Hello, lovely.
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 started this podcast to give you a look at how a super native speaker would answer some of the most common IELTS speaking questions, using gorgeous grammar and quality vocabulary.
For a high score, which Rory score?
A band 9 score.
Vory, look at you.
You look naked.
Oh, thanks, Maria.
But yes, I am kind of tired.
I think I need a holiday.
We're going to be talking about holiday today.
In IELTS Speaking Part 1, they can ask you questions about holiday.
Rory, how often do you go on holiday?
Well if your observation at the start of the podcast is anything to go by, not often enough.
I'd like to go on holiday more often actually, and I think that's one of my goals for this coming year.
Do you like taking one long holiday or a couple of short ones?
I suppose probably the latter, because you can distribute your holidays throughout the year, whereas if you take one long one, then you don't really have an excuse for taking any other ones, do you?
Between that and I don't like being away from my work or my routine for too long I get a bit nervous, so I'd prefer not to take a long holiday.
Yeah, you prefer controlling everything.
Well, I like everything to be orderly.
Why does it have to sound so bad?
You make me sound like some kind of control freak.
I just want everything nicely done.
Yeah, because you don't like being away from work for a long time.
So Yeah, but that's partially because I like my job and the other thing is I like to make money.
He's a workaholic.
A workaholic.
Do you prefer holiday in the city or at the beach?
It's an interesting question because I think for me both options are equally valid.
I guess it depends more who I'm with.
So...
If I'm with someone that likes going to the city, then we'll go there.
And if I'm with somebody that likes going to the seaside, then we'll go there, for example.
But I've gone to a lot of cities recently, I suppose.
So maybe a seaside holiday is what's called for just now.
When did you last go on holiday?
That would have been at New Year.
I've been working since then.
I was going to have a holiday in May.
I was just going to go back home to Scotland for a little while.
But that sort of went up in smoke with the virus crisis.
When will be your next holiday?
That's a good question, I think.
I think it's likely to be in December, because it looks like the borders won't be open until then, at the very least.
And then, of course, if I'm working, then I can't just go and leave the students.
So I think it's probably going to be the Christmas holidays, actually.
But why don't you just take a holiday somewhere in Russia?
Well, right now I've got nobody to go with and I suppose it's better to focus on being productive right now.
And the other thing is well, like I say, I've got to focus on being productive and I've got to.
Well, I can't just leave work, can I?
No, you can't.
You should stay and work.
Slave away.
Night and day.
What's the best holiday you've ever had?
Well, up until recently, I thought last Christmas was my best holiday.
I got to see a lot of my friends and family and I got to introduce my former partner to my family, so that was fun.
And we had a really nice time and we did lots of different activities.
So that was the best holiday.
Hopefully there'll be more like that in the future.
So I hate it.
Do you go on holiday alone or with someone?
My last few holidays I've been... Well, actually no.
My last few holidays I've made the journey alone.
But when I was actually...
On the holiday itself, I was with someone and we met people while we were there.
Generally, I think, whether it's for the holiday itself or when you're making the journey, it's nicer being with someone because you can chat to them and enjoy yourselves.
Rory, thank you so much for your answers.
When we talk about holiday, what do we mean by holiday?
Holidays, a day off, weekend, what is a holiday?
So a holiday is just time off when you're not working.
So if you apply that standard to me, then naturally I've never had a holiday, because I'm constantly working, even when I'm technically on holiday.
Oh.
Yeah, so we work and then we go on holiday.
For example, in Russia you can take a four-week holiday every year or a paid holiday, for example.
In American English they say vacation.
They do, yes.
I think that's becoming increasingly popular in British English as well.
Oh wow, so Brits are becoming Americanized.
Yes, it's a truly terrifying prospect, but I'm sure we'll survive. don't mix it up with the weekend okay because weekend is saturday and sunday and if you have a day off if you just like don't feel like working today and you call in sick and just stay at home relaxing it's a day off right you can It's called being lazy.
Get back to work.
No, it's like, it's a day off for you.
You need to relax, you know.
All right, so we take a holiday.
We go on holiday.
But if we talk about holidays, we can be talking about national holidays, right?
What's your favorite national holiday?
I guess it would have to be Christmas in Russia because I get two weeks off.
Yeah.
Holidays or, for example, St.
Valentine's Day, New Year, national holidays.
Chloe, do you need an excuse to take a holiday, to go on holiday?
Yeah, but then I like to have everything planned out in advance.
So it's usually... It's not so much as an excuse, it's just a reason.
So if I go on holiday, it's to take a break after working really hard.
Or maybe... Well...
Recently, we've had a few additions to our family as a whole, so that's a good reason to go on holiday.
Yeah, and you've used a nice phrasal verb, like, to be away from work.
Like, I don't take long holidays because I don't want to be away from work.
We can... take a beach holiday or go to a city, right?
And you said that both options are valid.
Can I say variants?
Many people say variants, not options.
You can, yeah.
I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
It's just a really unusual collocation, that's all.
I think it's quite popular with Russian students in particular.
Yeah, because in Russian we have this word variant, right?
The idea is clear.
It's just a really unusual thing to say, that's all.
So, better say options.
So, Russian speakers.
So, whenever you want to say variant, say option.
Yeah, it's more common.
How do you say beach?
Is it beach?
Beach.
We're not going down that route, Maria.
No, come on.
It's pronunciation.
No, pronunciation.
Come on.
Many people mispronounce these words and they sound ridiculous.
So, we need to educate them.
So, how do I say this word?
If I want to go to the beach.
How long should it be, this vowel?
Because in the Russian language, in Spanish, I don't think they have these long vowels.
Rory, what kind of holiday would you like to have?
I'd like a seaside holiday.
Done.
There you go.
Aw.
Worried about... No, actually, let's make this serious.
If you are worried about mispronouncing the word, then just say seaside.
There you go.
Problem solved.
Because this...
In pronunciation and working with phonology, this is like one of the last things that disappears when your accent's changing.
And if you don't have the time to work on it, then just use another word, and then your problems are solved.
Yeah, but what about other words like sheet, sheep?
I feel like you just want to use this podcast as a vehicle to swear.
Right, right, okay.
Lamb.
You can say lamb.
Lamb.
There we go.
Sheep.
Or a piece of paper.
There we go.
No, I want to say a sheet of paper.
All right.
Of course you do.
Peace.
World peace.
Yes, we have two words, dear listeners.
I know you're listening to this.
Don't include any of this in the podcast.
We are all aware of what needs to happen.
Dear listener, we just want to be politically correct, we want to be nice.
But I do have a point, I think, because the word beach is very often mispronounced.
And shit and peace.
Right, back to holidays.
Okay, so we can have all-inclusive holidays, right, Rory?
If you have the money.
Adventure holidays?
You can have an adventure holiday, you can have, like I frequently do, a working holiday.
A working holiday, gosh, so you go somewhere to volunteer, right?
Or you could make a joke out of it because I never take a day off really.
So because I'm always working, even when I'm on holiday, all of my holidays are working holidays.
Or is a workaholic.
Also, you can have a honeymoon and you can even have a babymoon.
You can if you have a family or a husband or wife.
Babymoon.
Yeah, that's like the baby was born and you are having a babymoon.
When we go on holiday, we make a journey, right?
Or we make a trip.
No, you make a journey but you go on a trip.
Say make a trip or take a trip.
Well, you could say that, but to be honest with you, it's more common to take a trip, not make one.
But you still can.
It's just a bit... Odd.
So make a journey, take a trip or go on a trip.
We go on a trip to get away from it all, to forget all our troubles, or try yeah, try to forget them.
Right, and you said that you were going on holiday in may right, but then it all went up in smoke.
What is it?
It's present.
No, but first we could talk about it's.
I was going on holiday, so it's like future in the past.
Yeah, future in the past, you guys.
It's future, but it's in the past.
That's a band nine grammatical structure yeah, for talking about things that you planned.
That didn't happen.
Yeah, I was gonna take a holiday, but then it went up in smoke.
Yep.
So if something goes up in smoke well, it just doesn't happen because of some kind of disaster.
About your future holiday, you said it's likely to be in December.
That's a very nice structure.
It's likely to be in December or I'm likely to have a holiday in December.
Or, for example, it's unlikely that I will have a holiday this summer.
So, basically, it means, like, probably will or probably won't, right?
How sure are you when you say it's likely to be in December?
Are you, like, 50% sure?
Are you 80% sure?
Are you 100, sure?
Because well, I mean, when I think about it, in my head it's closer to 90, but there's not really.
The distinctions between these things aren't very clear, are they?
Um...
It's got to be likely, though.
It can't be like Will because, of course, anything could happen nowadays.
We've just been through a huge crisis with coronavirus.
So we need to be careful and not be so certain.
Yeah.
So we can say, for example, it's highly unlikely that I'll go to Spain this summer, for example.
Yeah, because, yeah, all this situation with the borders, it's strange.
It's highly unlikely or it's likely that I'll take a holiday in December.
Your best holiday was during Christmas, right?
And you said that you got to see your family.
Yeah.
Got to see?
Why not say, like, I saw my family or I met them?
Well, it's all to do with how you see the world.
So it's like my job and where I live in.
The world doesn't let me or doesn't allow me to see my family very often.
So if I say that I got to see someone, it means it's almost like the situation is allowing me to do something.
Could you give us another example please?
My producer allowed me to go on holiday.
Yeah.
And I got to go on holiday.
He's gonna love it when he's editing this.
Thanks, Vanya.
Can I also take a holiday, please?
No, no.
No holiday was granted to me.
Just Rory goes on holiday.
I'm staying, okay?
Dear listener, you can earn your holiday.
So you've been slaving away all year and now you've earned your holiday.
When you go on holiday, you can go somewhere off the beaten track.
Rory, what is a place off the beaten track?
It's someplace where people don't usually go.
So, for example, oh, I went to Haiti two, well, one and a half years ago.
And that was off the beaten track.
Not many people go to Haiti on holiday, but I did.
And I loved it.
It was amazing.
What did you do there?
Snorkeling?
Okay, I'd maybe take that back that it wasn't amazing for the people who lived there.
Because when we went there, We were supposed to be teaching English, but riots broke out.
So we actually had to shelter in the south of the island because there was so much violence.
But I still met really amazing people there.
That's why I loved it.
I should say I didn't like it because of the violence.
I loved it because of the people I met there.
And we met up in New York afterwards.
Yeah, I'd love to go back, but I'd also like to go to New York again and see the people that I met there.
It was a cool holiday, despite everything that happened.
I wish there hadn't been so much violence, obviously, but it was cool.
Sweet.
I've never been there.
You should go when it's calm.
Yeah, I'd love to, absolutely.
Right, when we talk about holiday, you remember that holiday happiness is contagious, okay?
That psychologists have observed that the good vibes you bring back from your holiday rub off on other people you know, rub off on the people around you.
And everybody receives these good vibes, this viral holiday happiness.
So we should take holiday consistently.
There we go.
Yes, great.
That's a good idea.
Thank you very much for listening.
We hope it was really useful and you've learned something new.
Now you can listen to Rory's answers again and notice all the gorgeous grammar he's just used, and with quality, good vocabulary.
And remember, take regular breaks and enjoy your summer holiday.
Take care.
Bye.
Rory, how often do you go on holiday?
Well, if your observation at the start of the podcast is anything to go by, not often enough.
I'd like to go on holiday more often actually, and I think that's one of my goals for this coming year.
Do you like taking one long holiday or a couple of short ones?
I suppose probably the latter, because you can distribute your holidays throughout the year, whereas if you take one long one, then you don't really have an excuse for taking any other ones, do you?
Between that and I don't like being away from my work or my routine for too long I get a bit nervous, so I'd prefer not to take a long holiday.
Yeah, you prefer controlling everything.
Well, I like everything to be orderly.
Why does it have to sound so bad?
You make me sound like some kind of control freak.
I just want everything nicely done.
Yeah, because you don't like being away from work for a long time.
So Yeah, but that's partially because I like my job and the other thing is I like to make money.
He's a workaholic.
A workaholic.
Do you prefer a holiday in the city or at the beach?
It's an interesting question because I think for me both options are equally valid.
I guess it depends more who I'm with.
So...
If I'm with someone that likes going to the city, then we'll go there.
And if I'm with somebody that likes going to the seaside, then we'll go there, for example.
But I've gone to a lot of cities recently, I suppose.
So maybe a seaside holiday is what's called for just now.
When did you last go on holiday?
That would have been at New Year.
I've been working since then.
I was going to have a holiday in May.
I was just going to go back home to Scotland for a little while.
But that sort of went up in smoke with the virus crisis.
When will be your next holiday?
That's a good question, I think.
I think it's likely to be in December, because it looks like the borders won't be open until then, at the very least.
And then, of course, if I'm working, then I can't just go and leave the students.
So I think it's probably going to be the Christmas holidays, actually.
But why don't you just take a holiday somewhere in Russia?
Well, right now I've got nobody to go with and I suppose it's better to focus on being productive right now.
And the other thing is well, like I say, I've got to focus on being productive and I've got to.
Well, I can't just leave work, can I?
No, you can't.
You should stay and work.
Slave away.
Night and day.
What's the best holiday you've ever had?
Well, up until recently, I thought last Christmas was my best holiday.
I got to see a lot of my friends and family and I got to introduce my Well, I got to introduce my former partner to my family.
So that was fun.
And we had a really nice time and we did lots of different activities.
So that was the best holiday.
Hopefully there'll be...
More like that in the future.
Sweet.
Do you go on holiday alone or with someone?
My last few holidays I've been... Well, actually, no.
My last few holidays I've made the journey alone.
But when I was actually on the holiday itself, I was with someone and we met people while we were there.
Generally, I think, whether it's for the holiday itself or when you're making the journey, it's nicer being with someone because you can chat to them and enjoy yourselves.
