IELTS SPEAKING CUE CARD
[PART 2]
AN ARTICLE ON HEALTH YOU READ IN A
MAGAZINE OR ON THE INTERNET
Describe an article on health you read in magazines or on the internet
You should say:
- What it was
- When you read it
- Why you read it
And explain what you learned from it
A N S W E R
Lately, there has been a huge buzz all over the internet about the keto diet among health advocates, gym instructors, and those who are eager to lose weight, and early this year it became the talk of the town and the most searched word phrase in Google. Because I didn’t want to feel that I was missing out on something, out of curiosity, I educated myself about what the keto diet was and why everyone was talking about it.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Buzz [noun] – a general excitement about or interest of someone or something
Advocate [noun] – a person who publicly supports a cause or policy
Talk of the town [expression] – a person or a thing that everyone in a town or city is talking about in an interesting way
Out of curiosity [phrase] – to show that you are interested in knowing something
TIP
i.) The speaker developed his introduction in a creative way, instead of just saying “I’d like to talk about…”. He gave his answer right away and described the craze of the keto diet among different kinds of people. By doing that, he already used some good topic vocabulary words. Then, after that, he talked about his curiosity about that diet and expressed his interest in learning that diet.
Upon searching on Google search, I was directed to a website that provides informative articles about living a healthy life, which is called Healthline. If I remember correctly, the title is The Ketogenic Diet: A Detailed Beginner’s Guide To Keto. The article was substantially long and took me almost 10 minutes to finish reading.
Right after reading the article, I was enlightened as to why everyone went crazy about the keto diet and why even local celebrities in my country are continuously promoting that kind of diet. Well, what I learned from that article is that the keto diet is the drastic reduction of carbohydrate intake and the replacement of carbohydrates with fat, the reduction of carbohydrates puts a person’s body in a metabolic state called ketosis. In other words, it is a low-carb, high-fat diet.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Keto diet [noun] – a kind of diet that practices low carbohydrates and high fat
Substantially [adv.] – considerably
Enlighten [verb] – inform
Drastic [adj.] – extreme; serious
TIPS
i.) SECOND PARAGRAPH: The speaker simply talked about his way of finding the article and the article itself that he found. He provided the title of the article that he read and this would serve as his topic vocabulary words.
ii.) THIRD PARAGRAPH: In this part, the speaker started talking about what he learned upon reading the article. His explanation was coupled with topic vocabulary words that helped him explain his answer even clearer. By doing that, he showcased his vocabulary knowledge and at the same time made the examiner understand better. In addition, his explanation here answered one of the prompts – explain what you learned from it.
What is more interesting about this diet is the fact that it can cause massive reductions in blood sugar and it can help a person lose so much weight without counting or tracking one’s calories as opposed to a low-fat diet. Well, anyway, as I’m not a dietician, I could only understand the basics of it. If I want to give it a shot, I should consult a doctor, or else I might put my health at risk.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Massive [adj.] – huge
Track [verb] – monitor
Dietician [noun] – an expert on diet and nutrition
Give it a shot [idiom] – try
TIP
i.) The speaker just mentioned supplemental details of the knowledge he acquired from reading that article. That’s a good way to extend his answer a little bit longer. And the last part was his way to end his story better by using the conditional tense. That’s a very good way to wrap up his story.
PART 3
Do you think articles about fitness are generally useful?
Yes, they do, as those kinds of articles provide health education to people that can help them understand the importance of living a healthier life. Most fitness write-ups talk about the effective ways how to lose weight, the right amount of calories that people should intake, the different exercises that can tone up one’s muscles, and improving mental health, among others.
By reading all these extremely informative articles, people will be able to develop a lifestyle that is not prone to acquiring several kinds of diseases. However, it is unfortunate that only a few proportions of people in the world spend time reading those articles as they are not as appealing as the entertainment articles that most people are attracted to reading. Well, anyway, to be healthy is a choice.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Write-up [noun] – another term for article
Intake [noun] – an amount of food, water, or substance taken into the body
Tone up [phrasal verb] – to become healthy or vigorous
Appealing [adj.] – attractive; engaging
TIP
i.) The speaker gave a direct positive answer to the question and provided his main reason at once. Then he cited some common examples of health articles and talked about how those articles influenced people to live a healthy life. By doing that, he’s able to provide topic vocabulary words and express his answer in a more logical way. The last part of his answer acted as a conclusive statement expressing his disappointment thinking that not a lot of people are interested in reading those kinds of articles. This conclusion helped him develop a realistic answer.
What can the government do to improve people’s health?
In my opinion, it is not the government’s responsibility to make people have healthier lives. It is everyone’s obligation to take care of their physical and mental health in the first place. Our body is not owned by the government, it is ours, and it is our temple, so people should not pass the buck to the government to improve their health. That is stupidity and irresponsibility.
However, what I think the government can help is to provide some facilities that can encourage people to practice a healthy lifestyle such as public gyms or parks but then again, it is all up to people whether or not they make use of those facilities to keep themselves fit.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Obligation [noun] – duty; responsibility
Pass the buck [idiom] – to shift the blame or the responsibility for something to another person
TIP
i.) The speaker disagreed with the idea of the question stating that it’s not the responsibility of the government to improve the health of the citizens but it’s everyone’s duty. Then he explained his argument thoroughly explaining the reason why he had that kind of belief. Then to extend his answer a bit more, he believed that although it’s not the obligation of the government to improve everyone’s health, he mentioned that the government could do something that could encourage people to keep themselves fit, but then again, he reiterated that it’s up to the person whether or not he would make himself fit. Don’t be hesitant to express your disagreement and explain your reason why you had that kind of belief. It’s your chance to showcase your language skills to your examiner.
What activities can schools organize for children to keep fit?
I believe every school in the world has already practiced and educated its students about the importance of living a healthy life. That is why Physical Education is a mandatory subject in primary or secondary school. Each school has a curriculum that is designed to make students become physically active such as playing sports, exercising, gymnastics, and many more to make sure students get enough opportunities to practice a healthy lifestyle.
So in my opinion, schools are already doing enough and they do not need to add more physical activities as doing so may spoil the interest of students to engage in doing some physical activities in school. Too many activities will just make students burn out and that is unhealthy.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Mandatory [adj.] – compulsory; required
Curriculum [noun] – course of study
Spoil [verb] – destroy Burn out [phrasal verb] – ruin one’s health
TIP
i.) The speaker started composing his answer by stating his opinion in which he believed that schools were doing enough already in making children healthy and that’s about educating them and making them involved in any physical activities in school. He explained his argument by talking about the Physical Education subject that’s compulsory in many schools. Then he wrapped up his answer by emphasizing his belief that if schools would add more health-related activities, it would just make students become exhausted. The answer is well-thought-out!
How can you tell whether a website about fitness is reliable or not?
For me that is simple, I always look at the author of the articles related to health, if I can see job titles such as nutritionist, doctor, sports coach, and the like, beside or below the author’s name, I consider that article as credible and so as the website where that article is posted. In this generation where different kinds of information can easily be accessed online, people should be more cautious in knowing whether or not the website or the article they are reading is reliable enough so that they will not be deceived or misinformed.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Credible [adj.] – trustworthy
Cautious [adj.] – careful
Deceive [verb] – to believe something that is not true
TIP
i.) The speaker gave a direct-to-the-point answer sharing his way of spotting if the website is reliable. Then he transitioned to describing this modern generation as heavily influenced by the online world as a result he shared his view that everyone should be wary of reading articles that they read and that people should not immediately believe anything that they read. The answer is realistic, timely, and logical. He’s able to discuss his answer clearly.
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS:
What do you know about the coronavirus pandemic?
Well, despite the fact that the news about the coronavirus pandemic is all over the internet or has been reported to every media outlet, I honestly have not educated myself a lot about it. What I know is that this coronavirus or COVID-19 is a respiratory illness in which a person who has contracted this virus will experience fever, coughing, severe sore throat, and shortness of breath.
What makes this virus alarming is the fact that there is no available vaccine yet, as a result, a person who gets infected by this will either survive or succumb to internal organ complications. So because of that, people should follow the rules imposed by their government such as social distancing and wearing a mask in order for this virus not to spread more.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Contract [verb] – catch or develop a disease
Alarming [adj.] – disturbing
Succumb [verb] – die from the effect of a disease or injury
Impose [verb] – force a ruling on someone
TIP
i.) The speaker developed his answer in a more honest way, admitting that his knowledge about the pandemic was limited. That made him sound natural and realistic. Then, he transitioned to talking about describing what the disease was about. He expressed his basic knowledge about the virus and talked about the reason why this was terrifying. Right after that, he just ended his answer by stating that people should obey the rules being imposed by the government. With that kind of answer, he was able to communicate his ideas very well, although his knowledge about the virus was just basic.
How does this coronavirus pandemic affect the world economy?
I am not an economist in the first place so excuse my ignorance about this issue, however, I suppose this pandemic has brought financial constraints to every country, especially those countries that are greatly affected by this pandemic. I heard that some developing nations have already borrowed money from the World Bank in order for them to save their health system which has been overwhelmed lately due to the skyrocketing cases of people who have contracted this virus.
Not only that, some people lose jobs and they desperately need financial aid from the government, as a result, the government spends a great amount of money to support its citizens financially. This pandemic has turned the lives of people upside down and tested each country’s government in implementing policies that would keep their economy afloat.
LEXICAL RESOURCE
Excuse my ignorance [phrase] – another way to say, I’m sorry I don’t know this
Financial constraints [noun] – financial difficulty
Skyrocket [verb] – to increase rapidly
Aid [noun] – help
Upside down [adj.] – totally disordered or confused
Keep afloat [phase] – to keep the economy or business from failing
TIP
i.) The speaker developed his answer in a more direct way stating that he’s not an expert on the business thus he didn’t have a lot of ideas about the issue. Then he transitioned to talking about how he thought the pandemic affected the world economy. He then gave specific examples to support his argument better. Right after that, he just concluded by saying that the pandemic had changed the lives of the people and at the same time challenged the country’s leader to create feasible policies that would save their people and their country. His answer was realistic and at the same time very organized.
Learn how to answer the recent
IELTS Speaking PART 1 Topic
about DAYS OFF.
GET THE LATEST
REVIEWERS FOR PART 2 &
PART 3 Here!
Meaning of Words and Phrases Sources: Collins, Macmillan, Cambridge, Oxford
If you want to support my work, you can buy me A CUP OF COFFEE here:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ieltsdragon
Thank you so much!
