IELTS SPEAKING CUE CARD
[PART 2]
Describe a polite person that you know
You should say:
- Who he/she is
- How you know him/her
- What he/she is like
And explain why you think he/she is polite
A N S W E R
I feel great to be surrounded by well-mannered friends as I really aim to make friends with people who are respectful and kind. Whenever I’m with them, I feel like I’m also a very good person, and it encourages me to improve myself for the better as well.
Anyway, in our circle, we have a friend who was originally brought up in Japan, his name is Yuya. He’s actually half-blooded, his mom is Japanese and his dad is Filipino. He’s actually the most polite among us, not to mention the youngest. Every time we meet up for lunch or dinner, he never fails to bow as it’s his way of showing his respect to us all. I really like that gesture as I find it unique which is very different from our own culture.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Half-blooded [adj.] – having parents of different races
Not to mention [phrase] – in addition to
Gesture [noun] – a movement that you make with a part of your body to express emotion or information
Also, I’ve noticed that he avoids butting in during our discussion or conversation, he always makes sure to let the other person finish talking first before speaking. That I believe is very important to avoid misunderstanding, confusion, or any conversation-related problem. In our culture, interfering with someone is acceptable to some extent, especially when you need to correct what someone is saying. But for our friend, he never does that.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Butt in [phrasal verb] – interrupt
Interfere [verb] – intervene; butt in
To some extent [phrase] – partly but not completely
In addition, he doesn’t directly say ‘no’, and I learned that in their culture, they avoid rejecting someone or something outright because they don’t want to offend or make someone feel bad. They care about the other person’s feelings. It was really hard for us his friends to understand him in the beginning, however, as time went by, we learned how to feel when he doesn’t like something but can’t say no to us directly. Having him as our friend, who has a very different culture makes us learn the importance of politeness or respect and that helps us make our bond stronger.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Outright [adv.] – wholly and completely
Bond [noun] – friendship or relationship
PART 3
What’s the standard of being polite?
Well, since politeness is synonymous with being respectful, in my opinion, it is when one knows how to show respect to others and knows how to keep one’s temper in a stressful situation. More often than not, people speak ill of someone when they are angry and that’s not being polite or mature. Politeness comes with respect and dealing with difficult people or situations in a more mature way. That for me is the standard of politeness.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Synonymous [adj.] – alike in meaning
Keep one’s temper [idiom] – to remain calm
Speak ill of [idiom] – to say malicious or defamatory things about someone
What behavior will be regarded as impolite?
There are so many different examples of impoliteness however, I’d like to mention the common ones such as disrespecting the elderly, bad-mouthing one’s parents, asking too personal questions to someone, and not greeting one’s boss. These are just a few examples of the many examples of impoliteness that some people show to others. I really feel upset every time I see people, especially the young, who never make any effort to show good manners to others. Being respectful doesn’t cost a thing, why do some people fail to show politeness to others? I just can’t understand.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Bad-mouth [verb] – criticize behind their back
Upset [adj.] – emotionally disturbed
Do you think people in the countryside are more polite than those in cities?
I don’t think so because being well-mannered does not depend on where you come from. One can be polite even if he lives in a slum area and one who lives in a mansion can be so disrespectful, or the other way around. What I’m trying to say is that being polite or respectful is the result of how one is brought up by his parents and his own judgment on what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
If one is impolite or ill-mannered, I can say that his parents partly failed to raise him to be well-mannered, and we can also blame the person himself for letting himself be influenced by ill-mannered friends. So, I must say, the person’s residence has nothing to do with his demeanor.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Slum [noun] – an area of a city where living conditions are very bad and the house conditions are bad
Mansion [noun] – a large, impressive house
Bring up [phrasal verb] – to teach a child to behave in a particular way
Demeanor [noun] – manner
What do you think makes people polite?
This actually varies from culture to culture, in our own culture it’s polite to use some endearment to our brothers or sisters especially if they are older. We also use some endearment to a stranger like a taxi driver when talking with them. It sounds strange to others but that’s our culture.
So, I can’t give a one-size-fits-all answer to this question, however, like I said earlier politeness is synonymous with being respectful, so I believe when one is showing respect to others, he is polite.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Vary from [phrase] – to be different between two people or things
Endearment [noun] – a word or phrase expressing love
One-size-fits-all [adj.] – suitable for everyone or for every purpose
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Meaning of Words and Phrases Sources: Collins, Macmillan, Cambridge, Oxford
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