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Describe the time when you first talked in a foreign language: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • Where you were
  • Who you were with
  • What you talked about
  • And explain how you felt about it
Show all 134 answers

Cue 1:Where you were

  • Begin by describing the location where you first spoke in a foreign language, making it vivid and relatable.
  • Mention any specific details about the environment that made it memorable.

Example

I was at a language exchange event in my city, held at a local community center. The room was filled with people from different backgrounds, and there was a buzz of excitement in the air as everyone was eager to practice their language skills.

Cue 2:Who you were with

  • Introduce the person or people you were with during this experience.
  • Explain your relationship with them and why they were significant to this moment.

Example

I was paired with a native Spanish speaker named Carlos, who was also learning English. We were both nervous but excited to help each other improve our language skills.

Cue 3:What you talked about

  • Outline the main topics of conversation you had with the person.
  • Include any interesting or funny moments that occurred during your discussion.

Example

We talked about our favorite hobbies, food, and cultural differences. I remember laughing when Carlos tried to explain a traditional Spanish dish, and I struggled to pronounce it correctly.

Cue 4:And explain how you felt about it

  • Share your emotions during and after the conversation.
  • Reflect on how this experience impacted your confidence in speaking a foreign language.

Example

At first, I felt anxious and self-conscious about making mistakes. However, as we continued talking, I felt a sense of accomplishment and joy. It was liberating to express myself in a different language, and I left the event feeling more confident in my abilities.

Conclusion

    Example

    Overall, that experience was a turning point for me. It not only improved my language skills but also encouraged me to seek more opportunities to practice speaking in foreign languages. I realized that making mistakes is part of the learning process, and it made me more open to new experiences.

    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 Responses

    Being vague can make your answer less engaging and informative. It may lead to a lack of detail that is crucial for a good score.

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    Tip

    Provide specific details about the location, people, and conversation to create a vivid picture for the examiner.

    2: Don't Overuse Simple Language

    Relying too much on simple words can limit your expression and fail to showcase your language skills. This may affect your fluency score.

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    Tip

    Incorporate a variety of vocabulary and sentence structures to demonstrate your language proficiency.

    Neglecting Emotional Impact

    Failing to express how you felt can make your answer less personal and relatable. Emotions add depth to your response.

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    Tip

    Share your feelings about the experience, such as excitement or nervousness, to connect better with the examiner.

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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 6-7

    so I was in class first when I first spoke English in front of whole stage sorry sorry my bad in front of whole school on stage and my principal was standing beside me I was not so fluent in English and my principal asked me who taught you English who asked you to speak and I was in a confusion like what is she talking about I said yes because I was not so fluent in English so I said yes after that everyone made fun of me but you know I was embarrassed obviously but I was just in first class and it was my first time speaking in front of whole school and my principal also judged me after that my English teacher taught me how to pronounce things how to speak in English and then I became fluent in English by class 6th and now I'm speaking English for me English was a fluent a foreign language because I've been speaking Hindi the whole time so yeah

    Band 6-7

    Uh, I'm... The first time I tried to speak a foreign language when I am on third standard. And the language was English. My school is a CBSE board school. So there's a rule that we need to talk in English when we are in the classroom. So at that time, I am not familiar with the English words. And I have no idea about building a sentence and to deliver it fluently. So that was a difficult part of me. And when the teachers tell us to speak in English all of the time when you are in the classroom, we all get surprised because we are excited and the main thing is we don't know how to speak it, how to deliver a sentence. But sometimes we are really quick. But actually we speak like when we are asking permission, we use may I. And we ask her something like how old are you, what's your name. Because we don't know that, how to speak, what should we speak to someone, what kind of topic should be. So we usually talk about and ask about something like in an introductory session. And at that moment I was a little bit scared because when we speak in Malayalam or in other native languages, it will be punishable. So we are a little scared about that. And day by day we increase our language skills, our proficiency and we study new vocabulary.

    Band 6-7

    When I was studying my 10th in Dubai, I used to study German language. When one day me and my friend was talking about the foreign countries and languages, she asked me to speak in Deutsch. So, I spoke some of the German I studied. She was very excited to hear a new language from me. I also felt very proud of myself that I know to speak another language. It feels like we have the capability to study another language. It was very nice to talk. I also talked about a festival known as...

    Band 6-7

    The time when I first talked in a foreign language was when I was in school. Me and my friends have decided to join a French class because we wanted to learn a new language during our vacations. So it was after my 10th board exam when we had holidays and me and my friend used to go to French class in Borivali. We had enrolled in a program A1 level in French in a language center called professional language center. So during the lectures, me and my friends we used to talk in French. Our teacher named Darshana, she taught us the days of the week, the colors and we really enjoyed talking in French. It was the time when I had learned new ways of pronouncing colors. My favorite color is Azul, I mean blue in English and I really loved how it is pronounced in French Azul. Apart from that, we also had learned about the days in a week and the months in an year. My teacher also taught us about the grammar, the conjugation in the French, how the verb needs to be conjugated. So we really loved it.

    Band 6-7

    here I would talk about a situation that I had speak a foreign language it was my first time that happened in my life last year with my parents and we went to Germany actually it was a pre-planned trip and we spent almost seven days in Germany in Germany the main native language is German language so we don't know German language but we had a tour guide so he helped me helped us to explore the place and on the last day we get a opportunity to went to a famous restaurant in Germany and the restaurant mainly focused on seafoods so and at the particular time our tour guide was not with us he go somewhere for his duty so we were very hungry so we went to the restaurant but we at the time the waiter come to us to take the orders but my father mother and sister she don't know she don't know the German language but at the time I spoke German language and using the menu card I ordered some dishes at the time my father and mother are shocked because they were really surprised before traveling to Germany I learned some German vocabulary and words through Duolingo app so after that incident I got lot of lot of energy for learning German language and I got the confidence

    Band 6-7

    Okay, so I remember after my grade 10, I had to attend different school which was not in my hometown. It was in a big city named as Lucknow. It is capital of my state Uttar Pradesh. I was very tense to be very honest initially and when I, you know, got to know that I have to speak in English, I was so embarrassed. I thought that I could not speak in front of them. They would be very fluent. I was very hesitant. But after sometime, I gained my confidence and I went to that school and I was with my father. My father was also there. He does not know English well. Basically, I talked with the main principal about why I want to take STEM in class 11th and 12th and I explained my situation that how I scored in class 10th, what activities I was involved into when I was in class, like extracurricular activities. First, I thought they found my accent little hysterical but at my, like I was so shocked that they did not find it, you know, hysterical. And they really praised me about my communication skill that how good and flourish my, you know, fluency and command over English is. And I was so happy.

    Band 6-7

    The first time when I talked in a foreign language was in 4th grade. I had Spanish as a part of my school curriculum for the first time. I was speaking with my teacher and we were using very basic vocabulary to help us really understand the language better and help strengthen our base in the language. The first time I ever managed to speak an entire paragraph, I felt really incredible because it made me feel like I could understand some of my favourite songs which were in Spanish at the time. I felt like I could have a much better time going to places like Spain or Mexico where these languages are spoken and I really wanted to speak with the locals there with this language.

    Band 6-7

    Last week, when I was exploring the city of Bangalore, I came across two people who seemed to be a tourist. I went and approached them and to my concern, they were foreigners. They were unable to speak the local language which made them difficult to understand what we were saying. As I knew English, I asked them if they could understand English. That is when they tried to communicate with me. I came to know that they were Germans and came to India for the first time. Here they wanted a guide who could properly explain them the various activities that could be done within that day. So as a guide, I helped them because they seemed to be my new guest. So I helped them to understand what are the things, activities they could do. Along with me was my friend who also helped me to make a clear chart for the tourists to go spend their day with. I even also mentioned about the fort which was in Bangalore. They were mesmerized by seeing the fort. We also had food together. They paid for my meal too. I insisted but they were happy that I came along with them, helping them and made them understand the rules, regulations and even helped them to roam around. This was when I came to know that I was good in my language skill. So I recommend everyone to learn English so that people can speak and communicate with each other if they have been lost or outside of India.

    Band 6-7

    Having an extra foreign language is very beneficial for us and it's quite a plus point for us to learn a new language. The time when I was talking the first foreign language is the Arabic. I was in Saudi Arabia when I went for the religious pilgrimage. The people of Saudi just was talking Arabic. So when I went for shopping to buy to purchase the return gifts for my family and friends whenever I went and visited shops they were all talking in Arabic. I felt very happy that I learned some basic Arabic in India and then it's very useful there and I just spoke with them in Arabic regarding the regarding to purchase things. I felt very happy that learning a new language was a best for me to communicate with the people where I went and it got it got very happy for my family too.

    Band 6-7

    I would like to talk about the first time I ever used English in my school. During my 10th standard, there is a competition about giving a presentation about a certain scientific topic, anything related to science. So I decided to give a topic about aquatic life and habitats. I mainly talked about fish. When the time came for my presentation, I walked towards the stage and started giving the presentation on the board. During the presentation, I started to talk in English, which was never done before in any presentation. I was the first one to start talking in English while giving a presentation. I felt really nervous and anxious. Furthermore, in my mind, I am thinking what others are thinking about me. Is my speech okay? Am I talking really loud? Is my voice too low? In addition to that, my teachers were surprised by me because I am talking in English and no other student, including my friends, has done that. They all gave their presentation.
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