Hello, lovely.
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 improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
We've started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and fabulous vocabulary for your high score.
Which Rory score?
Your band 9 score.
Oh, Rory, Rory, have you heard the news about online IELTS?
No, what's happening?
Well, last year it's actually old news last year IELTS people said that in 2022 we will have this online IELTS.
So you can take IELTS online from the comfort of your own home, wearing your I don't know pajamas and slippers, and with your cup of coffee.
Fantastic.
Where did you find out about this?
Online, on the internet.
Shall we talk about online news?
Is it another coincidence?
It is.
It's definitely not something we spent 15 minutes thinking about.
Yeah, dear listener, actually we were thinking about a coincidence for online news and I wanted some fake news about Rory's place Dundee, but Rory said no, and then yeah, we came up with this coincidence.
Now that I've explained everything to you, it's really funny.
Isn't it?
Yes, it's hilarious.
So, Rory, tell me, do you often read the news online?
Well, I certainly try to stay abreast of current events, and it doesn't get more current than the internet.
I think I check it every day apart from Sundays, which is kind of my day off from the news.
Is it convenient to read online news?
Well, I'd certainly say so, wouldn't you?
It's easier to stay up to date with current events and it's cheaper than buying a newspaper.
It's probably more environmentally friendly too.
Where do you usually read the news from?
There's a state-run news service which has a site for stories from my country and our region of the world in particular.
It's usually fairly unbiased, though that's changed in recent times.
I also like looking at the recent events page on Wikipedia.
That tends to be fairly neutral and sort of captures the essence of big events.
What was the last article that you read about?
I think it was something about the education system in Scotland and how people were questioning its effectiveness.
It wasn't very long or insightful though, so I didn't give it much thought.
That's why I'm a bit low on the details now.
Do you still read newspapers?
Only one of them, for one particular columnist that I really like.
He and I see eye to eye on many things, and I quite like his writing style as well.
Apart from that, find newspapers to be a bit of a waste of paper and ink and time.
Really it's uh well, they're a dying medium and, given the way many journalists have behaved in the past uh, at least in my country i kind of look forward to seeing the end of them.
There are better ways to get up to and well, stay up to speed on things, And do you think you'll be reading more news online in the future?
Definitely.
I think once this columnist stops writing, I'll pretty much switch over entirely to reading things on the internet.
What kind of news is popular in your country?
Well, I'm not an expert, but if I had to guess, I would say sporting news, because everybody has a favorite sports team and lots of people are into football or rugby.
Thank you, Rory, for your answers.
No probs.
I hope none of them were news to you.
Dear listener, we have our super-duper premium episodes and this week, in Speaking Part 2 Premium, Rory is gonna describe a city that he thinks is very interesting.
And in Speaking Part 3, we're gonna talk about living in cities in general.
In the description of this episode, you can find a link that will take you to a list of all the platforms where you can get our premium episodes.
Yeah, so IELTS people love these topics about news.
So they can ask you topics in general about news or news online, reading news online.
So just like online news and also newspapers versus online news.
So yeah, all these jazz.
And Rory has used our favorite expression.
I try to stay abreast of current events.
Like stay abreast of current events, stay up to date with things that are happening in the world.
If you imagine like a breast is like to your side, then the news is next to you.
So you have the most recent news.
That is my explanation.
Deal with it.
What else can I use it with?
Like to stay abreast of news?
To stay abreast of, I don't know, my friends?
No.
To stay abreast of current events, to stay abreast of what's happening, what's going down, what's on.
Yeah, I try to stay abreast of what's on in my town or in my country.
And then we get the news from the internet, so the internet and on the internet.
I read the news online or on the internet.
And then we use this current events or current news.
Can I say actual news?
No, even though I think the word actual in Russian does mean current or something happening now.
And probably in some other languages too.
So should I say current events or current news or what?
Urgent news?
Hot news?
The news, the news, the news.
Yeah, also you can say like um, it's easier to stay up to date with the news when you read it online.
Yeah, eat the news, is it okay?
News is on the internet, So I read it online.
Careful.
What did you mean by the state-run news?
The state-run news.
Oh, I think just about every country has this.
So the state-run news. news company or news service, it just means that it's owned by the state.
So in the United Kingdom, that's the BBC.
Yeah, and also you can say I read news about my region.
So your region or my city, my place.
And then we can also comment on unbiased.
So the news being biased or unbiased.
Unbiased means neutral and biased means not neutral.
It favors a certain point of view.
Yeah, so usually if you read the news by the state, it can be biased from independent sources.
It's unbiased, but again, it's up to you what to believe.
So, yeah.
Also you can say I also like looking at the recent events page on, and then you can mention the website.
On Wikipedia, really?
So Wikipedia does some news pages?
Well, I mean, it's not intended as a news page.
It's sort of an aggregate of different news pages, but it's just like here's the stuff that's happening, or like here's the big event and then different details about it.
Oh wow, that's interesting.
But sometimes it's funny because of course Wikipedia is open to being edited by anybody.
So sometimes you get people just write really crazy things.
It doesn't happen very often, but when it does happen, it's quite funny.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, cool.
And do you use any apps to read the news?
Or it's like Wikipedia, so you just like browse it online?
No, I don't.
Lots of people have like apps on their phone that inform them what's happening.
And do you read the BBC, Rory?
Sometimes, I guess.
But we're like, I mean there are three million different kinds of BBC news, because there's one for Scotland, there's one for Wales, there's one for the United Kingdom.
I imagine there's probably one for Ireland.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
You do.
Okay.
And you can say that this news tends to be fairly neutral.
It captures the essence of big events or the essence, like the most important part of big events.
And make sure you remember the last piece of news that you heard or read somewhere.
What was it about?
You could be me and you could be low on details or short on details, because you didn't really read what you were reading.
You didn't really remember it because it was the most boring thing you've ever read in your entire life.
Scottish education system.
Mmm.
Mmm.
And then you can say, well, I didn't give it much thought.
So I didn't think much about it.
I didn't give it much thought.
Is that an idiomatic expression?
Yes.
That's why I'm a bit low on the details.
Yep.
To be low on the details.
Or short on the details because you just can't give too much detail because it was boring.
I'm a bit short on the details.
Yeah.
You might have your favorite columnist.
Like Sex and the City.
So what's your face?
Carrie Bradshaw?
There we go.
Carrie Bradshaw wrote for a magazine.
Oh, wait, no.
She did write for a newspaper in the TV show, didn't she?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I don't remember which newspaper, but she wrote for one.
So, you might have your favorite columnist in a newspaper, or you may not.
Again, the newspaper could be online.
So, okay, I read this online magazine.
But also, if you read an online magazine, you can say okay, I don't like newspapers, but I read magazines online.
And Rory said that this columnist he likes...
And he, Rory, see eye to eye on many things.
But that's just a way of saying we share ideas.
Or share viewpoints.
For example, Rory and I see eye to eye on many odd things.
We don't see eye to eye on the Batman question.
No, we do not discuss the Batman question.
Yeah, we do not discuss.
We do not discuss the status of Batman the detective.
Yeah, because we get into heated argument and yeah.
No, Maria's wrong on the internet and we cannot permit people to be wrong on the internet.
Rory, are you sure you want to get into this now?
Yeah, then I find newspapers to be a waste of paper and ink.
So they use ink, this special thing, thing that pens.
A special liquid.
Ink.
Liquid.
Yeah, liquid.
There you go.
Yeah, so it's a waste of paper, that's why I read everything online.
And then Rory said that newspapers are a dying medium.
So what's medium?
Medium is just something that you convey information on.
So in this case, it's paper-based.
Yeah, so a dying medium.
Why not media?
So newspapers is a media.
You could.
I suppose the difference between... I think medium is like the physical thing that you use.
And media is just the word to describe how information is shared.
Usually news.
Yeah, so newspapers are a dying medium.
But you could say it's a dying form of media, and that would be the same.
Yeah, so a de-listener.
Usually we say mass media is, okay?
For example, the media is not against this environmental campaign, right?
So the media is.
Actually, you can say are not.
The media are not against.
Oh, God.
Oh, boy.
Oh, boy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's is or are people.
Okay.
It's like the government.
Yeah.
The government agrees or the government agree.
The government agrees is like one body.
Yeah, so it depends on how you feel about the government.
It's almost like it matters what we think.
Okay, does it make any sense?
Yes, we're talking about the perspective.
So, mass media is or are?
Okay, yep.
You decide.
But if you're not sure, you can just put ease.
Just relax about it.
When in doubt, put ease.
No, don't relax.
Make a decision about how you see the world.
However, hopefully some of that vocabulary was news to you and it wasn't old and boring.
And if you want to stay abreast of things that are happening with us, you can subscribe to us or follow us on Instagram and Telegram.
Yes, and also feel free to listen to our other episodes about news.
Just go to your podcast app, scroll back and forth and find our episodes about news.
Thank you very much.
Love and kisses and hugs.
So, Rory, tell me, do you often read the news online?
Well, I certainly try to stay abreast of current events, and it doesn't get more current than the internet.
I think I check it every day apart from Sundays, which is kind of my day off from the news.
Is it convenient to read online news?
Well, I'd certainly say so, wouldn't you?
It's easier to stay up to date with current events and it's cheaper than buying a newspaper.
It's probably more environmentally friendly too.
Where do you usually read the news from?
There's a state-run news service which has a site for stories from my country and our region of the world in particular.
It's usually fairly unbiased, though that's changed in recent times.
I also like looking at the recent events page on Wikipedia.
That tends to be fairly neutral and sort of captures the essence of big events.
What was the last article that you read about?
I think it was something about the education system in Scotland and how people were questioning its effectiveness.
It wasn't very long or insightful though, so I didn't give it much thought.
That's why I'm a bit low on the details now.
Do you still read newspapers?
Only one of them, for one particular columnist that I really like.
He and I see eye to eye on many things, and I quite like his writing style as well.
Apart from that, I find newspapers to be a bit of a waste of paper and ink and time, really.
It's, well, they're a dying medium.
And given the way many journalists have behaved in the past, at least in my country, I kind of look forward to seeing the end of them.
There are better ways to get up to and well, stay up to speed on things.
And do you think you'll be reading more news online in the future?
Definitely.
I think once this columnist stops writing, I'll pretty much switch over entirely to reading things on the internet.
What kind of news is popular in your country?
Well, I'm not an expert, but if I had to guess, I would say sporting news, because everybody has a favourite sports team and lots of people are into football or rugby.
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