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Written by IELTS Mentor

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

Describe a children's story that you know well.

You should say:

• when you first heard or read it
• what you particularly liked about it
• what the story is

and explain why you still remember it.

Model Answer 1:

I have heard several children’s stories from my grandparents and my parents as a child.  Anyway, while all of those stories were interesting in some ways, I can’t really remember all of them now. And I would just like to tell one of those stories today here that I remember.

I heard the story for the first time from my grandmother about 20 years ago.  I liked how the story was told to me by my grandmother. She was an amazing storyteller. I also liked the fact that the story portrays the bond between us and the animals that we keep around us. It also teaches that we should be kind to our pets and household animals no matter what.

The story was about a horse that was born and raised in the house of a landlord a long time ago.  The landlord and his entire family loved the horse very dearly.  By the way, they loved the horse because it was very loyal.  Suddenly, on an early morning, the landlord saw no horse in his barn, when he was going to let his loyal animal out of his horse barn.  The horse owner looked everywhere in his house and the rest of the areas in his village, but no trace of the horse was to be found anywhere. Actually, the horse got stolen and that’s why it was not to be found anywhere.  Needless to say, every member of the landlord’s family felt very sad and mourned for days.  However, after a few months, when they almost forgot about the horse, it suddenly showed up in his barn of the landlord.  The entire family of the landlord rushed to the stable and found that their beloved horse was standing in their barn while both eyes of the horse were full of tears.  Seeing the horse crying, every family member of the landlord became very emotional.

I believe I still remember it because it was touchy in my rather innocent mind as a pet lover and a child. It showed some rare but true loving bond between an animal and his caretaker as the horse was finally able to escape from his captivity and find its way back to the place of his old owner to reunite with him, even though, the animal was kept hidden hundreds of miles away from his original shelter.  Besides, the tears in the eyes of the horse, after reuniting with his old owner, were indeed a very touching moment for anybody who loves animals.

Model Answer 2:

The children’s story that I can think of is the one that was one of my favourites when I was a little kid. I’m going to tell you what the story is, when I first read it and why I didn’t just like it but loved it so much.  It is a mystery to me why it isn’t more widely known, but I can tell you why I think it is so charming, and I’ll give you a bit of an overview of the story too.

The story is called "The story of Ferdinand", it’s by someone called Munro Leaf.  I don’t remember how I came to have the book, it must have been a present from someone, and I was very little when I first read it.  Maybe around five year’s old, although I can’t be sure.

The story nearly broke my heart when I was little!  It is the tale of a bull called Ferdinand that was bred to fight in Spain. I couldn’t believe that such a cruel sport existed, and it was terrible to me that this little bull was to be forced to battle.  The story was about how he never liked to fight.  He was a peaceful bull, who preferred to sit smelling the flowers and keeping out of trouble.  Whilst his more volatile companions practised putting their heads together he would find a shady spot to sit and ponder.  One day some important people came to the field where he was living to choose a ferocious bull to fight in the bullfights in Madrid.  Ferdinand did not want to be picked, so he snuck quietly away.  However, disaster!  He sat on a bee, and the bee stung him.  Ferdinand leapt up in surprise and started to buck and plunge about because he was in so much pain.  The people thought he must be a very rough and tough bull indeed and took him away to fight… When he got to the bull ring it was awful.  People wanted him to fight and kill.  I was so upset at what might happen to poor Ferdinand!  The matadors paraded in, they prepared to taunt and spiked him with spears.  Then Ferdinand is brought into the ring.  However, he refused to fight, he sat in the middle of the arena and quietly smelled the flowers in the lovely ladies hair. 

In the story, because he refuses to fight, they eventually take him home, and he is left to sit happily under his favourite cork tree smelling flowers for the rest of his life… I have a horrible feeling that isn’t what would really have happened!

The story is completely charming and that's why I liked it so much and still remember it.  The peaceable bull character that doesn’t quite fit in with his friends is easy for a child to relate to.  There is peril (that Ferdinand will be forced to fight and could be hurt and killed) but fortunately, there is a happy ending.  The illustrations are simple but delightful.  Some of the pictures are quite comical too.  The text is very straightforward too, just a sentence on each page, with the facing page full of illustrations.  It was a book I could read and understand myself from an early age.  I think it’s a wonderful story – I still get a lump in my throat remembering it now.

I still have a copy of the book.  It isn’t my original one, I lent that to someone and never got it back.  I was heartbroken.  I feel quite sentimental about the tale and couldn’t bear to be without it, so I ended up trying to get a new copy.  I found then that it was long out of print, so I ended up buying a ‘new’ second-hand version on Amazon or eBay or something.  It isn’t the same, but I was glad to have a copy back in my possession.

[ Written by - Lucy Marris:  Careers Adviser (UK), TEFL teacher (Vietnam) ]

Sample Answer 3:

In my childhood, I had heard lots of fables, stories and true narratives which I still recall. Some of them were so exciting that they thrilled me in my childhood. One such story that I still remember is a fable of a king and a giant ghost.

I heard this story from my grandmother for the first time when I was about 6 years old, and it was so exciting that I requested my grandma over and over again to tell me this very story. I liked the excitement and twist of this story. As a kid, I was interested to know about the ghost, the kingdom and the kings, and this tale had all those ingredients to excite a child's mind.

Over time, this has become a story that passed from generation to generation. Thus it has become a widely popular story in our country. The story starts with a wise king who was very kind and helpful to others.  But he had no child who would succeed him and that made the king sad and depressed. The people of the country became greatly sad about their future as well. One dervish was passing the country one day, and he was deeply touched by people’s love for their king. He blessed the king to have a child. But there would be a big test for the king at a time of his life. The king was blessed with a beautiful and intelligent baby boy and the people of the kingdom became happy. The boy became 7 years old when there was a terrible and fierce battle among the ghosts of the other world. And a large portion of them was cast away from their world who chose this kingdom of this kind king to live in. They planned to kill the human and make the territory their own. So, the king declared war against those evil spirits and won the fight with the bravery of the people of the country. But to everyone’ surprise, the son of the king was missing, abducted by the ghosts. They left a message that they have captured the boy and would give him back only if the people and the king abandon the kingdom and let them reign there. That was a very difficult test for the king as well as the people of the country. The king then vowed to defeat the ghosts without harming the people of the kingdom. He left the country and the story went on. He had to take lots of difficult tests and thus he gained the power of a truly divine person. Thus he started his tour to the place the ghost captured his son. The story has a lot more other interesting parts and twists and finally, the kind had been able to rescue his son after 10 years in the end.

As a kid, the story was so appealing to me, and I enjoyed the storytelling every time I heard it from my grandma. This is why I still remember it.

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• IELTS Cue Card
• IELTS Speaking
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