This episode is sponsored by me and my passion for phrasal verbs.
Hello, love.
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 bring joy into your life, to bring a smile onto your face and give you gorgeous grammar and high-level vocab from an educated native speaker.
Allegedly.
Yes.
Kind of educated.
Kind of native speaker.
Sort of native speaker.
Scottish native speaker.
Right.
Oh, Rory, look at your hair.
Your hair is out of control, really.
You'll be with wild animals in the jungle very soon.
Hmm.
That's quite a coincidence.
Shall we talk about wild animals?
Yeah.
Let's talk about wild animals.
Rory, can you roar?
Give us some roar.
Give us some wild animal sounds, noises.
I just did.
Oh, okay.
Meow, right.
All right.
What sound is a capybara?
I love capybaras so much.
Capybara.
How do you say it?
Capybara?
Capybara.
You have them in the zoo.
I want to go and see them.
Capybara is an animal.
So please Google it.
And they are really nice.
And last week, Rory sent us a video with capybaras. enjoying the baths and water spas.
They had chill-out music playing in the background.
It was the most peaceful thing I've ever seen.
And I opened the video and I started watching and I'm like, right.
I'm on Netflix.
Rory is on Capybara's videos.
Okay, life is cool.
So before we move on with this episode, I'd like to ask you a question.
Sure, hit me with it.
Hit me hard.
As hard as you can.
As hard as puberty.
Just hit me with the question.
Rory, how much do you like phrasal thubs?
Really.
How much do you like your countless thousands of pairs of shoes?
Oh, I love them to the moon and back.
Well, my love for phrasal verbs is tenfold your love for your shoes.
Oh, as a person so passionately in love with phrasal verbs, why should one learn phrasal verbs?
Well, if we talk about IELTS, phrasal verbs are something that is expected for you to pass, one of the criteria for vocabulary at least.
And so you need to use them in your answers, not just for speaking. but also for writing.
Because there are some formal phrasal verbs you can use to jazz up your essay.
Jazz up is a phrasal verb.
Yeah, it is.
Spice up is also another one.
Dear listener, so you heard it.
We have a whole course on phrasal verbs where Rory and I go over more than 250 formal and informal phrasal verbs and help you remember and master them for high school.
A band 9 score.
Band 9 score.
The link to the course is in the description of this episode, so you can just go to wwwsuccesswithiotscom slash podcourses.
Quality.
Now, let's talk about wild animals, shall we?
What's your favourite wild animal?
I'm a big fan of tigers.
They're quite distinguished, aren't they?
I really like their camouflage stripes as well.
So in fact, I have a tiger tattoo.
Have you ever seen any wild animals?
Oh, lots.
There are crocodiles and snakes in Ghana.
I think the snakes were cobras, actually.
And there were giant spiders and grubs in Timor and sharks and whales in Fiji.
Reef sharks, I think, in Fiji, actually.
And then I think eagles in America when I was much younger.
My memory is a bit fuzzy.
Do you like watching animals in the zoo?
It's definitely safer than watching them in the wild for sure.
And you can enjoy the view and being close to them.
Sometimes it's a little melancholic though when you see them almost trapped in there.
Of course, the alternatives are much worse, I suppose.
Where can you see wild animals?
Come to our podcast recordings.
Lots of wild animals there.
Well, in the wild, in short, but more specifically in their natural habitats, like in the oceans or on the reefs for sharks and in the jungle for tigers.
More often than not, you see them in captivity, like zoos or aquariums.
Some animals are even monitored from orbit, I think.
If you're a real adventurer, then you can go to the jungles, rainforests and other untouched places of the world to see them.
Is it important to protect wild animals?
Well, insofar as it's important to protect anything or anyone from unnecessary harm, they're useful from a biodiversity perspective as well.
Some endangered species need more care than others.
For some wild animals, it's probably enough just to have laws against harming them.
And those are applicable to most situations.
Others like rhinos, for example, need protection from poaching.
Well, they have anti-poaching groups there.
Should children learn things about animals?
Oh, absolutely.
Animals are incredibly interesting and can teach us a lot about the natural world.
They even aid in our own problem solving.
For example, I think termites use a kind of air conditioning, part of which is implemented in building design nowadays.
Did you learn something about wild animals at school?
Well, not as much as I would have liked.
I think we did a bit on the rainforest and the habitats of wild animals.
But we never wrote about or studied them in great detail.
And that's the thing about Scottish education.
We have a lot of breadth and not much depth.
It's a shame actually, because I quite like subjects like biology and I had a few books on it at home.
Although, I suppose that made up for this deficit at school.
In which country do you think you can see wild animals?
Well, a lot of people go on safari in South Africa, don't they?
And that seems like a good starting point.
Somewhat less common are tours of the Amazon in Brazil.
And there's like a bite in Australia that's rich in wildlife too.
Thank you, Rory, for your wild answers.
Hopefully none of them lead people on a wild goose chase.
So when you talk about wild animals, we should use topic-specific vocabulary.
For example, wild animals, giants, spiders, snakes, crocodiles.
Or you can use more fancy words for wild animals like sloths, for example, or leopards gorillas, rhinos yeah, we use the word rhinoceros or rhinos, cheap monks, if we can call them wild animals.
They are something like about like porcupine A porcupine.
Nice.
Porcupine.
A zorilla.
Zorilla.
Zorilla is the actual name for a skunk.
I discovered this the other day.
Nice, i like snow leopards, leopards or just leopards.
So these are all nice words for wild animals, but also we should use something like endangered species Yes, if they're in danger of going extinct, which means they won't be any more alive.
And some animals are trapped in the zoos, to be trapped in, to be kept in the zoo.
Other animals are in the wild.
Right.
Or should be in the wild, in the natural habitats.
OK, this is another one.
So habitats of wild animals, habitats like places where they live, such as jungles rivers oceans, rainforests.
And also we can say... Coral reefs.
Oh, yeah, coral reefs.
Absolutely.
Also, we can say that some animals shouldn't be kept in captivity.
Or you can see them in captivity.
In captivity, meaning something like zoos or aquariums.
Yes.
Not in the wild.
Yeah.
And also not in the wild means places like parks, nature reserves or zoos, right?
So we call it a nature reserve.
We do.
But also animals should be in the natural environment or in the wild, right?
So these are specific words.
Rory, I have a test for you.
Okay?
Are you ready?
So what's your favorite animal?
Tigers.
I like tigers.
All right.
Give me three adjectives to describe your favorite animal, tiger.
Stripey, dangerous, predatory.
Stripy, dangerous and predatory.
Very nice.
What's your second favorite animal?
Sharks.
Sharks.
Give me three adjectives to describe sharks. misunderstood, sleek, and deadly.
Deadly.
Excellent.
Rory, what's your third favorite animal?
I like dogs.
Dogs.
Okay, give me three adjectives to describe it.
Friendly.
Yeah, what else?
Loyal.
Yeah, what else?
Cuddly.
Cuddly.
Super.
Dear listener, it was a test.
All right?
So, for the first question, Rory said...
Tiger, stripy, dangerous and predatory, right?
So, Rory wants other people to see him as a stripy, dangerous and predatory tiger.
This is obviously...
Could you describe a stripey?
What does it mean, stripey?
They have stripes.
Yay, and predatory.
Means that they prey on other animals.
They eat other animals.
The second animal was a shark.
So Rory wants other people to see him as a tiger, but they really see him as a misunderstood, sleek and deadly shark.
Great.
I'm painting a great impression of myself right now.
But in fact, dear listener, are you ready for this?
In fact, Rory is a friendly, loyal and cuddly dog.
Rory?
Yes?
Is it true about you?
I'm very loyal and friendly.
I don't know about cuddly.
Yeah, cuddly is like when you give a person a hug and you cuddle together with them.
Yeah, cuddly.
Yes, so this is a brief psychological test.
Now we know... Is that actually real, though?
It is real.
Everything is real.
Well, no, come on now.
Is that actually, like, proven...
Yeah, but, like, come on, like, you want other people to see you as a tiger.
All right, fine, yeah.
No, I don't.
I don't want people to think I'm predatory.
But people see you as a shark, as a, like, deadly shark.
Oh, that's true, dear listeners, right?
Look at him.
He's just like a shark.
But in fact...
Rory is a friendly dog.
That doesn't make sense.
I don't understand where you're getting this from.
From the dark corners of the internet.
Shall we talk about vocabulary?
Yes, so... Oh, we already did.
You said that tigers are distinguished.
They are.
Can I say that I enjoy... I like snow leopards because they are distinguished.
Yeah.
Well, they stand apart from other animals quite readily, don't they?
I really like their camouflage.
Yes, camouflage is just something that helps animals hide.
So tigers have stripes to make them blend in with the grass.
Blend in is a phrasal verb, by the way.
Successforthiles.com forward slash podcourses.
Oh, there he goes.
Do you have any phrasal verbs with animals?
Oh, yes.
If you ferret out the truth, it means that you find the truth.
Nice.
Ferret out.
A ferret is an animal, yeah.
Ferret out.
Double T. You can beaver away, which means to work hard.
Yes, beaver away.
I like beavers.
They are this little animal.
Well, not quite little.
It's an animal with a big flat tail and its teeth are.
It's got two big front teeth and it cuts down trees.
You have beavers in Russia, no?
Yeah, we do, we do.
I love beavers.
Beaver away.
Work really hard.
Yay.
We've been beavering away on our podcast on phrasal verbs.
Nice.
But now we'll leave you to beaver away on the vocabulary from this episode.
Thank you very much for listening.
Now we know who Rory really is.
And what?
And that's it.
That's all.
That's it.
Thank you very much for listening.
Now we know who Rory really is.
And you've just brushed up your wild animal vocabulary.
So you're ready to take a walk on the wild side with your IELTS speaking exam.
And we have all model answers and vocabulary for all three of the IELTS speaking tests on our premium.
So check out our IELTS Speaking for Success Premium for Speaking Part 2 and 3.
In this week's premium, in part two, Rory is describing a time he had to communicate in a foreign language.
And in part three, we are talking about using foreign languages in general.
Also, subscribe to our social media for bloopers, giveaways, funny videos, and more.
All the links are in the description.
More wild stuff on social media.
Bye.
What's your favorite wild animal?
I'm a big fan of tigers.
They're quite distinguished, aren't they?
I really like their camouflage stripes as well.
Similar to the fact that I have a tiger tattoo.
Have you ever seen any wild animals?
Oh, lots.
There are crocodiles and snakes in Ghana.
I think the snakes were cobras, actually.
And there were giant spiders and grubs in Timor and sharks and whales in Fiji.
Reef sharks, I think, in Fiji, actually.
And then I think eagles in America when I was much younger.
My memory is a bit fuzzy.
Do you like watching animals in the zoo?
It's definitely safer than watching them in the wild for sure.
And you can enjoy the view and being close to them.
Sometimes it's a little melancholic though when you see them almost trapped in there.
Of course, the alternatives are much worse, I suppose.
Where can you see wild animals?
Come to our podcast recordings.
Lots of wild animals there.
Well, in the wild, in short, but more specifically in their natural habitats, like in the oceans or on the reefs for sharks and in the jungle for tigers.
More often than not, you see them in captivity like zoos or aquariums.
Some animals are even monitored from orbit.
I think if you're a real adventurer, then you can go to the jungles, rainforests and other untouched places of the world to see them.
Is it important to protect wild animals?
Well, insofar as it's important to protect anything or anyone from unnecessary harm, they're useful from a biodiversity perspective as well.
Some endangered species need more care than others.
For some wild animals, it's probably enough just to have laws against harming them.
And those are applicable to most situations.
Others like rhinos, for example, need protection from poaching.
Well, they have anti-poaching groups there.
Should children learn things about animals?
Absolutely.
Animals are incredibly interesting and can teach us a lot about the natural world.
They even aid in our own problem solving.
For example, I think termites use a kind of air conditioning, part of which is implemented in building design nowadays.
Did you learn something about wild animals at school?
Well, not as much as I would have liked.
I think we did a bit on the rainforest and the habitats of wild animals.
But we never wrote about or studied them in great detail.
And that's the thing about Scottish education.
We have a lot of breadth and not much depth.
It's a shame actually, because I quite like subjects like biology and I had a few books on it at home.
Although, I suppose that made up for this deficit at school.
In which country do you think you can see wild animals?
Well, a lot of people go on safari in South Africa, don't they?
And that seems like a good starting point.
Somewhat less common are tours of the Amazon in Brazil.
And there's like a bite in Australia that's rich in wildlife too.
