Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile.
With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down.
So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a thing.
Mint Mobile, unlimited premium wireless.
How did they get 30, 30, how did they get 30, how did they get 20, 20, 20, how did they get 20, 20, how did they get 15, 15, 15, 15, just 15 bucks a month?
So, give it a try at mintmobile .com slash switch. $45 up front for three months plus taxes and fees.
Promo rate for new customers for a limited time.
Unlimited more than 40 gigabytes per month.
Slows. Full terms at mintmobile .com.
hello dear listener and welcome into ielts speaking part two describe a plant that is important in your country or describe a plant that is grown in your country you should say what type of plant it is where it grows or is usually seen how it is used in your country and why it is famous or important.
Rory here is a super expert on plants.
Okay, dear listener?
Do you remember one of our very first episodes where you accused me of being a plant killer?
Yes. Funny. Yes. So, actually, to tell you the truth, dear listener, our Rory is a plant killer.
I'm not. I was a plant killer, but now in my home I have three.
Ha ha. No, are they alive or already dead?
They are all alive.
And one of them is a bonsai tree.
So soon it's gonna die.
It's gonna die soon.
Yes, like let's count how many days it is still alive.
So dear listener, yes, a strange question, but you should know a plant that is grown in your country.
Could you choose something easy and you should go online, research, maybe in your mother tongue, in your native language, then in English and write things down.
Things about the plant, okay?
How to describe it, why it is important.
Unfortunately, this is specific information and this is your research, okay?
So, go now, Google, choose one easy plant, maybe a flower.
It could be a flower, right?
It could be a plant, but it should be specific and you should remember the name.
Rory, give us your story.
well lots of plants are grown in my country especially in the agricultural areas but they're all pretty run -of -the -mill crops to be honest the one that does stand out though isn't like these other ones it's called a thistle and it's one of the national symbols of our country specifically I think it's called a milk thistle and it's a flower or at least a flowering plant it's got these purple petals and a long green stem covered in spines which are a bit jaggy and that must be to stop animals from eating them.
I don't think it's unique to Scotland but it does grow all over the place there especially in the wilder areas which aren't as manicured as the others.
Since it's a flowering plant I suppose the purple part must usually come out in the spring but I've never really thought about that before until now to be honest. As far as I'm aware, it's only used as a symbol of Scotland, so it appears on anything and everything you would expect, from things like the coins to the badges of some football clubs.
I think it's also used on the emblem of one of our national political parties as well.
This is all a bit ironic really, since the plant is often seen as a weed and people try to kill them so they don't compete with the prettier flowers they might want to grow in the the first place in their gardens.
Apparently though, about 800 years ago, an enemy soldier stood on one and it made him yell, which alerted our own army to where the opposition was, which means it must have had some better uses at some point.
If you were a Scottish soldier living in medieval times, for example.
Since then, it's served as our national floral emblem.
If I hadn't heard of this plant, I've had no idea what else I could have spoken about since, And to be honest, I'm not that well versed on the other kinds of plants we have in our country.
With that in mind, I suppose I'd best brush up on my plant knowledge.
And what about your friends?
Do they like this plant?
I have no idea. We've never talked about it before.
right dear listener so rory talked about a plant which is kind of a flower and it's a scottish national symbol it's called a thistle yes you see so it's a very specific plant and it's a symbol of scotland you see so you can also talk about a symbol Well, I don't know, maybe in your country.
Plants are grown in my country.
So, lots of plants are grown in my country, especially in agricultural areas.
Areas for agriculture where just potatoes are grown, vegetables are grown.
But most of plants are run -of -the -mill crops.
Crops like usual vegetables, potatoes, carrots.
Yeah, any plant grown for eating really So I think the national Or one of the national symbols of Ireland Is the potato Because it's grown there It's funny because it doesn't come from Ireland originally It comes from South America And then in England National symbols Include roses And I'm pretty sure The same is true for France As well Countries share different symbols different floral symbols as well and different national foods because who controls these things is not settled.
Oh no, in France it's Iris Oh, okay.
I think there are different regions of France that have different floral symbols as well.
So yes if you don't want to, you could talk about flower from a specific region.
Yeah, you see, dear listener so make sure you just choose something and you can say like a run of the mill run of the mill like usual ordinary like ordinary vegetables run -of -the -mill crops crops grow on land potatoes carrots vegetables one plant that stands out is a thistle so something stands out something is different from the others so it's called a thistle and it's one of the national symbols in my country but if If you were from Japan, you could say, hello, it's a cherry blossom, and it's one of the national symbols of my country.
Then you describe the plant.
How does it look? It's a flower or it's a plant.
It has purple petals.
Petals like a flower has little thingies.
Petals, we call it.
A long green stem. Stem is like this stick.
Okay, very specific.
It's, well, a stem is like a green, quite rigid thing that grows out of the ground to support where the flower will be so it has a long green stem covered in spines yes they're like sharp things that stick out oh really yeah but you could describe any plant this way it's got a long green stem stem is a very specific word for describing part of a plant and if it's a flower then it will have petals.
These are the almost colorful leaves that come out to attract insects.
Yeah, listen, if you look at the pictures of a thistle, it has this sharp needles kind of thingies.
So it's kind of this flower is not really friendly.
It has sharp prickles.
There you go, sharp prickles.
Like roses have sharp...
What do roses have?
They have thorns. Thorns, yeah, but a thistle has sharp prickles.
This flower grows all over the place in Scotland.
So, it grows everywhere.
It's very common in the wilder areas.
So, in wild areas, in forests, it also grows.
It's a flowering plant, which means that it's a flower.
It usually comes out in the spring, but Rory is not sure.
So, kind of like, when does it bloom, when can you see it, usually it comes out in the spring, or certain flowers come out in summer, or come out in, not winter, in autumn.
Yeah, but some plants are evergreen.
And you can say, I've never thought about it before.
Like, I don't know.
How often are you asked to think about plants?
Yeah, but you should research this topic, dear listener, take notes, learn the phrases, and information about your national plant, okay, for IELTS purposes.
Or you could be like me and tell them you have no idea and take a guess.
No, but come on. If you have no idea, it will be difficult to talk about a plant.
Make lots of guesses.
I did. As far as I'm aware, it's a symbol in Scotland.
So, as far as I know, as far as I remember, as far as I'm aware, it's only used as a symbol in Scotland.
I hope people don't eat it.
It could be toxic, like poisonous.
This plant is on the emblem of one of our political party, for example.
It's on the emblem.
So if it's a national plant or flower, it could be used on the emblems, on the coins, on, I don't know, flags.
eggs this plant is often seen as a weed what is a weed a weed is a kind of plant that is ugly and grows fast is very invasive and steals resources away from the flowers or the plants that people want to grow so a thistle is seen as this by some people not by all people i don't mind and then Then Rory gives us some history behind the plant.
Well, I think this is the history, because I said apparently.
I don't know this is a fact or not.
What is a floral emblem?
It's like a flower symbol of something.
It's a very, very short description.
So you see floral emblems in Scotland and where else?
In England as well, you see different roses on things.
And you can finish off with conditionals.
It's a very good idea to use conditionals in speaking part two to show off your grammar. You show the examiner that you do know a variety of grammar structures.
So here we use the third conditional.
If I hadn't heard of this plant, but Rory did hear about this plant.
So if I hadn't heard of this plant, I could have spoken about something else.
could have spoken but i didn't i did speak about it and then you can say like well unfortunately i don't know much about this plant i should brush up on my knowledge so brush up on something what does it mean oh it means to revise or review information about a topic yeah i should brush up on my knowledge of English grammar brush up on English history so it's a phrasal verb and c1 so like an advanced phrasal verb brush up on something improve your knowledge of something which you learned before but forgot so I'm not sure I remember a lot of information about this plant I think I should brush up
on this information I think I should brush up on my knowledge okay Rory anything else you want to say well well I was able to just go with the sparse information I had on plants in my country like Maria said it would be a very good idea to do some in -depth research about this topic even if you don't remember everything you'll still be able to remember some facts if not all of them and remember like me I didn't know a lot about this and I think a lot of people won't know a lot about this topic.
So remember your words for guessing at information.
I don't think it's unique to Scotland.
I suppose, as far as I'm aware, apparently on all of these things that help distance ourselves from our answers because we could be wrong if we are guessing.
I could be wrong about all of this.
Thank you very much for listening and we'll get back to you in our next episode Speaking Part 3 About Agriculture.
Oh, nice. Let's go.
Bye. Describe a plant that is important in your country or describe a plant that is grown in your country.
You should say what type of plant it is, where it grows, or is usually seen, how it is used in your country and why it is famous or important.
Well, lots of plants are grown in my country, especially in the agricultural areas, but they're all pretty run -of -the -mill crops, to be honest. The one that does stand out, though, isn't like these other ones.
It's called a thistle, and it's one of the national symbols of our country.
Specifically, I think it's called a milk thistle, and it's a flower, or at least a flowering plant.
It's got these purple petals and a long green stem covered in spines, which are a bit jaggy.
and that must be to stop animals from eating them.
I don't think it's unique to Scotland but it does grow all over the place there especially in the wilder areas which aren't as manicured as the others.
Since it's a flowering plant I suppose the purple part must usually come out in the spring but I've never really thought about that before until now to be honest. As far as I'm aware it's only used as a symbol of Scotland so it appears on anything and everything you would expect Beck, from things like the coins to the badges of some football clubs, I think it's also used on the emblem of one of our national political parties as well.
This is all a bit ironic really, since the plant is often seen as a weed, and people try to kill them so they don't compete with the prettier flowers they might want to grow in the first place in their gardens.
Apparently though, about 800 years ago, an enemy soldier stood on one and it made him yell, which alerted our own army to where the opposition was, which means it must have had some better uses at some point.
If you were a Scottish soldier living in medieval times, for example.
Since then, it's served as our national floral emblem.
If I hadn't heard of this plant, I've had no idea what else I could have spoken about since, to be honest, I'm not that well versed on the other kinds of plants we have in our country.
With that in mind, I suppose I'd best brush up on my plant knowledge.
And what about your friends?
Do they like this plant?
I have no idea. We've never talked about it before.
