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Describe a time you enjoyed a free day off work or school: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • When the day was?
  • What you did during the day?
  • Who you spent it with?
  • And explain why it was enjoyable.
Show all 116 answers

Cue 1:When the day was?

  • Mention a specific date or time frame to give context to your story.
  • Explain why this day was significant for you, such as a holiday or a personal reason.

Example

The day I enjoyed my free day off was on the 15th of August, which is India's Independence Day. I had planned this day off in advance to celebrate the occasion with my family.

Cue 2:What you did during the day?

  • Describe the activities you engaged in throughout the day.
  • Include a mix of relaxing and engaging activities to show how you made the most of your time.

Example

I started my day with a leisurely breakfast at home, followed by watching the flag hoisting ceremony on television. Later, I took a walk in the nearby park, enjoying the fresh air and the festive atmosphere. In the afternoon, I prepared a special lunch with my family, and we even watched a patriotic movie together.

Cue 3:Who you spent it with?

  • Mention the people you shared this day with, highlighting their importance to you.
  • Explain how their presence contributed to the enjoyment of the day.

Example

I spent this day with my parents and younger sister. Being together as a family made the day even more special, as we shared stories about our country's history and enjoyed each other's company.

Cue 4:And explain why it was enjoyable.

  • Reflect on the feelings and emotions you experienced during the day.
  • Discuss the significance of taking a break from work or school and how it impacted your well-being.

Example

This day was enjoyable because it allowed me to relax and reconnect with my family. After a hectic work schedule, having a day off to celebrate our independence and bond with loved ones was refreshing. I felt grateful and happy, which made the day memorable.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, my free day off on Independence Day was a perfect blend of relaxation and celebration. It reminded me of the importance of family and taking time for myself, making it a truly enjoyable experience.

    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 makes the response less engaging and informative.

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    Tip

    Include specific details about the day, such as activities, locations, and feelings to make your answer more vivid and interesting.

    2: Ignoring the Cues

    Some candidates forget to address all the cues provided, leading to incomplete answers that may not fully satisfy the examiner's expectations.

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    Tip

    Make sure to answer all the cues: when the day was, what you did, who you were with, and why it was enjoyable.

    Overly Complicated Language

    Using complex vocabulary or sentence structures 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. Focus on being understandable rather than using difficult words.

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    IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

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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.
    Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language
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    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

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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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    Anonymous student Band 7

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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 6-7

    The time I enjoyed the most was in my school days. It's the time the school have been closed for the on-vacations. At the time, I and my cousins have went to the most famous place in my town. It's the Padmanabhaswamy Kshetra. It's an old temple and we enjoyed a fabulous time there, seeing all the old monuments and the historical places, and the kings and the queens' bedrooms, their kitchen and the old weapons. We all enjoyed a beautiful day there with our family and I think it has made my day wonderful because spending time with our family and our friends is the best time that we get in our lifetimes. So, whenever I get some free time, I will be enjoying with my family and my cousins. Also, it will give our mind a soothing effect and it will relax our mental health and physical health. So, spending time with family is the great time. Also, I think it's enjoyable because I am having the most loved ones of mine around me. So, whenever we are...

    Band 6-7

    Well, I don't really take offs from the school, however, today I'm gonna talk about a time when I enjoyed a free day of work, of school, well, it was like a month ago and I was regularly going to school, however, my cousins arrived, they came from Singapore as they live there, I didn't know about them, they were coming and I thought that taking off would be better, well, at first I hesitated, although it was necessary to take off, afterwards I really you know enjoyed their party as we did a lot of things, we went to different places, you know, enjoying the visiting, we went to different places in our village, as well as cow sheds at extra, apart from that we even had a lot of food, we had like, you can say, I can say that we had a party, moreover, we played plenty of games like cricket, like online games also, which I do love the most, it was really enjoyable, they were my favourite cousins, so I really appreciate the day and I just felt over the moon, I really look forward to spend more time with them, yes, so that was the day I really enjoyed whenever I take off from school.

    Band 6-7

    A day in my school was the most enjoyable day in my school days because I have enjoyed it along with my friends as that day was raining and without power supply the whole classroom looked like, looked very dark and the class teacher left the classroom as there is no power connection, power supply to the classroom and also students are very much afraid of attending the classes without power and that day we have spent the whole day along with our friends in the classroom. We have started playing a lot of games like bingo and scribble like drawing and showing it to one and one half to find what it is, we have played something like that and that is one of the best day in my schooling and also in workplace there are many days which I have enjoyed a lot, one of the day is the safety day where me and my friend, I mean the colleague have participated in several games and won all of the games whichever we have participated is one of the enjoyable days in my work.

    Band 6-7

    Recently I got a free day off last week, during that day off I went up hills to Kasauli with my husband. It was great being there as going to Kasauli is always my cup of tea. I just love being there because of the natural beauty that Kasauli is having. I really like the mountain ranges which Kasauli has and also my favorite thing visiting Kasauli is the scenic beauty which I could see while driving to Kasauli. And luckily it was a day when it was raining and it was raining heavily and it was really pleasant being there and I really enjoyed a lot with my better half being to Kasauli. My favorite part of Kasauli is the sunset point. There is a beautiful sunset point which is nearly 5 minutes from Kasauli and it's really very mesmerizing that you see the sunset over there and it's basically an area which is governed by the army so no private vehicles are allowed. You have to take a vehicle, a cab from there and they take you to the sunset point along with a temple which is called the monkey point. There is a temple where we have Lord Hanumanji and Lord Hanuman and that point is called the monkey point and you will be so amazed to see the beauty after visiting there. There are so many monkeys around and you can make them feed anything whatever you like to and thereafter what me and my husband did was we came to a road that is called the mall road which is just another 5 minutes drive from this monkey point and there we enjoyed our day and later we had great meals.

    Band 6-7

    When I was in my 10th class in school, we had an unexpected holiday at that day. All of my friends came to the school for, as usual, daily school time. And we'd go to the prayer and our principal announced that today is a holiday due to the death of Honorable APJ Abdul Kalam and we had a holiday at that day. And it was a very sad moment for us because we lost one of the greatest scientists of all time for India. But as a kid we were more happy about that we don't have to take classes and on that day we have a test of English and we were really scared of that on that time because we didn't study. And our teacher scolded us a lot so we were very scared. And after hearing the news we were very happy and all of my friends would go to the ground and play football all day. And the best part of that when we were playing football, it was winter time and the snowfall was starting to appear and we were playing football. That moment was so sad for me because it was so memorable. I'm enjoying with my friends playing football and also the weather is so super nice. Like I want to feel that moment again but it's not gonna happen. And we also enjoy, after we play, after the end of the game we go to the cafe and we had a good lunch over there because it was the first time in our school life we had a lunch together outside from school and we were very happy and it is a very memorable moment for me and for my friends as well. Whenever we talk about that day we feel very surprised like we do a lot of things and the scenery was so beautiful.

    Band 6-7

    When it comes to the time which I enjoyed my leisure day off from work, I will say that it happened recently, just three days back when I got a Saturday off. Usually during my leisure time I used to clean my area as well as I will try to plan the week ahead. This time also I did the same. Along with that I was able to complete one book. As I am a habit reader, I usually used to read books. So this time also I got some time to finish one book which I longingly wanted to finish. The name of the book was Chetan Bhagat's One Arranged Marriage Murder. It was a nice book and after that I spent some time with my roommates and it's very hard for us to get some time to sit together and chit chat. But this time it happened and we were able to talk nearly two hours and we ordered some food from one of the food delivery apps and we ate it together. It was overall a nice experience and the day went well. It was an enjoyable day although I didn't get enough time to sleep but it gave nice memories and a nice experience and I felt a satisfying time. The main reason behind that was I was able to complete that book and I was able to have a good conversation with one of my friends and along with that I was able to finish my cleaning part as I am a person who is very obsessed with cleaning and neatness.

    Band 6-7

    Well, personally I like the day offs or holidays because over the week I have a hectic schedule in the weekends also. I like to talk about a time when I enjoyed my free day off. Couple of months ago in the first March in my school I enjoyed a lot because I called my friends and a lot of more than 50 friends in my home and when they came we enjoyed a lot. We do cooking and did cooking after that we saw a Netflix series and make fun with each other. Moreover, in the evening we were go out and enjoyed outdoor activities like cricket, football and a lot of another games. So it was the best day for me because in the night me and my friends sleep with each other. We didn't slept more than 3 hours. We do a lot of things like clicking pictures with each other and made a meal. This was the best meal for me because I made a rice pudding. It was a very scrumptious dish that I made. So another day I felt it was the best time for me because I enjoyed my whole life in one day. So this is the best time and I also.

    Band 6-7

    Yesterday, I got a free day off to school. It was due to heavy rain in my district. The district administration, which is headed by the Thrissur District Collector, provided a holiday due to heavy rain. We were very happy since it was a totally unexpected holiday. On that day, me along with my friends went to play indoor games in my house. We played game board, chess and snake and ladder. It was a nice and memorable day. On the evening, we saw a movie. The name of the movie was Titanic and at the end of the movie, the ship sank. On the next day, we went to school.

    Band 6-7

    So, a free day off from work or school is really appreciated. I think everyone needs that free day. But when it is sudden or unexpected, it gives us more joy to have that rest day unexpectedly. So, I remember this day when I was in school, sorry, when I was in college that I had a day off. I was in so much pressure that I had a lot of works and tasks to be completed in that week. We did not have a free day or even an hour at that semester and the semester was really tough and tight. So, one fine day I was going to the college and when I reached the college, we heard a news rumored about in the class that there was a strike by the opposing party. We did not give it much thought, but when people came and called for the strike at our campus and the campus was closed for the day, it was so much joy. We did not think about just running to our homes and having the day off. Me and some of my very good friends just sat on the campus and had hearty talks. We discussed about our semester and how it is tough. We shared our experiences in subjects and dealing with the tension that we go through. It was really relaxing. Later, we all had

    Band 6-7

    A day when me and my friends have gone to a resort where all the physical activities was there to explore it, I went to that resort in my school days and me and my friends have enjoyed a lot at that time and I have gone there with my friends, the resort was very astonishing and admiring, the resort was full of trees, plants and small animals, the resort had pet animals and also it had contained physical activities as well and we have explored many things over there including the other museum articles as well, moreover we have done a competition between us for completing the physical activities situated over there, it was a beautiful day when me and my friends were off to the week and it was
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