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Describe a talk you gave to a group of people: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who you gave the talk to
  • What the talk was about
  • Why you gave the talk
  • And explain how you felt about the talk
Show all 64 answers

Cue 1:Who you gave the talk to

  • Begin by describing the audience, including their age, background, and interests.
  • Mention the setting of the talk, such as whether it was in a classroom, community hall, or online.

Example

I gave the talk to a group of college students at my university. They were mostly in their early twenties, studying various fields like engineering and business. The talk took place in a large classroom, which was filled with eager faces looking to learn more about career opportunities.

Cue 2:What the talk was about

  • Clearly state the main topic of your talk and its relevance to the audience.
  • Include any key points or subtopics you covered during the talk.

Example

The talk was about 'Effective Resume Writing and Interview Skills.' I focused on how to create a standout resume, the importance of tailoring it for specific jobs, and shared tips on how to prepare for interviews. I also included some personal anecdotes to make it relatable.

Cue 3:Why you gave the talk

  • Explain your motivation for giving the talk, such as personal experiences or a desire to help others.
  • Mention any specific events or circumstances that inspired you to share this knowledge.

Example

I decided to give this talk because I remember how challenging it was for me to secure my first job after college. I wanted to help my peers avoid the same pitfalls I faced and empower them with the skills they need to succeed in their job search.

Cue 4:And explain how you felt about the talk

  • Share your emotions before, during, and after the talk.
  • Reflect on the feedback you received and how it impacted your feelings about the experience.

Example

Before the talk, I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness. However, once I started speaking and saw the students engaged, my confidence grew. After the talk, I received positive feedback, which made me feel proud and motivated to give more talks in the future.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, giving that talk was a rewarding experience. It not only allowed me to share valuable information but also helped me connect with my peers. I believe that such opportunities to speak in public can significantly enhance our communication skills and boost our confidence.

    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: Lack of Structure in Response

    Failing to organize your answer can lead to confusion. Without a clear structure, the listener may struggle to follow your points, making your talk less effective.

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    Tip

    Use the cues provided to structure your response clearly: start with who you spoke to, then the topic, followed by why you gave the talk, and conclude with your feelings.

    2: Overly Brief Answers

    Giving short, vague answers can make your response seem unengaging. It may leave out important details that showcase your experience and feelings about the talk.

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    Tip

    Expand on each cue by providing specific examples or anecdotes that illustrate your points, ensuring your answer is detailed and engaging.

    Neglecting Personal Feelings

    Not expressing your feelings about the talk can make your response less personal and relatable. It’s important to connect emotionally with your audience.

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    Tip

    Include your emotions and reflections about the experience, such as excitement or nervousness, to make your response more authentic and engaging.

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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
    anonymous person icon

    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
    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

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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

    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 6-7

    So, it's been around almost 2 weeks when I got an opportunity to speak in front of huge crowd. So, it was an event in my father's office. My father is retiring from the post of foreign department services in India. So, the office workers and his co-employees have decided to give a farewell party to my dad. So, they invited all of my family members to attend that event. So, they have also asked me to give a speech about your father, what do you think about your father's achievements and how you see your father's future. So, I have described a bit about my father's experiences and hardships that he has gone through on his way to become a successful person. I have also said in my speech that I have experienced a time when my father has done a lot of hard work and with so much consistency that he has returned after 10 o'clock to the home because he has to finish his office work which is the topmost priority for him at that moment. But now that he has taken retirement from his post, so he will definitely like spending time with us more than in any professional work as now he is a free man who has nothing to do but just to spend time with their family members and build a strong relationship with the family members. And I remember I feel very excited after giving the speech and very proud, it was a very proud moment for me as well.

    Band 6-7

    So, recently I have been called to a group discussion and mostly my audience was a people group of 25-30 and most of them were struggling with their habits and I wanted to give a good piece of my thought to them because most of them came up with a habitual related problems and I gave them some kind of solutions and that talk was very productive because they needed it in the most and in addition to that it was not a one way communication it was two way communication because I have been answering to their questions and helping out with their problems and I have also learnt a lot from them and I hope they have also learnt a lot from them so yeah I think that's about it and that's how I have concluded my talk.

    Band 6-7

    I would like to talk about a situation where I gave a talk to a group of pregnant women regarding painless normal delivery. This was as a part of creating awareness among pregnant women about different ways of going through normal delivery process. At the same time enjoying the process without having much pain. I felt this talk was quite educational to the pregnant women as many of the women in our country are not aware of this procedures or the availability of such painless delivery systems. Many had to go through those painful deliveries. They won't enjoy that process of delivery. We want to create that awareness about this process of delivering the baby stress free. I felt very happy to be a part of that talk because it was conducted along with obstetricians who are the primary physicians taking care of those women. But our part was given more importance and they chose us to give a talk about that. They started recognizing our importance in the process of delivery

    Band 6-7

    Hi, I would like to talk about a talk that I gave on my college project. It was about a physics project that I have done about the wavelength of the light. It was a beautiful talk that I have done in my life. I am saying it because I beautifully presented the talk through the slides. I gave this talk to my juniors. They liked it. They understand the topic very well. I have done already a practical session of it and used these practical results to understand the wavelength of every light better. I understand that talking in public gives confidence and also we need to prepare it very well.

    Band 6-7

    I would like to describe a talk that I gave to a group of people. It brings back my memory. It was during my childhood days. I was studying in 11th standard. It was an independence day and I was assigned to deliver a speech to a group of people by my teacher. The speech was in English language. At that time, I was not good at speaking English. My teacher helped me with basic grammar and vocabulary. It was a great help for me. At last, the day came, I began to speak. She also provided me with some tips on how to maintain a body language while speaking and how can we keep our eye contact smooth and efficient. Moreover, the audience were my father and mother and some of my best friends. I was nervous at first and sometimes after I got a flow with my speaking. The speech was about the intense drug usage and friendship between people. I began to speak. At that time, my father looked at me. It motivated me and I got a boost of confidence from that. I delivered the speech. Everyone was listening to my speech with curiosity and they maintained a high level of eye contact. I realized that they were engaged in my speech. At the end, I was overwhelmed because I got a big clap from the audience and everyone was cheering for me. I saw a big smile on my mother's face. It made me extremely happy and filled my heart with joy.

    Band 6-7

    well since my childhood I have always been a shy person I used to be a lot scared about presiding over a meeting or a group of people and when I came into my new school I was very excited though I gained a few a few friends and I was able to accomplish getting confident with my speeches with one year of participating in a lot of events at my previous school so I thought that I have to change the impression that I created in my previous school for over 11 years I got a chance to make and rebuild who I am and so I decided that I'll be the one in the face of of the captaincy at my school so we were given a topic in our business studies class to talk to explain a chapter while everybody failed to do so I was very I was well prepared and I spoke very well about that topic and the whole class was impressed about it and that was one of my moment I gained a lot of confidence it was a perpetual shift that made me speak more and more about things I like and things I should and now because of that I have considered one of the most intelligent people and at my class and I am seen as one of the most mature people out there this shift has given me a great chance to to reconsider myself and to know that there are endless opportunities waiting for me

    Band 6-7

    Well, this talk was about the Editorship I have served in the Zoology magazine board during 2024 and I have worked there, learnt many skills like editing, proofreading, then Canva and apart from that I also learnt about how a team works, how to coordinate with people. So, this was what I have learnt from serving Editorship in my magazine board. So, this group of people, these are my friends who applied for the post the very next year and they asked me like how things goes on and what they expect during the interview. So, I did tell them what the tasks we are required to do in the board and what generally is asked during the interview. I told them that there must be an eagerness to learn. You must be very innovative. Your thoughts must be different from four other people's. This is how something makes you different, right? You must be best at what you do. So, that's how I guided them and let them know that what things really matters in life. I really think that we must learn and grow and we must not break it because knowledge has no ending and we are required to learn, grow and flourish in our life. This is how we can survive in such a dominating world and become irreplaceable forever.

    Band 6-7

    So, I gave the talk, I spoke to my best friend about being confident in yourself and not comparing yourself to others. I gave this talk to her because she was feeling really under confident about herself and about where she is in her life. She used to compare herself to the people on internet and she would feel as if her life or her, she is not enough and the things that she is doing were not good enough. So, she was feeling really low and she was feeling undervalued and it was hampering with her personal life. So, I told her not to compare anybody as everybody has their own journey and has their own life and own challenges that they are facing. Everything you see on the social media is not the truth. Everybody puts only happy memories and happy thoughts but the feelings, but the negative feelings are all, everybody is going through that. I felt we had a really deep talk and I told her about how I have also been going through the same thing and how taking a break from social media can really help you build and connect with yourself and feel grounded to reality and how journaling can also help and how feeling what and how gratitude is important to yourself. I asked her to show more gratitude and appreciate bigger, smaller things and the bigger things in life that she has right now that nobody else does and it was a very productive talk and both of us felt really good about it. The reason I gave the talk to her was because she was crying and because she is my best friend. I wanted to be there for her and since we both have been through the same thing, it felt only natural for me to be there for her as a friend to help her through this difficult phase of life.

    Band 6-7

    Okay, so basically I, when I was in first sem, I have given a public speaking in front of a group of people about the gender based discriminations. So actually our college have arranged a public speaking competitions and for the first time I have given my lecture in front of a group of people. The topic was about the gender discrimination. So I have highlighted the point that in India how women are discriminated over men since their childhood when they are brought up, parents teach them how to be calm and how to hold patience and when a boy child born, parents teach them how to be arrogant by providing them toys like gun and any other muscular toys. But when a girl child born, parents give them Barbie doll kits and sets. It means the grass, I highlighted the grassroots from where the discrimination started and it was my first time. I have felt, I have felt very happy that to be a part of these competitions and to share my knowledge to the group of people.

    Band 6-7

    Hi, I gave a talk on entrepreneurship to a couple of people when I was in third year of engineering. The talk was about a board company which was founded by Aman Gupta and Sameer. Before giving a brief introduction about the company, I have went through the company's portal and website to understand what company does and how it works. After studying it, I came across an incredible marketing strategy of a board company which was having their headphones worn by the people who were in the fashion. In the talk, I have mentioned the marketing strategy of the company and numbers over last five years with a pie chart and bar graph. I definitely mentioned one of the key reasons for the success of the company which is motivation and how did Aman Gupta get this idea. After studying about this company, Aman Gupta has been my role model because of the work ethics, the motivation, the discipline he carries. I have bought one of the headphones of the board company after this session. Thank you. ?? ?? ??
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