IELTS Speaking Part 2: 'cafe' answer

Describe a café that you have been to.
You should say

- where it is
- why you went there
- what you ate or drank
- and explain why you liked or disliked the café.

Here's my sample band 9 answer:

• I’m going to describe a café that I go to maybe once a week. It’s just down the road from where I live, near Manchester, so it’s really convenient for me to walk down there for a coffee or a bite to eat, and to use the wifi.
• The last time I went to this local café was on Friday afternoon. I was trying to do some work at home, but I found myself getting distracted by little jobs around the house. So I decided to have a change of scenery; I put my laptop in its bag and made the short walk to the café, where I spent the next few hours getting all of my work done. With a nice cup of coffee and just the right level of background noise, I found it much easier to concentrate.
• Over the course of the afternoon, I drank two cups of coffee and a glass or two of water. The café owner takes a lot of pride in making the best ‘flat white’ coffee in the area, so that’s what I tend to drink. If I remember correctly, the second coffee that I ordered was a decaf, because I try to avoid drinking too much caffeine in the afternoon. I didn’t have anything to eat on that occasion, but I do sometimes have one of the home-made cakes that they sell.
• There are a few reasons why I like going to my local café. I suppose the main reasons are the coffee, the free wifi and the friendly staff. However, on Friday I also managed to sit at my favourite table near one of the windows, and the café wasn’t very busy. So the atmosphere and noise level were just right, and I was able to focus on my work without distractions for most of the afternoon.

Comments

[Nam Anh]

Thank you very much, Teacher Simon!

[melik]

I just wanted to thank you for your precious help, especially on writing and speaking parts. 19 years after graduation, with 2 weeks of study, my IELTS academic results are L: 8,5, R:8, W:6.5, S:6.5, overall 7.5 . Melih, from Istanbul

[Amsha]

Excellent
Thanks a lot.... I really don't have best word to praise u n ur work
Lots of love from Amsha

[Kiran]

Hi dear teachers,
Can you please give me some reasons about,why should we encourage people to take vocational training.
Thanks

[Betty]

cool thank you Simon
I am a big fan of you

[David]

That's a great answer. Very well developed and deserving of a band 9. It's also actually a pretty interesting IELTS speaking question. I'd never heard that one before.

[Raju]

Thank you so much. This is a best way to describe a cafe with several reasons.

[Simon]

FROM SIMON:

I'm glad you like the answer guys!

Congratulations Melih!

[Mohammed Hadi]

Thanks Simon, This is the 1st day to me for enrolling into your website. I hope to get more benefits and developments in the English language.
Dr.Mohammed Hadi From Saudi Arabia.

[Kareem El-Sayed]

hi simon

can I use "a light meal" instead of "a bite to eat" ?

[sujit kumar biswas]

I am going to describe a cafe which is located at the center part of our university campus.There is a big lake behind the cafe which gives a natural environment, and other two sides of the cafe with a lush green vegetation.

Is it ok for first para?

[Ranz]

Hi, Simon. I would just like to ask if how do you score one's speaking exam? I have just finished my speaking test this morning. I was really anxious and that made me talk so fast and sometimes stutter. I do not know if I passed it.

[jon]

You are great Simon.
My words can't express my true feeling towards you valuable work. You are such an amazing teacher. I really appreciate your valuable work. God Bless you and your family.

[Mika]

Thanks a lot. But i do not think i can give long answers like this for the moment. I will work on it.

[NIKI]

I am going to talk about the café that my husband and I went there last weekend. Café is placed in the Brentwood just near the C-train. I always pass near that café but I did not have a chance to go there. Last weekend I was working on my assignment all the days, in the afternoon my husband came to work room and ask me to go out site to celebrate mother day. That was the exact thing that I need after very hard day. I immediately accept it and I suggested him to go to Peace café. Peace café is the name that café that I told you I was so excited. When I entered the café it seemed friendly. I really like the light decoration of the café. It was not to light and to dark it was just right. The romance music was played and people were talking very low with each other. You can feel the café is same as its name. peace. There was three tables near window I chose the middle one there was a small glassy pot with three white flower on the table and there was one light candle behind it. Same as other cafes, there was strong smell of coffee there. I order coffee with chocolate cake and my husband order peach tea with vanilla cake. I have ever tasted such delicious cake. I was very satisfied with the customer services. Staffs of café were very kind and friendly. I had small chat with one of them I found that she is studying in the same college and department as me. I got her number to meet her in the college. My husband and I had a great time there. I should say that the price was a little more than I expected. However, I would suggest that café to my friends.

[Alice]

Hi Simon,

I am struggling to understand the level of informality of words/ phrases when I try to "collect" new vocabulary while watching TV.

For example, below are what I newly learned these two days.
1) Feel a little bit under the weather
2) goner (noun. means a person or thing that has no chance of continuing to live)
3) gets to sb (annoys sb)
4) out to do sthg ( intend to do sthg for an unpleasant reason)

When I look up words in dictionary, it only states "informal" but it doesn't tell the level of informality (except slangs)

I think I usually have the problem to figure out how informal the words/phrases are and I'm not sure whether I could use them in IELTS speaking.

Simon, Could you kindly please give me insights of how to understand more about the formality of words/ expressions?

Thanks so much!

[Simon]

Alice,

Yes, I understand the difficulty you have.

As a general rule, if the dictionary says "informal" but it doesn't specify that a word or phrase is "slang", it's probably ok for IELTS speaking.

To check further, you could do a Google search for the word or phrase, and read the different contexts in which it is used by native speakers.

I hope this helps!

[Alice]

Thanks so much for your advice, Simon!! :)

[Yang]

free wifi^^ me too

[Tanya Bhagat]

Thanku sir