Examiner: Hello
Candidate: Hello
Examiner: Please take a seat. My name is Jane Smith Can you tell me your full name please?
Candidate: Veronique Du Bois
Examiner: Can you tell me where you are from?
Candidate: I’m from France
Examiner: Can I see your identification, please?
Candidate: Yes, here’s my passport.
Examiner: Thank you that's fine.
Examiner: Now, in this first part I would like to ask you some questions about yourself. Let’s talk about your work or studies. Are you a student or do you work?
Candidate: I work. I’m a chef in a Mediterranean restaurant in Townsville, Australia.
Examiner: What is your place of work like?
Candidate: Well, it’s a kitchen so it’s very hot and busy. We have all these ovens cooking tagines and bread, and lots of meat and vegetable frying and stewing. It’s also very noisy because of all the pots and pans and plates being moved around, and lots of people shouting orders. Yes, hot and busy.
Examiner: What do you like about your job?
Candidate: I suppose the best thing is the look on people’s faces as they enjoy the food I’ve cooked. I mean that is what being a chef is all about – giving people pleasure. But it’s also the people I work with. You have to work quickly in a small space so getting on with your co-workers is really important and I work with a great team.
Examiner: Is there anything you don’t like about your job?
Candidate: The long hours! It takes a lot of preparation before the meals and then obviously lots of work when the restaurant is open and serving. I don’t finish sometimes until one o’clock in the morning …….
Examiner: Thank you. Let’s talk about free time. Do you have a lot of free time?
Candidate: No, not a great deal with the cooking job, being a chef.
Examiner: Do you spend your free time outside?
Candidate: Yes, whenever I can. It is so good walking along the beach breathing in the fresh air after all the heat of the kitchen.
Examiner: What sort of things do you like doing outside?
Candidate: Well, I have 2 young children and so I spend a lot of time playing with them on the beach or in the park. But when I have time to myself, I like to go jogging because I find it very relaxing, and in the summer, swimming and snorkelling. Just off the coast of Townsville there is an island called Magnetic Island …….
Examiner: Thank you. Is there a free time activity you would like to try in the future?
Candidate: Well, while we’re in Australia I’d like to take advantage of the things that are easier to do here than in France. For example, I would really like to have a go at sailing.
Examiner: Why?
Candidate: Well, because it’s something . . .I live in Paris right in the middle of France and there’s no opportunity and I really like the sea and beaches. I’d just really like to give it a try.
Examiner: Let’s talk about animals now. Do you like animals?
Candidate: Well, yes and now. Depends on which animal it is and where they are!
Examiner: Do you have any animals in your home as a pet?
Candidate: No, I don’t. My family and I live in a small apartment in the centre of town so there isn’t any space for an animal.
Examiner: Did you have a pet when you were a child?
Candidate: No, I didn’t. None of my family had the habit of keeping pets but I did have friends who had pets. One had a tortoise called Freddy but personally I couldn’t see what was interesting about it.
Examiner: Would you like to have a pet in the future?
Candidate: I wouldn’t no. It would just be one more thing to have to think about but my kids would love one. They are always going on at me to buy a kitten or something and, of course, they promise to look after it. But that wouldn’t last long! It would just be me doing it again. It’s hard to keep saying no but I do.