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Describe an interesting traditional story: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What the story is about
  • When/how you knew it
  • Who told you the story
  • And explain how you felt when you first heard it
Show all 66 answers

Cue 1:What the story is about

  • Begin by summarizing the main plot of the traditional story, highlighting its key themes and characters.
  • Mention any cultural significance or moral lessons that the story conveys.

Example

The story I want to share is about 'The Ramayana', an epic tale from Indian mythology. It narrates the journey of Lord Rama, who embarks on a quest to rescue his wife, Sita, from the demon king Ravana. The story is rich in themes of duty, honor, and the triumph of good over evil.

Cue 2:When/how you knew it

  • Describe the context in which you first encountered the story, whether it was through reading, storytelling, or media.
  • Mention any specific time or event that made this story memorable for you.

Example

I first heard this story during my childhood, when my grandmother used to narrate it to me every evening. It was a cherished family tradition, and I looked forward to those storytelling sessions, especially during the festive season of Diwali.

Cue 3:Who told you the story

  • Identify the person who shared the story with you and explain their relationship to you.
  • Share any personal anecdotes about how this person made the story come alive.

Example

My grandmother was the one who told me this story. She had a magical way of storytelling, using different voices for each character, which made the tale even more engaging. Her passion for the story made me feel like I was part of the adventure.

Cue 4:And explain how you felt when you first heard it

  • Express your emotions and thoughts during your first experience of hearing the story.
  • Discuss how the story impacted you personally or influenced your beliefs.

Example

When I first heard 'The Ramayana', I felt a mix of excitement and awe. The bravery of Lord Rama and the loyalty of Hanuman inspired me deeply. It instilled in me the values of courage and righteousness, which I carry with me to this day.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, this traditional story not only entertained me as a child but also shaped my understanding of moral values. It remains a significant part of my cultural heritage, reminding me of the importance of good over evil in our lives.

    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: Lack of Detail in Story Description

    Failing to provide enough detail about the story can make your answer seem vague and uninteresting. It's important to engage the listener with vivid descriptions.

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    Tip

    Include specific elements of the story, such as key characters, events, and settings, to make your answer more engaging.

    2: Ignoring Personal Connection

    Not sharing your personal feelings or experiences related to the story can make your response less relatable. Personal connections add depth to your answer.

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    Tip

    Explain how the story impacted you emotionally or what it taught you to create a more compelling narrative.

    Rushing Through the Answer

    Speaking too quickly can lead to unclear communication and missed opportunities to elaborate on important points. Take your time to articulate your thoughts.

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    Tip

    Pace your speech and pause briefly between points to allow the listener to absorb your ideas and to give yourself time to think.

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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
    anonymous person icon

    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

    I am going to speak about a traditional story called Ramayana. This story is about two kings Rama and Ravana. Rama is the king of Dashratha, who has been sent to exile along with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman. And another is about the king Ravana, who is the king of Lanka. Rama is a person who is very calm, composed and who has high wisdom and understands people very well and makes the correct decisions. Whereas Ravana is someone who is very greedy and filled with pride. Rama went in exile, used to wander around in forest along with his wife Sita and his brother. So, one day they encountered a female called Surpanakha and she asked Rama to marry her and Rama disagreed to her very politely and Lakshman got angry in that scene because Surpanakha was not behaving properly with Rama. So, Lakshman cut her nose and it turns out to be that Surpanakha is Ravana's sister. And Surpanakha complains this incident about Rama and Lakshman to Ravana and to take revenge, Ravana kidnaps Sita from the forest. And the complete story is then about Rama going to Lanka, defeating Ravana and then taking back Sita. So, this story is one of the greatest stories of Indian mythology because it is a story which teaches us Dharma. And one of the most important character that I have missed is Hanuman.

    Band 6-7

    The traditional story I'll be talking about is about a rabbit and a tortoise, the most common one. But as for me, it was my first time listening about a moral or a traditional story from my mother when I was probably 5 years old. I was greatly inspired by that story because it depicts a future scenario of me which I have been suffering from, which is laziness. So from that story I could really get to know the fact that even if you are fast at a race and you are winning but you get tired, furthermore you want to take a bit of pause from it so in the meantime your opponent gets to cross you and that's why I love this story because it focuses on my behaviour.

    Band 6-7

    Well, a traditional story would be the crow and the pot. So, the story starts of like the crow is flying through sky and it gets thirsty and it sees a pot of water. So, it lands and tries to drink from the pot, but the pot has like a narrow opening. So, the crow can't drink and there was not a lot of water in that pot. So, the crow was having difficulty. So, it saw some stones and it started, it got an idea and started putting those stones into the pot until the water came up and it drank. So, the story is actually this has a, it's just, it's the story is suggesting that people should work smart rather than hard because smart works finds way for us and it's much more easier and there was always a smart way to any difficult problems and this story was my bedtime story. My mom used to say to me whenever I ask her like I need a bedtime story and otherwise I won't sleep and all and then so she would start saying the story and I always used to think it's a really good story. Even my grandpa, he used to say this story when he was with us. So, this story has a really good meaning to me. Yes, that's all.

    Band 6-7

    The story I love the most is, it is in Bible, written in Bible, written in Bible. Since I was in childhood I am hearing the story of Jesus. Once my grandmother came to our house for a small vacation. I remember I was in third standard. My granny told me the story of Jesus. How Jesus was born through the Holy Spirit and brought up by Mary. At the age of 33, He did various miracles. He healed the blind people. Through Him, lots of miracles had taken place. At that time, many ill people got cured. After listening this story, my heart got filled. I feel very blessed that for my sin, Jesus healed me.

    Band 6-7

    First of all, very thankful to you to give me such an interesting topic. There are various traditional and historical stories that I learned by my grandparents. Today I want to describe one of them. The story is about religious... This story tells us about religious and as well as historical values of Ramayana. This story is told by my grandmother when I was a kid. She told me how God Rama and his wife Sita... Mother Sita lived in the forest for 14 years and they battled with Abel Ravan and won the battle. In this story, he first explains the positive side of the story. When Lord Rama left his family and spent happy time with his parents and his wife. But after some time, his father commanded him to live in the forest for 14 years. Then in the forest, he went with his wife and younger brother Lakshman. After that, when there is an end, changes occur. Mother Sita was kidnapped by Abel Ravan. God Rama started a battle with soldiers of monkeys and Lord Hanuman. And went back to his kingdom and all people celebrated Diwali.

    Band 6-7

    When I was a child, my grandma used to tell me about a traditional story of our village. In the village, when the Sankranti and Ganpati was occurred, so the all villagers gather and all the villagers contribute the money for the tradition and after collecting the money from the all village, they used to set up a place, decorate the place and set some curries, set some delicious cuisines in that as well as they used to make an interesting story of tradition and all the villagers gather through and they used to make fun like dancing and gossiping with each other. My grandma used to say about it and they usually celebrate this festival in the old time but nowadays it was replaced. At that time, they used to celebrate till night, dance and enjoy the food as well as meet the other people and invite the other people from the other villages and she said me that she will be taking me once in a time when we are getting a time to go there.

    Band 6-7

    An interesting traditional story is how the Lord Ganesha got his half-human half-elephant form. I was a little kid when I first heard this story. My mom told me about it when I was unable to sleep. After hearing that story, I felt more and more curious as to how this could even be possible. But I guess some stories are just meant to be heard and not to be thought on more. So this story is how Lord Ganesha has his head as an elephant. This was the time when Maa Parvati wanted to have a bath, but since no one was at home, not even Lord Shiva, she decided to build an idol from her dirt. And that's when she made a human form named Ganesha. She asked him to guard the doors while she took a bath. And while she was having a bath, Lord Shiva came in. And he started questioning him, why are you guarding the door? And innocent little Ganesha was not letting him in, which made Lord Shiva quite angry and he beheaded the innocent child. But to which Maa Parvati got very anxious, very angry and asked him to make him come alive. To which Lord Shiva said that he can't make him come back, he can't make him alive. But he found a loophole. He brought in the head of an elephant and attached it to Lord Ganesha and then put life into that form. And that's how Lord Ganesha has his head as an elephant's head. I guess this story is very interesting.

    Band 6-7

    Well, in my life, I have heard a plenty of stories, some of them were really fascinating while others were quite boring, among all, I would like to talk about a traditional story which is none other than the famous story Hare and the Tortoise, to begin with, if I talk about the purpose of the story, it is basically about a race between Hare and the Tortoise, the Hare was extremely fast while the Tortoise was very slow, the Hare become over confidence and always thought that nobody can win the race from me and he was also laugh on the Tortoise and said you are very slow, they decided for race and Hare take a nap during the race, the Tortoise on the other hand kept moving slowly without stopping and in the end, he surprisingly won the race, the moral of the story is that the patience and the hard work are more valuable than the over confidence and careless nature, moving on the how I came to know about this story, first I heard it during my early school days around the age of 6 and 7, it was included in our English textbook and told by my English teacher with interesting way, moreover, my grandmother also repeated this story in the Punjabi language, which made more memorable for me, as far as my feelings are concerned, when I first heard the story, I felt both surprised and inspired to be honest, I learnt from that story, whenever I feel down in the dumps, then I remember the saying slow and steady wins the race, overall that is the traditional story, which gives me great message for my life.

    Band 6-7

    Okay, one interesting traditional story that has touched my heart very much is the story of the Teyam, Potem. It can be translated to the fool. So Teyam is a traditional dance form, also a ritual, performed in the northern part of Malabar. In this dance, a certain man is dressed in a very colorful costume with a very big crown and a frog and etc. So this particular story in Teyam is about the Potem or the one who was walking through a road and he confronted one of the higher caste man and this higher caste person was Shankaracharya and the lower caste man was banished from the society and was asked to be burnt alive in regard with the caste system and untouchability that prevailed in that era. So once he was in the fire, he said, I feel cold, I feel cold. So that's how the story of this Teyam comes.

    Band 6-7

    So, as a kid I have always taken interest in spirituality and I still follow that. So, that helped me, you know, it made me take an interest in a lot of mythological stories, especially the Indian mythological stories because of my ethical background. And the story I am going to talk about today is about Lord Shiva. Now, I have always considered him closer compared to the other Indian gods because I have grown up in a family where we have had a very immense belief in him. So, the story that I heard of was from the TV. So, there is a festival called Shivaratri here where we celebrate Lord Shiva and his concert and we fast and pray and it's on this day that a lot of stories are told to children and I was one of them and this was played on the TV back then. So, Lord Shiva is always known as the God. He is a very giving God. He doesn't think that much and that's why he is known as Bholenath, which translates to innocent man or innocent divine. And if you hear a lot of his stories, you will see that he doesn't think so much. He is just pleased with whatever he is given and he just gives you a boon. Now, yes, that has gotten him into trouble sometimes, but the key takeaway that I would like to get from his stories is that it's okay to be nice to people.
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