📙 Part 2: Describe some good news you heard from others

This episode's vocabulary

To stand out (phrasal verb) - to be very easy to see or notice.

Emotional impact (noun) - the feelings we evoke in others that have a true, lasting impact.

Ritual (noun) - a way of doing something in which the same actions are done in the same way every time.

Horrendous (adj.) - extremely unpleasant, horrifying, or terrible.

Media outlet (noun) - a publication or broadcast program that provides news and feature stories to the public through various distribution channels.

Column (noun) - a vertical arrangement of items printed or written on a page.

Bulletin (noun) - a short official statement or broadcast summary of news.

Incredulous (adj.) - (of a person or their manner) unwilling or unable to believe something.

Speechless (adj.) - unable to speak, especially as the temporary result of shock or strong emotion.

To spread (verb) - to tell something to a lot of people, or to be told to a lot of people:

Ignorant (adj.) - not having enough knowledge, understanding, or information about something.

To give up (phrasal verb) - to stop doing something before you have finished it, usually because it is too difficult.

Dismal (adj.) - sad and without hope.

Questions and Answers

M: Hello our dear premium listener and welcome to speaking part 2. Rory here, an educated native speaker is going to describe some good news he heard from others. He is going to say what it was when he heard it, how he knew it, and he's going to explain how he felt about it... Some good news.

R: I think the thing that stands out most in my mind is when the pandemic restrictions were lifted in Moscow about two and a half years ago. It's quite a long time ago now. However, the reason that stands out in my mind so much is because... Well, just the emotional impact it made on me, because we'd been trapped in our houses and apartments for months on end, which was not a great experience for anybody, to be honest with you. Well, almost everybody. Even though I was quite enjoying it quite a lot, I don't think a lot of people were. And I remember reading about it. It was mid-afternoon because I was just in the middle of having my coffee, which was quite a regular feature of the start of my afternoons during that time. And I always checked out what was on the news at that time. It was a kind of ritual because I didn't check the news in the morning because it was always horrendous and I didn't want to have a bad start to the day and I always had to work in the afternoon. So even if there was bad news, then work would distract me from it. I always checked one website in particular. It was The Moscow Times, which is an English language outlet, and it's based in Russia, but you can access it anywhere in the world, which is actually quite useful. Now I think about it. They always have lots of good columns and reviews as well as local news bulletins. So I had a look and I was just checking through the information that they usually presented. Then all of a sudden the screen just changed and it was saying all the pandemic restrictions had been lifted and the whole thing had basically come to an end. I remember at first I didn't really understand at all what was going on. I was almost incredulous or speechless because it was such a sudden change from the norm. And then I remember being really, really happy and spreading the news to lots of other people who were completely ignorant about the whole thing since they had given up reading the news because it was always so dismal. So it wasn't me that was happy that day, or it wasn't just me, it was everybody in Moscow, really. That was quite a nice thing to do for them, I suppose. If I hadn't heard this news then, well, I think I would have guessed from the celebrations in the street probably that things had changed.

M: And did you talk to other people about this news?

R: I don't think it would have been hard to miss, even without me telling people to be honest with you.

Discussion

M: Hey, thank you, Rory, for your story.

R: It's not a story, it is true!

M: That's nice! It's a true story, huh?

R: Yeah.

M: Dear listener, Rory decided to tell us a story which happened, like, two years ago. So after that, he obviously didn't have any good news. But that's... That's his choice. That's fine. You can talk about something which is, you know, closer to you in the time frame. But any good news is good. Remember, that news is, okay? The news was good or I got some good news. It is or it was. All right? Careful. Because all over the answer you're going to use. The news was. It was good. It was pleasant. I heard it from my friends. Okay? So we don't use were or are or they news, is it. Yeah, I know. It's strange. Very strange. This English language.

R: I think that's why they picked it, though. This task.

M: I know. Yeah...

R: Because then people get confused, and it's a very tricky thing. But if you get it right, then that's the difference between a band six and a band seven for some parts of the grammar.

M: Yes. Yeah, dear listener, so please make sure you use the news was, the news is. It is. I heard it from my friends. And we can start off with: The thing that stands out most in my mind is when I heard blah, blah, blah, or the news that stands out most in my mind is when blah, blah, blah happened. Right? And Rory talked about the pandemic restrictions. When they were lifted. So the pandemic restrictions were lifted, meaning they cancelled them. Yeah? So no more restrictions. Everybody is free to go. Hey!

R: Yeah, It was a good time. I remember it.

M: It's quite a long time ago. Or it happened last week or it was yesterday. Or you can lie about it. And it stands out in my mind. Right? So you still remember it really well. It just stands out in my mind because it was so emotional, because of this emotional impact that it made on me. Right? So I remember this news because this news, it had an emotional impact on me. Okay? Impact, like influence. And we were trapped in our houses. Remember, during these restrictions, we were trapped at home for months on end. So for a very long time, which was not a great experience for some people. But Rory was enjoying himself!

R: I should say. I felt terrible.

M: Where were you during these restrictions? In Scotland?

R: I was actually... I was in Moscow and I spent, I think, the better part of three months by myself. And obviously, lots of people find the pandemic to be a very challenging time. But I had a wonderful time because I got so much work done not being interrupted by other people. So people called me and they were like, are you okay? And I was like: Yeah, this is great. Let's keep it going forever. Obviously, I didn't like the part where people were suffering. That's not good. But I did like the part where I got a lot done and that was nice.

M: Yeah, I also enjoyed that moment. I was very productive. I remember reading about it. It - the news. So I remember reading about that piece of news or that news. It was mid-afternoon and Rory checked the news at the time online. Rory didn't check the news in the morning because the news was always horrendous. Horrendous. What did you mean, the horrible, dreadful, terrible?

R: Yeah, awful. Like it was just day after day. What's the word... A counter of how many people were dead and horrible things going wrong. And I was like, I don't really want to listen to this if it's just going to be like this all the time. So... And especially in the morning, you want to wake up and be like: Yeah, morning! So I just decided not to. It made no difference.

M: Yeah, it was pretty dreadful. Yeah. Just like: Good morning! Many people have died just now. Oh, boy. Yeah. Not. Not really pleasant.

R: No...

M: So Rory checked the news in the afternoon. I checked one website in particular. Right? So it's based in Russia. Or you can say I read this news online. I read it in one of my friend's texts. Or I heard it from my friends. Or my friends told me this news. What do we say? Like, my friends told me the news or I heard it from my friend?

R: Well, my friend told me the news or I heard it from somebody. I don't think it makes a difference because they're both past simple, so...

M: If you read the news online, you can say that it was the local news. Bulletins, for example. So on the website, you have this like, local news bulletins, like a very short sentences, when they give you the juice, you know, they give you the most important bit. So local news bulletins. So I was checking... I was just checking through the information. And then I saw this news. So I was just checking through the information online. And then I saw this good news. When Rory read this news, he was almost incredulous or speechless. Speechless - he couldn't talk. He was like, in a shock, like: Oh! This is so good! Oh, I can't! I lost my voice. What do you mean by the first words.

R: So, speechless -you can't speak and incredulous - you cannot believe. So I just about couldn't believe it. I just thought it was going to go on for much longer than it did.

M: I remember being really, really happy. So Rory got this news and he was super happy. He was over the moon. He was on cloud nine. Yeah...

R: I burned the midnight oil.

M: Oh, stop it. Make sure you use the correct grammar, you say. I remember being. I remember reading the news. Okay? I remember feeling happy. Okay? So I remember doing something because you talk about things in the past. And I remember spreading the news to lots of other people. So Rory read the news and then he spread the news to other people, right? So he shared this piece of news to others. So I spread the news to other people, to my friends. It was always so dismal. Rory, could you tell us about this word? Dismal. That's a nice one.

R: It's just sad all the time. And you look at it and you're saying, Oh, God, that's no good. That feeling says this is dismal. And the news was dismal every day. They just said the same thing again and again. There's people dying. I don't really think that that's a very helpful thing to be telling people all the time.

M: And can I use this dismal in other context?

R: Yes, the weather was dismal. We're going to talk about dismal weather soon.

M: Rainy, cloudy, gloomy... And then we finish it off with the third conditional. We imagine that Rory hadn't heard this news, so imagine that he didn't get the news. If I hadn't heard this news, I would have guessed from the celebrations in the streets that the restrictions wore no longer there, yeah? So if I hadn't got the news or if I hadn't heard the news, if I hadn't read this news, I would have done something, yeah? I wouldn't have been so happy or I would have stayed at home. Yes, so think of what would you have done. Again, it's in the past. It's imaginary, unreal, right? Unreal. So we're kind of like making the past unreal. But it's a nice final touch to the story in the past. The third conditional. Hey! Rory, what helped you to organise the answer? Which linking words did you use?

R: Well, not a great deal, to be honest with you. Because I remember thinking I spent quite a long time explaining the background to this one, why it was good news and why I was in this place at that time. And then I realised I was saying like, Oh yeah, everyone was miserable, but then I wasn't miserable. So I sort of dithered and had a little bit of time explaining that before I went on to clarify how I knew what the news was and then explaining how I felt about it. So again, I remember at first I didn't understand at all and then explaining what the consequences of not understanding were, then moving into actually describing real emotions, like being happy. And that's it really, to be honest with you. Although, admittedly I've picked a very weird moment to talk about, you know... The pandemic restrictions stick out in my head. But what other things could people talk about... When they hear that a relative has been born, when they hear that their favourite team has won a football match.

M: Or maybe the results of the exam, dear listener... Maybe you took IELTS for the first time last year and you got band 8... So you can lie about it. Yeah? What other good news?

R: I think babies, exams, and results in sports matches are the big ones. There is a good time to reflect on your life and think about all the good things that have happened, to be honest with you, because usually the news is so miserable.

M: Yeah, for example, to us, the big news, the very good news is that now we have, I think, over 35,000 followers on our YouTube channel. So that was a great piece of news.

R: It's a lot, yeah!

M: Or you can talk about us, dear listener. Oh, wow! I was so happy when I heard that IELTS Speaking for Success podcast is doing videos on YouTube and I can see the faces. So not only can I listen to the voice, but I can also see the faces. It was like a spectacular moment for me and my English studies and the examiner goes like: Oh, like, tell me about this. IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, and go: You know what? If you want to prepare for your IELTS exam, dear IELTS examiner... Come on, Rory. It's funny.

R: It is. I smiled!

M: Oh, you did okay... Dear listener, we are rambling. We are rambling off topic. Thank you very much for listening and we'll see you in our next episode. Speaking Part 3 about sharing information.

R: Bye!

M: Bye!

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