Hello, everyone.
I'm Maria.
And my name is 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 questions, and he gives answers in using vocabulary and grammar for a high score.
Ben 9 score, always.
Rory, do you think the answers to the questions today will be difficult?
No, it's going to be a piece of cake.
What are we going to be talking about today?
Cake?
Cakes!
Yay!
Oh my God, I'm sorry.
Try not to die, that would be very inconvenient for me.
That would be very convenient, yes.
Roy, do you like cakes?
Yes.
Actually, I like them perhaps a bit too much.
I really need to improve my diet, to be honest with you.
So you do have a sweet tooth?
Oh, for sure.
I think everybody does.
Have you ever baked a cake?
Yes, once with my mum.
Not since.
I'm as terrible a cook as I am a baker, as it happens.
How often do you eat cakes?
I don't know.
I suppose whenever they are present, I try not to buy them because I suppose I have a bit of self-control.
Sorry, a bit of a self-control issue when it comes to cakes and sweet things.
But whenever they're at a party or something like that, then I'll definitely be eating the cake.
I'll be hovering around.
Do you like having desserts?
I think I like it... I don't think I like it as much as I did when I was younger, actually.
I suppose just because I've been able to develop some self-control.
I think when you're younger you find it more difficult to control your urges to eat things.
But if I do eat them now, then I have them at the end of a meal.
I feel like that's the logical course of, well, courses.
Are cakes popular in your country?
Well, I think if you look at the size of some of the people who live there, you could definitely say they're popular.
Some people need to exercise some self-control in that respect.
But seriously, I don't think they're any popular or any less popular or more popular than anywhere else.
I think the same proportion of people like them.
What desserts are popular in your country?
It's a good question, really.
I think nothing that isn't popular elsewhere.
So people have like just the normal sponge cakes.
They'll have ice cream.
I suppose...
One thing that might be particularly popular is sticky toffee pudding.
That's something that seems to be quite a popular dish at weddings or parties, when people have large gatherings.
But other than that, I think that everything else is pretty normal, to be honest.
Rory, thank you very much for your sweet answers.
Oh, God.
I'm cracking the jokes now.
Right, shall we go over the vocabulary?
Yes.
Alright, so when we talk about cakes and desserts, now, dear listeners, we say desserts.
Why is it an issue?
Because if you say desert, then you mean the place.
The Sahara Desert.
So make sure that you say like, I love desserts.
Desserts.
They're much tastier than desserts.
And Rory has used a nice kind of idiom, a piece of cake.
Yes, a piece of cake.
It's a piece of cake, it's a piece of cake.
It means difficult or super easy.
Oh, it means something is super easy, it's great.
Yeah, it's a piece of cake.
Or like was this test difficult?
No, it's a piece of cake, or it was a piece of cake, right?
Um, the question was have you ever baked a cake?
So we can bake a cake, or we can make a cake yes, and you said that uh i'm, i'm a terrible cook.
Yeah well, I made a comparison.
I said I'm as terrible a cook as I am a baker.
So that just means that I'm a terrible cook and I'm a terrible baker.
Yeah, we say a baker because a person who bakes cakes, who makes cakes.
Can you say a cooker?
No, you can't because a cooker is not a person.
A cooker is a thing that you cook with.
In some parts of the country it's called I'm sorry, in some parts of my country it's called a cooker and in other parts it's called an oven.
Either way.
It's the thing, not the person.
Yeah, a piece of furniture.
So the person who cooks is a cook or a chef.
You've been talking about self-control issue, right?
Mm-hmm.
And some people should exercise their self-control.
Yeah.
So, I guess, if we talk about self-control, some people would say, like, I should control myself.
But self-control is actually more flexible vocabulary.
And then you can use self-control.
But if you want a higher score, it's got to be exercise self-control.
The meaning is the same, but it's the collocation to exercise self-control.
You also mentioned control your urges.
Yes.
So people's urges.
What's the meaning of urges?
Urges are really strong feelings when you want to do something, and it's not usually something that lasts for a long time, it's usually a short time.
So it's a very short, intense time when you really want something, like when I'm hungry.
I always have an urge to eat fish.
I'm a big fan of seafood.
Have an urge to eat fish, or we should control our urges.
I'm a smoker, for example, so I should control my urges to smoke and be a healthier person.
Right, that's true.
When I asked you how often you have cakes, you said that I'll be hovering around.
Hovering like a helicopter?
Basically, yeah.
So it's like if there's a small part of the room where something is and you are either standing there not doing much or you're just moving around, not really leaving that area, then you're hovering.
Can we just imagine that in the room there are some cakes and Rory is hovering around them or just hovering right?
Like a Rory helicopter.
It is exactly like that.
People should be careful when I'm near cake.
And it's interesting that we can use cake without any articles, right?
So, like, I want cake.
It's not just I want a cake, a slice of cake, but it's just like, cake is important.
Cake gives you endorphins.
Cake makes you happy.
It does.
So that's why we should have as much of it as possible, in my opinion.
Well, control your urges, Rory.
Exercise your self-control, right?
Rory told us that he prefers desserts at the end of the meal.
Right?
At the end of the meal.
Yes.
Usually people say in the end, but usually at the end of something.
Yes, make sure that you don't make that mistake with your prepositions, otherwise that's going to get you in trouble.
So always at the end of a meal, but in the end of a story.
Yes, in the beginning.
Yeah.
In the middle.
In the middle, right.
When you talk about cakes, you can mention specific words for cakes.
For example, Rory has told us about sponge cakes, right, like SpongeBob.
Yes.
SpongeCakes.
They're kind of similar.
A sponge cake is just a normal cake, to be honest with you.
You'll know it if you press down on it and it goes down, but then when you take your hand off, it comes back up.
As long as you wash your hands before you do that.
Yeah, wash your hands.
Wash your hands, people.
Several times a day.
Sponge cakes, then we can have cupcakes, we can have cheesecakes, pudding.
Yes.
Pudding is an essential part of English cuisine.
So I'm told.
Pudding.
So make sure that you know the name of your favorite cake.
Also, we discussed having a sweet tooth.
Yeah.
So I have a sweet tooth.
Rory, do you have sweet teeth?
Oh, absolutely.
I have a sweet mouth.
But on the subject of talking about specific cakes and desserts and knowing your favorites, you need to remember to talk about things like sponge cake, or in my case it's sticky toffee pudding.
Or, in other people's cases, it could be meringues.
Make sure you know the specific vocabulary.
Don't just say, I like cake.
Cake is great.
Cake is amazing.
If you keep saying cake, people are going to get very bored very quickly.
Yeah, so cupcakes, puddings, meringue, ice cream, gelato, right?
But make sure that you have cake in moderation.
Yes, or try to.
Yeah, try to.
Again, cake is a great thing.
It gives us energy.
What else?
It makes us happy.
Yes, it makes us happy.
Just a happy food.
Yes.
We can have a slice of cake or the whole cake.
Have you ever actually eaten the whole cake?
Yes.
Just to yourself?
Yeah, I shouldn't share that widely, but I have sat and eaten the whole thing off by myself.
How did you feel?
Great.
Oh, yes.
Bliss.
What a bliss.
Dear listeners, thank you very much for listening.
Now you can listen to Rory's answers again, and this time notice all the grammar and vocabulary he's just used.
Rory, do you like cakes?
Um, yes.
Actually, I like them perhaps a bit too much.
I really need to improve my diet, to be honest with you.
So you do have a sweet tooth?
Oh, for sure.
I think everybody does.
Have you ever baked a cake?
Yes, once with my mum.
Not since.
I'm as terrible a cook as I am a baker, as it happens.
How often do you eat cakes?
I don't know.
I suppose whenever they are present, I try not to buy them because I suppose I have a bit of self-control.
Sorry, a bit of a self-control issue when it comes to cakes and sweet things.
But whenever they're at a party or something like that, then I'll definitely be eating the cake.
I'll be hovering around.
Do you like having desserts?
I think I like it.
I don't think I like it as much as I did when I was younger.
Actually, I suppose just because I've been able to develop some self-control.
I think when you're younger you find it more difficult to control your urges to eat things.
But if I do eat them now, then I have them at the end of a meal.
I feel like that's the logical course of, well, courses.
Are cakes popular in your country?
Well, I think if you look at the size of some of the people who live there, you could definitely say they're popular.
Some people need to exercise some self-control in that respect.
But seriously, I don't think they're any popular or any less popular or more popular than anywhere else.
I think the same proportion of people like them.
What desserts are popular in your country?
It's a good question, really.
I think nothing that isn't popular elsewhere.
So people have just the normal sponge cakes.
They'll have ice cream.
I suppose...
One thing that might be particularly popular is sticky toffee pudding.
That's something that seems to be quite a popular dish at weddings or parties, when people have large gatherings.
But other than that, I think that everything else is pretty normal, to be honest.
