IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card 625 with Model Answer

Describe a stressful day at school/ university/ work

: You should say

how the day started
how things went wrong
what you did to reduce the stress
and explain why it was a stressful day

: Model Answer

Working as a school teacher is really troublesome if you are to take the class of the small kids. I am a Mathematics teacher of a local school here in Chiang Mai in Thailand. Being a teacher, I have to undergo several other responsibilities as well. Yesterday was a really hefty day for me

Usually, my day begins with taking the class in the school and since I am not that much experienced, I have to take the class of the elementary level. But the school principals asked me to meet him before entering to the class. When I met him, he ordered me to play the role of an invigilator in the exam of the sixth-grade students. I had to abide the order and accordingly went to be the invigilator for the sixth-grade kids. But the experience I gained was awful

I have joined at the school around five months ago after I completed my graduation. The authority took some tests and formal interviews and then allowed me to take classes. They, in fact, did not inform me that I have to be invigilator for the exams and thus I had no preparation at all about the issue. Besides, it was highly difficult for me to control all the examinees alone. Moreover, some of the kids were performing some illegal acts – they brought their books and used them to write down the answers. Some of them were talking to each other to know the answers and they seemingly ignored the female invigilator present at the exam hall

When I had to control all the students, alone, I was greatly stressed. I had to shout with the students so that they remain silent during the exam. Besides, I had to walk continuously for two hours until the exam hours were finished. So, everything made me feel stressed. When I get back into the teachers’ room, I washed my face, then took a break for 10 minutes. Sitting in my chair, I closed my eyes and tried for a short relaxation with breathing control. Then when I got up, I took some homemade snacks and went for taking the remaining class assigned to me

Generally, I take three or four classes in a day. But I had to work for extra two and a half hours on that day to complete all the activities. It took two hours to perform invigilation in the exam hall and half hour for preparing the exam scripts and question papers. After the exam was done, then I had to take all the regular classes. This is not easy to take classes of underage children and the teacher is supposed to talk in the class more than performing any other things. Besides, I also have to remain aware of the activities of the kids since they are minor, they always get engaged in mischievous acts. Hence, I was stressed of executing all my responsibilities yesterday and the day turned into a stressful one