Hello lovely, I'm Maria.
My name is Zorri and we are the host 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 to give you gorgeous grammar and supervocavular for a high IELTS
goal.
Your bad night score.
Rory did you pick up another bracelet in Italy?
No, for one side didn't get anything like that actually.
But you do collect them, right?
I do, should we talk about collecting things anyway?
We already have an episode about collecting.
Make sure you'll listen to it, okay?
Just Google IELTS speaking for Success collecting things, right?
And it's a comeback.
Speaking part one, collecting.
Do you collect anything?
Well I suppose you could say I collect tattoos since I have a lot.
But more concretely, I've got this, actually I've got this collection of plastic bands
that I've picked up over the years.
They come in quite handy as teaching aid and also they're nice reminders of the places
I've been to over the years.
Why do people like collecting things?
Well I guess it depends on what they're collecting.
Well, Blue Chip art has serious monetary value and some people just randomly hoover things
up mindlessly.
So there's not really any race on debtor there.
And some items are sold as collectibles on the subject of race on debtor.
So that's like the reason, the whole reason that they're there is for people to collect
them.
And then some people collect things from their childhood.
Well, it's a nice because it's a nice reminder of that time in their lives.
So lots of different reasons.
Is collecting a popular hobby in your country?
I have absolutely no idea.
I mean, I need to think about it.
Yeah, my friends collect various bits and pieces of memorabilia, which are themed after
various pop stars.
But about people in general, I don't know.
I haven't seen anything on the news or any articles about it, so I don't have a clue.
What kind of items do people collect in your country?
I think people used to collect things like China and stamps, but that's a bit stereotypical
and cliché.
And I have no idea how widespread this is.
It's just something that you see or read about people doing in media.
Are there any things you have kept from your childhood?
Oh, loads.
We have a ton of old school reports and things that we made in class, like just little ceramic
bowls, for example.
And what else?
I think those are the main things.
And well, the reason why, like I said, it's just a reminder of how things have changed
since I was younger or in the case of my school reports, how they haven't changed.
We have our premium episodes for you where Rory and I discuss speaking part 2 and 3.
We use fresh, IOT speaking topics.
This week on our premium, in speaking part 2, Rory is describing a journey.
He was looking forward to, but it was delayed.
And in speaking part 3, we are talking about transport in general.
To check them out, the links are in the description.
So there is now, we are talking about collecting things, not accumulating stuff.
If you have a flat full of shoes or jewelry, for example, you're not collecting.
You're just hoarding.
Okay?
So like too many shoes, too many jewelry items.
This is hoarding and you are a hoarder.
This is not good.
Okay?
Collecting is a purposeful activity.
And this serious collector is knowledgeable about their chosen items, items of like things.
So they organize them and they have a catalog of stuff.
Okay?
So people usually collect what?
Rory.
Well, I think the common one that people talk about in my country is people collecting
stamps.
But I'm not sure how common it is anymore.
So do isn't collecting could be a hobby.
Rory collects tattoos.
So he has a lot of tattoos all over his body.
Rory, do you have any tattoos on your face?
No, I don't have tattoos on my face because...
Smalled freedom, like no.
No.
First of all, I think that would be quite painful.
At least if my rib cage, I had my rib cage tattooed, and that was very painful.
So I can only imagine what would be like getting my face tattooed.
Also, it would affect my employment prospects, so I'm not doing that.
I have a collection of books.
I have a collection of the tattoos on my body.
I have a collection of bands.
Bands are bracelets.
You know, like a plastic, like stuff here.
And Rory has a collection of a plastic bracelets or bands.
They are reminders.
So these bracelets remind Rory of places he has been to.
So you can say, okay, I have a collection of postcards.
They are reminders of places I've visited.
Present buff.
I'm back.
And you were talking about the bracelets.
Here they are again, by the way.
Obviously, in the real exam, you will not have bracelets.
You cannot bring props with you.
However, if you are wearing jewelry, Maria, can you point to it?
Like, have I had my band on?
Yes.
I could say, like, oh, it's like this, yeah.
So you could actually use those in the exam as reminders of what to say if you're asked
about the topic.
Are there any kinds of verb or vocabulary for talking about collecting things?
And why is the answer yes because I use them?
People can collect blue chip art.
Blue chip art.
And people that have listened to our part three premium episodes will know what this
is because I already talked about it.
Now here I am in the free part one talking about it too.
Though blue chip art in a nutshell has a very serious reputation and history behind it.
And so it's got lots and lots of monetary value.
That means it's worth a lot of money.
And do we use an article like, these items have a monetary value or just monetary value
without any adieu?
It depends if we're describing it in particular like this piece of art has a high monetary value.
So we're talking about it in more detail.
But just to talk in general, I don't think we need it.
It's got monetary value.
Art costs money.
So art or like paintings have monetary value.
Also certain items, we call them items or things have sentimental value.
So like things from my childhood have sentimental value.
You said that people can uva things.
And if you're hovering things up, it's just like you're collecting in a very sort of
wide and indiscriminatory way, which means you're not really making lots of thoughtful
decisions about what you're collecting.
You can uva up items for to collect them.
And you can uva up food off your plate.
Anyone who has seen me eating McDonald's knows exactly what I'm talking about.
So could you give us an example?
What else we can uva up?
Well, let's say there's lots of things on sale and you buy all of them, then you just
hoover them up as you just collect it all of them.
Things or items people collect can be called collectables.
Okay?
You collect things, you have a collection of something, so you have a lot of collectables.
And how can we use it in a sentence?
Like vintage collectables.
Oh, to be honest, you're asking the wrong person because I don't collect that much.
So there are items that are marketed as collectables, I think.
For example, there are models like series of models which are marketed as things that
you collect and you build up the series of models over time.
So aircraft models, for example, can be considered collectable.
You can also have some sentimental collections, like a collection of old family photos, greeting
cards, some flower petals.
You have a flower and a flower has petals.
Okay, petals.
Like gift wrappings, for example, wrappings, like you have a gift present and you wrap it,
so maybe you collect these ones.
See shells.
Okay?
Rory, and then you've used this strange word.
Hasun, that hoire?
Oh, it's French.
Although I probably mispronounced it, so sorry for anyone in France that's listening to
us.
I'm pretty sure it's probably the pronunciation is closer to raison d'etre.
But it's an English example, not a French one.
So my French pronunciation is not on trial here.
But the idea of raison d'etre is just reason for existing.
You could say the raison d'etre for collectable items is just to be collected.
Raisin d'etre also is another way of pronouncing it.
Bless your French because my French friend laughed at me when I pronounced it with the
R at the end.
She said it's the raison d'etre.
But I think that's just a feature of French pronunciation and possibly even in certain
regions.
So the idea is clear, regardless.
But if you don't want to say the French word and just say a reason for being, you will
be fine.
Her job is her raison d'etre.
I hope that's a sad life.
And like a reason for existing.
And Rory, you told us that some items are considered collectibles.
Oh, yes.
So some items are considered collectibles, so that's their raison d'etre.
So why do people collect things?
Just because they are collectibles.
And also you can say that people collect things for pure enjoyment, to connect with the
past and to learn about something new because a true collector knows everything about
the items they collect.
Also people think about collecting as an investment.
So they want to invest.
Their money is a different collectibles.
So like it's their investment.
That's another reason.
And they can buy vintage items.
Do you listen?
Rare, like rare, not found everywhere, rare vintage items.
Like antiques or like rare coins, for example.
A very good strategy to answer the exam in this question is to say I have absolutely no
idea.
Rory, how do you say it with feeling, with intonation?
Well, and in any way you like, however in my case, I have absolutely no idea emphasis on
no because I don't have any idea.
I don't go around asking people about their collections.
I talked to them about other things that are not connected to that.
So yes, that's, I suppose that's my problem really.
But I don't think this was talking.
Collect things, collect, bits and pieces.
So bits and pieces, like is a synonym for things.
And then we have this word memorabilia.
So what's memorabilia?
Memorabilia are just things that people collect because they're connected with a particular,
well, it could be a person or it could be a place.
So for example, I have a friend who's got lots of Kylie Minogue memorabilia.
I've got a lot of Beatles memorabilia, Beatles Boggs, Beatles Bag, Beatles, Oh T-shirts, the
Beatles, you know.
I do know the Beatles, but do you really do that?
Yes.
Seriously, oh my God, that's cool.
I still have a lot of memorabilia.
I've been to Liverpool several times and I just had to buy everything there.
I have a story about that that you're going to love and hate at the same time.
My grandfather was a painter and decorator and had this whole stock of Beatles wallpaper
delivered in the 1960s.
And of course, they covered the house and then they wallpapers over it and it was destroyed.
If they'd kept that wallpaper, it would be worse, millions of pounds.
And of course, it's all gone now because it wasn't considered collectible at the time,
but you could sell this to Beatles fans for so much money.
You see, Dielisuna, that could have been an investment.
Okay.
Ah, yeah, yeah.
So you can say that I've got a small collection of personal memorabilia, personal memorabilia,
like things that have emotional value, emotional meaning for me, they have sentimental value.
Another strategy when you don't know the answer is how on earth should I know?
Okay.
So you have nothing to say and you say like, how on earth should I know?
So it's a rhetorical question, all right?
Roy, how should we pronounce it beautifully?
Oh, on earth should I know?
So emphasis, I suppose, on the earth and I and the end of the new.
How on earth should I know?
Like what do people collect?
Like, I don't know.
How on earth should I know?
And then you say something, okay?
Here, what items do people usually collect?
You can say, well, Roy told us about China.
China collections, China, like different plates and cups.
Also, Roy, I've checked the Scotland and many people in Scotland collect shells, shells
because you have more than the ocean, sea.
So people collect shells and you know, what do you call an activity when people walk along
the shore and they kind of like they look for?
It's not beach combing, is it?
Yeah, it is.
Oh my God.
How did I, no, I should say Maria did not tell me that's what it was going to be before
land.
And I've only ever seen beach combing talk about in novels for children from the 1960s.
So how would that, how I knew that piece of vocabulary, I don't know.
Yes, I know about beach combing.
It's a crazy word.
So beach combing.
Comb is like when you do this with your hair, right?
So you comb your hair.
And when you do beach combing, well, you do or you go beach combing.
I don't know because I haven't done it.
You go beach combing, you know, like you walk along the shore and you look for beautiful
shells, beautiful stones, maybe something else, you know, maybe somebody lost something.
So kind of like a beach combing might be popular in different countries.
Like an interesting word to use, do you listen?
Like what activities do people prefer?
Beach combing.
Yes, that is something that people do.
I feel like most people would say that they just go for a walk along the beach and collect
things, don't they?
Okay.
You can collect things from your childhood, right?
And maybe you have loads of photos or you have like a ton of old photos, like a lot of
old photos.
You can also like say a pile of things.
Okay, a pile of things from childhood, loads of things or a ton of old photos, for
example.
And you have these old photos and it's nice to look back on things.
Okay.
So I look back on how things were in the past and compare them to the present, to look
back on something.
Could you give us an example with this nice phrase of up to look back on something?
Now we're talking about childhood, like when I look back on my childhood, it was a largely
positive experience.
So here's an interesting fact for you to listen about strange collectors.
David from England has over 500 traffic cones.
Why?
A traffic cone is usually an orange cone, an orange plastic cone that is placed in the
road when there's a hazard.
Why would you collect them?
I don't understand.
And also, is that not dangerous and stealing if you're collecting them from public places?
Thank you for listening.
Do check out our premium episodes where we discuss speaking part 2 and 3 with fresh
IOT speaking topics.
The links are there.
And if you would like to do a little bit of reflecting, you could answer a reflection
task a day which is which answer that I gave is the most effective and why.
And if you write down the comments, I will reply to you on feedback day, feedback Friday,
that's all we're calling it.
Let's collect positive emotions and band 9.
Ness.
Bye.
Bye.
Do you collect anything?
Well, I suppose you could say I collect tattoos since I have a lot.
But more concretely, I've got this, actually I've got them with me, I've got this collection
of plastic bands that I've picked up over the years.
They come in quite handy as teaching aid and also their nice reminders of the places I've
been to over the years.
Why do people like collecting things?
Well, I guess it depends on what they're collecting.
I mean, well, Blue Chip art has serious monetary value and some people just randomly hoover
things up mindlessly.
So there's not really any race on debtor there.
And some items are sold as collectibles on the subject of race on debtors.
So that's like the reason, the whole reason that they're there is for people to collect
them.
And then some people collect things from their childhood.
Well, it's a nice because it's a nice reminder of that time in their lives.
So lots of different reasons.
Is collecting a popular hobby in your country?
I have absolutely no idea.
I mean, I need to think about it.
Yeah, my friends collect various bits and pieces of memorabilia, which are themed after
various pop stars.
But about people in general, I don't know.
I haven't seen anything on the news or any articles about it, so I don't have a clue.
What kind of items do people collect in your country?
I think people used to collect things like China and stamps, but that's a bit stereotypical
in cliche.
And I have no idea how widespread this is.
It's just something that you see or read about people doing in media.
Are there any things you have kept from your childhood?
Oh, loads.
We have a ton of old school reports and things that we made in class, like just little ceramic
bowls, for example.
And what else?
I think those are the main things.
And well, the reason why, like I said, it's just a reminder of how things have changed
since I was younger.
Or in the case of my school reports, how they haven't changed.