IELTS Cue Card 5: Educational Tour – Museum
IELTS speaking cue card with sample answer. Educational Tour – Museum. IELTS Speaking Task 2 With Model Answer.
Educational Tour – Museum
You should say:
- When it was
- What you did
- What you learned from it
- and explain why you liked or disliked it.
Tips for answering this cue card topic:
While describing a museum you should pick the national stadium of your country. If you have already visited the museum, you should be comfortable describing it. Since this is the museum that the examiner might also know about, you should give the factual information of it. Start by saying when you visited it, with whom you went there, the number of times you went there, the exterior or interior of the museum, number of floors of the museum, things you did there, the things present there and so on. If you can’t remember an exact museum try to visualise one and describe the museum as if you have visited it. If you ever been to a foreign country and visited a museum of that city, you can also mention that museum. If the cue card topic asks you to describe a museum in your country, you would then have to describe a museum located in your country.
Some of the common features of a museum:
1. A museum is a place where a collection of artefacts and other things are preserved for public exhibition.
2. Almost all of the countries have museums in their major cities.
3. The things preserved there are generally of scientific, cultural, historic and artistic interests.
4. Things are arranged and categorised on different floors for the convenience of the visitors.
There are several types of museums based on the types of things they present for public exhibition and you can talk about any type of museum you like and know about. General categories of museum are as following:
Cultural museum, historic museum, science and technology museum, craft museum, fine arts museum, archaeology museum, natural history museum, children’s museum, modern art museum, military history museum, aviation museum, universal museum etc.
A botanical garden or a zoological garden is also referred as a museum but avoid describing one of these two unless you have no clue about the other types of museum. If you plan to describe a botanical garden or a zoological garden as a museum, make it clear at the very first level of your speaking so that the examiner does not have any confusion.
Model Answer 1:
Educational tours are routine part of school curricula these days.
I too went with my school to an educational tour
It was to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Museum at Khatkarkalan, Banga
I was in 10th class at that time.
I remember how much we enjoyed.
We learnt a lot about our freedom struggle also
The museum displays memorable belongings of the martyrs of Punjab
The museum was inaugurated on the 23rd March, 1981, on the 50th
martyrdom day of S. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev
The museum reminds us the toil, sweat and the sacrifice which Bhagat
Singh gave for the country‟s freedom
I was awe-struck by the magnificent grandeur of the big bronze statue of
Bhagat Singh at the entrance of the museum
What moved us most were the half-burnt ashes of S. Bhagat Singh,
Rajguru and Sukhdev
The blood-stained newspaper in which his ashes were brought is also
displayed
A copy of the Bhagwad Gita with Bhagat Singh‟s signature is also
displayed
Bhagat Singh‟s family photographs, his jail diary and original
documents of Lahore conspiracy are also displayed
The museum brings alive the life and times of this iconic revolutionary.
Model Answer 2:
I went on many excursions and study tours from my college and in university level as well and the tour I would like to talk about was in 2004 when I was a college student. The college notice board one day declared that there would be an education tour to the central museum and the interested persons are invited to place application form and money to the authority.
I was interested and when I found that my close friends from the college would also go, I asked my father for the permission to take part in the excursion. On the day, I went to the college ground and found that other students and teachers have already gathered there. The bus left at 7:30 am and we reached the museum at around12:00 pm. Though many of my friends already went to the central museum, I never went there before the study tour from our college.
I enjoyed everything I watched there and our history teacher was explaining many of the things preserved in the museum. That day I realised how exciting the study tour can be. It gives both the opportunity to learn and enjoy.
We took our lunch in the museum canteen with the foods we took with us and in the evening we returned to our hometown approximately at midnight. I learned about the past history of our country, some of the old customs and practice we had in our country, several significant evidence of the history and the life and work of famous people of our country.
Actually I enjoyed the tour very much and as a result, I still remember it. This time I learned that there are some other ways of learning things apart from attending classes. The excursion was so interesting to me that I planned to travel extensively in my life at that very day.
Model Answer 3:
The War Remnants Museum is located in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. This museum is a place of wonderful collections of Vietnam War. The museum also contains relics and collection of the first Indochina war where the participation of the French Colonialists was a notable issue. The museum is currently operated by the state. The museum exhibits mostly the relics of the war associated with the Americans and the French. In the 1970s, the relics were exhibited on the temporary basis and were termed in a different name. Such exhibitions were also held in different parts of Vietnam to let people know about the war crimes which Vietnam has suffered. The exhibition name was changed in the 1990s.
When I was a teen, I went to the museum with my high school mates. It was an educational trip for us and we visited the museum from our school. The school authority organised for the tour and all the students of the high school had to participate in the trip. I learnt a lot of information during the trip but it was not that much popular as it in the current days. Around one million visitors come to see the war relics in this museum and it has turned into one of the most attracting places both for the natives and global travellers. But the foreign visitors are more in number than the local visitors and the opinions are different among the travellers. Some of them cannot bear the horrors of the Vietnam wars during the visit.
I like the museum for its extraordinary decoration, war relic collections and mostly the photographs. The photographs were captured by photojournalists of different countries and some of them have donated the photos for common exhibition. Though in the beginning, the museum was the house of propaganda against the USA, different changes have taken place in past years and such words or posters marking the propaganda have been removed. Besides, the museum allows the visitors to write their own thought about the entire Vietnam War issue and I liked that much as the visitors can freely write down their own thoughts and compliments.
Model Answer 4:
I have visited 5-6 museums in total in different countries and enjoyed visiting the (tell a museum name you know about) in (say the country name). I went to the museum 2 years back while visiting the city. Visiting the museum was not in our tour plan and yet we went there as it was prominently expressing its present in front of us. I went there with my 2 friends and one cousin who were my tour partners. My cousin and one of my friends were not at all interested to roam inside the museum as they had other plans. I insisted them to go there and convinced them by saying that if you do not enjoy it; I would pay for the dinner!
After we bought our tickets, we entered into the museum and the colossal front side of the museum building and the large open garden in front of it mesmerised us. At that time I had a feeling that our time would worth the visit.
After we entered inside the museum, we found that the place is even larger than we initially thought it would be. There were 5 floors in the museum and the inside architecture reminded us the imperial age. We could see the top of the building from the ground floor. People from different age groups and countries were closely observing the museum. Taking photo was prohibited and yet I was sometimes lured to take some hidden snaps especially when I saw the colossal dinosaur fossil and alien ship!
The first floor of the museum had some art from a famous artist of the world and sculptures from a different era. The first floor gave us the impression of visiting a theatre or art gallery rather than a museum. We came to know that some of the arts were so expensive that one can buy an island by selling it! Then we moved to the second floor which was full of Second World War memories. Guns, tanks and other war materials from 1945 WW II had been arranged there. A video was showing some of the fighting scenes of WW II.
When we reached the third floor, it’s been already 2.5 hours. We found all the costumes and traditional things from different parts of the world have been placed here. One can easily learn about the customs of different ages and countries just by visiting this floor. The next floor had more adventure and surprises for us. It has placed all the major inventions of different ages and they were historically famous. I felt overwhelmed seeing the First computer, Speed boat, Wheel, Motor Engine and many more famous invention of history at this floor. I was so much dying to touch the first 4 wheeler that had been placed there.
We had visited the whole museum as much as possible and spent almost the whole day. We were so enthralled to visit the place that we literally forgot to have our lunch. The overall experience was fantastic and I learned so many things in few hours. As soon as I left the place, I planned to revisit it someday.
Part 3 – Two-way discussion:
Q. How often do you visit museums?
A. Although I would love to go to museums more often, I have only visited three of them until now and that would make it three times that I have been to museums!
All of them were of archaeological type but I still remember the last one- in Greece. It was the Acropolis Museum and I went there at the age of 16, during a school programme for the restitution of the Parthenon Marbles which are located in the British Museum. It is a magnificent building and it reflects the greek civilisation with the inclusion of statues, monuments and even documentaries with the purpose of informing visitors not only from overseas but also from Greece about its exhibits. I strongly believe that it was the best educational experience of my life and I would induce people to pay it a visit when possible.
Q. What type of museum is popular in your country?
A. I come from Greece so I’m going to talk about the type of museums famous there. It is widely known that Greece has a really important culture and history, so there are numerous museums throughout the country. Archaeological and folklore museums are the most common kinds and those are visited by the majority of people. Apart from these, biographical, ethnographic and historic museums are also really rife in our country. Furthermore, there are art museums and galleries and some other that are about industry, science and technology. To conclude, there are plenty of categories that satisfy everyone’s preference and desire but Archaeological and folklore museums are most popular in our country.
Q. What do you think of the importance of museums in history?
A. My personal belief is that museums are of paramount importance and constitute an integral part of a country’s history. As it is known, these constructions provide information about culture and heritage; in other words, museums keep history alive. To be more precise, museums include artifacts and different objects from the past and by placing them there, people are reassured that the items they see provide clear and accurate information about the history, rather than reading books and magazines in which most of the details are subjective and theoretical. In addition, if I’m allowed to speak in economic terms, I would say that museums are history’s brands and trademarks.
Q. How do you think of the heritage of a country?
A. It seems to me that a heritage of a nation isn’t determined by only one thing. To begin, monuments, sculptures and temples are essential and they are representative examples as far as heritage is concerned. For example, the Parthenon in Greece, Statue of Liberty in the USA, Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple and Pyramids in Egypt, Tower of London in the UK are only some the most significant structures that reflect each country’s legacy. History composes an important part as well, by informing people about the achievements and failures of a territory and the reason why something is known and studied by many. Lastly, museums which we were talking about earlier couldn’t be missing from this list, not only for all the important aspects they have but also because they are connected with the beauty and grandeur of a country.
Q. Compare the museums nowadays and in the past.
A. Anyone who pays a visit to museums could say that nowadays museums are more beautiful, modern, have a rich collection, and convenient to visit than in the past. To elucidate, in the past, only a few people had access to them but these days they are open spaces for public knowledge. Furthermore, much attention is given to the maintenance of the museums now than the past and most of the museums are renovated not only for their preservation but also to attract more public interest. In addition, technological advances have played a fundamental role; with videos and audios helping visitors understand what they see and that makes their experience more pleasant, informative and interactive than the past when these technological usages were absent.
Q. Have you ever been to a foreign museum?
A. The truth is I have never been to a museum outside my country, but I would really like to go someday. The first museum that comes to my mind is the British Museum in the UK and despite the fact that I have been living in England for the last three years, I never managed to visit this renowned institution. Some other museums that I definitely want to visit are the Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Portrait Gallery in the USA and the National Museum of Ireland.
Similar IELTS Cue Card Topics
Your preparation for this Cue Card would also help you answering the following cue card topics:
- Describe a recent tour you enjoyed.
- Describe a study tour or excursion you had in your teenage.
- Describe a journey you remember well.
- Describe a worth visiting place in your city.
- Talk about a museum you have visited.
- Describe a place where you would like to go.
- Describe an interesting place you have visited.