Describe something that you did with someone/a group of people IELTS Cue Card
Table of Contents
IELTS CUE CARD TOPIC
Describe something that you did with someone/a group of people
You should say:
What it was?
Who did you do it with?
How long it took you to do this?
And explain why you did it together.
NOTE – The examiner gives you one minute to plan your answer, and to help you prepare for the topic, the examiner provides you with a pencil and a notepad. You’ll have to answer the questions given on the topic for one-to-two minutes.
Sample 1
Introduction
Although I have done many activities in groups, one of them is worth mentioning.
What was it?
It provided free meals to the poor people who lost their jobs due to the lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
Who did you do it with?
As we had to prepare meals for about 1,000 people, we needed a big team to manage the kitchen and distribution.
To make an energetic team consisting of people with the determination, dedication and discipline to work for a noble cause, I launched a campaign on Instagram.
To my surprise, more than 100 people contacted me to be volunteers. In the end, I finalised a team of 80 people.
How long it took you to do this?
Serving meals to 1,000 people takes a lot of work, and it took us three days to plan. On the fourth day, we had meal service for the whole day.
And explain why you did it together.
We worked as a team because many tasks required teamwork. However, we had different team players to help us buy groceries and vegetables.
As we were short on budget, we assigned the cooking task to volunteers with good culinary skills.
We also distributed the tasks to those volunteers who were teenagers. As they have a boatload of energy at their disposal at such an age, they delivered the food items tremendously efficiently.
With the unabated support of the team, our initiative was successful, and we provided free meals to the needy. Our team got on swimmingly to achieve the goal, and all members were happy as a clam.
Sample 2
Introduction
Although I have participated in many group activities, one is unique and worth mentioning.
What was it?
Our maths teacher retired during my school days. The whole class was in tears when he left the school. He joined the school in his last year of employment because he wanted to settle in his hometown post-retirement, which was just 2 km away from our school.
Before he joined our school, most of my classmates struggled with maths, and getting a decent score in this subject was daunting. Our maths teacher taught us from the basics and advised us to understand the logic by studying with determination, dedication and discipline.
Under his guidance, most of the students’ math scores improved significantly. We were thankful to him for bringing a paradigm shift in our understanding of math, so we all classmates decided to bid him farewell outside the school premises.
Who did you do it with?
I played a critical role in organizing the farewell, and all of my classmates became team members, and they supported me unabatedly.
How long it took you to do this?
It took me just three days. First, I got permission from the school principal to organise the party. Then, I finalised the menu for the party in a restaurant adjoining our school. Then, I decided on the performances students wanted to give in front of our maths teacher to make him feel special.
The farewell party was a success, and our maths teacher had tears in his eyes for the treatment he received from his students.
And explain why you did it together.
I did it with my classmates by forming a group because our maths teacher always taught us to work in groups. And by organising his party involving all his classmates, we gave him the feeling we would follow his teachings.
Sample 3
Introduction
Being a social butterfly, I love to work in a team because I feel tired and monotonous when I perform solo. Although I have done many activities in the group, one is unique and worth mentioning.
What was it?
It was a college reunion.
Who did you do it with?
I did it by making a team of five people. We all were classmates, and we were the ones who stayed in India. Rest settled abroad
How long it took you to do this?
Initially, it looked like an easy task, but as we started, we realised it was herculean. As all our classmates were meeting after a long hiatus, we wanted to make this reunion memorable.
It took us almost one week to plan, and due to the team members’ unabated support, we had a rocking get-together.
And explain why you did it together.
I did it with my friends for many reasons. Firstly, it was daunting for a single person because I had to do everything from soups to nuts. Moreover, I had other work at my disposal, so the company of others for organizing the function made my job easier.
Secondly, most of our friends came from overseas, so we had to handle numerous things like travel and stay arrangements. We divided all the tasks among ourselves to avoid conflicts.
Apart from this, our friends did not meet much after completing our education. Having the company of friends while planning for the function allowed us to spend time with each other. Moreover, it made us feel nostalgic because we used to work in groups for many pursuits during school days.
Sample 4
Introduction
Although there are many pursuits which I have done in a team, one of them is worth mentioning.
What was it?
It was an awareness campaign to minimise plastic usage.
Who did you do it with?
I did it with the residents of my township. We were a group of ten. In the meeting, we told the public about the disastrous repercussions of the persistent use of plastic. To inform the audience, we made a PowerPoint presentation.
Firstly, we depicted how plastic pollutes our bodies of water. Then, through an audio-visual, we showed them that the plastic waste we throw first enters the drains and clogs them, affecting the sanitation system of the cities. After that, it pollutes the rivers and oceans. Moreover, it severely threatens marine species as they lose their lives after consuming it.
In addition, we told them plastic waste is contaminating soil fertility, reducing our food’s nutritional value considerably.
Lastly, we showed them how this world could be better if we stopped using plastic. We showed them pictures of those cities which had experienced a paradigm shift in their looks after the plastic ban.
How long it took you to do this?
It took us one week to plan it, as we needed to arrange a few things, such as placards, sound, and pamphlets.
And explain why you did it together.
I did it in a group to manage the show effectively. The teamwork empowered me to give a well-researched presentation to an audience. Lastly, due to the event’s success, all team members were in the seventh heaven, and their attitude towards the work made my day.
Sample 5
Introduction
Since childhood, I have been a firm admirer of teamwork. I sincerely believe that when people join hands to do a task, success is inevitable. Although I have done many activities in a team, one is special and worth mentioning.
What it was?
It was a show to raise funds for underprivileged people. I live in the city’s heart, adjoining my township, a slum area. Due to the pandemic, many people lost their jobs and did not have money to buy food.
During that challenging time, I decided to help them. Providing meals to around 500 people requires a lot of money, so I looked for ways to arrange funds. One legitimate way to procure was to conduct a musical night.
I contacted the renowned singers of my hometown and asked them to join hands for this noble cause. Most said no, but two of them consented on humanitarian grounds.
After that, I formed a team to make the necessary arrangements. There were tickets for the show which we sold online. We hired the local stadium for free after negotiating with the concerned officials.
To our joy, the show was a roaring success. We sold all the tickets and collected massive revenue, which pampered the poor people’s appetites for fifteen days.
Who did you do it with?
I did it with my neighbours.
How long it took you to do this?
It took me one month to plan and execute.
And explain why you did it together.
I did it in a team because there were many things to do, and doing them alone was daunting. Moreover, I wanted people who know how to organise a show efficiently.
Sample 6
Introduction
Doing activities in unison is an excellent way to strengthen the bond with others. Recently, I did a group activity that is worth mentioning.
What was it?
It was a potluck dinner at one of my neighbour’s places. Instead of ordering food from outside, each family brought one home-cooked delicacy.
Who did you do it with?
I did it with my neighbours’ families. Ten families participated in it in total.
How long it took you to do this?
It took me three days to plan. First, I made the dinner menu. Then, I sent it to all the participants and told them to select the one they would cook. The next day, I received the response. Based on the feedback, I assigned duties to everyone. We had three snacks, four main course delicacies, and two desserts.
And explain why you did it together.
I did it together for many reasons. Firstly, we planned dinner during the monsoon season, when the chances of getting infected with a waterborne disease were higher. We decided to have dinner together in our township.
We+3 did it together to lift the lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic. We all stayed indoors for three months and felt social isolation. To celebrate our freedom due to the lifting of the lockdown, we decided to have dinner together and have a gala time together.
Lastly, I knew my neighbours had excellent culinary skills, and I wanted to bring out their hidden talents through potluck.
Sample 7
Working with a group can be a lot of fun, whether on a project, task, or activity. It can also be a rewarding experience. It can also be a great way to build relationships, learn new skills, and positively impact the people around you. Recently, I was part of a group of friends, and we all decided to build a tree house in the backyard of one of my friends’ houses.
We were five friends who lived together near each other. While I had experience in carpentry and construction, it was still an enormous undertaking for all of us. We spent a lot of time planning, gathering materials, and researching what we needed to do to make the tree house safe and secure.
We worked together to cut the lumber, assemble the walls and roof, and paint the tree house. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun. I was joined by 5 of my closest friends.
We lived close to each other and had different skills and strengths. It was great to combine them to make something unique. We laughed a lot while we worked.
It was a great way to bond and build relationships. The project took us around two months. We built this in our spare time during summer vacations, but it was still a big commitment.
We had to be organized and plan our work carefully to ensure we finished within the set time frame. We decided to work together on the project for a few reasons. Firstly, it was a great way to spend time together and get to know each other better.
Secondly, it was a great learning experience. We all learned new skills and knowledge that we would not have been able to acquire on our own. Finally, seeing the finished product was a great feeling of accomplishment.
It looked promising. We saw it, and all our friends were pleased. Doing something with a group can be fun and a great way to build relationships.
I am glad I had the opportunity to work with my friends.
Sample 8
I love to work in a team because I’m a good team player, and I think my work ability and efficiency are excellent compared to working individually. So, I prefer to work in a team. I want to speak about role-playing, which we performed during college.
It happened about four years ago when I was in college, and I participated in a role-play at our annual function. So, the role was based on the famous King Canute of England, and the role was written by Shakespeare, who is a well-known writer from our world.
As far as I know, we were four prominent people and one main character in the role, and I was playing the role of King Canute. It took us about one month to read the lines because some parts were in a typical British language, where we had to use typical accents and the proper language, and the lines were very tough to read.
So it took us almost one month, and after one month, we did tough work to perform that art. Luckily, we got the second position, and we deserved that.
After that, many things changed in my life because, like before the play, I was terrified to participate in such competitions because I was afraid to face such an audience, but after that, I gained confidence. I love to play this kind of role and can also face such an audience, which builds my confidence. I don’t feel shy anymore and love taking challenges now.
Apart from these qualities, this play helped me build leadership and tolerance and tackle anxiety.
I think people have become more expressive when they work as team players and I think nowadays this thing has faded away and it’s tough to see people with people who are very good at working in a group.
Sample 9
The thing I did was with my group of friends, and it was a group activity in which we had to stick as many pictures as possible. We also had to do a science project on a volcanic eruption. We took nearly two months because of a volcano; we tried as much as possible. We made many volcanoes, and they worked poorly. We got a new idea from another friend in our group, and he said that we would add some more things to it, and it would work.
We just tried it, and it worked the maximum. It was the last day of submitting that project, and we were delighted that we submitted it because we had been trying hard to submit it and finish it, and the charts were ready in 1 month only. We were taking time to make that volcano eruption, and the chart was also lovely. Our ma’am also liked our volcano, and we were the first to make it. And she also enjoyed what others made, and we also saw that thing others made, which was also good.
We got ideas for making one new thing and were ready for our next project and planning about it.
Sample 10
I have done many things with a group of people. One of the things I did was work on integrated projects with my team members. We built projects in HTML using bootstraps, and on the back end, we used PHP. We also started a software engineering project structure and then made a database design. We also created visual diagrams like DFDs and ER diagrams. Our major project was on e-commerce, and we used a version control system like GitHub to upload our projects and to work with other team members. I worked with a team of four people.
We used to sit for long hours after school and after college was over, and we also kept timely reporting to our project in the invigilator. After that, we worked on documentation. We also divided our work between the four of us. One handled testing other documentation, one worked on the back end, and I worked on the front end. We made a presentation using PowerPoint and made it dynamic to present it as a good PPT in front of our teachers. It took us five months to complete our project, and we finally presented it to other students and professors. They liked our team division and management. They gave us good marks for our project.
Follow-ups
Here are some examples of follow-up questions that the examiner might ask during your speaking part 3 related to the cue card: “Describe something that you did with someone/a group of people”.
1. How do you get along with your neighbours?
I share a cordial relationship with my neighbours. Although I have a hectic schedule, I meet my neighbours once a week. We talk about pressing societal problems when we encounter, and sometimes we play cricket together. On Sundays, we usually have picnics together, and occasionally we organise parties where we have enormous fun.
2. How do neighbours help each other?
The neighbours can help each other in numerous ways. Firstly, those who go to the same place can engage in the carpool; this way, they can save time and money and protect the environment.
They can also share their problems and look for possible solutions. There is no denying this conviction that our neighbours are immediately available to us in case of unforeseen contingencies, whereas our relatives take time to reach.
Hence, all neighbours should share cordial relationships and keep differences at bay.
3. Do you think neighbours help each other more often in the countryside than in the city?
In the cities, people have a hectic lifestyle. They experience fierce competition and must deal more with spiralling inflation. Due to this, they have less time at their disposal to help their neighbours. Plus, in the city, people give less importance to relationships, and their central focus is earning money and showing off.
4. How do children learn to cooperate?
Children learn to cooperate with society. If the people around them have the habit of helping their near and dear ones, the offspring will know to do the same.
On the other hand, when people live in a self-centred society where people are concerned about themselves, they learn this and do not support others.
Hence, the elders must set the right precedent for the children by helping the people around them.
5. Do you think parents should teach children to cooperate with others? How?
Yes, the parent’s responsibility is to teach their children to cooperate with others. Because in their budding years, children stay with their parents, which is when they acquire good habits.
By seeing their parents helping others, they, too, acquire the trait of helping the people around them.
6. Do you think it’s essential for children to learn about cooperation?
Yes, children must learn about cooperation because it helps them lead their lives towards impressive growth.
In this modern era, success thrives primarily on relationships with others. Good habits acquired in childhood are hardwired into children’s brains and foster their cognitive development.
7. How does not cooperating with others affect the children?
Children who do not cooperate with the people around them face disastrous consequences in the long run. In the short term, they do not realise the harm they are doing to themselves. It is a slow process in which their friend circle shrinks. Moreover, the people they deal with start calling them egoists and self-centred.
The real problem starts with children who did not cooperate with others in the past. After passing their education, they begin working or starting a business. They find it challenging to deal with people and cannot handle their conflicts adroitly at their workplace.
8. What are the benefits of group learning for the students?
Group learning provides numerous benefits to students. Firstly it helps them find different answers to the same question because each student has a different way of replying.
Moreover, it develops a competitive spirit in the students because when they study alone, they need to know how their classmates prepare. On the contrary, during group classes, they get to know the strengths and weaknesses of others and design their schedules accordingly.
Apart from this, group learning enhances students’ confidence by making them more social. It removes their fears while interacting with others. Moreover, it encourages them to present their views in front of others.
9. How can technology help in group learning?
In this modern era, group learning has grown exponentially due to the unabated support of burgeoning technology. While people must be physically present to participate in a group, they can do so from home.
In addition, there are plenty of ways to share information, such as text, audio, video, pictures, etc. Hence, it is worthwhile to say that technology strengthens group learning.
10. How do you handle conflicts in group learning?
Everyone must have the skill of handling conflicts adroitly. It is worthwhile to speak according to the situation, and it is vital to refrain from friendship with everyone in the group.
Moreover, different group members may have different ideologies, and we should acknowledge them. Lastly, all group members should leave no stone unturned to maintain a pleasant environment inside the class to foster learning.
Vocab:
1. Worth mentioning
Meaning: Important enough to require a comment.
Sentence: The contribution of animals in scientific research is worth mentioning. Humans are leaving no stone unturned to use animals for their vested interests.
2. At your disposal
Meaning: Available for you to use at any time
Sentence: We have limited fossil fuels at our disposal due to overconsumption. Hence, the higher authorities must make informed decisions to tap alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power.
3. Monotonous
Meaning: Repeating the same tasks makes us feel monotonous, so we must inculcate small changes in our routine to maintain freshness.
4. Get on swimmingly
Meaning: To get on well
Sentence: After initial hiccups, we reworked our strategy to get on swimmingly to achieve our goal.
5. Legitimate
Meaning: Legal
Sentence: In the modern era, numerous legitimate ways exist to earn substantial money. Hence, finding illegal ways to become rich is an imprudent approach.
6. Happy as a clam
Meaning: Happy One
Sentence: Yuvraj Singh was happy as a clam after hitting six sixers in an over. He said that due to an altercation with Andrew Flintoff, he went nuclear and performed well enough to give a befitting reply.
7. Everything from soups to nuts
Meaning: A variety of things.
Sentence: Launching a startup is daunting because you need to do everything from soups to nuts.
8. Meat and potatoes
Meaning: The essential aspects of something
Sentence: The gospel truth is that seeking perfecting is the first hurdle to success. People assume they need to know the meat and potatoes of a skill to earn from it, so they refrain from indulging in new tasks.
9. Seventh heaven
Meaning: A state of extreme joy
Sentence: I was in seventh heaven after passing my 10th standard with flying colours.
