Hello, Sunshine.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory.
Rory!
My name is Rory.
I'm so happy.
My name is Rory 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.
Hey, hey, hey, hey.
It's a musical podcast.
We started this podcast to help you with your English and boost your vocabulary and grammar with our high-level native speaker, Rory language.
Vocabulary for a band nine score.
But this podcast is not about music or songs.
It is actually not.
There are no coincidences here.
But we're feeling tired because it's almost the evening and we're going to go out.
But, Maria, should we talk about evenings?
Hmm, yay, but you haven't asked me about my plans.
I know.
We're going out.
Yeah, and I'm going to get riggedy riggedy wrecked.
Ah, yay, you said it.
She said the thing.
She said the thing.
Oh, well, let's get going.
Music Let's talk about evenings.
What do you often do in the evening?
It's a pretty set routine to be honest.
On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I'll go to the gym after school and then head home have dinner and go to bed.
Tuesday and Friday are a bit more open, and sometimes I go out or have people around, but more often I'll do work like writing.
So well, either way, it's not terribly riveting, sadly.
Do you prefer to spend your evening with family or friends?
I actually prefer to spend it by myself, so I spend the whole day around people.
But if I have to spend it with people, I don't mind which group, to be honest.
I suppose my friends are more accessible at the moment, so I'd spend it with them.
But that's more by virtue of proximity than preference.
Do you ever work or study in the evenings?
I try not to these days, but it happens sometimes when there's a lot to do.
So usually I'll set aside an hour or so for it and no more, but it has a habit of escalating, still sometimes.
What's a popular activity for people in your country in the evenings?
I'm not sure.
Everything is a bit radically different these days.
I say a bit radically different.
It is radically different due to the crisis.
Though I imagine some people still eat together in the evenings, watch the local news and have some kind of fun like playing games or going out.
Do you do the same thing in the evenings as you did when you were a child?
Not quite.
There's a lot less homework and walking, for starters.
I think there's more alone time, too, so solo activities are more of a thing.
Rory, thank you much for your evening answers this evening.
Don't let the sun go down for me.
For some reason, it's an evening episode, but we're singing.
It's because we are exhausted.
Yeah, we're just a little bit tired.
Oh yes, let's moan about how tired we are.
I didn't moan, but then you started.
What was that then?
It wasn't moaning.
This is awkward.
I've just barked at him, haven't I?
You didn't bark, you just went, you know, just like, you sassin' me.
So, evenings.
You can have that.
You have a pretty set routine for your evenings, to have a set routine, and And if you have a set routine all the time, it won't be terribly riveting, which means it's not very interesting.
Wow.
But instead of saying it's not very interesting, you say it's not very riveting.
Riveting?
Riveting.
Riveting is like rabbit, you know, like riveting plus rabbit.
Riveting is what a frog does.
Riveting is interesting.
Rivet.
Rivet.
Rivet.
Riveting.
What else can be riveting?
People.
He's riveting.
Some people.
You can have a riveting conversation.
So it's like an interesting conversation.
Or a movie can be riveting.
Riveting.
Wow.
That's a nice word.
Because usually people say interesting fascinating, but then you say hmm, it's not terribly riveting.
Like, it's not interesting.
Well, you can use it to mean, it's often used like in a sarcastic way or a self-deprecating way.
So it's usually with negative connotations, which is why I say it's not terribly riveting.
Terribly riveting.
It's like, oh, you're terribly beautiful.
You're terrible and beautiful at the same time.
Terribly.
Terribly beautiful.
Awfully nice of you.
Yeah, but in Russian, for example, we can say that.
But in English, no, it's so awfully nice of you.
That's such a cliche.
Yeah, it is a cliche.
Yeah, don't say that.
Back to Rory's evening routine.
What Rory does before he goes to bed is he brushes his teeth.
So brush my teeth.
Get changed into his...
I say jammies, but most people say pyjamas.
Oh, PJJs.
PJJs, is that a thing?
Yeah, PJJs.
Oh my god, that's so cool.
Pajamas.
Jammies.
So, pajamas, right?
Yeah.
Jammies, nice.
And he applies moisturiser.
And it's always apply moisturizer or put moisturizer on.
Yeah, apply moisturizer.
Can I apply an evening mask?
Yes.
You can apply makeup, although I wouldn't recommend doing that before you go to bed.
No, no, no.
No makeup.
So Rory sets aside an hour to do what in the evening?
To do any work that comes up.
And it's important to point out it is like set aside.
Yeah, you set aside some time to do certain things, in the evening, for example and then your habit of doing something can escalate.
Yes.
So if something escalates, it's like it becomes more than you wanted it to.
So an argument can escalate into a fight.
Work for an hour can escalate into work for three hours.
Yeah.
And the question was about like, do you ever work or study in the evenings?
Yeah.
And like, I set aside some hours before I go to bed, right?
But it could escalate.
It always escalates.
There are different activities that you can engage in in the evening.
For example, you can watch the news, you can watch the local news, you can eat together in the evenings, play games, go out, have fun.
What else can you do in the evening?
Listen to our podcast in the evening.
It could be your routine before you go to bed.
You listen to our voices lulling you into sleep.
But if you have to make some significant changes which you've never made before, it will become radically different.
Again, it's music.
We have music on this podcast.
On a vocabulary-related note, instead of saying because, I said due to.
Yeah, this is really cool.
Yeah.
So it's a bit radically different these days due to okay lockdown, due to the crisis, or because yeah, but due to is nice.
Also, it's good for your essay.
Hmm.
Solo activities.
Some activities are solo.
Yeah, like writing, for example.
It's a solitary activity.
Could say that, actually.
Solo and solitary activity.
But what's not solo is our work together.
But it's coming to a close for this episode.
We hope you enjoyed it.
We hope you spend your evening listening to it.
Maybe in the evening before your test.
Ooh yeah, it's a good idea to listen to us one day before the test, in the evening, at night, in the morning before your test.
Binge listen.
Just before.
Binge listen, yeah.
You should binge listen.
Listen.
Listen.
Yeah, binge listen to our podcast.
And you can have some friends around.
So invite some friends around for this lovely evening with some water.
But no solo activities.
No, group.
Group activities.
Group activities.
Group fun.
Group listen to our podcast.
Yeah.
Group fun.
Anyway, that's all about evenings.
So, yeah.
That's all from us for now.
We'll see you in the next episode.
By the way, in this week's premium episodes, we talk about festivals in part one.
In part two, Rory describes the prize he received.
And in part three, we discuss prizes and awards in general.
By subscribing to our premium, you're making this free podcast possible.
Go to successwithieltscom forward slash premium or click the link in the description to find out more.
Let's talk about evenings.
What do you often do in the evening?
It's a pretty set routine to be honest.
On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I'll go to the gym after school and then head home have dinner and go to bed.
Tuesday and Friday are a bit more open, and sometimes I go out or have people around, but more often I'll do work like writing.
So well, either way, it's not terribly riveting, sadly.
Do you prefer to spend your evening with family or friends?
I actually prefer to spend it by myself, so I spend the whole day around people.
But if I have to spend it with people, I don't mind which group, to be honest.
I suppose my friends are more accessible at the moment, so I'd spend it with them.
But that's more by virtue of proximity than preference.
Do you ever work or study in the evenings?
I try not to these days, but it happens sometimes when there's a lot to do.
So usually I'll set aside an hour or so for it and no more, but it has a habit of escalating, still sometimes.
What's a popular activity for people in your country in the evenings?
I'm not sure.
Everything is a bit radically different these days.
I say a bit radically different.
It is radically different due to the crisis.
Though I imagine some people still eat together in the evenings, watch the local news and have some kind of fun like playing games or going out.
Do you do the same thing in the evenings as you did when you were a child?
Not quite.
There's a lot less homework and walking for starters.
I think there's more alone time too, so solo activities are more of a thing.