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Hello, hello, dear listener, and welcome into IELTS Speaking Part 2.
A new topic 2025 for you.
Describe a time when the vehicle you took broke down on your trip.
Wow. What a random, random topic.
I know. You should say where it happened, when it happened, who you were with at the time, and explain why the vehicle broke down.
So here the vehicle could be anything, a car, a train, a bus, a boat, a helicopter, a plane.
Broke down. Yeah, broke down, so something was not okay with the car on your trip while you were traveling.
I'm very lucky because almost exactly a year ago this happened.
So, thank God. But let's get started, shall we?
Rory, give us your story.
To be honest, we have pretty reliable public transport in my country and reliable transport in general.
So breakdowns are relatively uncommon.
However, one time last year, I was traveling back home at Christmas, and the train broke down.
So that wasn't great.
In more detail about where it happened, this was between Glasgow and Dundee on what must have been one of the coldest nights of the year.
As it turned out, I'd picked the worst time to travel since there was a massive cold snap and a load of trains stopped working and got cancelled.
And then on top of that, a lot of people are travelling at that time of year, so I was stuck with a whole load of people.
So all of these cancellations meant that we were forced to wait for hours in this open -air train station with minimal heating while things got fixed and replaced.
As for the when of it all, I'd just returned from a trip to Paris and was making my way home to be there in time for Christmas the following day with my family.
So that means that this would have been Christmas Eve to be exact when the train broke down.
So it's not the best time to get stuck anyway since there are so few drivers and other staff available and the weather is bad anyway but I had just chanced it and things unfortunately didn't go my way but it comes to who i was with at the time i was actually by myself i should have just stayed in paris or glasgow
or something because my friends would have been nearby so it was just me and my phone i'd blown through all the books i had with me on holiday so i didn't even have them to keep me amused still at least i had some videos to watch online to take the edge off the cold and boredom but i still wasn't very happy
i'm honestly at a lost for words as to why it did break down.
I'm not really well versed in train mechanics, and I'm surprised they aren't built to withstand this kind of weather.
Scotland is known for cold winters, and yet every year, things like this are a problem.
Not a huge one, but they're still a problem.
Thank heavens the people in charge managed to find a replacement train, or we'd have been stuck there overnight.
But I made it back, and just in time for Christmas, too.
Hey, thank you, Rory, for your story.
We'll be right back.
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See you soon. Right, dear listener, you can talk about a time when a car broke down, a car that you rented, for example.
You rented a car it broke down.
Or like a bus, a train, a taxi broke down for example on your trip while I was traveling.
Rory told us the story about a Scottish train in the middle of nowhere in winter.
Poor Rory. Almost froze to death.
Ah well not quite. It was just cold and uncomfortable but that's life.
so you can start off like to be honest with you transport in my country is pretty reliable but there are some breakdowns some breakdowns are common like sometimes happen and then you start your story once like one time last year or one time in winter i was traveling ta -ta -ta -ta and the train broke down
or I was going back home when the bus broke down past continuous and past simple in more detail it happened in I don't know London Glasgow in my hometown and it was one of the coldest nights of the year so it's important to mention when it happened and to give more detail talk about the weather conditions
as well or what they must have been like audio listener lie to make the story more dramatic you know it was at night in the middle of nowhere in the winter and the examiner goes oh what happened next you know so make your story more dramatic with your lies so make it up imagine and um as it turned out
like it was true that i picked the worst time to travel i chose the worst time to travel at night in the middle of nowhere in winter what did you mean by a massive cold snap what is a snap a cold snap is just well a period when a short period when it's extremely cold and then massive is to talk about the size
of it so even though the period was short the size of the drop in temperature was quite big so a lot of trains stopped working or got cancelled or buses got cancelled or planes got delayed a load of trains means lots of trains and we were forced to wait for hours I was forced.
I had to wait for a long time.
And because it was winter, the train station had minimal heating.
So there was like no heat.
Ooh, horrible. I was making my way home.
So when the train broke down, I was making my way home.
I was going home. Yeah, it's just a fancier way of saying I was going home.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, very nice.
And I got stuck. I got stuck in the middle of nowhere.
So the car broke down or the bus broke down.
So I got stuck. And very few taxis were available.
Or if you're talking about a bus or a train.
So there were no drivers available.
the weather was bad but i decided to travel anyway to go home i chanced it anyways so if you chance something kind of you do it you know that it's not the best time but you just do it so you take a chance yeah i took a chance i chanced it but i chanced it and things didn't go my way I was by myself.
I was alone, or I was with my friends, with my parents.
So, it was just me and my phone.
No books, even, to keep me amused.
And if we take the edge off something, what do we do?
It just means that we make it less severe.
So, for example, I started playing games to take the edge off it.
Take the edge of something To make something unpleasant Have less an effect on something For example, I'm hungry Oh yeah, go ahead, have an apple It will take the edge of your hunger I'm at a loss for words As to why it did break down So I don't I can't explain I can't explain I have nothing to say
I'm at a loss for words so I don't know why it broke down and then you can say like every year trains break down but people managed to find a replacement train so a new train or a replacement bus or a replacement I know plane so I made it back I made it back home just in time for I know my work just
at time for my parents birthday or christmas as in rory's story oh yeah traveling during christmas time rory in scotland oh la la risky very risky yeah that was not a great idea and i didn't do it this year when that was fine so dear listener please make sure you know your story you can talk about a train and steal
rory's story completely or a taxi or a car all right and make your story dramatic it was night it was raining we were in the middle of nowhere and the bus broke down rory what helped you to organize the story as always i follow the task but i wanted to draw attention to some special phrases to help
us organize the task or organize our answers so here um instead of saying where it happened i said in more detail about where it happened and then i moved on to say as for the when of it all so this is to talk about when it happened but you could say as for the where of it all as for the why of it all
just for different purposes and then back to when it comes to who i was with at the time but you could also say when it comes to where i was i wouldn't say when it comes to when i was because that sounds a bit strange if we're repeating things but it's a good phrase to use in general we just replace
the word and then i round it off by saying i'm honestly at a loss for words as to why it did break down So here we had to answer the question why it broke down.
But here I changed it to why it did break down for the emphasis and to introduce the point as well.
Yeah, sweet. And it's a new IELTS Speaking Part 2 topic, dear listener.
And in Speaking Part 3, we're going to be talking about transport, private transport in general.
Okay? See you next time.
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Describe a time when the vehicle you took broke down on your trip.
You should say where it happened, when it happened, who you were with at the time, and explain why the vehicle broke down.
I'm very lucky because it almost exactly a year ago this happened.
So like God. But let's get started, shall we?
To be honest, we have pretty reliable public transport in my country and reliable transport in general.
So breakdowns are relatively uncommon.
However, one time last year, I was traveling back home at Christmas and the train broke down so that wasn't great.
In more detail about where it happened, this was between Glasgow and Dundee on what must have been one of the coldest nights of the year.
As it turned out I'd picked the worst time to travel since there was a massive cold snap and a load of trains stopped working and got cancelled and then on top of that a lot of people are traveling at that time of year so I was stuck with a whole load of people.
So all of these cancellations meant that we were forced to wait for hours in this open -air train station with minimal heating while things got fixed and replaced.
As for the when of it all, I'd just returned from a trip to Paris and was making my way home to be there in time for Christmas the following day with my family.
So that means that this would have been Christmas Eve to be exact when the train broke down.
So it's not the best time to get stuck anyway since there are so few drivers and other staff available and the weather is bad anyway but i i had just chanced it and um things unfortunately didn't go my way when it comes to who i was with at the time i was actually by myself i should have just stayed
in paris or glasgow or something because my friends would have been nearby so it was just me and my phone I'd blown through all the books I had with me on holiday so I didn't even have them to keep me amused Still, at least I had some videos to watch online to take the edge off the cold and boredom
but I still wasn't very happy I'm honestly at a loss for words as to why it did break down I'm not really well versed in train mechanics and I'm surprised they aren't built to withstand this kind of weather Scotland is known for cold winters and yet every year things like this are a problem not a huge one, but they're still a problem Thank heavens the people
in charge managed to find a replacement train, or we'd have been stuck there overnight.
But I made it back, and just in time for Christmas, too.
