Tool or game
Lesson
Speaking Part 2: Tell the story of a skill you learned
Plan a two-minute talk in one minute. Use the cue card points as a plan, add story phrases, then practise with real IELTS timing and record yourself.
What happens in Part 2
You get a cue card with a topic and four prompts. You have 1 minute to prepare (with paper and a pencil) and then speak for 1–2 minutes. The examiner won't interrupt you.
Use the minute well
Don't write sentences. Write 3–4 key words for each prompt, so you can glance at them while you talk.
What: riding a bike, age 12, uncle's old bike
How: empty school field, every evening, uncle held seat
Difficult: balance, fell a lot, scared of the road
Feelings: embarrassed → proud, freedom, ride to school
How: empty school field, every evening, uncle held seat
Difficult: balance, fell a lot, scared of the road
Feelings: embarrassed → proud, freedom, ride to school
Turn it into a story
Examiners reward talks that flow. Story phrases help you move through time naturally:
- At first,… / In the beginning,…
- The turning point was when…
- Eventually,… / After a few weeks,…
- Looking back,… / What I learned was…
If you run out of things to say
Add a feeling, a small detail or what happened next. Keep talking until the examiner stops you.
Practise freely
Questions 1–3
Choose the best answer, A, B or C.
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What should you write during the one minute of preparation?
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You have said everything on your notes after 80 seconds. What should you do?
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Which sentence best answers "explain how you felt about learning it"?
Questions 4–7
Complete the talk with a phrase from the box. Use each phrase once.
At firstThe turning point wasEventuallyLooking back
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, I kept falling off the bike and wanted to give up.
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when my uncle held the seat and then secretly let go.
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, after about two weeks, I could ride all the way to school.
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, I think it taught me to be patient.
Your turn: the cue card
Describe a skill you learned that was difficult at first.
You should say:
- what the skill was
- how you learned it
- what was difficult about it
and explain how you felt once you had learned it.
Preparation
1:00
Your recording stays on this device. Nothing is uploaded.
Check your answer
Model answer
I'd like to talk about learning to ride a bicycle, which I did when I was about twelve, so quite late compared with most of my friends.
My uncle had an old bike that nobody used, and he offered to teach me. Every evening after school we went to the empty field behind my school, because there was no traffic there and the grass was soft, which was important, as it turned out.
The difficult part was balance. At first, I couldn't go more than a few metres without falling, and I was honestly quite embarrassed, because younger children were riding past me. I was also scared of going onto the road, so for a long time I only practised on the field.
The turning point was when my uncle held the back of the seat and then, without telling me, let go. I rode the whole length of the field before I realised he wasn't there.
Eventually, after a couple of weeks, I could ride all the way to school. Looking back, I felt incredibly proud, not just because I could ride, but because I had nearly given up and didn't. It gave me a real sense of freedom too, because I no longer had to wait for anyone to take me places.
