Hello, lovely.
I'm Mariam.
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.
That is the first time I've said that in three months.
Yay!
Woohoo!
We've started this podcast to give you gorgeous vocabulary and super-duper grammar for your English life and for your high IELTS score.
Is it a band 9 score?
Ben Ninescore, surely Ben Ninescore.
Rory, where are we recording?
Because we have a new thing.
We are recording on the internet.
It's very modern.
I know.
No, it's not.
This is how we started.
No, no, but we started face to face, right?
Well, yeah, but that was when we were working for that dumpster fire.
Then we moved online when the pandemic hit.
Yeah, so dear listener, now Rory is in Scotland recording from Scotland.
I'm in Moscow recording from Moscow.
This is how we marry Moscow and Scotland.
Oh, by the way, if you're looking for more modal answers and vocabulary for all three parts of the IELTS speaking exam, check out our premium podcast, where this week, we're talking about Rory.
We are talking about a company where I live that employs a lot of people in part two.
And in part three, we're talking about big companies in general.
Yippee!
But check out as a phrasal verb, which is an opportunity to shill for our other course that's also online, our phrasal verbs course, wwwsuccesswithieltscom.
Forward slash podcourses.
Thank you, Rory.
That's so unique.
It is.
It's never been done.
It's never been done in Scotland.
So what are we going to do in our first online recording, Scotland Moscow recording?
We're going to have a coincidence.
Let's go.
Right.
I'm dreaming about going.
No, you need to say I'm looking very calm, which is totally the opposite of what I am right now.
Rory, you look so calm.
Thank you.
My home is an island of tranquility.
Oh, an island of tranquility.
I see.
Shall we talk about islands then?
Yes, that is the coincidence today, is it not?
A marvelous coincidence on this podcast.
We need a t-shirt saying what a coincidence on this podcast again.
Rory, do you like islands?
Um, no, yeah, very much so.
I love being near the sea.
And there's this sort of romantic notion of isolation and discovering a new world when you're on an island.
You don't really get that if you're on the mainland, do you?
Have you ever been to an island?
Actually, I've lived on quite a few islands in my time.
I worked on a small island which is like sort of nestled among the coral reefs in Fiji.
Although that's not saying much because many of them are.
And I also lived on the much bigger island of Timor, which is divided between East Timor and Indonesia.
Are there any islands in your country?
Oh God.
There are hundreds of individual islands and they're part of sort of larger island chains and archipelagos.
I'd say the most famous are the Archer, Hebrides and the Shetland Islands, which are the most easterly and northerly respectively.
Do you want to live on an island?
Well, given that I've already lived on a few, I think I've kind of had my fill of them, though I suppose if there were no alternatives I could do it again without much complaint.
I'm quite self-sufficient, so it would hardly be a disaster.
What would you like to do if you were on an island?
I quite fancy going sailing, since I've done just about everything else you could do near the coast of an island.
And obviously exploring the interior is always unique, because islands are seldom the same.
Do you think you'll go to an island soon?
Not in the near future.
Maybe if I have to get a job far away, then there's lots of islands with schools that I could go to.
Thank you, Rory, for your island questions.
It's okay.
I'm an island of vocabulary.
Rory is an island of vocabulary.
That doesn't make sense.
That's not a thing.
No, no.
You know what?
Dave told me that you should be very careful. creating the language in your IELTS speaking exam.
Because like, I'm an island of vocabulary.
It's not something people would say, right?
So Rory has just created this phrase.
It doesn't exist, which is creative use of language.
So Rory, what do you think?
In the exam can our listener make things up being creative with the language and, just you know, create stuff.
Or it's better not to do that.
Well, it's an interesting question because if you start pausing because you forget words, then that can affect your score for Band 8 and Band 9, can't it?
So...
You could say the phrase, the made up phrase, and then the phrase in a manner of speaking or so to speak, or to coin a phrase, which is something people do when they can't really think of a way to explain it clearly.
So what I should have said is like I'm an island of vocabulary to coin a phrase, or in a manner of speaking, or so to speak.
Yeah, to coin a phrase, like to make a phrase, so to speak.
If I can say so, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, true.
But again, be very careful, right?
So if you are creating something, just tell the examiner, oh, I've just made it up, you know?
Yep.
Anyway, so islands.
First of all, the pronunciation.
We say island.
It's like I-land.
Yeah, island.
It's the land of me.
Yeah, but we write I-S-L, right?
We never say Iceland.
No, no, no, no.
We write, we say islands, islands.
What about the article, Rory?
Do I say the Fiji Islands or Fiji Islands?
No, they're.
Oh, you need to have the because you're talking about a specific group of islands.
Yeah.
So the Fiji Islands.
But if you talk about one island, do I need an article?
It depends.
Is it the first time you've mentioned it?
Because remember the first time you talk about something you say I lived on an island and then the island was part of Fiji.
But what about geographical names, if I mean like...
Different islands.
What islands do we have in the world?
I forgot all.
Oh, my God.
I just gave you a list.
If we talk about like... Oh, Maldives, Maldives, for example.
So I say the Maldives, right?
You can, yeah.
You could also say the Maldives archipelago.
Yes, archipelago, dear listener.
Can you repeat after us?
Archipelago.
Say it again.
Archipelago.
Archipelago.
That is a band 9 word.
Not many people know what the word archipelago means.
That's difficult to remember.
Then you could just say island chain because they both mean a group of islands.
There's probably a small difference between these.
But really, it's still good words.
Your examiner is probably not going to know the difference between these things.
Hold on a minute.
What is the difference between an island chain and an archipelago?
Hold on.
Island...
Oh, there we go, there we go.
He's getting nerdy.
But if I want to say only one island, for example Santorini in Greece, do I say this Santorini, the Santorini Island, or just Santorini.
Santorini is fine.
Yeah, so no article if you say like one island, but the Cook Islands, the Fiji, the Maldives, yeah.
Bora Bora?
Bora Bora is the name of the island.
The Bora Bora?
Yeah, just like this Bora Bora.
An archipelago is an area that contains a chain or a group of islands scattered in lakes, rivers or the ocean.
Yes, now we know.
So the archipelago is the area and the chain is the actual thing of islands.
But frankly speaking, your examiner is not going to know that unless they were a geography teacher.
And if they're a geography teacher, then they're not an English teacher.
So it's fine.
Yeah.
So the examiner asks you, are there any islands in your country?
And you go.
Yeah, there are hundreds of individual islands which are part of larger island chains and archipelagos.
Yeah.
Although it's important to point out that we said the word island a lot, but here it's used as a noun and as an adjective.
Island.
Jane.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If you don't live on an island, you live on the mainland.
Yes.
Which is funny because when you think about it...
Most land masses are surrounded by the ocean.
So the mainland is the larger area of land that is closest to the island that we are talking about and probably part of the same country.
So for example, Scotland is the mainland, but we have Shetland, which is the island group.
But there are bigger islands in Shetland and smaller islands.
So the smaller islands are the islands, and then they talk about mainland Shetland because they're the bigger islands.
It's all to do with relative size.
Yeah.
So if you live in a city, you live on the mainland.
But if it's an island, then it's an island.
Yes.
This is my explanation.
I can add to your explanation.
An island is an island.
There we go.
An island is an island.
Don't forget to say something about the coral reefs.
Well, if you have them.
I like islands because of the coral reefs.
That's in tropical places though.
If we talk about islands in Russia, what do they have?
No, we just.
There are some islands and for example, in the north there is an island where they tested bombs.
Yeah.
So you could talk about... There's residual radioactivity left over from all the bomb testing.
Yeah, and bears.
They have bears walking into villages or small towns there.
No, I don't think so.
I think bears are okay.
But it's funny that my friend has been there and he told me that You wake up and then you hear a siren going attention attention, there is a bear.
There is a bear in this.
And then they name the area where the bear is.
And everybody can hear this.
So, yeah, it's funny.
Oh, my God.
You switch on your TV and then there is a bear.
There is a bear next to the shop.
Don't go there.
Yep.
Did you realize that was a song?
What?
There is a bear next to the shop.
Don't go there.
Oh, really?
Oh, wow.
It's right.
Anyway, let's get back to what we can do.
Now, I said sailing for activities that you can do on an island.
And you say, I fancy.
You say, I fancy sailing.
Yeah, so I fancy sailing or I fancy sunbathing.
Fancy, I like doing something.
I really liked how you said the word nestled.
Yes, nestled is just a way of saying it's in a place close to other places, almost like it's cozy.
Yeah, like I worked on a small island nestled among the coral reefs.
Very nice.
What else can you say?
How else can you use this nestled?
Maybe about cities or... Eggs!
Anything else?
Eggs are nestled in a nest.
We have this word, nest.
It's like saying it's inside something, but it's cozy and closed.
When the examiner asks you, do you want to live on an island?
Rory, he's full of islands, you know, he's been to places.
So he goes like, nah, not really.
I think I've had my fill of them.
Yeah.
So if you've had your fill of something, it just means I've had enough of them.
Yeah, I've had my fill of them.
Can you use it about other words?
Like, what about... Hmm, what?
Well, if we talked about ice cream and they asked you like oh um, what would you, what flavor of ice cream would you have in the future?
And you're just like i've.
Well, given that i've had all of this um uh, given that i've spent so much time eating ice cream, i've kind of had my fill of it, so i don't really want to have any more or try any new flavors.
Yeah, That's a really terrible example, but it's just the way we're saying like I don't want to do it anymore.
So would you like to live on an island?
No, I had my fill of them.
Well, I do live on an island now.
The United Kingdom, Great Britain is an island.
It is.
Oh, yeah, actually.
Rory lives on an island now.
Wow.
That's not a big island.
I don't think it counts.
And do you live near the coast?
Yes.
I live basically on the coast.
Yeah, on the coast or near the coast.
So the coast, the sea.
Coast is the part of the land that's next to the sea, basically.
Yeah, so on the coast, near the coast.
And the opposite is the interior, which is like the inside.
But of course, inside is very basic.
So we say the interior of the island, the part that is inside.
Oh, yeah, the interior of the island, like the interior of a cafe or a restaurant.
The interior.
I'd love to live there.
On an island, to be honest with you, Ravi.
Haven't you lived on an island already?
Somewhere.
I visited many islands, many Greek islands.
Sicily also in Italy.
And Cuba, yeah.
I've been to Cuba, which is an island, right?
Cuba is an island.
Tell me it's an island.
It is.
Okay.
Yeah, but I'd like to go to these islands close to New Zealand or Madagascar, for example.
Maybe like half a year?
Like plague vaccine before you go there. plague vaccine.
Honestly, they have the plague in Madagascar.
They have outbreaks of the plague fairly regularly.
Plague?
Yeah.
Plague?
I should say, Madagascar should not just be known for diseases happening.
It's one of the most biodiverse places in the world.
In fact, I think it doesn't have snakes, which is the opposite of being... Oh, good.
Hold on a second.
Madagascar doesn't have any snakes.
I'm going there.
Also, if you have never been to an island, you can say that okay, I've never been to an island, but I'd like to go to the Fiji Islands, or I'd like to go to the UK, which is an island, right.
And then you talk about Rory. who lives on the coast.
Ah, that's what it is.
There are no poisonous snakes of Madagascar.
That's what it is.
The reason for that is because it's isolated.
And we talk about the feeling of isolation, which is when you are far away from other people.
Yeah, Madagascar.
It's the name of a movie.
It's a funny movie.
So if you've never been to an island, you can mention different activities again, like sailing sunbathing, diving.
We should delve into that more deeply though because, like if you keep getting bombarded with questions for part one about islands because the examiner is not going to stop, then we need to have different ways.
Like I imagine if I were to go to an island.
I wish I could say, because I haven't been to an island.
But if I did go, then this kind of thing.
Yeah.
And it works.
It works.
Well, it's the only alternative.
Like, what happens when you don't know about something because you've never done it?
You can't just magically be on an island.
You could lie, but many people are not good at lying.
They're much better at saying, I don't know in different ways.
Yeah.
So, as they say, no man is an island.
They do say that.
There's a song, I think.
No man is an island of vocabulary either, because I just made it up.
Poetry, it's a poetry, yeah.
No man is an island.
No man is an island entire of itself.
Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
Oh, this is so cute.
Yes, so no man is an island. by John Dawn.
Nice.
Thank you very much for listening.
Thank you for listening.
We hope we have provided you an island of lexical and grammatical refuge.
An island of refuge.
Our podcast is an island.
It's your island of refuge.
It's your refuge.
It's your island refuge.
If you find yourself trapped on an island, you might want to take up writing a journal.
And how better to learn about writing than from our writing podcast.
You should check it out.
Maria.
Yeah, it's amazing.
Where can we find it?
We've launched a writing podcast, and the link is in the description.
Go there, click there, check it out.
Rory and I are writing things on the spot.
So we are writing an IELTS essay and an IELTS graph on the spot, in this perfect moment, focusing on the structure vocabulary, gorgeous grammar, and Rory is supervising.
Super cool because he's creating the essay on the spot and he can do it on the spot because with you, with me yeah, with me, surely with you.
I can't do it by myself because rory has been trained how to do that.
So again, check it out writing for success.
I was trained by you.
You were my teacher trainer for ages.
Yeah, yeah.
But also you went to university Rory, where you wrote essays and you kind of know, you have the knowledge of how to write a good essay.
I think I learned much more from you than I did from university.
Oh, this is so sweet.
Okay, my life is complete now.
Anyway, on the subject of things that are worth money.
There's a free version of our writing for success.
And there is a premium version.
Click the link in the description below.
Bye.
Bye.
Rory, do you like islands?
Oh, yeah, very much so.
I love being near the sea.
And there's this sort of romantic notion of isolation and discovering a new world when you're on an island.
You don't really get that if you're on the mainland, do you?
Have you ever been to an island?
Actually, I've lived on quite a few islands in my time.
I worked on a small island which is like sort of nestled among the coral reefs in Fiji.
Although that's not saying much because many of them are.
And I also lived on the much bigger island of Timor, which is divided between East Timor and Indonesia.
Are there any islands in your country?
Oh God.
There are hundreds of individual islands and they're part of sort of larger island chains and archipelagos.
I'd say the most famous are the Outer Hebrides and the Shetland Islands, which are the most easterly and northerly respectively.
Do you want to live on an island?
Well, given that I've already lived on a few, I think I've kind of had my fill of them.
Though I suppose if there were no alternatives, I could do it again without much complaint.
I'm quite self-sufficient, so it would hardly be a disaster.
What would you like to do if you were on an island?
I quite fancy going sailing, since I've done just about everything else you could do near the coast of an island.
And obviously exploring the interior is always unique, because islands are seldom the same.
Do you think you'll go to an island soon?
Not in the near future.
Maybe if I have to get a job far away, then there's lots of islands with schools that I could go to.
