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 started this podcast because we want you to use high-level words and super grammar in your IELTS speaking and in your English life.
If you want transcripts for our episodes, go to our website, successwithiles.com slash podcasts.
Or just go to our website and find podcasts and there you see transcripts.
Rory, I have some advice for you.
Really?
Yeah.
Be like a tree.
Stay grounded, keep growing, and know when to let go.
Oh, God.
Okay, let's cut these metaphors down to size and talk about forests and trees, shall we?
Yes, dear listener, in Speaking Part 1, they can ask you questions about forests and trees.
Rory, do you like trees?
Well, we need them to produce the oxygen we breathe and they generally improve the surroundings more than you know.
Grey buildings.
So I would say yes, and I think a lot at that.
Are there any important trees in your country?
That's a good question.
Well, my cousin works for the Forestry Commission at least I think so and they should and would be a better place to answer.
Well, I don't think they're any individually important. trees.
I would say that forests are an important part of the national heritage and beautify the country to a certain extent.
So while there are no important individual trees, groups of trees exist that are.
When was the last time you went to a forest?
Well, the school I work in is in a forest, sort of, so I suppose just last week.
And there are a lot of evergreens like fir trees there that shelter the buildings and local wildlife, which is quite cool.
Would you like to go to the forest if you're free?
I don't see why not.
Being around nature is quite relaxing and helps take the pressure off if you have the time.
Though you might say that about having time more generally.
So if somebody could drive me to the forest, why not?
Is there a forest near your hometown?
Quite a few, I think.
We have a lot of parks, like Camperdown and Maniki, and they have trees in abundance.
I'd like to go to them when I'm back, actually.
Would you like to live in a place that has a lot of trees?
Well, I live in Russia and I'm from Scotland, so I would say that I already do and I already have lived there.
Russia has massive forests.
You could get lost in there.
I think someone said once the reason why Russia doesn't need to guard its border with China are because the forests are so huge and inhospitable.
Did you ever climb trees when you were a child?
Yeah, and it gave my dad no end of grief when my brother and I did it.
He always used to say we would break our backs falling out of it.
That never happened, though.
I always wanted a treehouse as well, but we never quite found the time to build one, actually.
Do you think we need to protect trees?
I think we already do, don't we?
There are lots of laws about these things back home, though I think there are still problems, at least in Russia.
There are problems with Chinese companies over-harvesting forests, for example, and there's a more international problem of acid rain.
I think there was a problem between Germany and Sweden once that acid rain from Germany, Germany was landing on Swedish rainforests.
So that's still an issue, and it's important to protect them, since trees are so vital to us being able to live.
So of course we should protect them.
So the short answer is yes, and we should do it more often, if we don't already, in addition to balancing that with the other economic concerns we might have.
Wow.
These were impressive answers.
Thank you very much, Rory.
Hopefully, they will be the timber that supports your answers in the exam.
Wow.
Now you should explain to us what timber means.
Timber is just wood that's used to build things, isn't it?
Yeah and dear listener, this is some specific vocabulary when you talk about forests and trees, so timber.
Because trees provide us with timber.
Oh, it's also a song by Kesha.
Timber?
Yeah.
Going down.
I'm yelling timber.
You better move.
You better... Oh, stop now.
And then he tells us that he can't sing.
I can't sing.
This is terrible.
This is really terrible singing.
So timber is the word.
It could sound strange, but timber is this wood.
Now, when we talk about forests, we can also say woods.
So forests and woods.
Rory, the difference is... I think a forest is bigger than woods. isn't it?
Could be.
That's your language.
You tell us.
Well, I always think so.
And you can talk about our forest and our wood, the forest, the woods.
We say go to the woods, walk in the forest.
There's a song that's like if you go down into the woods, I need to find it.
Hold on a second.
Yeah, it's a musical podcast.
Basically, for every episode we have a song.
We have several songs in this one.
Ah, it's the Teddy Bear's Picnic song.
Yeah.
Yeah, how does it go?
How does it go?
Come on.
If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today, you better go in disguise.
Yeah, it's good.
Teddy Bear's Picnic, people.
It's quite funny.
Yeah, check it out.
Next time, Rory is going to record a song in a studio.
So he'll drop the podcast business and he'll start singing.
Yeah, and then I'll die destitute.
Okay, about forests, we can say massive forests.
Right, Rory?
And you did say that, massive.
They are massive.
About Russian forests, Rory, you commented that they are inhospitable.
Yeah, so if something is inhospitable, it's just difficult to be in or live in or survive in.
Extremely difficult.
Almost you can't do it.
So about your country?
You can say massive forests, dense forests, tropical forests rainforests, right.
And also we have the word forestry.
Yes.
So forestry is well the industry or part of society that deals with managing forests, cutting them down, using them as resources.
Like forestry commission.
I think the forestry commission is in charge of ensuring that the forest isn't totally wiped out by the industry, but at the same time the industry can use it to well survive, essentially.
We can also say that forests are being cut down.
So cut down trees, cut down forests.
Or chop down, chop down forests.
Cut down is formal, chop down is informal.
Wiped out, right?
You've used...
If you used wipe out, yes.
That means just to completely remove something.
Destroy.
Yeah.
We can plant forests.
So like plant trees, plant plants, plant vegetables.
So plant forests.
Plant the seeds of change.
Oh.
And Rory has said harvest forests.
You do.
Although to harvest a forest is just the same as cutting down the trees.
It's just a bit more formal.
Roy, you mentioned evergreens.
Yes, evergreens are trees that are well, always green because they don't.
Well, they don't wither, or at least the leaves don't wither and die in the winter.
We call them pine trees, fir trees.
And, dear listener, be sure that you know the name of some trees, specific names for some trees that are common in your country.
There's another word for them.
Hold on.
For example, like in Russia, we have birch trees, these black and white trees, oak trees, or you may have some bamboo trees, pine trees, fruit trees, maple trees like maple syrup or weeping willow.
You see, so these are very specific words and names for different trees.
Again, go online, check them up and learn maybe like two names of trees.
Or the scientific words, which are coniferous and deciduous.
Oh, no.
Coniferous trees are like evergreen trees.
And deciduous trees lose their leaves in the autumn.
But...
That's a gross oversimplification.
Any botanists listening will know that I have a very terrible understanding of how plants work.
But deciduous and coniferous, they're great words.
What?
Okay, I'll never remember that.
So I'll stick to birch trees, oak trees.
You will if you say it.
Say it.
Coniferous.
Coniferous.
And they have con at the start.
Cone.
Pine cone.
Coniferous.
Coniferous.
And how do I use it?
Well, like there are lots of coniferous trees around.
They're evergreens.
They don't lose their leaves.
Oh my God.
And then the examiner is sitting there looking at you like, what?
What are you talking about?
This is kind of science brain surgery.
Well, if you are studying to be in university, then you should know these words and you need to use IELTS to get into university.
Yeah, true, true.
And we're discussing these specific words about forests and trees, right?
And for a high score, you need these words, like topical vocabulary.
And also remember the word timber.
This is an important word about trees.
Let's go and...
Yeah, and about trees you can also mention, like trunk, a trunk of a tree branches, different branches and leaves.
Yeah, so these are like three major words about trees.
We need trees to breathe oxygen.
And Rory told us that trees are vital to us.
Vital meaning?
Super important.
You cannot live without them.
Like vite meaning to live.
Vital.
Vital.
Trees or forests provide us with oxygen or they supply the oxygen we need.
They do supply the oxygen we need.
Rory also said that forests are part of the national heritage.
So national heritage is, well, it's like sacred parts of your country's culture and history.
So forests feature quite heavily in Scottish art, for example.
They're also common resources, for well, they used to be common resources for house building materials, for example.
So it's quite important.
What's the word?
They're key parts of the culture.
Yep.
And they beautify the country.
So trees, forests beautify our country.
So to be beautiful, to beautify.
Forests also provide places for recreation, and we can say forests take the pressure off.
They do.
They take the pressure off, well, people.
And the more forests we have, the less pressure there is on existing forests.
And you might have trees in abundance.
So Rory in Scotland has trees in abundance.
That just means we have a lot of trees.
Yeah, like too many trees, okay?
Like, no, stop, trees.
Yeah, so abundance of something, like a great number.
A great number of trees.
Cool people.
Cool people in abundance.
When I asked you about climbing trees, and we can climb trees, not climb burn, no.
Climb trees.
Rory's dad had no end of grief.
Well, you give people no end of grief.
Give, give, yes.
Give people no end of grief.
Which just means that you make people, You're constantly annoying people or constantly doing bad things to them.
So in this case, my dad was constantly being annoyed by my little brother and I while we were playing in the tree outside of our well, outside of our family home.
It might have been dangerous, but it wasn't that dangerous.
You know, kids do stupid things like this all the time.
Yeah, as kids, we do climb trees.
We are dreaming of having a tree house.
Another word which you can mention about forests and trees is deforestation.
Deforestation.
Yes, which can be caused by acid rain, which I did mention.
So deforestation is just well, either forest being wiped out or being reduced in size by well, things like acid rain being over harvested.
Yeah, and you can say one of the most important problems in today's world is deforestation.
Another one is unsustainable logging for timber.
Oh my god, this is so precise, this is so benign.
Rory could you comment on unsustainable logging for timber?
Did I say that?
No.
Oh, well then, no, I'm not commenting on it.
Thank you very much, Rory.
That's okay.
Thank you for listening.
That's all.
Bye.
Unsustainable.
Logging for timber is just well.
First of all unsustainable, which means just you do it so much that you can't keep doing it for a long time, which is a problem if you're in business.
Logging is well.
Cutting down trees and timber is like.
We've already discussed the thing which you use for building things.
Well, the wood that's used for building structures or making things.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
Rory, if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?
I would be a redwood tree, because they're the tallest trees in the world and I've always wanted to be tall.
Wow.
What kind of tree would you be?
I would be a flower, not a tree.
Yeah, but you have to be a tree in this conditional sentence.
I don't know what condition that would be.
Third?
The second conditional, Rory.
Oh, God.
I'm so glad that your face is... If I were a tree, I'd be... I'd be bamboo, I think.
I like the sound of the word bamboo.
I'm so glad that your face is hidden by my laptop screen right now because otherwise...
I just see Maria looking at me like I'm a complete idiot because I don't know what the second conditional is.
Listen, we all have our weak spots.
My weak spot is conditionals.
I don't know what they are and I don't care to know what they are.
Yeah, and you know, like when the examiner asks you let's talk about trees like, do you like trees?
Like, yeah, I like oak furniture.
You see, like, furniture pretty much, right?
Okay.
Thank you very much for listening.
Now you won't need to cut down on your advanced vocabulary for trees.
No, Rory, tell us about this cut down thing.
Because at the beginning of the episode we made a joke about something and you said like oh, cut down on the joke.
Yeah, just we have to like reduce it.
So we should cut down on the jokes?
No, we shouldn't cut down on the jokes because after all of the vocabulary we have, that's all that we've got left.
Bye.
Bye.
Rory, do you like trees?
Well, we need them to produce the oxygen we breathe and they generally improve the surroundings more than you know.
Grey buildings.
So I would say yes and I think a lot at that.
Are there any important trees in your country?
That's a good question.
Well, my cousin works for the Forestry Commission.
At least I think so.
And they would probably, they should and would be better placed to answer.
Well, I don't think there are any individually important trees.
I would say that forests are an important part of the national heritage and beautify the country to a certain extent.
So while there are no important individual trees, groups of trees exist there.
When was the last time you went to a forest?
Well, the school I work in is in a forest, sort of, so I suppose just last week.
And there are a lot of evergreens like fir trees there that shelter the buildings and local wildlife, which is quite cool.
Would you like to go to the forest if you're free?
I don't see why not.
Being around nature is quite relaxing and helps take the pressure off if you have the time.
Though you might say that about having time more generally.
So if somebody could drive me to the forest, why not?
Is there a forest near your hometown?
Quite a few, I think.
We have a lot of parks, like Camperdown and Maniki, and they have trees in abundance.
I'd like to go to them when I'm back, actually.
Would you like to live in a place that has a lot of trees?
Well, I live in Russia and I'm from Scotland, so I would say that I already do and I already have lived there.
Russia has massive forests.
You could get lost in there.
I think someone said once the reason why Russia doesn't need to guard its border with China are because the forests are so huge and inhospitable.
Did you ever climb trees when you were a child?
Yeah, and it gave my dad no end of grief when my brother and I did it.
He always used to say we would break our backs falling out of it.
That never happened though.
I always wanted a treehouse as well, but we never quite found the time to build one actually.
Do you think we need to protect trees?
I think we already do, don't we?
There are lots of laws about these things back home, though I think there are still problems, at least in Russia.
There are problems with Chinese companies over-harvesting forests, for example, and there's a more international problem of acid rain.
I think there was a problem between Germany and Sweden once that acid rain from Germany was landing on Swedish rainforests.
So that's still an issue, and it's important to protect them, since trees are so vital to us being able to live.
So of course we should protect them.
So the short answer is yes, and we should do it more often, if we don't already, in addition to balancing that with the other economic concerns we might have.
