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IELTS Cue Card - A speech that somebody delivered and you heard |
A speech that somebody delivered and you heard
- who gave the speech
- what the topic of the speech was
- whether it impressed you or not
You will have one to two minutes to speak about the topic. You have one minute to consider what you will say. If you want, you can make some notes to help you.
Model Answer 1
Speeches may be hilarious! Some people are just naturally better at public speaking than others. I believe that speaking in front of others can be quite challenging, but when people do it exceptionally well, you remember the event and how you felt there as well. Naturally, speeches that are truly awful can also leave an impression, but I won't discuss any of those today.
I want to share with you a brief speech I recently heard in a professional setting. I'll include the speaker, the topic, and why I thought the speech was so excellent.
The speech was delivered by a manager where I was employed. He was giving a speech to say farewell to one of our colleagues who had worked for the organization for a very long time—possibly forty years—but was going to start a new career as an independent consultant. We were all sorry to see this individual depart since they were so well liked, but we all wanted them to succeed and could appreciate their decision to move on. About sixty of us—we had a sizable workforce—had assembled in the open-plan office to say farewell and give our leaving friend and coworker a gift.
I believe that "leaving dos" occasionally can be quite awkward and embarrassing. Everyone shuffles awkwardly into a circle, the boss says an agonizingly quick "goodbye and thank you," and then everyone stares at the unfortunate individual departing as they rip open and read a hastily purchased card and mumble their thanks for a pretty anonymous gift. However, this was unique. Our manager had put a lot of effort into crafting a strong speech that was amusing, thoroughly researched, interesting, and sincere. For instance, he went back to our colleague's initial application form and created a quiz for all of us to complete in which we had to guess what qualifications and hobbies they had indicated all those years before. The outcomes were funny, and it was a terrific way to "break the ice" and get everyone involved. Even the departing coworker was astounded by what was in his original form. Additionally, he expressed gratitude to the colleague for some very specific work that had been completed and read out remarks from others that he had been gathering over the previous few weeks. These comments were in the form of brief testimonials and expressions of gratitude from other coworkers.
I believe the speech was effective because it included everyone, included amusing (but not too personal) tales that were pertinent to the outgoing employee, and the time and effort put into preparing it by our boss demonstrated his respect and admiration for the departing employee. Additionally, the question offered everyone something to discuss, allowing for some post-presentation conversation and mixing. It wasn't very long either! It held people's attention and was appropriate for the situation.
The speech, in my opinion, was a really fantastic illustration of how to speak clearly on a situation like this. It was expertly chosen, helped the team come together even if someone was leaving, and made me and other team members feel fortunate and delighted to work in such a compassionate environment.
Model Answer 2
Model Answer 3
I'm going to talk to you today about a lecture dubbed "the power of vulnerability" that I saw on TV two months ago.
Wenny, an American academic, author, and public speaker, delivered the address. She has participated in studies on a variety of subjects, such as shame, vulnerability, and courage.
After a long day at work, I was watching TV at home when I unintentionally overheard her speaking. Her TED lecture moved me, made me feel sorry for her, and gave me a lot to think about. First of all, I discovered that I cannot suppress all of my unpleasant emotions. If I try to escape them, I won't be able to experience joy, gratitude, or happiness, thus in order to live happily, I must have the guts to confront and deal with all of my difficulties.
Second, this discussion helped me realize how powerful it is to be vulnerable in front of others and that I should not be afraid to take chances and do things that I am unsure about. For instance, even if I am aware that I can be rejected, I should be the one to express my love for you first.
Finally, I discovered how to unconditionally love myself and was able to stop engaging in reckless behavior like missing meals or binge drinking whenever I felt depressed. In addition, once I can love myself, I won't hurt others who genuinely care about me.
Model Answer 4
The speech that our elementary school teacher gave on our parting day is the most influential one I've ever heard, and I can still clearly remember it from various points in my life. Mr. Mark Augustine, a teacher, delivered the lecture; he was in his late forties at the time. As fifth-graders, we were unable to fully understand the significance of the school farewell. We were aware that today would be our last day attending our primary school and that we would soon begin attending our new school. Mr. Mark was already a well-respected educator for his methods of instruction, demeanor, sense of humor, and honesty. He was allegedly much better qualified to teach in a college than an elementary school, according to rumors.
We had our parents with us that day at school, and we had been having a great time. As part of the farewell address, Mr. Mark walked up to the podium and began to talk about the humorous things we had done over the previous five years. We all began laughing at what he said, including our parents. He talked about how a little child screamed when he saw a cockroach, how a young boy in class two made friends with a girl, how we tried to play in the middle of class, and many more amusing and intriguing incidents.
He then moved on to other issues, some of which I can still hear. He explained that our main duty is to study, that we should listen to our parents, that we have achieved national liberty, that we should respect Mother Nature, and that we should inherently be honest and fearless. The issues and his delivery of them deeply reverberated with us. I still recall how the advise occasionally came true in my life. Though the counsel and morals were probably too complex for a young child to understand, I still think the lecture had a significant impact on both my life and the lives of the other young people in attendance.
Model Answer 5
Tips for answering this cue card topic:
- A speech that was given by your school teacher.
- A speech that was given by your debate team leader/ class captain/ sports team leader/ football, cricket, rugby coach etc.
- A speech delivered by a local politician that addresses a public issue.
- A speech that was given by a social worker that touched you.
- A speech delivered by the presenter of a social program.
Follow the below structure chronologically to effectively answer this question:
- Name of the person who gave the speech and his/her identity.
- The occasion and reason the person gave the speech and how old you were then.
- What was the topic of the speech and who were the audiences of the speech?
- What was the topic(s) of the speech and how good the person was delivering the message?
- how the speech was accepted and praised.
- How people commented on the speech and how they reacted after they heard the speech.
- How you accepted the speech and what is your personal opinion on the issues addressed by the speech giver.
- How you felt and what was your reaction.
- How the speech touched you and what valuable things you learned from that.
- How the speech affected you in your later course of action in life.
If you mention that you disliked the speech you can mention the following points:
- The speech giver took a long time and repeated the same topics over and over again.
- The topic was not interesting at all and you did not believe everything he/ she said.
- That was a politically biassed speech that concealed some truth.
- The speech was manipulated to give misleading information to the audiences.
- People were horrified with the lies delivered in the speech.
- The person who gave the speech was not an exemplary and honest person.