IELTS Speaking for Success - 🌳 Parks (S04E04) + Transcript

Episode Date: September 3, 2020

What are the benefits of having gardens in the city? Is it important for cities to have public parks? Why do people living in cities like public gardens? Can you really walk anywhere in Scotland? Tune in and have a great day! - IELTS Speaking for Success PREMIUM: https://linktr.ee/sfspremium Transcript: https://successwithielts.com/s04e04 Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © Success with IELTS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, Sunshine. I'm Maria. My name is Rory, and we're the host of the IEL Speaking for Success podcast. The podcast that is to help you improve your speaking skills as well as your listening skills along the way. We started this podcast because we want you to use high-level vocabulary and grammar in your everyday English and in your ILD speaking. Rory, do you have our... Yes, I do. It's right with me. Rory, let's talk about our super speaking course where you have three Rorries. Absolutely. What do you want to know?

It's a three Rorries course. It is. That is a crucial, that is an integral part of the course. Why three Rorys? And what do they do that? Why not three Rorys? No, there are three of us, because one of us is the person who narrates and explains exactly what is happening. in addition to giving hints and tips about how to do well in the speaking exam. The other two Rory's are, I suppose, test dummies. One is a very high-level speaker and one is a lower-level speaker.

Yes, it's the whole course, and you can go to our website, Successwithisd.com and check it out. More details are on our social media, Instagram, Telegram, YouTube. Go check it out and enjoy three Rouris. Rory, we talked about bicycles. So if you had a bike, where would you ride it? I think I would probably ride it in the park if I could. There's one close bike.

Oh, in a park. We're going to be talking about parks today. Wow. Yes, in Speaking Part 1, they can ask you questions about parks and green areas. Rory, do you like parks? Yeah, it's nice to be out in open spaces, isn't it? I think it's quite calming. Are there many public parks in your country?

Well, actually, I think the whole country is kind of a park, really. In Scotland, we've got something called Freedom to Rome, so it's actually possible to go anywhere you like in the countryside. Scotland, freedom, yay! Freedom to Rome. Freedom to Rome! Yay! Although, in a more traditional sense,

there are lots of actual parks where people go to. We've got two outside of our house, actually. Are public parks important in your country? Yes, I think so, especially now. Having access to green spaces is, well, it's good for your mental health, as well as your physical health, especially when people are spending so much time indoors. Even before this crisis happened, I think it's probably quite an important thing. Oh, so now all parks are crowded in Ireland.

In Scotland, come on. We just streamed Scotland's freedom and you forget. Oh, yes, Roe. You're from Scotland, right? You're not from Ireland. Okay. I don't think they're crowded, though. I think they're big enough for everybody, aren't they?

What do people in your country like to do in parks or gardens? What everybody else likes to do? I think most people go for a walk, but a lot of people like to go running or other kinds of cardio, for example. And then, of course, people walk with a dog. and, well, they can go wandering or just sit and admire the view. So there's lots of different things to do. But I think those are the main ones, to be honest.

What are the benefits of having gardens in the city? Well, I suppose foremost it's a place to escape the rigours of city living, even just for a little while. And if you like running, it's cheaper than going to the gym. I think I read somewhere as well that plants and greenery in general, will help people calm down. So it's actually, well, you could have a plant in your house. But if you can go out to a local park, then, or garden in the city, then that would also be quite helpful. Why do people living in cities like public gardens? I think for all of the reasons I just mentioned,

actually, I imagine. Plus, it's kind of a rare thing for people in cities to be out in green spaces very often. I mean, compared to people who live in the countryside, for example. So it's like a special experience. Do you think it's important for cities to have public parks? Oh, absolutely. We just had endless rows of apartment blocks and modern buildings. Even if they were quite beautiful to look at, it would be pretty depressing for people

because all they could see is just buildings, buildings, buildings, and there would be nothing natural for them to engage with. So, yeah, it's important to have these things. Do you think there should be more parks in cities? I think it depends on the city, to be honest. Like, for example, in my hometown, there's enough space, it seems, and we've got lots of parks. The same goes from Moscow and London, so I don't know. I think for now we have enough, although it might be a good idea to have more in the future if they get bigger.

Rory, thank you so much for your green nonsense. It's okay. So when we talk about parks, we can also talk about gardens, green sea, spaces, right? So green spaces are the same as parks, right? It's a kind of a broader category, but parks are a kind of green space, but then you also have gardens, which are a green space as well. Yeah, but a garden is different from a park. Yes, a garden is usually smaller than a park, or is more well-decorated. We can also talk about botanical gardens. Yeah, for example, in Moscow, we have botanical gardens. Do you have any botanical gardens in Scotland?

I have a botanical garden in my hometown. We have everything. Although, to be honest with you, I'm just thinking out loud here, I'm not really sure what a botanical garden actually means. Is that just a place where there's lots of different kinds of plants? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exotic plants, flowers, different kinds of trees, bushes. Right, okay, so it's good to know that I'm not totally uneducated then. You are very educated and professional. Yeah, you've mentioned being in the open,

space. Yes. So open spaces are just, well, places that aren't crowded and you can move around freely. Move around freely or roam. Freedom to roam. So when you roam, what do you do, do you just walk about? If we talk about roaming in general, then you just walk about without any specific direction. But if we talk about freedom to roam, then that's the freedom to go anywhere you like and you, well, you have the right to do that, so there are different things. There are many sheep in Scotland and sheep roam around green hills, right? Yes, they do. Yes, so you've said that you have access to green spaces, right?

So it's good to have access to green spaces, to parks. and above the activities that people usually do in parks walk the dog or take the dog out for a walk or just walk the dog? Yeah, absolutely. I think walk the dog is more informal than take the dog out for a walk, but they mean the same thing, don't they?

Can I walk the cat, walk the fish? Apparently some people put fish on leads and walk, sorry, not fish, people put cats on leads and walk them. But I've never seen this. I think it's mostly walking, your dog and that's the most common thing. Yeah, walk the dog, walk the cat. When we go to parks,

we escape from something of the city. Yeah, the rigors of city living. So if something is rigorous, then it's very stressful, very fast-paced, very, well, I suppose just very heavy on you.

So you ideally want to, well, you want to escape that because you can relax before you go back to it. And one of the ways you can do this is by going to the park. Yeah, to get away from it all. That's another one. To unwind.

Okay, you guys? So to relax, to unwind, because we do feel trapped in this apartment blocks everywhere. Yeah, and apartment block is just a building with flats. Yes. Skiscribers. So, yeah. You can say, I go to parks to unwind.

I think a lot of skyscrapers actually are just, for businesses, aren't they? Apartment blocks are much smaller than skyscrapers. So people walk the dog or they're just wandering about? So wandering is it the same as a roaming? Roam wonder. Yes, but roaming is something that's more common in writing and formal

I suppose formal speaking. But wandering is the more commonly used one and you've used that word of speaking to just wander around. Yeah, one day around, take a walk, go jogging. So these are the common activities. You've mentioned a good word greenery. Like parks provide cities with lots of greenery. Greenery is just, well, plants, plants, bushes, trees, anything green.

It can be considered greenery. Just all the green stuff. And we can say that parks are inhabited for exotic plant species. Yeah? Well, if it's a botanic garden. Parks minimise air pollution. I think so. I think the trees do something to filter the air.

If you want to say there are many parks in my hometown, you can say loads of parks. There are loads of parks in Scotland. So Scotland is just a big park. Basically, yeah. I hope I'm not painting it as a utopia. Obviously, we've got our problems. But, like, it's pretty cool how we can go anywhere we like.

And actually, it's an interesting word, garden. because we spell it with E, so D-E-N, but we say it like garden, garden, how do you say this? Garden. Garden. But can I say garden, garden, garden? If you say it as an individual word, yes, but you'll be using it as a sentence usually, so it's like a kind of garden. Hmm. Rory, would you like to have a garden? Would you like to be a gardener?

No. I'm going to have a garden then whoever I'm married to will be taken care of it but I will not be doing that I will be admiring it because I like looking at gardens but I'm absolutely rubbish at taking care of them when was the last time you went to a park

tell the world that's a good question I can't remember oh yes no I do I do remember I went to a park I went to visit my friend Anna in a town outside of Moscow and she lives next to a giant park there and they had like a river running through it and trees and like it's a huge place so like some parts are very high up and some parts are very low down and they have fields with cows and it's cool like it's a really cool place

did you walk the dog did you roam about did you go jogging you took a walk he didn't go jogging um they had a gym there though like an outdoor gym that was cool um and but we didn't go um we didn't go jogging but we did wander it right We had kind of a plan so it wasn't like aimless wandering. But we did wander. Well, good. Yeah, we talked about bicycles. You don't have a bike. Now we're talking about parks, but actually you go to parks. You have this experience.

Good. Thank you very much for listening. That's all from us. Remember, life doesn't have to be difficult, but it can be like a walk in the park. It's a walk in the park. Yeah, walk in the park. oh, we should have mentioned that.

Remember, taking IOT could be a walk in the park if you check out our speaking course, SuccessfuloithoS.com, yay! Nice. Bye! Bye. Rory, do you like parks? Yeah, it's nice to be out in open spaces, isn't it?

I think it's quite calming. Are there many public parks in your country? Well, actually, I think the whole country is kind of a park, really. In Scotland, we've got something called Freedom to Rome, so it's actually possible to go anywhere you like in the countryside. Scotland, freedom, yay! Freedom to Rome. Freedom to Rome! Yay! Although, in a more traditional sense, there are lots of actual parks where people go to.

We've got two outside of our house, actually. Are public parks important in your country? Yes, I think so, especially now. Having access to. to green spaces is, well, it's good for your mental health, as well as your physical health, especially when people are spending so much time indoors. Even before this crisis happened, I think it's probably quite an important thing. Oh, so now all parks are crowded in Ireland. In Scotland, come on. Well, you just streamed Scotland freedom and you forget. Oh, yes, Rovi, you're from Scotland, right. You're not from Ireland. Okay.

I don't think they're crowded, though. I think they're big enough. for everybody, aren't they? What do people in your country like to do in parks or gardens? What everybody else likes to do, I think most people go for a walk, but a lot of people

like to go running or other kinds of cardio, for example. And then, of course, people walk with a dog, and, well, they can go wandering or just sit and admire the view. So there's lots of different things to do. But I think those are the main ones, to be honest.

What are the benefits of having gardens in the city? Well, I suppose foremost it's a place to escape the rigors of city living, even just for a little while. And if you like running, it's cheaper than going to the gym. I think I read somewhere as well that plants and greenery in general help people calm down. So it's actually, well, you could have a plant in your house. But if you can go out to a local park, then, or a garden, city, then that would also be quite helpful. Why do people living in cities like public gardens?

I think for all of the reasons I've just mentioned, actually, I imagine. Plus, it's kind of a rare thing for people in cities to be out in green spaces very often. I mean, compared to people who live in the countryside, for example. So it's like a special experience. Do you think it's important for cities to have public parks? Oh, absolutely. If we just had endless, rows of apartment blocks and modern buildings. Even if they were quite beautiful to look at, it would be pretty depressing for people because all they could see is just buildings, buildings, buildings, and there would be nothing natural for them to engage with.

So, yeah, it's important to have these things. Do you think there should be more parks in cities? I think it depends on the city, to be honest. Like, for example, in my hometown, there's enough space, it seems. and we've got lots of parks. The same goes from Moscow and London. So I don't know. I think for now we have enough,

although it might be a good idea to have more in the future if they get bigger.