Hello, lovely.
I'm Maria.
And I'm 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've started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and fabulous vocabulary for a high score.
Rory score, band 9 score.
Rory, how do you like being at home?
It's great, actually.
It feels like a new place sometimes, but I'm loving it.
Hmm, new year, new place.
Shall we talk about new places, hmm?
Is it a new coincidence for the new year?
Coincidence is the keyword of this podcast.
Yes.
It's a massive coincidence.
All of it.
None of it manufactured at all.
Completely natural.
Let's talk about new places.
Have you been to a new place recently?
Oh, too many to count now I think about it.
But the one that sticks out most would be the school I had to work at for my placement.
It's only a few minutes up the road, but I'd never been there up until about six weeks ago.
It was great.
The students and staff are fantastic.
Do you prefer visiting new places or going to the ones you know?
Well, I suppose it depends on the company I'm keeping really.
If I'm with people I know in a place where comfortable, then that seems like a recipe for success.
On the other hand, if I were I don't know in a more adventurous mood, I think going to a new place by myself might be quite fun.
How often do you go to new places?
For the last 10 years, it seems like that has happened literally every other day.
Recently though, since I moved back to my hometown, I haven't made a habit of it, unless this occasion called for it.
I think that's true for many people since there's like the whole global pandemic thing on right now.
Have you ever moved into a new place or a new home?
Oh, all the time.
Like I say, especially over the last few years.
I think I've moved house every year for the past seven years or something like that.
Most recently back to my hometown in Dundee.
Prior to that, I moved regularly as, well, my job changed around in Moscow.
So I was just moving to different parts of the city.
How did you feel about moving?
Completely fine.
I travel light, so I don't have a lot of things to pack.
And usually it can all be moved in one go, so there's no stress there.
Usually I was quite keen to get to know a new part of town if it was Moscow or a new part of the country if it was a place like Timor where we moved around a lot.
Why is living in the same place for a long time not good?
Well, I imagine that depends on your personality.
But let's assume you're someone who craves novelty and is an extrovert who thrives on conversations with new people.
Then you would probably prefer to live, well, in different places.
But if you're the opposite of that, then I can see how it would be quite detrimental for you.
So, the examiner is going to ask you, have you been to a new place?
So, I've been to a new place or I've visited a new place.
Present.
Perfect.
And, Rory, you've used a phrasal verb, sticks out.
Mm-hmm.
So Sticks Out is just another way of saying it's the most prominent.
It's the one I remember the most clearly or the most vividly at this point in time.
You can say oh, I visited many new places, but one place that sticks out is a new restaurant, or is a new cafe or a school that Rory talked about.
And then, Rory, you've used a past perfect word.
I had to go to work.
I'd never been there before, right?
Or I'd, I'd never been there until six weeks ago.
Past perfect.
So I visited a new place.
I'd never been there before.
All logic is through the roof.
Can we paraphrase new?
Not really.
I'm just trying to think of like different places or, But even then, different doesn't necessarily mean new.
It just means it's not the same as something else.
Yeah.
But I think like visiting new places is like we're talking about the places we've never visited before.
So for us, they're new.
The place could be old.
But for us, they're new, right?
You've used a nice one, novelty.
Yeah, but we've talked about that before, haven't we?
Novelty is like the concept of new things.
For example, I like new things.
I like novelty.
And you said that you are someone who craves novelty.
Yes.
So if you crave normalcy, then it's something that you really need in your life.
You can't do without it.
Or you feel that you can't be without it.
It's probably not the case that you can't.
But if you don't crave new things, if you are a creature of habit, if you like things happening regularly, then you could make a habit of something.
So make a habit of something just means that you do it regularly, and you've done it so regularly, it's become a habit for you.
Yes, I can say.
You know what?
I hate going to new places.
I'm a creature of habit, if you know what I mean.
Yeah, or you said like, I haven't made a habit out of it.
So out of what?
Out of going to new places in my hometown.
Or I've made a habit out of going to this cafe and I don't want to change my habits.
But sometimes I crave novelty.
Sometimes I need to go to a new place, to a new cafe, to a new restaurant.
Yeah, so that's a nice one.
What do you call a person who usually stays at home, who never goes anywhere, like a homebody?
Yeah, I've heard that expression before.
I've never used it, but...
I'm a homebody.
I'm a little bit of a homebody.
A recipe for success, dear listener.
So you said that.
So I enjoy going to new places with people I know.
And I enjoy going to a place which is comfortable.
So that seems like a recipe for success.
The preposition is for.
A recipe for success.
Yes.
So a recipe for success is just like the combination of things that's happening are going to make it successful.
So people you know, plus a place that you know, is the recipe for success.
Yeah, but if you go to a place you've never been before and it's in the middle of nowhere somewhere in the highlands in Scotland, and you are going there at night, that's a recipe for Disaster.
Excellent, yeah.
And you can say, well, I think going to a new place by myself might be quite fun.
So to go somewhere by yourself.
Rory, do you ever do this?
Do you go somewhere on your own, like to the cinema, to the restaurant?
Because some people can't do this.
Not for like a really long time.
I can't really remember the last time I went anywhere just by myself, to be honest with you.
No no, would you be comfortable to go to the cinema, like on your own, buy yourself some popcorn, just sit there all by yourself?
Well, I don't think it would bother me, but I don't.
That's generally not usually an option.
Yeah, Rory has people all over him, which is good.
Then we are talking about moving house.
And the expression is to move house.
To move to a new place, you move house.
For example, Rory, you said, I've moved house every year for the past seven years.
So you've moved house seven times.
Wow.
I think it might be more than that, actually.
I'm just trying to think.
So, let's see.
You've lived in how many places?
Well, I moved to Ghana and then Timor and then Moscow and that's five years, six years actually.
So it might actually be eight times.
Wow.
Yeah, but then like you moved countries, right?
But then, for example, in Moscow, you moved house several times.
Well, I moved house many times in that period.
So it's still moving house, but it's just moving house within the city as opposed to across borders.
But you don't necessarily need to say house.
You could just say I'm moving or I moved.
Yeah, like I've moved several times or I've moved twice in the last two years.
Or every year I move house.
Or it seems like every year I move house.
Can I say every year I move to a new place?
Yeah, if it's something that you do regularly.
Okay.
Yeah, and here a place means a house.
It's like, oh, Rory is inviting me to Scotland.
I'm going to go and visit his place.
Not like his place Scotland, but his place like his house.
Rory, are you inviting?
To Scotland?
Yeah.
Am I inviting you?
Yeah.
Well, I actually have a place for you guys to put you all.
Yes.
Yay.
Yes, I'm going to pack Vanya, buy a Scottish visa for both of us and off we go to Scotland.
Hey, freedom.
So rory travels light, which means that he doesn't have 20 pairs of shoes and 55 dresses to pack.
Yes, i think i've owned half of that number of shoes in the past 10 years.
Seriously Oh, life might be so easy for you, Rory.
No shoes, no dresses, no, you know, makeup.
Yep.
So travel light.
Although it's funny because you don't travel heavy.
You only ever travel light.
Yeah.
I'm heavy.
I travel light.
Yes.
What about books?
I just leave the books where they are, usually.
Unless it's a really important one.
Seriously, don't have a problem with leaving them behind.
So when you were going from Moscow to Scotland, how many suitcases did you have with you?
Like, one.
And that was all.
Wow.
But a big one.
Like, a huge one.
No, it was like a medium-sized rucksack I could carry on my back.
Ah, a rucksack, not a suitcase?
Nope, not a suitcase, just a rucksack.
Oh, my God.
Dear listener, Rory can pack all his life in a backpack.
Right.
Wow.
Impressive.
Impressive.
I would have, I think, 10 suitcases.
Okay.
And then you can say, I was quite keen to get to know a new part of town or city.
So I was quite keen to get to know new places.
So we get to know new places, new people.
So if you get to know a place or a person, then that means that you find out more information about them.
Yep.
When we talk about new places, we usually talk about okay, some moving house, visiting new restaurants, cafes.
What else can we talk about?
Well, just understanding the layout of the area, that's getting to know a place.
So you're going to a new town or city and then kind of move around.
Well, not necessarily move around, but look around and find out more.
Look around.
Yeah, if you like move around and you said about Timor where we moved around a lot.
So you actually traveled around, yeah?
Yeah.
And actually we moved where we were staying quite often.
Or at least I did.
Not many people do that.
Usually they stay in one place.
But I moved around a lot.
And then you can say I'm an extrovert person who thrives on conversation with new people in new places.
So, well, what was it?
If you're an extroverted person, then that just means that you get energy from interacting with people.
I thrive on conversation with new people or I thrive on visiting new places.
Yes.
I can't help it.
I need to go to new places.
I'm hungry.
If I don't visit new places, I have this visual hunger that I need to satisfy.
And so if you're thriving, then it means that you're doing well.
Yeah, our podcast is thriving.
Thanks to you, our dear listener, who is sharing it, who is writing excellent reviews, who is giving us five stars on Apple podcasts everywhere.
Thank you so much.
We are thriving because of you.
We thrived on a lot of vocabulary there, but was there any grammar?
We talked about present perfect.
Yes, present perfect.
Past perfect.
I went there last week and I'd never been there before.
And there's a conditional.
If I were in an adventurous mood, I think going to a new place by myself might be quite fun.
However, what conditional is it?
I have no idea.
I'm going to say second just for fun.
Is it?
Yes, it's the second conditional.
Oh my God, really?
That was a guess.
Yeah, yeah.
Band 9 for grammar.
But also, you've used the first conditional.
If I'm with people I know in a place where I'm comfortable, that seems like a recipe for success.
If I'm blah...
It's blah.
Oh, sorry, it's actually zero conditional.
Or the first conditional.
Uh-oh.
That's something new for me.
What is?
I forgot my conditionals.
Oh.
Well, you'll remember them eventually, because I'm not remembering them.
You have me for this.
Yeah, then we use the past simple when we talk about the past.
So I moved regularly when I was living in Moscow.
So there's a lot of variety there.
Yes.
What new place would you like to visit soon, Rory?
Go back to Moscow and make it new again, please.
If I'm going back, then it's not a new place, is it?
I have a list.
Wait, what am I doing?
I have a list of places.
Oh, you have a list.
You have a bucket list.
I do.
A Rory bucket list with new places to visit.
Number one.
Yeah, so I wanted to go to all of the Balkans, so Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, places like that.
But I also wanted to visit Armenia and Georgia and Belarus, all of which have no problems there right now.
And it will be very easy for me to visit in the near future, of course, because there's nothing going on there is there.
So I've picked some perfect places to chill out in.
Oh, cool.
What about Vladivostok, Kamchatka?
What about Oymyakon, which is the coldest place ever?
Minus 50?
No, Oymyakon.
Oymyakon, seriously.
It's a town in Russia where they can get minus 50.
Or 60?
How about that?
Yes, Google it.
If you can spell it.
Hello, Russian listeners.
Hello Russian listeners.
We do actually know how to pronounce names, it's just that we couldn't be bothered.
However, we hope you can be bothered to check out all of the wonderful vocabulary and grammar.
Speaking of which, if you aren't sure, from listening to us, what these constructions are, you can look for the examples in the transcripts.
But where can we find the transcripts?
The link is in the description.
Go check it out, together with our premium episodes and our telegram channel and our instagram.
That is on the subject of the premium.
What are the upcoming episodes for that?
People might be interested to know if they haven't got them yet.
And if you haven't got them yet, then you should, because we're only doing part one questions here.
Part two and part three are part of our premium.
We're going to talk about a time Rory moved to a new school or home.
And in Speaking Part 3 we're going to be talking about moving to new places and solving problems in general.
Thank you very much for listening.
Thank you very much for listening.
Have new beautiful things in your life or don't have them.
Bye.
Bye.
Have you been to a new place recently?
Oh, too many to count now I think about it.
But the one that sticks out most would be the school I had to work at for my placement.
It's only a few minutes up the road, but I'd never been there up until about six weeks ago.
It was great.
The students and staff are fantastic.
Do you prefer visiting new places or going to the ones you know?
Well, I suppose it depends on the company I'm keeping really.
If I'm with people I know in a place where comfortable, then that seems like a recipe for success.
On the other hand, if I were I don't know in a more adventurous mood, I think going to a new place by myself might be quite fun.
How often do you go to new places?
Well, for the last 10 years, it seems like that has happened literally every other day.
Recently though, since I moved back to my hometown, I haven't made a habit of it, unless this occasion called for it.
I think that's true for many people since there's like the whole global pandemic thing on right now.
Have you ever moved into a new place or a new home?
Oh, all the time.
Like I say, especially over the last few years.
I think I've moved house every year for the past seven years or something like that.
Most recently, back to my hometown in Dundee.
Prior to that, I moved regularly as well.
My job changed around in Moscow, so I was just moving to different parts of the city.
How did you feel about moving?
Completely fine.
I travel light, so I don't have a lot of things to pack.
And usually it can all be moved in one go, so there's no stress there.
Usually I was quite keen to get to know a new part of town if it was Moscow or a new part of the country if it was a place like Timor where we moved around a lot.
Why is living in the same place for a long time not good?
Well, I imagine that depends on your personality, but let's assume you're someone who craves novelty and is an extrovert who thrives on conversations with new people.
Then you would probably prefer to live in different places.
But if you're the opposite of that, then I can see how it would be quite detrimental for you.
