📙 Part 2: Describe a place you have been to and would like to recommend to others

You should say where it is, what the place is like, when you've visited this place, and explain why you would recommend this place to others.

This episode's vocabulary

Marine reserve (noun phrase) – an area in the ocean set aside for the protection and conservation of wildlife. → Jaco Island is part of a marine reserve where fishing and hunting are prohibited.

Sustainable (adjective) – able to be maintained over the long term without causing harm to the environment. → The wildlife in the reserve is kept at sustainable levels.

Tourism (noun) – the business or activity of attracting and accommodating visitors. → The island’s natural beauty makes it a hotspot for tourism.

Relative safety (noun phrase) – a condition of being safer compared to other situations. → You can swim there in relative safety because there are fewer dangerous animals.

Crocodile (noun) – a large, predatory aquatic reptile found in tropical regions. → The water is relatively safe since there are fewer crocodiles around.

Square kilometre (noun phrase) – a unit of area equal to one kilometre by one kilometre. → The island is only about 2 or 3 square kilometres in size.

Easterly (adjective) – situated toward or facing the east. → It is the most easterly point in the country.

Mountain range (noun phrase) – a series of connected mountains. → The island is located behind a mountain range.

Treacherous (adjective) – dangerously unstable or unpredictable. → It takes about three hours to reach the island because you have to travel on a treacherous road.

Magnificent (adjective) – impressively beautiful or grand. → Once you arrive, you’re treated to magnificent views of the sea and nature.

Undisturbed (adjective) – not altered or affected by human activity; pristine. → The island offers a glimpse of largely undisturbed nature.

Exceptionally (adverb) – to an unusually high degree; remarkably. → The people who live nearby are exceptionally friendly and helpful.

Tourist facilities (noun phrase) – services and infrastructure provided for visitors. → The tourist facilities include charming wooden and straw huts.

Suspended (adjective) – hanging or held up in the air. → The huts are suspended above the ground on sturdy platforms.

Platform (noun) – a raised level surface on which something is placed. → The huts stand on wooden platforms right next to the beach.

Sheltered (adjective) – protected from harsh weather or danger. → The huts are sheltered by trees, ensuring a cooler atmosphere.

Flooded (verb, past participle) – filled or overrun with water. → The design prevents the huts from being flooded during heavy rains.

Social enterprise (noun phrase) – a business that aims to achieve social or environmental benefits rather than just profit. → The reserve is managed as a social enterprise to help support the local community.

Funnelled (verb, past participle) – directed or channelled into a specific purpose or place. → The money spent by tourists is funnelled into preserving the reserve.

Priceless (adjective) – so valuable that its worth cannot be measured in money. → Visiting the island is a priceless experience that offers unique natural beauty.

Questions and Answers

Rory: Well, I don't think many people have been to Jaco Island, so I'll talk about that.

It's part of a marine reserve in a country called East Timor. So people are banned from hunting, fishing, or living there to allow the local wildlife to remain at sustainable levels. It's also great for tourism for that reason, and the fact that you can swim there in relative safety since there are fewer crocodiles in the water.

To tell you more about the place itself, I think it's only about 2 or 3 square kilometres in size and it's located to the east of the country. Actually, I think it's the most easterly point, to be honest. It's located behind a mountain range, so it takes about 3 hours to get there by bus because you have to go up this very treacherous road in order to actually reach the place. But it's well worth the trip, since once you get there, you're treated to these magnificent views of largely undisturbed nature, and people who live nearby are exceptionally friendly and helpful. Not only that, but the tourist facilities there are amazing. They have these wooden and straw huts that are suspended above the ground on platforms right next to the beach. But they're sheltered by the trees, so you can go to sleep hearing the sound of the waves, but you don't have to worry about being flooded, for example.

As if that wasn't reason enough to go, the very fact of you being there contributes to the local economy and the general upkeep of the reserve, since everything is run as a social enterprise. So the money that gets spent there gets funnelled into supporting and preserving things for people to enjoy in the future.

I feel like all of these reasons are good enough to go just by themselves, but they make for a particularly winning combination. I think if people never get the chance to go, I would say they're missing out on something that's not just special, it's kind of priceless.

Maria: And will you go there any time soon?

Rory: No, because it's on the other side of the world, so it's difficult to get to.

Discussion

Maria: So, dear listener, describe a place you've been to, so you've visited this place sometime in your life, and you would like to recommend this place to other people. So, it shouldn't be your hometown. So the card might say, not your hometown, so some other place, a foreign country, a city somewhere outside your country or outside your hometown. And we have this “recommend”, so I'd like to recommend it to other people. And you can say like, I recommend it, I'd strongly recommend it to other people. So, recommend something to others or to other people. Rory talked about Jaco Island. The best approach here is to open Google and just Google Jaco Island. Have a look at the images, it's beautiful. Jaco Island is in East Timor.

Rory: It's between Australia and Indonesia.

Maria: Wow, so far away.

Rory: It's a tiny place. I don't think many people will have heard of it.

Maria: You start with Present Perfect. I've been to Paris, I've been to New York, I've been to, I don't know, Thailand. And I'd like to talk about that. It's a marine reserve.

Rory: And that's just a place that's protected from economic exploitation to allow the nature there to thrive.

Maria: Yeah, it's like a reservation. A reserve is an area of land kept in its natural state. Usually we say a nature reserve, a game reserve, a wildlife reserve. And marine means - connected to the sea. People are banned from hunting and fishing there. So they cannot hunt for animals or go fishing on an island. They are banned from doing something. It's prohibited. And this allows the local wildlife to remain at sustainable levels. The local wildlife -animals, plants, and they remain at sustainable levels. Sustainable, meaning they don't die.

Rory: Or they don't die completely.

Maria: Yeah, they continue living. They are not damaged by people, by hunting or fishing. It's also great for tourism. This place is good for tourism. You can swim there safely. So there are like no sharks, no huge spiders, crocodiles?

Rory: I imagine there are large animals, but there are definitely fewer of them compared to the rest of the country.

Maria: And then you describe the place. It's small. It's to the east of the country. It's located in the mountains, for example. Or it's located in the centre of the country. It takes about three hours to get there from the airport. Or it takes 15 minutes by taxi or by bus, by train. And then you recommend this place to other people. So you say: It's well worth the trip. So you should go there because it's well worth the trip.

Rory: Well, if it's well-worth doing something, then it means it's a good idea.

Maria: Like, you should do it, right? It's well worth the trip, or it's well worth visiting this place. There are magnificent views of nature. So you can see magnificent, lovely views of undisturbed nature. So like pristine nature, undisturbed. Nature hasn't been damaged by people. And people are exceptionally friendly. People are super friendly, really friendly and helpful. When you add more ideas, you can say not only that, but the tourist facilities are also amazing. Tourist facilities, you know, restaurants, cafes, swimming pools, hotels.

Rory: I'm kind of in love with inversion, especially “not only that” at the moment, just because I'm teaching it to students a lot.

Maria: There are wooden huts. Huts are like one-story houses, huts. And you can sleep hearing the sound of the waves. Like you go to sleep, and you hear the sound of the waves. Beautiful.

Rory: I should have said the crashing of the waves, actually. That would have been much more topic-specific, wouldn't it?

Maria: And when you go there, you contribute to the local economy. So you help the locals to survive, and the money gets funnelled back into supporting and preserving the people who live there and the nature. So the money gets funnelled back. So the money goes to the people. To recommend this place to other people, you can say if you get the chance to go there, I can say that it's well-worth the trip. I would definitely say that it's a great place to visit. It's special. It's priceless. There is no price. So you see, dear listener, lots of adjectives to describe the place. Because when we describe a place and recommend it to other people, we use loads of adjectives.

Rory: To make people want to go there.

Maria: Exactly. Positive adjectives like magnificent views, exceptionally friendly people, amazing facilities.

Rory: Crocodile-infested.

Maria: No crocodiles. Rory, what helped you organise this answer?

Rory: Well, I'll confess, actually, it wasn't completely organised because there was that one part in the middle where I was trying to think of other things to say and I was like, not only that, but... And then I talked about the tourist facilities as well. It doesn't have to be completely organised from the start to the finish. If you suddenly remember something, then here's one way you can introduce it. However, I gave a little bit of background about the place, telling people where it was. And then we investigated more about what it was like. So the size, where it is, what it looks like when you get there, why it's amazing to go there. And then, of course, that's sort of connected to why I would recommend it as well. I didn't actually say when I visited, to be honest, but obviously it was in the past. But yes, I kind of skipped out on that one. But of course, for part two, you don't need to talk about everything.

Maria: Yeah, actually, if you don't talk about all the bullet points, there are usually like one, two, three, four bullet points in your speaking part two card. So if you mention only three of them, it's absolutely fine. You may not have the time for everything. So that's okay. As long as your answer is organised, logical, and you are not jumping from one idea to the other idea. So don't do that. So it's logical. It's about this topic. So yeah, that's fine. The easiest way is to talk about a city you've been to, not your hometown or a country you've been to. Something like, think about your holidays. Where did you go? Like a nice place.

Rory: Where would you recommend, Maria?

Maria: Ooh, Argentina. Italy. Amazing. Cuba. Cuba. Such a lovely place. Yeah. Peru. And if you've always wanted to go to some country, you can talk about the country you want to go to, but you've never been, but don't say that, I've never been to the place, but I want to recommend it. No, just imagine that you've been there. Okay? Thank you very much for listening. And we'll get back to you in our next episode. Bye!

Rory: Bye!

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