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HomeIELTS SpeakingSpeaking Part 2Describe a skill that you learned from older people

Describe a skill that you learned from older people

Describe a skill that you learned from older people

You should say:

  • What skill it was
  • Who you learned it from
  • How you did it how you feel about it

Sample Answer

It is my father who taught me the most important life lessons and skills. And among many things, he taught me to drive safely and confidently.

I went to a driving school. I passed my driving test, but I wasn’t a confident driver. So my father decided to teach me to drive like a pro. I liked the idea as I wanted to overcome my fear of driving. But I didn’t want to drive a stick. I was going to buy a car with an automatic transmission, so I didn’t understand why he wanted me to learn to drive a car with a manual transmission.

We had our driving sessions every weekend. I expected him to break down the process into a series of steps. I thought we would first practice in a simulated environment and focus on mastering one or two functions, say, steering and speed calibration. Although he would make me repeat each step until I got it right before leading me headlong into ‘real’ traffic conditions.

But my father has always been the ‘sink or swim’ type of a teacher. He took me on X Boulevard, one of the busiest roads in the city. My spine stiffened, my eyes popped and my face turned red like in the episode of ‘Tom and Jerry’ in which Tom gets his claws smashed by a hammer. I was really scared. Moreover, my father was constantly yelling at me and giving instructions. I’m sure that Apollo astronauts received fewer comme from mission control than I did from my father. SC can imagine… back in the day when I was 18, I didn’t really appreciate the lessons. But his approach to teaching proved to be effective, and I overcame the fear of driving.

It was only when I learned to drive a car confidently that I understood what freedom was. Even when I didn’t have my own car, I could take my parents’ vehicle and go somewhere without waiting for one of them to give me a lift. On many occasions it made getting around the city far more comfortable than it used to be. Now that I have my own car, I think driving is an indispensable skill for me. It saves a lot of time as I don’t have to catch the bus, wait for a taxi or ask somebody to give me a lift and completely depend on them. I can stop or change the route any time I want. I’m free to go wherever | need, especially to some places which are difficult to get to by public transport, for example, out of town. What’s more, I can take as much stuff with me as I need without keeping an eye on it on a bus. I don’t have fingers that are numb after carrying my heavy bag day round. Also, I can transport a lot of stuff by hiring special companies. I can say without any exaggeration that since I learned to drive my life has improved in countless ways.

part 3 – ‘Learning from others’

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