Describe an old person you admire – IELTS Cue Card Sample Answers

The IELTS Speaking tests your ability to communicate effectively in English through a structured conversation with an examiner. The IELTS Speaking Part 2 provides a topic and prompts for you to prepare a short speech, showcasing your fluency and coherence. In this blog, we delve into sample answers on the IELTS cue card topic, 'Describe an old person you admire’ to help candidates excel in their speaking test.

Before you begin, enhance your IELTS Speaking test skills and fluency using the guide provided below!

In IELTS Speaking, you should focus on one idea only and then expand that idea into a long meaningful sentence using IELTS Grammar patterns and IELTS Vocabulary. So, try practising this topic for Part 2 of the cue card for your IELTS Speaking and achieve a good IELTS Band Score!

Sample Answer 1

Here is the Describe an old person you admire/Describe an old person you know and respect Sample Answer 1

• Who this person is?

I commend the hardships the older generation had to go through to make a living. Unlike the millennials, they never had access to such an extensive range of resources. Yet, they managed to fend for themselves somehow. So, if I have to talk about one old person I admire the most, it would be my maternal grandfather.

• How long you have known him/her?

Practically, I have known him since I opened my eyes on the earth. However, I got to understand him only lately. Throughout my childhood, I have been close to my grandpa. From telling me stories to experiencing life with me from a different angle, there are a lot of memories to cherish with him.

• What qualities he/she has?

Talking about discrete qualities, he has been an exceedingly hard-working man. His parents passed away when he was a teenager. He had to leave his life and home behind in Pakistan and create everything from scratch in India after the partition. None of his siblings came to his rescue. And he was left to scrounge through life on his own.

He learned mechanical techniques on his own and began doing odd jobs to survive. Regardless of the circumstances, his quality of never giving up bewilders me to no extent. Also, he is filled with love for his family – a quality that is quite rare these days.

Sample Answer 2

Here is the Describe an old person you admire/Describe an old person you know and respect Sample Answer 2

Click on the audio to listen to the sample answer below. Pay attention to the intonation and pronunciation of the words.

• Who this person is?
• How long you have known him/her?

An older person I admire would be one of my teachers who taught me in high school. She had a great influence on me and was a role model to whom I look up.

Her name is Yen and she taught me math for 3 years of high school. She was in her 50s, so she had a lot of teaching experience. Actually, we met each other almost every day as she was also my form teacher. She cared about us as if we were her sons and daughters. For example, she always brought some kinds of medicines so that whenever her students got a cold, coughed, or something like that, she would give them the medicines immediately.

• What qualities he/she has?

Above all, I was most influenced by the way she taught us in class. Her thoroughness in teaching inspired me to study Math, even though I had not been interested in the subject before. Thanks to her effective teaching method, I was able to pass the university entrance exam with a high Math grade. Besides, I was also influenced by her lifestyle, which was so simple and worthy of respect that I really wanted to copy her. As she was a warm-hearted person, she always gave us advice about any problems we faced. At times, I felt that she was like my friend who I could share everything with. Although we have now all graduated from high school, my friends and I often visit her at the weekends to tell her about our daily life at university.

Vocabulary

• Role model: A person that you admire and try to copy.
  Eg: Parents are usually the most important role models for a child.
• In her 50s: Between the ages of 50 and 59.
  Eg: My mother retired from her job as a teacher when she was in her 50s.
• Cared about: Felt that we were important and worth worrying about.
  Eg: Everybody had a good opinion of the hospital – the doctors and nurses really cared about the health of the patients.
• Thoroughness: The quality of doing things very carefully and with great attention to detail.
  Eg: The report was perfectly organized and included every important detail, and I had to admire his thoroughness.
• Lifestyle: The way in which a person or group of people live and work.
  Eg: When I moved to the countryside from Hanoi, I had to change my lifestyle completely.
• Warm-hearted: Kind and generous
  Eg: He often gave money and chatted in the street to poor people that he knew – he was a very warm-hearted person.

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