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Describe An Unusual Holiday You Had: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What holiday was it?
  • Who were you with?
  • What did you do?
  • Explain why it was unusual
Show all 30 answers

Cue 1:What holiday was it?

  • Begin by naming the holiday and providing some context about when it took place.
  • Mention any specific location or event that made this holiday memorable.

Example

The unusual holiday I want to talk about is my trip to the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat during the Rann Utsav. It was in January last year, and I had always wanted to experience this unique festival.


Cue 2:Who were you with?

  • Describe the people you traveled with and your relationship to them.
  • Explain why you chose to go with these particular individuals.

Example

I went with my family, including my parents and my younger sister. We decided to go together because we all love exploring new cultures and wanted to create lasting memories as a family.


Cue 3:What did you do?

  • Outline the activities you participated in during the holiday.
  • Highlight any special experiences or events that stood out.

Example

During the Rann Utsav, we enjoyed traditional music and dance performances, tried local cuisine, and even went on a camel safari under the full moon. The vibrant colors and the festive atmosphere were truly captivating.


Cue 4:Explain why it was unusual

  • Discuss what made this holiday different from your usual vacations.
  • Mention any unique experiences or cultural aspects that were particularly striking.

Example

This holiday was unusual because it was my first time visiting a salt desert and experiencing a festival that celebrates local culture so vibrantly. The vast white landscape of the Rann was unlike anything I had seen before, and the warmth of the local people made it even more special.


Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, my trip to the Rann of Kutch was not just a holiday; it was an eye-opening experience that allowed me to connect with my roots and appreciate the rich culture of India. It’s a memory I will cherish forever.


    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 less engaging and informative. It may leave the examiner confused about the details of your unusual holiday.

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    Tip

    Provide specific details about the holiday, such as the location, activities, and unique experiences to create a vivid picture.


    2: Don't Rush Your Answer

    Speaking too quickly can lead to unclear communication and missed opportunities to elaborate on your experiences. It may also affect your fluency score.

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    Tip

    Take your time to think and speak clearly. Use pauses to gather your thoughts and ensure your answer is well-structured.


    Neglecting Personal Feelings

    Failing to express your feelings about the holiday can make your response less personal and relatable. It may not fully convey why the holiday was unusual for you.

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    Tip

    Include your emotions and thoughts about the holiday. Explain how it impacted you personally to make your answer more engaging.


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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 6

    It was nothing but a holiday we had planned in second year and implemented after our graduation. Both and our several friends travelled to Kerala through car and that is the main holiday. We went to Kerala with so many struggles and problems faced. Lot of our friends were dropped and only four members went to the Kerala trip. I felt very adventurous while going to the trip and I feel I am very happy. We went to Kerala with four members. Their names are Bhaskar, Meghana, Sai Venkat and me. We four travelled to Kerala and we faced lot of challenges like road closes, barricades etc. Most of the things I did in the travel was driving car. Only two of our friends were good at driving, me and Venkat. Most of the driving was driven by me. It became an unusual holiday because we went to most of the places in other states. We travelled from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. We visited most of the famous places in Kerala. We have spent lot of time and enjoyed very well at the beaches. We visited and spoke with foreigners and we felt very happy. It was a memorable holiday for us and I feel like enjoying it.

    Band 6

    I went on an unexpected trip to a waterfall. I went with my family and friends and it was on an official day. I came to know about it through my relatives who had previously gone there and had a very beautiful time. Everyone should visit this place as it is a very beautiful with locations, view, animals and even beauty of the nature. This place not only makes you happy but also takes you to your overall great experience. However, if you are planning to visit this place on a rainy season, I personally advise you to not to visit as the roads may become unclear and the weather condition is also unprecedented. However, summer is the best time to visit this place. You will see so many various locations and also you may also meet different people. Food is very good over there. You have different options to choose over the food items. Finally, I would say this place is a great place to visit.

    Band 6

    The unusual holiday I had was a Labor Day, because I am not a laborer, I am just a student, so I am a kind of man who like to work every day, but not as a laborer, as a student like to study here and there. So because of Labor Day, the library was closed, so I felt bored like what to do today, and I was alone, no one was there with me in that holiday, so I thought to do some fun activities like playing games on the mobile device or going outside to enjoy nature. I went to the beach on that day, then after the beach, I went to the park to play with my friends or whoever is available there, because sometimes I will talk to unknown people, so I can know them. When I was on beach, I was enjoying the nature's wind and waves crashing sound, so that was good. After the beach and park visit, I came home and I was seeing a movie, movie was about, horror movie was that, how that one devil possessed a grand, possessed an old lady, that was that. After seeing movie, I ordered food from an online platform, after ordering food, I got it and after eating it, just

    Band 6

    To answer this question I am gonna describe a vacation I went for in the city of Shimla. It was quite unusual and pretty amazing trip that we had. It was with my family and this is the reason why it was unusual because it's really hard for us to find a specific schedule of the time for everyone to be together. We were all seven members of the family who visited the destination. The accommodation was amazing and the trip was for 10 days in the month of June. We visited a lot many places and did a lot of activities. Furthermore there were various routes that were super risky and we went through it that was very adventurous. To be very honest this was pretty amazing as well as not very usual because we each are every family member has their different schedule and different occupations. Not just this but they all are present at different places so it's extremely difficult to find a common day to hang out with everyone. While we were on the trip

    Band 6

    It's actually not a holiday but our college principal give our whole department a holiday because of something event happening on college and they didn't want our department to involve in that. Me and my friends go for Vagaman, it's a bike trip, firstly we went to the hills of Vagaman, so there we see the beautiful view of mountains and that we go to Pine Valley and almost we spend 2 hours in there, it was breathtaking views we saw there and we eat lunch from a small shop but the food was so amazing and the owner of shop was really nice to us, he talked lot of stories about Vagaman, about the people, about the culture and the variety food spot in there, so after that we went for an adventure trip, I didn't go for adventure but my friends really want to it, I felt it little bit danger but my friends go for it and they really enjoyed it, after that we take 2-3 chayas from there with snacks, they are very delicious, I don't know how they prepare such a delicious food and me and my friends plan for if you go there after.

    Band 6

    Okay, so I went on a holiday with my college friends, I mean we were four or five members in that group and we went on a beach to enjoy our holiday and we have done so much of fun there that we had played a lot of games including cricket and then ice fight and then some of the blindfolded games. It was very unique idea that we can enjoy our lives putting beside our daily boring routine life, all the tensions of exams and assignments keeping beside them. It was really like a fun enjoying with friends that was an unusual holiday for me because I have never been seeing my friends so much notorious and so much happy towards me. They were like all time chilling and enjoying themselves.

    Band 6

    I'm going to talk about our holiday to Georgia. It is one of the most of my important holiday. I went with my husband to Georgia and we went to visit all the country and we went to see the mountain and the natural views. We had an amazing days there, me and my husband. It was a very special day.

    Band 6

    so the last holiday I took for you know the last holiday the most unusual holiday I took was on the last Sunday and I was like I decided suddenly I decided to attend this moto fest in my area so basically a moto fest is about modified cars and each and every company like Audi, Mercedes and Jaguar, Bentley and many more they the person the people who own these cars usually modify their cars and then they attend these kind of events which which considers them as a public figure and I think it was a pretty wild holiday I also enjoy I enjoy looking at cars driving cars so I suddenly decided to visit this event and I was so happy after that I felt more lighter because of attending that event which was unoccasionally planned of course I I was scrolling reels and this advertisement popped up popped up on my Instagram page so I suddenly decided to take a leave from my college and visit the event

    Band 6

    The unusual holiday I had was during my engineering days where there were too much stress of deadlines like assignment submission and some IAs or external exams were nearing too so we thought of taking a break so myself and my friends we planned on going to a trip we went to this place called Mysuru because we felt the temperature in Mysuru and the environment will make us feel relaxed and we could spend time together and enjoy at the same time generally I don't take holidays but when it is required holidays are essential

    Band 6

    I have taken so many days off from my office and one of the major holidays recently I have taken was during Navaratra times. It was quite unusual because it was not planned before. One of my cousins just called me for that, for to travel to Mata Vaishna Devi and I just called my employer and take a holiday from him and we went to Jatra where we can have visit to a temple called Vaishna Devi. It is quite far away from our location, it is 30 km and we have to go through a walk. So, it was fantastic and the weather was very pleasant on that days, if you remember. And we have a very great days as we travel all the days and at the night we reached to the temple at midnight and had a bath in a very cold chilled weather and went to worship Goddess Mata with our all belongings and we have a very great time over there.
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