Ielts 雅思 口语全攻略 Ideas and Examples for ielts speaking Jeremy Chiron

A Festival（Dragon Boat Festival）

Tell me about a festival in your culture. You should say: what the festival is who you celebrate the festival with what is special about this festival and explain how you feel at this festival．

·Dragon Boat Festival: when?
·Why? Qu Yuan (patriotic writer) drowned
·Boat races：drums, firecrackers, spirit＋carved boats：stunning works of art
·Families get together to encourage the men
·Dinner: we eat rice dumplings and remember a Chinese hero．
Let me tell you about the Dragon Boat Festival we celebrate every year, on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar.
On Dragon Boat Day, we commemorate a patriotic poet called Qu Yuan who drowned in a river. The local people really admired him, and decided to get into some canoes (= boats) and throw rice dumplings to feed the fish in the river, so that they would not eat Qu Yuan's body.
Every year on Dragon Boat Day, in every city around China, men compete on rivers and
lakes aboard dragon boats．It is a very lively and exciting festival for many reasons．First of all, the boats are well-decorated. Some artists carve and paint a dragon head as well as a dragon tail on each side of the boat. Each canoe is unique. The men usually cheer and scream while paddling hard. There is usually one man on each boat who beats the drums to encourage the paddlers and fix a rhythm.
It is a popular event and families go to the river together to cheer for the teams. Some people light firecrackers, and many crew members wear colorful clothes．Some even reveal their tattooed arms．When I was a child, my father used to take me to the Min River every year, and now it is my turn to take my child there.
It is a national holiday so families can get together and enjoy a good meal. You know how important food is in China, especially for festivals. Parents prepare a ton of food to celebrate. Naturally, everyone eats the rice dumplings we call "zongzi" in remembrance of Qu Yuan. It is a great opportunity to strengthen family values and to pass on our Chinese heritage to the younger generations.