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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
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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

    I have a friend who is from India, South India, and I learned actually a typical tradition from her. Her name is Ananya Lodi, and there was a really quite attractive traditional activity, what most of Indians do once annually. And it was tying a thread around the wrist of people around them, and ask her what is the reason and what does it indicate. She told me that it is actually brotherhood and sisterhood, it shows being brothers and sisters and understanding each other, standing for one another whenever they need help from others. So I asked her, and she told me that she wanted to tie a thread on my wrist in order to give me support as my sister. So it was actually amazing and I felt kind of welcomed in the society as I came from Ethiopia and studied in Chandigarh University. So that was a really typical example I came across in India. And it showed me really how cultural norms and traditions vary boundary to boundary across different countries. It was really quite breathtaking experience for me at that situation. And at that moment actually whenever you go outside or abroad, it is kind of difficult and you are vulnerable to loneliness.

    Band 6

    Today I would like to talk about a foreign friend whose name is Osaka. About 6 months ago my cousins came back from Canada. Osaka came with my cousins. They were studying together in Canada. Osaka is originally from Japan and she follows the culture of Japan. Actually, as we know, Japanese are very punctual people. They are also cultural people. The first time I met Osaka, she is a very cute and charming girl. She is a very welcoming person. When I first met Osaka, I felt like she was from a foreign country. I had some language issues and we couldn't get along very well. But after I met her, I felt that she was a very welcoming and friendly person. As we started talking about our culture, she told me about their basic traditions and many more things. We also exchanged our cultural traditions and we started talking about our interests. She told me many things about Japanese.

    Band 6

    So, I have a friend of mine named Abhishek Pandey, who is from a different background. He has a different culture and tradition. So being with and we are from around 10 to 12 years together. So having a friend with different cultural culture helps me to know their culture and tradition about different new things that may be of great aspect for me to learn about the different variety of our country. And having a friend and being with him makes me feel comfortable and convenient as we are together from a long time. So that makes me feel good attempt to meet new people in the surroundings. This may help me to get a new culture and new tradition. So for example, when we go to the village, they usually treat me like by their tradition and I am not very used to it. This makes me feel very comfortable as he is with me always.

    Band 6

    My favorite person's name is Bhavna and she is from the Rajasthan. When I went to the Rajasthan in the year 2023 for my GATE classes, I met her and she was my roommate. She is like my little sister. We enjoy our everyday meal, our breakfast, our dinner together and we go somewhere on Rajasthan together. We make some food on Sunday. We made Maggi and other things and we enjoyed it at night. Sometime I thought she is more connected with me because of my behavior and my helping nature. She is dependent on me for some things and this impact on her. I mean lots of time she thought like when you go to your home then what happened with me, how I manage some things, how I go outside alone and many more. That time I also feel sad.

    Band 6

    Describe a person from a different culture background okay she's my colleague she's coming from a different culture and we were working together in the institution second English communicated trainer and I feel like she's dedicated and ready to do any work for the institution and I think she motivated me a lot for many reason the first one is she's adapting in new culture very easily even though when we were eating lunch she doesn't like the rice but here in Kerala we are using rice so she's ready to taste it and and then next what I want to tell she's inspiring, motivating and

    Band 6

    I would love to talk about one of my friend on Instagram, her name is Alan Filder and she is from United Kingdom. She is my Instagram friend and she is Christian. She is belonging to Roman Catholic culture and ever since we have started chatting with each other and started knowing each other, we have been sharing about our culture with each other. She used to tell me about the people, religion and about the Bible, more specifically about the Bible and I used to tell her about everything about the Hinduism and she was very fascinated by the knowledge of Bhagavad Gita and ever since she has told me that she has been following the knowledge of Bhagavad Gita since 2 years and she has started implementing all facts whatever that explained in the Bhagavad Gita. The common point in between us was the spirituality. I asked her to come to India and she told me that she will definitely visit India and she wanted to explore the spiritual, natural and religious beauty of India and what she wanted to visit is various forts in India, palaces in India. I told her to come and we have a great plan so yeah, I would definitely visit India.

    Band 6

    I would like to speak about the person, Gaurav Rajchetri, who comes from Mizoram, a beautiful north and west state in India. We met during our college times, despite of different cultural backgrounds, we connected really as best friends. We had spent a lot of time together while studying, exploring new places and so on. When he explained about his Mizoram culture, I really got fascinated about knowing their culture festivals, especially during the cultivation. I think the name is Chapchara cut, then there is a famous one called Chapara, which is also known as the bamboo dance. And when he showed me the videos on YouTube, I really got fascinated and I got amazed about knowing how diverse the Indian culture is. Also, I got the chance to taste different Mizoram dishes. They were so tasty and was new to me and they are very different from our sweets. What I truly admire of him that he was too kind and irrespective of ages, he respected everyone with a smile, which I admire the most. I truly happy I am because having a friend from a different culture, different society. What I truly admire of him that he helps me.

    Band 6

    so this person is my ex-boyfriend so he belongs to West Bengal he's Bengali so we enjoy having Roshogullas together and we even went to Dakshineshwar temple in Kolkata so it was it was a very good experience to visit the temple and to know about his culture so we all know that Kolkata is famous for literature art and drama the people over there values their culture a lot especially we all know that Durga Puja is well known in Bengal so this is what I love about his culture he's very down-to-earth and he is very good singer his voice is very nice I like spending time with her him because he makes me feel good and we also enjoy

    Band 6

    So, I am going to talk about Sapura Parker from Mumbai. She is my work colleague from my clinic. She is originally from Mumbai, but now she stays here from around 3 years in Pune. She is a senior physiotherapist who has done her masters in neurophysiotherapy and mainly works with children. She is from the Muslim community and I am from the Hindu community. So, she is from a different cultural background than myself. The different thing that she does every day is pray Namaz every evening and along with the evening she also prays around 5 times every day. I have seen her do that many times. She also goes to the Masjid every Sunday. Apart from that, she enjoys having chicken and other non-vegetarian food many times in a week. We went for Iftar party together where we had so much fun. We tried on different types of Muslim cuisine which was really enjoyable. I liked the different taste which was appalling. I like enjoying time with her and spending time with her and I will get to learn many things when I am around her.

    Band 6

    Today, I would like to talk about one of my favorite person at office, that is Mr. Hipiz Khan. He comes from a Muslim family and is from Jammu and Kashmir. Though there are a lot of differences in terms of religion and location, but still we share an immaculate bond. I think he is one of my very close friends. There are a lot of reasons why I mentioned his name today in this question. Talking about his personality, I think he is one of the most assertive person I know. His positive mindset, always smiling face and positive attitude towards each and every situation makes everything so simple and easy to understand. Also, he is not just a friend of mine, but also I consider him as one of very idle teacher I would say. He is the one who is always there to guide me, to support me and to improve my work. He is one of the best performers there in office, no doubtedly. But still, when I am in trouble, when I am not understanding anything, he takes out his time and helps me understand each and everything. Also, there are a lot of other things that I enjoy while being with him. It's not like, of course, when we are in office, we used to work together. But apart from work, when we are in our tea breaks time or during the lunch time, we used to play sports.
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