Describe a time when you were fascinated with another culture.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

Which culture is it?
When was this?
Why were you fascinated?

26 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 26 answers

Cue 1:Which culture is it?

Begin by clearly stating the culture you were fascinated by, such as a specific country or community.
Provide a brief context about what aspects of the culture caught your attention, like traditions, food, or festivals.

Example

I was particularly fascinated by Japanese culture, especially their traditional tea ceremonies and the concept of 'Omotenashi', which reflects their hospitality.

Cue 2:When was this?

Mention when you first encountered this culture, whether through travel, a festival, or a cultural event.
Include details about the location and the circumstances that led to your exposure to this culture.

Example

This fascination began during my college days in 2019 when I attended a cultural festival in my city that showcased various international traditions, including Japan.

Cue 3:Why were you fascinated?

Explain the specific elements of the culture that intrigued you, such as their customs, values, or art.
Share any personal experiences or interactions that deepened your interest in this culture.

Example

I was fascinated by the meticulous nature of the tea ceremony, which symbolizes peace and harmony. The way the host prepares and serves tea with such grace and respect made me appreciate the depth of their cultural values.

Conclusion

Summarize your overall feelings about the experience and how it impacted your view of cultural diversity.
Mention any actions you took afterward, like learning more about the culture or trying to incorporate elements of it into your life.

Example

In conclusion, my encounter with Japanese culture not only broadened my understanding of cultural diversity but also inspired me to learn more about their language and traditions, which I continue to explore to this day.

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: Vague Descriptions of Culture

Avoid being too general when describing the culture. Vague answers can make it hard for the examiner to understand your experience and interest.

Tip

Provide specific examples of cultural practices, traditions, or events that fascinated you to make your answer more engaging.

2: Ignoring Personal Connection

Failing to explain why you were fascinated can lead to a lack of depth in your response. Personal connections make your story more relatable.

Tip

Share a personal story or experience that highlights your emotional connection to the culture to enhance your answer.

Rushing Through the Timeline

Skipping details about when the experience happened can confuse the listener. A clear timeline helps structure your response.

Tip

Clearly state the time frame of your experience and provide context to help the examiner follow your story easily.

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 6-7

Yes, it's true that I was fascinated by another culture. To be honest, I was fascinated with the culture of Muslims when I was very young. I had a childhood friends who were Muslims. I used to go to their home and we were... Yes, there was a time where I was fascinated with another culture. In my childhood, I was fascinated with my childhood friends who are also friends of mine till today. They were Muslims and we had spent a lot of time together, we shared our food, we played a lot, we were very close to their family members, we used to share lot of experiences that we had in life and furthermore, their food items, their beliefs and their thoughts had made me very fascinated and the culture also helped me to grow into a better person. It motivated me to be on the right path and it also helped me to be spiritual and more helpful to others. They always set an example of how the people should be in real life and how important is the spiritual life and how peaceful it is to walk in that way, in the spiritual path. I feel awesome and very interesting about their culture and it's very mysterious to think about it and I prefer more people to engage with.

Band 6-7

I've recently, like a year ago or something, I've been to a trip to Meghalaya, which is situated in the northeast side of the, northeast part of the India. So I was very fascinated with the nature, the waterfalls, the whole mountains and everything were very beautiful. And I was having a time of my life over there. But coming, I was observing and even, even to that case, the food, the food was amazing. It was very, of course, it was very different from what I have been eating in, as a part of South India or anything. I think northeast part of India is very, least explored part, I would say. The thing which fascinated me mostly and which surprised me to a, to an extreme extent was how marriages work in Meghalaya. So generally, in the whole of India, whenever a girl is married, a guy and girl are married together, the girl goes into the, the girl goes back to the house of the guy, they live together with their, with their in-laws. But that's not how it was in Meghalaya. So whenever a guy and girl gets married, the guy comes into the girl house, and the whole system is very matriarchal, sorry, and I found it very different and since I was very surprised by it, and even, even if the culture of distributing the assets in your family, I think the girl child, the girl's child is least prioritized in the south and the other parts of India, but I think everything goes to the elder girl child over there. So I found it very astonishing and

Band 6-7

I would like to recall the time when I was doing post-graduation. I am a South Indian so but I have pursued my studies in North India. I have a lot of friends in North India so there was a time when one of my friends invited me to visit her home during their festival there and it was in Uttar Pradesh at that time there it was the festival called Chhat Puja and at first I didn't feel it so fascinating I was too intrigued by their culture because according to that festival a woman have to fast continuously for four to five days and they can break their fast only after offering their puja to the Sun and actually they are performing this puja for the life expectancy for their lifelong prosperity of their husband so after offering puja to only the Sun God they will eat their food so it I felt it captivated me I was so I was like I was first thinking like isn't this a past healthy on the side of women like why women should only take the fasting why men shouldn't why men should have all the advantages so it was how I felt at first

Band 5-6

In this contemporary era, it is an irrefutable fact that culture plays an important role in everyone's life. So, thank you for giving me this interesting yogurt, which I would like to talk about culture, another culture. So, I would like to start about a culture which have a fascinating impact on me. So, I have started studying in Manipal when I joined Manipal in my first year. So, after that a movie is released in that area. So, it is basically a local movie. The name is called Pandhara. So, after seeing that movie, I felt very fascinated. And I want to learn that movie's principles are, how they did, how did they visualize that. So, I went with my friend, local friend. So, he showed me that many places, the local festivals, how they will celebrate. So, I felt very fascinated and interested in one particular thing, is their devotees. Devotees and the gods. The gods is very strict. If we done any wrong to anyone, it would get easily on us. So, I have seen in other places also many things, like gods are killing persons, like that. But besides that, it is very interesting to learn those cultures outside of our state. So, it feels amazing when learning that type of cultures. So, I am on the moon when I am seeing that god. And I felt very excited to see that type of gods.

Band 5-6

I belong to Hindu culture which is followed mostly in India so in this culture we worship our God. There are many restrictions, not many restrictions but there are some restrictions which we have to follow and that thing fascinates me a lot. In that we are not supposed to eat beef. Why? Because beef we worship it as a goddess so it's it's our goddess so we cannot eat them okay and the culture, the songs and the festivals which comes every month that's so crazy and Diwali's and Holi's there are many several there are several there are several festivals which I love the most this thing is

Band 5-6

so like I have born and brought up in Canada so my father were were Indians but I have never been to India so this Diwali I got a chance to visit India and to visit the cultural vibrancy in India during the peak festival time so it was Diwali the festival of lights and it gave it gave me a chance to go back to my roots and and look at the rich and varied culture of this part of the subcontinent what most intrigued me was the ethnic dressing of the people the vibrant colors and light on the in the market and outside their house balconies the sound of the classical sound being played at various crossroads and it was I was completely fascinated by the happiness happiness that people were showing on the streets the festival is mainly celebrated celebrated on mainly celebrated to celebrate celebrate the victory of truth over the evil and it is also celebrated as a as a mark of Lord Ram coming back to his hometown after defeating the evil in the south and like after having seen the different celebrations the food it was like very fascinating for me

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