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Describe a time you saw children behave badly in public: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Where was it?
  • What were the children doing?
  • How do others react to it?
  • And explain how you feel about it.
Show all 151 answers

Cue 1:Where was it?

  • Begin by describing the location where you witnessed the children's behavior, making it relatable and vivid.
  • Mention any specific details about the environment that contributed to the situation.

Example

I was at a busy shopping mall in Mumbai last summer, a place filled with families and children enjoying their day out. The mall was bustling with activity, and the atmosphere was lively, with music playing and people chatting.

Cue 2:What were the children doing?

  • Clearly explain the actions of the children that you considered to be bad behavior.
  • Provide specific examples of what they did that stood out to you.

Example

While I was waiting for my friend near a toy store, I noticed a group of three children, probably around 7 to 10 years old. They were running around, shouting loudly, and even knocking over some displays. At one point, one of them threw a toy at another child, which was quite alarming.

Cue 3:How do others react to it?

  • Describe the reactions of the adults and other children around the situation.
  • Mention if anyone intervened or if people just ignored the behavior.

Example

The adults around seemed quite shocked. Some parents looked at their children with concern, while others just shook their heads in disapproval. A store employee approached the group and asked them to calm down, but the children just laughed and continued their antics.

Cue 4:And explain how you feel about it.

  • Share your personal feelings about the situation, whether you found it amusing, concerning, or frustrating.
  • Reflect on what this behavior might indicate about parenting or social norms.

Example

I felt a mix of frustration and concern. It was troubling to see such behavior in public, as it reflects a lack of discipline. I wondered if the parents were aware of how their children were acting. I believe that children need guidance on how to behave in public spaces.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, witnessing children behave badly in public can be quite unsettling. It serves as a reminder of the importance of teaching children proper behavior and respect for others in shared spaces. Such experiences highlight the role of parents and society in shaping children's conduct.

    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

    Using vague language can make your answer unclear. Candidates often fail to provide specific details about the situation, which can lead to a lack of engagement from the examiner.

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    Tip

    Include specific details about the location, actions of the children, and the reactions of others to create a vivid picture.

    2: Neglecting Personal Feelings

    Not expressing your personal feelings about the situation can make your response less engaging. Candidates often forget to share their emotional reactions, which are important for a complete answer.

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    Tip

    Reflect on how the behavior affected you and share your feelings to add depth to your response.

    Ignoring Others' Reactions

    Failing to mention how others reacted can leave your answer incomplete. Candidates sometimes focus only on the children and miss the broader context of the situation.

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    Tip

    Describe how bystanders or parents reacted to the children's behavior to provide a fuller picture of the event.

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    All Answers

    Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

    Band 6-7

    Once I saw a child misbehaving so badly in public that it became an annoying and embarrassing moment for everybody. It was in 2020 when the COVID hit really bad and people were started to migrate from one place to another to take shelter. When I went out to buy some groceries, there was this child along with his parent standing there annoying a senior citizen. The senior citizen, being weak and unable to react, was standing there waiting for his bus to come. At that point of time, the child was really aggressive. Not only the child was using abusive words to the elder person, but also started pushing the elder person into the street and saying you look ugly. It was at that point that the elder person started to feel sick and later he was moved into the hospital by the people who were waiting there. The most weird part about this incident was the parent was watching this with a little smirk on his face, thinking it is quite easy and okay to annoy somebody with this child. Later the entire public gathered, accusing the parent of a bad parenting, saying this is not the public place or this is not his house to show all this aggression to others. And they threatened him that they would complain this to the authorities and would make a fuss about it. Later the parent apologized to everybody and as per my knowledge, the person even took the expenses of hospital for the elderly person who was admitted. I find it really embarrassing and annoying to see such children who got a very bad parenting from their house, showing their aggression.

    Band 6-7

    One's behavior depicts the person's character, whether it is an adult or children or elderly. It actually shows how they have been brought up in their house or by their parents. During my travel from my college to my hometown, in a public, using public transport, I have experienced a very bad situation, where an elderly woman was sitting on the seat and there are many children about age of 15, 14 or 15, they were talking to her rudely, asking her to leave the space so that they can sit or carry their bags. She was not a healthy person and to be rude to elders is not something appropriate. Even though at that time, many people didn't react to it, later onwards, people started to ask them questions regarding why are you reacting in such a way, don't you have respect to the elders, is this a way that you talk to elders or consider her health issues or being an elderly person. Even though the people around them started questioning them, they were not ready to understand or accept the wrong that they have been doing. And it literally made me feel bad towards that woman and she has to sit in that seat along with carrying their bags with her and even though she was holding their bags, the children were talking in background.

    Band 6-7

    Talking about an event where I remember children not behaving appropriately dates back to 2020 as far as I remember. So I was in my car at a red light where I saw a group of children. They were five to six in number. So they just came around by my car and they started asking for food. So I had some of the packets in my car. So I distributed some biscuits and other food items that I had with me in my car. So the moment everything was distributed equally, the children in spite of getting busy with the food that I had given to them, they started asking for more. So this is when that saying comes into play that there is enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed. But at the same time, I feel that this isn't their fault. It's because of the circumstances or the conditions that they're living in. People who tend to be their parents or who are their parents are responsible for this kind of behavior because I feel a child is like a blank book. A parent for any child turns out to be the writer. So whatever the writer writes in a book is eventually feeded for the long term. So I feel that children should have been guided in a better way. That whatever you get, you should be grateful for it and be content with it.

    Band 6-7

    A time I saw a child misbehaving in public was around a year ago in a park. This child was caught pulling another child's hair. Although I assumed that the parents were going to reprimand the child, they instead yelled at the other child's parent, claiming that their child was the one who had started this fight. The argument began getting heated and this is when a pre-school teacher interjected and stopped the fight from escalating. Others around the fighting parents reacted negatively towards them and judged them harshly. In my opinion, I believe that both children should have been reprimanded instead of the parents fighting as it would have been better for the child to understand what they did was wrong instead of the parents to be fighting over who has a better parenting style. Moreover, this is a piece of advice that all parents can remember, that the children are The people are the focus on who should receive feedback for their actions and they are the people who need to learn from their actions.

    Band 6-7

    Last month, while jogging in a park, Sanki Tank, I noticed a couple of kids who were also playing nearby, if teased me while I was jogging, and others often turned a blind eye to such incidents. But it's quite appalling and alarming at the same time, if children's behavior is not regulated at a young age, they grow up to do more heinous things. And this was one such instance, as a young kid who is impressionable and often gets influenced by external factors, it is imperative that parents and adults around them cultivate habits that are good in the children. This one particular instance really shook me, as the person Eve teasing me was a child who was not older than 6-7 years of age, and this really portrays the deep patriarchy which is inculcated even in small children, and they are not to blame, because they are who they see around them, so the change needs to begin at home, as they say charity begins at home. I think good behavior in children can only be encouraged by their parents, by guardians and the people that are around them.

    Band 6-7

    It was the time near around the March or April I guess, so basically in my country there is a festival called as a Holi, so at that time basically people gather around and throw colour on each other, so similarly the children were playing but they were using the mud right and they were throwing on each other though it was a public place, so it wasn't allowed to throw the mud, but when people near the society or near the ground ask them to stop it, they didn't stop even they started yelling and they were in the group, so they didn't stop, moreover they started to throwing the mud on the animals near around them and also on the people, even when their parents arrive over there then they started to cry and yelling because of that parents also didn't try much harder to stop them and they thought like after playing sometime they will stop by themselves, so this was the case and after seeing it I was so reluctant to play Holi because of such misbehave by the children, later on I had a thought that before the Holi people should make children more aware about how to behave in the public places and how to act when they are playing.

    Band 6-7

    This is actually a pretty good question because I am a person who observes everything. And I have observed quite a lot of things in my life. And once when I was in my school, it was break time. I was going through the corridors of one of the classes, younger classes. I was in 12th, so I was basically going to meet a teacher who taught me in second standard. And on the way, I saw a group of kids. They were boys and they were kind of pushing another boy who was with them. So at first I was like, oh, maybe they are probably playing something or, you know, something like that. But later when I kind of got close to them, I realized that the other boy which I told about was crying. Then I realized that it was they were probably bullying that boy. So I have a very huge introvert. So I did not really have at first I was like, should I stand up for that boy? But then later I was like, OK, if I was in that place, I would be very happy if someone stood up for me. So I went, approached those boys and I asked them why they were doing that. And they were told they were just playing it for fun. I don't think the other boy found it very funny. And from what I know, the others around, they did not do anything like they were just standing there simply. And they were just, you know, kind of waiting for someone else to do other things. So that was not very common to find nowadays. Nowadays, people always just like to wait for others to do some things. But sometimes it's important that we take the initiative. Then others will just gradually follow up. And I am a person who despises bullying. So that's something which made me very angry too.

    Band 6-7

    So this was a very recent incident happened in my cousin's wedding. During the wedding in the church, few kids were playing here and there at the church and their parents were not reacting much to them. And I was like, okay. Later on I got to notice a child around 5 to 6 years old. He removed his shoes and just put it on his hands and walking over there and clapping with that. I was like, how can a parent not look at that kid? Most of the people were not happy with it, despising it. It can be noticed very well on their face, but there was a mask going on, wedding mask. So they were like ignoring it, what to tell. Then later on his grandmother came running to him and removed this hand, removed the shoes from him. Later on the same guy in the wedding, in the reception party, he was running here and there and ran over the stage while the cake cutting ceremony was going on. And he was rolling here and there and took flowers from the arrangement and picked it from that and spreading it all over there. And even he made himself dirty. Even after seeing all this, most people chose to ignore it and just shading their parents over it and not taking any action. This made me feel like how these kids were raised in their houses. Like when I was a kid, if we are doing something like that, my mom would just kick us on our butt and ask us to sit, do behave. Most of the parents nowadays choose to be free with their kid, but being free doesn't equate to not disciplining their kids.

    Band 6-7

    so once I visited a mall during the birthday of my cousin he is really small and we wanted to buy a toy for him so we were exploring the Hamleys store which is basically a toy store and as we were looking at different kinds of toys and educational toys puzzles we came across a child who was sitting on the floor crying because he wanted a toy that his mother did not approve of he was really stubborn and he was crying continuously which disturbed a lot of buyers over there and it grabbed attention really fast the mother of the child was really embarrassed and she was scolding him because it was not the right behavior I believe she shouldn't have brought her child there but since the kid was not listening she had to finally buy the toy for him so that he stops crying and making noises I think this shows how a parenting can affect children and I feel like his mother should be more strict towards him so he does not create chaos in the stores especially in public

    Band 6-7

    I once went to a restaurant with my family I once went to a restaurant with my friend In my nearby table there is a family of three A mom, a dad and one kid That kid is really naughty He was just playing around, messing with the waitress and the people in the restaurant It was really frustrating for us to watch the kid He did not stop it The parents did not take any measures to stop the kid Which is really questionable For me, the parents should take the responsibility and stop the kid Say, no, you shouldn't do this in here This is not our home, this is a public place The parents should say that But they never stopped the kid Which is really not good A few minutes later, the kid actually fell down Injuring his legs Crying really, really loud The parents panicked And went to pick up the kid Convincing him, it's okay, you're alright Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry I guess it is his karma For behaving really naughty And the parents should take some...
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