IELTS Speaking – a photograph or painting that you would like to keep for a long time

Yes, I do, maybe a little too much. My camera roll is full of pictures of food, sunsets and my cat. I don't think I'm particularly talented, but I enjoy noticing small details, like the way light falls on a wall, and taking a photo makes me slow down and pay attention.

Just a few. In the living room we have a large lacquer painting of a rural landscape that my parents bought years ago, and in my bedroom there's a small framed print of a city map. I'd like to add more, but I'm quite indecisive when it comes to choosing artwork.

Almost all of mine are digital, which is a bit of a shame. I do print a few each year, usually from a trip or a family gathering, and put them in an album. There's something special about holding a real photo, and it's definitely safer than trusting a phone that could break at any moment.

Absolutely. I used to spend hours drawing cartoon characters on the back of old calendars because paper wasn't cheap. I wasn't especially good, but my grandmother always stuck my drawings on the fridge, which made me feel like a real artist. Sadly, I gave it up once schoolwork took over.

The picture I treasure most is a black-and-white photograph of my grandparents on their wedding day. It was taken in the mid-1960s in a small studio in Nam Dinh, and the photographer was a family friend, although sadly nobody remembers his name anymore. In the photo, my grandfather is wearing a slightly oversized suit, and my grandmother is in a pale ao dai with her hair pinned up. They're standing very stiffly, not touching each other, which was typical of formal portraits in those days, but if you look closely you can see that my grandmother is trying hard not to laugh. The edges are a bit faded and there's a small crease in one corner. At the moment it's in a wooden frame on the family altar at my parents' house, and I've also made a high-quality scan of it so it won't be lost. It means a lot to me for a couple of reasons. First, my grandfather passed away when I was twelve, so it's one of the few ways I can see him as a young man. Second, it reminds me how different their lives were. They married with almost nothing and went through very hard times, yet they stayed together for over forty years. Whenever I feel stressed about small problems, looking at that hidden smile puts things into perspective.

In one sense, yes, because almost anyone can now take a sharp, well-exposed picture without any training. Phones even adjust the lighting and colours automatically. But owning a camera doesn't automatically give you an eye for composition or storytelling. Professional photographers still know how to capture a moment that says something meaningful. So I'd say smartphones have made photography accessible to everyone, but they haven't made everyone a good photographer.

Partly it's about rarity: there's only one original, and when the artist is dead, no more will ever be produced. But I think a lot of it has to do with status and investment rather than love of art. Wealthy collectors see famous paintings as assets that tend to rise in value, a bit like gold. Auctions also create competition, and when two billionaires both want the same work, prices can become completely detached from reality.

I'm in favour of it, at least up to secondary school. Art lessons develop creativity and problem-solving, which employers increasingly value, and they give students who struggle with academic subjects a chance to shine. That said, I don't think it should be graded as strictly as maths, because pressure can kill the enjoyment. The goal should be to build confidence and curiosity, not to turn every child into a professional painter.

Photographs can be incredibly powerful because they make distant events feel personal. A single image of a child in a war zone can move people far more than statistics about thousands of victims, and some famous photos have even changed public opinion about wars. However, the same power can be misused. A carefully cropped picture can tell only half the story, and with editing tools so widespread now, viewers need to be more critical than ever.