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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
Show all 13 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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    Tip

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

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    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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    Anonymous student Band 8

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    Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

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    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.
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    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    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.
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    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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    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    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

    So the person that I encouraged is my best friend Ruth and the way I encouraged her was to take up this one job in events. Now she had studied design and she wanted to pursue marketing but she was really struggling to get a job and then this opportunity came along which was slightly related to marketing but more into the event space and the back end work. I encouraged her to take the job and she was a bit hesitant because she was not sure she would fully like it or be good at it and it was her first job so she was very conflicted about it but I encouraged her one because sitting at home ideal was becoming very frustrating for her. At least this way she would be able to get her hands dirty and second, no matter what job you do, I believe you always manage to learn something from it, correct? It could be something which might not directly be related to marketing but somehow working in different kind of teams or organizing certain artwork for the events etc. is very close to marketing. So I thought that could help her at least create a foundation in that field.

    Band 6-7

    Here I would like to describe about time when I encouraged my friend Simran for weight loss. She is very strong person and she recently put on her weight from about 10 kilos for the last 7 to 8 months due to her disease condition PCOD. She also gained weight due to her overeating and binge eating due to her condition. So I encouraged her, motivated her by my strong inspirational words on which she reacts very in a good way. She listened to me and start doing gym in which she do strength training exercises with cardiovascular exercises. She remain positive and consistent in her weight loss journey. She do regular exercises in the morning as well as light weight exercises like walking and jogging in the evening. She remain dedicated towards his journey as I give her very inspirational weight loss diet plan and I send her motivational videos of the person who do weight loss in a short period of time. So after 5 to 6 months she lose her weight and become very happy person and thank you.

    Band 6-7

    This is about my childhood planned and I think it was in mid of 2024 and I was traveling from my college to home for vacation. I just saw him and he was chilling outside and his parents are really concerned about him because he is not motivated to work or study. So I just gave him the idea about being a model or content creator because he is really good looking and tall and he has a good body. So I just told him that you could go and apply for the modeling and it would really help you to enhance your future in that profession because you have so much potential that you can just get selected in one go because you are good looking and you can just do other stuff like being an influencer. So he asked me that if I would do any vlogs what could I add in my content list. I just told him choose one either you can do it on exercise or workouts or you can just about the diet.

    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

    Her name is Alicia, and she's been my best friend for many years. A few years back, Alicia was really interested in participating in a debate competition, which was held interstate. But she was hesitant to attend due to her communication skills, speech, and vocabulary. And I felt that she was more than capable of understanding, taking upon, and she could win the debate competition with the amount of experience and the vocabulary she takes upon, and she can easily handle stress. And always does the best at what she can do, and when she works hard, she is the best. And further, she also attended the competition and has given me a call during a competition as she thought many other students or her competitors who came to perform there were better than her, and she couldn't meet the standards of that competition. But I only spoke to her stating that more practice, confidence will help her perform better and get a better result, and she did.

    Band 6

    I remember the situation, I remember the situations when I encouraged my son, I want son to join in a keyboard classes, initially he was hesitated to join in a keyboard classes, why I am pushing him to join in a keyboard classes like, he is very well known to that key, western music keys and he was playing the keyboard very well at home by watching the YouTube or any other materials, so that's the reason I was pushing him to join a, join the classes in a reputed, reputed places, initially he was hesitated but later he was joined and I am so happy that he was started learning very well and well organized manner and he is able to play the keyboard in a authentic manner instead of just here and there playing with the help of YouTube, he was just learning that, he was learning the keyboard with the proper practices and he was attended the one concert, I was so happy to see him in playing that keyboard in on the stage with the other kids.

    Band 6

    The person I'm talking about here is my younger sister. And the experience I want to talk about is quite a little funny because last year it was raining and it was very pleasant that day. So I wanted to go trekking but she's kind of a beach person over you know, doing any physical activity. So it was kind of funny because I had to convince her to go trekking with me because I don't have many friends as such. And she accompanies me everywhere and my mom and dad wouldn't let me go alone, right? So I had to take someone with me.

    Band 6

    I recently encouraged one of my students. I'm currently working as a quality auditor so on a daily basis I meet with my team members who are working with me. One of my team members approached me and shared her feelings regarding her future. She told me that she is currently feeling stressed with her current work. She wants to get a call regarding a new company where she gets a handsome salary with a good designation opportunity. She wants my suggestion but she is just confusing for that part what she can really do. So I just asked a few questions regarding her future or dreams. After that I suggested her to join a new company because they are providing her a really good amount of salary package. I suggested her to join a new company rather just wasting her time because she has a really big dream regarding the future and she has another responsibility like her parents. So that's a major reason I suggested her to join a new company so that she can easily run their family and provide a good bread and butter to their family members. I suggested her because she is one of my colleagues or a student.
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