Hello, lovely people of the world.
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 develop your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
We started this super podcast to give you a look at how a native English speaker would answer some of the most common IELTS speaking questions.
I ask Rory questions and he gives answers for a high score.
Band 9 score.
Rory, are you awake to give us some answers today?
Oh, sorry.
No, I haven't had my morning coffee yet.
It's gonna be one of those podcasts, guys.
We're gonna be talking about morning routines.
Rory, so let's talk about your morning routine, shall we?
What's your morning routine, Rory?
Oh, I love my morning routine.
It's always the same and it gives me a sense of accomplishment going through the motions of it.
I get up, make my bed, switch on my laptop and usually do a limited amount of work while I'm working out.
That usually lasts for an hour or so.
Before I finish up and go for a shower, do my hair, make breakfast, and then I get back to work for the rest of the day.
How is your morning routine different from when you were a child?
Well, I suppose my parents are a lot less involved with it for starters.
I don't live with them anymore.
I also used to rely quite extensively on an alarm clock.
I always used to have to set multiple alarm clocks.
But now I wake up of my own accord really.
Of course, I have the alarm still as a backup, but I don't seem to need it.
And the last thing I suppose in terms of difference is that it's more active now.
I was more of a sloth in the morning than I am now.
Usually I wake up full of energy these days.
What would you like to change about your current routine?
Um, I don't know.
I suppose not a great deal.
Although it would be really good if I could take a pill or something.
That means I have to work out less in the morning because it takes forever.
But I don't mind putting in the effort, really, when I think about it.
Other than that, it might be nicer to wake up a little bit earlier and get more done.
But to be honest with you, my level of productivity is very good, so I'd only make some small changes, not major ones.
What's a typical morning routine like for people in your country?
Well, I imagine it's different these days due to the quarantine, but under normal circumstances in Russia, I think people usually wake up earlier than I do, since they need to use the metro to get to work on time and it can get very crowded.
It's not that essential for me, even before the quarantine, to be honest.
In Scotland I think most people wake up around about half past seven to eight o'clock in the morning, have breakfast shower, get dressed and then head off to work or school.
It's simple but easy to follow, especially if you're sleepy in the mornings.
Rory, thank you very much for your honest answers.
Now, let's go over some of the vocabulary that you've just used.
For a high score, bad 9 score.
Rory, you've mentioned a sense of achievement that you feel going through your morning routines right.
Yeah.
What does it mean, a sense of achievement?
I think we've discussed it before.
Yeah, you can have a sense of achievement or sense of accomplishment.
It just means the good feeling that you get from completing something.
I combined it with going through the motions.
Now, usually if you're going through the motions, it means you're repeating a very boring and monotonous routine.
But to be honest, for me, I get a sense of accomplishment for completing the boring and routine things, because it's nice to see things just being completed, one after the other.
Yes, and our morning routine helps us set the tone for the day, right?
It sets the tone for the day, and it could be also fixed, yeah?
So our morning routine, our schedule, for example.
Yeah, exactly.
You've mentioned some of the verbs, so you make your bed, right?
We can't say do a bed, right?
Well, normally.
So, we make our bed.
What about hair?
My hair.
Yeah, you do your hair.
You have your hair done by other people, but you personally do your hair.
Like for me, I use a hairdryer, for example, and I don't pay someone to do that for me.
Wow, you're so organized and skillful.
I'm very organized.
I can't do my hair myself.
Well, I do sometimes, but it's a pain in the neck.
Okay, what about breakfast?
Do we do our breakfast or we make our breakfast?
You definitely make your breakfast.
It's usually like that for meals, isn't it?
Make breakfast, make lunch, make dinner.
Yes, then you've used a nice phrasal verb, before I finish up.
Or can you say before I finish?
You could say both, although finish up is a phrasal verb, so you might want to use it to show that you can use language flexibly for a higher score.
Bad nine score.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Then your parents are a lot less involved in your morning routine, for starters.
So here we're using the passive voice structure.
Parents are less involved, right?
Yes.
A lot less involved.
Basically, they are practically not involved.
Is it a good thing for you?
Definitely.
I love my mum and dad, but I think we would all agree that people, as they get older, having more freedom and more independence from their parents is a good idea.
Scotland, freedom!
Right.
Now you rely on your alarm clock, right?
Do you rely on an alarm clock?
Well, I don't rely on it too much.
I rely on it less than I did.
Right.
And you have multiple alarm clocks, right?
I used to.
Yeah.
What is it?
Like multiple?
And how do I use it?
Oh, multiple is just like saying many.
But again, it's higher level for higher score.
You've used a nice one.
Off my own accord.
Off my own accord.
What is it?
Accords?
Like music?
What?
If you do something of your own accord, it's just like saying you do it by yourself.
All of the motivation comes from you.
Or in this case, all of the initiative comes from me.
I wake up of my own accord.
I wake up by myself.
I don't really need that much help.
Yeah, can I use it like, for example, it's your birthday party and I show up there of my own accord?
If you weren't invited, then yes, but of course I would invite you to my birthday, Masha.
Oh, that's so sweet.
Exactly like how you invited me to your birthday.
Oh!
Oops, oops.
Okay, let's get focused.
We are going off on a tangent here.
Okay, Rory, now we know that you used to be a sloth.
Right?
You used to be a mammal which moves slowly and lives on trees, a sloth.
But now you're not so much of a sloth, right?
A sloth, or we can say, like, I'm an early riser, or I'm a morning person, right?
What else can you say?
I'm an early bird.
Yeah, you could say that.
I'm an early bird, or...
I wake up early in the morning.
If you're really struggling for something to say.
Then we've heard lots of second conditionals in your answers.
Like, it will be great.
It would be good if I could, right?
Yeah.
Could you give us something like what would you like to change in your morning routine?
And then we go...
It would be great if I could get up earlier, and I could if I wanted to, but I don't really see the need to right now.
It's not essential for me getting everything done.
Right now.
We know that you do workout right in the morning as part of your morning routine and you don't mind putting in effort, right?
Yeah.
So if you put in the effort, it just means that you have the motivation and you work hard to achieve something.
If you put in the effort.
When we talk about morning routine, we can say that we stick to our morning routine, right?
I do.
Yeah, also we can say follow.
Can I say follow a morning routine?
Absolutely.
You follow a routine, you follow a plan.
And how do you use routine?
Is it like countable?
Can I say routines or can I say follow a routine?
Or I say like follow my routine.
Well, all of those are okay and it's definitely countable.
You can have multiple routines for different parts of your day or even different times of the week.
Rory, when you described the typical morning routine in your country Scotland, basically or yeah, you talked about Russia you said that people head off to work, right?
Head off, head, and off without their heads.
Not quite.
To head off to work is just to go to work, and usually to go directly somewhere and in a very straightforward manner.
So it's a little bit more precise vocabulary and it's a nice phrasal verb instead of just saying go to work.
So it helps you get a higher score.
Yeah, also I can say set off, right?
So what time I'm setting off, like leaving, which is nice.
Yes.
Set off seems to imply a little bit more preparation and the need to build up the motivation before you go.
Whereas head off is a bit more you're already motivated.
But you can use both, absolutely.
Rory, can you say that good morning routines are like a bedrock of stability in your life?
Yeah, definitely.
Most of my life is governed by routines, to be honest with you.
So I would say it's the bedrock, it's the foundation of what I do with my days.
Right, and morning routines are really important to kickstart your day on a positive note.
Well, morning routines and coffee are how I kickstart my day on a positive note.
Yes, no coffee, no positive days.
No coffee, no positivity, period.
Coffee.
Yes, dear listeners, if you haven't listened to our super episode about coffee, please do now.
It's loads of fun.
Rory, thank you very much for your lovely answers.
Thank you.
Dear listeners, now you can listen to Rory's answers again, and this time notice all the gorgeous grammar and vocabulary he's just used for high score.
B9 score!
Rory, so let's talk about your morning routine, shall we?
What's your morning routine, Rory?
Oh, I love my morning routine.
It's always the same and it gives me a sense of accomplishment going through the motions of it.
I get up, make my bed, switch on my laptop and usually do a limited amount of work while I'm working out.
That usually lasts for an hour or so.
Before I finish up and go for a shower, do my hair, make breakfast, and then I get back to work for the rest of the day.
How is your morning routine different from when you were a child?
Well, I suppose my parents are a lot less involved with it for starters.
I don't live with them anymore.
I also used to rely quite extensively on an alarm clock.
I always used to have to set multiple alarm clocks.
But now I wake up of my own accord, really.
Of course, I have the alarm still as a backup, but I don't seem to need it.
And the last thing I suppose in terms of difference is that it's more active now.
I was more of a sloth in the morning than I am now.
Usually I wake up full of energy these days.
What would you like to change about your current routine?
I don't know.
I suppose not a great deal.
Although it would be really good if I could take a pill or something.
That means I have to work out less in the morning because it takes forever.
But I don't mind putting in the effort, really, when I think about it.
Other than that, it might be nicer to wake up a little bit earlier and get more done.
But to be honest with you, my level of productivity is very good.
So I only make some small changes and not major ones.
What's a typical morning routine like for people in your country?
Well, I imagine it's different these days due to the quarantine.
But under normal circumstances in Russia, I think people usually wake up earlier than I do, since they need to use the metro to get to work on time and it can get very crowded.
It's not that essential for me even before the quarantine, to be honest.
In Scotland I think most people wake up around about half past seven to eight o'clock in the morning, have breakfast shower, get dressed and then head off to work or school.
It's simple but easy to follow, especially if you're sleepy in the mornings.
Rory, thank you very much for your honest answers.
