IELTS Speaking Part 2: IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card

Talk about a childhood hobby of yours

: You should say

what hobby it was
how you developed this hobby
why you liked doing this
and explain why you no longer have this hobby

: Sample Answer

In different stages of childhood and teenage time, different things attracted me and some of the hobbies I had then are no longer present in me. One such hobby of my childhood was collecting stamps

I was a student of grade 4 when I first found that interesting hobby. I noticed that one of my classmates has a good collection of stamps and they were catalogued based on countries in his stamp book. The idea of collecting stamp impressed me and I thought to start collecting the stamps as well

When I start collecting stamps I had no particular reason for doing so but the idea of collecting stamps and having a good collection seemed an appealing idea to me. But later I found that it is a good hobby that helped me knowing many different cultures, persons, occasions and custom of my country and foreign countries as well. For instance, after a found a stamp of the USA that had the Statue of Liberty printed on it, I asked my teacher about it and he explained the details information of it. In another occasion, I came to know about Alfred Nobel, Marie Curie, Abraham Lincoln, Vasko da Gama etc. from the stamps I had. The stamps also have many historical events or cultural events printed on them and I learned about them as well. Some of the stamps were from countries that I never knew about and thus the stamp collection habit helped me extending my knowledge. Apart from that, I found that kids who collect stamps have common interests and thus become close to other. One such friend of mine was David whom I would have never met unless I had this hobby in my childhood. In my childhood, I liked this hobby mostly from pure passion & excitement and the opportunity to know about different events, famous persons and events of history

I am not exactly sure how I abandoned this hobby later on when I grew up but my best possible guess would be – because of my involvement in other stuff, interest in other things and business in school and study. I remember I had the stamp collecting hobby till I was in grade 8 and later on I got busy in my study, grown interest in computer technology, start playing outdoor games and developed the habit of reading story books and novels

The stamp book I had in my school has been kept in a safe place by my mother and who knows someday I will give it to my son/ daughter and s/he would start collecting more stamps