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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

    I am currently a student, so I was waiting for my bus to reach my college. So when I was waiting, I saw a kid, a range of age about 4 to 5, eating a chocolate. After he eats the chocolates, he just throws the wrapper on the ground. I see his parents not tell him anything. So I waited for a second, I went near the kid and I approached him. This is not how you behave in the public, please pick up the garbage from the environment. I also gave him knowledge saying that as a citizen of your country, you should keep the environment safe, that is when the environment will protect you. While I was saying this to the kid, the parent looked at me and said, you have no rights to scold my child. I said, I didn't scold your child, I was just bringing the knowledge into him. The kid was also ignorant about it. Then I just stepped back and I realized this is not something I can solve by myself. While I was waiting for the bus, I just realized the parent also did the same thing. So that brought to my mind that it is the upbringing of the child. So the children usually learn from what their parents do. The parents also did the same thing, the kid also followed the same thing. I feel like the parents are bringing matters the most and people are very ignorant about this.

    Band 6-7

    Well, in recent days, children are behaving harshly to adults and elderly peoples. Once, we were standing in a bus stand to catch the bus. I saw 10 children walking by the street and riding their bicycles too fast which may lead to accident. They were throwing stones on elderly people and mocking them. This made me really uncomfortable. So, I told the children to play on the other side of the road. In spite, they were making serious jokes about me. This made me feel really bad because the children were not raised properly by their parents. They behave rude. We have to stop this dreadful and awful attitude. This may also lead and affect the children's growth and behavior towards public.

    Band 6-7

    There are several incidents that I have seen where children behave badly in public. But recently I have met an incident where a group of children was humiliating or bullying a kid who is just 10 years old. And they were constantly bullying her over his lower confidence. In spite of having their parents around them, they constantly tried to make comments on him and constantly making him feel like he is nothing. Moreover, the parents were not reacting to it, simply they were just standing there and not doing anything. Furthermore, one person came out of the group and started to tell all the children that it is not a good behavior to behave with this group. So they stopped bullying them and everyone just tried to focus on their work and ignored the incident.

    Band 6-7

    So, the first time I saw children behaving badly was in the supermarket and I had gone with my parents. So, I saw these kids were crying and throwing tantrums and having a fit. The many passerbys and onlookers were just staring at the kids, not really helping with anything and the mother was having a difficult time handling all the kids. I feel that it was bad manners but they were just kids who were trying to be kids, so maybe that could have been handled in a very better way and what the mom did was, you know, crouched down to their height and tried to ask them as to what happened and what they felt and what they wanted to do. She was trying to understand them as kids. She didn't really mind the way other people perceived her, but she was just trying to understand the kids and obviously, in the end, she did figure out as to what the kids actually wanted and she told the kids as to how they could have asked her in a better way rather than, you know, throwing a fit. So, I feel that sometimes we just shouldn't judge people by the way that, you know, you perceive it. We feel a mom knows best as to what her kids want and sometimes kids do throw a fit and so we need to learn how to deal with that problem, how to navigate it through the way she did with a lot of patience, calmness and kindness. She tried to understand, put herself in the kids' shoes and ultimately, she gave the solution that solved the problem and due to which the kids stopped crying and were back to being happy kids again. So, I think that is very important to learn how to deal with every situation. You need to deal it with a calm mind and composed mind, not always rush to give a conclusion for the problem.

    Band 6-7

    I once travelled through bus, saw some children coming back from school, they were abusing each other and laughing. They didn't realize that they were abusing so loud that they are making other people uncomfortable. The other people were not feeling comfortable, so they told the children to not use that word. But the children didn't understand and said a really cuss word to an old man and a woman who were trying to make them understand that they cannot abuse in a public transport. I think the youth needs to understand that cussing and using bad words is not being cool. They think they are looking very cool but they are not. They need to stop and understand some basic civil fence.

    Band 6-7

    Yes, I have seen children make tantrums at many point of time in my life. One of the event which I remember was when my niece was asking for some chocolates and I have bought it for her but she didn't like it. So she threw it away on the road. I felt it was a bad thing. So I taught her that please don't throw food on the street. It can be eaten but she didn't agree with me. When the people were looking at me that I was not able to manage the child but slowly she got my point as I hugged her and told her that the chocolate can be taken by her younger sister. She agreed to my point and then she took it for her sister and I have bought her a new one. These issues are faced by many parents and below 5 years of age children can be beaten or punished. So we have to handle them patiently. So I did that.

    Band 6-7

    Okay, so I would like to share about my experience that is about children who behave badly in public. There were some children, those were abusing at the place, those were abusing at the place of Rajwada Palace. There were many people available there and they were just looking through that children, those were abusing each other, fighting with each other and they constantly, constantly beating and throwing stone to each other and they had also a weapon. In this way they were behaving and it was the place of Rajwada. So I think so that if our parenting is well, if a parent badly focus on how they are parenting their child, so this, I especially think so that this is the main chapter which need to be studied in our today's era, that parents should be responsible for the parenting, parents should be responsible how they are nurturing their child, are they behaving well in the society, are they behaving well in public, so especially when parents will be responsible so they will understand that how we are nurturing them. If they are abusing today, if they are fighting today, so it is the biggest reason behind that their parents are failed to nurture them, their parents are failed to parenting, their parents are failed to give them best education, give them best parenting. So nowadays if especially I focus about my feeling here, so I would like to explain, I totally felt tremendously bad because in this way if children are behaving so automatically from where they are learning, they are learning from their alumni, so we should be focused on these issues.

    Band 6-7

    A recent incident where I saw a child behave badly in public was two days back at the mall. So the child was very rude and loud and was rebelling against his parents when they had I think said no to a certain thing that the child wanted. And he was quite rude, he was shouting at his parents and almost laid on the floor creating a ruckus over there. And the surrounding people found it disturbing of course because the scene was not very pleasant. But the people around did try to resonate with the child's behaviour that it was a child and certain behaviours are normal, common. But to me it was very surprising and hurtful because when I was a child my parents had very strict rules regarding behaving out in public. So we were allowed to behave as we want to within the home but outside we need to make sure that we are not being a disturbance to the people around us. But in this case scenario it was uncomfortable and painful for both the parents and the people around and such behaviours actually needs to be monitored by parents at home in order to teach their children that certain behaviours are not very favourable out in the public and even if they want to voice their opinions or something that they want it needs to be done in a more respectful and proper way.

    Band 6-7

    For me the time when children behaved badly in public was yes in metro a couple of days earlier when I was coming from college to my home and there was a mother and a child I guess he was 2 years old and I was just sitting by the window and suddenly that child started crying like crazily and moreover he was just crying a lot he was shouting he was insisting on buying him toys like usual likewise as like every other child do and his mother was trying to calm him down but he wasn't ready to calm down a bit and everyone around in our compartment was very frustrated and very annoyed at starting people were trying to be supportive but after sometime when the frustration hit a point everyone was really frustrated and was just very bad at last all the people including me many people including me we tried to entertain the kid and we finally stopped and we finally stopped him crying and we made him laugh yeah that was the most annoying thing when children that's most annoying thing when children do not listen to their parents or any elders and behave like that I do not appreciate that and yeah I guess when I was a child I did the same too

    Band 6-7

    Many times when I go out with my friends, I have seen children who are really small of their age, are usually behaving really bad because of the manners they are not taught properly by their parents. Because I believe not only school but the parents play the major and the crucial role in a child's life to help them learn and motivate them towards behaving in the best possible manner. One day, I was just out in the evening with my friend who had a coffee. We were just standing outside the cafe. I saw a child who was just littering out and tearing the paper and throwing it on the floor that is on the road. It was a clean and clean place but he was putting up rubbish and making it really bad. I felt really bad looking at that but I suddenly saw a mother was standing beside him but she was not stopping him from doing this. I believe that this is the really worst thing that the parents don't stop their children from doing the bad behaviors and ultimately it leads to the worst thing in their lifetime because they cannot survive with such manners in this world. I just went ahead to that child and talked to him and politely referred to him that he should not behave in the insufficient manner that would lead to the bad effect on his mind and on the world as well. He just politely looked at me and said, is this a really bad thing that I am doing and I abruptly answered him that yes, you should behave in the...
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