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

Describe a house/ apartment that someone you know lives in

: You should say

whose house/apartment this is
where the house/apartment is
what it looks like inside
and explain what you like or dislike about this person’s house/apartment.

Sample Answer : House in Sheffield, England

Well, at first, I was a bit flummoxed by this topic. I suppose that’s because it is easy to take for granted the sorts of accommodation people live in, and not really pause to think about it all that much. I have moved around a lot for work and so try not to get too attached to houses or flats I’ve rented as I am never sure how long I might be in them. The location of the accommodation is usually the most important thing for me when I’m choosing where I live, and so I don’t really tend to judge other people’s living situations as they too can be precarious. However, now you have given me the topic to talk about, I can think of one example of where a friend lives that immediately comes to mind. I’m going to tell you all about her house, where it is, what it’s like (as best I can) and the pros and cons of her choice of home

So, this friend of mine is someone who I’ve known for years. She is married, and shares her home with her husband and two almost grown up children. They are quite a sporty household, interested in lots of activities like walking, cycling, running and music. Both her sons play in student bands. My friend also runs her own business (mail-order cookies) from the basement of her home, so it’s quite a busy household

The house is in Nether Edge, which is an established residential suburb in the south-west of the City of Sheffield, England. This is in colloquial terms quite a ‘posh’ area of Sheffield! It is a relatively affluent area with wide tree-lined streets and lots of little boutique shops, delicatessens and even its own well-established amateur theatre in the area. It has a real community feel, everyone there seems to know their neighbours and take an interest in what is going on on their doorstep. The houses tend to be Victorian, built of solid stone. The grandest houses have their own walled gardens and are packed with ‘original features’ like large windows, beautiful old fire-places, picture rails and wooden floor boards. Some of the houses have now been sub-divided into flats, and there are a few newer properties tucked away within the region. Generally though, it’s a very pretty area of the city, with a mix of attractive terraced houses and some larger detached properties. It is certainly a very ‘desirable’ place to live, particularly for people with families, as it is safe, with a community feel and properties large enough to accommodate the biggest of families

The house my friend lives in is a beautiful rambling Victorian home. It has many original fireplaces with black hearth stones and attractive tiles along the sides of the open fire grates. There are wooden floors a-plenty, high ceilings and the house goes up three floors high as well as down into the basement. She has converted this area into a lovely kitchen for her business on one side of the basement, the other side has racks of bikes carefully stored away in the dry. In the walled garden, she can keep a few chickens – which is a relatively rare privilege in what is almost a city location. Because the house is usually a hive of activity, the kitchen is always a warm and friendly place where you can sit at the large kitchen table and catch up on gossip over a cup of coffee. From the hallway, there is a large reception room where in winter you can snuggle up in front of a roaring open fire on one of the two squidgy sofas placed in their for guests. The house has great character, a little bit of faded grandeur perhaps, but it is really impressive

What do I like about the property! Well, it’s gorgeous, I love the quirkiness of the Victorian property, the luxury of a real fire and the original features are stunning. It is a busy household where there is always something going on and a warm welcome too, it isn’t just the architecture of the building and the possessions within it that make it an attractive property, it is the family within it! In my dreams, I’d love to live in a property like this, however, the reality could be a bit different. The tall ceilings and large rooms are indeed gorgeous, but they aren’t very practical in an English winter. The property is hard to heat and the electricity bills must be huge. All those open-fires and so many stairs and rooms make it hard to keep clean. Old houses don’t tend to have much in the way of storage, so there is a constant battle to find ‘homes’ for the clutter of living. Still, I reckon that would be a small price to pay for such a lovely home, one day perhaps… In the meantime, I feel very lucky that my friend is so willing to welcome me and others to come and visit her there and enjoy it too. I’ve had some very happy times in that lovely home, but you know what, if she had to move I’m sure as she is so hospitable, I’d find I quickly became just as attached to her new home even if it was a complete contrast and a small, modern flat in a high rise block. It is people that make a home, not the bricks used to construct the walls that surround them