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Describe a public holiday that people enjoy.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What public holiday is it ?
  • How is it celebrated?
  • What you do during that time?
Show all 50 answers

Cue 1:What public holiday is it?

  • Begin by naming the holiday and providing a brief background about its significance.
  • Mention why this holiday is particularly enjoyed by people in your community.

Example

The public holiday I would like to talk about is Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights. It is celebrated by millions of people across India and signifies the victory of light over darkness and good over evil.

Cue 2:How is it celebrated?

  • Describe the various traditions and activities associated with the holiday.
  • Include details about decorations, food, and any special events that take place.

Example

Diwali is celebrated with great enthusiasm. People decorate their homes with colorful rangoli designs and lights. Families gather to perform puja (prayers) to Goddess Lakshmi, and the evening is filled with fireworks, which light up the night sky.

Cue 3:What you do during that time?

  • Share your personal experiences and activities you engage in during the holiday.
  • Mention any special memories or traditions that are important to you and your family.

Example

During Diwali, I spend time with my family preparing sweets and snacks. We also visit relatives and exchange gifts. One of my favorite memories is the family gathering where we light diyas (oil lamps) together, creating a beautiful atmosphere of joy and togetherness.

Conclusion

  • Summarize the significance of the holiday and its impact on people's lives.
  • Express your feelings about the holiday and why it is meaningful to you.

Example

In conclusion, Diwali is not just a holiday; it is a time of joy, love, and togetherness. It brings families closer and allows us to celebrate our culture and traditions. I cherish this holiday deeply as it fills my heart with happiness and gratitude.

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: Being Too Vague

Candidates often give very general answers without specific details. This can make the response less engaging and informative.

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Tip

Include specific examples and personal experiences related to the holiday to make your answer more vivid and interesting.

2: Ignoring the Cues

Some candidates forget to address all the cues provided, which can lead to an incomplete answer and lower scores.

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Tip

Make sure to answer all the cues: the holiday, how it is celebrated, and what you do during that time.

Overly Complicated Language

Using complex vocabulary or long sentences can confuse the listener and detract from the clarity of your message.

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Tip

Use clear and simple language to express your ideas, ensuring that your answer is easy to understand.

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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 6-7

The public holiday basically is a nationally acclaimed holiday where all the schools and colleges and government offices remain closed for all, irrespective of caste, creed, gender and religion. The public holiday that I always look forward to is Independence Day. The most proud moment of being an Indian and taking part in the parade is always an esteemed activity that I always include in my year plan. The vigorous chorus of singing the national song to the parade at Red Gate, every Indian on that day remains hooked to their television in the morning of 15th August. Everything follows up with the delicious lunch arranged on that day where all the people of my society come together and celebrate it through various songs and dances. At the end, I will always remember this day in the core of my heart and cherish it throughout my life.

Band 6-7

public holidays are special days which are celebrated throughout the country for remembering someone or celebrating some special moments and so on. here I would like to say about a public holiday that people enjoy in my country. it is August 15 Independence Day. on that day we celebrate our independence from British government in 1947 and on this special day we decorate whole country with different kinds of flags and flowers. moreover so many programs are conducted throughout the country for remembering such a wonderful moment. also we use this day for reminiscing our ancestors freedom fighters who really do very many things for our country. also every cities and village they were conducted many types of programs like speech, hosting national flags and giving sweets for remembering happy moments. in the capital city our Honorable Prime Minister will host the national flag and this is the starting of the

Band 6-7

Well, holidays are always special to everyone, for me also holidays are very special and today I would like to talk about a special holiday that is very much I love to celebrate and I think most of the people try to celebrate that day and the day was Christmas, the December 25th is Christmas and all over the world celebrates the December 25th as Christmas, so I am very much fond of that day because I very much love to watch the scintillating stars and the trees, the curves and one of my fondest memory during Christmas is when the time of that days we have some Christmas programs in church and also in my working place and I think in most cases I try to participate in all of the programs, one of the programs I very much attracted is that Markangali, I try to participate in Markangali in most of the years and this year also in my hospital, now I am working as a pharmacist in a hospital so in that hospital also we have now Christmas celebration and this year also we have a program and I

Band 6-7

I would like to talk about Independence Day. It is on the 15th of August and it is celebrated all throughout our nation. People usually wake up early in the morning, get dressed and they usually wear clothes that resemble the colors of the Indian flag, which are white, green, orange or saffron and blue. And they paint their faces, and the kids they take small flags and buy them from stores, stationeries, and they decorate their classroom, they decorate their homes, their rooms. And in the morning when everybody's getting ready, they all assemble in my locality. Everybody wakes up early in the morning, gets ready and we all assemble in a school that is close to my house. And we all stand there, we recite the National Anthem, we hoist the flag and we stay there for 30 to 45 minutes, listen to the history of our independence and how the trials and tribulations of our freedom fighters led to the democracy of this country. And I just love the imagination

Band 6-7

The public holiday most people enjoy is the Christmas. Christmas is celebrated widely in almost all the countries of the world and each country has its own customary practices. Moreover Christmas is a celebration of joy that surpasses any religion, tradition, race and class. Each tradition is unique and every house celebrates Christmas in a unique way. I usually have my year end examinations during Christmas. Once my exams are over, I get my 10 days of vacation and since it's the year end, I also get a sense of new beginnings. This holiday helps me to process the things that I have done all through the year and so it allows me to reflect on my actions and the things that I am planning to do in the next year.

Band 6-7

So, a public holiday that people enjoy and I especially enjoy is Ganesh Chaturthi. It is a festival where the god Ganesh is celebrated and this is a religious festival which is mainly celebrated by the Hindus. So in this particular celebration we worship a Ganesh idol where every family they go out and get their favourite idol from the market or they prepare their idol in much more sustainable ways. So, as we also like to participate in sustainable practices we also make our Ganesh with the help of clay and mud. So basically Ganesh Chaturthi is a massive celebration where people go from choosing tiny idols to humongous sculptures and it's a very grand celebration. So this is one of the festivals where every people enjoy and come together to perform various rituals. We sit down for prayer in the morning and we listen to the stories of the Ganesha and cook food together and there are special types of food items which are cooked on this auspicious day and we drink and we eat together. So Ganesh Chaturthi is really a memorable and joyful day for everyone and another public holiday which comes along with Ganesh Chaturthi is Immersion Day where on this day after 11 days of celebration of the god Ganesha he is finally being sent home where it is again performed by the Ganesha.

Band 6-7

I think the public holiday people enjoy the most is Christmas. It comes on December of the end of the year. I think people all over the world enjoy it because of the climate that it has and also the wonderful holiday treats that people get to enjoy during those times and Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year with all those snow and everything and I think how the day is celebrated is that people usually buy a Christmas tree prior to the day and they mostly decorate the tree with lights and other decorations and people usually buy gifts for their loved ones. So the day starts with waking up and you know spending time with their family or their friends and giving them gifts and going out to eat and also obviously praying or going to church people who believe in God usually going to church or even going out to eat and having friends or people over for dinner or lunch. So this is a day where people really enjoy having everyone around and giving them treats or sweets or even gifts. It's such a wonderful day and people

Band 6-7

In my opinion, a public holiday that people mostly enjoy is Diwali. It is celebrated with lots of lights and diyas. Apart from all these activities, I preferrably enjoy having sweets, diverse group of sweets from spicy spicy biryanis to sweet desserts, biryanis to sweet desserts. We in the family assemble that day and enjoy together by having delicious food and

Band 6-7

My country has a lot of traditional festivals. I would like to say about Pongal. Pongal is a traditional festival in Thanjavur, a traditional festival in Tamil Nadu. Most of the Tamil people celebrate these festivals in January 14 to January 16. It is like a three days festival. Every individual celebrates with their family. Sometimes they play with traditional accents. They celebrate with their family and relatives in front of the house to make Pongal. They provide to every individual of their family. Especially in the next day, they have to pray for farmers and domestic animals like cow and oxen. It is very helpful for agricultural work. They provide ceremony for celebrating the domestic animals. Most of the Tamil people like Pongal. We have several festivals in Tamil Nadu. Diwali is one of the famous festivals in Tamil Nadu.

Band 6-7

My favorite public holiday is Diwali. Diwali is festival of lights and it is celebrated in larger phenomenal way across the country in India. Also it has been celebrated globally in Russia and America too since it is getting more famous every year. Diwali is a major holiday and major festival and it describes a lot of culture like wearing a new dress, bursting of firecrackers and celebrating the festival of lights with dipam and many more. We exchange sweets and greet our elders relatives to our home and we enjoy with our cousins. Diwali is great and it is very very celebrated much. I myself wear new dress and burst firecrackers and enjoy with my family and public holiday is one of my favorite time since many of our relatives and family members get holidays and we spend time with each other and we enjoy ourselves with family games and many more.
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