IELTS Speaking Part 1: Festivals & Celebrations (Band 9 Sample Answers)
This IELTS Speaking Part 1 topic asks about festivals and celebrations — a colourful, familiar area to speak about naturally. A band-9 answer gives a clear reply and rounds it out with a detail, a reason or a small personal touch, then stops cleanly. Below are five common questions with band-9 model answers in a relaxed spoken register, plus why they score 9 and the collocations worth stealing.
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01 · Questions & Band 9 answers
Q: What is the most important festival in your country?
Without a doubt, it's Tết, our Lunar New Year — it's easily the biggest event of the year here. The whole country basically shuts down for a week so people can travel home to be with family. It's a lovely mix of honouring your ancestors, wishing everyone luck for the year ahead, and eating an enormous amount of food.
name it, then describe its spiritQ: How do people usually celebrate it?
There are all sorts of traditions. In the days beforehand, families give their homes a proper spring clean and decorate with flowers, especially peach and apricot blossom. On the day itself, we visit relatives, the older generation give children lucky money in little red envelopes, and everyone shares special dishes you only really eat at this time of year.
list customs in orderQ: Do you enjoy celebrating festivals?
I really do — they're some of the happiest days of the year for me. What I love most isn't so much the rituals as the fact that everyone slows down and comes together. In such a fast-paced world, having a proper reason to stop, reconnect with family and just enjoy each other's company feels increasingly precious.
answer, then a reflective reasonQ: Have festivals changed since you were a child?
In some ways, yes. A lot of the core traditions are exactly the same, which is reassuring, but the celebrations have definitely become more commercial and, honestly, a bit more hectic. People also share everything on social media now, which was obviously unheard of when I was little. Still, the heart of it — being with family — hasn't really changed at all.
contrast, then reaffirm the coreQ: Are there any festivals from other countries you would like to experience?
Definitely — I'd love to experience the Rio Carnival in Brazil one day. The sheer scale and energy of it look incredible, with the costumes, the music and the whole city coming alive. It seems like the kind of thing you'd never forget, and it's completely different from the more family-focused festivals I grew up with.
name a wish, add contrast02 · Why this scores Band 9
Each answer commits to a clear line and develops it with detail or a reason, then stops. Relaxed signposts ("without a doubt", "honestly", "still") link the ideas naturally, so the delivery stays connected and never rambles.
Festival vocabulary is precise and idiomatic — "the whole country shuts down", "honouring your ancestors", "give the home a spring clean", "come together", "come alive" — used casually the way a confident speaker talks.
Structures vary well: a purpose clause ("so people can travel home"), a cleft ("What I love most isn't so much the rituals as the fact that everyone slows down"), and a past-vs-present contrast ("which was unheard of when I was little"). All accurate.
Short, speakable chunks with natural stress on the key words invite the easy, warm intonation this friendly topic rewards, with no awkward consonant clusters.
03 · Useful phrases for this topic
Tap a phrase to see what it means and how to use it. Natural phrases like these lift your Lexical Resource score.
04 · Frequently asked questions
Should I talk about a festival from my own culture?
Yes — a festival you actually celebrate gives you rich, specific detail that flows far more naturally than one you have only read about. Describing your own traditions is exactly what makes the answer vivid.
How much detail about the traditions should I give?
Enough to paint a picture — a couple of specific customs (lucky money, special food, decorations) is ideal. You do not need to explain everything; select a few vivid details and move on.
What tense should I use?
Present simple for how the festival is usually celebrated ("we visit relatives", "people decorate"), and past tense or a contrast if you talk about how it has changed. Mixing them accurately lifts the grammar score.
How do I extend a short answer about festivals?
Add what people do, why it matters, or how you feel about it. "We celebrate the new year" becomes band-9 as "We celebrate Lunar New Year, when the whole country stops to be with family." The extension carries the marks.
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