JAN, FEB, MARCH, APRIL Recent Cue Cards | IDEAS AND TOPIC WORDS

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Hi, my name is Julius
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Welcome to IELTSdragon. So today, let us study the recent cue cards shared by many students online for the months
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of January, February, March, and April of this year. But just a disclaimer, it's not 100% guaranteed that you will get one of these cue cards in
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your actual IELTS speaking test. But anyway, let's just prepare ideas for each cue card
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We have nothing to lose anyway. It's better to be 100% prepared than to feel sorry for not preparing enough
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Anyway, if you're too busy and you don't have time to prepare for the IELTS speaking test
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get my revieweries. My revieweries helped many students pass their actual IELTS speaking test
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Just send me an email. I will give you sample revieweries and see for yourself if you need the full version
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of my revieweries. Alright, let's get started. The first cue card is about a time you taught a friend or relative something
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Let's gather some ideas. Some possible things that you can teach a friend or a relative are playing a musical
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instrument, cooking, editing, like editing a video, probably filmmaking, learning math, or a new language
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So I want you to focus on the process of teaching that person
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For example, let's imagine that you're teaching your grandfather how to use a smartphone
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The process includes you made him familiarize the interface of a smartphone, then made him
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understand some functions of a smartphone, and introduced basic mobile applications that
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he could use, something like that. And I want you to add your emotions, tell your emotions to your examiner
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I mean, did you have fun teaching him or did you feel tired
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Did you lose patience? Include them in your story. I want you to bear in mind that you have to deliver your story in a more natural way because
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that's what the examiner really wants from you. Next is a new development in your city
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What have you observed in your city? For sure there are some developments
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Are there newly built airports? Are the roads getting improved? Or are there some establishments that provide comfort or convenience to people
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What do you think? For me, if I talk about one particular development in my city, I'll simply talk about the decline
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in the unemployment rate in our city. This is easy because I'll be able to add more details
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I can not only talk about the development itself, but I can also talk about the governance
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of the leaders in our country. For instance, I'll tell my examiner that in the past five years, our city experienced
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the highest unemployment rate because our previous mayor was incompetent. And thankfully we had a chance to elect a new mayor who basically transformed our city
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He was able to convince many investors to invest in our city and that generated many
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job opportunities. Something like that. So that is a very good idea because I don't only focus on the development of a city itself
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but I also talked about many things. For instance, I'm able to talk about the impact of good leadership on the economy
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the improvement of the lives of the people living in our city, and at the same time I'm
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able to talk about the importance of good governance. So you can use that idea
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For sure, you'll be able to talk more. Our next cue card is about a complaint you made
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What do you think are the common reasons why we complain? Well, we have poor service or poor quality of a certain product
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Or we feel like we are deceived by the company's promotions or advertisement
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We also complain because we need to wait for such a long time to get our meal
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Well, that's pretty common in a bad restaurant. Or what else? What else can you think of
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We complain because probably there's miscommunication between us and the company's staff
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Well, we all complain. That's pretty normal. But did you know that there are different types of complainers
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Well, we have an aggressive complainer, an expressive complainer, a constructive complainer
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and a passive complainer. Well, I'm not an aggressive complainer. I don't want to make a scene in a public space to express my disappointment. Never
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I think I am a constructive complainer and sometimes a passive complainer
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What about you? What kind of complainer are you? Let's move on to the fourth cue card
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And it's about the first day at school that you remember. Think of one memorable first day at school that for sure you will never ever forget
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For example, you cried on your first day at an elementary school or in kindergarten simply
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because everything was so new to you. You felt overwhelmed, most especially because it's your first time to be away from your mother
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Or probably in high school, let's say on your first day, you experienced anxiety because
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you didn't know anyone. You had mixed emotions and you didn't know how to handle your emotions or your feelings
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because you're just a teen. When developing a story with this topic, I want you to focus on the event itself and
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your reaction because these two will help you develop an interesting monologue
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Let me congratulate successful students who used my revieweries or who took my one-on-one
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coaching program and passed their IELTS speaking test for the months of October, November
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and December of 2022. Carmina band 8, Jen band 7.5, Val Rosales band 7, JB Katrina band 7, Mary Angelica band 7
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And for my one-on-one coaching program students, Mary Fernandez band 7.5, Jen band 7.5, Mary
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Angelica band 7. And of course, for those students who simply watched my videos, Camille band 8, Jeyo band
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7.5, Bes Paila band 7, Freshti band 7. I'm hoping that you'll be the next person whom I can give a big congratulation in my
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next video. You can do it. Be one of the many students who passed their IELTS speaking test by using my revieweries
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or by taking my one-on-one coaching program. For inquiries, please send me an email today
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We have here a daily routine that you enjoy. Well, there's always one routine that we love doing
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For example, for me, cooking. You know, I love cooking because it's my way of relieving stress, especially if I work
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longer hours. Cooking is my therapy. I enjoy exploring different kinds of dishes and it feels rewarding when I achieve the
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recipe that I attempt to make. How about you? What kind of daily routine do you enjoy doing? Eating
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Or taking a bath? Well, taking a hot bath is really relaxing
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Or maybe driving your car to work. What else? Maybe exercising. Well, basically, exercising is one of the best daily routines a person can do, especially
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if he enjoys walking. It's one of the best ways for him to keep himself fit and to keep himself away from
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acquiring or getting some illnesses. Our next cue card is about a piece of technology that is difficult to use
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If I get this cue card, I'll simply relate this topic to my work because I'll be able
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to talk more. As a content creator, of course, I film and edit videos
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So I'll simply talk about software technology that helps me edit videos
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For instance, I'm learning how to use a film editor to improve the quality of my videos
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It's taking so much of my time. I needed to understand how to add effects or how to edit my videos in a way that it
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captures the interest of the viewers. My advice here is to relate this topic to your work because you will never run out of
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things to say. For example, if you're in the healthcare industry, what kind or what piece of equipment do you
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find difficult to use? Or you haven't mastered using it yet? What is it
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Let's move on to our next cue card and it's about a noisy place
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What makes a place noisy in the first place? If you're living in the city, noises from traffic, the crowd, and factories are common
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If you're in the countryside, noise from farm animals would sometimes be distracting
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If I get this cue card, I will simply talk about a place where a music festival is held
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or a religious festival is held. Because normally when there's a festival, there are different kinds of noises that we
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can actually hear or listen. For example, people talking, singing, chanting, and there are some musical instruments played
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such as drums, guitar, and any kinds of musical instruments that basically add noise to the place
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Well, I find this easy because I think in the place where we live, there is an activity
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similar to what I mentioned that we experience from time to time
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So make use of it as your story. Let us have an advertisement you don't like
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Ask yourself, what makes you dislike the ad? Is it because it's deceiving
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I mean, it doesn't deliver what they promised to its audience. Or is it because the message is discriminatory
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Like what we see in some ads about beauty products. Well, in my reviewer, I simply talk about Balenciaga's recent controversy
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I dislike it because it somehow promotes child abuse. And I found it disgusting
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I shared the sentiment with a lot of people online. Anyway, some topic vocabulary that you can use when talking about advertisements
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We have traditional advertisements or traditional advertising. Well, this refers to TV ads, radio ads, or print ads
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And we have here digital advertising, which refers to social media ads, email marketing
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or paid search ads that we can see on search engines like Google or Yahoo
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Next is a character from a film. Well, I find this easy because I think every one of us has our own favorite film
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Not only because of the story itself, but for sure because of a certain character
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Now what makes you love that character? Well, is it because the character is relatable
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You know, the role is very well portrayed. Is it because it evokes emotions
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Or perhaps the character is hilarious or very pleasant? What is it
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Then what I want you to do is to talk about one particular scene from a film
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wherein it highlights the acting skills of the character. And I also want you to add the reaction or your reaction
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so you can develop a two-minute monologue. For example, in my reviewer, I simply talked about Mr. Rowan Atkinson
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also known as Mr. Bean, in his movie Bean Holiday. I focused on talking about how he made his audience laugh
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especially when he was at a French restaurant. That was really funny
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And I talked about his mannerisms, his facial expressions, and the way he delivered his lines
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Not only that, I also talked about my reaction, how his character helped me relieve my stress, something like that
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I believe you can develop a great monologue, just like how I developed my monologue
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Another easy cue card here is about something you did that made you proud
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You can simply talk about an achievement of yours where you feel the proudest
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Ideas can be you passed a licensure examination, and you can focus on talking about the effort
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that you put into studying just to pass the test. Or you can talk about how you got a job after graduation
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Or if you had an experience being promoted at work, you can simply talk about that
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Or if you're a parent, you can simply talk about how you raised your child or your children
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or how you juggled being a parent and a full-time worker. Something like that
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So how proud a year? You can use adverbs such as enormously, like enormously proud
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very, or extremely. Let us move on to an activity you enjoyed doing
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in your free time when you were young. Well, recall your childhood days
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What did you do in your free time that you can say
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you had an amazing childhood? Perhaps you spent most of your time at a park
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playing with your friends or with other children. Or maybe you played a sport
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Or maybe you spent most of your free time playing computer games
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What is it? If I get this cue card, I'll simply talk about
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how I enjoyed playing with my friends or with other children at the park during my free time
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such as climbing on the monkey bars, sliding on big slides, and running around the park
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Those were the things that I did that made me so happy when I was young
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Those were the things that I did during my free time. Well, I think all of us experienced this
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so I think you can use my idea. And I want you to add more descriptions to your story
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so that your examiner will be able to visualize your story better
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You can do it. Our next cue card is a place you visited
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that is affected by air pollution. What makes the air quality bad
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Or what makes the air polluted? Well, because of factories. Most of the time, factories emit toxic gases
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into the atmosphere that make the quality of air bad. Another one is wildfire
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Wildfire makes the air extremely polluted. Besides, it's one of the most dangerous causes
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of air pollution, as it affects humans and animals very directly. Another reason, too many cars, especially in the city
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Inevitably, that causes too much pollution. Lastly, agricultural places
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So some farms use many fertilizers or pest control chemicals, and those contribute to pollution
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Choose any of those and come up with your own story. You can make up, actually
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I mean, you don't need to be 100% honest. Make things up
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We have here a person you want to work with or study with
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This is one of the easiest because this is very relatable. I mean, there's someone we know
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whom we want to work with or study with. But for what reason
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So maybe this person is intelligent, that if we work with him
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we will learn a lot of things or a lot of practical things that can help us improve ourselves
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Or maybe this person is very skillful in the work that he does
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that we also want to acquire the skills that he has. Or we want to study with this particular person
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because we simply want to be motivated in studying. Sometimes we need someone to study with
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for us to get motivated. My advice here is to focus on talking
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about the good qualities of this person. You have to maximize talking about the qualities
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of that person in order for you to provide more details to your story
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That is very important. Then I want you to talk about, you know, the possible impact on your life
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if you work with him or if you study with him. Simple
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Let's move on to a piece of good news that you heard about
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Well, this could be a piece of personal news like someone in your family got engaged
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or got a job promotion or perhaps won the lottery. If it's not a piece of personal news
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then you can talk about a piece of local or national or international news
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Perhaps your country's economy is growing and more job opportunities are provided to people like you
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Or perhaps the healthcare system in your country has positively changed. That is great
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Then I want you to talk about how this piece of good news affects your life
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and how did you feel upon getting this good news. Anyway, some interesting expressions
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that you can use in your story are, first here is on everyone's lips
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which means being talked about by a lot of people. Another expression that you can use is
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hear something through the grapevine, which simply means to hear news from someone
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who heard the news from someone else. Next, a period in history that interests you
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Some ideas include the COVID-19 pandemic, Adolf Hitler's government, the nuclear bombing of Japan
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the 9-11 attack in the US. What else? Well, I'm sure you know better than me
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especially when it concerns your own history. So think about it. In my reviewer, I simply talked
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about the 9-11 attack in the US. I found it interesting because it was unimaginable
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like a movie. Then I focused on talking about how it started
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the root cause of that terrorist attack, and how that incident affected the national security
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of different countries in the world. So what I want you to do here is to give a bit
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of background, a story of the incident or of the event or historical event
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that you would like to share with your examiner. Then give descriptive details
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and of course, give your own reaction to that historical event. I think that would be enough
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for you to develop an amazing monologue. Our next cue card is a person you met at a party
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who you enjoyed talking with. Who is that person? Your boss, your manager, your supervisor
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or your coworker, or maybe someone in a catering service who serves the food to the attendees of the party
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Who is it? So some possible reasons why you enjoyed talking with that person are that person is very knowledgeable
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or maybe skillful, or maybe kind, or maybe talkative, but in a more sensible way
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Let's say you talked with a coworker who is assigned to a different department
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and whom you don't usually talk with. Let's say you enjoyed talking with him at a party
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simply because he has a growth mindset. Let's say he wanted to run his own business in the future
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which you found interesting because you also wanted to manage your own business
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in the future, something like that. I think this idea will open many more ideas
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that will help you develop an interesting story. So maybe you can use my idea
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Our next cue card is a favorite place in your room. Well, we all love our bedroom, don't we
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You can talk about your bedroom, telling your examiner that it's your haven
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It's a place where you can relax, you can be yourself, you can do whatever you want
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or it's a great place for meditation. What I want you to do here is first describe your room
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Add descriptions so your examiner will be able to imagine or visualize what your room looks like
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And after that, that's the time that you share your reasons why you consider it your favorite place, simple
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Or if you love cooking, then talk about the kitchen. Let's say it's your favorite place
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because you can relieve stress through cooking, something like that, as simple as that
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We have an interesting old person. This could be anyone in your family
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Could be your grandfather, your grandmother, or if not a family member
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maybe you can talk about a stranger or an acquaintance or a neighbor
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What makes him an interesting old person? Well, perhaps because of his success in life
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maybe his rags to riches story, his kindness to the poor, or maybe his contribution to society or community
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What is it? For example, if I get this cue card, I'll simply make up a story
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Let's say I met an old man who is interesting because he doesn't really look his age
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Then I'll simply talk about how I met him, what he does to look younger than his age
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like maybe exercising or eating healthy foods. And I'll also talk about his way of thinking
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or his principles in life. Then I'll simply add the important lessons
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I learned from him upon listening to his personal stories, something like that
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Isn't it interesting? We have a gift you got or a time you received
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something you really wanted. Well, gifts can be material, food and beverages
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and experience. Material gifts include shoes, bags, clothes, a car, a house, and many more
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Experience gifts include travel tickets, amusement park tickets, movie tickets, a gym membership card, and many more
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The best thing that you can do here is to talk about something that you're really interested in
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For example, if you're into cooking, then you talk about a piece of equipment
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that you really dreamt of having in the past. And then somebody surprised you with that piece of equipment
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He gave you or she gave you that piece of equipment which you really dreamt of having as a birthday gift
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or maybe as a Christmas gift. Or if you're a book lover
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you can talk about a gift card given by your friend or your maybe parent
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And you were surprised upon getting that gift because you really wanted to buy some books
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So the next day after receiving that gift, you had a shopping spree
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So maybe you can use that kind of idea. It's actually easy
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Let's move on to a time you missed or you were late for a meeting
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I think sometime in our lives, we experienced this. We were once late for a meeting
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This shouldn't be difficult because you have an experience for sure. Some reasons why someone is late for a meeting are traffic
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that's very common, illness, weather condition, or simply mismanagement of one's time
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If I get this cue card, I'll just talk about something that can help me generate more ideas
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For example, let's say I was late for a meeting because of the severe weather condition
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Let's say the train or the bus was delayed due to heavy rain or heavy snow
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It wasn't my intention to be late, but it's the weather that made me late
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Then I'll just describe how terrible the weather was at that time, and I'll talk about the reaction
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of the person with whom I had a meeting. And finally, I'll add the lesson I learned
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from that experience. Isn't it easy and relatable? Next, something you did with a group of people
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If you're a student, simply talk about a group project that you did with your classmates
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Focus on giving information about the project, and what's your role or what's the role
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of each member in that project. Same thing with a work project
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If you're a worker, of course, there are times that you need to work with a team
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Talk about it. What was your responsibility in that work project? What was it about
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And I want you to talk about the lesson that you learned upon working with your teammates
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Now here, if I get this cue card, I'll simply talk about my volunteering experience
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Like, you know, I joined an organization that conducts a coastal cleanup from time to time
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And I'll just talk about my experience of collecting trash that is thrown on different beaches
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And of course, I will include my lessons, you know, the lessons that I learned
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upon joining that organization. Easy. Anyway, one important expression that you can use in your story is
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two heads are better than one. Next, a city where you would like to stay for a short time
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There must be one city that you fall in love with. So what is the reason why you would like to stay
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in that city for a short period of time? Well, is it because it is a very industrialized
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and modernized city? Like you're amazed by how advanced that city is
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Or is it because it is a peaceful and safe city? Or is it because that city is very unique
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compared to other cities that you've visited? Like it's full of magnificent, natural sceneries
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Or is it because you're enchanted by its architecture? What is the reason
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I have provided you different reasons already, so choose one. Then I want you to include in your story
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the things that you would love to do once you stay in that city
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And don't forget to talk about the people in that city. What are they like
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I believe that's enough for you to develop a two-minute monologue. We have here something you would like to learn
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This is very easy because I think all of us want to learn something new in our lives
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My advice here is to focus on talking about something that you are most eager to learn
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Because if you have the eagerness or a strong desire in learning something
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I think telling a story about that comes very naturally. Are you eager in learning about photography
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Maybe you would like to learn how to edit photos like a professional so that the photos
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that you would like to share online would be amazing. Or maybe you would like to learn driving
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Let's say you wanted to learn driving in the past, but you just didn't have time
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And now that you have free time, you would like to learn it
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Or maybe you want to learn a language, or you want to learn and acquire public speaking skills
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so that you can get more opportunities in life. Our next gift card is one of the easiest website
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you often visit. Of course, all of us have our own website
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that we consider favorite. Mine is YouTube simply because I get to entertain
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and educate myself with the various videos that that site provides to its audience
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If you're in the medical industry, I think you better talk about WebMD
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Let's say you love that website because it educates you about health-related matters
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that are helpful in your profession. Or you can talk about an education website
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especially you're studying or you're preparing for your IELTS examination. You can talk about an IELTS website
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that helps you prepare for this examination. What I want you to do here is give a description
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to that website. Do not assume that your examiner already knows that website
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So provide descriptions to that website. And afterwards, you can talk about your experience
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of using that website. How does that website help you? Or how does that website improve your life? Easy
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Next, an unusual meal. Well, I'll give you two choices here and decide for yourself which is better in your opinion
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that can help you develop a story in a more interesting or easy way
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First choice is talk about one of your local foods or dishes which foreign people find weird or unusual
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Then focus on talking about the reaction of foreign people upon trying that meal
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And talk about your feelings. Were you offended by their bad reaction
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Or did you laugh at them? Or did you educate them about the cultural relevance
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of that food in your country? The second choice is talk about a foreign food
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or meal or dishes which you find strange or unusual. Make sure to give descriptions so that your examiner
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can visualize what that food looks like. Then share your feelings with your examiner
34:40
upon eating that food. Did you like it? Or did you feel sick after eating it
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Whether you choose the first choice or the second choice, I really want you to talk about the historical
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or cultural significance of that meal or of that dish because it will help you create a substantial monologue
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Now, if you want to prepare more, I want you to click the video that appears
35:09
on your screen right now as it will help you prepare better
35:13
That video talks about the previous 25 cue cards in the previous quarter
35:18
Learn from that video. Enjoy learning and subscribe for more tips. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye

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JAN, FEB, MARCH, APRIL Recent Cue Cards | IDEAS AND TOPIC WORDS

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