Describe a school that you are attending or attended in the past

[Maybo]

I have chosen a IELTS practice speaking topic and written a paragraph about it. Please check it and correct any mistakes.

Describe a school that you are attending or attended in the past. You should say:

• What it looks like from the outside
• What it looks like inside
• What facilities it has

And say if you think it is a good school building or not, and why

Answer:

I'd like to talk about my primary school. It's surrounded by a basketball court, car park and playground. It was mainly painted in blue and white. It's an ordinary school without any stylish design. Inside the school, there is a covered playground where I did assembly everyday. The place was very dark even with light on. Also, there is a snack shop, which is my favorite place in the school. Apart from classrooms, there are other multifunctional rooms for extra-curriculum activities. I don't know if it's a good school building. Maybe yes. Since the school is not that big and well-planned, I never got lost or felt confused when I studied there.

 

[Maybo]

Should I use the past tense to describe the school building even if I know the infrusture of the building hasn't changed?

 

[Rover_KE]

Please post your own text for checking here in Editing & Writing Topics.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Answer:

My primary school is surrounded by a basketball court, car park and playground. It is mainly painted [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] blue and white. It's an ordinary school without any stylish design. Inside the school, there is a covered playground where I did assembly every day. The place is very dark, even with lights on. Also, there is a snack shop, which is my favorite place in the school. Apart from classrooms, there are other multifunctional rooms for extra-curriculum activities. I don't know if it's a good school building. Maybe yes. Since the school is not that big and well-planned, I never got lost or felt confused when I studied there.

I don't know what "did assembly" means.

Look up the difference between everyday and every day. They don't mean the same thing.

 

[Maybo]

I don't know what "did assembly" means.

It should be "attended the morning assembly"

 

[emsr2d2]

In BrE, you can say "... where we had assembly every day".

 

[Tarheel]

Answer:

I'd like to talk about my primary school. It's surrounded by a basketball court, car park and playground. It was mainly painted [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] blue and white. It's an ordinary school without any stylish design. Inside the school, there is a covered playground where I attended assembly every day. The place was very dark even with the lights on.

That makes no sense to me. Why would it be dark with the lights on?

Also, there is a snack shop, which was my favorite place in the school. Apart from classrooms, there are other multifunctional rooms for extra-curricular activities. I don't know if it's a good school building. Maybe yes. Since the school is not that big and well-planned, I never got lost or felt confused when I studied there.

I don't think you mean to say that if the building had been better planned you would have gotten lost.​

My shot.

 

[Maybo]

That makes no sense to me. Why would it be dark with the lights on?

To me, it was very dark, compared to my classrooms. Some places are just very dark even with lights.

I don't think you mean to say that if the building had been better planned you would have gotten lost.

I mean "I never got lost because of the well-planned school". It seem I should use the past tense: "Since the school is big and was well-planned, I never got lost or..."

 

[Maybo]

which was my favorite place in the school

Is it because it's my old memory so I should the past tense?

 

[Tarheel]

Is it because it's my old memory so I should the past tense?

You don't still go there, do you?

 

[Maybo]

You don't still go there, do you?

I don't go there anymore. Sometimes I may pass by it.

 

[Tarheel]

To me, it was very dark, compared to my classrooms. Some places are just very dark even with lights.

That can't be true.


I mean "I never got lost because of the well-planned school".

That suggests that you got lost for some other reason.

It seem I should use the past tense: "Since the school is big and was well-planned, I never got lost or..."

I would forget about talking about getting lost. There doesn't seem to be any reason for that.