Cue Card Sample
IELTS Cue Card Sample 42 - Describe your favourite animal
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- Last Updated: Thursday, 20 February 2020 13:15
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IELTS Speaking Part 2: IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card.
Describe your favourite animal.
You Should Say:
- what kind of animal it is
- describe it briefly
- why you like this animal
and describe why it is your favourite animal.
Follow-up Questions:
- What do you need to do to take care of it?
- What’s the future trend of the animal?
- How do you think of the poaching of some precious animals such as pandas?
Model Answer 1:
Today I am going to tell you about my favourite animal, what it is, where it lives, when I first encountered it and why I like it so much.
I like lots of animals, so it is difficult to choose just one. However, I think my favourite animal is the Warthog. Warthogs live in Africa, they are a sort of wild pig. They get their name because they have four fleshy bumps on their faces, which look a bit like warts. These are part of the defence mechanism for males when they fight. Some people think warthogs are ugly, but I think they are lovely, they have great character.
I was lucky enough to spend some time volunteering at a property in South Africa. At the property, there were three young warthogs which had been orphaned after their mother was poached – killed for food. The baby warthogs were, therefore, hand-reared. When they were old enough, they were set free to run around in the wild. However, because they were so used to people they preferred to stay nearby.
These three warthogs were very friendly, intelligent and loved to play. They also like to follow their leader. In the wild, baby warthogs will run after their mothers, these three young hogs used to follow us. They would run after us even if we were in a vehicle or on a horse – once they even tried to follow the landowner when he took off in his helicopter! The pigs (as we started to call them) loved to be scratched and cuddled, they were very affectionate. They were also very nosy, whatever we did, they wanted to be with us!
I love warthogs, they are energetic, loyal, and funny and I think they are beautiful too. Though I do understand the saying ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder!’
[ Written by - Lucy Marris | Careers Adviser (UK), TEFL teacher (Vietnam) ]
Model Answer 2:
People love different kinds of animals for different reasons. Some love them because they look so “cute” and adorable while others love them because of their rather smart and loyal character. Anyway, like many others, I also have my favourite animal, about which, I will describe very shortly.
The name of my favourite animal is “deer”, and they belong to the Cervidae family of mammals. Other members of the family include Elk, reindeer, chital, roe and etc. Depending on where we live, we can find over 90 species of deer around the world. Deer are lean and long-legged animals. Deer species range from very large to very small. The smallest deer is the Southern pudu which can weigh only about 20 lbs. (9 kilograms) and gets to be only about 14 inches (36 centimetres) tall when fully grown. On the other hands, the largest deer is the moose which can grow up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) from hoof to shoulder and weigh around 1,800 lbs. (820 kg). Their typical colouring ranges from reddish-brown to grey-brown with the cream-coloured underside.
Deer live in lots of different places in the world including Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. They don’t live in other continents because of their extreme weather. They usually live in or close to forests in small groups, called herds, with other deer. Some Deer sometimes even make their own beds out of plants! Anyway, I like deer for a number of reasons, but the main reason, of course, is their sheer speed.
Anyway, deer are my favourite animal because they look so distinctly beautiful with some of their unique features. They are also my favourite animal because they are never violent around us human, or for that matter, with any other animals! In fact, they are very social, with one group of them watching over another, but shy and very wary creatures, features which make them look very “adorable”. Finally, deer are my favourite animal also because they are strictly “vegetarian”, eating grass and plants that are mostly redundant, and thus helping maintain some kind of ecological balance around us.
Sample Answer 3:
I think this is an easy topic for me and I would like to thank you for this nice topic. My favourite animal is the cow and it is much more beneficial than other animals. Cattle would be the accurate term to use but this animal is colloquially known as cows. Since I have always called it cow, I would like to refer it so.
It gives us milk which is a nutritious protein supply for us. It provides us with meat and the leather equipment are made from its skin. In some countries, the cow is used for ploughing the land and for farming purposes. The teeth and bones of this animal are sometimes used to make comb, buttons and other useful things. In some areas, the dung is used as fertiliser and to burn fires. In some parts of India, cows have significant religious meaning.
The cow is a four-footed animal and its skin is thick. Grasses are their main food and they are mostly domestic animals. The weight of adult cattle always depends on the breed and it can vary to a great extent. As per an online article that I read many years ago, cows have a well-developed sense of taste and they can distinguish the four primary tastes which are sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Interestingly, their hearing power is more acute than horses! Cows occupy a unique role in human history and they are living near human and been domesticated since at least the early neolithic age. The production of milk, which is also made into cheese, butter, yoghurt, and other dairy products provide an important part of the food supply for many of the world's people.
I like this animal mostly because of its closeness to human and its usefulness for us. In my childhood, we had 5-6 cows at our home and they were very friendly. They had been very helpful for us. I like it as it is a very gentle and sober animal. I also enjoy when I see a cow is ruminating and giving milk to her calf.
Tips for Answering this Cue Card:
Talk about any animal that you feel you would be able to give some information about. Mention some benefits this animal offers to answer the question "why this is your favourite animal". You can talk about a domestic animal like cow, goat, camel, sheep, cat, dog etc and as you already know about the characteristics and their benefits, you should be able to answer the questions asked for this cue card. You can also talk about any wild animal that you know about as an answer to this cue card. For instance, if you know some details about the tiger, lion, elephant, hawk, kangaroo etc. as well.
Mention the following points as part of this cue card topic:
Name: Give the name of the animal and if there is any different name other than the dictionary name of this animal mention that as well. You are free to talk about any bird as well as birds are also animals. Mention which species and genre it falls under.
Characteristics of this animal: Mention if it is a domestic/ wild/bird/highland animal or if it lives in water or flies in the sky. Give some details about what this animal eats, how they live, what are their outlooks and characteristics.
Why you like it: There could be 3-4 reasons you like an animal including the look, their benefits, their characteristics and their closeness to human. Apart from that mention that this is an animal that helps people on some tasks, and mention how we are benefitted from this animal.
If you can answer this cue card topic, you should be able to answer the following cue card topics as well:
1. Describe a domestic animal you know about.
2. Describe a bird that you like.
3. Describe a useful animal.
4. Talk about your favourite bird.
5. Talk about a wild animal you have seen.
6. Describe an animal which is common in your country.
7. Describe an animal that you like to have in the future.
Thank You.
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