IELTS Cue Cards – Describe a river/ sea you have visited

Follow-up questions

• What are the differences between a road trip and a boat trip?
• What are the importances of rivers in your country?

Possible answer for the above speaking cue cards

I have once been at Cox’s Bazar for about a week and really enjoyed my visit there. Cox’s Bazar is considered to be the largest sea beach in the world and it is beside the Bay-of-Bengal. We had the trip to visit the sea, beach and natural beauty of this place.

Three of our friends including me went there in 2010 probably around June. This was a good time to visit the sea beach. We stayed at a hotel which was very close to the sea. We could hear the roaring sounds of the sea from our hotel, especially at night. The sea seems endless and this was my first time to see the vastness of the sea. I tried to imagine the position of the other shore of the sea and the depth of it and after sometimes abandoned this silly idea! I was really surprised when we took a motorboat to visit a nearby island. All I could see was water around us. The waves were so enormous and high that I thought this would hit us hard and our boat would sink. I am not ashamed to disclose that I was a bit frightened about the big waves and our small boats.

At night I walked beside the sea, I watched the lives surrounding the sea, people and their culture. The moon looked like a hanging light in the wall on the other side of the sea. The sea looked less formidable at night, except the sound which was louder at night. The people, tourists from different locations, local people, fishermen, the long sea beach and the sea exposed a life and place that we never knew about. I enjoyed fresh foods and fishes, different culture of people, the vastness of the sea, the hotel, the working class people and their mildness and have planned to visit the place again whenever possible.

How to answer this cue card?

You can either talk about your visit to a sea or to a place near a river. Do not describe only the sea or the river as the cue card expects you to describe your whole trip, not the river or sea only. But as part of your trip you have to describe how was the sea/ river, where it is, what you did there, how long you stayed there, a bit about your journey and stay, what different things you observed there, what things you have enjoyed there and who was/ were with you.

If you describe a sea, you should talk about a real sea and give some factual information as people would already know about this sea. On the other hand, if you talk about a river, you can mention any river you have seen.

Some common things people do on their trip to a sea:

1. Enjoy the vastness of the sea.
2. Take sunbath on the sea beach.
3. People do some surfing and riding near the sea beach.
4. They walk beside the sea beach.
5. They enjoy the heavy tide and the sound of it.
6. They eat fresh sea foods.
7. They get down in the sea water and take bath.
8. They take photos and enjoy the sun rise and sun set.

Some common activities people do on their trip to a river:

1. Enjoy the sweet breeze.
2. People catch fishes from the river.
3. They swim in the river.
4. They enjoy the natural beauty besides the river.
5. They seat near the river and enjoy the scenic beauty.
6. They arrange a picnic there.

If you can talk about this cue card, you should be able to answer the following cue cards as well:

1. Describe a place near lots of water.
2. Describe your experience of the boat journey.
3. Describe your experience of visiting a sea beach.
4. Talk about a trip you had.
5. Describe a journey you recently took.

Related IELTS Resources

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