This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1532.
Use IELTS vocabulary at the drop of a hat.
Welcome to the ielts energy podcast from all ears english, downloaded more than 35 million times with examiner trained ielts whiz, aubrey carter and michelle kaplan, The New York Radio Girl.
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Idiomatic language is required to score seven or higher on IELTS speaking.
So you need flexible idioms you can use when answering many different questions.
Today, you'll learn four idioms that you should be ready to use without a second thought.
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Hello, Michelle.
Welcome back.
Thank you.
Thank you, Aubrey.
I'm so happy to be here on IELTS Energy.
Guys, Lindsay is away this week, so I am here helping out, but she will be back.
Yes, absolutely.
And I'm excited.
Michelle, let me know.
Do you ever have to drop everything and do something totally unplanned?
Never as a busy mom.
All the time.
And I'm sure the same is for you.
I mean... Absolutely.
It's like, you know, you are sometimes like... I don't know.
For example, you know, one morning my son came down the stairs and he had...
And I could see that his eye was, you know, when you're like, oh, no, it's this pink eye.
And it's just like oh God, you know you don't want to wait, because that's the kind of thing where you start treatment and it's just fine.
But it's funny because it ended up not being pink eye, but we took him to the doctors.
But we just dropped all of our plans, made sure that he got into the doctor because we want to know, because it was at the beginning of the day.
And you want to know if you're just kind of stuck inside avoiding people or not.
Right.
That's a great example.
If it's highly contagious, you're going to have to drop everything and figure it out.
Cancel the plans.
Yep, exactly.
I'm excited for today's idioms because they're extremely flexible.
So they can be used when answering many different questions.
If you practice using them anytime you talk about doing something at the last minute, they will boost your vocabulary scores.
And you can often add that whatever you happen to be talking about.
If they ask about your favorite restaurant.
Why not share that?
You go to a different one when you've made plans in advance than you would if you're going at the last minute, right?
So there are some great idioms where you just share some timing, some things happening last minute, and you can use today's idioms.
Yeah, these are great.
But first we want to share some results with you, because there was a Spotify poll and this came from episode 1517.
That was can't get the seven you need on IELTS writing test two, three tips.
And what was the question, Aubrey?
Yeah, the question was, have you had to retake IELTS to improve your writing score?
So I was really interested in the results here.
A student had written in that they did.
We know this has happened.
So our results were yes.
60%, no 40%.
So if you out there have had to, you got all the scores you needed on the other parts of the exam but couldn't quite get writing and had to retake the exam.
You're not alone.
This is a very common problem.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
Very interesting.
So everyone, thank you so much for answering that poll.
So should we go through some of these idioms?
Yes.
So we're going to teach you four band nine idioms that you can use on IELTS speaking.
The first one is at the drop of a hat.
So this means immediately, no hesitation with little or no, no, you know, advanced planning.
You just like at the last minute, it's a good idiom at the drop of a hat.
Right.
So part one might ask you if you like road trips, for example.
So you could say something like, I'm always ready to go on a road trip at the drop of a hat.
Yeah, it means you ask me very spontaneously, right?
Ask me and I'm there.
I would go at the drop of a hat, last minute, no planning.
Or part two might ask you to describe someone, describe a friend.
Maybe you'll say my friend Mark will start arguing politics at the drop of a hat, even when no one else wants to talk about it.
Oh, man, that sounds exhausting.
You're like, I don't want to be around Mark.
No, I don't know about Mark.
I don't know.
But yeah, that's a really good idiom.
And the next one.
Number two is in a heartbeat.
And this one means very quickly, without hesitation.
So very similar.
Exactly.
So maybe on part one, if you're asked about travel, you could say if I were offered a ticket to Paris, I'd go in a heartbeat.
Mm-hmm.
I would.
Or also you could be asked about in part one about family, or part two asked to describe a person you are close to.
So you could say something like I'd be there in a heartbeat if my grandma needed me.
Yes, you can see how flexible these are.
Lots of different questions on many different topics.
You're just sharing.
You know, I would do that without any preparation, without any advance notice.
Instead, use one of these idioms to boost your vocabulary score.
Yeah, really good one.
All right, let's move on to number three, in the blink of an eye.
So very quickly, almost instantly, very similar meaning to in a heartbeat.
These are all pretty interchangeable.
Maybe on part one, you're asked about childhood.
You could say, my childhood went by in the blink of an eye.
Right, or for part one that you could be asked, do you think time passes quickly or slowly for you?
So you could say, honestly, I feel like it passes really quickly this year.
This past year went by in the blink of an eye.
I agree.
Yes, that's especially true.
I think once you have small children and they're growing up so fast and it just feels like it goes by in the blink of an eye.
No.
Oh, I'm going to cry.
Okay.
Before I start crying.
Okay.
Number four.
The last one for today is without a second thought.
And this means instantly without hesitation or reconsideration.
So let's say you're asked about high school or what you did after education.
You could say, once I graduated high school, I moved out without a second thought.
Oh, you were ready to go.
Yeah, that was me.
Really?
The day I graduated, I moved out without a second thought.
I was ready.
Oh, God.
I went to college 45 minutes away from home, and I cried profusely.
A lot.
Part of it was probably because I was from such a rural area, like a farming communities.
There weren't a ton of people.
I was ready for a bigger city.
To see the world.
Yeah.
Or if you're asked about work.
You might say, if ever a coworker asks me to cover a shift, I do it without a second thought.
So you can see this is so flexible.
You could use it about work ethic, about what you like to do with friends.
So it could be used on a lot of different answers.
That's true.
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All right Michelle, we are going to provide some sample answers using these idioms.
And often the questions we answer on an episode are all related.
Here they are not.
We have chosen four very different topics so that you can see how flexible these idioms are.
Yeah.
So Michelle, I will first ask you two questions and then I will give you feedback for both of them.
Ready?
All right.
Here we go.
What type of exercise do you enjoy doing?
Isn't that yours?
Oh, I jumped to the wrong one.
I think you're planning on answering that one.
You're right.
My bad.
Okay, Michelle, here's your real question.
What do you do in your free time?
Oh, in my free time, I like to spend time with my family.
We will go into the city.
We will go try a new restaurant.
But I really, I try, even though I'm exhausted and I could definitely use a break.
Um, from parenting.
Sometimes I want to spend my time with my kids, because I know that it goes by in the blink of an eye.
So I try and do fun activities with them.
Nice.
What modern technology don't you like?
I don't like iPads.
I actually don't have an iPad and I never had have.
I guess it goes hand in hand with a phone.
But I think for kids I would say iPad even more, because I see kids just sitting at the at a table and they're just looking at an iPad without a second thought and they're not paying attention to what they're doing.
And so I've tried to avoid iPads.
Um, but it's.
I mean, it's possible that if I were out and My kid was begging me to get one and I never had one, that maybe I would get one at the drop of the hat, but I would really have to put some strict rules on it.
Nice.
Oh, excellent answers.
Let's dive into some feedback here.
Great use of that in the blink of an eye on that first one.
You can see how.
If you have this idiom in your pocket and you know that you have to use idiomatic language to get a seven or higher on IELTS, Any question right, if you can tie in being a mom and knowing that that goes by in the blink of an eye.
Or being a kid and that went by in the blink of an eye.
There's so many answers that you could squeeze that in.
Once you've answered the question, anything related you can go off on a tangent right.
And then I really loved something you did on your second answer.
You were saying, I've never had an iPad.
And you started it with you said, I never had.
And then you realized you needed to say have is like I never have wanted one.
And you did something that's very native and natural just to correct yourself, right?
I never had have wanted one.
And this is such a good thing to point out for students that if you find yourself doing this, It is not a mistake, because this could have been.
You know, I never had wanted one.
Like potentially that would have been correct depending on how the sentence ended.
But we often do this where we'll interrupt ourselves and change our answer.
Because we're thinking in the moment.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So the examiner won't consider that a mistake.
You don't want to let it throw you off.
Do just like Michelle did, and just like switch to the verb you want and keep going without letting it throw you.
Yeah, that's funny.
I didn't even realize it did that.
Yeah, because it's so native and natural, which makes it high scoring on IELTS.
This does not pull down your score.
Feel free to do it.
And if you do, if you make a little grammar mistake, just immediately correct yourself and move on.
Don't let it stress you out.
But also great vocab here, right?
Saying kids look at these iPads without a second thought.
You would maybe buy one at the drop of a hat.
These idioms are boosting your scores.
So really good job.
Thank you, Aubrey.
All right, are you ready for your turn?
Yes, and I gave you a little sneak preview, guys, to one of the ones I'll be answering.
I'm ready.
Okay, so the first question is, what type of exercise do you enjoy doing?
Team sports is my favorite exercise.
Volleyball.
If someone invites me to like sub on a volleyball league, I will leave at the drop of the hat.
Tell my husband you're in charge of dinner.
Kids, you're on your own.
I got to go play in this volleyball game.
But I do like, you know, running, biking, some other cardio activities.
But my favorite is to play volleyball, sand volleyball or indoor.
Okay, great.
So what is the most important part of your job?
Definitely, community manager is my role and I really love being in the community, hearing what students have to say, their goals, seeing the exercises that they're working on and the great questions they come up with.
Some of these questions I can answer in a heartbeat.
Sometimes I have to think about them.
Do a little bit of research, because they're very thoughtful, coming up with, you know, observing English and all of the interesting things that they're seeing out there.
So, and I love seeing the community members get to know each other and practice speaking English together.
So that's definitely the most important and also my favorite part of my job.
Okay excellent okay um, i i took some notes nice, oh yeah.
So I liked how in the first one well, you used a hypothetical situation.
Like you said, oh, if I were to be called for a game, Right.
So I thought that was good because you kind of put us in that image with you in that story.
And you also used.
You said oh, I would say, or you know, you were kind of saying how you would react.
Narrating the past, narrating it yes, so I really liked that.
Another thing I liked was when you said I do like right, instead of I like right because you were saying I do like this type of you know exercise, but this is my favorite right.
So I do like, right?
And just instead of saying I like, right?
That's an interesting construction.
And Ella also allows you to have more interesting intonation.
You're not going to want to say that in monotone.
I do like biking, but I prefer, right.
You're going to want to hit do harder to vary your tone.
I do like running, biking, but I prefer volleyball.
Yeah.
So I thought that was really good.
Um, And then in the second, I liked how you were listing things out.
You did a lot of listing.
Oh, I do this, I do this.
And you used very... realistic intonation for that to keep it interesting.
I liked how you used in a heartbeat some questions you can answer in a heartbeat, um.
And then i also really liked when you said this is the most important and favorite part of my job and that's the intonation is important there too, to hit and more if you're sort of reiterating that it's the most important, but then sharing something over and above.
And my favorite part, you'll want to punch that and harder.
Exactly.
So very good job, Aubrey.
Thank you.
Awesome.
I'm so excited for you now to have these idioms in your arsenal.
These can really boost your vocabulary scores.
You need flexible idioms on IELTS.
You don't want to learn a bunch of idioms, that you have to be asked the exact right question in order to use it.
That's difficult, right?
You don't know what you'll be asked on test day.
Yeah.
So this has been really, really helpful.
Guys, you got some great idioms today that you can use on IELTS.
Really going to boost your score.
And yeah, thank you, Aubrey, for bringing these to us.
That's awesome.
Thanks for joining me today, Michelle.
And we will see you guys next time.
All right.
Bye, Aubrey.
Bye, guys.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy.
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