Describe a person who often helps others: IELTS Speaking Part 2 Cue Card and Part 3 Questions
Part 2 cue card
Describe a person who often helps others
You should say:
- Who this person is
- How often he or she helps others
- How or why he or she helps others
- How you feel about this person
You will have one to two minutes to talk about this topic.
Preparation status: Predicted topic cycle. This independent practice resource is not an official IELTS paper, and the questions in your test can be different. How topics are labelled.
Part 3 discussion questions
Move one question at a time: listen, answer, compare and retry. The complete question text remains in the page HTML for accessibility and search.
- 01What can children do to help their parents?
- 02Should children help their parents with household chores?
- 03What kind of help do people need when looking for a new job?
- 04Who should people ask for help, colleagues or family members?
- 05Do you think schools should teach children to do household chores?
- 06Why are employees reluctant to ask their managers for help?
See the topic before you speak
Use the images as idea prompts. Describe what you notice, connect it to your experience, then answer the real question.
Model answers, heard side by side
Start with the simpler answer, switch bands to hear how the same task can be developed, then record a personal response. These are teaching examples, not official answers or score guarantees.
Part 2 — Model Answer
Part 2 cue-card response
The person I want to describe is my neighbour, Mrs Green. She often helps other people in our street. She brings shopping to older neighbours and sometimes looks after children when parents are busy. She does this almost every week and sometimes every day. She helps because she thinks it’s the right thing to do and because she likes people. For example, last week she drove an elderly man to a hospital appointment and waited with him. I feel grateful to her. Her kindness makes our neighbourhood nicer and it makes me want to help more too.
My aunt Susana is someone who often helps others. She lives near me and volunteers at the local community centre three mornings a week, and she also checks in on elderly neighbours most evenings. She’s always ready to lend a hand with shopping or paperwork; for example, last month she spent an afternoon helping our neighbour sort his benefit forms. She helps because she genuinely cares about people and because she grew up in a family where supporting one another was expected; this upbringing gave her a strong sense of duty. Her help takes many forms — practical tasks, emotional support and sometimes just listening — and she’s particularly good at calming people down in a crisis, for instance when a friend had a panic attack she stayed with them until they felt better. She also organises a small food drive each month and taught me how to coordinate donations and deliveries. That experience showed me how much a few hours can help. I admire her a lot and often feel inspired to do the same; her kindness has made me more patient and willing to offer help myself. I also feel grateful because her actions have improved our whole street, bringing neighbours closer and creating a friendlier atmosphere.
Part 3 — Model Answers
What can children do to help their parents?
Children can help their parents by doing small jobs at home, like tidying their room, taking out the rubbish or helping to set the table. Older children can help with shopping or looking after younger siblings. These things save parents time and teach kids responsibility.
Children can do lots of practical things to help their parents, ranging from simple chores like tidying their room and emptying the dishwasher to more responsible tasks like babysitting a younger sibling or doing a weekly shop. Doing these jobs helps children learn time-management and independence, and it also eases pressure on busy parents. For example, a teenager who takes responsibility for meal prep a couple of evenings a week can make a real difference to a family’s routine.
Should children help their parents with household chores?
Yes, children should help with household chores. It’s fair and it teaches them basic skills. Parents can give age-appropriate tasks, like younger kids tidy toys and older kids wash dishes. It’s good practice for later life.
Yes — children should help with household chores because it teaches essential life skills and a sense of shared responsibility. However, tasks must be age-appropriate: younger children can tidy, feed pets or help set the table, while teenagers can take on laundry or cooking. Schools won’t teach everything, so chores are a practical way to prepare young people for independent living and to promote equality at home.
What kind of help do people need when looking for a new job?
People looking for a new job need help with writing a CV, preparing for interviews and finding vacancies. They also need references and sometimes training to learn new skills. Friends and career services can help with these things.
When searching for a new job people often need practical help — a well-crafted CV, tailored cover letters and interview practice — but they also need guidance on networking and identifying suitable roles. Emotional support is important too, because job hunting can be demoralising. For instance, a mentor who gives honest feedback on your application and introduces you to contacts can be invaluable in securing the right position.
Who should people ask for help, colleagues or family members?
It depends. For work problems it's usually better to ask colleagues because they know the job. For personal or emotional issues family members are better. Sometimes colleagues can help with practical advice and family with support.
It depends on the kind of help needed. For technical or job-specific guidance colleagues are often best placed because they understand the workplace and can offer practical tips. For emotional support or logistical help — childcare, for example — family members might be more suitable. Confidentiality and expertise matter too: I’d go to a colleague for feedback on a project, but to family for long-term moral support.
Do you think schools should teach children to do household chores?
Yes, I think schools should teach children some household chores. It helps them learn skills and be responsible. Schools could include basic cooking, laundry and cleaning in lessons or as part of life-skills classes.
I do think schools should include basic household skills within the curriculum, either in dedicated life-skills lessons or as part of PSHE. Teaching cooking, laundry basics, budgeting and simple home maintenance gives students practical competence they’ll need as adults. This also promotes fairness, so both boys and girls learn the same responsibilities, and can reduce the burden on families who otherwise do all that home teaching themselves.
Why are employees reluctant to ask their managers for help?
Employees may be reluctant because they don’t want to look weak or bother their manager. They might think the manager is too busy or they’re afraid of being judged. So they try to solve things by themselves.
Employees are often hesitant to ask managers for help because of power dynamics and fear of appearing incompetent, especially in cultures where self-reliance is prized. Time pressure and heavy workloads make staff worry they’ll be seen as a drain on resources. Creating psychological safety and clear channels for support — for instance regular one-to-one meetings — helps people feel more able to ask for guidance without worrying about negative judgement.
How to answer Describe a person who often helps others IELTS Speaking questions
For the Describe a person who often helps others cue card, use the preparation minute to build a route through the talk. Choose a clear subject, add two specific moments or details and end with why it matters. Then use the linked Part 3 questions to practise broader explanation and comparison.
Cue-card prompts:
- Who this person is
- How often he or she helps others
- How or why he or she helps others
- How you feel about this person
- Opening: identify the person, place, object or event.
- Development: describe two details or moments in a logical order.
- Extension: explain a reason, result, comparison or problem.
- Reflection: finish with why the subject is memorable or important.
Question-by-question approach
| Practice question | Useful answer move |
|---|---|
| What can children do to help their parents? | Name the thing first, then describe a specific feature or example. |
| Should children help their parents with household chores? | Give a direct answer, one reason and a short example without memorising a script. |
| What kind of help do people need when looking for a new job? | Name the thing first, then describe a specific feature or example. |
| Who should people ask for help, colleagues or family members? | Give a direct answer, one reason and a short example without memorising a script. |
Vocabulary focus
Useful language already demonstrated in the model answers includes tidying their room, meal prep, time-management, age-appropriate, shared responsibility, independent living, tailored CV, networking. Learn the meaning and a natural word partnership, then use each item in a different answer instead of copying a complete script.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Giving a memorised response that only partly answers the question.
- Adding difficult vocabulary without checking meaning or collocation.
- Restarting after every error instead of correcting briefly and continuing.
- Reading the model answer before recording your own first attempt.
Describe a person who often helps others practice FAQ
How should I use the Describe a person who often helps others cue card preparation minute?
Write keywords for an opening, two or three details and a final reflection. Do not try to write complete sentences.
Do I have to cover every cue-card bullet?
The prompts help you organise the talk. Covering them is useful, but a coherent one-to-two-minute response matters more than mechanically ticking off each line.
How are Part 3 questions connected to Part 2?
They develop the same broad theme through reasons, comparisons, social effects or future possibilities, so answers normally need more explanation than Part 1.
