Cue card

Describe a prize that you would like to win.

You should explain
 what the prize is for
 how you know about it
 what you would have to do to win it
 and why you would like to win this prize.

I’m going to talk about a prize that I would like to win, which is the ‘employee of the year’
award at the company where I work. At the end of December each year, the company
directors give this award to a member of staff who has made an outstanding
contribution to the business over the previous twelve months.
I first heard about this prize during my training and orientation period just after I got the
job three years ago. It was early December and some of my colleagues were discussing
who might be awarded ‘employee of the year’ later that month. I was intrigued, and
asked them to tell me more about the award.
As I said, the prize is given for ‘outstanding contribution to the business’. We don’t have
an exact definition of what this means, but we assume that you have to achieve certain
standards, such as 100% attendance, good punctuality, meeting targets and deadlines,
good teamwork, and so on. I think the winner also needs to have done something
especially creative. For example, last year’s winner created a completely new service
for our clients.
I’d like to win ‘employee of the year’ because it would mean that my work had been
recognised by the company directors, and this would definitely help me to progress in
my career. It would also give me a great sense of personal achievement.
(Band 9)

Một vài vocabulary hay trong bài

 Outstanding contribution: Đóng góp xuất sắc, đóng góp tốt
 Intrigued: /ɪnˈtriːɡd/: cảm thấy hứng thú, muốn biết thêm về điều gì đó
 Punctuality: Đúng giờ
 Assume: Tin rằng
 Exact definition: Định nghĩa chính xác về cái gì đó
 Progress in my career: Thăng tiến trong sự nghiệp
 Great sense of: Cảm giác tuyệt vời về…

Well, I believe that appreciation can change a day and even change a life. Giving
reward is also a way to appreciate someone for their work, and these criteria is
followed by almost all the sections of mankind.

If I talk about myself, I’ve recieved numerous awards since my childhood. My

parents have always given me a prize whenever I broke my own record in my
academics. But, here I would like to talk about a precious award given to me by a
police officer.
Describe a prize that you received.
 What was it?
 When you received it?
 What did you do for it?
 And explain how you felt about it?

Sample Answer of the Cue card “Describe a prize that

you received.”
Winning a prize always gives motivation and keeps engaging and inspires one for
doing something good, I would like to share the prize I won during my school
days and it was a certificate and a trophy for achieving distinction in my 12th
standard.

During the pass out of 11th standard, our principal announced during our
assembly the name of previous year students’ names who won the award and it
was very motivating and inspiring to me as the name of those stood the first
names were announced and it was a heartfelt moment.

Then I decided that I am going to win this award during the academic year and
I have worked very hard for the complete year. As I have dedicated my four to
five hours daily for studies and it was very difficult to overcome my weakness of
watching television which I sacrificed for the complete year and I scored 85%
during that session and stood first that year and when our principal awarded that
prize it was a very emotional moment and then I realized that if you decide
something and work hard towards it you are going to achieve anything which
you desire.

Before I begin to describe this situation, I must say that I’ve never actually won a
prize before, and so this cue card doesn’t really apply to me in a direct way.
However, I will still attempt to answer it as best I possibly can, given the
circumstances.

I’d like to talk about a time when I competed in a marathon, even though I was
not victorious. This was about four years ago, and I had decided that even though I
had no experience in running, I would attempt to train for a marathon in about
six months. It was obviously a huge challenge, but I dedicated myself to it, running
almost every day.
When the day of the marathon arrived, I still wasn’t sure if I could finish it. I had
gotten injured at some point and my training had really declined, but I still
wanted to give it my best shot. For me, on a personal level, just finishing the
marathon would be a tremendous victory.
I started running and completed the half marathon quite easily, but soon after it
became really tiring. I persevered and finally stumbled across the finishing line in
about 5 hours. If you know anything about marathons, you’ll know that’s not a
good time! But I was still proud of myself, and it felt like a major personal triumph.
I got a medal at the end, which I suppose was a sort of prize, even though there
were hundreds of people who finished ahead of me. Afterwards, I felt really
proud of myself but I was in a lot of pain for about four days as my feet and legs
recovered from the exertion.