IELTS Task 2: Following the customs and traditions in a new country - the newcomers should adapt

Q: People should follow customs and traditions when they start live in a new country.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

A:
Many people assert that newcomers should adapt to the customs and traditions of their soon to be residence in other countries. In my opinion, I completely agree with this viewpoint because it can eliminate the cultural border.

In terms of social life, having an insight into the customs and traditions of other countries makes it much easier for you to make new friends and expand your network. This means that foreigners can avoid unfortunate mistakes concerning customs and traditions. For example, in Vietnam, people commonly take a nap at midday, so a meeting with indigenious neighbors occurring right after lunch may be considered as an inconvenience for the locals if newcomers do not acknowledge this particularly unique custom.

As regards career, assimilating into a new culture can generally improve your working life. This is all attributed to the fact that new employees can better manipulate their daily actions towards their colleagues and leaders, who play an integral role in both their promotional opportunities and working environment, to their advantage. Consequently, they will appear to be much more professional and respectful at work. Moreover, in some specific careers relating to customer service, complying with the customs and traditions possibly help them better understand their clients so that they can provide them with the best service possible and evade further irritating already angry and irate customers.

In conclusion, customs and traditions of a new country should be obeyed because it can bridge the cultural gap, resulting in advantages in both social and working life. However, people should also avoid abandoning their original culture for every culture should be well preserved.

This is a well thought out and properly developed essay. The prompt restatement and writer's opinion came in strong and well represented. It delivered on all scoring consideration points and will be given a very impressive preliminary score. It is specially strong in representing the discussion basis for the writer's opinion.

Both aspects discussed as consideration factors are valid and deliver clear supporting reasons for the writer's previously stated opinion. The writer understood that the correct discussion format for this type of question is a single opinion defense presentation. This understanding helped to create a very cohesive and coherent discussion presentation. The paragraphs relate to one another and highlight aspects of the discussion that prove the validity of the writer's way of thinking.

A slight error occurred in the summary conclusion though. While the presentation presented a solid summary within 2 sentences, the 3rd sentence is what forced the closing statement error. The error was caused by the sudden reference to an unrelated discussion point which resulted in the introduction of a new topic. Such a reference created an open ended essay and a prompt deviation at the same time. Needless to say, the paragraph will receive point deductions because of this last sentence but it may not cause the essay to receive a failing score in the end. The good performance early in the presentation worked to prevent that from happening.