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

Describe a surprise that made you happy

: You should say

what it was
where it happened
when it happened
and explain why the surprise made you happy

: Sample Answer

I can think of a lovely surprise to share with you. I’m going to tell you what it was, where it happened and when, and then explain exactly why the unexpected happening made me so happy

The surprise started with a card from the post office put through my letter box. The card said that they had tried to deliver a parcel to me, but because I was out when they called they hadn’t been able to leave it, so I’d have to go and pick it up from the parcel depot. I was intrigued. I hadn’t ordered anything online, it wasn’t my birthday, and I wasn’t expecting anything exciting in the post at all. I had no idea what it could possibly be. The next morning I went to the post office with some ID to prove who I was, and collected the parcel. It was a box, about the size of a shoe box, wrapped in a dark grey plastic packaging, with the name of the company ‘blurt’ on it. I was none the wiser, I didn’t recognise the company and couldn’t tell who it was from by the wrapping

I waited until I got home, and then I opened it. The parcel contained a brown cardboard box which said ‘Buddy Box’ on the outside. Inside, was a collection of rather random, but very charming gift items. They included a pair of socks made from bamboo; some rather strongly scented soap (I wasn’t too sure about that!); a little blank pad of writing paper with a cover decorated with cactus plants, a ‘sew your own’ cactus kit (that was very bizarre) and an ultra-thin pen for sliding inside a diary or notebook! There was still no card to say who it was from, but just an anonymous typed note saying ‘I saw this and thought of you!’ It was a completely unexpected gift, sent by someone, somewhere to cheer me up. I’d had a rather bad time recently following a bereavement and losing my job as well, so I’d been quite down, knowing that someone was thinking about me was really touching, and as well as being a surprise, made me very happy. The parcel came just a month ago, so it is a very recent surprise, but a lovely one

So that is the ‘what’, the ‘where’ and the ‘when’, as to the ‘why’ that is perhaps a little more complicated than you might at first think. Of course, it was lovely to receive the gift from someone, the contents didn’t matter, it really was ‘the thought that counts’ as the English saying goes, but what made it extra special, was trying to guess who it was from. I’d been feeling quite lonely, but when I tried to work out who might have sent the parcel to me, I realised I just didn’t know. Even though I had been feeling a bit sorry for myself, I could actually come up with quite a long list of people who might have been thinking of me and wanting to cheer me up. I was astonished, and I felt very lucky indeed

So this surprise made me happy, not only because it was an unexpected gift of lovely things, but also because it reminded me of how many friends I had around me who cared about me at a difficult time