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SEPT - DEC CUE CARDS: Ideas, Tips, Lexical Resource | IELTS SPEAKING CUE CARDS
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Feb 9, 2024
In this video, we will study the recent cue cards for the months of September, October, November, and December. It's not 100% guaranteed that you're going to get one of these topics but let's just prepare. Let's study these topics, we have nothing to lose anyway. Study these recent IELTS Speaking Cue Cards so you can prepare better for your IELTS Speaking exam. TIMESTAMP: 00:45 - A PERSON WHO SOLVED A PROBLEM IN A SMART WAY 02:02 - A TIME YOU WERE FRIENDLY TO SOMEONE YOU DIDN’T LIKE 03:07 - A BUSINESSMAN YOU ADMIRE 04:31 - Reviewers / EBOOKS 05:32 - Successful Test Takers and Ebook Users 05:57 - A TIME YOU WAITED FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL TO HAPPEN 07:26 - A CREATIVE PERSON WHOSE WORK YOU ADMIRE 08:42 - A HABIT YOUR FRIEND HAS AND YOU WANT TO DEVELOP 09:34 - BAND 7 & 7.5 ACHIEVERS 10:34 - A FAMOUS ATHLETE YOU KNOW 12:11 - AN EXCITING BOOK THAT YOU ENJOYED READING 13:33 - A CAFE YOU LIKE TO VISIT 14:40 - A TIME YOU GOT UP EARLY 15:30 - A DIFFICULT YOU ONCE MADE 16:28 - A FOREIGN PERSON WHO YOU HAVE HEARD WHO IS INTERESTING
View Video Transcript
0:00
Shalom, my name is Julius and I'm a band 9 achiever for the IELTS speaking exam. Welcome to IELTS Dragon
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Today, let us study the recent cue cards for the months September to December that are available online
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Just a disclaimer, it's not 100% guaranteed that you're gonna get one of these topics in your actual IELTS speaking test
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But anyway, let's just prepare because we never know what we're gonna get. It's better to be 100% prepared for
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different kinds of topics than being selective of the topics that we're going to prepare
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Without further ado, let's begin. The first cue card is about a person who solved a problem in a smart way
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Who is this person? Now, let's brainstorm some ideas. Think of one profession that deals with solving a problem or problems smartly
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It could be a scientist, statistician, mathematician, a teacher, or even a world leader
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Then think of one example that best illustrates his cleverness in solving a problem
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Let me give you an example, but I won't use one of those professions
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I will use the idea which I have in my e-book or
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reviewer. For example, let's say I challenged my nephew to solve a Rubik's Cube and
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I didn't know that he knew some strategies on how to solve it quickly or
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smartly. While I was watching him manipulating the Rubik's Cube, I was very surprised because he's able to solve it in less than 30 seconds
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Something like that. Just be creative. Just imagine things. Use your imagination to develop a better monologue
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The next cue card is about a time you were friendly to someone you didn't like
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Well, I think this topic is relatable because at some point in our lives, we experienced this
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Think of that person. Who was that person? Was it your boss, your teacher, your co-worker, or maybe one of your in-laws
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What's the reason behind not liking that person? What's the event if there was any event then
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Why were you friendly? Well, maybe you just wanted to act decently or professionally in front of that person
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Or maybe you needed something from that person, so that's why you needed to be friendly with that person
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So think of a reason or reasons in order for you to develop your monologue. Just use your imagination, your creativity
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Anyway, for the word friendly, some synonyms that we can use, we have amiable and
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amicable. Next, we have a businessman you admire. So who is this businessman whom you give your admiration to? And what type of business
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does this person have? Does he have a food business? Online business
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Clothing business? What is it? State your reason or reasons. It would be great if you can provide at least two reasons because that can definitely help you
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express yourself even more to the point of utilizing your two-minute time given to you to develop your monologue
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Possible reasons would be you admire this businessman because of his story, like from rags to riches, or
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his charity, or maybe his work ethic. Now, if you want to talk about a famous businessman like Jack Ma or Mark Zuckerberg
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do your best to develop a monologue that's easy to understand. Some background information of
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any of these people can definitely help you express yourself even more. For example, Jack Ma
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he was once an English teacher before he became a billionaire, something like that
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So it's important to do a little research. Hi, if you're busy and don't have enough time researching for ideas for each cue card
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I'd like to offer you MyReviewer. The things that you can see on MyReviewer are the possible ideas that you can use for each cue card
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lexical resources for each topic, explanations for the intermediate and advanced words that are naturally used
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the interactive sample monologues for each topic, and the part 3 practice questions with answers
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The interactive sample monologue is designed to be student-centered. It is 90% complete and you need to add your 10% output to complete the story
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I designed it this way because I don't want you to just read the sample monologues
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I want you to take part and interact with the story, so you will be trained on how to be creative in delivering your story in part 2
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That will surely help you express your thoughts confidently and achieve your target band scores like students
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Viranji Sonali, who got 7.5, Regine Cloris, who got 7, and Mikmik Makabulas, who also got 7
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They all used my ebooks before taking the exam and successfully achieved their target band scores
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If you are interested in MyReviewer, just send me an email. Now, let's continue our lesson
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Next, a time you waited for something special to happen. Well, I find it easy because I think we have lots of experiences
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you know, waiting for something special to happen in our lives. Perhaps we waited for our IELTS result
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Well, that is special because the result would actually dictate whether we could work abroad or we could
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get our residency visa or not. Something like that. So that's special
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Perhaps we waited for a big day like birthday or maybe wedding day or maybe anniversary
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Something like that. Well, I think this is a piece of cake. So just recall the time when you waited
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for that very special moment in your life and talk about your feelings or your reaction when
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when it arrived. Anyway, some adverbs that we can use for this topic
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Waiting. We can use the expressions or we can use the adverbs
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impatiently, like impatiently waiting, breathlessly, anxiously, what else? And uneasily. Yeah, choose any of those
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adverbs that you can use so that you can definitely get a good mark in the criterion lexical resources
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Next, a creative person whose work you admire. First of all, you need to understand what type of art does this person do
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What type of artist is he? Is he a visual artist like a painter, sculptor or
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photographer? Or maybe he is a performing artist like actor. Singer, dancer or a puppeteer. Now, when you understand the type of art he does
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it's much easier for you to describe how creative this person is because you're just focusing on one particular art
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Maybe it's a performing art or a visual art. If I get this cue card, I will surely talk about my favorite
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photography vlogger, Peter McKinnon. I will surely talk about how he turned an ordinary
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photo into an extraordinary one. He transformed a very mediocre photo into an extraordinary one
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So that's much easier for me to talk about because I'm only focusing on one particular art and that is photography
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Something like that. It's much easier when you focus on the type of art this person is doing
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We have here a habit your friend has and you want to develop
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Well, basically we need to talk about a good habit because no one really wants to imitate a bad habit from someone in the first place, right
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So think of a good habit that your friend has. Maybe a habit of reading, a habit of exercising, a habit of
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saving money, or a habit of learning something new. Just choose one. One is enough
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Don't complicate things. Anyway, some verbs that we can use for the word habit, we have
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develop, start, acquire, make, or form. Form a habit. These verbs can definitely help you express yourself
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even better. Before we continue, let me congratulate the successful test takers
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Mikmik Makabulis. She got a band 7 and she used my ebooks or reviewers before taking the exam
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Well done Mikmik and congratulations for making your American dream a reality
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Next, Jean Maria, band 7. She's my former student from Hong Kong
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We had six sessions before she took the exam and she got a band 7
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We also have Bobor Ergachev, Anurit Kaur, Aiza Marie, Maria Katrina Viola
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Congratulations for getting a band 7. And for 7.5, we have Sherpa Nawang and Mark Desey
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I'm so happy that my ebooks and my videos helped you achieve your target band score
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Congratulations and best of luck as you move on to the next chapter in your life
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Congratulations. We have here a famous athlete, you know. Well, I think there are so many
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Such as Michael Phelps for swimming, Tom Daley for diving, Usain Bolt for track and field
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Simone Biles for gymnastics, and Yuna Kim for figure skating. I think this topic is really timely because we just finished the Tokyo Olympics
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I'm pretty sure you heard some interesting news about some Olympians. So you can use that in your
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monologue because that will help you express yourself even more, especially if you knew that particular news
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For example, for gymnastics, we have Simone Biles. So Simone Biles shocked the Olympic world when she decided to back out because she wanted to focus on her mental health
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So that is a very interesting idea that you can add in your monologue if you want to talk about her
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And then that idea can be connected to the world situation right now
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We are currently in a pandemic and a lot of us are having issues of our mental health
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So you can talk about that, like Simone Biles inspired you or inspired other people to prioritize their mental health because that's a very very important. Something like that
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So in that way, you'll be able to talk even more because one particular idea is
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connected to the world situation right now. Something like that. So just use your creativity to develop your story
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Next, an exciting book that you enjoyed reading. Well, my best advice that I can give you is if you aren't into reading and let's say you don't have any time to read
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because you're busy, then just make up a story related to your profession
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Because you will definitely have a lot of things to say because that's basically your profession
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For example, if you're a nurse, just make up a story about a book on the reproductive system
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This is just an example. You found it exciting because you completely understood how life formed
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And then you can include your acquired knowledge from your nursing school and
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your work experiences, like working in a hospital, helping mothers deliver their babies
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Something like that. You will never run out of ideas because you have a lot of
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experiences and you have a lot of knowledge about that certain topic
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So that's much easier to develop, creating that kind of story. A book on reproductive system
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So it's not really difficult if you relate to a certain topic or especially if you relate that particular topic
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to your profession. Simple. We have here a cafe that you like to visit
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Well, what are the possible reasons why we like a certain cafe
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Well, mainly because of the food and beverages. But how can we add more ideas to develop a story
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Well, you can talk about the theme of that cafe. Maybe that cafe is a rustic themed cafe
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Or maybe it's a cat cafe. Talk about the design and the price
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And even the baristas. Like, maybe the baristas are really accommodating that you enjoy talking with them
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So I believe that's enough for you to develop a story about a cafe that you really like to visit
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And some adjectives that you can use when talking about a cafe. We have local, cozy
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roadside, excellent, outdoor, indoor, nearby. You can say Italian cafe and even like French cafe. I think those adjectives are enough
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Another cue card is a time you got up early. So when was the last time you got up early? What's the event
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Well, maybe you can talk about your IELTS exam day. You needed to wake up or get up early because you didn't want to be late. You wanted to avoid
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traffic. Because let's say you needed to travel for an hour or two to get to the venue of the exam
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That will be a very realistic answer that can definitely help you express yourself
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confidently. Anyway, so some adverbs that we can use for the word early. We have extremely
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fairly, really, very, little and even surprisingly. Try to use some of those adverbs. Those can help you
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Let's move on to the next cue card and it's about a difficult decision that you once made
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Well, what are those possible difficult decisions? We have working abroad, living alone
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getting married, having an interracial relationship or marriage, ending a relationship and
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even completely cutting ties with a toxic family member or friend. So those are some examples of
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difficult decisions. Now, some adjectives that we can use for the word decision. We have
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important, crucial, life-changing, major, difficult, tough, sensible, rational
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wise. So try using some of those adjectives when talking about your decision
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Let's continue to the next cue card and it's about a foreign person who is interesting
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Let's consider his characteristics. Why do we say he is interesting? Maybe because he is skillful
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knowledgeable, intelligent. What else? Entertaining, funny or being a conversationalist
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So these are some examples of characteristics that we can include in our monologue
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For example, let's say this foreign person is interesting because he can speak your
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native language, your local language. You know, we easily get amazed when a foreigner can speak our own language
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We are surprised and at the same time we love to communicate with a person because, you know, he can definitely speak our own language
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So that can be a great answer. Try to compose a monologue or a story out of that idea. You can do it
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Next, a good service you received. Well, I find this easy because every now and then we experience this
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Maybe you can talk about your experience at a restaurant or at a hotel and
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describe how good the service was. Maybe the food was great. Maybe the staff, the waiter, or the waitresses were friendly to you, accommodating, and they're very knowledgeable
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Something like that. And some adjectives that you can use instead of using good, like good service
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you can use the word satisfactory, or maybe you can say excellent, or maybe best
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or maybe you can say superior. So these adjectives can definitely help you for sure
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The next cue card is about a place you visited on vacation
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Well, this is related to the previous cue card and, you know, this is easy because we have a lot of experiences
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visiting some places during our holidays. I just want you to think out of the box or think creatively
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I don't want you to just give a very mediocre story or monologue just describing
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the place or what you did in that place. So think creatively so that you can develop more ideas. For example
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maybe you can talk about this place or that place was very memorable for you because you met someone special in your life. Or
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maybe by visiting that place you realized how privileged you are because you're able to afford
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visiting that place. Something like that. If you think creatively, you'll be able to develop a
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great monologue because you can provide more ideas. Anyway, so some adjectives that you can use for the word vacation. We have unforgettable
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lovely, spectacular, breathtaking, or one-of-a-kind. Try using some of these adjectives
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All right, we have here an activity that you usually do that wastes your time
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Well, the easiest answer that we can give here is to talk about how we waste our time on social media
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You know, this is one of the common problems that young people have nowadays
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I'm pretty sure you have plenty of ideas. Just talk about that and you'll be fine
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Maybe you can add some ideas like by wasting your time on social media, it greatly
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affects your studies or your work. Or maybe you experience some mental health issues
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because of spending so much time on social media. Like you feel insecure about yourself or
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maybe you experience insomnia because you just waste your time on social media. You don't go to bed early
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Something like that. Just be more creative. Anyway, some expressions about time that you can probably use. We have time flies
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What else? Time is gold or time is money. And we can also say like it's high time. Like it's high time to stop wasting my time on social media
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because it doesn't add value to my life. Maybe you can use some of those expressions
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Next we have a thing on which you spend more than you expected
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So what are those possible things? Maybe a computer, a laptop, a smartphone
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clothes, shoes, or maybe you bought an old house thinking that you'd be able to save money, but later on you spent a lot of money because of its renovation
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Or maybe you bought a secondhand car. Again, you're thinking that you could save money by
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saving a lot of money, but later on you spent more money on its maintenance
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So get ideas from those examples. The next cue card is about a person who impressed you the most in your primary school days
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Who is that person? Recall those times when you were still a primary schooler
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Now if I get this cue card, I'll just make up a story so I'll be able to express my creativity
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I don't want to give a very ordinary story because that will not help me utilize my English communication skills more
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For example, let's say I'll talk about our school bus driver. I was very impressed by his kindness
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He's extremely generous and loving to us children back then. And he never got tired of helping
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me carry my bag every time I got off the school bus
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And then one day he told me that he intentionally worked as a school bus driver because
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he wanted to be with children. And there's a very special reason for that
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He wanted to work with children because he he wanted to relive the wonderful memories he had with his late
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son. So his son died at a very young age because of
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let's say because of cancer. And the only way for him to relive the wonderful memories
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he once had with his late son was to be with children
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Something like that. Yeah, so I think that's enough. I can just extend that story by
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explaining more about the valuable lessons I have learned from that experience
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Next, a skill that was difficult for you to learn. What are those difficult skills
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Maybe what learning a foreign language? Driving, cooking, or what? What do you think
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Now, if I get this cue card, I'll just simply talk about the time when I was learning how to drive a manual car
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I can simply describe my difficulties of learning how to operate a manual car
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For example, I was so confused how to use the clutch and the gas pedal simultaneously
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My car got stolen in the middle of the road. And let's say my teacher got impatient with me because I couldn't simply understand what he's teaching me
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However, because of my persistence, I was able to develop my driving skills more
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I didn't give up because I wanted to really learn what my teacher taught me
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Now, I really think that this topic is easy because, you know, at some point in our lives
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we actually learned how to develop a certain skill that's really difficult. So think about that particular skill that you learned in the past which you considered
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difficult and create a story out of it. Next, a time you felt proud of a family member
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Who is that family member? Your brother? Your sister? Or your parents
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State the reasons why you felt proud. Maybe what? Maybe he got a job promotion
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Maybe he bought a house and lot at a very young age? Or maybe you can simply talk about your parents
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You can describe their sacrifices just for you to have a comfortable life
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Or maybe you're proud of your mom or maybe your dad for raising you to be a good person
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I'm sure you have an interesting story to share. Let's move on to the next cue card and it's all about a difficult thing that you did
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Well, this topic is simply related to the previous cue card, which we studied earlier
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about a skill that was difficult to learn. So earlier I talked about my experience of
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learning how to drive a manual car. So if I get this topic, I can just recycle the idea about learning how to drive a manual car
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for this topic. So it's very important to prepare different kinds of topics because you can surely
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recycle those ideas that you've prepared. So prepare a lot of ideas and make sure you're familiar with different kinds of topics
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so you can just recycle the ideas which you've prepared. The next cue card is about a time you moved to a new home or school
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So what's the reason? Why did you move to a new home or school? Well, if you had an experience of moving to a new home or school when you were a child
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then that's probably because of your parents' work. Maybe your dad was assigned to a different branch
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Or maybe your family bought a new house. Or perhaps you can simply talk about your current situation
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Like you moved to a new home because you wanted to live on your own. You didn't want to live with your parents anymore
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You wanted to be independent. You wanted to understand the life of an adult
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Yeah, I think that's going to be a very interesting story if you can come up with more ideas of that
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Anyway, some synonyms for the word move. We have relocate or transfer. So maybe you can use any of these words
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My ebooks or reviewers are currently on sale. So if you're interested, just send me an email
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I'll give you samples first so you can decide whether you need my ebooks or not
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Anyway, thank you so much for watching this video. If you want to support me, just give me a like or subscribe to this channel
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I'll be posting videos related to IELTS speaking. Thank you and don't forget to watch the videos that appear on your screen right now
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They can surely help you. Until next time. Have a lovely day. Bye
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Bye
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