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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

    A time when I saw that the children were behaving badly in public was once I was returning back home from my office. I saw that children were in the park, were plucking the flowers instead of playing. I felt very bad and the rest of the people who were present in the park were also very disappointed because they were harming the environment and destroying the surroundings. I felt very disappointing and it was very bad to harm the nature. I saw the children were not at all listening to anyone.

    Band 6-7

    During my undergraduate studies in Chennai, I experienced a bizarre incident on a local train. Government school children were recklessly hanging onto the footboard, chasing down the moving train and jumping off before it had even come to a complete stop at the railway station. It was one of the most trillious journey I had ever encountered, as their actions disputed passengers and posed serious risk. At one particular station, a group of children blocked the path of an elder lady, attempting to disembark. As a result, she missed her intended stop and in split seconds nearly fell onto the tracks due to their careless behaviour. Fortunately, a few passengers intervened and just in time, saving her from a potential tragic accident. Watching the scenes unfold, I could not help but think perhaps fate had granted her more time to enjoy life's simple pleasures, and that moment was which I can't forget. Every time I encounter that moment, when I'm travelling in a local train, so that I always tell to my nephews or some other cousins, be safe out there when you are travelling in a local train, you can encounter these kind of events, don't stand on the footpath, always follow the safety rules and never ever stand on footpath and you want to on board train while it stops only, never chase a moving train or don't jump out of a train before it even stops in the railway station, so be careful while you are travelling in a train.

    Band 6-7

    Discussing bad habits and manners of children these days, parent figures nowadays think that it's normal behaviour. But I don't think it is from my perspective and it is really not acceptable. I remember last month when I travelled in train, there were four children who were sharing the same train block with me and they were throwing waste, spitting water on each other, climbing up and down throughout the journey. Talking about how people are reacting to this is that if parents are not saying anything to their children behaving like that, obviously other person can't say anything to them. But I even told them to stop these things for once and twice, but they were not listening. I don't know whose mistake is this, the children's or the parents. But my experience was totally ruined, it ruined my journey. It made so hard for me to travel peacefully, even I wasn't able to sleep throughout the journey. They were crying, they were so stubborn that every time anything was denied by their parents, they were trying to achieve that thing by crying, by making nuisance in the journey. And I think that is totally ridiculous.

    Band 6-7

    I'm gonna talk about a time that children behaved badly in public. When I was in the park which is located near to my home. The name of the park is Amir Khan Park. It was one of the greatest park I ever visited. Because they have a lot of things to do. Like they have a playing area for children. For adults they have a calisthenics place where we can do exercise and we can walk a bit. It's one of the greatest places. Many more people visit that place in evenings and mornings. In addition they have a cafeteria where we can have coffee and tea. Moreover we can have snacks there. One time while visiting that park I went with my sisters because they are into parks. They like more visiting parks. One day I visited and on that day my sisters were playing in the circus. They were playing in the circus. One child came and suddenly bit my sister. I don't know what they were doing. I thought they were just playing. He kept on beating my sister and I went to ask why he was beating her. He didn't reply anything. The child was so silent on that time. Other people who were in the park also asked why he was doing that. The child was silent on that time too. After that I carried my sisters and went out. What I think about this is... I blame Paris because they are accountable for this.

    Band 6-7

    This event took place in a supermarket. It was around maybe three years ago. I saw a small kid making a mess of an aisle. In my past, I would have to say whenever I went to a supermarket with my parents, my parents definitely made sure that I wasn't a bad child. Moreover, they tried to teach me responsibility and paying respects to the people working there and not trying to create problems for the people working there or create extra work for them. So I tried to behave that way ever since I was a child. Even currently when I go to a store, I try to fix up certain parts of an aisle when I visit there if it's just a small amount whenever I take an item. The aim was to make sure a clerk working there wouldn't have to do an extra amount of work and to ease a little bit of stress of their day as it could be really hectic to do these kinds of tasks daily. So when I saw this event happen a few years ago, I was really upset by this. I tried to look for the child's parents first but I couldn't find them anywhere. So then I got the attention of a store clerk who took the child aside and then made an announcement a few minutes later about a lost child and then the parents came and collected them in the end. I feel like the parents should have a bigger responsibility over their children especially when they are outside as this behavior can lead to a lifelong problem where the children or the future adult wouldn't learn respect and wouldn't learn how to treat other people properly. For example, this could lead to them treating their friends poorly as well or treating people who work in other restaurants or other shops just as bad as they did here. So I think the parents should really take action and look for a solution.

    Band 6-7

    A few months ago, I was travelling from Delhi to Amritsar, then we were sitting on the train and two children were playing on the train and one of them was touching the passengers luggage and including mine and lots of passengers sitting behind me were very irritated with these things and I can say that parents should teach them what should do and what should not do because even their parents were totally free what their children were doing so they did not bother, even I complained to their parents that their children were touching my luggage even my mobile phone so they did not take it very seriously so I recommend to every parents to teach their children manners and even I scolded her a lot because their parents did not take it very seriously so I scolded but even it does not so my scolding did not affect them

    Band 6-7

    A few weeks back I saw a fight on the cricket ground. Some of the students were playing cricket and there was a misunderstanding wherein one team felt that the other team was cheating. One of the teammates threw the bat and walked away. The teammates were angry, frustrated and disappointed. Some of them were disappointed because the game got ruined and the teammate walked away. It wasn't a healthy match. Upon understanding, it was found that it was nobody's fault and it could have been avoided with some discussion. I feel that patience is key. They could have discussed during the game if there was any misunderstanding. So the fight arised when one of the teammates counted the wrong score. Because of this, the team that was not supposed to win actually won. But there was a fault of the batting team as well because they actually counted the wrong score. But it was also the responsibility of the bowling team to keep track of the score which they did not. So equally both of them had the fault. There was a lot of fighting and using of bad words during this fight which was not a good sign.

    Band 6-7

    So, it was a day before yesterday only where I saw some children's behaving badly in public. As my cousins planned to go for a picnic, so we decided to have a get together. We decided to buy things from a supermarket for the picnic. So, we went to the supermarket and there I saw some children's behaving very badly in public. As their parents were doing grocery shopping, the children were busy with their phones and video games. So, an old lady came and asked them to help her.

    Band 6-7

    So, it is about my niece, so... It's about my niece, actually, so we have a tradition, a family tradition, where every summer, we have a small gathering, either at restaurant or we go to our native place or any other resort. So, we went up for the restaurant and we were having, we ordered our dinner, we was, like we sat, we were having a conversation between all the family, elders and all the siblings and my niece, he was playing around and he was talking too loud, he was misbehaving a lot, roaming around there, running, disturbing other tables and so my aunt and uncle, his grandparents, they told him to sit quietly at one place but he was not listening to them and he started talking very rude to them, they, he started using foul languages and it was really disturbing for other tables as well. We tried to explain him a lot, not to speak to your grandparents like that but since he was small, he was not very, like, having that knowledge about it, what we were telling. So, it depends how parents teach them, how parents teach their children. He was pampered a lot when, like, when he is still small, giving him whatever he asked for, how he is surrounded with other children, how he is listening to what parents are telling, what other society peoples are telling. So, he was pampered a lot and it was very difficult to handle him at that restaurant and my sister tried to explain him a lot, she started shouting to him.

    Band 6-7

    The last time I saw children behaving very badly in public was at the park in the evening time. Like there were four kids, they were playing cricket and one of them started fighting with the other kid for like who is going to do the batting and then suddenly the parent of that kid rushed to them and convinced them you both will do batting chance by chance wise. Like there was a tremendous amount of crowd gathered around that student but in the end the fight was resolved and they were playing happily.
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