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Every week, Maria and Rory get together to discuss the latest IELTS Speaking topics, providing model answers and vocabulary to help you improve your general spoken English and achieve a higher band in your IELTS exam.
Rory admits he's become a bit of a couch potato! Listen as he and Maria share Band 9 vocabulary for daily routines and explore grammar for discussing past habits and hypothetical situations.
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Is a blockbuster with a big-name star guaranteed to succeed? Rory discusses why casting "non-entities" can still lead to a box office hit and shares powerful vocabulary for writing movie reviews.
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Rory shares why a recent trip to the cinema was a 'real letdown.' Listen to find out which blockbuster film he thought took 'absolutely ages' and learn how to describe your own disappointing experiences.
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Rory explains why he avoids high-rises but would visit a royal residence. Listen as he and Maria share stunning vocabulary for architecture and Rory cracks a dad joke about the world's tallest building!
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Should parents reward their kids for everything? Rory weighs in on when praise becomes a problem and shares some C2-level grammar that Maria says is essential for a Band 9. Listen for tips on avoiding selfish kids!
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Listen as Rory shares a personal story about his high-flying cousin! He reveals the idioms and transitions you need to talk about achievements and navigate tricky interview-style questions with confidence.
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Has Rory ever locked himself out of the house? Listen as he and Maria share tales of misplaced keys, momentary panic, and the one accessory everyone should have on their keychain. Don't get left in the cold!
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Are electric cars really the future? Rory shares a surprisingly pessimistic view on saving the planet, revealing a powerful idiom and a clever trick for when you need a moment to think in your exam.
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Rory plans a wild road trip to the rugged north of his country! Discover the advanced idioms, phrasal verbs, and transition phrases he uses to describe his dream journey and impress the examiner.
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Rory shares an excruciatingly dull story about a work camp. He and Maria then break down how to structure your Part 2 answer, use advanced vocabulary, and recover when you forget a word mid-speech!
Throw shade - to criticize someone publicly and show that you do not respect him or her.
Stress (verb) - to give emphasis or special importance to something.
Amenity (noun) - something, such as a swimming pool or shopping centre, that is intended to make life more pleasant or comfortable for the people in a town, hotel, or other place.
Apparent (adj.) - able to be seen or understood.
Saunter (verb) - to walk in a slow and relaxed way, often in no particular direction.
Excruciatingly (adj.) - in a way that is extreme and difficult to bear.
Ultimately (adverb) - finally, after a series of things have happened.
Bored to tears - extremely unhappy because something is not interesting or because you have nothing to do.
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M: Rory will describe an experience when he got bored when he was with others. He'll say when it was, who he was with, what he did, and explain why he got bored. Rory, could you start speaking now, please?
R: Well, I don't want to throw any shade on my current employer and I will stress that I was the only one who was bored because of this. They did a good job with everything else. I was just really, what's the word, not very entertained, when I went to that camp at the start of the year. I mentioned it in previous podcasts. It was ironic because it was a four star hotel with all the amenities that one could want. There was like a swimming pool, a gym, and there were TVs and things like this. But also there was like a good balance of like work and free time for me when I was actually at the camp. According to the schedule, I worked for the kids in the morning and then I had the rest of the day free. At least I thought that was a good balance first. And then it quickly became apparent that I was the only person there are over the age of 24, who wasn't with their family and there was no one to speak to or have fun with at all. Everyone else was either a student or a middle class family. The students were great of course, they're absolute brilliant kids. But I have, and I continue to have nothing in common with anyone around me at that place. The only exception was one of the teachers and his wife. They were really good fun to talk to, but even they had their own child to look after. So it wasn't always possible to hang out together. And the hotel was in the absolute middle of nowhere, so it wasn't like you could just casually saunter out. So I was quite isolated and this was excruciatingly dull for an extrovert like myself. And I had to kind of create my own fun, which was a lot of effort because I was tired and it was New Year, but I survived somehow. I went to the gym and I read a lot and I even took a short trip back to Moscow when the boredom became nearly overwhelming. So ultimately I was OK, but I'm never doing anything like that ever again just because of the boredom.
M: What about your colleagues? How did they feel?
R: Well, the ones who I was there with probably weren't bored, but the ones that I spoke to were bored to tears by me complaining about being bored.
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M: Thank you for your boring story, Rory story.
R: All right.
M: So you talked about your experience at camp. What else can our listener talk about? Like an experience when you got bored.
R: Meetings.
M: Yeah, meeting. A meeting. What else? Another meeting? Any meeting?
R: Meetings about meetings.
M: Meeting at work or parent's meeting at school.
R: You could have a really bad date. Everybody's had a bad date when they're just being like, oh, my God, this person is the most boring person I've spoken to.
M: Yeah. Or you go out and you meet some friends of yours and then you get bored.
R: Or you could talk about even something mundane, like one time when the bus was late by half an hour and you were bored.
M: Yeah. And one of the topics is to describe a time when you were waiting in a line for a long time. And this could be the same situation when you got bored. With others or people were around you. So, OK. A nice expression was throw shade on.
R: Yeah. So you throw shade on someone that's just like you basically make a comment that makes them seem like a bad person. So in this case, I said I don't want to draw any shade on my current employer because they didn't do anything wrong. Like it's not their job to entertain me. My job is to work. And I did that, and they provided me with accommodation. That's the deal.
M: You said I was bored. I was really bored. I was bored to death. And actually, we do have an episode speaking part one. episode about boredom and being bored. So I have a listen to this. Just find it on our episodes. And we do give examples and synonyms to feel bored and yeah, get bored.
R: But we should probably talk about actually how the answer itself is structured because that will be more useful than looking at the vocabulary from a very personal story. So you can see at the beginning I talked about the background like why I was there, for example, and also I was hedging saying I'm not complaining about the people I was with. I'm complaining about the situation.
M: Yeah, so you are nice.
R: So that you're nice, and also so that you can buy time, because this is a really boring topic, to be honest with you. And so you described the situation and how you felt, and then you move into the main description of how you felt about it by saying at least I thought that. So this is something that's not typical to... Oh, sorry, not specific to this story. You can use this to talk about any story and change the position from what you're talking about, from the background to describing the problem in more detail. So you could say this was the situation, at least I thought it was a good situation until... And then you describe what the actual problem was. And then we move towards the end where I had to talk about how I felt about it. And then I would just say this was, this being the whole situation was excruciatingly dull and then...
M: Yeah. Excruciatingly meaning like very dull.
R: And then I rounded everything up by saying ultimately I was OK, but I'm never doing anything like that again. And then you can say this like towards the end of your story, just like ultimately never say in conclusion, that's for an essay.
M: Actually, you said something even more advanced. You said I was ultimately OK. So you've used ultimately in the middle of the sentence.
R: Yes.
M: Yes. Dear listener, this is gorgeous. OK, not ultimately. Well, ultimately is like finally. Rory didn't say ultimately I was OK.
R: But you can say ultimately.
M: Yeah.
R: It's better to have it in the middle of the sentence.
M: It's better. Exactly. Yeah that's what I mean. So you can say ultimately I was OK but better I was ultimately OK. Beautiful. Yeah. So do I use this linking phrases in the middle of the sentence rather than at the end. At the beginning of the sentence. So for a higher score. The same is true for essay, OK, or for graphs.
R: On the subject of things that connect things together. I gave a list of everything I did to try and survive this experience. So it wasn't just a list that was like I did this, I did this, I did this. It was like I went to the gym, I read a lot and then I even took and then the rest of it. So if you're going to give a list, then make sure that you build up from the simple things to something that's a bit bigger in this situation.
M: Yeah, you connect your ideas instead of jumping from one thing to the other. Yeah. And Rory created his own fun. I like that. I had to create my own fun.
R: I did create my own fun. It was really difficult to be honest. This is why I like being around people that I can talk to because I'm useless by myself.
M: Oh, and, Rory, you seem to forget like a word at the beginning. And then you said, oh, what's the word? And then you kept going. Is it OK in the exam, if I just say...
R: Well, it's obviously better if you say the word, but like if you can't, then just keep going. Just be like don't know what it is.
M: Yeah, but you didn't stop, right? You were saying blah blah blah what's the word blah blah blah. Like you didn't stop pretty much, you kept going and, dear listener, it's OK if you forget a word, just keep speaking, OK?
R: Because the whole idea, I mean, it's clear for the examiner anyway. But even in real life, like it's clear that you're talking about something that's a really difficult experience based on everything else you've said. So if you forget the word then it's not a disaster.
M: Yeah, but just like don't do like this, like, oh, it was a and then you stop and you stare at the examiner like this. No, keep going.
R: Mm hmm. Um, and of course this helps if you can paraphrase effectively. But if you can't then don't cry about it. However, some words are useful. And if we talk about hotels, we can talk about amenities, which is something that we've heard before.
M: Amenities, it's like facilities?
R: Yes, exactly. So at this hotel, there was a gym, there was actually a beauty salon, which was, of course, completely useless to me. On the subject of using the word which to give more information about a situation. That's more generally apllicable.
M: Yeah. Any speaking part two use which sentences to give more details.
R: Or who, or that.
M: Or where.
R: But never what.
M: Never what..
R: Never say what.
M: Don't say what ever again. Do remember our water episode. We said, what a topic? What a like water and what a topic.
R: I don't remember, I forgot how much time I dedicated to forgeting that. Anyway.
M: Yeah. So which sentence. Where was it. Let's give an example.
R: Well I said like I had to create my own fun, which was a lot of effort because then I explained why. It's probably important to point out that I used because and but and a lot here. But if you use it with more complex sentences like relative clauses, then it's not such a big problem for you.
M: And it's natural. Now you know how to structure your answer, which linking words to use in the middle of the sentence. OK? Just try out with ultimately, I was ultimately OK. It was ultimately OK.
R: Or if you're an English teacher, make sure you write them on the board for the students to see while they're practicing. This is extremely useful. I discovered this with one of my PET students the other day.
M: Your PET student?
R: For an exam. Cambridge exam.
M: I thought like pet, like an animal. PET student.
R: No one has favorite students. That's unprofessional.
M: Oh, yes. Rory's so professional.
R: Now that we not lie on the Telegram chat.
M: Thank you so...
R: That's an Easter egg for people who were listening to that telegram chat. Sorry, Maria, I interrupted you.
M: Thank you so much for listening and supporting us on our premium. Don't be shy to contact us on Telegram, Instagram or directly on Patreon. We'd like to hear your thoughts on our premium episodes. We'll see you in our next episode about speaking part three. Bye!
R: We're going to talk about boredom. Bye!
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