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Hello, hello, dear listener, and welcome into IELTS speaking part three about places in the countryside in general, umm...
villages, this ah, blululululul places.
I'm going to be so cruel with my follow -up questions.
Is there anything special about the villages in your country?
Not that I'm aware of, although they could be made up of materials or in particular styles that are unique to the area.
Something like sandstone, for example.
Why do people want to go to the countryside?
For starters, it's a nice escape from the rat race in cities, so they might go to decompress before returning to that.
Another thing that comes to mind is having some sort of romantic ideal of the peaceful countryside in general that draws them there, not just to visit, but to live.
Whether that's true or not is another matter entirely, but those are some of the reasons.
What do people usually do when they visit a village?
Well, your guess is as good as mine.
Villages are pretty diverse in terms of what they offer.
I mean, if it's just a smattering of houses, then there's possibly not much to do, but sit and read a book or something like that.
Conversely, there may be local tourist attractions like waterfalls or hiking routes or even festivals that people can enjoy but that's not always certain and some places are just really quiet and they like being that way Will more people live in villages in the future?
Well, the sort of demographic trend has always been increasing migration from the countryside to the cities since that's where the work and opportunities are and that doesn't show much sign of slowing down or reversing so I'd say no What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in the countryside?
We covered a few already, but the main ones are probably things like having more space and supposedly cleaner or healthier living, since the downsides of towns and cities are rarely present in such cases.
What kind of people would like to stay in the countryside?
I mean, well, people who want to enjoy the advantages and don't mind too much about the downsides.
It's hard to think of specific personality traits, but I imagine people who don't like change and value their own space would rather spend their time there than people who don't share those kinds of traits.
Do people in your country like to go hiking?
Well, there certainly seems to be a big demand for it, and this makes sense since we have lots of mountains and mountain trails.
Despite being in Northern Europe, the scenery and landscapes are still quite diverse, so it's easy to understand the appeal from that perspective too.
Thank you, Rory, for your answers.
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See you soon. so places in the countryside we say we go to the countryside so outside the city and we can say that like the buildings in the villages in my countries are made of special materials like white stone or some sand stone or they tend to be traditional they tend to be, I don't know small or they
tend to have funny names for example yeah that's a hard one to answer to be honest because how often do you think about the special things to do with villages in your country so you can always just say something like I have no idea but then follow up with a possibility because who knows for certain no but usually
villages for example they have small houses, cottages, quaint cottages.
They don't have any high -rise buildings, so this is something that is special about the villages.
Oh, that's a good point.
You can also say bungalows or like low -level structures.
They tend to be traditional, small, and I don't know, maybe they are poorly maintained so half buildings are destroyed yeah very few people live there for example or there is no electricity in some of the real country there's no internet so we can talk about what they have as well as what they don't
have and that could be special and uh another syndrome is special or unique so villages are unique because blah blah blah for starters is a nice one when you say like to begin with like the first point is that for starters people want to escape from the rat race in the cities so the rat race that we
have in the cities is this competition the rat race a way of life in modern society in which people compete with each other for power and money money and power and um to get out of the rat race we go to the countryside we move to the countryside and we go there to decompress is another word for saying
like to relax to decompress to reduce our pressure decompress to relax to chill out people go to the countryside to decompress and another point is that or another thing that comes to mind so we started like for starters another thing that comes to mind is having certain romantic moments to enjoy romantic
moments in peaceful countryside but you could you can also have a romantic ideal in your head which means you think that the countryside is this positive place where only good things happen and nothing bad can happen there.
But of course, in real life, living in the countryside is quite hard.
The villages are diverse.
Diverse means they include many different types of people or things.
We usually say that something is culturally diverse, so like different cultures.
Or somebody has diverse views on this point.
And villages are pretty diverse in terms of what they offer.
So, villages, things.
For example, people can sit and read a book.
Or people may visit local tourist attractions.
So, local sites. For example, waterfalls, hiking routes or festivals so there are some nature sites like waterfalls mountains lakes and also some festivals which might happen in the countryside in some villages like music festivals for example or some other festivals and don't forget to say people can visit
some quaint cottages old churches ancient ruins well unless you already said that yeah yeah just say it once tell us now quaint cottages that's it we say it only once today people are moving to the villages or people are moving to the countryside it could be a trend so if you say it as a trend yeah
these days a lot of people are moving out of cities to the countryside.
So Rory says no, like people will stay in cities where there are many work opportunities and the trend has always been migration from the countryside to the cities, not vice versa.
We talk about benefits and drawbacks of living in the countryside.
Make sure you paraphrase the examiners words if the examiner asks you about advantages and disadvantages say benefits and drawbacks or pluses and minuses pros and cons or you can also say like on the flip side meaning the drawbacks like on the flip side da da da da it's bad so having more space and clean air
is one of the advantages of living in the countryside yes supposedly maybe it's not always like that um yeah and the downsides of and the downsides of um living in the countryside is what oh well i mean there are probably as many downsides as there are upsides you're pretty isolated in general and specifically
from things like advanced medical care um more diverse services more choice and of course you might not do well being that close to so few people for such a prolonged period as well yeah you can say that uh one of the downsides is that Because your house could be far away from the city and it takes
a lot of time to commute, to work, to go to the city.
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switching to h &r block is easy just drag and drop your last return it's better with block it's hard to think of specific personality traits personality traits like these character traits who would stay in the countryside like who like i live in the countryside now okay i don't really get that question are there
i've moved from the city the countryside is as diverse a place as the city like self -sufficient people okay who can afford a house in the countryside uh free spirits free spirits but you get free spirits you get free spirits in the city too i mean i'm quite a free -spirited person but like you know i
live in a town and i'm quite happy to live there now so i don't think this is something that's exclusive to a particular location maria's now looking for a study on the psychoanalysis of people who live in the countryside And you can say it's hard to think of specific personality traits or character
traits, but I imagine people who don't like change.
People who don't like change live in the countryside.
People who value their own space, like my space, my house.
And who would rather spend some time alone, for example.
But again, not the case because in the countryside You can have a community, neighbors, you know.
So it depends. People in the countryside usually go hiking.
So there are hiking routes like up the mountains, around the lakes.
There are mountain trails.
Ooh, mountain trails.
That's just like a path in the mountains, though.
Yeah. And there is a big demand for it.
So a big demand for going hiking.
maybe in your country maybe yeah I don't know I don't like going hiking I like to be at home okay so the scenery is nice the scenery the nature landscapes like beautiful views are nice landscapes are diverse so there are different landscapes and it's easy to understand the appeal of living in the countryside.
So, the appeal is a nice one.
The thing that people like about it.
Yeah, like I understand the appeal of living in the countryside.
I understand the beauty of living in the countryside, like what makes it attractive or interesting.
And also, you can say living in the countryside is appealing for some people.
So, these people like it they are attracted to living in the in the countryside like a banana appealing sorry you peel a banana it's a joke peel is a verb which is a kind of vocabulary which can really mean it's time for my vocabulary time or grammar and indeed we are going to focus on grammar or ways
to use grammar to convey certain kinds of meaning so i prepare a lot of candidates for IELTS.
And one thing I noticed was they really struggle when they're not sure about the answer because they often think that the examiner is testing what they're saying.
But actually, there are things we can do to show that we are not sure.
So Maria's job now is to look at my answers and tell me what I said when I was not sure about something.
What phrases or what grammar structures did I use?
So Maria, the first question was, is there anything special about villages in your country and I this is not my specialist area so what grammar structure did I use to signal that I was not sure about this not that I'm aware of well that's the phrase but what about the grammar structure ah they could be
could be yes so modal verb could then I was asked why do people want to go to the countryside.
However, what did I say to show that I was not so sure?
Might go. Yes. Then you asked me, what do people usually do when they visit a village?
Now, there were a couple of things I said to signal that I was really not sure about this answer.
But what was one of them?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Yes, so another way of saying you have no idea.
But always make sure you follow up don't just say your guess is as good as mine and then nothing you need to say something afterwards another grammar structure that got used instead of maybe i said there might be then maria asked me if more people will live in villages in the future so again how did
i signal that i wasn't 100 sure about this this is a hard one i'd say no that's part of it yeah i said it doesn't show much sign of slowing down so instead of being 100 % confident with present simple I added in much so like maybe there are some signs that I don't know about but I'm not sure so I'm just
gonna say that it doesn't show much sign of this and then we hedge our answer then I was asked about the disadvantages and advantages of the countryside.
Yes so maybe probably possibly all good ways of signaling that you're not 100 % sure and then i was asked about the kind and then i was asked about the kind of people who would like to stay in the countryside so again i'm not a psychologist i don't study people in the countryside yeah it's hard to think
of specific personality traits but i imagine that so it's hard to think of something but i imagine and then our very last one two people in your country like to go hiking again i do not study this this is not my specialist area but what grammar or what phrase did i use to signal a possibility there
certainly seems to be a big demand for it yes so seems to be is quite good as well so all of these things are things that people naturally use in conversations you're not expected to be an expert in every single subject ever nobody is but you are being tested on how well you handle the unfamiliar situation.
And you can do that by just admitting your ignorance and then having a guess at what could be or what might be the case.
So remember your modal verbs.
They're also good for your essay to stop you from generalizing.
Yeah. Thank you very much for listening and we'll get back to you in our next episode.
Okay? Bye. Thank you.
Is there anything special about the villages in your country?
Not that I'm aware of, although they could be made up of materials or in particular styles that are unique to the area.
Something like sandstone, for example.
Why do people want to go to the country's countryside?
For starters, it's a nice escape from the rat race in cities, so they might go to decompress before returning to that.
But another thing that comes to mind is having some sort of romantic ideal of the peaceful countryside in general that draws them there, not just to visit, but to live.
Whether that's true or not is another matter entirely, but those are some of the reasons.
What do people usually do when they visit a village?
Well, your guess is as good as mine.
Villages are pretty diverse in terms of what they offer.
I mean, if it's just a smattering of houses, then there's possibly not much to do but sit and read a book or something like that.
Conversely, there may be local tourist attractions like waterfalls or hiking routes or even festivals that people can enjoy, but that's not always certain.
And some places are just really quiet and they like being that way.
Will more people live in villages in the future?
Well, the demographic trend has always been increasing migration from the countryside to the city, since that's where the work and opportunities are.
And that doesn't show much sign of slowing down or reversing, so I'd say no.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in the countryside?
We covered a few already, but the main ones are probably things like having more space and supposedly cleaner or healthier living, since the downsides of towns and cities are rarely present in such cases.
What kind of people would like to stay in the countryside?
I mean, well, people who want to enjoy the advantages and don't mind too much about the downsides.
It's hard to think of specific personality traits, but I imagine people who don't like change and value their own space would rather spend their time there than people who don't share those kinds of traits.
Do people in your country like to go hiking?
Well, there certainly seems to be a big demand for it, and this makes sense since we have lots of mountains and mountain trails.
Despite being in Northern Europe, the scenery and landscapes are still quite diverse, so it's easy to understand the appeal from that perspective too.
