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

Describe a person who once moved to live with you.

You should say:

• who this person was
• how long this person lived with you
• why he/she moved to live with you

and explain how you felt about it.

[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]

Model Answer 1:
The truth is I have always loved to live alone since the day I started my university life. And I continued living alone when I started to work as well. But, then, one day, after living alone for quite some times, one of my distant cousins requested me to share my flat with him as he was moving in the same town, where I lived, to attend a university. So, after giving some thoughts to his request I finally decided to help him out.

As I just mentioned that he was a university student, so I assumed that he was going to live with me for quite some time, could be as long as 4/5 years, until he finished his university studies. So, I told him to make himself at home while helping him to buy the necessary furniture. Of course, the good thing is that he didn’t really have to buy many things as I already had most of them that a university student would need. For example, I already had a study table and a chair. Besides, I also had sofa chairs at my flat. So, all he needed at that time was a bed. So, anyway, we started our new life as two roommates except, of course, my younger cousin would hardly get any time to socialize with me.

In fact, he would enter his room just, when I was about to go to bed, as he had to remain busy for a very significant part of the day in attending his classes and doing his part-time job. Suddenly, one day, after living with me for about a year, my cousin told me that he was going to live with one of his best university friends. And, so he was gone.  

Anyway, living with a roommate was a completely new experience for me, but it wasn’t really bad. Besides, I felt glad that I could actually help my young cousin when he needed it the most. Finally, we also enjoyed each other’s company, as little as it was because we both helped each other out in taking care of our flat.

Sample Answer 2:
In our country, it is quite common that close relatives move to live with a family for a few days, especially when someone needs to stay in a different city or province. For instance, whenever my uncle, aunt or grandparents come to the city we live in, they stay with us at our home. This is mostly a short-term stay, but on a few occasions, it can be for a long. For this cue card topic, I would like to talk about my uncle Joseph who moved to our house and stayed with us for approximately 2 years.

My uncle, Joseph, is the youngest brother of my father and a renowned football player in our hometown. As soon as he finished his high school graduation, he moved to our family and got admitted to a college. As an elder brother, my father took his responsibilities. My uncle stayed with us for about 2 years and then moved to his own apartment after he managed a steady job for himself.

I liked him very much and when he moved to our house, I was very pleased. I am the only child of my parents and when my uncle started living with us, I felt like I have got a good friend and someone to talk to about everything. Joseph was an interesting and talented person. We often talked for a long and went out to watch movies. Both of us got involved in some sporting activities and he often helped me in my studies.

Since Joseph was a nice person and respected my parents, they also liked him. I never felt irritated or disturbed due to his presence at our home. As an intelligent person, Joseph knew how to behave and treat other members of a family, especially who are close family members. He is now married to a woman who is a lecturer at a college, and they have a two years old daughter now. I still miss some of the activities we did together. Though he was my uncle, I often felt like he was the brother I never had! 

Sample Answer 3:
Thank you very much for allowing me the time to talk about this Candidate Task Card topic. Well, my grandma used to live with us here in Melbourne for a few years and I would like to talk about her. Before she moved to live in our house, she was in Perth with my grandfather. However, after my grandfather died, my father insisted her to come and live with us.

Our family had only three members at that time - my dad, mom and me. My grandma was the fourth member and still, she was an adorable one whose presence was very welcomed. She was a lovely lady in her mid-60s. In her early days, she was one of the prettiest ladies in the locality where she lived. She got married to my grandpa, and they spent most of their life in Perth. My grandpa died when he was 76 years old.

In fact, my father asked my grandma to come and live with us as soon as my grandfather dies. She, however, took a year to move to Melbourne. My grandma had stayed with us for more than four years and then she decided to get back to Perth after one of my aunts got divorced and decided to relocate in our hometown. I believe she wanted to support her daughter at a tough time and we could not insist on her to stay with us.

My grandma loves me most among all her grandchildren and thus she loved to pass her times with me. I had a great time when she was with us and I cried when she left. She even thought to sell her house in Perth and live with us permanently. But finally could not do so. I share a special bond with her and she loves me dearly.  When she came to live with us, I had been exhilarated and I had someone to support and love me unconditionally.

As a person, my grandmother was a role-model. She was kind and helpful to others. She loved gardening and I was her evening partner to take care of the garden. She helped me in some of my tough times by telling stories from her life which have inspired me to a great extent. I would never forget the good time I had when she was at our house. 

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

Topic: Describe a person who once moved to live with you.

1. John is a male associate of my dad in his office. John had been living with our family since he was a child of 9 or 10 years until he moved to his own address recently. He moved to live with my family because was an orphan and had no relatives to live with. He lived for more than fourteen years with us. After he got married, he moved to his own apartment. He once said that he has passed the golden days of his life with us. The bonding between him and my family is strong. My dad loves him greatly and cares for him too. I felt great having him at our house.

2. It is quite common in India for someone to live with relatives and my uncle Kumar stayed for over three years with us. He got a job in a multinational company in Mumbai. Since he had no place to live in, he decided to stay with us. He shifted to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh after the job confirmation. I felt glad about having him in our house. In fact, getting a new member was always enjoyable for me. We had many great times together. He loved me very much and I always wanted to be with him whenever he was at the house.

3. Mr Robert was a paying guest at my residence in Athens. He had lived with me for around one year. He came to Greece for some research works and it took him a long time to complete the work. He moved to live with me because my place was located near the archaeological site he was working on. It was a nice experience for me. In fact, I did not have the idea that a research work could run for over a year, and he was an active participant in the research. Overall, it was a pleasant experience for me.

4. Uncle Richard is my dad’s friend and he moved to Munich to live with our family in early 2016. He had lived for over a few months with my family and during that time, he had become a part of the family. My dad and he had been maintaining their friendship since their early childhood. Richard was a banker and retired from his job in 2014. Gardening is his hobby and he told me that he has more than 200 plants in his garden in Italy. I liked him very much and he taught me how to play chess like a professional. He knew many stories and we loved his real-life stories which were often very exciting.

5. It was an unusual event that Maria, a friend of mine, started living with us. She is my best friend and has lived with me for over six months. Interestingly, she came to Paris from Belgium only to live with me and my family. We were very excited to have her among us. She lost her parents in her childhood and had been brought up by her uncle's family where she was not much appreciated, according to her. She is a loving and caring person and we often go out to enjoy the street views. She is more like a sister than a friend to me.
 

If you can talk about this cue card topic, you should be able to answer the following topics as well:

1. Describe someone you admire.
2. Describe a person whom you knew only for a few days.
3. Describe a relative who spent a long time at your home.

• IELTS Cue Card
• IELTS Speaking
• Candidate Task Card

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