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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 54 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

    I'm a person who always prefer listening to stories especially from my grandfather. He is the person who introduced the storytelling to me. When I was a child, I was left with my grandfather. At that time, he started telling me stories. He is focusing more on traditional stories such as Mahabharata, Ramayana and so on. One of the most favorite among them to me is Ramayana which was his story discussing about the protagonist Raman and his wife Sita as well as about their brother Lakshmanan. The story tells about the second mother of the Rama decided to send him into a forest for exile and he successfully accepted the demand of the stepmother of him. But his wife Sita decided to go with him because she didn't want to send him alone and later their brother Lakshman also joined with them and they started living there with very peaceful environment. But suddenly a cruel king called Ravana who is the antagonist of the story came to their peaceful life and kidnapped our heroine Sita and Raman and Lakshmanan decided to fight for her and it later become a war. They killed Ravana and escaped the Sita and the story is very simple as well as very powerful too. But the way my grandfather narrates it and his expressions and his emotions was very excited as well as very interesting to me.

    Band 6

    Statues of Goddess Kali and it was each of the three forms. This traditional story was told to me by my maternal grandmother. When she was around 12-13 years old, they used to go to a fair which was conducted on a large scale of Goddess Kali with 32 statues of her. Each of one was different and had a different meaning attached to that statue. One would go there and just be in awe of the beauty of the statues.

    Band 6

    So, the interesting traditional story that I have heard is the love story of Thorley Madhavrao Peshwe and Peshwinbhai Ramabai. It is the story of surreal love and sacrifice. Ramabai Ranade after the death of Madhavrao Peshwe, which was her husband, performs sati against all people. Everyone wanted her to live, but she chooses husband over death. And I heard this story from my parents and I read various books and short films relating to their love story. When I first heard about it, I was very touched and I got connected that how love can affect your mindset and it can drag you to another world.

    Band 6

    The traditional story is about my hometown and its speciality. So basically the story was told by my grandmother to me when I was 8-9 years old. The story starts with the ruler of the town. The ruler of the town known as Adiyaman, he used to be a great ruler. He used to invite poets over for their songs and he used to reward them with good gold and other rewards for their songs and such. So once a reputed old poet known as Awaiyar came to our town and she impressed the ruler with her songs. And as the ruler was so much impressed about it, he gave her a special fruit known as Nellikani. And it was given to her as a gift to improve her... It was used to improve the...

    Band 6

    There are many traditional beliefs and stories in our, in my country, but today I want to share one traditional story which my grandma taught me when I was a child. It was about bathing after cremation of any individual, any individual. My grandma taught me that it should have bath after finishing the funeral processes because of, in books, they wrote that if we don't bathe after cremation and the bad things would happen to us. It was my grandma taught in, explained in that way that we can be listening, listening carefully her story, but when I was, but when I got younger, I, I, I haven't, I haven't, I understood that the, behind the tradition, the belief behind this tradition is scientific reason that, that we, we should clean our body, we, we should clean our body after, after cremation.

    Band 6

    So basically the traditional story is Rudramma Devi. Basically it is about the Rudramma Devi and I know this is a movie. Basically I know that it is released in Sankranti. Basically Sankranti is a festival. We celebrate it. At that time this movie is released. So I know that in the festival, the college is on holiday. So I know this movie is coming. So basically me and my father go to this movie. This movie is about the Rudramma Devi and what she has done to defeat the other kingdoms. When I watched this movie for the first time, I felt an extraordinary feeling. It is a very fantastic movie.

    Band 6

    When the best tradition culture I have experienced in my life was wearing a sari at a puja in Jaipur, it was a ritual performed for a goddess Lakshmi to provide the prosperities in our life during the Diwali festival. Also, India is a land of sari and women who are married got used to wear a sari which shows a cultural and a respect for them. When I got there, I see the women who were there were wearing a big and heavy jewelry with that sari. Also, some of the ladies were putting the dupattas on their head to show respect to our idols. And then the puja begins when we do the aarti and celebrate it in the end with the lightning diyas. Also, there was a dinner arranged for all the people who come to enjoy our tradition.

    Band 6

    The most interesting traditional story that I had experienced in my life is the form of Kathakali and it is the famous dance form in my area and moreover I knew this dance form and when I used to visit temples in my village, around my village and I used to go to the, it was the, it was happened, it was happened in a dance shows that are showed in the temples and I used to go with my mom and she is the one who taught me about this story also. Often when I was in childhood and she used to talk to me traditional stories like Kathakali itself and she used, because she used to dance this form in her childhood and she used to say that this form was the, this dance form was her greatest dream to achieve in, in big stages but she can't achieve because of his financial problem and I felt, I felt this thing, I felt this story as a more sad and because it was, it was the chance that happened once in a blue moon and I used to say

    Band 5-6

    Here I would like to talk about a story time when my grandfather told me about their traditional gods. So last year it happened and my grandfather had a priest who told stories about their experience and about their timeline. Once he told me about the traditional cloths because nowadays people prefer to wear western dresses like about international dresses but like some people prefer to wear traditional dress and I also have a craze about to wear traditional cloths because I love to wear traditional cloths and most of the occasions and functions I prefer to wear that cloths. So my grandfather told about that story that how the people choose to wear the traditional cloths and they feel very comfortable, felt comfortable and also felt proud of them. So I felt elated after hearing the story about the traditional cloths. So that was the interesting traditional story for me and I also admire my grandfather and respect their culture and traditions.

    Band 5-6

    You know the epic place of Mahabharata? Sorry. So India, there is an epic called Mahabharata which has, which leads to the story of, which leads to the story of a place called Hastinapur, which is nearby Meerut district and there is a king named Yudhishthir. So there is a story of Indian epic Mahabharata. And it is the story about king Yudhishthir when he losses his wife in bat because his brother and tricked him to do that. I knew it since when I was a kid because I am a mythological person and I love to read books like that. So, I feel so overwhelmed when I hear the story of them like who,
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