IELTS Speaking for Success - 🐖 Describe a story or a book with animals in it (Part 2) + Transcript

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

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You should say what animals are in it, what the story book is about, why you read this story or book and explain what you think of this story or book. I know, dear listener, this is a new topic. Describe a story or a book with animals. In it, animals like crocodiles, zebras, cats. Any animals? Rory, give us your story. Well, there are lots of books like this in my country,

but the one that stands out for me the most right now is the animals of farthing wood, which I think was written in the early 1990s. Speaking about the various species in it, they're just common woodland ones that you might find, all over the UK. There are foxes and badgers and rabbits and mice. I even think they had an adder in it, which is a kind of venomous snake. It might even be the only one we have in our country. If we consider what the whole thing is about, it tells the story of this group of animals whose

home is being poisoned and destroyed by a development company. And in order to avoid being wiped out, they enter into an agreement to work together and flee the area, which is called farthing wood, and try to find shelter in this animal reservation called White Deer Park. So the plot, well, as it unfolds, it covers various things that happen to them along the way to their final destination. And the drama that unfolds as well after they arrive, because there's some conflict with the animals which have been living there prior to their arrival. So it kind of starts off in one place and moves to another and develops further. it's not just like they reach the park and it's a happy ending. There's more to follow. When I think about why I read it, well, this was when I was much younger and what kid doesn't like the idea of talking animals,

especially the ones you see and hear every day. I don't think I bought it, though. I think it was actually a gift from my grandmother. She had just found it sitting around in her house and decided to give it to us, which was very thoughtful. As far as what I thought of the book is concerned, I thought it was pretty good actually, and I'm glad I took the time to read it. I think it was originally based on a TV series, but I prefer books. However, I doubt I'd read it again,

since that sort of thing is designed or written to appeal to kids, and I'm a bit more grown up now. It does sometimes come up in conversation, though, so it's good that I read it, otherwise I wouldn't be in the know about what people are going on about. As you know, we now release all of our premium content for free, and it's available for one month.

After one month, it goes into our super secret archive. To sign up for the archive, click the link in the description below. See you soon. Right, dear listener, a book or a story with animals in it, Rory told us about the animals of fuzzling wood. So if you Google this book, The Animals of... So F-A-R-T-H-I-N-G. Arthing is a kind of old coin that was used in the UK

before pounds and pens were introduced. So this book was written by Colin Dan, D-A-A-W-N. It's a series of books about a group of woodland animals. So pretty much the book is about animals. And also there's a TV series. So you can watch TV series about animals. and the author is from the UK, so it's an English book. It's a British book, thank you very much.

Oh, sorry, English, British, British, I'm sorry. It's a book in English. It's a book in English by a British author. You can talk about Alice in Wonderland, Alice Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, a famous book about Alice, and remember the white rabbit, the film with Johnny Depp

Alice in Wonderland If you haven't watched it Watch it And then you can talk about A book as if you've read it Yeah it's also about Animals There is a caterpillar

You know First the caterpillar Then a butterfly And the rabbits And other animals Yeah kind of like One of the famous books Also The Wizard of Oz

Oh yeah That's got Toto. Well, it's got a line in it and everything. Maybe in the childhood you read a book for children about animals. You should remember it for IEL's purposes. Please remember it, yes. It's okay if it's a book for children. You read in your childhood or talk about Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz,

or talk about Rory's book, The Animals of Fathering Wood, watch one series. And then you can talk about the book. You can start off with, there are lots of books like this in my country, but one book that stands out is Alice in Wonderland. One book that stands out that I remember very well is the animals of farthing wood. Or is like a short story I read in my childhood. It was written in, so the book was written. I don't remember when the book was written.

I don't remember when I read it. Or I think it was written in the 1990. Yeah, like when was Alice in Wonderland written? 1865, wow. Yeah, so like the 19th century then. The 19th century, yeah. Wow, 1865, that is much longer ago than I thought it was. Oh, yeah.

Crazy. Yeah, it was published. Actually, Alice, adventures inspired by the daughter of the dean of Christ's Church in Oxford. Oh, fancy. And Roy, you are teaching in Oxford now, right? I am. I should have talked about Alice in Wonderland.

The connection. Look at that. Yeah. Then you need to name animals from the book, right? Like specific animals. So the book is about foxes, rabbit. mice. A mouse? A lot of mice. Then Rory is more specific. Badgers, dear listener. If you don't know who a badger is, you just go to Google Images, B-A-D-G-E-R, Badger. Go to images and look at the image of a badger, a very nice little cute animal. Moles, also a very specific name. The animals that dig for things underground.

Yeah, and also go to Google Images and write down M-O-L-E-S, M-O-E-S. M-O-E-S. But we look at animals, not people, because there is another meaning of M-O-L-E, M-O-E, M-O-E, M-O-E, M-E. Moles and badges, you see, so Ben-N-N-N vocabulary, very specific. If you talk about Alice in Wonderland, you can name the White Rabbit and Caterpillar. Caterpillar. It's very funny. Yeah, a bit delusional.

This caterpillar. The caterpillar smokes a pipe or something. We don't know exactly. It's not very wholesome. You know what? Caterpillar smokes in the movie. Maybe in the book, I don't remember. There is also an edda.

Adder, yeah, uh-huh. Another interesting animal. Edda. Oh, not a snake, huh? Oh, is the snake? It is a snake, yes. It's the only venomous snake in the UK. Oh, wow, okay.

Venomous snake, which is poisonous, which has poison. Venom? Whoa, it's different, it's different, it's not poisonous. So, if it's venomous, it bites you and you die or get poisoned by it. But if something is poisonous, if you eat it, then it will, the poison gets into you and you die. So it's a different word with a very specific. meaning, surely that's got to be band nine. Band nine, totally bad nine.

You see how much knowledge we have in here. If you're struggling to remember, venomous means if it bites you, you die. And poisonous means if you bite it, then you die. Whoa. Like poisonous mushrooms, right? You eat them and you die. Exactly. You don't get venomous mushrooms.

Or if you do, then you have bigger problems. Yeah, we have venomous frogs, for example. Like, you touch a frog and then, eh. No, no. you have poisonous frogs. Oh, I know, poisonous frogs? They will not be venomous. They cannot bite.

They don't have teeth. Yeah, but if you touch them, you can die. But does that make them venomous? Oh, let's see. No, because they have this thing. You touch them and then bam. But maybe also they bite because they have a mouth and they have this tongue and maybe they are blabloom, you know, like they do this thing with the tongue.

And then you go. As it turns out, we are both correct. Frogs can be both. According to Google, frogs can be both. both poisonous and venomous, but the vast majority of toxic species are classed as poisonous. Now you know, dear listener. Right. When the task asks you to describe what the story is about, what film is about, this should be very brief, dear listener.

Usually you start talking, oh, this film is about, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then the examiner says, thank you. No, kind of three sentences, dear listener. three sentences to tell the examiner what the story, what the book is about. The book is huge, it's a book, but in three sentences, you should sum up what the plot is about. You have two minutes for this task, so three, four sentences about the plot, the story. So it tells the story of animals, who, ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, right?

or it tells a story about Alice. Who goes to this? Who goes on a crazy adventure? Who goes on a crazy adventure? Google your book. Read about the plot. Choose three sentences and just remember them. That's audio listener.

You need three, four sentences. So the plot covers many things, feelings. feelings and other things we are unfamiliar with. Some conflict with the animals. Okay. It could be relationships or emotions or other themes that are common in children's stories. Overcoming fear. The drama unfolds.

Oh, yeah, that's a good collocation. At the end of the book, yeah, like it's kind of like there's a drama, you know, this conflict. Oh, like, you know, maybe there's a war. So the drama unfolds at the end of the book, for example. Unfold, it kind of opens, it spreads. See one? Really? Yeah. Oh, C2. There we go.

If a situation or story unfolds, it develops or becomes clear to other people. There we go. In this meaning, so the story unfolds when animals eat each other. Oh, yeah, there's another one, animal farm, which is. is classical literature. If you study English literature, you might know about animal farm, a very famous book. Google it, Animal Farm by George Owell. I think there might be a movie as well.

There is, yeah. Oh, yeah, animal movie. Yeah. And Animal Farm. Oh, actually, 2025. This is about an animal revolution. And it's about pigs and other animals. So, yeah, a powerful book.

satire. So that will have drama unfolding in it. So the story unfolds. As the plot unfolds, blah, blah, blah, blah. As the plot develops. I was a kid when I read it. I went to school when I read it. I don't remember much about it, for example.

You can say, My parents gave me this book, which was very thoughtful. I thought it was a pretty good story. It was pretty good. This book was pretty good. Or this book is pretty good. It teaches you things. It comes up in conversations.

It has drama and conflict. So it comes up in conversations. So it's a popular book. For example, the story about Alice in the Wonderland often comes up in conversations. Yeah. And I'm happy that I've read this book. Or I'm happy that I read this book as a child. I'm glad I took the time to read it.

I'm happy. I took the time to read it. I'm happy. I found this book. Yeah, maybe you read a story for children two weeks ago. So that's fine, you know. I like stories for children about animals, especially, you know, like British stories when they talk about a lady.

A lady ate this, ate that, ate a pig, ate horse, she's dead, of course. Of course, you would like the one about death. It's a book for children in English. Yeah, a book about death. Yes, and food. Overeating. The consequences of overeating.

And they're kind of like all happy, you know, on the last page. She's dead, of course. Hey, you know, congratulations. Right, dear listener. Thank you very much for listening. Choose your story. book about animals. Now you know what to read animal farm. Alice in Wonderland. Check those out. Try to pick a happy one. Yeah. And watch the movie Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp.

Thank you very much for listening. Bye. Bye. Describe a story or a book with animals in it. You should say what animals are in it, what the story book is about, why you read this story or book and explain what you think of this story or book. Well, there are lots of books like this in my country, but the one that stands out for me the most right now is the animals of farthing wood, which I think was written in the early 1990s. Speaking about the various species in it,

they're just common woodland ones that you might find all over the UK. There are foxes and badgers and rabbits and mice. I even think they had an adder in it, which is a kind of venomous snake. It might even be the only one we have in our country. If we consider what the whole thing is about, it tells the story of this group of animals whose home is being poisoned and destroyed by a development company. And in order to avoid being wiped out,

they enter into an agreement to work together and flee the area, which is called farthing wood, and try to find shelter in this animal reservation called White Deer Park. So the plot, well, as it unfolds, it covers various things that happen to them along the way to their final destination and the drama that unfolds as well after they arrive because there's some conflict with the animals which have been living there prior to their arrival. So it kind of starts off in one place and moves to another and develops further. It's not just like they reach the park and it's a happy ending. There's more to follow. when I think about why I read it

well this was when I was much younger and what kid doesn't like the idea of talking animals especially the ones you see and hear every day I don't think I I don't think I bought it though I think it was actually a gift from my grandmother she had just found it sitting around in her house and decided to give it to us

which was very thoughtful as far as what I thought of the book is concerned I thought it was pretty good actually and I'm glad I took the time to read it. I think it was originally based on a TV series, but I prefer books. However, I doubt I'd read it again, since that sort of thing is designed or written to appeal to kids, and I'm a bit more grown up now. It does sometimes come up in conversation, though, so it's good that I read it, otherwise I wouldn't be in the know about what people are going on about.