Describe an interesting thing you have learned from a foreign culture.
You should say:
What it is? How you learnt it? Why you learnt it? and explain how you think it will help others?
Note: You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.
Model Answer 1:
Introduction: andWhat it is? Well every culture is unique in itself and it is not uncommon to see people following other cultures to learn new things and the thing that I would like to share here is what I have learnt from western culture.
Although, this culture is not much appreciated in my country or other developing and underdeveloped countries but I must say that the one thing that the youngsters become self-dependent at a very young age Is something that really impresses me a lot.
How you learnt it? and Why you learnt it? The fact is that in western Countries especially European countries, youngsters become self-dependent at a very early age.
For example, in their teenage, they start working in restaurants as wait-staff or they start cleaning jobs or anything and I must say it is very important because in this very young age, they learn the value of money and understand how hard it is to earn, so of course, they spend it wisely as well.
In contrast, if I talk about youngsters in my country, they totally remain dependent on their parents for their finances. Not only till their school-age but later as well.
For example, most college and university going children expect their parents to meet their expenses. They do not understand, the true value of money, for this reason, they often become spendthrifts as well.
At an average, Indian students become self-dependent only after finding a job, after completing a college or university degree and by the time, the student is around 22 or 23 years old which is quite late compared to the western counterparts.
Reliance on parents for a long time is one of the reasons behind the low level of confidence among the youngsters in the country to the western countries.
Explain how you think it will help others? and Conclusion: Since the time has changed greatly and technology has created enormous opportunities for the youngsters, so I believe that this is what the youngsters of my country should definitely learn from the westerns and they too get involved or engage in some kind of paid work so that they too become self-reliant or self-sufficient in early age.
Model Answer 2:
Introduction and What it is?
An interesting thing I learnt from a foreign culture is the celebration of Mother’s day.
Growing up in my country we never had an official celebration of Mother’s day.
In our culture most of us still live with parents and we are very close to them.
We love and respect our elders every day but there is no special day to celebrate them.
When I was in college one of my friends who was studying in USA came back home in summer break.
We were meeting after so long and she shared so much about her college and how the culture there was so different.
One of the things she told me that really impressed me was Mother’s Day celebration there.
It is celebrated on the second Sunday in May every year to honor the mothers.
How you learnt it?
It is an opportunity for children to show their love and thank their mothers for all they have done.
She stays with her aunt in US and told me that on Mother’s Day her cousins made cards for their mother, made her breakfast in bed, and helped her with chores all day.
There was also a celebration of Mother’s Day in her cousin’s school. They all went out for dinner that day and her uncle got a beautiful ring for her aunt.
Why you learnt it?
I also wanted to do something special for my mother and told my sister about this popular western culture.
I am very close to my mom and have seen her do so much for me and my sister every single day.
She worked full time, helped us with homework, made our favorite dishes, organized our birthday parties, took care of us when we got sick.
I always went to my mother when I was feeling sad, and she would make me forget about my worries.
So, dedicating one day to celebrate her felt really good to me and I started celebrating Mother’s day every year.
I still remember the smile on my mother’s face the first time we celebrated Mother’s day.
I woke her up with tea. It felt so nice making morning tea for her. We didn’t let her do anything that day.
My sister cooked her a nice brunch and then all went out to the mall to get her a present and had dinner at her favorite restaurant.
I think adopting this western culture helps us show our mothers how much we appreciate them.
explain how you think it will help others?
It helps us understand how much they do every single day. We tend to take our mother’s for granted and don’t even realize how much they do for us.
They sacrifice so much for us and have to balance both work and home. Fathers can get away with just having a job, but mothers do it all.
They are superwoman and we really should cherish them every day.
A special day just for them is the very little we can do for them
ELTS Speaking Part 3 : Follow up Questions
Here some examples of follow up questions that you may asked during your speaking part 3 by examiner related to cue card “Describe an interesting thing you have learned from a foreign culture”.
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