Describe a celebration or festival you enjoyed
Describe a celebration or festival you enjoyed
You should say:
- what the celebration or festival was
- where and when it happened
- who you were with
and explain why you enjoyed it so much
Practise this card
One minute to plan, two minutes to speak, exactly like the exam. Nothing you record leaves your device.
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- what the celebration or festival was
- where and when it happened
- who you were with
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How to approach this cue card
This card is really testing descriptive language for atmosphere and sensory detail — sounds, food, decorations, crowds — combined with a personal reason for enjoying the event. A common weak answer just lists facts about a festival’s history; a strong one puts the candidate inside a specific moment of it.
Pick a celebration with a specific memory attached rather than trying to describe an entire festival generically. A wedding you attended, a New Year celebration with your family, or a local festival with a particular activity you took part in all give you something concrete to build the whole two minutes around.
Use the opening to name the celebration and when and where it took place, spend a good chunk of the middle on who you were with and what the atmosphere was actually like, and finish with a specific reason it stood out to you, since a generic “it was fun” will not satisfy the “explain” line.
Vocabulary that lifts this answer
These phrases describe festival atmosphere and shared experience more vividly than “it was fun” or “everyone was happy.”
| Word or phrase | What it means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| a lively atmosphere | an energetic, exciting mood | The whole street had a lively atmosphere by the evening. |
| get into the spirit of it | fully join in and enjoy an occasion | Even my usually quiet uncle got into the spirit of it. |
| decked out (in/with) | decorated elaborately | The whole square was decked out with lights and banners. |
| a real sense of community | a strong feeling of togetherness | There’s a real sense of community during that week. |
| go all out | put in maximum effort for an event | My aunt goes all out with the food every single year. |
| a highlight of the year | one of the best moments in a given year | It’s honestly a highlight of the year for our whole family. |
| bring people together | unite people, often across differences | Festivals like this really bring people together. |
| a family tradition | a custom passed down within a family | Cooking together beforehand has become a family tradition. |
| an unforgettable experience | a memorable and significant event | Watching the fireworks with everyone was an unforgettable experience. |
| pack out (a place) | fill a place completely with people | The main square was packed out by nightfall. |
A one-minute plan
- what: cousin’s wedding, countryside, last summer
- who: extended family, some hadn’t met in years
- atmosphere: music, dancing, decked out garden, lively
- why enjoyed: reunion feeling, unexpected, everyone relaxed
Sample answer
This is one way to organise an answer on this topic, meant as a model for structure rather than something to memorise word for word.
I would like to talk about my cousin’s wedding, which took place last summer at my aunt’s house out in the countryside. It was not a huge, formal event, more of a family celebration really, but the whole garden was decked out with lights and flowers, and there must have been close to eighty relatives there, including some I had not seen in years since half the family lives abroad. What made it so enjoyable was less the wedding itself and more the reunion feeling around it — there was a real sense of community as everyone caught up, and by the evening even my usually reserved grandfather had got into the spirit of it and was dancing with the younger cousins. My aunt had gone all out with the food, cooking for days beforehand, which has apparently become a bit of a family tradition whenever there is a big occasion. I think what I enjoyed most, though, was how relaxed everyone seemed; there was no rush to leave, people just stayed talking under the string lights until well past midnight. It genuinely felt like a highlight of the year for the whole family, not just the couple getting married, and it is one of those unforgettable experiences I still bring up whenever we talk about that summer.
Common mistakes on this card
- Describing a festival in general, textbook terms instead of a specific event you personally attended.
- Spending too long on the history or purpose of the celebration and too little on your own experience of it.
- Forgetting to say who you were with, which the card explicitly asks for.
- Ending with a flat “it was enjoyable” instead of a specific reason that answers the “explain” line.
Part 3 questions that often follow
After your two-minute turn, the examiner usually moves into a related Part 3 discussion — these are the kinds of follow-up questions that commonly come up around this topic.
- Do you think traditional festivals are becoming less popular among young people?
- How do celebrations in your country compare with those in other cultures?
- Should governments spend public money on funding local festivals?
- Do public celebrations bring communities closer together?
Frequently asked questions
Does it have to be a traditional national festival?
No. A wedding, a graduation ceremony, a local community festival, or even a smaller family celebration all fit this card, as long as you can describe the atmosphere and say clearly why you enjoyed it.
What if the celebration I remember best was quite small?
That is fine and often easier to describe in detail than a huge national event, since you can talk specifically about the people there and what actually happened rather than generic festival scenes.
Should I describe the history of the festival?
Only briefly if at all. The card is asking about your personal experience of it, so spend most of your time on what happened, who you were with, and why you enjoyed it, not a general history lesson.
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