Where's your hometown?
I'm from a small market town in the north of my country, about three hours from the capital by train. It's surrounded by farmland, so most people there have some connection to agriculture, even if they don't farm themselves.
IELTS Speaking Part 1: Hometown questions and answers
Hometown questions often follow straight after work or studies. The examiner is checking that you can describe a place and talk about how it has changed, which means moving easily between present and past tenses.
All Part 1 topics
The questions
Answer each one aloud before you read the model — two to four sentences, then stop.
- Where's your hometown?
- What's your hometown like?
- Do you still live there?
- What do you like most about it?
- Has your hometown changed much over the years?
- Is it a good place for young people?
- Would you like to live there again in the future?
Model answers
Written to be spoken, at about band 8. Useful phrases are in bold. Borrow the structure and the phrases — never the whole answer.
What's your hometown like?
It's quiet and fairly traditional. There's one main street with a weekly market, a few old stone buildings and a river running along the edge of town. It's a close-knit community, which is comforting, though it can feel a bit claustrophobic at times.
Do you still live there?
No, I moved to the capital about four years ago for university, and I've stayed on for work. I still go back every couple of months to see my parents, and it's always nice to slow down for a few days.
What do you like most about it?
Definitely the pace of life. Nobody's in a rush, and you can walk from one end of town to the other in about twenty minutes. The countryside around it is beautiful too, especially in spring, when the fields turn bright green.
Has your hometown changed much over the years?
Quite a lot, actually. When I was a child, the high street was full of small family-run shops, but many of them have closed down since then. On the other hand, there's a new sports centre and much better public transport, so it's not all bad.
Is it a good place for young people?
For children, it's ideal, because it's safe and there's plenty of space to play outdoors. For teenagers, though, it's a different story. There isn't much to do in the evenings, so a lot of young people move away as soon as they finish school.
Would you like to live there again in the future?
Maybe when I'm older and have a family of my own. Right now, my career options there would be very limited, but I can definitely see myself settling down somewhere quieter later on, and it'd be nice to be close to my parents.
Useful vocabulary for hometown
- surrounded by farmland
- A simple, precise way to locate a rural town.
- a close-knit community
- A group of people who know and support each other well.
- the pace of life
- How fast or slowly people live and do things in a place.
- family-run shops
- Small businesses owned and operated by one family.
- closed down
- Stopped trading permanently; used for shops, factories and businesses.
- it's a different story
- A natural way to signal that the situation is quite different for another group.
- settling down
- Starting a stable life in one place, often with a family.
Now answer them with the clock running.
Timed Part 1 practice with an AI band for each criterion.