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Describe a person from a different cultural background with whom you enjoy spending time: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who this person is?
  • What their cultural background is?
  • What activities you do together?
  • And explain how this experience impacted you.
Show all 193 answers

Cue 1:Who this person is?

  • Introduce the person by name and mention how you met them.
  • Share a brief description of their personality traits that you admire.

Example

The person I enjoy spending time with is my friend Aisha. I met her during my college days when we were both part of the cultural committee. Aisha is very friendly and has a great sense of humor, which makes her fun to be around.

Cue 2:What their cultural background is?

  • Describe Aisha's cultural background, including her ethnicity and any specific traditions.
  • Mention how her background differs from yours and what you find interesting about it.

Example

Aisha comes from a Bengali background, which is quite different from my Punjabi roots. She often shares stories about the rich traditions of Durga Puja and how her family celebrates it with elaborate rituals and delicious food. I find her culture fascinating and love learning about the different customs.

Cue 3:What activities you do together?

  • List some specific activities you enjoy doing together that reflect her cultural background.
  • Explain how these activities help you bond and learn from each other.

Example

We often cook together, trying out traditional Bengali recipes like fish curry and mishti doi. I also enjoy attending cultural events with her, where I get to experience her music and dance. These activities not only strengthen our friendship but also allow me to appreciate her culture more deeply.

Cue 4:And explain how this experience impacted you.

  • Reflect on how spending time with Aisha has broadened your perspective.
  • Discuss any personal growth or changes in your views due to this friendship.

Example

Spending time with Aisha has significantly impacted my understanding of cultural diversity. It has made me more open-minded and appreciative of different traditions. I now celebrate Durga Puja with her family, which has enriched my life and helped me build a deeper connection with my friend.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, my friendship with Aisha has not only been enjoyable but also transformative. It has taught me the importance of embracing cultural differences and has made my life more colorful and fulfilling.

    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 Generalizations About Culture

    Making broad statements about a culture can lead to inaccuracies and misunderstandings. It's important to focus on specific aspects of the person's background.

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    Tip

    Provide specific examples from your experiences with the person to illustrate their unique cultural traits.

    2: Neglecting Personal Connection

    Failing to explain your personal connection with the person can make your answer less engaging. It's essential to share why you enjoy spending time together.

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    Tip

    Include personal anecdotes or feelings that highlight your bond and shared experiences.

    Lack of Detail in Activities

    Being vague about the activities you do together can make your response less vivid. Detailed descriptions help paint a clearer picture.

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    Tip

    Describe specific activities you enjoy, including where you do them and what makes them special.

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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
    anonymous person icon

    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 6-7

    In my workplace, my workplace has been the first place where I met somebody from a different cultural background than mine. I am an Indian who lives in the northern part of India and I have four people in my office who live in various states which are in the southern part of India and out of them, one of my colleagues has become a very close friend, her name is Remy. She is a Muslim, she has been born and brought up in Chennai, so there are significant cultural differences between her lifestyle and mine, owing not only to the difference in religion but also to the difference in how lives are lived in North and South India. However, these cultural differences have not become a hassle between the budding friendship that we share, instead they help us grow more, they help us widen our perspective, they help us learn to accept the other person without any judgement and it has been a very fun experience learning more things about her life, experiencing new types of food, new types of clothing that she introduces me to while we both live and work together in Delhi and it is also an enjoyable activity to expose her to my lifestyle and to treat her to the food that I am more accustomed to, for both of us to go to religious places of significance of the other person, it is all extremely fulfilling and heartening.

    Band 6-7

    There was a friend of mine with whom I stayed in the hostel while pursuing B.Tech from college here in Gujarat. His background was that he was Tamilian and his father was a manager in Reliance Industries in Surat. So he studied all the way till standard 12 in Gujarat only. So he knew Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil. So I stayed with him. First time I met him, I felt like that he, there was no any good feelings that I got from him. But when I got to know him more, I understood that he is really just a simple dude and has a really nice personality about him and nice aura about himself. Moreover that I got to know more similarity of things about South India through him. Also the way he talks with his parents and just the language itself sometimes it would annoy me but sometimes I would get inspired in home. So it was like really good and bad mixture for me. But however he was really good friend of mine and even today I am in contact with him. I and he went to several places together and he also introduced me to several South Indian dishes that I didn't know. I just knew Idli and Sambar. So he introduced me to new things like Mandu Vada that I didn't know. So I got to know several new South Indian dishes through him.

    Band 6-7

    I want to describe a person who is my best friend. I like to describe about her because we used to spend a lot of time together in schooling. We studied about five years in school from 5th to 10th class. We used to play Coco together and as a team and sometimes I used to be the captain and sometimes she used to be the captain of the team and I like to describe about her like she's beautiful she's kind she's talkative and she's very good at studies and many more things I don't think two minutes is enough to describe about her I think it takes more than 88 to describe about her she she's she's too far too good than me I can say I can say it for sure and I like I like her when she when she heads our team to victory because she is she is in our team and she plays Coco and she's good at good at chess too and sometimes I even play chess with her and most of the victories goes to her because she's that good in chess so this is all about her thank you

    Band 6-7

    So, one of the person who is from a different cultural background is my friend Siona. She is a Christian Tamilian and I am a Hindu Maharashtrian. So, we are both from different parts of India and we share different cultural backgrounds. One of the reason why I love spending time with her is because I get to see her part of festivals, specially when it comes to Christmas. Christmas is a time which I eagerly wait for and I am so excited when it's December. Firstly, what makes me happy just being around and spending time with her is I get to decorate the Christmas tree and that's the most enjoyable thing that I get to do. Secondly, we eat such good food such as wine cake, sweets, there's a lot of homemade wine that's been made just for Christmas. So I think Christmas is a time where everybody comes together and share the love and joy that they have with each other.

    Band 6

    So, a person from a different cultural background which I love the most is my friend named Sania. She is from Japan. She was born there and for studying she came in India in my school. My school name is Kaisam Halal in public school and we were both very good friends. And I love, she always expressed her culture, she always show how her cultures are and she also likes to, likes me to say about my culture and she always liked, she always liked Sushi's, Ramen's as she lived in Japan and I always like Rice, Peanuts etc. as I live in India. Everyone has their own culture but when two cultures are together, it becomes very different one. It will be very beautiful and when others see that, it will be very beautiful and I always like to visit Japan and I always want to try Sushi and Ramen with its original taste and also I took her to the Trishul Puram which is very common in our country. It was, it will be having a full of elephants and it will be full of sounds, full of enjoyment and she always, she also really liked that very much and we always share our thoughts. She is my best friend, even though cultures are different, we both were good friends, we always share foods without any hesitations, we understand each other very much and I love

    Band 6

    The person I like, the person, yeah, the person of a different background was my friend Amrian. She is a Muslim and we mostly like to watch movies a lot and we play badminton and we also chit chat so much. We meet at least twice a month and our relationship is so good. The experience was totally good because there is no differentiation of the religion or culture or differences, like we were very best friends with a genuine heart. She was very close to me and also my family members and their family members also received me as their own so we love being together, we gather so much and also, every festival she comes and greets us for our festivals and also we go and celebrate their culture festivals as well and yeah, we do also like go to, like she comes to my temple and she also takes our religion like so good and she don't discriminate other people and also me as well. So our bond is very strong.

    Band 6

    Initially, the person is my best friend. He is from Nalgonda. He is a Muslim and I am a Hindu. Comparing our culture, he follows a totally different, opposite culture comparing to mine. So, his way of worshipping God, his way of eating food and his way of speaking to elders is different from ours. Though they are different, I envy him because whenever he speaks to other person, he speaks in a respectful manner. Even though they are younger to him, they will give respect as he gives to the older people. Because in their culture, they were educated, they were made to give respect to younger ones as equal as older ones. Other than that, when it comes to eating, they prepare a lot of different foods. They mostly prepare meat and non-vegetarian. While they are eating, they sit on the ground, they have a mat, they call it as Tastarkhan. They sit around with the family, they eat and they share their food with each other. They spend a lot of time and eat their food in an enjoyable manner. When I visited their home, I found that it's a great way to spend time with family. It's a great way to sit on the ground and eat on a mat where it felt good. I like his way of leading life.

    Band 6

    Ok, so as I have told you I have worked with many people and as I have told you that I am a working professional. Previously I have worked with many people from the various cultures. And I would like to talk about Akbar. Akbar is from Gujarat and he is currently like working as a software developer in the previous company which I have worked. So as he is from Gujarat he is very attached to the northern culture. And also he is a very good person. He has a lot of qualities like from the northern people like he is very hard welcoming, warm welcoming. And when we were together we used to do many activities like in the weekends we used to go fishing and also to the malls and shopping centers etc. And his cuisines like what he brought to us while he was there. He used to prepare very good food and it was very tasty. And it's kind of a different taste, different spices, I don't know. It's a very different taste, the quality and the quantity of spices they mix. It's pretty very different from here and also there are many qualities that he also possess. Like he is very kind hearted person. He generally used to help everyone and I guess that is something that I have very adapted to him. He used to come with me everywhere. Whenever I walk alone he was there with me. So I think that is something he was very good at.

    Band 6

    He is my best friend, but he is a Hindu and he is a vegetarian. He does not like to eat any meat and non-vegetables. He only likes to eat vegetables and some other things also, but he never touches meat and non-vegetarian dishes. Because he says he didn't like it. And he has a very unique personality, because if you annoy him or anything, he does not care about it. And he is a good friend of mine, and his name is Gautamani. And if you bully him or anything else, he does not care. Sometimes he will also do it to you. He is a good character and a good boy also.

    Band 6

    Well, I know a lot of person but here I would like to talk about a person that is from a different culture and background and I usually spend a lot of time with him because he is a very polite as well as a very hardworking and very helpful well his name is Raman he is from Rajasthan well I also mentioned that his father is a government officer so they oftenly change their location from time to time he said me that he is from Rajasthan because he born in the Rajasthan he know all things about Rajasthan culture, tradition well he said that the Jhumur of Rajasthan is very famous in the India as well as at day in abroad countries he also told me about some Rajasthani dishes and he said that their dishes are very delicious and liked by the every Rajasthani as well as some Indians well Rajasthan is a place where the most of the visitors visit because it is a place of attraction there are a lot of Mahals in Rajasthan and I want to mention that last time in December I usually went Rajasthan with the entire my family because some of our relatives stay at there and I promise to my friend if I visit there again then I definitely reach to her village and meet his family members such as his grandparents and maternal uncle aunt
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