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Describe a job that one of your grandparents did: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What was the job about?
  • Was this only the one job she or he did?
  • How you felt about it?
Show all 35 answers

Cue 1:What was the job about?

  • Begin by describing the job in detail, including the responsibilities and tasks involved.
  • Mention any specific skills or qualities that were important for this job.

Example

My grandfather worked as a school teacher for over 30 years. He taught mathematics and science to high school students. His job involved preparing lesson plans, grading assignments, and mentoring students. He was very passionate about education and believed that every child had the potential to succeed.

Cue 2:Was this only the one job she or he did?

  • Discuss whether your grandparent had other jobs or careers throughout their life.
  • If they had multiple jobs, briefly explain what they were and how they differed from the teaching profession.

Example

Teaching was not the only job my grandfather did. Before becoming a teacher, he worked as a clerk in a government office for a few years. However, he found his true calling in teaching and dedicated his life to it. He also took on tutoring students in the evenings to help them with their studies.

Cue 3:How you felt about it?

  • Share your personal feelings about your grandparent's job and its impact on you or your family.
  • Reflect on any lessons or values you learned from their work.

Example

I have always admired my grandfather for his dedication to teaching. His passion for education inspired me to value learning and hard work. I remember how he would often share stories about his students' successes, which made me realize the importance of making a difference in others' lives. His job taught me the value of patience and perseverance.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, my grandfather's career as a teacher not only shaped his life but also had a lasting impact on our family. His commitment to education and the values he instilled in us continue to inspire me every day.

    Following this structure will ensure you cover all the essential points while providing a clear and engaging response to the cue card topic.

    Tips to answer this Cue Card

    1: Avoid Vague Descriptions

    Using vague language can make your answer unclear and unengaging. Specific details about the job will help the examiner understand your response better.

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    Tip

    Provide specific examples of tasks your grandparent performed in their job to make your answer more vivid and interesting.

    2: Don't Focus on Irrelevant Details

    Including too much unrelated information can distract from the main topic. Stay focused on the job and its significance.

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    Tip

    Stick to the cues provided and ensure your answer relates directly to the job and your feelings about it.

    Avoid Negative Tone

    Expressing negativity about your grandparent's job can reflect poorly on your attitude. It's important to show respect and appreciation.

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    Tip

    Even if the job had challenges, highlight positive aspects and what you learned from your grandparent's experience.

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    IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

    Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

    Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

    Answer

    I like to taste different types of cuisine. Here I would like to talk about my favorite dish at my traditional festival of Onam which is Sadya. Sadya is popular in my city. We are experimenting these cuisines on Onam festival day. Onam is a famous festival in my city. All family members get together in my home and we make a delicious Sadya. There are many ingredients includes that Sadya. Moreover, we make a big feast that day as well as we create a lot of memories together and we wear that day the traditional dress called Sari and men wear the Dhotis. That festival is really important to us because the whole day we are conducting different kinds of games at our homes and all the family members came together. It's a memorable day in my life. This is the festival. We are making the Sambar and Aviyal. These all the kinds of foods are making with the vegetables.
    Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

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    Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

    Answer

    The toy which I liked in my childhood was a panda doll, which makes me pleasant and makes me more blush. The pandas are the most beautiful creatures of the world, which looks gigantic and has pooshy cheeks and they are like stars in the clouds and they dream in me. Furthermore, these have been given by my father. My father is a very very beautiful artistic person, who makes me think of that. Every day you will face every difficulties and make you suffer and move forward. Pandas are always seen in Japanese countries. It is my lifelong dream to visit a Japanese country and click a photo with the original pandas, which makes sounds better.
    Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

    Answer

    As India is a very large country full of diversity, so there are many places which have their own language and speak their native language. The place which I visited and I didn't know about their language was Leladakh, which is about 300 km away from my hometown and it is a very good place as it consists of different kind of trees, animals and have many scenic views and I visited over there last year in summers as it was the best time to visit because it has many, it was cold over there and we had summers in our area so it was the best time to visit over there and I went over there with my whole family.
    Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

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    Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

    Answer

    When I was a kid, I had a little pencil box which had these four buttons which gave the pencil box an operative use. When you press the button, the box would open up. When you press the second button, a little part of it would slide out. Basically it was just a little electronical and a fun thing to have and I owned it when I was in 6th. One day after break, I was standing and talking there with one of my friends and another friend of mine was running through the hallway and accidentally she pushed my shoulder and my pencil box hit the ground and it broke into multiple pieces to the point that it was not functional anymore.
    Describe a book you recently read
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    CBD Belapur Test Centre, Navi Mumbai

    Answer

    It Ends With Us is a book I read recently. It's by the author Colleen Hoare. It's mainly a story about two teenagers, Atlas and Lily, and how they just handle their life going through high school, adolescence, and just domestic violence at home. Both of them come from very, very different families. However, they have one common determining factor between them, which is domestic violence. The abuse that they've seen their moms go through is just insane, and they connect through that on a different level. They're actually in the same high school, but they never speak to each other until Atlas actually crashes into an empty house next to Lily's villa. When Atlas is homeless and he doesn't have anywhere to go, he just comes and breaks into the house next to Lily's, and Lily helps him with all the daily necessities like clothes and food, medicines and stuff. Furthermore, their friendship blossoms into love, but it doesn't really fructify as Atlas has to leave. This book really gave me a lot of knowledge about domestic abuse and how to deal with it.

    All Answers

    Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

    Band 6

    My, we never, me and my brother never let us, like we never spent most of our time with our grandparents. But I do remember that my grandfather was working as an army officer and my grandmother used to work as a housewife. But my grandfather came as a retired army officer, it happened a lot of time ago and currently he is working as a parish. I always adored him that he worked as an army officer and I always wanted to be an army officer same like as him and he used to tell us about the stories that how they work as an army officer and how they ensure that everyone feels safe in the country and I always got many, many and many respect from people around us and also from the country like those people know that we are from army background so they treat us like we are doing something from them and currently after he came as a retired person then he started working in a temple as a parish and this also bring us respect to us and we used to adore him like working as a parish and all of the people around our neighborhood also bow him that he is doing such a great job for us like firstly he did a great job for the country and now he is

    Band 6

    I didn't really know about my paternal grandparents much because they passed out when I was a child. But I'm pretty well known towards my maternal grandparents and my maternal grandfather is like an ideal figure to me. He was a retired army man and he was also a businessman. So it started when he first joined the army and that army job is the one I respect him for the most. When he was in the army, he fought with Pakistan in 1975's war and he told me the heroic story about India's win and it was really amazing to hear it. And he always told me about the real war experience and hearing that kind of thing from a retired army officer is really quite a good experience. And I really love his army job, though he was quite a successful businessman, when he left the army he ran a business and earned millions. But while in the army, he served the country through his heart and that is what I love. Braveness, encouragement, determination, he has everything an army man needs. But unfortunately, he needs to quit the job because of his father. His father just suddenly passed out of illness and he needs to attend the funeral. In that case, he just quit his job of army. But I really appreciate and I really idealize him. I really respect him for being in the army.

    Band 6

    I want to discuss about the job that my grandparent did. He was a teacher in a school. He was an English teacher and he had only that teacher job and he loved children and a very calm and quiet with each and every one of them. He took care of each and every individual and respect their ideas one by one. He is a very cool personality and he always thinks outside the box. He is a teacher par excellence. Not only he is a good teacher, he is also good human being. He is a kind hearted person who always sits beside his students and help them guide in their studies. He was a person, not only he was an excellent teacher, he was also a good grandparent for me. He always talks about different stories. He also sits with me and teaches me and he always guide me perfectly and I love sitting with him and talking each other. He loves to share stories in his classroom and also in my house and we both spend a lot of time together, playing, sitting and laughing each other and I miss him so much. He was an amazing personality and he is the one who is closest to my heart. I love my grandfather more than my parents and I wish I could be one of them among them and I am very happy that I got a grandfather like him and I am very happy and mesmerized about the teaching that he had done.

    Band 6

    I would like to describe a job that my grandparents did. That is a business, a small business. They owned their footwear shop. When I was a child, I loved to go there. The shop is located in Trinavon, Mumbai. I was always fascinated about the business when I was a child. Since childhood. They always taught me some of the basic things which needed for the business. Whatever I do there. Along with this, they are very good at their business. There are some of the financial issues. We need to close that footwear shop. Find it. That footwear shop. But I still remember. Still remember their work. And how they are highly motivated. Always positive towards their work. The footwear shop.

    Band 6

    In Telangana, mining is a major part of its GDP. Mining plays a major part in our GDP. Coal mining is one of the toughest jobs which my grandfather used to do. He worked as a coal mining worker for almost 15 years. He worked in an open cast mining, which means it is a large open space. Almost two cricket grounds would be settled in that. That much large space has to dig by large machines and these people. My grandfather's job is to dig the coal and send it by any transportation vehicle. It is a very tough job. Also, he worked as a farmer after his retirement as a coal mining worker. He did almost 8 years of farming. He used to cultivate 8 acres of land. He produces different kinds of crops. He is a multi-talented person and a hard worker whom we admire a lot. For me and my father, he is our hero who constructed a beautiful life for us.

    Band 6

    My grandparent did a job called Brahmin job. It's almost like doing puja in the temple for the God. It's one of the finest job that to do because like praying for a God or doing praying for a God is almost like touching the God and taking the blessings of the God. It's not about that all people can't touch the God and serve the God like that. It's one of the finest job that my grandparent did in the past and till we are continuing the job and responsibility taken from my grandparent to my father and my father from me and we are taking the responsibility and roles of the job and we love the job and we enjoy the job role with full of attraction, with dedication, with diligent of the work which shows them how we are involved in the work and one of the greatest job our grandparents did in the past and we are continuing in the present and maybe in the future also.

    Band 6

    My grandparents had their own shop where they work as a worker with iron tools and my grandmother is a housewife, sorry my grandmother was a housewife. That shop was located in Zanzibar and now my father is a worker there after my grandfather.

    Band 6

    Today I am going to say about the job that my grandfather did. He was my father's father and he served in Indian military as a Subedar for about 25 years. He retired in 1995 and he came back to our hometown after his duty. He was an army man and he brought his discipline with him from the military. I felt so good of being born as a son of a person who served the country. He used to tell me a lot of stories about him and his friends in the military. He used to describe about the war that happened in the late 90s. He participated in about 3-4 wars like Kargil war etc. He used to describe everything in detail. He said that he once jumped from an aeroplane and parachuted down. He also brought that parachute with him to his house and it went missing after some restoration work that he has done in the recent years. He always tells me stories about his youth and how he was selected into the army. I feel really good after hearing about him. I feel that he was the one who was most happy to describe his story to me.

    Band 6

    My grandparents are not literate well, so they had done some farming job for their living. They own some acres of land. So they worked in their land by cultivating several crops like paddy fields and some kind of trees and plants like bananas for the cultivation. And they also have had livestock such as chicken, chicks and ducks and they own a fish farm also. They are living with the income from this type of farming. So I am really happy for their job because they maintain the land very well for the future generations and they haven't done any damage to the land or the environment. They kept everything really good and furthermore they haven't done any pollution to the environment like nowadays many industries are polluting the air through the smoke and chemicals. But at that time farming is really very close to nature and they did it in a very good manner in a very through sustainable eco-friendly agricultural practices they maintain the land and the environment very good level without any pollution. So I am proud for that practices that they have done at that time. They really done a very great job and it is really appreciable. So that's all.

    Band 6

    My grandfather used to be a fireman. He saved a lot of lives and he was a really brave man. He was a really brave man. He used to go to the houses which were caught on fire and extinguish them. He worked as a fireman for 25 years and he retired after 25 years after a major incident. He saved a lot of lives and he has a great number of stories of saving lives. He is a really good person and firemen really need to work hard and really need to be really brave to extinguish all the fire and bring all the people back to safety. In my opinion, being a fireman is like being a superhero. They need to go into a fire, extinguish them and bring all the people back to safety. My grandfather was a real superhero for me. He worked really hard and saved hundreds of lives. Being a fireman is not an easy task. He used to share a lot of stories with me about how he saved lives and how people have to be.
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