This IELTS Speaking Part 2 post is based on a cue card which is something useful you learned from a member of your family. This is a very common topic card for IELTS and a lot of candidates have got this topic in their IELTS Speaking test. I’ve offered a simple yet effective and strong answer here. You will also find the explanations of different vocabularies just below the sample answer to this cue card.

So, let’s take a look at the cue card first.

Model answer:

Family members play a vital role in the development of a person’s behavior patterns and overall character. I am lucky that I’ve grown into a typical Uzbek joint/combined family. And this has made me a very strong and kind person in my personal life. As this topic card asks to describe something which I learned from my one of my family members, I would like to talk about something I learned from my uncle which became really helpful in my future life.

In my family in Uzbekistan, I have more than 20 members as it is a joint family. The members are my parents, siblings, my grandparents, two uncles, two aunts, and their children. We still live together as a united family. Even we are doing a business together. I had the opportunity to learn many different things from all of them at different times which is quite ordinary for any kid. For instance, I have learned drawing from my aunt, swimming from my uncle, playing chess from my grandpa, playing cricket, football, and some other sports from my brother and cousins etc. I have also been very lucky to learn how to tackle different pressure-situations and bad times from my parents and learned how to conduct myself with unfamiliar people from my two elder cousins. The list can be very long. But I would like to prioritize the thing that I learned from my youngest uncle which is swimming and the importance of swimming. I’m not saying that other things that I learned from other family members are of lesser significance, but swimming is a life-saving skill and I ranked it top to other things because it became handy in a real-time life-saving situation.

My youngest uncle is a very gentle, friendly person and possesses a great personality. He was a champion athlete in his student life and played as a divisional swimmer in a national level. He was a great sprinter too. But when we used to see swimming, he was just like a dolphin in open waters. He started inspiring me to learn swimming as I had water-phobia in my childhood. He taught me how to get out of the fear about water that had helped me cultivate an interest towards swimming. Then he started teaching me different techniques of swimming such as controlling breath under water when to lose breath, when to take breath again while swimming and showed me some techniques to understand some other facts about swimming.

He shared with me the events of his swimming career, different ups, and downs of his life, how he became a successful athlete etc.  I became a fan of water sports because of him. I am also indebted to him that he so meticulously taught me different kinds of swimming and helped me grow a good interest in this sport which can be unusual to many. Due to his involvement, I became a very good swimmer and helped many people to save their lives from drowning in open waters. I was amazed that this swimming skill had not only helped me but also my community.

For all these matters I am really grateful to my youngest uncle. I also think that swimming is necessary for all because it can save lives.

Thank you.

This is the end of the answer.

When you can answer this cue card topic, it is expected that you will also be able to answer the following cue card topics:

1. Describe a skill of you.
2. Describe something you learned which helps you a lot
3. Describe a hobby which you learned from someone
4. Describe a family member who was your teacher
5. Describe a helpful person you know
6. Describe someone to whom you are grateful/indebted/thankful/obliged
7. Describe your favorite personality
8. Describe someone elder than you who is close to you
9. Describe a skillful person you know

Important vocabularies with explanations from the model answer:

Pressure: (noun) stress, strain, anxiety, worry, concern,

This is a big-time pressure-situation for me.

Vital: (adjective) very important, critical, crucial, essential,

The government can play a vital role to solve this problem.

Typical: (adjective) classic, distinctive, usual, archetypal, exemplary,

This was my uncle’s typical way of talking to strangers.

Ordinary: (adjective) normal, common, regular, average,

He was an ordinary man from the south.

Athlete: (noun) sportsman, sportswoman, sportsperson, competitor, contestant,

My uncle was a champion athlete in his student life.

Conduct: (verb) do, carry out, perform,

He conducted the match with skillful hands.

Prioritize: (verb) to give more importance, to necessitate more,

But I would like to prioritize the thing that I learned from my youngest uncle over others.

Possess: (verb) have, own, hold, acquire,

My uncle possessed good manner.

Phobia: (noun) fear, dread, terror, Horror.

I had water phobia in my childhood.

Ups and downs: (noun phrase) fluctuation, oscillation,

He had ups and downs in his life.

Indebted: (adjective) grateful, thankful

I am indebted to my uncle for his support.

Meticulously: (adverb) carefully, thoroughly, particularly, painstakingly,

We should do every important work of our life meticulously.