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

Describe one of your neighbours

: You Should Say

When you two become neighbours
how often you meet him/her
State whether your neighbour is a good person
and explain why you like/ dislike this neighbour

: Sample Answer

I’m lucky, I’ve got good neighbours. I’m going to tell you about just one of them, when we met, how often we meet and why I think he is a good neighbour who I like very much

I live in an old house which has been converted into about eleven different flats and bedsits. I live on the top floor, which is actually the modernised attic space of the original building, there is just one other flat in this roof area. To get to my flat, and that of my immediate next door neighbour, you have to go up a back stairway that was probably originally the servants’ staircase, I think what is now my flat and that of my neighbour’s too, must have been at one time servants’ quarters. This means that our doorways are directly opposite one another, and we are the only people who use this entrance to the building

I moved into the flat I live in about five or six years ago now. It is a rented flat. At that time the flat opposite me was empty, but a few weeks later I met a woman a little bit older than me who was busy cleaning just inside the flat, but with the door wide open. I paused to introduce myself and talk to her. She was really friendly, and I found out it was her son who was to be my new neighbour, she was just helping him to move in. A bit later he, Oliver, turned up too. He was new to the area, so I explained where all the local shops were, when the rubbish was taken out and various other little details about the practicalities of living in the property. A couple of days later he knocked on my door and called round for a chat. We found we got on really well. We have a very similar sense of humour, a shared (but slightly half-hearted) interest in running, and a mutual appreciation of good food – I could recommend the deli over the road to him as a source of lovely upmarket cheeses, olives and home-made lasagne and delicious pasta and pesto sauce too. We also both have an unfulfilled wanderlust, always plotting our next journey. He is off to Australia soon, lucky him

Given how close we live together, our front doors face directly onto one another, we see each other incredibly rarely. We both have busy lives, working full time but different hours. At weekends I tend to be out and about, and he’ll often disappear for the weekend to stay with his girlfriend. Even so, whenever we do meet, it is always friendly, we make each other laugh. We often end up having long conversations just chatting in the hallway outside our front doors. I probably see him only once a fortnight or so, but we leave each other notes too from time to time if we need help with anything

Oliver is a great neighbour because I know I could call on him if I needed to. We will always help each other if we can. I dug his car out of the snow for him once as he didn’t have a shovel, but he’s returned the favour in other ways, taking in parcels for me when I’m away for example. Because I live on my own it is really important to me to have a neighbour close by that I trust and like. I was really sad when he told me he was planning to emigrate. I was also really pleased for him, you have to wish someone well when they are following their dreams. I hope my new next-door neighbour is half as nice