Hello, Sunshine.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory, and we're the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
We've started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and fabulous vocabulary for your high IELTS score.
Bad 9 score!
Maria, do you remember that time that you came to my birthday party?
No.
Exactly.
Let's talk about birthdays, shall we?
Oh, yes, dear listener.
Birthdays is a new, fresh speaking part one IELTS topic.
But it's not new for our conversations, because Maria missed my birthday party the one time when she was invited.
So you will remember this forever now, right?
Yes, I will.
I will never let you forget.
Rory, what do you usually do on your birthday?
Well I think every birthday is different but if it's a nice day then I usually go out with friends.
Do you think it's important for you to celebrate your birthday?
Well, I used to think so.
But if it's a normal one, like my 33rd, then I don't really go out at all, to be honest.
There doesn't seem to be much point.
What did you do on your birthday when you were young?
Well, when I was a child, we used to go to these sort of I don't know what you'd call them specialist soft play centers.
But later on in my teenage years, it was usually just house parties and that was okay.
How did you celebrate your last birthday?
Well, if you mean my 33rd, then I didn't really celebrate it because I was at work.
I suppose, if we have to talk about any particular gift, it would have been the gift of sleep at the end of it.
And I definitely got a lot of that.
I did like my cake though, specifically the icing on it.
It's really the only time you can justify something like that.
What birthday presents do you like to get?
Well, I'm pretty low maintenance, so I usually just want books or clothes, to be honest with you.
I don't really like odd or extravagant presents.
How do children celebrate birthdays in your country?
Well, if they're young, then I think they have parties at their houses or like the type of venues that I mentioned earlier.
If they're older, then I'm afraid I really have no idea what teenagers are doing these days.
Sorry.
Thank you, Rory, for your answers.
They were gifts for us.
Hopefully they were good at presenting the vocabulary and grammar.
That was a dreadful pun.
This week on our premium Rory.
Here the birthday boy is gonna describe a time when he used his mobile phone to do something meaningful for a change.
And in Speaking part 3, we are talking about mobile phones in general.
These are fresh new IELTS speaking topics.
And on our writing podcast.
Yes, we do have our writing episodes.
We are discussing the table and charts.
So it's a mixed graph or a multiple graph task.
The links are in the description.
Do check them all out.
So birthdays.
Birthdays, we celebrate birthdays.
It's my birthday, it's my birthday party.
We can say throw parties.
I usually throw a party on my birthday.
Is it on my birthday or for my birthday?
Or in my birthday?
At my birthday?
Never in, but on or for will be fine.
So on my birthday or for my birthday, you can say that i enjoy getting books for my birthday, i enjoy getting nice jewelry on my birthday or for my birthday Rory, you said you go out with friends.
So you didn't say anything just more interesting than go out with friends?
Really?
Like, really, I have a very boring life when it comes to birthdays.
This is why I was relying on the grammar, to be honest with you.
And there was some nice grammar because we were focusing on the zero conditional.
And there was also used to in there as well.
But if you're younger, there are also activities and places to go to.
So we talked about soft play centers.
Now, those are just places that you know you run around and throw yourself through, like into ball pits, for example, or Everything's covered in like the soft layer.
So if you land on it, then you won't hurt yourself.
So that's quite good.
If you're a young person, I imagine if you're an adult it's not very entertaining, but for young people it's good.
Yeah, yeah, you're getting ahead of yourself.
Let's focus on what you can do on your birthday, what activities.
What do we usually do on your birthday?
You can say, right, I enjoy cakes, I blow out candles, I get presents.
And Rory, I've prepared a list of things for me to do on my birth, my next birth, exactly exactly.
So uh, come on then, please also choose an activity for you.
Again, we need you to show off your vocabulary and also like to be interesting and to be like uh for the exam to see.
Oh wow, like interesting activities, right?
So what do you usually do on your birthday?
Choose one activity.
Write it in the comments.
So rory, on your birthday you usually host a private movie screening.
Who has the facilities to do this?
Right, so you rent out, okay, a cinema thing.
You rent out the whole cinema.
So you host a private movie screening.
Is that coming out of the podcast's budget?
No, it's your birthday.
It's your money.
Come on.
So I'm paying for this then.
Fantastic.
Oh, yeah.
It's your birthday.
And you're inviting everybody.
Okay.
It's your birthday.
So host a private movie screening.
So rent out your own movie theater or you hire a private chef.
A private chef for cooking.
Yes, chef.
So a private chef will cook your favorite dishes or you throw a pyjama party.
That would work well if you were like a 12 year old girl.
You know, I don't think that would work if you're a fully grown man, would it?
In fact, that might not work very well at all.
So you chill out in your PJJs pyjamas and you binge watch some movies.
So host a pyjama party.
That's not what i do for my birthday.
That's what i do on my weekends.
Did i tell you to comment?
No, but i am doing it anyway, because all of these ideas are totally ridiculous and very unrealistic.
Examples of what people do on their birthdays.
Or the last one.
The last one, you will enjoy a staycation.
A staycation is when you kind of explore your own town, your own city.
You just imagine that you are a tourist or a traveler in your own hometown and you go to a hotel.
You see the sights, so you enjoy a staycation.
Vacation.
Staycation.
Alright.
So, Rory, what would it be?
None of them.
None of them.
Like, none of these are things that you could do only on your birthday.
Like you would be much better assuming that you're from such a country talking about the different traditions people have on your birthday.
So, for example...
I can't think of any for Scotland, seriously.
I don't know any birthday traditions.
You might have ones in your family or in your culture.
Let's move further afield.
I cannot think of any birthday traditions in any of the cultures I've been in.
Exactly.
That's why I've given you four choices.
You have to choose at least one.
Host a private movie screening, hire a private chef, have a pajama party or enjoy a staycation.
What would it be?
Dear listener, write in the chat.
Staycation then.
Staycation.
All right, sweet.
Thank you.
Let's move on.
So, it's important to celebrate our birthday.
You can say, I used to think it's important, but now I don't celebrate my birthday, for example.
Or if it's a normal birthday, you can have abnormal.
But what's normal birthday?
You mean a date, it's not this?
Uh no, you don't call it anniversary.
What do you call this?
Like i'm i don't know 20 years old, or i'm 30 years old, or i'm 60 years old, what do you call this special date, Special birthday?
Like a milestone birthday or a landmark birthday?
That's what they are, but for normal birthdays, you just call it a birthday.
I've changed my mind.
I don't like talking about this topic.
Yeah, you see, so you can say, if it's a normal birthday, I don't usually celebrate.
But if it's a milestone birthday or a landmark, some special dates, yeah, I'm 30.
Yeah, so...
And it's my 33rd birthday.
Yeah, it's my 22nd birthday.
So careful with the numbers.
So yeah, these specialist soft places.
I still don't get what they are.
Soft play centers?
Look it up.
Like there are just places where the not machinery, the things that the children play on are covered in like soft wrapping to stop them from hurting themselves.
It's all very brightly colored.
I'm sure you have them in Russia.
They probably have a totally different name, but that's what they're called.
So as a teenager, I used to go to some parties or as a teenager, it was just house parties, right?
So Rory was a teenager.
He went to the parties.
He doesn't remember what he did, you know, because... Because...
A lot of juice.
Rory drank a lot of juice.
It's just... Too much Coca-Cola.
Too much.
Far too much.
Yeah.
When did you celebrate your last birthday, right?
And then you should have some answers.
And Rory said that if we mean my 33rd birthday, so now we know that Rory is more than 33, 33, oh.
Oh Rory, look at you.
And then Rory said, I did like my cake.
All right.
So kind of I did like my party.
I did like my cake.
I liked it very much.
That's a really nice structure.
Or I did love my cake.
Right.
The best gift I was given on my birthday.
Right.
So that's a nice one.
Or the best gift I was given on that day.
So on my last birthday.
I'm low maintenance.
Poor Rory.
Low maintenance.
No, that's not to do with being poor.
That's to do with not wanting people to give you lots of extravagant stuff.
If you would like to buy me a present for my birthday, send literature, please.
Yeah, so low maintenance.
Like Rory doesn't want diamonds, he doesn't want gold cars, real estate, boats.
Who wants diamonds on their birthday?
For his birthday.
So he's low maintenance and I don't really like extravagant.
How do you pronounce this?
Extravagant. extravagant or odd presence.
Odd presence meaning strange presence.
How do children celebrate their birthdays?
Or they go to these, what, soft play centers, yeah?
Children do, yeah and um, they go to different venues.
Venues like places right, so kind of um.
Some cafe is a good venue.
It's a good place for your birthday.
Yeah, Why.
Look, maybe, maybe I'm beginning to think that I'm really abnormal, like abnormally boring.
Do people have parties at cafes?
Yeah, yeah.
I used to go to a cafe.
I would book a table and this big table and we would just go in there.
In a jazz cafe, I remember.
I don't remember this.
You don't remember this.
That was before you.
Oh, well, then no wonder I don't remember.
And what do you call these parties when I have, for example, a topic?
So you have to come in wearing a costume and, for example, mafia style.
So what do you call these parties?
Fancy dress?
Fancy dress parties?
Are they theme parties?
A themed birthday party.
Like a themed birthday party.
Listen, apologies if you do not find rich grammar and vocabulary in this particular episode.
I was trying to be normal.
I imagine most of you will as well.
Well, okay, what was the grammar?
Tell us about the zero conditional.
Tell us about the grammar.
Well, we definitely have an example of used to in there, but our main grammar focus was zero conditional and we've got them, but not for every answer and neither should you person who is listening.
So for question number one, if it's a nice day, I go out with friends.
So there you go.
If present simple, then present simple.
Same for the next one.
If it's a normal one like my 23rd, then there's little point.
Zero conditional might not seem important, but...
If you can use conditional structures, then it's extremely helpful.
And so we'll get you started gently with zero conditional, but the next three episodes will be focusing.
Well no, next four, in fact, because we have first second, third and mixed conditionals too.
Thank you very much for listening.
Let's all have nice birthdays.
And maybe... And go to them.
Boring birthdays.
And please write in the comments what do you usually do on your birthday?
What would you like to do?
If, I don't know, if everything was possible.
And leave comments, hearts and love.
Bye.
Bye.
Rory, what do you usually do on your birthday?
Well, I think every birthday is different but if it's a nice day then I usually go out with friends.
Do you think it's important for you to celebrate your birthday?
Well, I used to think so.
But if it's a normal one, like my 33rd, then I don't really go out at all, to be honest.
There doesn't seem to be much point.
What did you do on your birthday when you were young?
Well, when I was a child, we used to go to these sort of I don't know what you'd call them specialist soft play centers.
But later on in my teenage years, it was usually just house parties, and that was okay.
How did you celebrate your last birthday?
Well, if you mean my 33rd, then I didn't really celebrate it because I was at work.
I suppose, if we have to talk about any particular gift, it would have been the gift of sleep at the end of it.
And I definitely got a lot of that.
I did like my cake though, specifically the icing on it.
It's really the only time you can justify something like that.
What birthday presents do you like to get?
Well, I'm pretty low maintenance, so I usually just want books or clothes to be honest with you.
I don't really like odd or extravagant presents.
How do children celebrate birthdays in your country?
Well, if they're young, then I think they have parties at their houses or like the type of venues that I mentioned earlier.
If they're older, then I'm afraid I really have no idea what teenagers are doing these days.
Sorry.
