Cue Card # 197: The first mobile phone that you owned

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 197

Describe the first mobile phone that you owned.

You should say:

• when it was
• why you bought it
• what features it had

and explain how you felt when you owned it.

[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]

Model Answer:

Gosh, I have changed my mobile phone so many times in the last 12 years or so that it would probably require me hours of memory searching to properly describe my first mobile. But, I am definitely going to try my best to stimulate my memory cells and bring back the memories of my first mobile purchase(!)

But, even though I bought it so many years ago, I am almost certain that it was a “Nokia” phone. Back then, Nokia was a popular mobile phone within the circles of my friends, family and relatives, but another mobile phone was also popular back then, and that phone used to be called “Motorola”. However, Nokia was a better choice for me, simply because it was more affordable. But, even though, it was cheaper than the other phone brand, it wasn’t any less since it had all the important features of a regular mobile phone, like calling, texting, alarm system, calculator, calendar, and a camera also to snap pictures. So, it was certainly worth the price even though I felt that it was a bit too expensive for the income I was generating back then.

But, expensive or not, I needed to buy that phone because I needed to keep in touch with my parents. In fact, 12 years ago when mobile phones had just started to become popular in my country, I just started my first job in a different city, far away from my home town, and I was missing them too much. So, having a mobile phone was definitely a good option for me since it would allow me to talk to them at any time and from anywhere.

Anyway, in the end, after buying that phone, I initially felt a bit guilty because it cost me a considerable amount of money. Then, later on, I also thought that even though it was expensive, it was certainly doing a great job of communicating with my family and friends, no matter how far they really were from me. It also gave me an added sense of responsibility because I needed to keep that expensive item safe, always.