Describe a Story Popular in your Country – IELTS Cue Card

The IELTS Speaking Part 2 topic to “Describe a story popular in your country” will help you tackle questions from the category, 'Popular'. In this Section, you will be provided with a cue card where you will only have a minute to organize your thoughts and two minutes to speak on the same. To ace in this section, it is necessary to speak fluently as well as coherently so that you can showcase your ability to speak without hesitation which is important to score well. However,you must practice with different topics so that you would build confidence for the test day.

With the topic to describe a story popular in your country, you will learn the strategies which are needed as you attempt to answer this cue card along with topic-specific vocabulary words. This also gives you an opportunity to practice this cue card by yourself before you go through the sample answer. Remember that you need to diligently practice so that you can acquire the speaking skills to get the desired band score of 8+ in the IELTS exam.

Let's get to it now!

Strategies to Describe a Story Popular in your Country – IELTS Cue Card to Achieve a Band 8+

In order to achieve an IELTS Band Score of 8+, the need to structure the answer well, make use of expressive vocabulary, and emotionally connect with the story have to be used to provide a well-rounded answer. Before you start attempting the cue card topic to describe a story popular in your country, check out the strategies below to achieve a higher band score.

• Select a very well-known short story where the story must be easily understandable by the examiner. Create a structure for the same such as an introduction, body paragraphs, and a summary of the situation.
• Use expressive and vivid narratives while storytelling the entire situation. Focus on the plot, main characters, and the overall setting of the story. Remember to use appropriate voice modulation and intonation so that you can speak with emotions.
• Using the IELTS Vocabulary in your speech is crucial since you will be marked based on your ability to use topic-specific words in various sentences. You will be assessed on the parameter of lexical resources.
• Do not memorize any of the answers as that will make you sound robotic, which in turn will land you a lower band score. Always think of the situation as if there is a movie playing inside your head.
• Do not forget that by recording yourself and timing your response while listening back to the recording, you will be able to analyze how much better you could have done. 
• Get familiar with the IELTS Grammar where you can use different sentence structures and practice it. This will be an added advantage where your ability will showcase how proficient you are in using the English language and convey your thoughts.

Common Mistakes to Avoid - Describe a Story Popular in your Country – IELTS Cue Card

Many test-takers find themselves in a few unavoidable traps where they tend to make quite a few common mistakes that could affect their scores in terms of fluency, coherence, and vocabulary. To aim for Band 8+, you must be aware of these common mistakes and learn ways so that you can avoid them. The following are some fo these mistakes which you need to know so that you can prepare yourself better in the IELTS Speaking Section.

• The elaboration might become too long if you encounter an unfamiliar topic. In this case, opt for a simple storyline so that you can summarise and understand it well.
• You may sound uninterested, hence your accent as well as fluency scores may be affected. Therefore, use expressive tones, intonations with a slight addition of some gestures.
• At times, your speech might lack depth and uniqueness for which you must briefly state how the story affected you.
• Even though using vocabulary is a necessity, using idioms forcefully in your sentences might make you sound unnatural and may reduce clarity. Use 1-2 good idioms or phrases in the context of your story from the Common Idioms List for IELTS Speaking.
• Speak steady and make a natural pause to enhance the key points of your speech as hesitating while answering might affect your fluency.

Question - Describe a Story Popular in your Country – IELTS Cue Card

Sample Answer 1 - Describe a Story Popular in your Country – IELTS Cue Card

Like the diversity in language and culture, my country also offers variety in folktales. There are popular collections of stories like the Panchatantra, the Jataka Tales, Emperor Akbar and Birbal, Vikram and Betal, The Tales of Tenaliraman, Thakumar Jhuli to name a few. The story that I am going to tell teaches a very important lesson to the present generation and their fast paced lives – think before making hasty decisions.

The story has different names in different parts of my country. But the most popular name is ‘The Brahmin’s Wife and the Mongoose’. From the title, it can be understood that the story is about the wife of a brahmin and their pet mongoose. The story begins with the marriage of the brahmin and a young lady. In the first few years, they did not have a child. To make his wife happy, the brahmin bought a mongoose. They loved and cared for the mongoose like their own son. Later, a son was born to them who was very handsome. Now, the family of the brahmin became complete, and the mongoose and boy were treated as twin brothers. One day, while the baby was sleeping in the cot, the wife went to collect water from the river, and the brahmin went out for his work. A large venomous snake entered the house. The mongoose became alert as he had to protect his younger brother from the snake. After a long fight between the two, the mongoose killed the snake. To show his victory, he waited in the garden for his mother. When the wife returned home and saw the blood-smeared face of the mongoose, she thought that the mongoose might have killed the baby. She threw the heavy pot of water on the mongoose and killed it. Then she rushed inside to see the dead snake near the cot of the baby who was still sleeping. She realised the blunder she had done and started crying.

My grandmother told me this story when I visited her during summer vacation. She used to tell me similar stories, and I used to retell them to my friends when they came home. I enjoyed the way she told me the stories with different sounds and actions. Sometimes, I drew pictures of the stories and showed them to her. She used to keep them with her as if they were her most treasured gifts.

I learnt two things from the story, The Brahmin’s wife and the Mongoose. We should treat animals with respect and love. They can live with us like family if we take care of them. In the beginning, as we see, the mongoose protected the baby as an elder brother would do. It was great to see how the brahmin and his wife treated the mongoose as their son. But one hasty decision of the wife, which brings us to the second and most important lesson, took the life of an innocent, loving animal. My grandmother told me that we should not only be careful about the decisions that we take but also about what we say and our actions. If we do not observe and have patience, we might lose things or people who are valuable to us. There are lots of popular and interesting stories, like this one, that I heard from my grandmother. But this one remained in my memory till today.

Sample Answer 2 - Describe a Story Popular in your Country – IELTS Cue Card

India is a truly incredible country with its diversity not only culturally but also geographically. We have around 121 languages and a vast number of dialects of each. As a result, there are lots of stories that one get to read or hear at every footstep in my country. Apart from the numerous folk tales, there are multiple writers who have gained recognition globally, like R.K. Narayan, Rabindranath Tagore, Anita Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ruskin Bond, Amitav Ghosh, to name a few. So, today, I am going to talk about one of my favourites that lists amongst the most notable tales, namely, ‘The Woman on Platform 8’. 

The short story ‘The Woman on Platform 8’ is written by Ruskin Bond, an Indian author of British descent. I read for the first time in a short story collection that my mother bought. It is about a schoolboy named Arjun whose parents think that he is capable enough to travel by train alone. The locale of the story is the Ambala railway station at about midnight. After spending a long time at the station, he loses interest in the activities around him and is impatient when a lady approaches him. She is wearing a plain white saree and takes him to eat when she finds out he is alone. Arjun, hesitant and suspicious at first, gradually becomes friends. So, when his friend Satish’s mother lectures him about not talking to strangers, identifying the woman as his mother, Arjun replies that he likes strangers. Finally, at the end, when the boys are leaving, Arjun addresses the woman as ‘mother’ and she, too, seems to have formed an attachment towards him. 

I think, through this simple story, Bond wants to tell us that strangers are not bad for us and we should trust our instincts to identify the wrong from the right. The story depicts that genuine attachment and affection cannot be shown by money but by simple actions of protecting, caring and making someone at home. Well, India is a land of diversity, so this story has become popular among readers as it captures the true essence of love and care that every citizen feels for each other.

Vocabulary - Describe a Story Popular in your Country – IELTS Cue Card

• Diversity – the existence of different kinds of people, things, and culture in one place
  Eg: The zoo is known for the diversity of plants and animals it protects.
• Hasty – in hurry
  Eg: She made a hasty decision.
• Cot – a small bed for a baby or young child with high bars around the sides so that the child cannot fall
  Eg: The guests brought a cot for the newborn.
• Blood-smeared – covered in blood
  Eg: The blood-smeared face of the boy frightened his mother.
• Treasured – to keep something carefully as it is highly valuable
  Eg: I treasure the moments we spent together as a family.

Regular practice will lead you towards your desired band score of 8+. Through practice with different cue card topics, such as this one to describe a story popular in your country, you will be able to identify your strengths and note down the areas of improvement. This will help you to track your progress and elevate your speaking skills. You can improve your speaking skills by preparing on a variety of topics while enriching your vocabulary according to the parameters under the specific scoring requirements.

Related Cue Cards