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Describe an important old thing that your family has kept for a long time: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What it is
  • How/when your family first got this thing
  • How long your family has kept it
  • And explain why this thing is important to your family
Show all 46 answers

Cue 1:What it is

  • Begin by clearly identifying the old item your family has kept.
  • Provide a brief description of its appearance and significance.

Example

The important old thing that my family has kept for a long time is a beautiful brass lamp. It has intricate designs carved on its surface and stands about two feet tall. The lamp has a warm, golden hue that adds a special charm to our home.

Cue 2:How/when your family first got this thing

  • Share the story of how your family acquired the item, including any special circumstances.
  • Mention who brought it into the family and any relevant historical context.

Example

My grandfather bought this lamp during his trip to Varanasi in the 1960s. He was captivated by its craftsmanship and decided to bring it home as a souvenir. It has been in our family ever since, passed down through generations.

Cue 3:How long your family has kept it

  • State the duration for which your family has owned the item.
  • Emphasize its longevity and any changes in its condition over the years.

Example

We have kept this lamp for over 60 years now. Although it has aged and shows some signs of wear, we have always taken great care to preserve it, ensuring it remains a cherished part of our family heritage.

Cue 4:And explain why this thing is important to your family

  • Discuss the sentimental value of the item and its connection to family traditions.
  • Explain how it represents your family's history and values.

Example

This lamp is important to our family because it symbolizes our heritage and the values of craftsmanship and tradition. Every Diwali, we light it to celebrate the festival, reminding us of our roots and the stories of our ancestors. It brings us together and keeps our family history alive.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, this brass lamp is not just an old object; it is a treasured family heirloom that connects us to our past and reinforces our family bonds. Its presence in our home serves as a constant reminder of our history and the love that has been passed down through generations.

    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: Avoid Vague Descriptions

    Using vague language can make your answer unclear and unengaging. It's important to provide specific details about the item to make your response more interesting.

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    Tip

    Include specific characteristics of the item, such as its age, appearance, and any unique features that make it special.

    2: Don't Rush Through Your Answer

    Rushing can lead to missing important details and making your speech sound disorganized. Take your time to think through each part of your answer.

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    Tip

    Practice pacing your speech by pausing briefly after each cue to ensure you cover all points clearly.

    Neglecting Emotional Connection

    Failing to explain why the item is important can make your answer less impactful. Personal stories create a stronger connection with the listener.

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    Tip

    Share a personal story or memory related to the item that highlights its significance to your family.

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    IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

    Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

    Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

    Answer

    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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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

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    Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

    Answer

    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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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

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    Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

    Answer

    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.
    Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned
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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

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    Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

    Answer

    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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    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

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    CBD Belapur Test Centre, Navi Mumbai

    Answer

    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

    If you are asking me for anything that my family had, I will talk about my favorite bike. Her name is Ruby. We all call her Ruby from the bottom of our heart. My father bought this bike three years ago and that was a time when our family first saw this bike at a showroom. At that time we never thought that we could have this bike in future but till now we are managing and taking care of this bike from last three years and this bike is very very important for us. We often take her out for a ride and we feel very good when we drive it, especially my brother. We feel it very smooth when he drives, such as like riding a boat on a water slide scene. She is very smooth. She rides it very long way without any difficulty or something else. She has got a very good efficiency in her engine and a good mileage as well. It's a reason that we all very like it and we are looking forward to have this bike for her future for next 10 years as well. My sister also loves this bike because of her color. She is very hot in red color with black stripes, a leather seat, brown and tan stretches on that.

    Band 6-7

    An important old thing that my family has kept for a long time is jewellery. According to my family, our ancestors' jewelleries are like blessings for our family. It is very important for our family whenever our new generation marries, they transfer the jewellery to the young family. And gold is also a good asset for a future problem. Recently the gold price has risen too much high, so it is also a good asset which provides us a good return for a bad time. If we have any problem, we can also take a gold loan by giving bank gold as collateral. So it is a very good asset and my family kept it for a long time. And they kept it in a locker in the bank. And jewellery is also a good thing, good accessories for women and men also. In India, people are more fascinated with gold jewellery. It embraces our looks by adding some accessories with your dresses. And in India, people mostly love gold rather than diamonds and platinum jewellery.

    Band 6-7

    So, the object that I would like love to describe that and that my family has considered very lucky and preserved it for a long time is the idol of Ganeshji of Lord Ganesha made of gold. It's a very small idol, technically maybe three into one centimeter and it was handed over to my great-grandmother by her father when she was married to my great-grandfather. She had kept it with herself and considered the idol very lucky and she kept it very close to her heart and when her children got married, she handed over the idol of Lord Ganesha to my grandfather and he possessed it for a very long time until he gave it away to my father to keep it safe and sound because it is considered very lucky and whenever we go for an exam or maybe an important day in any of our lives, we...

    Band 6

    One of the old objects that my family has preserved until now would be a hand mixer. So a hand mixer is like a plate, thick plate made up of stone which has a stone roller on which we actually put different types of ingredients and roll using this roller. So currently due to the growth of technology we have digital mixers or electronic mixers. But do we really get the taste that we get using a hand mixer? Not really. So a hand mixer plays a really important role in everyday lives of a person from the 80s or even dating back to the 2000s or maybe around the 1920s. So that time hand mixer was extensively used compared to an electronic mixer. Electronic mixer is more towards making the work easier and convenient for people and faster. Hand mixer takes time but things that take time are obviously the best things ever. Hence hand mixers do take time but you get the best taste of food when you cook using those hand mixers rather than an electronic mixer. Electronic mixers will help you in making your work faster or doing your work faster but wouldn't give you the same essence of food.

    Band 6

    There are many important old things that my family has kept for a long time and which basically values more than anything to me and my family, but there is one such thing which is continuously being transferred from three generations and has value and worth more than anything else. It's none other than an old beautiful gold necklace which my great-grandfather gifted it to my great-grandmother during his engagement which is now being passed to my grandmother, now my mother and my brother's wife. It is nearly 70 years old and carries a lot of cultural and emotional values to my family.

    Band 6

    The thing that which is very an important thing for me that is mobile. My family has kept this for a long time because they have it when I was in like school life later on they haven't given me since then then I was in 11th and 12th after completing 11th and 12th also it was with them then I had the need of that but still my parents kept it because as not to like change my behavior and like not to have the bad effects on me like as we know there are lot of disadvantages of using mobile we have advantages as well but when we are not that much grown up so that is it creates a bad like bad kind of thing so yeah my family has kept it for a very long time and they have given me when I have completed my graduation so this was the thing that I feel like which is very important that has to be given before but I have got it very late and yeah regarding this mobile phones are actually the need of an hour but in those days when we were there it was not that much common nowadays it is very important like for everyone to have to have the understanding of it and to know what is happening around the world yeah that was the thing mobile phone which kept me yeah holding for that.

    Band 6

    We all do know that televisions have revolved and revolutionized over time and the first televisions were probably recorded in the 50s and 60s and they've come a long way to us having smart TVs now. So one of the most important things which my family has kept for a long period of time is the television which they first bought, which were bought by their grandparents and it could be dated to about 30 years back and those televisions are certainly important to them as they do remind them a lot about their childhood and how it shaped them up, all the movies they watched together as a family, the news they used to watch, probably the only television channel being on that television was Doordarshan and how they would gather all together as a family in the evening or the night and view it together in one sitting and it does give us a contrast to how things have changed to the future and now of how the televisions have evolved and we have smart TVs now where we have all the apps in one television, be it OTT platforms or YouTube or even gaming and video calls so it does show us how things have changed over time.

    Band 6

    Our family has kept an idol of Lord Ganesha, which was given to us by our, which was given to us by my grandmother. As she gifted this idol to my mother on her birthday, this is very special to us because as now my grandmother died, this is the last thing which is left for us in her memory. And we have kept it from past 10 years. Although my grandmother died recently, but till these days, that idol was so special to us. And now it has become more special after we lost her, lost my grandmother. This has been an important piece in our house because we think that it's a good luck charm for us. Since we got this idol, everything positive has been happening in our family. For example, after getting this idol, my dad got a promotion and we constructed a new house and my sister got into a college for master's and I got into a college for my undergraduation and everything went well after getting, after bringing this idol to, in our house. And it is a good luck charm for us and it is very special to us because in our culture, we do feel that getting any gifts from the older people is getting their blessings and having the blessings for the rest of the life, even if they are with us or not with us.

    Band 6

    so a long and old thing my family has kept is a mixer grinder yes so the mixer grinder we have been having it for like 20 plus years they got it when my mom was facing difficulty in grinding batter or any chutneys or any kind of powders which she wants on her daily basis and my dad was my dad was feeling bad for my mom to see to grind herself grind the mixtures whatever by herself on a stone grinder so he instantly took my mom out and he got this mixer grinder and that was the first gift i guess my dad has ever got from my mom without asking so my mom has been using for it for like more than 20 years and it has it has which is a bajaj company and it has like four jars four mixer jars one is juicer for powders for paste and one is a blender and my mom has always used this one almost like every day and it really didn't have any problem the problem which got was due to the short circuit happened because of the electricity but they have always kept the mixer grinder and it has really run a long time my dad always used to repairs it so my mom always cherishes this mixer grinder because it has been with her since her time of since she started learning cooking

    Band 6

    So there is one gold necklace which was given by my grandmother to my mother and father. So it is a very precious necklace. They have kept it and it is I think very old because my grandmother also got that necklace from my great grandmother. So it's like a generational thing which is passing, which they are passing to the newer generation. So it's a very beautiful necklace. It is made of full of 24 carat gold and it is highly fragile also. So my mother usually she does not wear this necklace unless and until it is a very important occasion and when all the family members are there especially my grandmother so that my grandmother can feel happy and she can be happy after seeing my mother wearing that necklace because it is very precious to her also. And now my mother is planning to give this necklace to the newer generation which is my sister-in-law so that she can also keep it safe and use it whenever it is required. And I think investing money on gold is a very smart move to increase your money, the amount of money so that it will help in future whenever it is required.
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