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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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    Anonymous student Band 8

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    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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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

    So, there was a time when I had been to a wedding and I saw some of my relative's children behave very badly in public. So, I observed that these children were feeling very bored at the function and they decided to go and bully other children in order to get some entertainment themselves. So, they went to the other kids and started calling out bad names in front of everybody. They also started to snatch away their personal belongings. As a result, people in the wedding venue tried to handle this issue by calming the children down and making them understand that this kind of practice is not appropriate in public. They also threatened the children that they would inform their parents if they did not stop creating this much chaos.

    Band 6-7

    There was a time when I saw children behave badly in public and it was in the park. I went to take a walk in my nearby park and over there I saw children picking up fights with kittens. They were really, really young but that does not give them an excuse to just throw stones at kittens or pick their tails and swing them around. People nearby were just watching and until the parents came and explained to the children not to do so, I felt really bad because this is a thing that parents should teach first but their parents did not and this really hurt me because I am an animal lover myself. Then I went and told the child not to do so after their parents scolded him and I also explained why not to do that to the kittens. They were living beings after all. Just because they don't talk, it does not mean that they don't have a voice. There will be someone out there who will be looking after them. I was happy that I was there for the kittens.

    Band 6-7

    It was when I was attending a marriage, there were a few kids who were just running around the marriage hall and it was quite okay I would say, because kids do usually play, but it started to annoy me and everyone else when they started throwing water at each other and they were spilling the water down on the floor, it was making the whole floor messy. Everyone was quite pissed, but they started ignoring it, because it would then get quite awkward if they started asking them not to do that. What I think is, it's parents' responsibility to control their kids and teach them how to act in public spaces, because if they don't, it would get worse, they'd start misbehaving more and that would annoy other people as well, and what I feel is, I went blank.

    Band 6-7

    So I would like to express a real life scenario that could explain this question. So me and my family we went to see a movie. It was just near our house at the theaters and it was fully packed and there were so many people with us and everyone was excited because this movie is a sequel of a pre-existing movie. So people were curious and they were expecting this movie to be good. So everyone was just ready and excited for the movie to get on. So after some time there was some people behind us and they brought their children with them. Even though the movie suggested that they could not enter the theater and if the children are below 13, they would not be legally get passed in the theater. But even though the legality was in question, the theater staff, they gave them the green pass and they entered the theater and they sat just behind us. Now this movie contains some graphical material. So in between the movie started and the children behind us, they started to cry and it was so loud that everyone was disturbed. It was a moment where everyone fought back with them and told them to just move to another place or just go out of the theater and let us enjoy. And they did not oblige and that is a very, I would say a very annoying thing that a person can do. And they not only ruined their experience but it was the whole theater and every person who was excited for the movie.

    Band 6-7

    I have seen number of times teenagers or juveniles badly behaving in the public and making people even embarrassed. This was a time when I was roaming in the park nearby my house. So I saw that one child was uprooting the plants. I felt very bad when I saw him that he was just uprooting all the plants. Additionally, I wanted to stop him but I couldn't as being an introverted person. After some time, I watched an old man came to him and started advising him that he should not do so. One thing I liked the most was that the old man did not scolded him, he just tried to make him understand that the things he was doing was not right at all. Later, additionally, then moreover, few of the... I have seen number of times when childs or juveniles behaving badly in the public. This was a time when I was roaming in the evening in the park nearby my home just to relax myself. There, I saw small child, he was uprooting the plants and flowers which was very bad. After seeing him, I was quite nervous but could not approach him because of being an introverted person. Moreover, I saw after some time, an old man came to him and started advising him that he should not do so. The one thing I liked the most about that old man was that he did not scolded that small child for his mistake. He just tried to make him understand what is right and what is wrong which was the thing that I liked the most. Moreover, after some time, when the parents of that child arrived, the old man told him that you should not leave a small child like this in this way. As he was uprooting the plants, the parents and the child apologized for their mistakes and replied that they will not do so in the future. This was the moment which taught me that instead of scolding to children, they must be taught or made understood in such a manner that they would learn a lesson.

    Band 6-7

    I think the last time I saw a child behaving inappropriately was in a mall which lies very close to my house and I saw a kid who was very bad in expressing his thoughts to his mother. I understand he wanted to go home because he was feeling tired but he was just ordering his mother saying mom can you just start walking. I think this comes from the mother because a child grasps whatever the mother teaches you or reacts to you in a stressful situation and the child was very ill mannered and that is something that did not go well with what I feel has to match to the standards of the society as a child and I also feel a child needs to behave according to their age it should not be exposed to a lot of situations where you have a choice for example exposing them to reality shows like Big Boss will make them think that it is normal because they in their mind are in a very much different perspective than as we have an understanding of what is right and what is wrong but they are very immature and small to understand because of this I also feel it is an influence of all the cartoons like Doraemon and many other things to give you an example I have been in that situation where I had lived in a hypothetical world where I watched a movie which was actually not supposed to be shown to me when I was young because in that the teacher yells at the student for no good reason and she believes that she was very stressed because of her personal reasons

    Band 6-7

    When I saw this was in a restaurant called Arabian Hotspot, about a few months back. So there were two children who were sitting next to their parents while the parents were eating food. They seemed to be unhappy that they were very hungry and the food came in late. And so they started throwing a tantrum. And they were throwing food all around the place. They were trying to throw the plates away. They were hitting their parents and they were screaming at the top of their voices. The parents were trying to hush them down saying that they are outside and they should behave well in front of strangers. But to no avail. A lot of waiters came and tried to distract them but it did not help. As for me, I felt bad that the parents were helpless as well as for the children who could not regulate their emotions. Being a mother now, I realized how tough it must be for the parents to undergo such a scene where the children are not behaving well in public. So what I did that day was I had a few toys in my bag. And so I reached out to them and I shared my baby's toys with them and asked them if they would like to play with them. They were initially shocked that a stranger came and approached them. But they also looked surprised and happy that they had a new distraction. So they began playing with the toys and slowly their tantrum reduced. And their mother was able to feed them smoothly and their father was able to talk to them normally. Both of them thanked me and I went back to lunch with my family.

    Band 6-7

    I got a chance to get on a bus and I observed children's behavior these days. There was an old man standing in front of him, weak and tired after work and when I was a child, I would have standed for him to sit and relax but today's generation has no values on manners or respect to elders and the people around them is not considerate. I don't know, they don't even value those things anymore and the children were enjoying and sitting on the bus without even considering. I got a chance recently to get on a private bus and I saw some children sitting on the bus and after some instance an old man stood in front of them and they didn't even bother. He was weak, tired after his work, I don't know maybe had concussion and he was sweating. At my childhood times, we remembered we would have stood up for the old people or pregnant ladies to sit and to relax on the private bus as we know it is a rush and we could not breathe on the bus. And today's generation has no manners and respect to elders. I don't know, maybe their school mustn't be teaching them about the manners or they may be getting these exaggerated characters from home or from their friends. Children nowadays influencing to negative and more massive areas than kind and polite. So yeah, that was a very disturbing experience for me.

    Band 6-7

    Recently, I went to an amusement park near my town, and there I saw an incident of a child behaving improperly in public. The child was with his parents, and they were taking him to a stall that he himself wanted to go to. Once he reached there, he started crying and saying that he didn't want to be there and instead wanted something else. That caused a little irritation in the parents when they started scolding him about this sudden change of preference. This led to the child lying on the ground and crying uncontrollably and exhibitively to suggest how upset he was. This happened when they were standing in a queue, which caused even more irritation in the public around. One tried to shush the kid and tell him to stay quiet, but he kept on crying uncontrollably again and again. I shared the same feeling as that of the people and tried to console the kid so that he would stop crying. I felt that parents need to discipline their child when they are in a public place. Enforcing this discipline is not only important for the child's benefit, but also to maintain silence in public.

    Band 6-7

    During my summer break, I went for a walk in the nearest garden to my house. While I was walking and listening to music, I saw a group of small young children playing in the park. But after a little while, I could hear some noise from the back. So I decided to check on them and from a distance I could see that 3-4 children were bullying a small and weak child who looked young in age compared to them. To listen to that conversation more closely, I could hear that they were bullying him because he was not playing as per the mark or he was not ready to play the certain game that they wanted to. And I felt really bad for that child because this really demonstrates the social norm and the social aspects where the weak are always bullied or the weak people who do not have a voice for their own selves are always bullied which is very concerning and should be looked after. So what I did was I went and I explained them such thing that you should not bully the weak and I taught them that they should always try to uplift the other guy to their own mark if they think such. And I really felt bad seeing such a thing happening to a society where I live which we always think that we live in a very good society but we do not actually know till we get down and get to know the people living with us. But yeah, I feel the problem here is not the little children because not always do the little children know what they are always doing. It's always learnt or brought down by the parents. So I feel the parents should also teach their own children some social norms.
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