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Hello, sunshine.
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 improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
We started this podcast to give you super grammar and fabulous vocabulary for your high IELTS score.
Your Band 9 score.
Oh, Rory, are you all right?
Yes, there's just a bird on the windowsill.
There are animals everywhere in this neighborhood.
Shall we talk about animals and pets?
Animals and pets, dear listener, on the podcast.
Do you have any pets?
Maybe animals at home?
Me?
Yeah, Rory.
No, you don't have anyone, huh?
No, I cannot be responsible for an animal right now.
And also it would be very unfair because the apartment is very high up and you cannot keep animals inside all the time.
Have you ever had a pet before?
Oh, yes.
We had dogs in our family for ages.
We even had a favorite breed.
They were all chow chows, these big furry dogs that come from China originally.
They're very cuddly and they make great guard dogs.
What's the most popular animal in your country?
I'm not sure, really.
It's either dogs or cats, since those are the ones you see people with the most often.
And I can see why, since they're probably the most useful and are great company.
What's your favourite animal?
I used to love tigers, and I still do, because they look very cool with all those stripes and their size, but I doubt I'd like one as a pet.
In that case, I'd prefer to have a dog, but I'm a little bit allergic, so I doubt that will happen.
Where do you prefer to keep pets, indoors or outdoors?
Well, I don't have any pets at the moment, but if I did, they'd definitely be in the house with me so I could keep an eye on them.
Plus, it's very cold outdoors right now, so keeping them outside is a bit cruel.
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Right, dear listener.
So pets and animals.
So there is a difference.
Animals like tigers, lions, elephants.
But pets, pets are kept at home usually.
Or if you live in the countryside, so just like you have a pet.
Cats, dogs, maybe some exotic pets.
Lizards, guinea pigs.
Yeah, hedgehogs.
Well, you can have a tiger as a pet.
I'm sure you can if you're a millionaire.
Yeah, but tigers are pretty expensive, right?
And you kind of have to feed them.
Again, present perfect.
Have you ever had a pet?
What's the most exotic animal you've ever seen?
And like you say, yeah, I've had two cats just generally in your life.
Or I used to have a dog, but not anymore.
Or now I have a cat, now I have a fish.
And here it would be funny just to talk about some exotic pets.
Because everyone will talk about cats and dogs and the examiner is kind of bored already.
Okay, cats, dogs, like, come on.
But if you say like, yeah, I have a monkey.
A monkey, dear listener.
And then the examiner is all into you.
Oh, really?
You have a monkey?
Wow.
And like they'll be talking about you, like.
Oh you know, like today I had a student and he had a monkey at home.
So you'll be interesting.
So I don't know.
Pick an interesting animal.
Maybe like a snake.
I don't know.
Is it exotic to have a snake?
I think so.
There are different kinds of snakes and they're not really from well, at least they're not from the northern parts of the world.
Okay, what about this anaconda kind of snake, like a huge snake?
Do you remember a film with Jennifer Lopez?
Oh, I don't think you can have, yeah, although I don't think those can be kept as pets.
I think they're an endangered species.
People have boa constrictors as pets.
Yeah, you don't want to say anything illegal, dear listener, all right?
So just keep it legal.
Don't say like, I have a tiger, but a monkey, a small monkey, it's possible, right?
Actually, when I was a child, we saw a person living in our neighborhood and he did have a monkey and he worked in a circus circus, you know yeah, and like he was walking his monkey out, like taking his monkey for a walk.
So yeah, like a monkey, a hedgehog, they are small, spiky animals.
Yeah, maybe some ferret.
However, once you've thought about a pet, then you can describe them.
For example, I picked charchars and I described them as big and furry and cuddly.
And they make great guard dogs.
If they make something, that means they are useful for something.
Yeah, I would say like, oh, they are cute or cuddly, right?
Cuddly, like they hug you, you hug them, like very friendly and nice.
The most popular animal in your country.
But animal, you know, could be not a pet, but an animal.
A bear.
What's the most popular animal in Scotland?
Did you check, Rory?
No, of course I didn't.
No.
But in your country, dear listener, you should check right now.
Just Google the most popular animal in Thailand.
Or I don't know where you are.
The golden eagle, Rory, is considered Scotland's favorite wild animal.
Well, that's the favorite wild animal.
But what about the favorite pet?
The most popular pet in Scotland.
I think it's a dog.
If you're going to describe dogs, though, you can talk about the kind of dog.
And if we want to talk about kinds, we can talk about the breed of dog.
However, as we all know, dog breeding is cruel and inhumane.
So maybe you want a dog that is mixed breed or a mongrel dog.
Dogs are great company.
So a dog is a good friend.
It accompanies you everywhere.
It's always around.
It's waiting for you, you know.
What's your favorite animal?
Of course.
Here Rory talked about wild animals, so tigers, because they look cool.
They have stripes.
But if you want to talk about other animals, you will need to find some specific words to describe them.
Tigers have stripes.
Leopards have spots.
Cats can have both.
So you can pick the feature and describe it.
Or you could just steal my answer.
The examiner will not know.
Yeah, absolutely.
Or again, you can talk about some, I don't know, rare animals like snow leopards.
Like what are the rarest animals in the world?
Cheetah.
What's a cheetah?
It's a very fast big cat. yeah, like the fastest cat on earth, like a big cat, cheetah, it's an important word for you to not know, you know, a keyword of this episode, cheetah, c-h-e-e-t-a-h, so just google cheetah, look at the picture, yeah, you can use this everywhere, it's okay, cheetah gorillas, red pandas,
Blue whales, snow leopards.
Snow leopards are my favorite.
Lions.
All right.
Pandas.
There we go.
Pandas.
Oh, pandas.
No.
Oh, and your favorite animal.
Rory, you forgot.
What's your favorite animal, Rory?
What did I forget?
Oh, a capybara.
A noble, majestic capybara.
How could you forget?
Rory, Rory.
Aye, aye, aye.
Tigers.
Ah, you cheated on capybara.
I'm allowed to change my mind.
No, no, no.
Why am I?
Why?
Why?
Because capybaras are now depressed.
They'll be okay.
They're pretty chill.
I just apologize, Rory.
If I have to describe capybaras, what would I say?
I'd say they look cool, they have a very relaxed demeanor, and they're brown and furry.
Yes.
So, there we go.
Some topic-specific language for the capybara.
And, dear listener, if you don't have any pets, the examiner will continue.
Where do you prefer to keep your pets?
But you say, sorry, I don't have any pets, but if I had...
Some pets, I'd keep them indoors or outdoors, well, depending on the pet.
I don't have any pets at the moment, but if I had a cat, I'd keep it in the house.
The second conditional, if I had a dog...
I'd keep it in the house.
If I had a huge dog, I'd keep it outside.
To keep an eye on them.
Keep an eye on somebody just to watch them, to look at them, to control them.
If it's cold outdoors, I'll keep them outside or inside.
Because certain pets should be outside, like horses.
Oh, actually, horses are inside.
Yeah, but if it's too cold, yeah, they are.
Inside.
And we are ready for a joke.
Right, dear listener, do you remember the keyword of the episode?
Cheater.
So the joke is...
Why shouldn't you play cards in the African savannah?
Why?
Because it's full of cheaters.
Oh, well done, Maria.
Rory, explain the joke, will you?
Cheetah is the name of the animal, but if you say it fast cheetah, then it's also sounding like the word cheater, which is someone who does not play by the rules of a game.
Oh, how fun.
Cheat.
You see, if I cheat when I play cards, I do something not very nice and I don't play by the rules.
And a person who doesn't play by the rules is a cheater, right?
A person who behaves in a dishonest way to win something or get an advantage.
So, yeah.
So, sometimes athletes break the rules and they are cheaters.
All right, dear listeners.
So if you have nothing to say and you know, you just happen to remember this joke about cheaters, you just crack a joke in the room.
You just say, you know, like, you know what?
I don't know what to say, but I know a joke.
And then the examiner goes, okay, thank you, thank you.
No, no, no joke.
You go, no, no, no, no, no.
I've been preparing for this.
I have to tell the joke.
Very important.
I'm an anxious person, so I have to finish it.
And then you can say like, oh, if I don't tell you the joke now, I can start crying, you know.
And the examiner, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Start the joke.
Thank you so much for listening.
We'll get back to you in our next episode.
Bye.
Bye.
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Have you ever had a pet before?
Oh, yes.
We had dogs in our family for ages.
We even had a favorite breed.
They were all chow chows, these big furry dogs that come from China originally.
They're very cuddly and they make great guard dogs.
What's the most popular animal in your country?
I'm not sure, really.
It's either dogs or cats, since those are the ones you see people with the most often.
And I can see why, since they're probably the most useful and are great company.
What's your favourite animal?
I used to love tigers, and I still do, because they look very cool with all those stripes and their size.
But I doubt I'd like one as a pet.
In that case, I'd prefer to have a dog, but I'm a little bit allergic, so I doubt that will happen.
Where do you prefer to keep pets, indoors or outdoors?
Well, I don't have any pets at the moment, but if I did, they'd definitely be in the house with me so I could keep an eye on them.
Plus, it's very cold outdoors right now, so keeping them outside is a bit cruel.
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