Hello, everyone.
I'm Maria.
And I'm Rory.
And we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you develop your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
We started this podcast to give you a look at how a native English speaker would answer some of the most common IELTS speaking questions.
I ask Rory some of these questions and Rory gives answers using vocabulary and grammar for a high score.
Band 9 score.
Today's topic is animals.
Roy, are you ready to talk about animals?
I've been hunting for answers to your questions.
Haha, it's a joke again.
Hunting for answers.
Do you like animals?
I love animals, particularly mammals, because they're the closest to us, relatively speaking.
I think they're quite cool.
Roy, what's your favourite animal?
Oh, I'm definitely a dog person.
I really love dogs, just in general, and of course they're domesticated animals so you can always keep them quite close to you, and that's really good as well.
What wild animal do you like the most?
I love big cats, in particular tigers.
They really stand out with this colour scheme on their fur, and then, of course, they also portray this sense of majesty and power as well when they're moving.
It's really interesting to watch.
Have you ever seen any wild animals before?
Yes, actually.
I used to teach in a school in Africa which was quite close to a riverbed, and so sometimes crocodiles would just wander into the school grounds, which was always very exciting.
Crocodiles at schools?
Yes, absolutely.
Have you ever pet a crocodile?
Um, no, I don't think you'd ever want to do anything like that.
Would you like to do that?
If it was a domesticated crocodile, then maybe.
Could a crocodile be domesticated?
Um, I think you could maybe domesticate just about any animal.
Rory, do you like to go to the zoo?
Um...
I used to like going to the zoo more as a child.
I think we still have that sense of wonder when we're children, whereas now it's kind of a double-edged sword, because you can see the animals, which is great, But you are also quite sad because they're in captivity and that's also quite sad.
But what's the alternative?
If they're in the wild then they don't have this protection.
Are people in your country fond of animals?
Oh yes, definitely.
The United Kingdom has this reputation as being a nation of animal lovers.
There's lots of different bodies which are dedicated to the protection of animals and helping them when they're sick, like the RSPCA and the RSPB.
It's definitely accurate to say that people are fond of animals there.
Have you ever kept a pet?
I haven't personally by myself.
No, because I work a lot and I'm kind of allergic as well, so I'd need to find something that's almost hypoallergenic really.
But when I was younger and I lived with my parents, then yes, we kept pets.
Why do some people keep pets at home?
Lots of different reasons, really.
I think one of the main reasons is because they're cute.
Of course, all of these domesticated animals look lovely.
But in addition to that, they have some utility as well.
Like dogs, for example, are kept as guard dogs to protect your property.
But it's not always about defense.
People also keep cats and even goldfish for therapeutic purposes, for example.
So there's lots of different reasons, really.
I think those are the main ones, though.
Thank you very much, Rory, for your lovely answers.
That's okay.
Now, dear listeners, let's dive in precise words and grammar Rory has just used.
Rory, you've used mammals to refer to animals.
Mammals, what are they?
Yeah, mammals are like a class of animals that feed milk to their babies when they are young.
Are people mammals?
Yes, people are mammals.
Yeah, we spell this word M-A-M-M-A-L-S.
Right, mammals.
You mentioned that you are a dog person.
I'm a dog person.
Oh, good.
All the good people are.
Or you can be a cat person.
I'm more like a cat person.
You are.
I thought you just said you were a dog person.
No, no, no.
You are a dog person.
I'm a cat person.
Oh, really?
Oh, well, no one's perfect.
You said that dogs can be domesticated.
Domesticated.
What does it mean?
Yeah, domesticated is well.
One way of understanding this is saying that they can be kept as pets, but cows and farm animals are also domesticated.
So it means that they have this relationship with human beings which is quite a lot closer than with wild animals, for example.
Yeah, we have wild animals and we have domesticated animals. animals.
We can also use it as a verb to domesticate an animal.
For example, we were cracking jokes about, oh, can you domesticate a crocodile?
Well, no.
Can you domesticate a tiger?
Well, maybe.
There are some people who keep tigers as pets.
Oh, yeah, okay.
It is crazy, though, yes.
And crocodiles in the bathtub.
But we can domesticate cats, dogs.
Yes, if the relationship is close, you could say it's domesticated.
Your favorite wild animal is a tiger.
And you said tigers stand out with their colors.
Stand out is a phrasal verb.
What does it mean?
Well, in this particular sense, stand out means it's easily noticed.
So if you look at tigers, they have this orange, black and white color scheme.
It stands out.
You can see it very easily.
Can people stand out from a crowd?
Yes, they can.
And in fact, that's a good expression in general, isn't it?
But to stand out from a crowd has less to do with how you look and more to do with how you behave probably.
I can say, oh, I don't want to stand out.
I don't want to stand out from the crowd.
Although, thinking about it, your dress sense can make you stand out too.
So yeah, why not?
Yeah.
You've used a nice grammar structure.
I used to teach in Africa.
Used to teach.
So you were talking about the past.
So you used to teach.
So you taught in Africa.
But now you're teaching in Moscow.
Yes.
So something about the past.
So I used to teach in Africa.
Could you give me another example?
I used to work on a marine research project in Fiji.
We were swimming with sharks there, actually.
Another wild animal.
Wow!
So without any protection?
Just you swam with sharks?
Well, I just had to swim faster than the people with me.
Were there any crocodiles there?
No crocodiles there, no.
Oh, domesticated crocodiles still just swimming around you.
Rory, you've used some word like double-edged what?
Yeah, double-edged sword.
Sword?
Yeah.
Sword like a... like a what?
Like, well, the thing you kill people with.
But it's an expression in English as well.
So it can mean a situation which has equally positive and negative effects on a situation.
Give us an example.
Well, we talked about zoos being a double edged sword, because of course, you can see the animals there, but it's sad because they're in captivity.
They're being kept in the zoo.
Maybe another double edged sword.
Well, if we talk about winter, there's lots of snow.
It's really nice.
But at the same time, it's cold. cold and a bit miserable.
So it's a double-edged sword.
Wow, this is so cool, dear listeners.
Maybe even more specifically, you can talk about it in this situation, but you could also talk about it in the sense of maybe something that you use which has positive and negative effects.
When we talk about animals, we say that some animals are in captivity.
In captivity meaning in the zoo.
Yes.
Other animals are in the wild.
Yes.
You've mentioned that the UK has a lot of bodies dedicated to animal protection.
Bodies meaning what?
Bodies is another way of saying organizations, for example, or societies, groups of people.
So again, when you run out of words, if you've used the word like groups or organizations, then you can talk about bodies.
Bodies, yeah, we're not talking about people, yeah, so organizations, bodies.
Bodies dedicated to animal protection.
Absolutely, always dedicated to.
When you talked about dogs, you said that dogs could be guard dogs.
Guard?
Guard dogs, they protect your property, always.
So you could have guard dogs.
You can also have lap dogs, which are dogs which are designed to keep people comfortable and entertained.
Yeah, like small dogs, you put them on your lap.
Yeah, they're not so good for protecting your property, though.
Oh, yeah.
When you talked about pets, you said that you can keep a goldfish and it's therapeutic.
Therapeutic, like from therapy.
Yeah.
It's like another way of saying it makes you feel better.
Although therapeutic is again much more specific and it almost has like, psychological meanings as well.
For example, I can say yoga is therapeutic.
Maybe for you, but it just makes me feel pain.
Oh, right.
Maybe you should do more yoga.
Oh, no.
Less, please.
Dear listeners, if you talk about dogs or cats, you can also say that I'm allergic to dogs or I'm allergic to cats.
And some dogs are hypoallergenic.
What did you say?
Hypoallergenic.
Allergenic.
Hypoallergenic.
It's one word.
Yes, hypoallergenic.
It means that they don't activate your allergies.
Yeah, like I'm allergic to cats, but this cat is hypoallergenic.
Exactly.
So I don't have any allergies.
And how can I use this word?
I'm allergic to something.
Yes, always allergic to.
So I can say I'm allergic to cats or... I have an allergy to cats, for example.
Or I have allergies.
Yes.
Rory, thank you very much for your answers and precise words.
That's okay.
Thank you very much.
Dear listeners, now you can listen to Rory's answers again, and this time notice all the precise vocabulary adjectives, grammar structures for high score.
Do you like animals?
I love animals, particularly mammals, because they're the closest to us, relatively speaking.
I think they're quite cool.
Rory, what's your favourite animal?
Oh, I'm definitely a dog person.
I really love dogs, just in general.
And of course they're domesticated animals, so you can always keep them quite close to you, and that's really good as well.
What wild animal do you like the most?
I love big cats, in particular tigers.
They really stand out with this colour scheme on their fur, and then, of course, they also portray this sense of majesty and power as well when they are moving.
It's really interesting to watch.
Have you ever seen any wild animals before?
Yes, actually.
I used to teach in a school in Africa which was quite close to a riverbed, and so sometimes crocodiles would just wander into the school grounds, which was always very exciting.
Crocodiles at schools?
Yes, absolutely.
Have you ever pet a crocodile?
Um, no, I don't think you'd ever want to do anything like that.
Would you like to do that?
If it was a domesticated crocodile, then maybe.
Could a crocodile be domesticated?
Um, I think you could maybe domesticate just about any animal.
Rory, do you like to go to the zoo?
Um...
I used to like going to the zoo more as a child.
I think we still have that sense of wonder when we're children, whereas now it's kind of a double-edged sword, because you can see the animals, which is great.
But you are also quite sad because they're in captivity and that's also quite sad.
But what's the alternative?
If they're in the wild then they don't have this protection.
Are people in your country fond of animals?
Oh yes, definitely.
The United Kingdom has this reputation as being a nation of animal lovers.
There's lots of different bodies which are dedicated to the protection of animals and helping them when they're sick, like the RSPCA and the RSPB.
It's definitely accurate to say that people are fond of animals there.
Have you ever kept a pet?
I haven't personally.
By myself, no, because I work a lot and I'm kind of allergic as well.
So I'd need to find something that's almost hypoallergenic, really.
But when I was younger and I lived with my parents, then yes, we kept pets.
Why do some people keep pets at home?
Lots of different reasons, really.
I think one of the main reasons is because they're cute.
Of course, all of these domesticated animals look lovely.
But in addition to that, they have some utility as well.
Like dogs, for example, are kept as guard dogs to protect your property.
But it's not always about defense.
People also keep cats and even goldfish for therapeutic purposes, for example.
So there's lots of different reasons, really.
I think those are the main ones, though.
Lovely people of the world, thank you very much for listening.
We hope you enjoyed hearing our comments about animals.
We hope you'll join us again soon.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
