Topic 1
I would like to talk about the Lunar New Year festival, also known as the Tet holiday, which is the occasion expected the most by Vietnamese people every year. The festival usually lasts for around 3-4 days, and it takes place when a new year comes according to the lunar calendar.
– The Lunar New Year festival takes place because it is one of the most well-known traditions of Vietnam. Our people have been celebrating this occasion for thousands of years, and although there has been some recent argument about whether we should stop celebrating this festival, I do not think this activity will come to an end soon, at least not in the short term.
– There are some common things that people do during this festival. Perhaps the most important thing is that people who work and study in big cities would go back to their hometown to celebrate the new year with their families and relatives. The new year festival is one of very few occasions that families can gather together, so it is easy to understand why everyone in Vietnam expects this festival so much. Another thing that we usually do is that we give children some “lucky money” with the hope that it will bring fortune to those kids. We also have some other activities such as making “chung” cake, visiting temples and pagodas… and so on.
– The new year festival is so important to me and also to all Vietnamese citizens. The reason is because we get more days off from work and study, and therefore we have more time to spend with our families and our loved ones. It is also a great time to think about what we have done in the previous year, and to make plans for the upcoming year.
Topic 2 :
I’d like to talk about Singapore, one of several cities I have visited and really enjoyed. I vacationed in this wonderful city last summer with my sister, Min, and we stayed there for 5 days.
Singapore is a state-city located to the southeast of Vietnam and it took us only 2 hours to fly there from Hanoi.
When I arrived in Singapore, I was quite impressed by the way the city looked. The streets were incredibly clean, I could walk around the city all day and come back home without any dirt on my shoes. During my stay in Singapore, I did some shopping and visited some famous landmarkslike the Merlion statue, Singapore zoo and the botanical gardens.
For me, Singapore is well worth visiting for many reasons. Firstly, the public transport system in Singapore is extremely reliable. People don’t have to spend hours waiting for buses or trains, and the staff are very friendly and helpful. Another thing that I miss about Singapore is its multi-cultural nature. During the 5 days that I spent in Singapore, I bumped into people from many different countries. English is the first language of this country so it was great to get the chance to practice my English-speaking skills with the local people and also other tourists. Five days in Singapore passed by so fast that I wish I could’ve stayed a bit longer.
