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Describe one of your friends who learned something without a teacher: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Who he/she is
  • What he/she learned
  • Why he/she learned this
  • And explain whether it would be easier to learn from a teacher
Show all 11 answers

Cue 1:Who he/she is

  • Introduce your friend by mentioning their name and a brief background.
  • Highlight a few characteristics that make them unique or interesting.

Example

One of my closest friends is Rohan. He is a passionate musician who has been playing the guitar since he was a teenager. Rohan is known for his creativity and dedication to music, often spending hours practicing and composing his own songs.

Cue 2:What he/she learned

  • Specify the skill or knowledge your friend acquired without formal instruction.
  • Mention any resources or methods they used to learn this skill.

Example

Rohan learned to play the guitar entirely on his own. He watched countless tutorial videos on YouTube and practiced daily. He also learned by listening to his favorite songs and trying to replicate them on his guitar.

Cue 3:Why he/she learned this

  • Explain Rohan's motivation for learning the guitar.
  • Discuss any personal or emotional reasons that drove him to pursue this skill.

Example

Rohan learned to play the guitar because he has always loved music and wanted to express himself creatively. He felt that music was a powerful way to connect with others and share his feelings, especially during tough times.

Cue 4:And explain whether it would be easier to learn from a teacher

  • Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of learning from a teacher versus self-learning.
  • Share Rohan's perspective on whether he would have preferred a teacher.

Example

While Rohan managed to learn the guitar on his own, he often reflects on whether having a teacher would have made the process easier. He believes that a teacher could have provided structured lessons and immediate feedback, which might have accelerated his learning. However, he also appreciates the freedom of learning at his own pace and exploring his musical style.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, Rohan's journey of learning the guitar without a teacher showcases his determination and passion for music. While having a teacher could have offered some advantages, his self-taught experience allowed him to develop a unique style and a deep personal connection to his music.

    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 unclear. It's important to provide specific details about your friend and their learning experience to engage the listener.

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    Tip

    Use clear examples and specific details about who your friend is and what they learned to make your answer more vivid.

    2: Don't Rush Your Explanation

    Rushing through your explanation can lead to incomplete answers. Take your time to cover all the cues thoroughly to demonstrate your speaking ability.

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    Tip

    Pace yourself and ensure you address each cue clearly, explaining why your friend learned something without a teacher.

    Neglecting Personal Connection

    Failing to connect your friend's experience to personal feelings or motivations can make your answer less engaging. Personal stories resonate more with listeners.

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    Tip

    Share your thoughts on why your friend chose to learn independently and how it impacted them personally to create a stronger connection.

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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
    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

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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

    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

    I had a friend at the gym, she had learnt procreate on her iPad and she used to make decent amount of money freelancing on procreate. So I think that's pretty much the friend in my circle who learnt something without a teacher. But that situation applies mainly on me because I have strong affinity toward people who learn some skills without a teacher because that's what I do myself on a day to day basis. Like I have a competitive swimmer but I have never had a coach. Apart from that, I had learnt 3D software, renderings and all other things which I currently use for freelancing and earn decent money. So I think the quality of a person, that pursuit of learning something by just scrambling with all the makeshift material available at the moment is something I am highly attracted by.

    Band 6-7

    I have one friend called Sharad and he got a seat in IIT Agartala after completing his intermediate. He took ECE as his main subject and he pursued in IIT Agartala and then he totally changed from ECE to CSE to get more opportunities like he learned coding back and front and everything by his own to gain more knowledge so that he can get a good job in his life. To improve his professional skills he gone through YouTube videos and he sent many mails to so many educator apps to get free courses so that he can gain more knowledge from that. Moreover, he can gain knowledge from teachers either he chose videos to learn differently by teachers he can gain.

    Band 6-7

    Karthik is one of the closest friend of mine. We have known each other for over a decade now. He is an engineering student. But the important point about Karthik is that he is a passionate trader. He has been trading for over 3-4 years and the thing is he didn't learn it from anyone. He developed the passion of trading on his own. He learned that becoming financially independent would be very easy and it would take a little bit more effort but it's very doable if you earn more through business or trading. And he developed this skill on his own by self-studying or watching videos, by back-testing his own strategies, developing his own strategies and he has been doing it all alone for the past 3-4 years and he has invested a lot of money into it. He has invested a lot of time into it. But the important thing about Karthik is that he never complained about it and he has been doing it over the past 3 years every day and he has been journaling it and he is developing that skill over the years and I have seen he has developed a lot and he has become much better over the years. I don't think so it would be very easy for any person to do it without any guidance or any teacher. As far as I know, as I have seen the most successful traders in the past or anyone, they did have some guidance from teachers or seniors or anyone but Karthik has developed this skill on his own.

    Band 6-7

    I would like to talk about my friend Ravi who is very talented and self-motivated. He taught himself how to play the guitar without any formal lessons. He started by watching tutorials video online and practicing everyday at home. At first, he struggled with finger placement and chores, but he kept trying to gradually improve. After a few months, he was able to play many songs and even compose his own music. I was really impressed by his determination and patience. Sometimes learning something on your own requires a lot of focus and seeing him succeed inspired me to try learning new skills independently as well. I think it also shows how motivated he is and how much he enjoys music.

    Band 6-7

    I had like to talk about one of my close friend Rahul, who learned graphic design entirely on his own without any formal teacher or coaching. I have known him since our school days and he always been expectationally curious and self-motivated to begin with Rahul development in graphic design during lockdown period when he had ample free time instead of wasting time on social media, he decided to acquire productive skills. Consequently, he started exploring online tutorials, watching YouTube videos and reading blogs. He is my close friend and he developed his skill by watching online tutorials and regularly over time become highly skilled in using design software like Photoshop, Illustrator and now he even work as freelancer graphic designer. He decided to learn graphic design primarily because he want to utilize free time, productivity and develop valuable skill. Moreover, he always been passionate about creativity and digital technology, so graphic design naturally applied to him. Additionally, he realized that this skill could open up lucrative career opportunities such as freelancing and working with online clients. Consequently, his strong interest in desire of self-improvement and motivation, learn it without any teacher. Additionally, with when I feel very amazing, immensely proud and accomplished about mastering graphic design on his own. Initially, he experienced a sense of satisfaction.

    Band 6

    He is my friend from work. He studied the subject during the diploma as teacher was not available for certain time. He studied that subject very well, applied thermodynamics. He studied by himself with the help of reference books and the syllabus designed by the university. If the teacher had taught the subject carefully, it would have been very good.

    Band 6

    If I tell you about one of my friend, his name is Abhishek, he is my very good friend and he used to live next to my home. In my opinion, I think father is the best teacher that a person get while he is upbringing. He was about 12 years old when his father died and he manages everything by himself. As he is from agriculture background, he was only 12 or 13 years old when he started to do his own farming and take care of his mother and his small brother. He passed his high school education but then he left the studies but he make sure that his smaller brother studies hard and make something in future. So, it very inspires me that how he manages everything while only is happening. One of the thing that inspired me about him was that how he understood the society by himself without any help. If his father was alive, I think he will understand society in a better way and live normal life like other children. He lived a very tough life and managed whole thing by himself, making it harder but completely valuable for him. If his father was alive, I think he also lived a life same way the same way we lived in the presence of our father.

    Band 6

    A friend of mine, senior to me, finished his post graduate studies at the same college as mine. He wanted to prepare for coding languages since he was from a mechanical background and wanted to explore software development along with coding to acquire a job in the IT industry. So he learned the new skills through YouTube, the online courses or the sessions. According to me or according to my knowledge, it would have been much more easier for him to know the skills in a much better way if he had learnt from a teacher through direct communication, clearing doubts, taking practical knowledge or having a hands-on experience.

    Band 6

    I would like to name my best friend Mintu, who recently started learning about designing more. He was always keen to learn about designing and digitally create videos because of his field in journalism and mass communication. He started working for a company which always needed their employees to do some kind of designing. Sooner he realized that he has limited opportunity in this company for a greater role if he doesn't learn designing. So by time in few months he started watching YouTube videos and free educational videos on various platforms. I am happy that he is really keen to learn new things and in my opinion it would be easier to learn designing by the help of a particular teacher but as he doesn't had enough budget to hire a teacher he insisted he would not spend money and just use some random videos from YouTube which also was helpful. In my opinion it would be easier to learn from a teacher rather than searching for multiple videos but however he learned how to design and he is doing a great work at it. So everything is well.

    Band 6

    One of my friends, her name is Gayatri. Gayatri is my childhood friend. She is very kind and she is very polite to me. We are best friends since our childhood. Gayatri is having different kinds of hobbies like playing, singing, dancing. One hobby which I can mention here is the yarn, making the yarn. Through the yarn she will make different kinds of things like sweaters.
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