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Describe an old person you know who has had an interesting life: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who is this person?
  • Where he/she lives?
  • What he/she has done in his/her life?
  • And explain how you feel about him/her.
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34 unique answers with expert feedback

Show all 34 answers

Cue 1:Who is this person?

  • Introduce the person by name and relationship to you.
  • Mention their age and a brief description of their personality.

Example

The person I want to talk about is my grandfather, Mr. Sharma. He is 85 years old and has a very warm and cheerful personality. He always has a smile on his face and loves to share stories from his past.

Cue 2:Where he/she lives?

  • Describe the location where this person lives.
  • Mention any interesting aspects of their living situation.

Example

He lives in a small village in Rajasthan, surrounded by beautiful fields and a close-knit community. His house is traditional, with a lovely garden where he grows vegetables and flowers.

Cue 3:What he/she has done in his/her life?

  • Highlight key achievements or experiences in their life.
  • Include any challenges they faced and how they overcame them.

Example

Throughout his life, my grandfather worked as a teacher and later became the headmaster of the local school. He faced many challenges, especially during tough economic times, but he always prioritized education and inspired many children to pursue their dreams.

Cue 4:And explain how you feel about him/her.

  • Share your personal feelings and admiration for this person.
  • Mention any lessons you have learned from them.

Example

I feel incredibly proud to have him as my grandfather. His resilience and dedication to education have taught me the importance of hard work and perseverance. I often seek his advice, and his stories motivate me to strive for my goals.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, my grandfather is not just an old person I know; he is a source of inspiration and wisdom in my life. His interesting life experiences and positive outlook have greatly influenced my values and aspirations.

    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 Specific Details

    Avoid vague descriptions that do not provide specific information about the person. This can make your answer less engaging and informative.

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    Tip

    Include specific anecdotes or examples from the person's life to illustrate their interesting experiences.

    2: Ignoring the Cues

    Neglecting to address all the cues can lead to an incomplete answer. This may result in a lower score for coherence and relevance.

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    Tip

    Make sure to systematically cover each cue in your response to create a well-rounded answer.

    Overly Complex Language

    Using complicated vocabulary or sentence structures can confuse the listener and detract from your message. Clarity is key.

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    Tip

    Use simple and clear language to express your thoughts, ensuring that your ideas are easily understood.

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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

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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
    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 6-7

    One of the most important personalities from my childhood was a seller of groundnuts. She would come to my place every day and sell groundnuts and my entire family would be very cheerful to get stuff from her because she was the sole breadwinner of her family. She was 79 years old and she had a grandchild to take care of. It was just the two of them and she was very particular about not taking donations and she would only do everything in a way that was hardworking. She was extremely hardworking at that and she stayed in an apartment which was very tiny with her grandchild and she motivated her grandchild to ensure that she is in the right direction and the grandchild ended up becoming a doctor in the future. The grandma not only set up as a good example for her family but as an example for her entire town. The things that she did even came and made it as a topic on the news and it was something that every one of us looked into. In fact, my brother and I were constantly told to take it as an example to ensure that you don't focus on the shortcomings but rather make advantage of what there is. And I would for sure connect whatever learnings that I had through her experience as a way which would proceed in my life. She was very motivating in the sense that even at the crisp of danger she would still keep a happy face even through the hardships and make sure that there is positivity around. That's something to look forward to.

    Band 6-7

    There are quite few people during their old age have interesting life as they are young. So I like to elaborate one person who has still very adventurous life in their elder stage. He is one of my teachers who taught us the biology and I think he is around 75 years of age. But still he is very energetic and enthusiastic to deliver his knowledge to the students. So he is very good in nature and I don't know how he gets his energy. Because at his age there are so many others who did not even get out from their bed and he is still working. So this is a tremendous job and I feel very energetic after watching him. Even if he can do it at his stage of life then I will definitely do the task. I always motivate by watching him. So he is very good human being as well. He taught in the morning and

    Band 6-7

    There are a lot of people around us having an interesting life or people who try to make their life better than the others in an interesting way or more fascinating way and today I would like to speak about one such person who was in my life during all my years and I would say it is my grandfather from my mother's side and he lives in Calicut itself but a bit more far away from my current location and I think he really amuses me with his activities because I would not be having any idea what he will do in the next second that's what makes me crazy and this person he was a farmer and now he rests in his house and he has done a lot of things from the agricultural to the poultry work and lot of works he have done and in his resting period as for now he does a lot of other things that means literally if I am saying I can say that he just keep to annoy his grandchildren in multiple ways because he thinks in a way that how young people thinks and he has more energy than us and he is really vibrant and makes each and every moment memorable and I am really happy and really grateful to have such a grandfather and he always makes us grandchildren and also his children very happy by his simple acts and he is a kind hearted person and also he does a lot of work even in his retirement period just to not to sit in a very comfortable

    Band 6-7

    So, the old person that I like to describe is my grandfather, his name is Raghutman. He lives with his daughter and back in 1970s he was working at a motor manufacturing industry. So, he used to tell me all those stories that how he faced all those difficult jobs. And back in the days there weren't any complex missionaries for manufacturing, so they were mostly manual missionaries. So, he told about all those difficult tasks that he had to do back in the days and that what made me take mechanical engineering as my bachelors degree. So, I think he is a cool guy and he inspired me a lot, he inspired me so much.

    Band 6-7

    I would like to talk about the person who truly inspires me in all aspects of life is Dr. Rajiv Bhatia. He is a nephrologist at Srimad Superspeciality Hospital where I work as a staff nurse in a transplant ICU of which he is a director head. He is quite inspiring because he has done so much of work and coming from a background which was quite backward and certainly doesn't have that kind of a support which was required at that time being when he was growing up as he doesn't have that kind of financial educational background to reach this heights of success. Also it was all his hard work and dedication that he has showed relentlessly over the past years that he has been at a place where he is now. Moreover he is a person who is kind hearted and always there to help the people in need whether it be the patients who are in financial constraints giving them of required at the time of discharge around the lakhs or even the time when the people are just asking him for the help and he did some of the treatment free of cost that was quite commendable because as in this era where the hospital has become not only a place for treatment but also a new sort of a business where every people is just running behind the money and want it to be a place which is being looked upon and within the reach of the people.

    Band 6-7

    I would like to describe about a person who is elder and older who has an interesting lifestyle. It's one among my family member that it's my grandfather. He is about 63 or 65 years old and he lives in my hometown that is which is near to the Kottayam town locality and former he was served as a government employee and now he is in his retirement life. The thing or the quality or the interested aspect I enjoyed the most is his passion and also his hard working. He lives alone in his house as my grandmother passed away few years back and he don't need any assistance or any help from others and he usually go to hospital for checkups alone and he prefers to cook food and take medication as his own and he is an interesting person who is helpful for others and who would not want any help from others. He is one of the most caring personality in my family and he wisely tells and also gives decisions and he offers and possess a good leadership quality and he serves one of my role model and the quality that I inspire the most is his dedication to work. He spend his single second or minute.

    Band 6-7

    Here I would like to talk about my grandfather. My grandfather told me a lot of story about his life when we stayed over. My grandfather's story is really inspiring. He did a lot of jobs during his life but he started a fruit and vegetable seller. My grandfather was a farmer and he also developed an interest in agriculture due to his parents. So he did bachelors in agricultural science however he couldn't find a job in this field at that time. So he joined his parents in agriculture but after sowing of crops there was not much work on the farm for months. So to earn a livelihood he used to buy fruits and vegetables from the neighboring farmer and sell them in the vegetable market. He didn't earn much but he was able to support his expenses and didn't have to ask for financial help for his parents. After that he completed his master and then he got a job in the Punjab University Agricultural Development. I think today most people would look down on roadside vegetables and fruit sellers but I proudly tell my friends that my grandfather also used to do it. His story is so struggle and hard work. He didn't lose hope when he didn't get a job but did something to support himself and studied more to able to succeed.

    Band 6-7

    Although I know various famous people, one of them is unique and hence worth mentioning. This person name is Lakhan Rana, he is a renowned motivational speaker and YouTuber. And as far as his physical features are concerned, he is tall and handsome. This person is famous for many reasons, firstly he is a seasoned entrepreneur. His website imagebazaar.com has carved a neck for itself and has numerous followers. Despite a humble beginning, he worked with determination, dedication and discipline to lead his business toward an impressive growth trajectory. His immense success as a businessman has made him famous. Apart from this, another reason for his popularity is his social media presence. And he has a famous YouTube channel where he provides free of cost information on how to handle conflicts in life, fidelity. And he has a boatload of knowledge he shares with his viewers at no cost. His shared information has helped millions of people to bring a paradigm shift in their lives. The only thing which works in his favor is that youngsters follow him a lot. He has posted thousands of videos on various social media platforms in which he has shared solutions to most of the pressing problems young people have there in their lives. And due to this unbated support, his content goes viral quickly on the internet. And how does this person influence the public? He influences the public by going beyond the conventional domain. For example, most YouTubers earn money through the advertisements between their videos. On the other hand, Sandeep Maheshwari still needs to enable monetization on his

    Band 6-7

    so the person who is an interesting life in my view is my mother-in-law why let me explain to you she is a tremendous person I mean I have seen my mother she had mental illness and because of that you know she's physically fit but she is not able to do a single work however my mother-in-law has got osteoporosis and her conditions is deteriorated deteriorating day by day but it actually obstructs me how she refuses to give up she has got several interests like embroidery house management gardening and those work requires tremendous energy that she person and pain is not able to make her ill that's the interesting part in there I mean she it's not like that she doesn't suffer from pain but you know it just take 24 hours and before I know she has already managed to get up and engage in work I mean I have asked her multiple times that exactly what she gets from all of this I mean she can rest if she wants but she says that without working she won't be in peace and basically working like I mean the things she does the things she likes like embroidery and gardening these things provides her immense peace and she cannot what to say she cannot actually and she cannot you know trade those things for anything even if the rest is provided she says that she won't take it and she will do whatever she likes me because that is how she lives even though it actually

    Band 6-7

    Well, throughout my life, I've met so many interesting people, but today, I would like to talk about one person, which I feel is very interesting. He's my friend's grandfather, his name is Mr. Joginder, he's in his 80s. I actually met him at a family function, so when I met him, I feel very happy because he shared a lot of stories with me, and when I know about his life, his life is full of struggles, and I know that he has faced all the struggles with his smile and passion about the things he ever does. We almost talked about two hours, and in two hours, we talked a lot. After knowing him, I actually feel that his life is very interesting, and the stories he tells me, it is very memorable. I am so happy to meet him, and I feel incredibly lucky, I actually meet him and know about his story, and I also, he became my inspiration, whenever I face in my life, I always think about his stories, and my family is also very thrilled to meet him, and thank you.
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