Describe a time when you showed or taught a young person how to do something.
You should say:
- who this person was
- what you have taught him/her
- whether he/she learnt what you taught
and explain how you felt about teaching this young person.
[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.]
Sample Answer
Well, he was my nephew and a young boy who was about 8 or 9 years old when I taught him something I thought was important to him. He was growing up and certainly wanted to do a lot of things in life, only to wake up to the “harsh” realities of life that things weren’t just as “easy” as he would have preferred. Still, of course, he just wished he could learn to ride a bicycle alone.
So, as a “well-wishing” uncle, I just “wished” for him all the lucks that I had in my “store”, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t just enough. He just kept running out of his luck, and I was also running out of my “patience”. Therefore, I decided to “intervene”.
First, I explained a few “tricks” about holding a bicycle properly, followed by a “universal art” of how not to “cry” after “falling” on the ground with a bicycle on top. Then, of course, came the part where I taught our “future cycling hero” how to paddle properly while maintaining body balance simultaneously. However, it was one of those situations where one would get to say “it is easy to say, but difficult to do” kind of things and my “struggling” nephew also figured that out.
So, despite my best efforts and “universally-accepted” cycling techniques, my good nephew kept failing and “falling”. The “war” of keeping the cycle standstill on the ground while paddling it had continued for almost a week in this way with me, of course, occasionally “jumping” on it to display the “art and science” of riding a bicycle to encourage my nephew.
Finally, my hard work and that of my nephew’s paid off, and my “student” was well on his way to grabbing a pack of cookies for me from one of the local shops by riding his bicycle without falling even once.
When the “moment of success” finally arrived, my nephew was just ecstatic, as if he was flying on the moon with his bicycle. I was also thrilled to see my nephew succeed. It was a great feeling to be able to teach someone to succeed in a difficult task and provide him/her with the much-needed confidence that one deserves. Besides, the thought of my nephew sharing his story of learning to ride a bicycle with his friends/family after he grew up, where I played an “important” role, was just gratifying and fulfilling. Finally, after this cycling lesson for my nephew, I realized how important it was for us adults to teach new things to our young ones because if we don’t, who else will?