Do you prefer to travel alone or with your friends/family? Why? Please answer in English.

How do you like to spend your time on a rainy weekend? Please answer in English.

A series of three studies recently published in the Journal of Psychology & Marketing examined the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on materialism, finding an overall decrease in the importance that people place on money. Materialism refers to “beliefs that link wealth and consumption with personal achievement and happiness.” Suggest 2 reasons why the Covid-19 pandemic may have resulted in a decrease in materialism. Furthermore, has your spending habits and beliefs about money changed since the start of the pandemic? Please answer in English.

What do you think is the scariest animal on Earth and why? Please answer in English.

Would you rather live in the city or countryside? Please explain in English.

The cost of plant-based meat is projected to reach parity with conventional animal meat by 2023, according to new information from nonprofit organization Good Food Institute (GFI). This means that plant-based meat may soon become more affordable than conventional meat from animals. If this happens, would you choose to eat plant-based meat instead of conventional meat? Do you think plant-based meat could become popular in your country? What do you think is one positive and one negative aspect of plant-based meat? Please answer in English.

What is the best and worst thing about your hometown? Please answer in English.

What would be the title of the current chapter of your life? Please answer in English.

The UK is facing its biggest drop in living standards (disposable household incomes when adjusted for inflation) on record as wages fail to keep pace with rising prices. This April, partially due to rising food and energy prices, the average household has to find nearly £1000 extra per year – just to afford the same stuff they did a year ago. And that’s without counting the National Insurance increases, which are still going ahead. Do you think the living standards in your country have changed in the last few years? In your opinion, what is the most costly aspect of living in your country? (eg. housing, food, education, healthcare, taxes, etc.) Please answer in English, with specific examples.

If you could start your own business, what would it be? Please answer in English.

If you were 18 today, what would be a good choice for a career and why? Please answer in English.

The industrial areas that supported the economic growth of America until the mid-20th century has now become known as the Rust Belt, and measures for its economic revitalization are underway. Japan is also an aging nation with many regions known as the “genkai shuraku” (villages on the verge of disappearing). If you were the resident of such once prosperous region, what kind of event or project would you like to launch to promote its revitalization? Please share your opinions in English.

What would you put in your mental health first aid kit? Please answer in English.

What is something that isn’t taught at school but should be? Please explain in English.

The Government of Barbados is moving ahead with a plan to provide Barbadians with a universal basic income, which may come in the form of a “citizen’s dividend”. A Universal Basic Income (UBI) is defined as a government program in which every adult citizen receives a set amount of money regularly. Barbados already has an annual “reverse tax” system for low-income citizens, where the government makes payments to ensure that no citizen earns less than a certain basic level of income. What are your thoughts regarding UBI? Do you think it will ever take root in your country? Why/Why not? Please answer in English.

Would you rather have more money or more free time? Please explain in English.

Do you prefer making phone calls or sending text messages? Why? Please answer in English.

In November 2021, a faithful reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has won a bid for around 270,000USD at an auction held in Paris. In July the same year, another reproduction of the Mona Lisa was sold for around 3.8 million USD. What do you think about the value of such reproductions of famous works? Please share your opinions in English.

How do you think cars will look like in the future? Please explain in English.

Female African elephants evolved toward being tuskless over just a few decades as poachers sought ivory. During the civil war in Mozambique, armies hunted African elephants to near extinction to collect ivory tusks. A study shows that the proportion of tuskless animals born during and after the war rose dramatically. Usually just 2% of female African elephants are tuskless. Between 1977 and 2004, the proportion of females who lacked tusks jumped from 18.5% to 33%. If evolution is also happening as quickly in humans, what traits do you think are increasing in our modern environment? Please answer in English.

More than 5,000 new virus species have been identified in the world’s oceans, according to a new study. In the study, researchers analyzed tens of thousands of water samples from around the globe, hunting for RNA viruses, or viruses that use RNA as their genetic material. Some well-known RNA viruses also include influenza, Ebola and the coronavirus that caused COVID-19. What do you think about researchers collecting samples of new RNA viruses from the world’s oceans? Do you think the pursuit of knowledge should outweigh the risk of conducting research on new and potentially dangerous virus species? Please answer in English with reasons to support your answer.

What are some “unspoken rules” in your country that people are expected to follow? Please describe in English.

Please introduce a recipe for a popular dish in your country, how to prepare/eat it, and situations in which they are eaten.

A remote hospital in an area of Bangladesh vulnerable to rising sea levels has been named the world’s best new building. The Friendship Hospital in Satkhira, a cyclone-prone district in the country’s south, was announced winner of 2021’s prestigious RIBA International Prize, with its architects praised for putting “care and humanity at the heart of its design.” Held every two years, the prize honors buildings or structures that “demonstrate design excellence and social impact.” Do you have a favorite building in your town/city or anywhere in the world? Please provide at least 2 reasons to explain why this building is your favorite, in English.

What are some challenges you think the next generation will face? Please answer in English.

While attractive hospitality workers typically earn higher customer service scores than their peers, wearing face masks – a practice widely adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic – levels the playing field, a new study has found. “When a mask covers the employee’s face, you don’t know if the person is average-looking or good-looking. It neutralizes the effect of appearance on customer satisfaction ratings” said Dogan Gursoy, Distinguished Professor in Hospitality Business Management at the WSU Carson College of Business. While issues such as sexism and racism have been widely discussed, lookism has not received the same spotlight. Do you think lookism is a significant issue in your country? Why/why not? What other forms of discrimination can you think of? Please answer with specific examples, in English.

Shortly before midnight on a spring night in 2021, Samia Suluhu Hassan, then Tanzania’s first female vice-president, appeared on television to announce to a shocked nation that the president was dead. His death catapulted Hassan to a historic position as Tanzania’s first female president. Her first challenge, Hassan said in an interview last week, was to overcome the notion that a woman could not lead Tanzania. “Most of the people couldn’t believe that we can have a woman president and that she can deliver,” Hassan said. She said other African female leaders – including Liberia’s first female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Sahle-Work Zewde, the president of Ethiopia – quickly came to her support. What are your thoughts reading the above? Do you think there is still a “women cannot be leaders” mentality in your country as well? Please discuss the attitudes towards female leadership in your country, if they have changed over time, and what could be done to promote further equality.

What country would you like to experience living in and why? Please answer in English.

Rarely does a country get a chance to lay out its ideals as a nation and write a new constitution for itself. That is, until now, in Chile, where a national reinvention is underway. Chile’s current constitution was written in 1980, by people handpicked by its then military ruler, Augusto Pinochet, and it opened the country to mining investments and allowed water rights to be bought and sold. After months of protests over social and environmental grievances, 155 Chileans have been elected to write a new constitution that addresses the urgency of climate change and the fair distribution of resources for its 19 million citizens. Do you think that constitutions need to be periodically updated in order to address a changing world? What are some of the biggest challenges in your country, and what are some possible solutions to these problems? Please answer in English.

The 10th annual World Happiness Report has been released—just days ahead of the annual International Day of Happiness on March 20. The World Happiness Report ranks the happiness in more than 150 countries around the based on data from the Gallup World Poll and several other factors, including levels of GDP, life expectancy and more. In 2022, Finland was announced to be happiest country in the world for the fifth year in a row, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands. According to experts at Helsinki-based Aalto University, factors contributing to Finland’s success include smart urban planning, access to green spaces to reduce stress and promote physical activity, an effective system of progressive taxation and strong healthcare and education systems. Curiously, Finland shares a border with Russia, marking a grim reality during a time of war: the happiest country set alongside one of the unhappiest, with Russia at number 80 on the list. How accurately do you think the happiness of an entire country can be measured? If you could do one thing to improve the overall happiness of the residents in your country, what would you do? Please answer in English with reasons to support your answer.