IELTS Speaking part 2: Describe a young child who you know well

Topic cue card:

Describe a young child who you know well. You should say:

• who the child is

• how you know him/her

• how you act with the child

• and explain why you like/ dislike this child.

Answer:

I am going to describe my own son – he is the young child that I know best of course.

My son is now over 1 year old, and I think he is the most adorable baby in the world, you know, a baby is always the best in his mother’s eyes.

I named him Tue Lam, which means the jewel of wisdom, with the hope that he would be intelligent and insightful. Although it’s still too early to know how he will turn out to be in the future, he seems quite smart at this time. He started talking quite early, around the eleventh month, and his first word was not “mama” but “Cua” – his nickname at home. We were really surprised to see him pointing at himself and saying out loud his name repeatedly until we all applauded. Now at fourteen months, he has a vocabulary of over 10 words and can sing along with his favorite songs, although the words are still not very clear. His speaking is improving quickly day by day.

My boy is super curious – he loves to look at everything with his round bright eyes, and points his tiny hands at things that he feels interested. I often take him outside, to the park, the zoo or the supermarket and tell him about things so that he can learn about the world around him. He loves animals, dogs, cats, birds, fish, or any thing that moves and he is excited every time I take him to the zoo or the aquarium. He is never tired of running around looking at colorful animals there.

My son is a very active kid – he never stops moving, and he is exceptionally good at climbing: he could climb the stairs when he was 8 months old, and sometimes it is very dangerous so everyone in my family has to keep an eye on him at all time. It is an exhausting job to look after him, but I would never be tired to be with him. He is my biggest love and source of joy now.

I always try to spend time with him as much as possible because I know a kid’s development depends a lot on the relationship with his parents. I believe if I shower him with love and attention, he will grow up to be not only smart but also kind. Of course, I do not put too much expectation on him – I don’t want him to grow up with pressure. I want him to be a happy normal person rather than a stressed superman.

Comment:

I always try to develop a longer answer for the topic in part 2 of IELTS speaking test. I tend to be nervous and can’t think of any ideas whenever I face the examiner, thus I need to accumulate as many ideas as possible during the preparation process. Anyway, you will not get low band score for having a long answer which is interrupted, your score will be low if your answer is short – IELTS speaking is different from IELTS writing after all.