Details

Written by IELTS Mentor

IELTS Speaking Part 2: IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card.

Describe a handmade gift you gave to a friend or a relative.

You should say:

• what the gift was
• who you gave it to and when
• how you made it by hand

and explain why you gave a handmade gift to this friend or relative.

Model Answer 1:
When I was a young high school student, I had some sort of hobby to make different kinds of handmade things to keep at home. But, I never really thought that anybody would really appreciate those works as it happened with one of my high school friends. It happened about 12 years ago from now. In fact, he didn’t stop at only appreciating my handmade things, but also asked me to make one for him.

But, the problem, of course, was that I just didn’t know what exactly would be a perfect gift for him. So, I asked my high school friend about his opinion on his idea of a perfect gift, but he wasn’t too sure either, even though he got a chance to check through all of my handmade objects. Then, suddenly I asked him if he had any fruit basket at his home, and if his answer was negative, I told him that I would be more than happy to make him a fruit basket. Not to mention, my high school friend liked my idea very much and asked me to go ahead with it.

Anyway, in order to make that fruit basket, I collected some PVC pipes with a diameter of 0.75 radius inch and then cut them into pieces of one inch each. After that, I began to stick those pieces to each other in a round-shape bowl with the help of super glue. As soon as, all those small PVC pipe pieces, stuck with each other, it got the shape of a round shape bowl, which later would be called our “fruit basket”, I decided to render it a beautiful colour by spraying some magenta paint on it. Once the paint was dry, I gave the fruit basket to my friend.

Well, I gave this handmade gift to my friend, partly because I wanted to be recognized for my works and efforts a little. After all, we all want to be famous at some point, don’t we? Besides, I gave the gift also because it would make my friend feel better as he wanted a hand-made gift from me.

Sample Answer 2:
Thank you a lot for this topic. I will talk about a handmade gift that I gave to my younger sister when she was only 7 and how I actually made it.

Well, the gift was a wooden doll (I must confess that doll did not look that great as I made it when I was only 15 years old and I had little skills making such things). Yet my sister loved it so much and I felt so proud for making this gift for her. It was a late winter evening probably in 2001 when I took my sister to the market to buy her a pair of shoes. On our way back home, she showed me a large doll displayed in a fancy toy shop. She told me that she would love to own a doll like that. She knew the price of that doll would be really high and I did not have enough money to actually buy her that doll.

This event made me sad a lot and I asked my father, who lived in a different city for his job to buy her a doll. He probably forgot about the doll and did not send any doll in the next two weeks. My sister’s birthday was approaching and I wanted to make her a beautiful doll before her birthday. I used to make boats, wooden pens, and other types of toys in my childhood as a passion but making a doll was something I never thought I would do someday. However, I dared to make one and worked for more than 7-8 days to finally make something that I could claim as a doll.

I took a fine quality wood large enough to give it a shape of a doll, used other tools, glue and other ingredients to make this doll. I painted that doll and tried to mimic my sister’s facial features in this doll. When I gave this doll to my sister, she was so amazed that she kissed me and thanked me again and again. She even recognised that I tried to mimic her face in that doll. Then I told her that ‘the name of this doll is Emmy’. She laughed and told me that it was even more beautiful than her.

A few weeks later my father bought her a very expensive and beautiful doll but my sister was somehow convinced that the one I made was prettier. Maybe that was because of her love and affection for me.

I basically wanted to make my sister happy and to give her something before her 8th birthday. I did not have enough money to buy her a big doll and I had some skills in making toys with woods and papers. Considering all these facts I was convinced that I should make a wooden doll by myself for my sister.

Sample Answer 3:
Receiving a birthday gift helps us to feel delighted and how we are cared for. Besides, this is really filled with enjoyment. When the gift is handmade, the happiness doubles. So, I presented a handmade leaf light to Camellia on her 21st birthday. She was extremely glad about the gift.

I was wondering what can I present to Camellia on her birthday. In fact, it is really difficult to select the right gift for someone since there are some common gifts which are always presented by people. So, I tried to avoid the regular track and planned to offer her something handmade. So, I gave her the leaf lamp. It was an outstanding gift for her and she was immensely happy with the innovative gift. It was a simple leaf lamp. Actually, I try to make handmade things by reusing them. This is a great idea to make people amazed.  

Camellia is my childhood friend. She and I have been continuing the friendship for the past 14 years. My parents shifted to Mexico about 15 years ago when I was a kid. They admitted me to the local elementary school where I studied for the next five years. I met Camellia Wellington at this school. She was studying there before my appearance. She was a native resident of the locality – her parents settled there even before her birth. However, we met in the school and the bond is still going on. Both of us are at the same university now with the same courses. So, the bondage between us is really awesome. Marking her 21st birthday, I gave her the gift. She invited me a couple of day before the birthday, but I started making the gift a week before the day.    

This was a bit difficult for me to prepare the leaf lamp. In fact, I watched the lamp on a DIY website (not citing the name of the website). But they did not have any clear instructions to make the leaf lamp. The website just showed that making a lamp would be an attractive handmade gift. So, I made it with my own attempt and effort. I took some plastic colourful bottles which are usually thrown away after use. I collected the bottles and cut them into leaf shapes. It was a time-consuming task to cut the plastic pieces into the shape. Some of the pieces were not in the exact size while some of the leaves were smaller. However, I glued them with a string and created a hollow in the mid of the leaves where I placed a bulb. When the bulb is plugged in, the light looks colourful.

Generally, people go to stores and get their gifts. There is nothing newer in this traditional way. Most of the cases, it appears that there are a couple of gifts of a similar category. So, I thought something different. Usually, I perform some DIY techniques for my home and dad likes it most. When I was planning for a suitable gift for Camellia, I thought the leaf lamp would be a nice one for her. So, I prepared the handmade gift to present her on her birthday.

More Ideas to talk about this Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card topic:

Topic: Describe a handmade gift you gave to a friend or relative.

1. On the last birthday of Elena, I gave her a set of playing cards. But the cards were different. I wrote a statement on each of the cards to make her amazed. She turned 21 last October, and she is my cousin. It was hard to make the gift and I had to spend a lot of time collecting the statements. I wanted to surprise her because such handmade gifts are unavailable at the present days. It looked nice with two rings holding the cards together and when you turn each of the cards, you will get a special comment about you.

2. Making a handmade candle was tough for me but I did that to please my little brother. He scored the highest last semester and as I promised him, I gave him the handmade candle. I used a small mug and placed some liquid candles on the mug. It took time to manage the liquid candle and then coloured it as per his favourite colour. Since I wanted to do something exceptional, I got the idea from the internet and surprised him. He was startled indeed with the handmade candle.

3. My uncle loves reading books and so I presented him with some handmade colourful bookmarks. He was happy with the pieces and blessed me from his heart. In fact, it was beyond his thoughts that he would get a handmade gift from me. I made some small flowers using papers, placed them on a large paper and then applied a lace. It took a bit of time for me to complete the job. I wanted to give the bookmarks to my uncle because he often loses track while reading. So, to trace the page back, I made the bookmarks for him.

4. Planting trees is my hobby and I inspire people to plant trees as well. Last month, I gave a handmade small flower pot to Robin, a friend of mine from my college, and I planted a small cactus in the pot too. It was easy to make the pot. I used a small mud pot and placed some soil on that. And then I placed the cactus in the pot and used some small stones to enhance its beauty. Actually, I gave the pot to Robin for no particular reason. He expressed that he was happy to see such a thing at my home and I thought to give him one.

5. Preparation of a recipe ring was a very big deal to me. But when Merry smiled at the ring, all my sufferings faded. I gave the gift to her when I went to visit her home here in Oakland. The preparation was not so easy. At first, I had to collect 50 recipes of different items and make them print in small size. Lamination of the recipes was another trouble – the laminator did not want to do that. And arranging a ring was simple. Since Merry loved cooking and was newly married off, I thought a recipe would be a nice gift for her.

If you prepare for this cue card you should be able to answer the following cue cards as well:

• Describe something you made by your own hand.
• Describe a gift you gave to someone.
• Describe a birthday gift you gave to someone.
• Describe a memorable event from your teenage time.

• IELTS Cue Card
• Candidate Task Card

• Prev
• Next