📕 Part 1: Festivals

This episode's vocabulary

Tremendous (adj.) - very great in amount or level, or extremely good.

Tolerable (adj.) - of a quality that is acceptable, although certainly not good.

Dedicated (adj.) - designed to be used for one particular purpose.

Unfold (verb) - (of a situation or story) to develop or become clear.

Freewheeling (adj.) - not limited by rules or accepted ways of doing things.

Entice (verb) - to persuade someone to do something by offering them something pleasant.

Be-all (noun) - the most important thing.

Draw in (phrasal verb) - if you draw someone in or draw them into something you are involved with, you cause them to become involved with it.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory, let's talk about festivals. What's your favorite festival?

R: Oh, actually I don't really like festivals.

M: No, we're gonna talk about festivals.

R: Well, they're crowded, and noisy, and create tremendous amounts of waste. For someone like

me it's exhausting being around so many people. If you push me though, I quite liked one or two of the performances at the Fringe Festival I saw a couple of years ago.

M: What do you enjoy most about it?

R: Well, the performances I saw during people with a similar sense of humor, so that was that helped to make things more tolerable. I think that's what people like about festivals more broadly. They can meet people or be around those who share a common interest.

M: What festivals do you have in your country?

R: Well, in Scotland, we have the Fringe which is like a performing arts festival in Edinburgh. And then we've got the Highland Games, which is like the Olympics, but for Highland sports, like caber tossing. And then I think each town and city has their own dedicated festival too. So, for example, town close to where I'm from is called Arbroath and they have the Sea Fest, which is like a huge celebration of seafood and fishing, and all of the things connected to the sea, which is fitting because they are right on the sea. They are on the coast.

M: How often do you go to festivals?

R: I don't really go to festivals that often to be honest. It's usually like for each festival there is. I mean, it might happen every year, but I only go one time for a sort of once in a lifetime experience. The only exception to this is the Sea Fest, which I used to go there every year until I left for Moscow and I haven't been there in quite a few years.

M: Which festival would you like to visit?

R: I have no strong desire to go to any festival really. But Burning Man in America might be fun to watch unfold. It's like a freewheeling music festival with lots of interesting behavior in the deserts of California. I wouldn't stay for long though. it looks far too wild for me.

M: Do you think festivals are important for a country?

R: Well, I think they're one part of a larger set of things that can be used to entice tourists. But they aren't the be-all and end all. They're parts with equal weight like museums, exhibitions, markets. It all combines to draw people in. I'm not sure they're any more or less important than the other options.

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Discussion

M: Thank you very for your festive answers.

R: It's OK. It's a festival of vocabulary.

M: Yeah, so when we talk about festivals, we can talk about, first of all the Burning Man. Yeah, I think this is a very famous festival - Burning Man. Is it the Burning Man.? No, actually just Burning Man. In Nevada, the United States...

R: Oh is it Nevada?

M: Yeah.

R: It thought it was in California. Well, that's good, because in IELTS speaking, you don't have to be factually correct. You just have to be grammatically correct.

M: Yeah. So that's fine. Yeah, it takes place in the northwestern Nevada desert in the United States. And because of the lockdown, there wasn't any Burning Man in 2021. Yeah, I know. So I like how you described it like with interesting behavior, you said.

R: Yes. Well, I think Burning Man is like infamous for people taking drugs and doing other illicit activities. By the way, illicit activities is a great way of describing things that you might be sensitive talking about. So that's a good piece of vocabulary. And since I don't like talking about sex and drugs, then that's the phrase that I'm going to use.

M: Yeah. The second festival that pops into your head, well, might pop into your head is Carnival in Rio de Janeiro or in Brazil, not only in Rio, because the carnival is all over the country, so in Bahia too., in different places. So yeah, and you can say, oh, I'd love to visit the carnival. And you just say the carnival, right?

R: I don't know. Well, the carnival for me that's like a fair in your town. But Carnival is a special event in Brazilian culture.

M: Yeah. So Carnival, right. And it lasts for for a week.

R: Really?

M: Oh yeah. It's like five days. But then it just it starts 40 days before Easter, usually. And some Brazilian people, Brazilian people celebrate like for a month.

R: Oh my God, that sounds great. Should we go to Brazil?

M: Yeah, and then we have this La Tomatina in Spain. La Tomatina - like one of the oldest festivals. They just throw tomatoes at you. Would you like to visit that, Rory?

R: I used to want to visit that. I don't think it's very healthy to go there now.

M: Why? What?

R: If you throw rotten things around.

M: Rotten? Are they throwing rotten things?

R: Well, then it will invariably rot if you'd like let leave them out in the street and things and people's feet are around them. Anyway, maybe when I was younger, not know. I'm an old man.

However, it's important to point out they could ask you about festivals. Make sure you have some

answers about your favorite festival ready?

M: Yeah, I'd like to visit Dia de los Muertos in Mexico. With all this, you know, interesting

costumes, remember? Yeah, just like a couple of examples of festivals. But if you don't like festivals

like Rory. The examiner asks hello, what's your favorite festival? Do you like festivals? And then you go, oh, actually, I don't. The examiner will continue asking questions about festivals. Because the examiner can't change the questions. In speaking part one the examiner just proceeds and it could be very funny. Like, what's your favorite festival? I don't have a favorite festival. I hate festivals. What do you like about festivals? Yep. So it could be really strange.

R: Well, then it gives you a chance to maybe experiment some conditionals like, well, I don't like festivals, but if I did, probably I would like the music because they always have music, for example.

M: And, Rory, you said, like if you push me onto it, or if you push me on...

R: If you pushed me on it.

M: if you pushed me on it, though. If you push me on it, though. Yeah, that's a nice phrase.

R: Yeah. So if you push me to visit festival, and Rory said they're crowded, noisy, create tremendous amounts of waste, meaning rubbish, litter. And they could be quite exhausting, yeah? And then there are different performances during the festivals. And you can use a phrasal verb to draw in. So different festivals draw in many people.

R: Or they draw in different kinds of people.

M: And then in Scotland, we have this the Highland Games, when crazy Scots they throw what, trees at each other. They carry their wifes.

R: They don't throw trees at each other. It's much more sensible. Wife carrying is Irish, I believe, or English, I can't quite remember.

M: They roll cheese .

R: They don't... No, that's also English. Stop getting your sports mixed up. Caber tossing is when you see how far you can throw a tree. It's not when you throw a tree at each other. That would be, that would be ridiculous.

M: That's so funny. Oh, in Scotland they just throw trees, logs. Yeah.

R: I have no idea cabers.

M: Oh, yeah. Anyway, you should know the specific name of a festival. For example, in Russia, we have only one festival. It's called the pancake week. And this is like a pagan festival, like a proper festival, the pancake week. Or shrovetide if you want a fancy word so Russian people check it up. So pancake week for us. But also, we have some you know summer festivals, which are not really festivals but you can call them festivals like musical festivals. So do know the name of your favorite festival and the festivals that you don't like. Some festivals could be too wild for you like parties.

R: Because of free wheeling behavior.

M: Yeah, free wheeling? Like wheel, like wheels on the bus go round and round?

R: Yes.

M: Okay.

R: Freewheeling behavior is like wild behavior.

M: For example, Rory.

R: Children are notorious for their freewheeling behavior. Some adults are also notorious for this kind of behavior.

M: There are different events during festivals, like some exhibitions, or markets, or fairs. So you can sample local foods, meet random people.

R: Meet people with common interests.

M: Yeah.

R: Or shared interests.

M: About the same festivals. So, Rory, so which festival would you like to visit? So we discussed like Tomatino, Dia de los Muertos in Mexico. Maybe Holi festival in India, when they throw different paints and this colorful stuff at each other.

R: I don't think I'd like to participate, but it would be fun to see, but I don't know if it's possible now.

M: Okay, if we organize Rory festival, so what would it be like? Rory festival.

R: Oh no, it'd be like quietest festival in the world probably.

M: Mhm. The Festival of silence, dear listener. We're inviting you to a Rory festival, the Festival of

silence. Thank you very much for listening. We keep giving you festivals of vocabulary.

R: Bye!

M: Bye!