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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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

    location icon

    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
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

    location icon

    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

    location icon

    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 5-6

    Well, there are a lot of traditional stories that I know and you know I listened from my parents and my grandparents but today I am discuss about a traditional story that I watched on the television so it's a story about Mahabharata as you know that I don't know you know about Mahabharata it's very eminent story in the India in which there is a two group of brothers in which they have a war between different type of things like area of the you know kingdom and some other issue that they get involved in the war and they are they lot of lot of damage was happened at that time you know there are number of people not number of people we can say majority it's about 10 lakh and 15 lakh people were died in that war and in that war there is use of elephant, horses and different kind of weapons were used at that time I even don't know how they made the weapon because at that time there is no such type of technology were there and I thought how they can make this type of stuff at that time they usually do a weapon like pistol and you know other things I did not even know about how they gonna happen so this makes me very you know interestingly about to think that how they how they eat how they

    Band 5-6

    So, one of the most interesting traditional story that I know is the hair and the daughter's eyes. I remember when I was in 10th standard at that time my father told me because at that time I really found of to listen stories from my father. My father told me that story because I felt so bad about my slow because I was very slow in my academic to doing my homework so at that time I feel so under confident that I am not very good at things that's why maybe I am very slow at that time my father told me about the story that slow and steady wins the race that the hair is very fast and he is very over confident about this and he always make fun of the daughter that he is very slow so one day the daughter challenge him to hair to a race and first the hair is very laugh that he want that you are challenge with me about racing for a race so after laughing he agreed on it as the hair is very fast so he run very quickly and the daughter is very left the daughter is far behind feeling of over confident he thought that he take a nap meanwhile in that time daughter is very slow but steadily so in the end daughter is

    Band <5

    ஹன்ம படிलத்தற்கு கலக்க கல்கா நல்ல குறியவர்களும்

    Band <5

    ග්රකුන පෙන්න, ස්තිතිය අත්නෙස්ම ම්මාබන් කළ මුදු එය වෙනස්මන් වෙනස්මන්, ම්ප්රකුන වෙනස්මන්, ස්තිතිය වෙනස්මන්, ගනම සිරිම්ප්රකුන ස්තිතිය වෙනස්මන්, ස්තිතිය වෙනස්මන්, අතර සිරිම්රකුන බාද්ය සිරිම්රකුන ස්තිතිය ද්‍ය වෙනස්මන්, අතර සිරිම්රකුන බාද්‍ය ද්‍ය ද්‍ය සිටි කරන්න, hoscakalin.
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