arrow back icon Top Answers

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.

    bulb icon

    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.

    bulb icon

    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.

    bulb icon

    Tip

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

    calendar icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

    location icon

    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

    location icon

    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 >7

    I have many friends or I had many friends, many friends or I would know different kind of person who related different background or different culture. In my friends I have would you like to say about my childhood friends or person or people his name Rahul, Rahul is a good person and he is a relate he is a South Indian relate culture his background South his family with a background of South India, South India. His culture they are celebrating many festivals like Onam or any or others festival in their festivals he spread or he give many charity to poor peoples. When I was when I was go to his city or his place Chennai I do a lot of work to work with them and I also I also give a charity or give poor people food to poor people when I was a visitor.

    Band 7

    So there's this friend of mine, Agu, whom I met in the gym a few months ago. He's a Nigerian and he's been staying in India for quite a few years. I met him randomly on a Tuesday when I was hitting my biceps. He just came over to me and appreciated how I was working out, even though I'm not really that buffed up. From there we hit off and just started talking about random things. He told me about Nigerian culture, I educated him about Indian culture. We also vibed on some Indian rap songs and he told me how he loved the rap scene in India. Furthermore, he took me to his place and then we also tried some Nigerian food which his mom has cooked. It was really tasty and I just loved the welcoming vibe of his whole family. His dad was a retired army officer from Nigeria and they had shifted to India to earn some more money as their economic situation back in Nigeria was really bad. Through these months he has grown into a really good friend of mine and I really enjoy the time I spend with him. We have been hanging out quite a few times this week. We went on a trip to Rishikesh last weekend where we tried river rafting and we also tried mountain climbing.

    Band 7

    I would like to talk about my friend Maria, who comes from Spain, a country with a culture very different from mine. We met during a university exchange program and since then we have become very good friends. I really enjoy spending time with her because she always brings a fresh perspective to life. For example, she has taught me a lot about Spanish traditions, food, and festivals like La Temaznia and Flamenco dance. In return, she is very curious to learn about Indian culture, especially our festivals like Diwali and Holi. Whenever we spend time together, we usually cook food from our cultures, share stories about our childhood, and sometimes even exchange a language lesson. She is teaching me a few Spanish phrases and I am helping her with Hindi. This culture exchange makes our friendship very enriching. The reason I enjoy her company so much is because she is open-minded, cheerful, and always respectful of differences. I always believe spending time with someone from another culture background not only makes you more knowledgeable but also more tolerant and understanding. So Maria is a person from a different culture background with whom I truly enjoy spending time.

    Band 7

    So, the person whom I am going to discuss here is Mr. Tarun Chhabra, who is a dentist from Nilgiris, who has been researching with the Toda community, who is a particularly vulnerable tribal group. So, this person is very different from other Rishid scholars whom I have seen because he is the only known person who can talk the Toda language, who comes from the non-Toda community. So, his cultural background is so different that he has spent so much time with the Todas and he has strived hard so that the Toda embroidery that these tribes do has obtained a geological indication GI tag also. And his aspect, we regularly meet in biodiversity conferences, he is a great environmental friendly person and a biodiversity conservationist, who work among the native groups to preserve the community level practices and also does so much research in conservation of the environment. We regularly meet in various conferences and exchange ideas about how to save Nilgiris and how we can better protect the environment and to share the practices, best practices for environmental protection and conservation and also to discuss the legal aspects with regard to environmental protection.

    Band 7

    One person I really enjoy spending time with is my friend Akash, who is living in India. I met him at university and despite our different cultural background, we share a lot of interests like travel and cooking. I really enjoy our conversation because he often tells me about foods and favorites and I found fantastic. Spending time with him has helped me learn to appreciate our culture different from my own. It has also improved my understanding and respect for diversity. I especially enjoy cooking dishes together and exchange ideas about our respective cultures. Being around him is not only fun but also educational and I feel it broadens my perspective on the world.

    Band 7

    Well, to kick off, different countries have different cultures. And each culture is unique in its form. Here I would like to talk about a friend who is from Korea, who I love spending time with. His name is Lee. He is from South Korea. I met him during my college years. We were both studying business studies. He came as an exchange student in India. We were in the same class and later we worked over the same project. That's how we became friends. Speaking about his culture, it's quite different but absolutely fascinating. He once shared his traditional festivals, his food like kimchi and ramyun. I even experienced eating with chopsticks for the first time because of him. It was quite tricky but also entertaining. He also helped me to listen to K-pop music as well as Korean drama which gave me insight for the Korean culture and the entertainment industry. We even had a plan to visit Korea to explore more about his hometown. I admire him most about his respectfulness. He is very calm and hardworking. As the saying goes, action speaks louder than words. He is very kind through his behavior. He also taught some Korean words to me and I also taught him some Malayalam words in return. To wrap it all, he is a very good friend of mine and I am very proud and happy to have a friend like him. Because of him, I had learned a quite new culture as well as had a good college life throughout my education. I also enjoy spending time with him. All in all, I enjoy spending time with him and it's a new learning whenever I am with him.

    Band 7

    I have a friend who is from Punjab and I spent a lot of time with him because I like him. The way he speaks, the way he dances and the way his cuisine is, I like it all. His name is Gurinder Singh and yes, I forgot to tell that I am from Uttar Pradesh, where we eat foods which are mostly made with garam masala, hot spices and lots of garlic. In his cuisine, what I like is that they use roughly chopped vegetables like tomatoes and onions in their saag and other vegetables which they prepare. The best thing to eat in a Punjabi house is butter chicken with phulki and he makes sure that I always get it. Moreover, the bonding with him has increased just because of his love for me.

    Band 7

    So the person from a different cultural background with whom I would enjoy spending time is Mr. Futani Khulmas. He is an Arabic person. He comes from a Lebanese, Lebanon Arab. He has got a good cultural background in the sense their dressing, their mannerism, their habits, the way of their greetings. Over the top, their food. They have got multiple cuisines in their culture which has always tempted me, which has always inspired me. The Lebanese food as we all know is a world famous cuisine known for its rich taste, health benefits as well as its preparation. So the culture which I have imbibed from him into me are different. Be it the greetings, be it the dressing, be it the discipline of their life. But yes, the food has always inspired me. He has taught me different food preparation techniques of Lebanon which I have learned wholeheartedly.

    Band 7

    The person that I am going to talk about here is Sandeep and he is my college friend. He is from Madhya Pradesh and I am from Haryana. So there is a lot of cultural diversity here in the room. Basically since he is a Sikh in the sense he is a Sardar which translates to Sikhism. Since he belongs to Sikhism he has very different religious values as well and different regional values as well. I belong to Haryana which is in the northern part of India and I am a Khaithri which means and I am a Hindu basically. So we have different religions, we belong to different regions. So there is a lot of diversity out there. Plus there is a lot of difference in the occupation status of our families as well. His father is a farmer, his father is a big farmer and owns around 25 acres of land out there in Madhya Pradesh and there they grow tomatoes, onions and wheat which is a speciality of Madhya Pradesh. My father is a business man and he is into manufacturing of automobile parts. So whenever we get together we get to learn a lot from each other. He always shares his father's experience out there in the agriculture sector. I always share my father's experience out there in the manufacturing sector. So there is an exchange of ideas further into the diverse and wonderful experiences that we have. We get a chance to navigate through the uncharted territories of water, of each other's businesses, of each other's religion and culture. So there is a lot of exchange out there in terms of the magical perspective that we both have and it is so good to see how different our perspectives can be.

    Band 7

    I am friends with someone who belongs to other part of India rather than Odisha from where I belong. That person is from Jharkhand. Their cultural traditions and values are very different from that of us Odiya people. Jharkhand people they usually celebrate Karva Chauth and festivals which are not prevalent in other parts of the country but I respect their culture, their tradition and it's also very much unique to blend in with someone and understand their cultural diversification and background so that it will foster a good communication between two individuals. That person is a very good friend of mine and we were in college together. They taught me how to make besan laddoos and how to do other stuff related to their cultural tradition like they celebrate Holi with a lot of Veel and Vaigar. I like that person a lot. We have been also involved in a group project during our college days. Overall that person is a very supportive and cheerful person.
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
    ielts logo

    Get the IELTS Prep App

    Star rating icon

    4.2

    1M+ Installs

     app download banner image

    Get the app link on your phone

    +91

    Or download app from

    google play storeapp store
    master ielts speaking ad