Hello, lovely.
I'm Maria.
And I'm Rory.
And we are 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 lovely podcast to give you a look at how a super-duper native speaker would answer some of the most common IELTS speaking questions, using gorgeous grammar and super high-level vocabulary for a high score.
A band 9 score.
Rory, even without a beard and with your short hair, you look ancient.
Well, thank you, Masha.
That's probably a good thing.
We're going to talk about history today, isn't it?
Yes, it is.
How lovely.
History.
How rude.
In Speaking Part 1, the examiner can ask you questions about history.
Rory, do you like history?
Not so much now that I'm officially old, thank you.
But yes, I still like learning about it from time to time.
How old are you, Rory?
Old enough.
As old as the hills.
Not that old.
Did you enjoy learning history when you were a child?
Yeah, definitely.
Like I say, much more than now.
I think when I was in high school I was one of the few kids reading history books, like about World War I, for example, for fun, rather than reading Harry Potter.
So you haven't read Harry Potter?
I haven't read the last three books or something, but I've watched the movies.
It's fine.
I'm listening to books now, you know.
Stephen Fry reads all Harry Potter series.
That's lovely.
That's quality.
When was the last time you read about history?
I suppose earlier last month, I picked up a book called Empire by Neil Ferguson.
It's about the role of the British Empire in world history and whether it's a force for good or evil.
But I didn't manage to get that much into it because, well, other things happened.
I had to do the promotion for my own book, for example.
Is your book about history?
Parts of it are, but my book's mostly about people who are alive now.
Rory's book on Rory's successes?
Not quite.
It's about other people's successes, not my own.
What have you recently read on history?
Well, other than the book that I'm half reading and half not reading now, not really a lot.
I have a lot of books on order from Amazon that are about history, but that's for when I get home.
I can't order them into Russia, unfortunately.
Do you like watching documentaries on history?
Sometimes.
Though usually it's more about dramatic events like Chernobyl or the end of the Cold War than some process that took hundreds of years like, I don't know, the collapse of the Roman Empire or something.
Do you think history is important?
Yeah, both in isolation and as an integrated subject.
For the farmer.
It's about knowing who people are and where they come from, and it helps you to understand people better in general.
And then the latter might help us avoid past mistakes and use ideas from the past in conjunction with new technology and new ways of thinking.
Do you think children should learn history?
Definitely.
Although, to be honest with you, I think they should probably learn to read and write and count first.
But after that, history, definitely.
And maybe they could read about history while they're writing, to be honest.
Rory, thank you very much for your answers.
It's okay.
Rory, when we talk about history, so this question, historical or historic?
God, is it like historical novel or historic novel?
What's going on there?
Oh, he's yawning.
He's yawning now.
I'm tired.
Oh, it's hilarious.
It's because I'm old.
So how old are you?
Just you ask your questions, all right?
Yes, so historical and historic.
So we say kind of historical novels, right?
What else can be historical?
You could have historical figures.
So that's like people from the past, for example.
So you could... They're both adjectives.
Historical is usually used to describe things like books and people and, I suppose, physical things.
But historic is more to describe times and moments.
So like a historic moment would be, like the fall of the Berlin Wall was a historic moment because well, it marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War, which I think a lot of people were quite relieved about.
Yeah, historic occasion, for example.
But historical objects, historical documents, right?
Historical novels.
Yeah, the question could also be about historical documentaries.
Historical documentaries, right?
Yeah.
Rory is slaving away.
Basically he's super busy and right.
So historical documentaries.
So basically films about history.
Right, we talk about ancient history.
We can talk about what modern history Yes.
So I think modern history is everything that takes place in the last 100 years or so.
Yeah.
The Middle Ages, for example.
The Middle Ages is not modern history.
No, but ancient history, the Middle Ages, modern history.
Yeah.
You've mentioned the Second World War or the First World War.
Yes, I mentioned the First World War.
I don't know if I mentioned the Second, but there was a Second.
Yeah, and...
This is how we pronounce it, how we say it, like the First World War, the Second World War.
Yes.
You also said the British Empire, the British Empire, and the Roman Empire.
What about... And you said that the collapse...
Right, so the collapse of the Roman Empire.
What about Soviet Union?
Do you also use the word collapse?
Yes, but people also use the word fall.
I don't know.
Well, they use fall to describe the collapse of the Roman Empire as well.
So they're kind of interchangeable, aren't they?
You picked up a book on history.
Well, sometimes we can pick up people.
In a car?
In a car, right?
Or in a bar?
Or if you have really strong arms.
You said that you are half reading a book on history, so you are reading and not reading at the same time.
Yeah, it's like usually, when I read a book, I get quite into it and I read it regularly, but right now, because I'm busy, I haven't had the chance.
When we talk about history, we can mention dramatic events, right.
So dramatic historical events.
Rory, if you were to talk about one historical event, what would it be?
If I had to talk about one historical event?
Yeah, you had to do that now.
The day you were born?
No, because that wasn't a historical event.
I have no idea.
The day you came to Russia?
No.
Historical events are things that happen in history at large.
That's a good question.
I don't know.
I think probably...
I think I'd probably talk about the Cold War because there's so many different things to cover.
So that's quite cool.
Yeah, because in speaking part two, the topic could be like describe a historical event.
Yeah.
So get ready for that.
You mentioned that history could be an integrated subject and it could be studied in isolation, right?
So integrated with what?
Yeah, so if something is integrated, it's kind of combined with different subjects.
However, if it's...
If it's isolated, then it's not.
It's treated as a separate thing.
Yeah, but it's better to study history as an integrated subject rather than in isolation.
I don't know.
I think they both have their advantages and disadvantages.
History could be dull, tedious, boring, right?
Or it could be quite entertaining.
What else?
Fascinating.
Fascinating.
Intriguing.
Intriguing.
You can be a history nerd.
You can.
Nerd.
If you want to.
Or you can say like, oh, I'm not into history.
It's not my cup of tea.
Yeah.
Although, to be honest with you, people have said it's not my cup of tea so many times now.
It's a bit of a cliche.
It's not up my street.
There we go.
Much better.
And that's quite interesting because, on the subject of talking about streets, we've just published something on our Success with IELTS Telegram account.
What?
It's a comparison of two different town maps as part of our new project with writing.
So if you're interested in that, check out our Telegram account.
Yes, you guys, go ahead and read this gorgeous description of a map.
And actually, this week, people who took IELTS on the 18th of June, they had maps.
Yes, two maps.
Rory, could you tell the world what the former and the latter means?
Oh, the former is like the first thing that you mentioned and the latter is the second one.
It's more common in writing, actually, but I quite like using it for speaking.
It just means like the first thing I mentioned and the second thing.
We need an example.
Well, it's usually used in long speeches.
So for example, in the UK we've got the Houses of Parliament in London and we have the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
Former makes policy for the whole country and the latter makes policy just for Scotland.
Yeah.
Awesome.
You also mentioned a good one.
In conjunction with... Oh, God.
In conjunction with...
Yeah, that's just like... It's like connected to things, but connected in a real way.
Things can be connected, but they can be connected...
Not very well, but if it's in conjunction with something, then it's acting quite closely together.
Rory, so you are a Dundonian, right?
Allegedly.
You're from Dundee and you're Dundonian.
So do you know the history of your hometown?
I know loosely the history of my hometown.
I'm not very big on it.
I'm much more focused on world history, to be honest with you.
Are you connected to the Highlanders?
The Highlanders, the movie.
Go check it out, guys.
The Highlanders.
Well, every Scottish person thinks they're connected to the Highlanders.
And there's no way to prove otherwise.
So, yes, I'm just going to say yes.
Rory, are you wearing a kilt at the moment?
No, but it's too warm to wear a kilt.
It's too warm to do anything.
We are melting.
Are you melting?
Yes, because we are.
Thank you very much for listening.
Now you can listen to Rory's answers again and notice all the words about history he's just used.
Thanks for listening.
And remember to stay in tune with our podcast as well as your ancestors.
Bye!
Rory, do you like history?
Not so much now that I'm officially old, thank you.
But yes, I still like learning about it from time to time.
How old are you, Rory?
Old enough.
As old as the hills.
Not that old.
Did you enjoy learning history when you were a child?
Yeah, definitely.
Like I say, much more than now.
I think when I was in high school I was one of the few kids reading history books, like about World War I, for example, for fun, rather than reading Harry Potter.
So you haven't read Harry Potter?
I haven't read the last three books or something, but I've watched the movies.
It's fine.
I'm listening to books now.
You know, Stephen Fry reads all Harry Potter series.
That's lovely.
That's quality.
When was the last time you read about history?
I suppose earlier last month.
I picked up a book called Empire by Neil Ferguson.
It's about the role of the British Empire in world history and whether it's a force for good or evil.
But I didn't manage to get that much into it because, well, other things happened.
I had to do the promotion for my own book, for example.
Is your book about history?
Parts of it are, but my book's mostly about people who are alive now.
Rory's book on Rory's successes?
Not quite.
It's about other people's successes, not my own.
What have you recently read on history?
Well, other than the book that I'm half reading and half not reading now, not really a lot.
I have a lot of books on order from Amazon that are about history, but that's for when I get home.
I can't order them into Russia, unfortunately.
Do you like watching documentaries on history?
Sometimes.
Though usually it's more about dramatic events like Chernobyl or the end of the Cold War than some process that took hundreds of years like, I don't know, the collapse of the Roman Empire or something.
Do you think history is important?
Yeah, both in isolation and as an integrated subject.
For the former, it's about knowing who people are and where they come from, and it helps you to understand people better in general.
And then the latter might help us avoid past mistakes and use ideas from the past in conjunction with new technology and new ways of thinking.
Do you think children should learn history?
Definitely.
Although, to be honest with you, I think they should probably learn to read and write and count first.
But after that, history, definitely.
And maybe they could read about history while they're writing, to be honest.
