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

Describe a national festival in your country.

You should say:

• when it takes place
• why it takes place
• what people do during this festival

and explain why this festival is so important to you and people in your country.

Model Answer 1:
Canada is one of the most diverse and largest countries in the world, and the festivals there also go to reflect this diversity of this country by attracting people from all religions, races and cultures. Today, I would like to talk about one such festival, which is not only distinct from other festivals in my country but also is considered to be a national festival in Canada.

The name of this festival is called “Canada Day”. Being celebrated every year on July 1st, Canada day is considered to be a statutory holiday, meaning a large percentage of the population gets the day off and in turn, many retailers, government offices, libraries, schools, and services shut down.

This festival takes place in order to mark the anniversary of the effective date of the constitution act of 1867 which eventually led to the formation of the union of the British North America provinces in a common federation under the name of Canada. It is also worth mentioning that this Canada Day holiday is comparable to the Fourth of July celebration in the U.S. but with slightly less ceremonious and on a more "Canadian" scale.

Anyway, on this day, most communities across the country host "organized celebrations" by holding outdoor public events, such as parades, carnivals, festivals, barbecues, air and maritime shows, fireworks, and free musical concerts, as well as citizenship ceremonies. However, it is also worth mentioning that there is no standard mode of celebration for Canada Day, and the locus of the celebrations is the national capital, Ottawa, Ontario, where large concerts and cultural displays are held on Parliament Hill in an event largely referred to as the "Noon Show.

Anyway, this festival is important for me and people in my country mainly because it reminds us about a great part of our history that eventually led to the independence of our country from its colonial masters after a long political process. It is important also because it brings all our citizens together in order to develop a sense of common unity and solidarity in all of them.

Sample Answer 2:
New Year day is one of the most widely celebrated festivals in our country. This is the occasion that people celebrates with great joy, hope, festivity and different cultural and other programs.

New Year is the time when a new calendar year begins and the year count is incremented. According to the Gregorian calendar, this festival falls on the first January each year.

People start the arrangement to celebrate this festival about one week prior to the 1st of January. On the 31st night, people gather together, eat western foods and sometimes the traditional foods, make prayer for the prosperity of for the New Year and stay awake till late night to enjoy the night.

In my country, people groom well on the first of January. To some extent, people believe that the first January is important to them as it the starting of a new year. They believe that remaining happy, eating good foods and wearing nice clothes would make them happy and prosperous for the whole year.

People greet others, give and receive gifts, visit the amusement parks and do many other activities. Some fares held on for the occasion and a great gathering is observed there.  So of the big trade fares, book fares start on the 1st day of the year.

This is an important festival for us. We along with the whole world take this day as an important festival day. In our tradition, we start the year with the hope of eliminating the bitterness and failure of the past year and start a 'fresh year' with the hope of fortune and happiness.
 

Tips for talking about this Cue Card Topic:

The national festival depends on your country and you must talk about a famous national festival in your country. The festival can be historical and related to the liberation war (if it’s applicable for your country) of your country, can be a major religious festival like Christmas, Puja, Eid, Vesak etc. Since the cue card has not restricted you from talking about any nationally celebrated festival like New Year or any other celebration day, you can talk about those festivals as well.

Pick the festival which is nationally and widely celebrated in your country and take notes about the questions asked with this cue card. Note the following points:

• The name of the festival.
   
• The historical/ religious/ cultural relevance and significance of the festival.
   
• The month or the time when this festival is celebrated. Since the big national festival is celebrated once in a year, mention the exact date of the festival. Some festivals might last for more than a day and for such kind of festival give the idea of its length.
   
• Next, mention the reason people in your country celebrates it. Mention the significance of this festival in details at this part and give some reasons why it is important for the people to celebrate this occasion.
   
• Now give details of the festival, how people prepare for this festival, what special items they prepare and what they do. Add some of your own activities at the end of this part.
   
• To answer the final question ‘why this festival is important to you’, you should remind that the historical/ religious or cultural importance of this festival and also mention how deeply you enjoy this festival.

Please be advised that you should give enough information to the examiner so that answers of the cue card questions are fully given and in addition, you answer some relevant questions that might have popped up in the examiner’s mind.  Thus the examine would treat your answers to be relevant and informative.

If you can answer this cue card topic you should be able to answer the following cue card topics also:

1.  Talk about a celebration in your country.
2.  Describe a national day that you celebrate each year.
3.  Describe a major festival in your country.
4.  Talk about a celebration you recently had.
5.   Describe a historically significant day in your country.

• IELTS Cue Card
• IELTS Speaking
• Candidate Task Card

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