M: Do you like swimming?

R: Yeah, I love it. I try to go once a week with the wild swimming club from my area. We never stay in very long, unless it's the summer. But it's a fun social experience.

M: Is it difficult to learn how to swim?

R: That's a good question. I suppose, once you master the basics like how to stay afloat on the surface and how to do the different strokes, then it's fine. Though, I imagine some have more difficulties than others. Looking back, it seemed pretty easy to me, but that could just be my memory being selective.

M: What's the difference between swimming in the pool and swimming in the sea?

R: Oh, wow. There's like a world of difference. A pool is mostly a warm, controlled environment with good supervision and lots of people to share the space with, but an open body of water has currents and various kinds of wildlife to contend with. So it could be less safe. Although there are fewer people, which I consider a plus.

M: Where do people in your country like to go swimming?

R: Well, wild swimming really seems to have taken off big time here. So you see people in the rivers and the sea more, maybe not at this time of year, but in general. But we also have lots of public baths for those who prefer something longer lasting, or who want to make a day of it. I can't really think of anywhere else.

M: Yay, swimming! Hey! Rory, as a proper Scottish person enjoys wild swimming. Rory, tell us what's this wild swimming? You go wild and you swim? Like...

R: Wild swimming is just swimming in uncontrolled or open bodies of water. So going in the river or in a lake or in the sea, maybe the ocean.

M: So, dear listener, you just go in there, in the forest, you find a pond or a lake or a river, and you just go wild and crazy, especially in winter.

R: Not in, why especially in winter?

M: Because it's cold and it's wild.

R: But it can be warm and wild too, if you live in the Mediterranean.

M: Okay. So Rory goes to the wild swimming club, all right? Once a week.

R: I try. I've been good so far this year, but we are recording in January. We're recording halfway through January. Things could change.

M: For Rory, it's a fun social experience. So he talks to people. He hangs out with people. It's kind of a social thing. So if you go to a swimming club, it could be a social experience for you. Like talking to people, meeting new people, go wild swimming together.

R: Where else can we go swimming?

M: Yeah, where else? So a pond is like smaller than a lake. A pond.

R: Oh, it's a lot smaller. Can you go swimming in a pond?

M: Yeah.

R: Oh, my God, maybe you have bigger ponds in Russia.

M: Yeah, yeah. So there are smaller ponds, bigger ponds. A lake, usually, a river, ocean. I swim in the ocean, I swim in the sea, dear listener, the article, the. Or do I say I swim in the river or in a river?

R: I don't think it makes a difference, apart from if it's the first time we're talking about it, then you would say, I swim in the river. And then the next time you talk about it, I swim in the river. Or maybe both of you and the person you're talking to share the same context. And there's only one river. For example, where I live, there's a giant river in my hometown. So if we say I swim in the river, clearly, we mean the big one.

M: Yeah, but usually, dear listener, we say like, oh, I enjoy swimming in a river, in a river, but I enjoy swimming in the sea, in the ocean. What about the swimming pool?

R: Well, if there's only one in the town that you're in, then the but if it's a big town, then many. Then you'd say a.

M: I enjoy swimming in a swimming pool, a swimming pool. Or I go to the swimming pool, or I go to a swimming pool. Like every week, I go to a swimming pool. I live in a huge city. There are many swimming pools. So I go to a swimming pool. But in the sea, in the ocean. We learn how to swim, usually, when we are, well, children. You master the basics, dear listener, you master swimming, like you learn how to swim, you master the basics, the basic skills. You learn how to stay afloat on the surface. The surface? Like the surface of a river, the surface of the sea, and you stay afloat. So you kind of float in the sea, you know? You stay there. You don't go down like the Titanic. Afloat. You stay afloat. And then you do different strokes. Strokes like... Oh, fuck with your arms. And I think legs. What do you do with your legs?

R: You kick your legs.

M: Kick?

R: Well, my understanding is that the strokes are what you do with your arms and the kicks are what you do with your legs. But I think it's just come to mean everything you do with all of your body parts. So for example, breaststroke is when you move your hands like a frog and you move your legs like a frog. But backstroke is when you're on your back and you move your arms backwards and you just kick your legs.

M: And what about like, um, you know, like you swim like a dog with your, kind of, hands and legs, like doing like a dog.

R: Doggy paddle.

M: So you learn doggy paddle. Doggy paddle swim.

R: Yeah, but I think that's considered a beginner stroke, at least it was when I was younger. It's your progression to front crawl, where you're more confident with your head under the water.

M: Check it out. Freestyle doggy paddle. How to dog paddle. So you swim like a dog. Usually, children do that, when you're a beginner. So like doggy paddle swimming technique for beginners. Okay? Yeah, dear listener. But this is like super topic, specific vocabulary for band nine, so you learn how to do different strokes, different kicks, and when you are a beginner, you learn doggy pedal swimming. There is a world of difference. So if the difference is huge, you say there is a world of difference, between swimming in the pool and swimming in the sea. So they are very different. A pool is a controlled environment. So everything is controlled. There are people around you and it's warm, they control the temperature of the water. There are no stones, and we have supervision. So supervision? Like, what do you call these people who control the situation near the pool? Guards?

R: Oh, the lifeguard?

M: Lifeguards. Yeah, there are lifeguards. And you share the space with many people and children who tend to pee in the pool, you know, pee.

R: Do they do that?

M: Yeah, I'm sure they do. Disgusting stuff. Yeah, maybe some adults, you know, like, they, they enjoy, like, ooh, okay.

R: Do you think so?

M: Yeah.

R: I like to think that most people are responsible. Maybe that's, that's, uh, that's what I reassure myself with whenever I go swimming in a public pool

M: And the sea is an open body of water.

R: Yes, but that just means it's not contained.

M: Yeah, contained? It's not closed, it's not like a swimming pool, you know, with its borders. And any sea has its currents. What are currents?

R: So a current is like a continuous movement of the water in a specific direction. So a current will carry people along in a certain direction, perhaps, or it will carry things in a certain direction. If the water is coming in and out from the beach or the shore, then that is the tide. So both of these things are used for talking about water. It's more just the duration and when it happens, or the regularity that separates them.

M: Right. And we have various kinds of wildlife to contend with. So wildlife? Different fish, corals, other thingies, like crabs. What do we mean by to be contend with in this context?

R: Oh, to contend with is just to deal with, and it's usually something that you have a problem with along the way. So if you're contending with wildlife, you have to navigate and move around them and be careful.

M: Yeah, for example, so contend with something to have to deal with a difficult or unpleasant situation. So we use it about something unpleasant, like you are swimming in the sea, and then, like, ooh, dangerous corals, or this, you know, seaweed, you know, like sea flowers, like ooh, or there are jellyfish, you know, these transparent thingies, which touch your body. Or sea urchins, this dangerous black stuff that's, you know, with spikes that are super dangerous. So you have to contend with corals, stones, rocks, sea urchins and jellyfish, okay? Super band nine vocabulary, dear listener. You're welcome.

R: I don't have sea urchins where I live. Thank God!

M: Well, of course, it's Scotland in the middle of nowhere, but usually people go to the sea, and there are some sea urchins, Google sea urchins. In Italy, people eat them. Actually, all over the world, people eat sea urchins. And also jellyfish. Jelly? Like jelly, like this. Jellyfish.

R: Some jellyfish are not one creature, but they are, in fact, many different creatures cobbled together.

M: People usually go swimming again in the rivers, in the sea. People in my country go wild swimming, like Rory does in Scotland. And there are a lot of public swimming pools. In England, there are public baths, like special places with warm water, and it's like natural, like natural springs, right?

R: It could be. To be honest, we use the word swimming baths in this country to mean water that's in a pool as well.

M: Okay, so public bath, a public bath is like a swimming pool.

R: It can be, yes.

M: Yeah, but you don't usually swim there. You just, like, you just lie there, and because the water is kind of like mineral, so it's good for your health, so you kind of don't swim in such a bath. Okay. And what, what kind of swimming can we have? Like wild swimming.

R: Regular swimming. Competitive swimming.

M: Oh, competitive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If I take part in swimming competitions, it's competitive swimming. We don't call it racing.

R: But I don't do that because I cannot swim that well. Well, I can swim quite well actually, but I wouldn't swim at a competitive level.

M: Can I say I am a professional swimmer?

R: If you are then yes.

M: Or I am an amateur. I am an amateur swimmer. Like I do it for fun. Can I say that?

R: Yeah.

M: Or maybe, dear listener, you hate water, and then, well, the examiner will continue asking you questions about swimming, so you should lie and make it up why you hate swimming, but it's better to just say that yes, I like swimming, and use the vocabulary that we've given you, okay? Even if you hate swimming. Or if you don't know how to swim, imagine that, yes, I know how to swim. Rory, why, why would you go wild swimming? It's cold.

R: Because a whole group of people do it, and it's fun to hang out with them. So it's like I say, it's not about the actual swimming itself, it's about the social experience that follows. For me, at least. Some people get a health benefit from it, or health benefits, but I personally don't see that happening for me.

M: Okay. Sweet. Right, dear listener, thank you...

R: No, don't thank them for listening yet, Maria. I have a quiz for you. Oh, yes. So I'm going to ask Maria a question about a piece of vocabulary in the answers to each question, and Maria has to work out what I'm talking about. And you can play along with us. We'll do a brief pause to allow people to answer and think in their heads, and then Maria will answer and we'll find out if she's correct or not. The first question was, do you like swimming? And I said something... It was a collocation meaning a positive time spent with other people. But what was that collocation, Maria?

M: It's a fun social experience.

R: Yes, well done!

M: Yeah!

R: Question number two was, is it difficult to learn how to swim? And I used an adjective to describe when your memory focuses only on certain things. But what is that adjective?

M: Ooh, my memory is selective.

R: Yes. Oh my gosh, 100% so far. Question number three was, what's the difference between swimming in the pool and swimming in the sea? And I used an idiom to emphasize a big difference between two things. But what was that idiom?

M: There is like a world of difference.

R: A world of difference, a big difference. Question number four was, where do people in your country like to go swimming? And here I talked about doing something as part of a range of activities throughout a whole day. But what was the expression I used to describe it when that happens? Or when you do this?

M: Make a day of it.

R: Yes. If you make a day of something, then you are structuring everything around it. So maybe you go to the swimming pool and you go to a cafe after, or you walk before you go to the pool, and then you walk back, and everything just builds up from there. So there you go. We have focused on some band nine vocabulary for that.

M: So make a day, make a night, make an evening, or make a weekend of it. To make an activity longer, or combine a series of activities so that they last for the whole of that particular period of time. So, for example, so we decided to make a weekend of it and of some activity, all right? Or, for example, let's go swimming and let's make a weekend of it, so the whole weekend will spend swimming. Rory, could you give us one more sentence with this idiom?

R: Well, sometimes if I go to a museum in a different city, then I'll make a day of it. So I could go to the museum and then go shopping and go for a walk around the city as well, and go to a cafe and have dinner. So that's making a day of it.

M: Sweet. Right, dear listener, thank you very much for listening! We're sending you hugs, love and joy, and band nine vocabulary with grammar.

R: Bye, bye!

Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff!

Our Instagram: bit.ly/instagramswi
Our Telegram: bit.ly/telegramswi