We're starting a podcast on IELTS writing called, called what, Ronnie?
It's IELTS writing for success.
Very creative.
Very original.
IELTS Writing for Success aims to give you an insight on how to write high-level IELTS essays.
Every episode is a new essay which we will be writing on the spot to keep it real and help you follow the course of writing as it happens.
They'll be showing you our brainstorming, planning and writing processes and having fun along the way.
You'll learn what it takes to write a great IELTS essay and how to write one yourself.
Anyway, go subscribe to it.
You can find out all about it on all the podcast platforms.
Just search IELTS writing for success.
We'll see you there.
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 started this podcast.
Well, you know why we've done that.
Am I right, Rory?
To give Scottish English to all the people of the universe.
Yes.
For a band nine score.
Scottish.
And yeah, Scottish should be a new language.
Scottish.
It already is.
But we call it Gaelic.
It should be Scottish.
Well, no, because the whole purpose of it is that it's not English and Scottish is the English word.
So, Scottish.
I speak Scottish.
So, let's check your spelling skills.
Can you spell the words choir?
Choir?
Yes.
C-H...
C-H-I-O-I-A.
C-H-O-I-A.
Yeah, gotcha.
Like at primary school, you know, you're like a child, seriously.
Should we talk about primary school today?
Oh, primary school, yeah.
Let's talk about primary school.
Rory, did you like primary school?
Well, not overly so.
I used to act up a bit and I was constantly getting in trouble and being reprimanded.
I didn't really come into my own until after high school.
What did you like to do when you were in primary school?
Apart from causing trouble.
Actually, I quite liked writing in anything connected to language.
We used to have storybooks.
They're similar to copybooks in Russia.
And we used to write about our weekends in them and write different fictional texts.
That was quite fun.
How did you go to primary school?
Well, at first my parents would drop me off, but as I got older I would walk there and back in the morning and mid-afternoon.
Our home was well within the catchment area, so it wasn't really a big problem.
What did you do in your free time at primary school?
We didn't get much, to be honest.
Just break time and lunch time.
But we had climbing frames to play on with bark chippings underneath, just so that you didn't hurt yourself if you fell.
There were always large playing fields to run around on and trees to climb on.
And I think, oh yeah, we had concrete grounds with permanent games painted on them.
I think you could get chalk and draw your own on the ground if you wanted to as well.
Thank you, Rory, for your childish answers.
So, primary school.
First of all, what is primary school?
Because in different countries it means different things.
It does.
Even in the UK it can mean very different things as well.
However...
Usually in Scotland, primary school is for primary 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
So from the age of, I think it is, 4 or 5 years old up until 11 to 12 years old.
Oh, wow.
Isn't it secondary school?
No, in Russia I know that you have grades 1 2, 3 and 4, and then that's primary school, and then you have 5, 6 and 7 and that's middle school.
We don't have this.
We just have primary school and high school.
Oh, wow.
Okay, so primary school, we have grades.
So the first grade, the second grade, the third grade, right?
You can call it form.
In the first form, the second form.
That's English.
Yeah, but can we say class?
I was in the second class.
In Russian, you can, but class in English means something very different.
Our class was the group of children that we hung around.
Well, not that we hung around, and it was the group of children that we were assigned to with our specific class teacher.
Yeah, so dear listener, please make sure that you use the word grade.
I was in the third grade or I was in the first form, right?
And I went to primary school.
So primary school after kindergarten, after nursery school, usually...
People start their primary school at the age of 7 or 6.
This is the time for you to use I used to.
Because not anymore, right?
So you did something and not anymore.
So feel free to use this lovely structure.
I used to... At primary school, I used to what?
Run... You used to what?
I used to speak Scottish.
You used to learn times tables.
Oh, yes.
Yeah, I used to read a lot in primary school, or I used to be quite naughty at primary school or in primary school or both.
Both?
Yeah, both are possible.
When I was in primary school, when I was at primary school.
And then you can go with, okay, in the fourth grade, I was getting into trouble.
And Rory used to act up.
Yeah, act up just means to misbehave.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Did you misbehave?
Oh yeah.
Naughty, naughty.
I still do.
And we have primary school, then we have middle school or secondary school and then high school.
Rory used to cause trouble to the teachers and to his classmates.
So, Rory's classmates, if you're listening, please give us a shout out and tell us all the horrible stories about Rory's past.
And about his prime.
It wasn't actually that bad compared to a lot of kids, but it still was pretty mischievous.
Mischievous.
That's a nice word.
Like if you are naughty, if you do some bad stuff.
So you are mischievous like leprechauns.
The question could be, how did you go to school?
How did you go to school?
Like you walked to school or you went to school by taxi or you had a private helicopter.
Rory, coming from poor Scotland, didn't have a private helicopter.
And Rory's parents would drop him off.
Yes.
Speak.
No, you get dropped off in a car, for example.
So my parents would go to work and at the same time I would be in the car and on the way to work they would drop me off.
They would stop at the school, I would get out and then they would go.
Yep.
It's interesting, though, that first Rory used I used to.
I used to have storybooks.
I used to act up.
But then he started using my parents would drop me off or I would walk to school.
Not stressing would, but now I'm just like...
Making it more simple to you, right?
But he said, my parents would drop me off.
I'd walk to school.
Why would?
It's not the future.
It's not the future in the past here.
I know.
What is it?
Why don't you tell us?
It's a phrasal verb, right?
It's not a phrasal verb.
It's a phrasal verb.
It's a modal verb we're talking about.
Certain verbs only match up with would.
I'm guessing here it's phrasal verbs because I said would dropped me off.
Okay, shut up, Rory.
Just stop it.
Well, because here you said like, I would walk there.
Like, did you do it often?
Yes.
Right.
Was it kind of your habit?
Yes.
Right.
So to say that it was a habit in the past...
You can use would.
But why don't I use you used to?
Because we talk about used to for habits in the past.
So what's the difference?
Yeah.
Now who's clamped?
You see, the difference is that sometimes you can use them interchangeably.
You can say, yeah, you can say, I would walk there or I used to walk there.
But it's even more advanced sometimes to say I would.
And you can't use I would with state verbs.
There you go.
You can say I would be mad sometimes.
I would think.
I would think.
You can't say that.
I used to think, right?
Oh, look, I know what a state verb is.
Right, but I know the difference.
Yeah, but I do listen.
Feel free to check up on this, you know.
I don't believe these Scottish native speakers and Russian teachers.
There are things that happen in your head.
You can't say, I would think or I would believe.
You have to say, I used to think or I used to believe, for example.
True.
So verbs for describing things that happen in your head, you cannot use with them.
Haha, grammar.
Good.
Nailed.
I've done it.
Nailed it.
Grammarly.
Grammarly.
Grammarly.
Difficult to pronounce though, grammarly.
Yes.
Although we should point out that drop me off is a phrasal verb, and phrasal verbs are also very interesting.
You can find out more about them in our pod course wwwsuccesswithieltscom.
Forward slash podcourses.
Thank you.
Nailed it.
Advertising.
Excellent.
Yes.
So when you talk about primary school, make sure that you say first, like what you used to do with some verbs.
Right.
And then what you would do.
I would walk there.
I would read books.
And then in your free time, Rory, you would, what, climb trees?
Because you used some crazy words, like we had climbing frames to play on with bark chippings.
Yeah, but that's not anything unusual.
There has to be some protection.
You cannot just have climbing frames.
These are things that children climb on.
That's what their purpose is.
Whereas trees have different purposes.
They're not there to be climbed on, but children do that anyway.
So you have climbing frames, but children fall from climbing frames.
And if you fall from a climbing frame, you can hurt yourself.
So to stop this from happening, they have little bits of wood taken from trees and to provide a soft landing.
These are specific words to describe this climbing frames and bark chippings underneath.
Wow.
Concrete grounds.
Also, when you talk about, I know, children's playground.
So children run around.
Fool around.
Mess around.
Clown around.
Phrase of a podcast.
All of these phrasal verbs that can be found in our podcast.
Oh gosh, yeah.
Anyway, dear listener, are you ready to talk about primary school?
Make sure you use this grammar to shine on and to wake up the examiner.
Get in touch with your inner child?
Ooh, get in touch with your inner child.
Nice.
Thank you very much for listening.
We'll see you next time.
Bye bye, that's right.
Bless you, Rory.
Sorry bye, bye bye, Rory.
Did you like primary school?
Well, not overly so.
I used to act up a bit and I was constantly getting in trouble and being reprimanded.
I didn't really come into my own until after high school.
What did you like to do when you were in primary school?
Apart from causing trouble.
Actually, I quite liked writing and anything connected to language.
We used to have storybooks.
They're similar to copybooks in Russia.
And we used to write about our weekends in them and write different fictional texts.
That was quite fun.
How did you go to primary school?
Well, at first my parents would drop me off, but as I got older I would walk there and back in the morning and mid-afternoon.
Our home was well within the catchment area, so it wasn't really a big problem.
What did you do in your free time at primary school?
We didn't get much, to be honest.
Just break time and lunch time.
But we had climbing frames to play on with bark chippings underneath, just so that you didn't hurt yourself if you fell.
There were always large playing fields to run around on and trees to climb on.
And I think, oh yeah, we had concrete grounds with permanent games painted on them.
I think you could get chalk and draw your own on the ground if you wanted to as well.
