Hello sunshine, 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 give you gorgeous grammar and fabulous vocabulary for your high IELTS school!
Your bad ninth score!
Oh Rory, you're in Kyrgyzstan now, right?
Yes, I am! Bishkek!
Mmhmm. Have you been to the mountains?
No, not yet. We can see it from the city, but we haven't been there.
You'll get a good view from the city, though.
What a coincidence!
Dear listener, we're gonna be talking about good views.
Yes, it's a new IELTS Speaking part one topic, good views!
What can you see from the windows where you live?
Well, currently, not a great deal since I'm living on the ground floor of an apartment block that faces into the courtyard, so there are a few trees and some rather dismal looking play equipment which are usually cast in shadows by the other blocks.
Usually, it's less depressing since my actual home is on the second floor of an apartment block near the sea, so it overlooks part of the town and you can see the fields in the distance.
That's much more picturesque.
Is there good scenery in your hometown?
I would say so, since we have the hills behind the city and it faces the sea and opposing river banks, so there's a great variety of things to see from the fields on the other banks to the more rugged terrain of the hills.
And then we've got the calmer coastal areas, and since we get all kinds of weather there, you can see it all on bright sunny days, or shrouded and mist when it's foggy -er, which changes the atmosphere as well.
Do you like to take photos of good scenery?
I wouldn't say it's a hobby for me, but when I experience a great view then I turn my camera on it and get a few shots.
My desk top background is actually a pylaramic shot of a mountain range I took.
Well, it's a mountain range out of forest.
I took this picture in northern Cyprus.
You'd never know it was taken by an amateur though, it looks pretty good and very professional.
Do you like to stay in hotels with scenic views?
Well, I suppose while there is something to be said for waking up and flinging open the curtains to see something spectacular, like a cityscape, it's not something I make a point of asking for.
When it comes down to it, for me a hotel is just a place to stay and sleep while you visit somewhere.
The real value is getting out and about in the scenery, not just looking at it.
Hey, so good views, dear listener.
So the key words here for us is, first of all, scenery.
Okay, scenery, the general appearance of the natural environment, especially when it's beautiful.
Scenery. We say beautiful scenery, like in the mountains we have beautiful or breathtaking or spectacular scenery, like scenery, mountains, lakes, beautiful nature.
Okay, we admire the scenery.
Rory, what's the adjective?
Oh, is it scenic? Yeah, C1 super advanced.
Let's not scenic, scenic views or a scenic drive from home to work.
Or for example, this area has scenic beauty, right?
So that's why here the examiner can ask you questions about good views, scenery, beautiful scenery and scenic views.
What can you see from the windows, from your windows?
Nothing. Or not a great deal.
Yeah, not a great deal, so not much.
You can say I'm living on the first floor, on the ground floor, so I don't have anything.
Or I can see a few trees.
What is it? Dismal, dismal looking.
Yeah, if something is dismal looking, then it doesn't look great.
It's not very bright and cheerful.
Yeah, and sad without hope, like dismal, dismal weather, bad weather.
You can say I see other apartment blocks or other buildings.
The view could be depressing, or it's not that depressing.
Or I have a spectacular view.
Rory, what preposition should we use?
I have a view of, over, on, at.
Oh, wow. Well, you have a view of a thing, but then you have a view over something, or overlooking something because you can see the top of it.
So the preposition that you choose will determine the direction and how much you can see.
For example, can I say I have a view over the forest?
I think overlooking the forest would be better.
I have a view overlooking the forest.
What if I see other buildings from my windows?
What do I see? Okay, then I have a view of other buildings from my windows.
What about a shop? I see some shops from my windows.
Well, I can see some shops.
I have a view of some shops from my windows.
Yeah, I have a view of some shops.
And the verb is overlook.
So what do you say?
My windows overlook the sea?
Yeah, I think so. Like my windows overlook some shops.
Would that be okay?
I don't see any problems with that, no.
And you can use the adjective picturesque.
Ruck, really beautiful, picturesque view.
But if you don't see much, you can say just, okay, my windows overlook the playground, for example.
Or I have a view of children's playground.
Or just lie, dear listener, lie.
Imagine you live by the sea and say, oh, my windows overlook the sea and the beautiful forest by the sea.
Then the question is about scenery.
So is there good scenery?
And scenery is singular.
So scenery is beautiful.
Or the scenery is beautiful.
There is beautiful scenery in my hometown.
And Rory lives in the middle of Scotland, right?
So he has mountains and the hills and the sea, riverbanks.
So he does have beautiful scenery.
You can also say spectacular scenery, breathtaking scenery.
If you live in a small city, you can just lie.
Oh yes, I have... Can you say I have a beautiful scenery?
I wouldn't say that, no.
So what's the same?
Well, since the word scenery is in the question, I said, I would say so, meaning I would say there is beautiful scenery or there is good scenery.
So we've just replaced this with the word so.
No article and also trying not to repeat the question in the answer.
And then you can add a couple of words about the weather because the weather does affect the scenery we have.
So like, oh, we get all kinds of weather.
When it's sunny, the scenery is especially spectacular.
We can take photos of good scenery.
So pretty much take photos of good nature, beautiful nature.
And Rory says, I wouldn't say it's my hobby.
Well, okay. But when I experience a great view, when I see a great view, I take a picture of it.
Turn my camera on it.
If you turn your camera on something, you are pointing it at something.
And get a few shots.
Shots meaning pictures, meaning photos.
And here we paraphrase photos.
The examiner asks about taking photos and you say, yes, I enjoy taking a few shots of some good scenery.
You can also say that my desktop background in your laptop, my desktop background is a panoramic shot I took of something.
So last week, I took a panoramic photo of...
And now I have it as my desktop background.
Or just, it's my favorite photo.
My favorite shot. You can enjoy staying in hotels with what views?
Scenic views. Yes. Scenic SC.
Dear listener, a very nice word to use.
Scenic views. For some people, it's a thing.
For Rory, no, Rory doesn't care.
You did say that there is something about waking up and blinking.
Yeah, there is something to be said for.
So if there's something to be said for something, it means it's got a positive part to it.
But it's usually used to highlight the fact that it's not the most important thing.
For example, there is something to be said about waking up in a hotel with a scenic view.
Or you said, like, waking up and flinging open the curtains.
When you fling open the curtains, you open the curtains and...
You see beautiful mountains.
Yeah, just from your windows.
So you can say it's nice to wake up and fling open the curtains to see breathtaking mountains.
Or to see something spectacular.
Like a cityscape, scape of the city or mountains or the sea.
But I don't make a point of asking for it.
So, it's not my thing.
I don't care, right?
It's not the most important thing.
I do care, okay? I love hotels with scenic views.
And I always book a room with a view over the sea, a frontal view, you know?
Not like some small view, but like, the sea should be up front.
So for me, it's important.
It's a thing. It's one of the essential things in my life to have a scenic view from my hotel room.
And you can say when it comes down to it, for me, a hotel is just a hotel.
When it comes down to it, for me, it's important.
So to highlight the most important thing, to go to the main part of the matter, the heart of the matter.
And you can say that the real value is getting out and about in the scenery.
So just go out and enjoy the scenery outside.
So getting out and about.
And Rory, in Scotland, you don't really see the sea from your room, right?
You can see a little bit, yeah.
Well, I'm close to the riverbank, which goes out into the sea, not too far from where I live.
So it's quite easy for me to do that.
Nice, so our Rory almost sees the sea.
Yeah, Delosna, feel free to imagine things to lie about.
Talk about a view you would like to have, for example.
If now you have not such a picturesque view, you can say, oh yeah, I live in the country and I see a gorgeous forest.
You know? But hopefully we've given you a good view of some excellent IELTS vocabulary for talking about views.
Thank you very much for listening.
And we'll get back to you in our next episode.
Okay, a very interesting episode as well.
Bye! What can you see from the windows where you live?
Well, currently not a great deal since I'm living on the ground floor of an apartment block that faces into the courtyard.
So there are a few trees and some rather dismal looking play equipment, which are usually cast in shadows by the other blocks.
Usually it's less depressing since my actual home is on the second floor of an apartment block near the sea.
So it overlooks part of the town and you can see the fields in the distance.
That's much more picturesque.
Is there good scenery in your hometown?
I would say so since we have the hills behind the city and it faces the sea and opposing riverbikes.
So there's a great variety of things to see from the fields on the other banks to the more rugged terrain of the hills.
And then we've got the calmer coastal areas.
And since we get all kinds of weather there, you can see it all on bright sunny days or shrouded and mist when it's full gear, which changes the atmosphere as well.
Do you like to take photos of good scenery?
I wouldn't say it's a hobby for me, but when I experience a great view, then I turn my camera on it and get a few shots.
My desktop background is actually a pyloramic shot of a mountain range I took.
Well, it's a mountain range out of forest.
I took this picture in northern Cyprus.
You never know, it was taken by an amateur though.
It looks pretty good and very professional.
Do you like to stay in hotels with scenic views?
Well, I suppose while there is something to be said for waking up and flinging open the curtains to see something spectacular like a cityscape, it's not something I make a point of asking for when it comes down to it.
For me, a hotel is just a place to stay and sleep while you visit somewhere.
The real value is getting out and about in the scenery, not just looking at it.
