Hello, love.
I'm Maria.
And my name is Rory.
And we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast.
The podcast 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 super vocabulary and gorgeous grammar for your English life and for a high IELTS score.
Rory, I'm a bit stressed out about you leaving Russia, yeah?
I hope everything will be fine.
Oh, don't worry, Maria.
Everything will be great.
Do you maybe want me to help you relax a bit?
Yes, please.
On our premium IELTS podcasts, IELTS Speaking for Success Premium.
We cover the most recent IELTS speaking topics for all three parts of the IELTS exam.
In each episode we give you model answers and vocabulary to help you get a higher score in your IELTS speaking exam.
A Pan 9 score.
With all that Pan 9 package, you can relax in the exam and get the high score you want.
Click the link in the description of this episode or go to successwithieltscom forward slash premium to listen to free, premium and sample episodes.
Pan 9 score.
Are you feeling better, Maria?
Oh, yes, much better.
Thank you.
By the way, in IELTS Speaking Part 1, they can ask you questions about relaxing.
Is that a coincidence?
Oh, it's another coincidence on this podcast.
What is not a coincidence is that we have Brandon today with us.
Brandon, hello.
Hello Maria, hello Rory, nice to be here.
So, do we have two native speakers here or one is not a native speaker?
One and a half.
Because Rory is Scottish.
Brendan, do you think Rory is a native speaker?
Of course he is, we're just teasing him.
Tell us about yourself, where are you from?
Well, I'm from London in the UK.
I'm a teacher teacher trainer, currently in Moscow running a teacher training course and not coincidentally popped in to see Maria and Rory.
Oh, thank you.
We are so happy to have you here, Brandon, with us.
And Brandon is the native, native, super native speaker because he's from England.
Wow.
So dear listener, you can enjoy our accents.
Brandon, do you have an accent?
Well, if I talk with my friends in London, you'd hear me talk like that.
Kind of cockney accent.
But my everyday accent, I suppose, is quite neutral.
Queen's English?
No.
Just kind of neutral.
Rory, would you like to be taught by Brandon?
Why not?
Well, we've kind of already done a bit of teaching together, haven't we?
We did the mock exam.
So dear listener, welcome into this special episode about relaxing.
And in this special episode, Rory is going to ask questions about relaxing and Brandon is going to give you the answers.
Are you ready?
Yes, I'm taking over your role.
Ready, Brandon?
What do you do to relax?
Well, first I should say I don't have much time to relax nowadays with a new baby, but when I do, I love cycling and any opportunity I get I get out on the bike and it just helps me to switch off and get some good fitness and conditioning into the bargain.
Do you think doing sports is a good way to relax?
Think it depends on the sport.
When i was younger i used to do a lot of um?
Um, combat sports and possibly not the best way to relax.
But nowadays, bit older, i like more gentle forms of exercise, such as cycling which yeah, absolutely helped me to relax.
Do you think a vacation is a good time for you to relax?
Personally speaking, I'm not the most relaxed person when I go on holiday.
I'm constantly thinking about all the airport stuff that you have to do checking in, making sure you have all your tickets.
You haven't forgotten anything.
And then it takes me three or four days to rewind.
And then I realised I've got about four days left.
So I'm not the most relaxed person when it comes to holidays.
Some of my friends are.
They find it easy to just switch off and lie on a beach.
I'm not really one of those people.
Do you think students need more time to relax?
Yeah, I mean, you know, studying is a heavy investment, you know financially emotionally, and it can get quite stressful.
So I think, yeah, they do need time to switch off and recharge.
Brendan, thank you for your answers.
And Maria was taking some notes while we were doing that, right?
Yeah, I was also liking Brandon's posts and taking notes on his fabulous language.
Being productive.
Yeah, Roy, did you notice anything that Brandon said?
On Brandon's Instagram?
No.
In his answers.
Well, I quite liked the opening parts, personally speaking.
I've got, like I always say, to tell the truth, speaking honestly, this kind of thing.
So it's a good opening part.
But the other one was when you said, any opportunity I get, I go on the bike.
Yeah, that's a nice one.
And also Brandon used lots of synonyms to like relax.
For example, you said switch off.
So we should relax, we should switch off.
Recharge.
Recharge.
There we go.
Yeah.
But you don't have to say recharge my batteries.
No.
Yeah.
It's a bit strange.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, I need to recharge my batteries.
Just like I need to recharge.
I think people say that.
Reboot.
Reboot.
Yeah.
Just some people say that.
It's quite common.
How can I use it in a sentence?
Well, sometimes you just have to switch off and reboot.
You see Rory?
Are you taking notes?
Sometimes you have to, Rory.
You personally.
Rory's beavering away night and day.
It's a phrasal verb.
Oh, Brendan, did you know that we have created a podcast on phrasal verbs?
I wasn't aware of that.
Not running time.
You've got to go to successwithielts.com forward slash podcourses.
I shall check it out.
Oh, it's another phrasal verb, and now I have to say the website address again.
No, I'm not going to do it.
That's way too high an investment in terms of advertising.
And on the subject of investment, I think you said that something was a heavy investment, right?
Yeah, I said, you know, being a student, there's a heavy investment both financially, emotionally...
Nice.
That's why you have to recharge and reboot.
Yes, because you put so much into being a student that you like.
Well, you just basically said it yourself.
You have to spend a lot of time studying.
You have to, well, take the time and put together the resources.
So it's a big investment.
Imagine your resources are money.
You invest them.
Yes, true.
Also, another one is rewind.
You said rewind.
The same as relax, right?
I think sometimes, if I'm using the word rewind, I'm saying you know, things are going on and on and on a constant loop.
Just rewind, sit back and relax.
Oh i, i took that a totally different way.
I thought you were meaning like to get yourself back into the mindset of working.
Because like, unwind is relax and rewind is yeah.
I think you know you probably use them interchangeably.
Yeah also, another one is unwind.
You need to unwind yeah, we need to unwind.
Let's go to a bar, a bar or a pub for you.
Yes, let's.
Oh, let's not.
It's only 12 o'clock in the afternoon.
Oh, yeah, we're recording in the afternoon.
So, yeah, I need to rewind.
I usually rewind at the weekend, and rewind is an interesting word because it's like w-i-n-d, but we don't say wind, we say rewind or unwind.
Right, a nice one was when it comes to sports yes, When it comes to, I know, relaxing.
When it comes to vacation, I'm not a relaxed person.
So that's the synonym, right?
So relaxing, to relax, and then I'm not a relaxed person.
And then I really enjoy this one.
I prefer a gentle form of exercise.
Because I'm out.
Oh, you're not.
How old are you?
Is Rory older than you?
I doubt it.
I just look older, which is almost as bad.
Yeah, but Brennan is in good shape, so he cycles every day.
I try.
He tries to cycle every day.
So this is like a gentle form of exercise.
But you said like, I used to do combat.
Combat sports.
What kind of combat sports?
Karate mostly.
I messed about with boxing and judo.
Oh, nice.
You're dangerous, aren't you?
No, I'm a pussycat.
How many like?
Well, I don't know what they're called grades in jujitsu, but I guess it's Dan's in karate, right?
Yeah, I'm desperate, Dan.
Do you have a belt?
Something like a black belt?
Yeah, I was going to say, do you have a belt?
What belt do you have?
That one.
You have a black belt?
Oh my God, really?
Aww.
That's cool.
Wow, we have a professional what?
If you have a black belt, do you not have to register yourself as being armed, or something like that?
And let people know where I live?
No, thank you.
No, but I have a friend who... I think it's an apocryphal kind of story.
Really?
Yes.
Oh, I had a friend who had a black belt and he said he had to register with the police or something like that.
No.
No, you don't have to do that.
I've been lied to.
That's not cool.
So, Rory, if we go out at night with Brandon, we should feel absolutely safe.
Well, unless we're on the wrong side of Brandon, then I won't feel safe.
No, karate makes you fit enough to run away.
Okay, cool.
Now you know.
All right.
You know, I've been doing some research on relaxation and how to relax.
And did you know that some chocolate helps you to kick back?
How much chocolate?
How much chocolate?
Well, some chocolate.
How much is some?
Dark chocolate.
Oh, I don't like dark chocolate.
You have to eat dark chocolate and dark chocolate boosts your brain health and it reduces stress.
Brandon, do you believe in all this nonsense?
Well, I think there's a quote let food be your medicine.
So I don't necessarily know about chocolate, but I do know that some foods make me feel much more relaxed.
Apparently, turkey helps you to sleep at night.
Yum yum, yum.
Yeah, apparently it's a food that releases some kind of chemical that helps you to sleep at night.
Are you joking?
No, if you think about if you've ever had Christmas dinner in a British home, you know.
Half an hour after dinner, everybody's just laid out flat on the sofa snoring with James Bond on the TV.
And the Queen.
We put that down to the turkey and don't tell everybody about the 20 cans of beer you've had.
Is that not just food in general, though?
Doesn't eating lower your blood pressure?
I suppose it depends what kind of food.
Although, like, you're right about Christmas dinner.
Everybody falls asleep after that.
Cool.
So turkey for Brandon, Rory for you.
For Christmas dinner?
No, no, no.
Not Christmas dinner.
Which food relaxes you?
And do you agree that dark chocolate could help you to relax, to kick back?
I don't know.
I thought it was just any food you ate lowered your blood pressure.
I guess the only thing that wouldn't do that would be anything with caffeine in it.
Like if you have a coffee cake, for example.
I've got a theory about it.
Go ahead.
I think you can eat all the most unhealthy rubbish you want.
Yeah.
And if it makes you feel happy.
Yes.
You're going to feel relaxed.
I totally agree, Brandon.
Yeah.
Is that where we're going to McDonald's after this?
We are going to McDonald's.
Oh, yes.
We're going to pig out at McDonald's.
Rory's favorite place now, by the way.
Rory, do you still work out?
Yeah, well, I have to because I eat so much McDonald's.
Back to the kickback thing.
Do you use the verb to kick back?
You do, yeah.
Give me a sentence.
Well, I was going to say kickback has got two meanings.
You kick back and relax.
Right like, but it also, is it not connected to corruption as well?
Kickbacks or bribes?
Oh yeah, right.
True, I think chill out is more common than kickback in terms of relaxation.
But yeah, you can offer kickbacks as a bribe.
Not in Russia, though.
That would never happen anywhere in this country.
No, no, no.
We don't do that.
No, no, no.
Oh, right, right.
Okay.
Have you ever heard the word chillax?
I've heard it before, but ironically, this is a portmanteau word.
I'm just trying to sound clever, right combination of two parts of a word.
Yeah, so like relax and chill, chillax like breakfast brunch.
Yes okay, well done Maria.
Breakfast and lunch Brunch.
Yeah.
Podcast and course.
Podcast.
Yeah.
Okay.
Right.
One more thing that I have for you.
Send your ABCs backwards.
Helps you to relax and stop worrying about things.
Is that because you're worried?
And it shifts your focus from worrying.
Do you agree?
That's because you're worried about something else.
I would imagine myself getting very stressed trying to do that.
Really?
With all the stopping and starting and getting frustrated.
I can do just like A, B, C, D, E, F, G, but like backwards.
We can probably do it backwards if we had enough time and a piece of paper.
Okay, people.
So, Brandon and Roy, tell me, if you had to choose a new activity to relax, what would it be?
But it should be something that you've never done before and you think that it might relax you.
I can imagine sailing being quite relaxing.
Yeah, I've always wanted to try it.
I mean, I've been on very.
I can remember being in Greece and going from Athens to two of the local Greek islands and I just thought it's so relaxed and so relaxing.
Soothing.
Yeah, there was something soothing about it.
Water soothes you.
This is a very good word, like soothe, to calm you down, right?
So the water and the colours of the water are soothing.
Nice, Brandon the sailor.
Nice.
Okay, cool.
I can imagine it being really relaxing.
Well, I've had it on my to-do list for years now to learn how to meditate, and I never quite get around to it.
I don't know why I never get around to it.
Well, I know exactly why I don't get around to it because there's always so much else to do.
But this app is really good in that, you know, it says you can just take 10 deep breaths, you know, and that's That's enough.
Yeah.
So Rory, you've never got around to it, which means like you haven't started it, but you wanted to.
Yes.
And Brandon, you're saying that he has just to take 10 breaths.
Yeah, that's a start.
Just, you know, sit down relax, take 10 deep breaths and then you, you know, you feel rejuvenized rejuvenized rejuvenized okay, so kind of like young again.
Oh well okay, but do you think like 10 breaths is going to be enough for this Scottish face who's yawning right now?
I think I'm going to need like an oxygen tank, to be honest with you.
Okay, cool.
So meditation for you, Rory, and then sailing for you.
Sailing is cool.
What about you, Maria?
Hmm.
Eating.
You've never eaten before.
Eating exotic food that I've never eaten before relaxes me.
And going to some fancy restaurant.
Haggis.
And...
No, fancy.
Why wouldn't you eat haggis?
For example, yesterday I went to a restaurant and they have this artificial intelligence which creates food.
Dear listener, have you ever heard that? that artificial intelligence creates food.
Genetically modified food.
No, genetically modified.
There's one in Moscow.
Yeah, I've heard of it.
Yes, in Moscow we have this place.
It's called She.
Now it's the promotion of this place.
Yeah, it was amazing.
So these things relax me.
Cool.
You don't understand that, Brandon, right?
There's so much I've got to do before I leave.
Okay.
Anyway, thank you very much, Brandon.
Thank you for your English nativeness, speakiness.
Thank you, Rory.
Thank you for asking questions and just being with us.
That's okay.
We hope that you've enjoyed this episode and now you know some nice synonyms.
You can read the script and find out even more.
Brandon is all over Facebook and is on Instagram, so the link to his profile is It's going to be in the description right, Brandon?
Okay.
And now Rory's going to talk about our social media deals.
Yes, you can find us on Telegram and Instagram and Facebook as well, actually.
We're on Facebook.
Yeah, we're everywhere.
We are everywhere.
And we also have our own social media pages.
It's important to point out Brendan's all over his Instagram, but he's also on my Instagram.
We mentioned doing a mock exam, but we didn't actually say where it was.
And it's on my Instagram.
It's one of the videos.
He was a very good exam candidate, I have to say.
I did as I was told.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
OK, shall we say goodbye altogether?
Hopefully everybody enjoyed our relaxing answers.
One, two, three.
Bye.
Goodbye.
What do you do to relax?
Well, first I should say I don't have much time to relax nowadays with a new baby, but when I do, I love cycling and any opportunity I get I get out on the bike and it just helps me to switch off and get some good fitness and conditioning into the bargain.
Do you think doing sports is a good way to relax?
I think it depends on the sport.
When I was younger, I used to do a lot of combat sports and possibly not the best way to relax.
But nowadays a bit older.
I like more gentle forms of exercise, such as cycling, which absolutely helped me to relax.
Do you think a vacation is a good time for you to relax?
Personally speaking, I'm not the most relaxed person when I go on holiday.
I'm constantly thinking about all the airport stuff that you have to do checking in, making sure you have all your tickets.
You haven't forgotten anything.
And then it takes me three or four days to rewind.
And then I realise I've got about four days left.
So I'm not the most relaxed person when it comes to holidays.
Some of my friends are.
They find it easy to just switch off and lie on the beach.
I'm not really one of those people.
Do you think students need more time to relax?
Yeah, I mean, you know, studying is a heavy investment, you know financially emotionally, and it can get quite stressful.
So I think, yeah, they do need time to switch off and recharge.
