IELTS Speaking for Success - 💐 Flowers (S06E23) + Transcript

Episode Date: December 6, 2021

What flowers do you like? When was the last time you gave flowers to somebody? What flowers have special meaning in your country? Have you ever planted any flowers? Tune in and have a great day! - Get exclusive episodes on IELTS Speaking parts 1, 2, and 3: https://linktr.ee/sfspremium Our course on Phrasal Verbs: https://successwithielts.com/podcourses Transcript: https://bit.ly/transcripts06e23 Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2021 Success with IELTS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, lovely. I'm Maria. And my name is Rory, and we're the hosts of the IELD 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 lovely podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and super-duper vocabulary together with fresh IOTS topics. Oh, Rory, I've got so much work to do. I'm running all these IELs courses for IEL's teachers. I have to check I else papers and organize stuff and everybody's writing to me. Oh, what do I do? I need more weeks and more hours. Maria, this is a side effect of being very successful.

You really need to wake up and smell the roses from time to time. Mmm, smell the roses. Shall we talk about flowers? It's a coincidence. And yes. on this podcast. And if you want more speaking from us, speaking parts two and three, we have Ayood speaking for success premium with more than 190 episodes. I'm sure it's more than 200 episodes. Wow. With fresh IOT's topics, gorgeous grammar and vocabulary for you on our premium

super duper native speaker and educational podcast. The link is in the description. Do we check it out. Flowers. Roy, do you like flowers? Well, I'm hardly a flower fanatic, but I don't mind having them around, unless there are many of them in full bloom. That can affect my allergies sometimes. What flowers do you like? I'm not averse to any kinds of flowers, really.

I like them all, to be honest. Well, unless, like I said, they're ones that make me sneeze, but those times and varieties are few and far and, between. When was the last time you gave flowers to somebody? I remember it like it was yesterday actually, because it's quite unusual for me. I bought my other half flowers in his favorite color about halfway through this year. I don't do it very often and I can't remember the occasion. I just thought it would be a nice idea because I was walking past the florists next to the gym. Do you like sending flowers to others? I prefer something more practical over what's aesthetics since I like helping people, and so this tends to be easier to manifest by providing helpful things.

But I think flowers are okay from time to time. What flowers have special meaning in your country? Well, the thistle is our national flower, although I'm not really sure why. There's a story behind it somewhere, but it escapes me. Heather is also associated with the more isolated and rugged parts of Scotland. Roses are seen as romantic, but I suppose that's more universal than nationalistic. Have you ever planted any flowers? Oh God, not for a very long time.

I think we had potted plants that we grew and planted in the Boy Scouts, but that would have been over two decades ago. I've definitely not planted anything since then. Rory, thank you so much for your flowery answers. So flowers, yes, dear listener in speaking, part one, they can ask you questions about flowers. We have some episodes about plants. so you might want to listen to this one,

but these questions are about flowers. So, Rory, now first of all, can we talk about smell the roses? What does it mean? It's kind of an idiom. Smell the roses, wake up and smell the roses. Yes, but it's not literally smelling the roses. It's just like paying attention and being grateful for what you have and not focusing on small problems, smaller problems, I should say.

So kind of when I start complaining about like, I have so much stuff to do The weather is horrible And you go, come on Maria, wake up and smell the roses. Yeah? Yes. Okay, cool.

Jory, dear listener, is hardly a flower fanatic or fanatic. Fanatic. Fanatic. A flower fanatic. It's interesting because it's FF, flower fanatic.

So I'm not a flower fanatic. It basically means like I'm not into flower. Right? Yes. You don't like flowers. Yeah. And sometimes Rory can get allergic to flowers.

So you can say like, oh, I get allergic to flowers. Or you can say, I have allergies. And we usually use this word in the plural, right? So I say like, my allergies or I've got allergies. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And when you have allergies, they make you sneeze. And it's always make someone sneeze.

Havcher. Oh, Rory, you make me sneeze Like this This is how you sneeze Okay What flowers do you like I'm not averse To any kinds of flower

Rory you should comment on Averse thing Averse just means I don't Like if you're averse to something It means you don't like it But if you're not averse Then it just means you don't care Hmm

Like I'm not averse To any flowers I'm okay with flowers And unfortunately, dear listener, if you say that I don't like flowers, I hate flowers, the examiner will keep on going with questions about flowers. So here you need a strategy. Either you say why you hate flowers, or you imagine that sometimes you actually do like certain flowers. Speaking of certain flowers, I mentioned some. Oh yes, you said something like thistle.

Thistle. You should Google Thistle. Now, dear listener, it's spelled like T-H-I-S-T-L-E. Thistle, which is a very interesting flower, characterized by leaves with sharp prickles. So it's kind of like a rose has these sharp thingies. So a thistle also is quite sharp. and a thistle is what, a typical Scottish flower sharp and pink He also talked about Heather No, no

No, you should say something about Scottish flowers And thisol being a Scottish thing I have nothing to say Apart from it's a Scottish flower That's all A thistle is the floral emblem Of Scotland

Oh my God Mm-hmm Mm-hmm. Okay, well, floral emblem actually might be quite important because that's a C2 level word. It's a floral emblem. Floral, like flowers. A flower is a noun.

Floral is an adjective. So, for example, we can say, like, floral arrangements. Yeah, can we say that? Probably. Hmm. Why? Tell us. Hmm.

You know, like, when you want, want a bouquet of flowers, but you want some, gosh, what do you call it, arrangement? Well, kind of a bouquet, but a very nice bouquet. A floral arrangement? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can go to a special shop, and Rory mentioned this shop, the florists. You go to the florists, a shop with flowers, basically. So a florist, you go to the florists and you can order fresh flower arrangements.

Actually, flower arrangements also. Or floral arrangements, yeah. How to arrange flowers. There we go, you see? So you kind of arrange your flowers and, to-dan, you have your floral arrangement. Again, Google, dear listener, please Google to look at the pictures. Rory, could you tell us another flower that you've mentioned in connection to Scotland? We talked about a heather.

Yeah. Heather. It's a plant in Scotland. It grows in the highlands, which are rugged and isolated. Yeah, it's very nice, actually. It's pinky. Small close leaves, some spikes. Very nice.

Google it. Heather. Right, dear listener, if you have some other flowers, which are important in your country, you can talk about them, but make sure that you Google and you know some names of the flowers, Don't say just roses or I say something like Penzies Okay Penzy

You should Google it P-A-N-S-Y Penzies Beautiful flowers Hopefully they grow in your country Also you can talk about Day lilies Do you have any day lilies in Scotland

I don't know what that is Rory you should Google it Come on Just go to Google Images and type in day lily. Day like day and lily like L-I-L-Y, lily. Lillies, lilies. I will. So, listen, it's good for you to say something else rather than roses and, I don't know,

deffodils. So penises and day lilies, why not? Where do you go to buy flowers? You go to the florists, right? And we can give flowers. We don't present flowers, we give flowers on different occasions. And Rory has used this word on different occasions. Occasions like events.

Times when things happen. Yes. For example, we can give flowers on Valentine's Day or on Mother's Day on weddings. Also, we usually give flowers on bridal showers. And baby showers. Could you comment on this one? on these occasions. Well, what's bridal shower?

It's the celebration before a wedding, right? Yeah. Baby shower, not a shower with babies. It's when your baby is born and you want to celebrate. Yeah, for example, like, I have a newborn baby

and I'm inviting everybody to give me flowers and gifts and I throw a baby shower just like a baby party to celebrate my newborn. Okay, do you listen, I don't have any babies yet. And you can give a bouquet of flowers, right? And we've talked about flower arrangements.

Arrangements. How to arrange my flowers? Rory, do you love to decorate your house with fresh flowers? No, it's a lot of work, and I don't have the time. But you're supposed to have a garden. You go to your garden. You pick this flower. and you decorate your home with fresh flowers.

Hmm. What? No, you don't do that. Okay. No. No, dear, listen. Roy is not a flower person. You can say,

I prefer something more practical over what's... How do you pronounce this word? Aesthetic. An aesthetic is just something that looks good. And beautiful. And we talk about flowers, and we know that flowers...

beautify ourselves and our homes. Women wear flowers as accessories to beautify themselves. Men also could wear fresh flowers. So, flowers are, say it again, ath-a-a-a-thetic? Right. You can say, I prefer something more practical over what's aesthetic.

You can talk about your national flower. Also you can talk about romantic flowers. So roses are seen as romantic. A nice structure. Roses are seen as romantic. Is it passive voice? It is. Voice, which is passive.

Excellent. Then the question, have you ever planted any flowers? So present perfect is there. I've never planted any flowers. Or, yeah, I've planted some flowers, but they died a long time ago. End of the story. You've used the words we had potted plants. Potted plants.

What are they? Plants that are in pots. Genius. Yeah, we've talked about plants before and we talk about these pots that plants usually live in. Rory, did you know that there are more than 100 types of flowers which are edible? Edible meaning you can eat them. Yum, yum, yum. Yum, yum, yum.

Well, yeah. So, you see, now, dear listening, you know that you can eat certain types of flowers. So imagine, in the examiner tells you, let's talk about flowers. Do you like flowers? Oh, yes, I love eating them. Yum, yum, yum. That's funny. Isn't it?

It's not funny? You're not laughing. Why are not laughing? It's hilarious. Oh, you're a liar. Yeah, some flowers are put in salads or even cakes, you know, like a sprinkle of colorful flowers, or flower petals. So you can tell if you hate flowers, you can tell the examiner how you eat flowers when you go to some fancy restaurants and you enjoy having some colorful petals. Petals are these thingies from flowers on your cake, for example.

Rory, could you tell me, can we eat roses? Can we eat roses? Are they edible? I have no idea. What do you think? Is it possible to eat roses? I don't think so. Yes, we can.

I think it's possible to eat anything. So, minus one point for you. Can we eat lavender's? Lavender. I don't know. What do you think? It's a quiz, it's a quiz, Rory. Flower quiz.

Why is there a quiz? I don't know the answer. So lavender. What do you think? Lavender. No idea. Yes, we can. We can eat lavender's.

Dear listener, you should Google it. Lavender, it's this smelly flower. Also, dandelions. We can eat dandelions. Yeah, yeah. I've mentioned pensies. Penzies are usually used for decoration. They're beautiful.

Take a look and remember this word and use it in your exam when the examiner asks you about flowers. Oh, yes, I like flowers. Oh yes, I like flowers I like my salads with pansies, you know yum yum yum yum delicious or day lilies

are supposed to be used in some food interesting gosh, could we please stop thank you very much for listening hopefully we've added some flowery vocabulary into your life

bye Roy do you like flowers Well, I'm hardly a flower fanatic, but I don't mind having them around, unless there are many of them in full bloom. That can affect my allergies sometimes. What flowers do you like? I'm not averse to any kinds of flowers, really. I like them all, to be honest. Well, unless, like I said, they're ones that make me sneeze, but those times and varieties are few and far in between. When was the last time you gave flowers to somebody?

I remember it like it was yesterday actually because it's quite unusual for me I bought my other half flowers and his favourite colour about halfway through this year I don't do it very often and I can't remember the occasion I just thought it would be a nice idea because I was walking past the florists

next to the gym Do you like sending flowers to others? I prefer something more practical over what's aesthetic since I like helping people and so this tends to be easier to manifest by providing helpful things but I think flowers are okay from time to time

what flowers have special meaning in your country? Well, the thistle is our national flower, although I'm not really sure why. There's a story behind it somewhere, but it escapes me. Heather is also associated with the more isolated and rugged parts of Scotland. Roses are seen as romantic, but I suppose that's more universal than nationalistic. Have you ever planted any flowers? Oh God, not for a very long time. I think we had potted plants that we grew and planted in the Boy Scouts, but that would have been over two decades ago.

I've definitely not planted anything since then.