IELTS Speaking for Success - 🐅 Pets and Animals (Part 1) + Transcript

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

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You don't need AI agents, which may sound weird coming from Service Now, the leader in AI agents. The truth is, AI agents need you. Sure, they'll process, predict, even get work done autonomously. But they don't dream, read a room, rally a team, and they certainly don't have shower thoughts, pivotal hallway chats, or big ideas. People do. And people, when given the best AI platform, they're freed up to do the fulfilling work they want to do. To see how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people, visit ServiceNow.com. Hello, Sunshine, I'm Maria.

And my name is Rory, and we're the host 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 started this podcast to give you super grammar and fabulous vocabulary for a high IEL score. Your Band-Dine score. Oh, Rory, are you all right? Yes, there's just a bird on the windowsill. There are animals everywhere in this neighborhood. Hmm.

Shall we talk about animals and pets? Animals and pets, dear listener, on the podcast. Do you have any pets? Maybe animals at home? Me? Yeah, Rory. No, you don't have anyone, huh? No.

I cannot be responsible for an animal right now. And also, it would be very unfair because the apartment is very high up, and you cannot keep animals inside. all the time. Have you ever had a pet before? Oh yes, we had dogs in our family for ages. We even had a favorite breed. They were all chow chow's,

these big furry dogs that come from China originally. They're very cuddly and they make great guard dogs. What's the most popular animal in your country? I'm not sure really. It's either dogs or cats, since those are the ones you see people with the most often. and I can see why, since they're probably the most useful and our great company. What's your favorite animal?

I used to love tigers, and I still do because they look very cool with all those stripes and their size, but I doubt I'd like one as a pet. In that case, I'd prefer to have a dog, but I'm a little bit allergic, so I doubt that will happen. Where do you prefer to keep pets, indoors or outdoors? Well, I don't have any pets at the moment, but if I did, they definitely would. be in the house with me so I could keep an eye on them. Plus, it's very cold outdoors right now, so keeping them outside is a bit cruel. Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice.

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Right, dear listener, so pets and animals. So there's a difference. Animals, like tigers, lions, elephants. But pets, pets are kept at home, usually. Or if you live in the countryside, so you have a pet. Cats, dogs, maybe some exotic pets. Lizards, skinny pigs. Yeah, hedgehogs.

Well, you can have a tiger as a pet. I'm sure you can if you're a millionaire. Yeah, but tigers are pretty expensive, right? And we kind of you have to feed them. Again, present perfect. Have you ever had a pet? What's the most exotic animal you've ever seen? And like you say, yeah, I've had two cats just generally in your life.

Or I used to have a dog, but not anymore. Or now I have a cat. Now I have a fish. And here it would be funny just to talk about some exotic pets, you know, like, because everyone will talk about cats and dogs and the examiner is kind of bored already. Oh, okay. Cats, dogs, like, come on. But if you say, like, yeah, I have a monkey.

A monkey, dear listener. And then the examiner is all into you. Oh, really? You have a monkey? Wow. And, like, they'll be talking about you. Like, oh, you know, like, today I had a student and you had a monkey at home. See, you'll be interesting.

So, I don't know, pick an interesting animal. maybe like a snake I don't know Is it exotic to have a snake? I think so There are different kinds of snakes And they're not really from Well at least they're not

From the northern parts of the world Okay what about this anaconda kind of snake Like a huge snake Do you remember a film with Jennifer Lopez? Oh I don't think you can have Yeah although I don't think those can be kept as pets I think they're an endangered species People have boa constrictors as pets

Yeah you don't want to say anything illegal, dear listener, all right? So just keep it legal. You don't say, like, I have a tiger, but a monkey, a small monkey. It's possible, right? Actually, when I was a child, we saw a person living in our neighborhood, and he did have a monkey, and he worked in a circus. Circus, you know, yeah, and, like, he was walking his monkey out, like, taking his

monkey for a walk. So, yeah, like a monkey, a hedgehog. They are small, spiky animals. Yeah, maybe some ferret. However, once you've thought about a pet, then you can describe them. For example, I pick char chargers, and I describe them as big and furry and cuddly. And they make great guard dogs. If they make something, that means they are useful for something.

Yeah, I always say, like, oh, they are cute or cuddly, right? cuddly, like, they hug you, you hug them, like, very friendly and nice. The most popular animal in your country, but animal, you know, could be not a pet, but an animal, a bear. Like, what's the most popular animal in Scotland? Did you check, Roy? No, of course I didn't. No.

But in your country, dear listener, like, you should check right now, just Google. The most popular animal in Thailand, or, I don't know, where you are. The Golden Eagle, Rory, is considered Scotland's favourite wild animal. Well, that's the favourite wild animal, but what about the favourite pet? The most popular pet in Scotland, I think it's a dog. If you're going to describe dogs, though, you can talk about the kind of dog. And if we want to talk about kinds, we can talk about the breed of dog. However, as we all know, dog breeding is cruel and inhumane,

so maybe you want a dog that is mixed breed, or a mongrel dog. dogs are great company So a dog is a good friend It accompanies you everywhere Yeah it's always around It's waiting for you You know What's your favourite animal?

Of course Here Rory talked about wild animals So tigers Because they look cool They have stripes But if you want to talk about other animals You will need to find some specific words To describe then

Tigers have stripes Leopards have spots. Cats can have both. So you can pick the feature and describe it. Or you could just steal my answer. The examiner will not know. Yeah, absolutely. Or again, you can talk about some, I don't know, rare animals like snow leopards.

Like what are the rarest animals in the world? Cheetah. What's a cheetah? It's a very fast, big cat. Yeah, like the fastest cat on earth, like a big cat. Cheetah, yeah, listen. It's an important word for you to not know, a keyword of this episode. Cheetah, C-H-E-T-A-H.

So just Google, cheetah. Look at the picture. Yeah, you can use this everywhere. It's okay. Cheetah gorillas, red punders, blue whales, snow leopards. Snow leopards are my favorite. Lions. All right.

Pandas. There we go. Pandas. Oh, pandas. No. Oh, and your favorite animal. Rory, you forgot. What's your favorite animal, Rory? What did I forget? Oh, a capybara. A noble, majestic capybara. How could you forget, Rory, Rory, aye, aye, aye.

Tigers. Oh, you cheated on Capibati. I'm allowed to change my mind. No, no, no. Why? Why? Why? Because Capubaras are now depressed. They'll be okay. They're pretty chill. I just apologize.

If I have to describe Kabibaras, what would I say? I'd say they look cool. They have a very relaxed demeanor. And they're brown and furry. Yes. So, there we go. Some topic-specific language for the Kapibara. And, dear listener, if you don't have any pets,

the examiner will continue. Where do you prefer to keep your pets? But you say, sorry, I don't have any pets. But if I had some pets, I'd keep them indoors or outdoors, well, depending on the pet. I don't have any pets at the moment, but if I had a cat, if I had a cat, I'd keep it in the house. The second conditional, if I had, if I had a dog, I'd keep it in the house. If I had a huge dog, I'd keep it outside. To keep an eye on them. Keep an eye on somebody just to watch them, to look at them, to control them. If it's cold outdoors, I'll keep them outside or inside.

Because certain pets should be outside, like horses. Oh, actually horses are inside. Yeah, but if it's too cold, yeah, they are inside. And we are ready for a joke. Right, dear, listen, do you remember? the keyword of the episode? Cheetah. So the joke is,

why shouldn't you play cards in the African savannah? Why? Because it's full of cheetahs. Oh, well done, Maria. Where Rory explained the joke, will you? Cheetah is the name of the animal, but if you say it first,

cheetah, then it's also sounding like word cheater, which is someone who does not play by the rules of a game. Oh, how fun. Cheat. You see, if I cheat when I play cards, I do something not very nice and I don't play by the rules. And a person who doesn't play by the rules is a cheetah, a person who behaves in a dishonest way to win something or get an advantage. So, yeah, so sometimes athletes break the rules. And they are cheetahs. Right, dear listen, so if you have nothing to say, and you know, you just happen to remember this joke about cheetahs,

you just crack a joke in the gym. You just say, you know, like, you know what? I don't know what to say, but I know a joke. And then the exam goes, okay, thank you, thank you. No, no, no, no, no, I've been preparing for this. You have to tell the joke. Very important. I'm an anxious person, so I have to finish it.

And then you can say like, oh, if I don't tell you the joke now, I can start crying, you know. And exactly, okay, okay, okay, okay, start the joke. Thank you so much for listening. And we'll get back to your next episode. Bye. Bye. At Medcan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health. From the big milestones to the quiet winds.

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What's the most popular animal in your country? I'm not sure really. It's either dogs or cats since those are the ones you see people with the most often. And I can see why, since they're probably the most useful and are great company. What's your favorite animal? I used to love tigers. And I still do because they look very cool with all those stripes and their size. but I doubt I'd like one as a pet.

In that case, I'd prefer to have a dog, but I'm a little bit allergic, so I doubt that will happen. Where do you prefer to keep pets, indoors or outdoors? Well, I don't have any pets at the moment, but if I did, they'd definitely be in the house with me, so I could keep an eye on them. Plus, it's very cold outdoors right now, so keeping them outside is a bit cruel.