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

Describe a person who accidentally became your friend.

You should say:

• who the person is
• how you met him/her
• what made you two become friends

and explain how is your friendship now.

[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.]

Follow-up Questions:

• Which one is better - being introvert or extrovert?
• What type of person are you?
• What important aspects do you consider to make new friends?

Model Answer 1:

We meet new people every day. We tend to remember some of them while we tend to forget the others. And then, there are those who become our friends against all kinds of odds. But, that’s exactly what happened when Elliot and I accidentally became friends a few years ago or so. I met him at an intercollegiate football match competition where he was cheering for his college team, and I was cheering for mine, sitting next to each other.

Being fans of two rival teams, facing off each other in the field, we didn’t exactly need to talk to each other unless, of course, we were arguing for something, and an argument it really was after a goal was scored against Elliot’s team with him arguing how a “foul” was made against his side before the goal was scored.

Anyway, at the start of our argument, I was trying to “defend” my team with some “lame excuses”, but having seen him how much he really cared about his “losing” side, I decided to agree with him to his delight. And, the immediate result of such “reconciliation” was the start of an enduring “friendship” with a great gesture of sharing “peanuts” with each other until the match was over. Elliot didn’t forget to tell me where he lived, or what he studied either before leaving our college stadium (which he really liked because of its big size).

After that little “encounter” at our football stadium, our friendship between me and Elliot is still great and alive, having him visit me and my family once in a while as we don’t really live very far from each other. But instead of hitting the football stadium these days, we actually talk more about our careers, future plans, and, of course, the places we would like to travel in future. In fact, if things are rolled out according to our plans, we will actually get to set up a little cafeteria at a local airport which is conveniently located between my home town and that of Elliot’s. However, the best thing about this friendship perhaps (at least, my little younger brother thinks so) is receiving farm-fresh pineapples in courier from Elliot every year. Next month, I and Elliot are planning to visit the biggest sea resort in my country which I have always dreamt of. 

Sample Answer 2:

Though I have many friends, my friendship with them took time and mutual understanding to grow. But my friendship with George started almost all of a sudden. I am grateful to you for this nice cue card topic and would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about it.

George is senior to me by 2/3 years and I did not meet him until I was in the 4th semester at my University. One of my term final exam schedules was changed and I did not know about it. According to my previous exam schedule, I reached the university and was totally confused about what to do when I heard that the exam was already over two days ago!

I went to our departmental head's office and he could not find a way around it. He criticised me for not knowing the schedule change and asked me rather abruptly what could be done about it, and I had no idea about it! I explained to him that I was sick and did not come to the university for 4-5 days and that made me unaware of the new schedule. Then I found that someone who was sitting next to me in the departmental head's office asked me to meet the course teacher and explain the situation to him. He then escorted me to this teacher's room and talked to him for a while. It seemed to me that George was already personally known to our teacher and they had an intimate relationship. Hearing everything the teacher agreed to arrange an exam for me the next day in his office room.

My friendship with George began after that event and albeit our age difference, we found that we had many common interests and passions. We started spending time together and during the next few months, I visited his house many times. We worked in a retail shop together for nearly eight months and that helped us become more intimate.

George is now staying in the USA and we do not meet each other in person. But we talk often over the phone and we regularly let each other know our updates. Despite the distance, we still value and care for our friendship.
 

Tips for answering this cue card topic:

For this cue card topic, you should talk about a person who became your friend inadvertently. Usually, we have friends from our childhood, schools, workplaces and community, but this cue card would be a bit different from the topic “Describe one of your friends”. It rather expects you to talk about a person who became your friend for a reason and whom you met accidentally i.e. you helped him/ her at a time and later you became friends or the situation can be the reverse. However, the basic rules for describing this person would be very similar to describing a friend.

Read the tips for the cue card ‘Describe a friend who you really like to spend time with’, which you can also apply while answering this cue card topic.  

We accidentally make friends in many different ways and some of the common ways are:

1. We meet someone at a party, in a park or while we travel, and start a conversation and find that we have many common interests between us. We simply exchange our email address or phone number and keep in touch to deepen our friendship.

2. We find someone who needs help at a desperate time, and we raise our helping hands to this person. Thus the person becomes grateful and keeps communicating and thus the friendship grows.

3. Sometimes a friend introduces with his/her friend who later becomes our friend (this is a very common scenario).

4. We meet someone helpful at a time when we need certain help, and thus the person who helps us can later become our friend.

5. We meet people on our journey and some of them have an influential personality, and interests in which we feel passionate about and thus a few of them become our friends.

6. We mistakenly get letters, emails or couriers from an unknown person who later becomes our friend because of the follow-up communication.

Follow-up Questions:

Q. Which one is better - being introvert or extrovert?
Answer: I think there is no definitive answer to this question as it is a moot issue and all of us have our personal opinions about it!

An introvert enjoys solitude and operates as a loner most of the time. Furthermore, he/she has only a few friends and doesn't open up easily to others about personal matters. Great scientists, poets, artists and talented people were often introverts. Being an introvert means people will have more time to think and create something new. On the other hand, being extrovert means that someone is friendly, outgoing, sociable, affectionate and has large groups of friends. Oftentimes, they engage in different kinds of activities and they share things that concern them with their friends.

Regarding which type of personality is more preferable, I would say that 'ambivert people' is the answer to me. I don't think that being totally introvert or extrovert is good, but combining these two types would be the most appropriate, at least this is what I believe.

Q. What type of person are you?
Answer: That's a really difficult question for me and I confess that I haven't even thought about it before! The truth is that I have only 5 close friends, they are like siblings to me and I discuss anything that happens in my life with them. I wouldn't say that I'm always an outgoing and sociable person except for the times when I really want to. For example, I am not the type of person who will go out every day and meet new people but when I was at university, I showed others the social part of myself in order to make friends. I know it sounds a little weird and creepy, but this is the way I am. So, I would say that I'm more of an introvert person, with some elements of extroversion when needed.

Tip: Say about your type of personality, for example, whether you are introvert or extrovert and justify it with examples from your life. You can also say that you are an ambivert person by having characteristics from both types - introvert and extrovert. In any case, exemplify your answer.

Q. What important aspects do you consider to make new friends?
Answer: 'Friend' is a sacred notion to me and they are as important as family. First of all, as I mentioned earlier, friends are nothing less than siblings to me and they are the people we have chosen to have in our life for whatever reason. A real and strong friendship should be based on true feelings and not on selfishness. Virtues like love, trust, honesty, compassion, affection and kindness are indispensable parts of this concept. Moreover, being there when your friend needs you, help them whenever you can, console them when they get hurt and be happy with their achievements are some of the main characteristics. Everyone should invest in emotions and show them to friends in certain circumstances. Besides, if people don't give and receive love in their life, nothing would have a meaning and I believe friends are there to do just that.

[Part three answers are written by - Mary, Economist & Business Consultant, UK]

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