IELTS Speaking for Success - 👻 Describe an interesting traditional story (Part 2) + Transcript

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Get our premium episode archive: https://www.patreon.com/ieltssfs You should say: what the story is about, when/how you knew it, who told you the story, and explain how you felt when you first heard it. Tune in and have a great day! - Book a class with Rory here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://successwithielts.com/rory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our course on Phrasal Verbs: https://successwithielts.com/podcourses Transcript: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for our archive to get access to the transcript⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2025 Podcourses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, dear listener and welcome into IEL speaking part two. We've got a new topic today. Describe an interesting traditional story. You should say what the story is about, when, how you knew it, who told you the story and explain how you felt when you first heard it. So an interesting traditional story. Okay. So maybe from your culture, maybe from your country.

Maybe something universal that we've all heard. Exactly. Tell us the story. I'd like to talk about a story called the tortoise and the hare. You may have actually heard about it. It's one of, well, I think it's one of Esop's fables. Fable is just like a story with a moral meaning. And so this particular story is about, as you can imagine, a tortoise and a hare.

and the short version is one day a tortoise and a hare are together and the hair challenges the tortoise to a race or the other way around. I don't really remember. But the point is there's a race between these two animals. And obviously the hare, a creature like a rabbit, is much faster than the tortoise in real life. So the hair goes way far ahead towards the finish line and just before the finish line, the hair decides, oh, I have so much time I can afford to rest

and just wait for the tortoise to come and the tortoise is just going slowly and steadily along. And then the hair gets bored of waiting and falls asleep. And actually what happens is the tortoise just keeps going at its own pace and wins the race and the hare wakes up and sees the tortoise as crossed the finish line. and so is very embarrassed because, and obviously this is a big contrast to what you would expect to happen. My parents told me the story, I'm fairly sure, and I think people have it read to them at primary school,

so I've probably heard it multiple times from different people. But the whole idea behind it is that people, even with great talent, should not be overconfident and fall into this sort of trap of hubris because you might ultimately end up embarrassing yourself, whereas someone that's focused and goes at a steady pace is more likely to succeed in the end. And I think that's quite a good moral for everybody to keep in mind as they go. And that's why it stands out so much in my head. And I feel quite pleased that I've heard this story because it's something I apply in my own life. And what about your friends? Do they like the story? I haven't asked them if they like it. I imagine they've heard it, though.

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. So dear listener, the task is a traditional story. So I imagine that it's something from your country, your culture. Because I think every country has their own. tales, myths, legends.

It's like, you know, Cinderella, the three little pigs. Well, everybody's kind of heard of these stories, I think. And kind of traditional fairy tales. We read them when we're children, right? Maybe we listen to them at school. Your parents tell you. Think what you can talk about, or you can steal Aurora's story and use it. Otherwise, you do need a story that you can, you know,

talk about. And Rory told us about the tortoise. Tortus. Tortus and the hair. The tortoise and the ham and is, it's one of, how do you pronounce his name? I think it's one of Esop's fables. It looks like A-Stop, it could be A-Stop or Esop. It doesn't matter how it's pronounced. Esop's Fables and Esop was a writer long ago and he wrote Fables. What's a fable for you? a story with a moral meaning to it. So in this case, it's to not be overconfident. Yeah, so a fable is a short story that tells a general truth about something. Yeah, the fable of the tortoise and the hare. Right. We can also talk about a fairy tale. Fairy tale is quite similar. It's a traditional story written for children that usually involves

imaginary creatures and magic, right? So the tortoise and the hair. The hair is this animal, so you can Google. A hair, not hair on your head, no, hair, like a rabbit. I think tortoise should be quite easy. It's like a turtle with legs. A hair, on the other hand, is something that's like a rabbit. I don't actually know the difference between these things.

Hold on. Hair versus rabbit. What is it? Hairs are bigger and have longer ears and legs. and they are born with fur and open eyes. Unlike rabbits, which are smaller, they are born blind and hairless, and they live in burrows. Here's are solitary, and they live above ground. Oh my gosh, okay, there is a big difference between these two things.

So when you've chosen the story, you need to kind of explain what's it about in just one paragraph. So pretty much maybe a minute or even 40 seconds to tell the gist of the story, the main idea. You don't have time to retell the whole story. And that's a common problem, because when students usually talk about a movie, a book, a story, they start like, oh, it's about, and then bam, finish. You don't have time. 40 seconds, all right? Or, like, maximum a minute to tell the gist, the main idea of the story. I mean, I do quite a long time to talk about it. No, but actually, you were fine. Really? No, okay. Yeah, yeah, it was fine.

So you start off with, I'm going to tell you about the tortoise and the hair. Or I'm going to tell you about a story called, blah, blah, blah, blah, Cinderella. It's a fable or it's a fairy tale. It's a traditional story that everybody knows in my country. The examiner may not know about it, right, if it's super traditional. But you can pick something universal like Cinderella, right? or Three Little Pigs. Any other story that everyone knows about?

Like all over the world? Do you have any international traditional traditional stories? Is there not like, I'm thinking of Aeps Fables again? Is there not one about a crow that puts stones into a vase and it gets water out of the vase this way? I don't know what the moral of that story is. It's about finding novels solutions to problems. No, I don't know the story. So it's not the universe.

Yeah, for example, Cinderella Little Red Riding Hood, dear listener. Have you ever heard of Little Red Riding Hood? A girl, a wolf, grandmother who was eaten? It's a pretty bloody story, though. And the little girl takes the axe and slices open the wolf and rescues her grandmother. It is messed up. Yeah, so Grimm's brothers' fairy tales are considered universal. So also the Arabian Nights from the Middle East.

Oh, Arabian Nights is good, or what was it, a thousand and one nights or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's also a really violent story, though, like lots of murder and killing happening. Well, says who, Rory, British stories for children are bloody. Really? Come on, which ones? She ate this and she ate this and she's dead, of course, because she's eaten so much. the lady who's swallowed a fly.

Yeah, that is messed up. Sorry, I shouldn't be laughing at that, but that is quite funny. And this is a story, and this is a story, dear listener, for British children. So I think it was written by a British person, like a book for children about a lady who ate a woman, she ate a house,

she ate fish and this and that, and the last page, dear listener, I'm not joking. Silly lady. Well, there is a moral, There is a moral to this, right? Like, don't overeat and don't eat what can't be eaten. I'm not sure that's the moral. I think it's just a fun nursery rhyme.

Yeah, yeah, it all rhymes. Like, blah, blah, blah, she's eaten, ta, she's do, oh my God. Yeah, so moral of the story is event or experience, is the message that you understand from the story. So how you should behave or how you should not behave. right and usually fables fair tales they have a moral the moral of a story the moral of your experience for example is how or how to behave or how not to behave and here Roy tells us that it's a fable with a moral meaning so there is a moral to the story and then

Rory retold the story in briefly so finish line when you run a race you have a finish line. When you cross the line, you win. So remember all the marathons, running competitions, there is a finish line. Do you sometimes call it a finishing line? I don't call it a finishing line. I imagine people could and it would be okay though. And the tortoise was going at its own pace. Pace meaning speed. So it went at its own pace and the moral could be that, Go at your own pace and you'll be successful, right? So go at a steady pace. Don't be overconfident.

Yeah, don't be overconfident like the hair. Like, I'm too cool, I'm too fast, well. Well, what now? I'm too cool for school. And this is how the hair speaks, you know, oh, I'm too cool. So Elvis Presley, like, ooh. Roryo, what would be the tortoise of voice? The hair is like this, you know?

Slow, slow and slow. Steady. And then the hair was embarrassed. Burrassed? Oops. The tortoise one. What's an idiot I've been. Embarrassed.

Feeling ashamed. My parents told me the story, or my friends told me the story, or I heard it on the radio. I don't know. I watched a film. I read a book. I heard it multiple times. And usually, if it's a traditional story, we read. it, listen to it, I don't know, listen to our friends telling the story or family. So we usually

read it multiple times, so many times, or I heard it multiple times, many times. The idea behind the story, right, so the moral of the story, the idea behind it is not to be overconfident. Overconfident? Well, super sure of yourself. We can fall into the trap. We can fall into the trap. of something. But that just means that we can think something that's not actually true about a situation. Actually, it's an idiom, fall into the trap of doing something to make a bad decision. For example, don't fall into the trap of buying a house that's more expensive that you can afford. So don't fall into the trap of doing something.

And here, in the context of this story, don't fall into the trap of thinking that you can win everything. Or don't fall into the trap that you can just use your talent and it's fine. You don't need to try. And you can say that I like the story. It stands out in my head. So it's memorable to me. I always remember, you know, the message behind the story. So it stands out because it has a powerful message. It stands out in my head because of its powerful message. I apply it in my own life. So it's something I apply in my own life.

About the moral meaning of the story, kind of I use it in my own life. I try to be not overconfident. So I keep it in mind. And you can say that when I first heard it, I was surprised, I was excited, I was pleased, I was happy to receive this lesson. Well, I don't think I was given a choice. I think it was just you are going to listen to the story. Thank you very much for listening and I'll get back to you in our next episode. Bye.

Describe an interesting traditional story. You should say what the story is about, when, how you knew it, who told you the story and explain how you felt. felt when you first heard it. I'd like to talk about a story called the tortoise and a hair. You may have actually heard about it. It's one of, well, I think it's one of Esop's fables. The fable is just like a story with a moral meaning.

And so this particular story is about, as you can imagine, a tortoise and a hair. And the short version is, one day, a tortoise and a hare are together. and the hair challenges the tortoise to a race, or the other way around, I don't really remember. But the point is, there's a race between these two animals. And obviously the hare, a creature like a rabbit, is much faster than the tortoise in real life. So the hair goes way far ahead towards the finish line.

And just before the finish line, the hair decides, oh, I have so much time I can afford to rest, and just wait for the tortoise to come. and the tortoise is just going slowly and steadily along. And then the hair gets bored of waiting and falls asleep. And actually what happens is the tortoise just keeps going at its own pace and wins the race and the hare wakes up and sees the tortoise has crossed the finish line. And so is very embarrassed because, and obviously this is a big contrast to what you would expect to happen.

My parents told me the story, I'm fairly sure, and I think people have it read them at primary school, so I've probably heard it multiple times from different people. But the whole idea behind it is that people, even with great talent, should not be overconfident and, you know, fall into this sort of trap of hubris because you might ultimately end up embarrassing yourself, whereas someone that's focused and goes at a steady pace is more likely to succeed in the end. And I think that's quite a good moral for everybody to keep in mind. as they go. And that's why it stands out so much in my head.

And I feel quite pleased that I've heard this story because it's something I apply in my own life. And what about your friends? Do they like the story? I... You haven't asked them if they like it? I imagine they've heard it, though.