Describe a time when you encouraged someone to do something that he/she didn’t want to do: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

Who he or she is
What you encouraged him/her to do
How he/she reacted
And explain why you encouraged him/her

5 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 5 answers

Cue 1:Who he or she is

Introduce the person you encouraged, mentioning your relationship with them.
Provide a brief background about their personality or situation that made them hesitant.

Example

The person I encouraged was my younger brother, Rohan. He is usually quite shy and tends to avoid situations that require public speaking, which made him reluctant to participate in the school debate competition.

Cue 2:What you encouraged him/her to do

Clearly state the specific action you encouraged them to take.
Mention any relevant details about the event or opportunity.

Example

I encouraged Rohan to join the debate competition at his school. I explained how it would be a great opportunity for him to build confidence and improve his speaking skills.

Cue 3:How he/she reacted

Describe Rohan's initial reaction to your encouragement.
Share any emotions or thoughts he expressed about participating.

Example

At first, Rohan was very hesitant and expressed his fear of speaking in front of an audience. He told me he felt nervous and thought he would embarrass himself if he participated.

Cue 4:And explain why you encouraged him/her

Discuss your motivations for encouraging him, focusing on the benefits you saw.
Mention any personal experiences that influenced your decision.

Example

I encouraged him because I remembered how I had a similar fear when I was his age, but participating in a debate helped me overcome it. I wanted him to have the same chance to grow and learn, as I believed it would boost his self-esteem.

Conclusion

Example

In the end, Rohan decided to participate in the debate competition. He not only performed well but also gained a lot of confidence. Seeing him succeed made me realize how important it is to encourage others to step out of their comfort zones.

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 Vague Descriptions

Using vague language can make your answer unclear. It's important to provide specific details about the person and the situation to engage the listener.

Tip

Use clear examples and specific details about who you encouraged and what the situation was to make your answer more vivid.

2: Don't Overlook Emotions

Failing to describe the emotional reactions can make your story less relatable. Emotions help to connect with the listener and add depth to your response.

Tip

Include how the person felt during the encouragement process and after to create a more engaging narrative.

Neglecting the Reason for Encouragement

Not explaining why you encouraged someone can leave your answer feeling incomplete. It's essential to provide context for your actions.

Tip

Clearly articulate your motivations for encouraging the person, linking it to their potential benefits or your relationship with them.

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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

Yes, good evening everyone. Here I would like to share you one of my best friend. She was my college friend and when we were in college at that time she was very shy girl and she is completely unable to speak in front of people. So at that time she felt very low but I encouraged her a lot and gave some suggestion that first she should practice her speech in front of mirror. So she worked on my suggestion and she started to do practice in front of mirror. After some month she become able to express or convey his ideas or expression in front of people without any shy. So this is the experience and this is my best friend whom I encouraged so and after that she thanked me and I answered in a welcome manner.

Band 6-7

A time when I encouraged someone to do something that he or she didn't want to do was, felt like I was slightly manipulative or persuasive in a more positive backdrop. This instance was with Meenakshi, a friend that I know through the Young Entrepreneurs Search community, where young entrepreneurs between the age of 18 and 28 meet, connect and launch careers in entrepreneurship together. So I spoke to her in order to persuade her to enrol as a student at Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, my university. I did this by having several long conversations over the telephone and in reality, giving her an in-depth idea into what a day-to-day life in VIT looks like, what she can expect and what are the advantages of this university, such as their excellent placement opportunities, vibrant college life, events, festivals and the diversity in the college are all major advantages that I talked to her about. However, I was also honest and sincere, told her about some of the difficulties that I have faced, since every coin has two sides.

Band 6-7

I am a great and impeccable dancer but my boyfriend is a hated dancer so I asked my boyfriend to dance one time in college with me as a token of memory he denied it of course he doesn't know how to do dance but I encouraged him to do it for me I make him practiced for severe hours and he dedicated himself to do that for me that was very special moment for me as he was doing something for me as it's not good in that and he also didn't wanted to do that but when we dance together it was very precious moment for both of us and very good memory for both of us it's something that we will remember for our whole life and now he doesn't regret it he thanks me that I encouraged him to do that

Band 6

So, I have encouraged my sister to do job in sales. She is coming from a very fresher background she doesn't have any experience as a professional experience like a full-time employee but she did have an internship experience in sales and her education background also aligns with the role which I have suggested with her. She was very hesitant in the beginning and she was also afraid that she wouldn't be able to achieve more and achieve more additionally she was also hesitant about thinking how whether if she will be able to do a good job or not. I have cleared her few questions about why she has to take the job and how she can do well in the job. I have explained being an HR as a profession I see lot of job roles which has a growth trend in a higher pace and sales is one part where organizations pay a lot of really high compensation because entirely the companies run on the sales what the employees do. So, in initial point of career I have told her that she might face some issues on finding the clients to do to check on the sales techniques how she can appeal more customers how she can convince the customers to buy more products but later on I have explained that she can learn a lot from her seniors and being a fresher she can choose to always divert her career when she doesn't like this job.

Band <5

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