I shoot every time I see something interesting that I’d like to remember. For .. example, the last time I took snapshots was on the Victory Day, which is celebrated on the 9th of May in Russia. I took eh pictures of Second World War veterans, whose faces made a deep impression on me

Generally .. Generally, I enjoy taking snapshots of vari ..various places such as cityscapes and landscapes, as well as small objects like eh flowers and insects. Since I take various types of photos, I need eh special equipment. Eh … … um …for …one for taking close-up eh shots, and the other for shooting landscapes.

To sum up, I find photography absolutely fascinating and enthralling and the reason why I tend to think so is that helps me to eh develop my creativity and makes me feel happy.