Rory, now that we are millionaires, how old are you, Rory?
Yes, it's that time when we reveal how old I am.
Tell me, tell us, tell us, tell us.
So, drumroll please.
I am 31 years young.
I know I look like I'm a lot older.
I feel like I'm older, but yeah.
Hello, lovely.
I'm Mariam.
And my name is Rory, and we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, a podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills, along the way.
We started this super podcast because we want you to use high-level words and gorgeous grammar in your IELTS speaking and in your English life.
For a high score.
Ben 9 score.
Rory, you know what?
You're like the second brother to me.
Oh, that's so sweet, Maria.
You're like a really annoying sister.
Shall we talk about family?
Shall we talk about families?
We'll talk about family.
It's a coincidence.
Again.
Dear listener, in speaking part one they can ask you questions about family, but also in speaking part two and three there are questions about family, all questions about family, for example, like describe the oldest member of your family, the most successful, a person in your family that you really admire yes, yes or a time when you helped your family.
So there are all possible different questions.
So be ready to talk about family in speaking part one, two and Rory, do you have a large family?
I'd definitely say so.
In my immediate family, there's like my mum, dad, three brothers and my sister.
And then in the extended family, we have a huge number of cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins.
God, the list goes on, actually.
Is family important to you? extremely important.
It's great having so many people around you with their different life experiences.
They can be great fonts of knowledge and comfort and support.
It's not all taking though, there is some giving.
You get to contribute to that long family history of people doing well, of people doing the same thing, contributing to the history.
And that can be immensely rewarding, I think.
I suppose the last thing I would say is that I'm extremely proud of every last member of my family from like, the youngest cousin to the oldest great-grandparent.
Everyone in my family has done something really worthwhile with their lives.
So I think that's really important.
Tell me about your favorite member of your family.
Who do you admire?
I don't know, but I don't believe in favorites.
Some people that I know do have them, but I think everyone in my family is absolutely worth looking up to.
There's nobody who I would dismiss as someone who's like disreputable.
But if I pick one example in particular, then I would choose my grandmother, who worked by herself, just all by herself, during the war, while her husband, my grandfather, was fighting.
And she raised four highly successful children by herself after he died.
And she never complained and never stopped being kind to other people.
And she was really active in the lives of her grandchildren.
I think she set a great example for my mom and her siblings to follow.
And they are all brilliant people because of her and her husband.
Who is the oldest member in your family?
Well...
Well, in my close family, I suppose that would be my father, Ian.
Though out of politeness and respect, I will not say how old my father is.
If we speak about my family as a whole, then probably one of the older cousins is in her 90s, I think.
Do members of your family ask you for help?
What do they ask you for?
Well, actually, I think I ask them more than they ask me, frankly speaking.
But I do get the occasional request for help in terms of information about what I do or where I live.
So, for example, my cousin wanted to know more about living and working in Russia because he's thinking about studying Russian language at university.
And he should, he's extremely gifted with languages.
I have another cousin who wanted to work with me here because she's completely mad.
But to be honest, I think they both do very well for themselves.
They're both very bright young people.
I think they'd have a ball in Moscow.
Are you happy to help your family?
Well, if they ever needed it, I'd be happy to give it.
However, to be honest, most of us are pretty self-sufficient and self-reliant.
It's not a common thing for us to ask or need financial support, for example.
Maybe perhaps emotional or informational support.
They're the varieties that are most commonly given in our family, at least.
Do you have a family, not your own, that you like?
And why do you like them?
I can think of many, actually.
I have a friend, the example that stands out the most is my friend Anna.
Her family are quite spectacular.
They're extremely welcoming and hospitable people.
And they really make an effort to make you feel involved in what they're doing.
For example, if you walk into the kitchen, then they'll give you something to do and they'll talk to you while you're doing it.
It reminds me of my own family back home, except with a Russian twist to it.
I often think about how different the world would be if there were more people like that in it.
Rory, thank you so much for your answers.
Hopefully they were family friendly.
Yes, they were.
Okay, so when we talk about family, we can have a nuclear family or Rory, you said, immediate family.
So nuclear and immediate, are they the same?
Um...
Well, yes, essentially.
Although they're used in different contexts.
Nuclear family is a way of talking about, it's almost scientific or sociological in nature.
So it's like super formal.
Immediate family is used less formally and it's used to describe the people that you're closest to.
You can also say close family.
Yes, in my close family, for example.
Basically, my mom and dad.
And siblings, if you have any.
Siblings, brothers or sisters.
It's an interesting word.
It might sound strange to you, but siblings, like brothers or sisters.
For example, I have one sibling.
I have a brother.
Rory is my second brother, once removed.
Once removed from reality.
Yeah.
So, you can also have an extended family.
So, in my extended family...
Like in his extended family, Rory has cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins.
And these are all specific vocabulary.
So extended family is not your immediate family.
No, but there's a great deal of them.
Yeah.
And you can also have nephews.
So, a nephew is a he.
A niece.
A she.
Grandparents and great-grandparents.
Mm-hmm.
Or if you're in my family at one point, I think we even had a great-great-grandparent who was alive.
Yeah, my great-great-great-great-grandparents.
And then Rory...
A family is or a family are?
Because in the last question it was like, do you like any other family?
And you say, I have my friend Anna and her family are quite spectacular.
Yes.
So you can use either.
I was thinking about this just there, actually.
I think you would say my family is, if you wanted to think about them as a whole.
Yeah, my family is large or small.
This is an extremely nuanced piece of grammar though.
If you do it like, if you just say it naturally, then it will not matter.
This is something interchangeable.
Yeah, her family are keen on sports, for example.
The members of your family like sports, right?
And we say members of my family or a member of a family.
Or a family member, did we say?
Family member, yeah, family members.
Rory, you said that I'm proud of every last member of my family.
Yeah, this is like an expression for drawing special attention to the fact that everyone in my family is like a really cool person.
There's not one of them who I would be ashamed to be associated with.
And we say members in my family, right?
And everybody in my family has done something worthwhile with their lives.
Yes.
Although that's not to say that if they chose to have a boring life, then they would be any less worthy as people.
But it seems to be something that we don't shy away from.
We're all doing something very interesting.
Oh my gosh, I'd love to meet your family really, because you said you have three brothers, one sister.
Wow.
To be more exact and this is handy for vocabulary as well I say I have three brothers and one sister.
What I have is one full brother, two half-brothers, and a half-sister-in-law.
Half-brothers brother, a half brother um, if you, if your parents are half of your brother yeah, if you, if you have uh, if your parents were married to someone else before and they have children from that marriage, then that's your half brother.
But i don't um, i don't believe in this distinction.
I love all my brothers equally, And you can also have a step-sister or a step-brother.
Or a step-mother, step-father.
It's a good idea to have some adjectives to describe members of your family.
For example, Rory said that they are bright.
Bright young people like smart people.
Or they can be like self-sufficient, self-reliant.
So they're quite independent.
Yeah.
Although self-sufficient and self-reliant are better than saying independent, I think.
Yeah, but not in school.
You can also say that they are welcoming as a family and they are hospitable.
Hospitable is an interesting word.
It has nothing to do with hospitals.
No, it has everything to do with looking after people and making them feel good.
Which is exactly what my friend's family do, and I'm very grateful to them.
Yeah, so when you go to Rory's Tretikov picture, a small version of Tretikov picture gallery, his new flat, Rory is all hospitable, he gives you pizza, he makes you feel at home, now he's I feel like under a great deal of pressure now.
I'm interested to see how you think my flatwarming is going to go.
When we talk about our family, we can use phrasal verbs.
And Rory has used a great phrasal verb.
My family is worth looking up to.
Yes, if you look up to people, then you admire them and want to be like them.
Respect them, yeah.
Or I really look up to my brother.
I really look up to my second brother, Rory.
And Ivan, our producer, maybe he's going to be... Maybe the father.
No.
Maybe you're gonna... Stepmother.
Wicked stepmother.
Wicked stepmother.
Wicked uncle once removed.
You could be Uncle Vanya.
Uncle Vanya.
Uncle Vanya.
Uncle Vanya.
I have no idea.
For people who don't know, Uncle Vanya is the name of a Russian play.
But the play itself is about a guy called Vanya, and he's an uncle.
But does he just get in trouble, or does he do something helpful?
No, the play is about more than that, about life and deep things.
Oh, wow.
It really is.
Oh, my God.
He really is.
Read Dostoevsky first, okay?
I can't be bothered.
I'm busy.
We are going off on a huge tangent.
Yes, so I really look up to my father.
I really respect my father.
If you look like your mother, you can say I take after my mother.
So who do you take after?
My dad in equal measure.
Yeah, so take after somebody like your character or your appearance is pretty much similar as this person.
Speaking about help, we can say that I get the occasional request for help.
Yes.
So you can ask for help, but you can also request help which is both more formal and a higher level verb to collocate with help.
Or you can speak about financial support, like I support my family financially.
I support them emotionally.
On the subject of emotions, we also talked about having a ball.
When you have a ball, you have a great time.
Ah, so I can say, like, have a blast, have a ball?
Yeah.
It's so strange, though.
It's a bit of a cliche, but still, it works.
So what, like, I have a ball with my family?
Yeah, you have a good time with your family.
Really?
Yeah.
You've never heard this expression.
No, it sounds weird.
Have a ball.
Oh, why don't we have a ball?
I will not be lectured by a Russian person on what is and is not normal.
Let's go have a ball.
Okay, we need more examples.
Well, of Russian people being normal.
I couldn't agree more.
No, with having the ball thing.
Maria, you've got enough balls for both of us.
No, I'm a gentle, weak, sweet lady.
Wow, what happened to feminism?
Dear listener, I think we should stop this episode now and finish on this high note.
Just remember that the world is one big family.
Let's help each other.
Absolutely.
Rory, do you have a large family?
I'd definitely say so.
In my immediate family, there's like my mum, dad, three brothers and my sister.
And then in the extended family, we have a huge number of cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins.
God, the list goes on, actually.
Is family important to you? extremely important.
It's great having so many people around you with their different life experiences.
They can be great fonts of knowledge and comfort and support.
It's not all taking though.
There is some giving.
You get to contribute to that long family history of people doing well, of people doing the same thing, contributing to the history.
And that can be immensely rewarding, I think.
I suppose the last thing I would say is that I'm extremely proud of every last member of my family from like, the youngest cousin to the oldest great-grandparent.
Everyone in my family has done something really worthwhile with their lives.
So I think that's really important.
Tell me about your favorite member of your family.
Who do you admire?
I don't know, but I don't believe in favorites.
Some people that I know do have them, but I think everyone in my family is absolutely worth looking up to.
There's nobody who I would dismiss as someone who's like disreputable.
But if I pick one example in particular, then I would choose my grandmother, who worked by herself, just all by herself, during the war, while her husband, my grandfather, was fighting.
And she raised four highly successful children by herself after he died.
And she never complained and never stopped being kind to other people.
And she was really active in the lives of her grandchildren.
I think she's a great example for my mum and her siblings to follow.
They're all brilliant people because of her and her husband.
Who is the oldest member in your family?
Well, I think Well, in my close family, I suppose that would be my father, Ian.
Though out of politeness and respect, I will not say how old my father is.
If we speak about my family as a whole, then probably one of the older cousins is in her 90s, I think.
Do members of your family ask you for help?
What do they ask you for?
Well, actually, I think I ask them more than they ask me, frankly speaking.
But I do get the occasional request for help in terms of information about what I do or where I live.
So, for example, my cousin wanted to know more about living and working in Russia because he's thinking about studying Russian language at university and he should.
He's extremely gifted with languages.
I have another cousin who wanted to work with me here because she's completely mad.
But to be honest, I think they both do very well for themselves.
They're both very bright young people.
I think they'd have a ball in Moscow.
Are you happy to help your family?
Well, if they ever needed it, I'd be happy to give it.
However, to be honest, most of us are pretty self-sufficient and self-reliant.
It's not a common thing for us to ask or need financial support, for example.
Maybe perhaps emotional or informational support.
They're the varieties that are most commonly given in our family, at least.
Do you have a family, not your own, that you like?
And why do you like them?
I can think of many, actually.
I have a friend, the example that stands out the most is my friend Anna.
Her family are quite spectacular.
They're extremely welcoming and hospitable people and they really make an effort to make You feel involved in what they're doing.
For example, if you walk into the kitchen, then they'll give you something to do and they'll talk to you while you're doing it.
It reminds me of my own family back home, except with a Russian twist to it.
I often think about how different the world would be if there were more people like that in it.
