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Uber on our way. Hello Lovely, I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory and we're 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, for your, for your, for your what?
For your I -IELTS score.
... Madman score! Rory, look at you.
You've taken IELTS.
You're now doing your VISA.
You're going to Oxford this summer.
You're like a MACHINE, Rory.
Like, you are like a productive machine of life.
You kind of, you produce stuff, it's like a machine, like...
Puk -puk -puk -puk -puk -puk -puk.
Huh? I have become a machine, that is true.
Shall we talk about machines?
Dear listener, let's talk about machines!
origins and this is a super new topic we've never had such a topic machines in IELTS speaking part one so yeah it's like wow it's a new topic and what a coincidence because our Rory is indeed a machine a Scottish IELTS machine Rory produces Ben 9 answers like a factory Rory you know just like one machine but You are a factory of IODs Ben 9 answers, huh?
I wonder if I can put that on my CV.
What's your favorite machine in your home?
Well I suppose the biggest time saver is the washing machine, actually.
I use it once a week but it saves me having to do all that manual labor of washing...
well, of hand -washing clothes by myself, um, I can't imagine life without it, actually.
Do you read the instructions before using a machine?
Normally, the first time, yes.
Usually the process is fairly self -explanatory but it's always good to check.
After that, I find it easy enough to remember what I need to do.
Is it important to read the instructions?
Generally, yes. Even though you can usually work things out just by looking at whatever the device is and what functions are, a manual or a set of instructions can be handy if you have to do something out of the ordinary like use new settings, for example.
Do you think washing machines and sweeping machines are important?
Oh, I think the washer is pretty much indispensable at this point, given the number of hours it lets you spend doing other things, but when it comes to sweeping machines, I don't actually know what those are.
So, I couldn't say they're definitely not so important for me.
I mean, I know my way around a brush and dustpan reasonably well.
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See you soon. What's a topic dear listener?
Machines. First of all, what are machines?
What is a machine? Mechanical things that make life easier?
A piece of equipment with several moving parts.
that uses power to do a particular type of work.
For example, a vending machine.
Like we buy our drinks and chocolates from a vending machine.
Or a washing machine is a machine.
But here in this context we can talk about different gadgets, dear listener.
Appliances that we usually use at home.
So, home devices, appliances, gadgets, AI -powered machinery, dear listener, that you use at home.
And our common devices are air conditioners, refrigerators, blenders, air purifiers, smart TV.
Maria is just listing things that I don't have in my home.
Yeah, because you're boring.
Come on come on just like come on come on like just like Rory you don't need any machines because you are a machine okay.
Our listener may not be a machine that's why our listener might have an automated coffee maker or a dishwasher all right, a vacuum cleaner.
So dear listener you can talk about these machines and your favorite machine in your home you can be very interesting and you say something more interesting than Rory.
So Rory, you just said a washing machine.
OK. And a washing machine is a real time saver.
It saves your time.
It washes clothes for you.
And what do you call a machine that washes the dishes in the kitchen, Rory?
A dishwasher. A dishwasher, yes.
So a dishwasher washes your dishes in kitchen.
Do you have a dishwasher?
Yes I do have a dishwasher.
Oh my god, that's amazing, I don't have a dishwasher.
I have a pair of hands.
Or you can say that my favorite machine is my multi -room audio system or is my smart lighting system.
You know lights or different lights or for example my favorite That machine is a do -it -all smart oven.
It can be interesting, dear listeners.
Even if you don't have anything at home, just say, yeah, I love my smart couch station.
Just Google it. It's amazing how many machines we have. Oh, it's amazing.
You know, it's a smart couch station.
So you have a couch, a sofa, and then there's this a little kind of table, kind of coffee table, but it has different function functions.
It has a cup holder.
It has an iPad stand.
It has a cooling fan fan, you know, like you are sitting on your sofa watching television, and then you have a fan from this smart couch station.
That's crazy! Like a super smart coffee table.
I know. We usually read instructions before using a machine or a device or any gadget.
They are also called manuals.
Okay... so manuals or guides or instructions that were used before using a washing machine for example.
And Romeo tells us well the process is self So, you don't have to read instructions, you can understand everything yourself and it's like self -explanatory no need to read anything.
That's probably very male interpretation of how you should approach things like this.
I imagine some more sensible people would probably be like, oh no it's not self -explanatory you should always read the manual in detail before you attempt to do things.
And even though you can usually work things out yourself, understand things and work things out, it's useful to read a manual before using a device.
So a manual or set of instructions can be handy, useful.
And you usually read a manual if you need to do something out of the ordinary.
So you need to change the settings of a machine.
This is something extraordinary, out of the ordinary, so you need to read the instructions.
The questions could be about specific machines.
For example washing machines, coffee machines, coffee makers or sweeping machines.
Do you listen up? Go to Google Images and write sweeping machines.
And then you'll see sweepers or hand -held sweepers.
Out of the ordinary is probably a good collocation to have. Out of the ordinary?
Yeah, something that's not normal.
Like, a native speaker with a Band 9 score in IELTS, for example.
Without a dishwasher?
I don't need a dishwasher, I have two hands.
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Be more interesting to the examiner.
Because everybody will talk about a fridge or TV and you being super cool dear listener you will talk about water purifier!
Now water purifier cleans your water, okay?
And this is like a super interesting or you can talk about a gym machine at your Rory, what machine from the gym can I have at home?
What do you call a machine you run on?
A treadmill! Treadmill.
Oh, I have a treadmill.
I should have talked about that.
There you go. I don't use my treadmill actually.
So, if anyone would like to buy my treadmill, please get in touch. What do you call a machine that cuts your grass?
A lawn mower. Yeah, a lawn mower.
idea listener. So you can also talk about your vacuum cleaner, a lawnmower, or please Google a sweeping machine or a sweeper, you can also call it a handheld sweeper, you just hold it with your hands, and you can say that they are pretty much indispensable.
So that's keyword you cannot live without them.
Indispensable is C2 level, band 9, so this machine is indispensable, so it cannot be changed.
I can't manage without it.
And you can say that my water purifier is an absolutely indispensable piece of And also dear listener, we are living in 2025, right?
So everything, pretty much everything is operating with AI, artificial intelligence, and you can talk about AI powered devices.
When you start talking about a different machine, you can say, when it comes to sweeping machines or when it comes to dishwashers.
They are definitely not for me, for example.
Or they are not useful or they are super useful.
Or I don't need a sweeper.
I know my way around a brush and a dustpan.
If you don't have a special machine to sweep your floors, you use a brush and a dustpan.
Like the old school way.
And now, Rory. you will need to choose a machine for your house.
Are you ready? Oh, wow, what are my choices?
Okay, so the first choice is, and this is the equipment that people use in 2025.
So, it's like super new.
The first one is a vacuum cleaner that has an arm for clearing socks.
So, it's like a vacuum cleaner.
That is a robot. But this vacuum cleaner has an actual arm, you know.
It cleans your floor, and then just an arm appears and then it just takes your sock and removes it.
How difficult is it to pick up your socks?
It's amazing, right?
So, to be a listener, we do have vacuum cleaners with an arm installed into them.
So you have one of those or Rory you will have a voice assistant like Amazon's Alexa for example.
A voice assistant is also kind of a type of machine or you can get a smart couch station that we've been talking about this kind of smart coffee table that has everything or you have the totem planter what is that that is a smart system for growing your indoor garden so this kind of like little shelves that you can plant different herbs and plants and they grow and it's like a self watering system That is the height of laziness.
What was the one before the couch station?
The one before the couch station was voice assistant like Amazon's Alexa.
Right. Then I'll get that.
That seems to be the most practical one and it's fitting because I have an Alexa in my house, I just don't talk to her that much. You see the listener, we do have different machines and AI -powered machinery.
so yeah also you can talk about something like smart water sensors do check out smart couch station just google it and go to google images alright and also do check out the stair climbing robot vacuum cleaner sorry did you know that these robots vacuum cleaners can now climb the stairs did you know what But why?
They climb the stairs to clean the second floor in your house.
It's amazing. That's crazy.
Thank you very much for listening.
Please be interesting.
When you talk about machines, feel free to lie and just think like, what super AI powered machine you'd like to have in your home and just lie about it.
This is also useful for your essays, because you can make examples writing about specific pieces of technology that people are using these days.
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What's your favorite machine in your home?
Well I suppose the biggest time saver is the washing machine actually.
I use it once a week but it saves me having to do all that manual labor of washing, well of hand washing clothes by myself, I can't imagine life without it.
Do you read the instructions before using a machine?
Normally, the first time, yes.
Usually the process is fairly self -explanatory but oh, it's good to check.
After that I find it easy enough to remember what I need to do.
Is it important to read the instructions?
Generally, yes. Even though you can usually work things out just by looking at whatever the device is and what the functions are a manual or a set of instructions can be handy if you have to do something out of the ordinary like use new settings, for example.
Do you think washing machines and sweeping machines are important?
Oh I think the washer is pretty much indispensable at this point given the number of hours it lets you spend doing other things but when it comes to sweeping machines I don't actually know what those are, so I couldn't say They're definitely not so important for me.
I mean, I know my way around a brush and dust pan reasonably well.
