IELTS Speaking for Success - 🏊‍♂️ Swimming (Part 1) + Transcript

Episode Date: January 27, 2025

Get access to our episode archive: https://www.patreon.com/ieltssfs Do you like swimming? Is it difficult to learn how to swim? What's the difference between swimming in the pool and swimming in the sea? Where do people in your country like to go swimming? 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: https://successwithielts.com/s11e21 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, lovely, I'm Maria. And my name is Rory, and we are the hosts of the AILT 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 podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and fabulous vocabulary for your high IELD score. Your bad night score. Rory, what happened to your hair? Your hair.

Oh, sorry, I was swimming before the recording. Oh, swimming? Fabulous. Let's talk about swimming. Swimming in the river, swimming in the ocean, swimming in the sea, all the swimming pool, dear listener. Wee. Do you like swimming? Yeah, I love it. I try to go once a week with the Wild Swimming Club from my area. We never stay in very long unless it's the summer, but it's a fun social experience. Is it difficult to learn how to swim? That's a good question. I suppose once you're, master the basics, like how to stay afloat on the surface and how to do the different strokes, then it's fine. Though I imagine some have more difficulties than others, looking back it seemed

pretty easy to me, but that could just be my memory being selective. What's the difference between swimming in the pool and swimming in the sea? Oh wow, there's like a world of difference. A pool is mostly a warm, controlled environment with good supervision and lots of people to share the space with, but an open body of water has currents and various kinds of wildlife to contend with, so it could be less safe, although there are fewer people, which I consider a plus. Where do people in your country like to go swimming? Well, wild swimming really seems to have taken off big time here, so you see people in the rivers and the seymour, maybe not at this type of year, but in general. But we also have lots of public baths for those who prefer something

longer lasting or who want to make a day of it. I can't really think of anywhere else. 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. Yay, swimming, hey! Rorim, as a proper Scottish person, enjoys wild swimming. Roy, tell us what's this wild swimming?

You go wild and you swim like, hurrah, rah. Wild swimming is just swimming in uncontrolled or open bodies of water. So going in the river or in a lake or in the sea, maybe the ocean. So, do you just go in there, in the forest, you find a pond or a lake or a river and you just go wild and crazy. especially in winter. Not in, not, why especially in winter? Because it's cold and it's wild. But it can be warm and wild too if you live in the Mediterranean.

Okay. So Rory goes to the wild swimming club. All right. Once a week. I try. I've been good so far this year, but we are recording at the, in January. We're recording halfway through January. Things could change.

For Rory, it's a fun social experience. So he talks to people, he hangs out with people. It's kind of like a social thing. So if you go to a swimming club, it could be a social experience for you, like talking to people, meeting new people, go wild swimming together. Where else can we go swimming? Yeah, where else? So a pond is like smaller than a lake. A pond. Oh, it's a lot smaller. Can you go swimming in a pond? Yeah. Oh my God. Maybe you have bigger ponds in Russia. Yeah, yeah. So there are smaller ponds, bigger ponds. A lake, usually a river, ocean, I swim in the ocean, I swim in the sea. Yeah, listen to the article there. Or do I say I swim in the river or in a river? I don't think it makes a difference apart from if it's the first time we're talking about it, then you would say I swim in the river and then the next time you talk about it, I swim in the river.

or maybe both of you and the person you're talking to share the same context and there's only one river. For example, where I live, there's a giant river in my hometown. So we say I swim in the river. It's clear we mean the big one. Yeah, but usually deal is, we say like, oh, I enjoy swimming in a river. In a river, but I enjoy swimming in the sea, in the ocean. What about a swimming pool?

Well, if there's only one in the town that you're in, then the... But if it's a big time, then many, then you'd say, ah. I enjoy swimming in a swimming pool, a swimming pool. Or I go to the swimming pool. Or I go to a swimming pool. Like every week I go to a swimming pool. I live in a huge city. There are many swimming pools.

So I go to a swimming pool. But in the sea, in the ocean. We learn how to swim, usually when we are, well, children. You master the basics. dear listener, you master swimming, like you learn how to swim, you master the basics, the basic skills. You learn how to stay afloat on the surface. The surface, like the surface of a river, the surface of the sea, and you stay afloat. So you kind of float in the sea, you know, you stay there.

You don't go down like the Titanic. afloat. You stay afloat. And then you do different strokes. Strokes like foeh, foeh with your arms and I think legs. What do you do with your legs? You kick your legs. Well, my understanding is that the strokes are what you do with your arms and the kicks of what you do with your legs. But I think it's just come to mean everything you do with all of your body parts. So, for example, breaststroke is when you move your hands like a frog and you move your legs like a frog. But backstroke is when you're on your back and you move your arms backwards and you just kick your legs. And what about like, you know, like you swim like a dog with your kind of hands and legs like doing like a dog, blah, l l l l, like this.

Doggy paddle. So you learn doggy paddle, doggy paddle swim. Yeah, but I think that's considered a beginner stroke. At least it was when I was younger. It's your progression to front crawl where you're more confident with your head under the water. Check it out. Freestyle doggy paddle.

How to dog pedal. So you swim like a dog. Usually children do that when you are beginner. So like doggy paddle swimming technique for beginners. Okay. Yeah, do you listen. But this is like super topic specific vocabulary for band-man. So you learn how to do different strokes, different kicks, and when you are a beginner, you learn doggy paddle swimming.

There is a world of difference. So if the difference is huge, you say there is a world of difference between swimming in the pool and swimming in the sea. So they are very different. A pool is a controlled environment. So everything is controlled. There are people around you and it's warm. They control the temperature of the water. There are no stones.

And we have supervision. So supervision? Like, what do you call these people who control the situation near the pool? Guards? Oh, the lifeguard? Lifeguards, yeah There are lifeguards And you share the space

With many people and children Who tends to pee In the pool You know, drink out of water And then Yeah, I'm sure they do Oh, disgusting stuff Yeah, maybe some adults, you know

Like they enjoy like, ooh, okay Do you think so? Yeah But you should children I like to think that most people are responsible Maybe that's what I reassure myself with whenever I go swimming in a public pool. And the sea is an open body of water. Yes.

That just means it's not contained. Yeah, contained, it's not closed. It's not like a swimming pool, you know, with its borders. And any sea has its currents. What are currents? So a current is like a continuous movement of the water in a specific direction. So a current will carry people along in a certain direction perhaps, or it will carry things in a certain direction.

If the water is coming in and out from the beach or the shore, then that is the tide. So both of these things are used for talking about water. It's more just the duration and when it happens or the regularity. that separates them. And we have various kinds of wildlife to contend with. So wildlife, different fish, corals, other things like crabs. What do we mean by to be contend with in this context?

Oh, to contend with. It's just to deal with. And it's usually something that you have a problem with along the way. So if you're contending with wildlife, you have to not. navigate and move around them and be careful. Yeah, for example, so contend with something to have to deal with a difficult or unpleasant situation. So we use it about something unpleasant, like you are swimming in the sea and then like,

ooh, dangerous corals or this, you know, seaweed, you know, like sea flowers, like, ooh. Or there are jellyfish, you know, this transparent thingies which touch your body. or sea urchins, these dangerous black stuff that's, you know, with spikes that are super dangerous. So you have to contend with corals, stones, rocks, sea urchins and jellyfish. Okay, super bandline vocabulary dea listener, you're welcome. I don't have sea urchins where I live, thank God. Well, of course, Scotland is the middle of nowhere. But usually people go to the sea and there are some sea urchins, Google sea urchins.

In Italy people eat them, actually all over the world. People eat sea urchins. And also jellyfish. Jelly like jelly, like jelly, blah, like this. Jellyfish, ooh. Some jellyfish are not one creature, but they are in fact many different creatures cobbled together. People usually go swimming again in the rivers, in the sea. People in my country go wild swimming.

like Rory does in Scotland. And there are a lot of public swimming pools. In England, there are public baths, like special places with warm water. And it's like natural, like natural springs, right? It could be. To be honest, we use the word swimming baths in this country to mean water that's in a pool as well.

Mm, okay. So public bath, a public bath is like a swimming pool. It can be, yes. Yeah, but you don't usually swim there. You just lie there because the water is kind of like mineral, so it's good for your health, so you kind of don't swim in such a bath. Okay, and what kind of swimming can we have like a wild swimming? Regular swimming, competitive swimming.

Oh, competitive, yeah, yeah. If I take part in swimming competitions, it's competitive swimming. We don't call it racing. But I don't do that because I cannot swim that well. Well, I can swim quite well, actually, but I wouldn't swim at a competitive level. Can I say I'm a professional swimmer? If you are, then yes. Or I'm an amateur.

I'm an amateur swimmer, like I do it for fun. Can I say that? Yeah. Amateur. Or maybe de listener, you hate water and then, well, the examiner will continue asking your questions about swimming. So you should lie and make it up why you use. hate swimming, but it's better to just say that yes, I like swimming and use the vocabulary that we've given you, okay? Even if you hate swimming. Or if you don't know how to swim,

imagine that yes, I know how to swim. Roia, why would you go wild swimming? It's cold. Because a whole group of people do it and it's fun to hang out with them. So it's, like I say, it's not about the actual swimming itself, it's about the social experience that follows, for me at least. Some people get a health benefit from it or health benefits, but I personally don't see that happening for me. Okay, sweet. But Maria. Right, do you listen, thank you. No, don't thank them for listening, Ed, Maria.

I have a quiz for you. Oh, yes. So, I'm going to ask Maria a question about a piece of vocabulary in the answers to each question. And Maria has to work out what I'm talking about, and you can play along with us. We'll do a brief pause to allow people to answer. answer and think in their heads and then Maria will answer and we'll find out if she's correct or not. The first question was, do you like swimming? And I said something.

It was a collocation meaning a positive time spent with other people. But what was that collocation, Maria? It's a fun social experience. Yes, well done. Yeah. Question number two was, is it difficult to learn her to swim? And I used an adjective to describe when your memory focuses only on certain things. But what is that adjective?

Ooh, my memory is selective. Yes, oh my gosh, 100% so far. Question number three was, what's the difference between swimming in the pool and swimming in the sea? And I used an idiom to emphasize a big difference between, two things. But what was that idiom? There is like a world of difference. A world of difference, a big difference. Question number four was, where do people in your country like to go swimming? And here, I talked about doing something as part of a range of activities throughout a whole day. But what was the expression I used to describe it when that happens or when you do this?

Make a day of it Yes, if you make a day of something Then you are structuring everything around it So maybe you go to the swimming pool And you go to a cafe after Or you walk before you go to the pool And then you walk back And everything just builds up from there

So there you go We have focused on some band nine vocabulary for that So make a day, make a night Make an evening or make a weekend of It To make an activity longer or combine a series of activities so that they last for the whole of that particular period of time. So, for example, so we decided to make a weekend of it and of some activity.

All right. Or, for example, let's go swimming and let's make a weekend of it. So the whole weekend will spend swimming. Rory, could you give us one more sentence with this idiom? Well, sometimes if I go to a museum in a different city, then I'll make a day of it so I could go to the museum and then go shopping and go for a walk around the city as well and go to a cafe and have dinner. So that's making a day of it. Sweet. Right, do listener, thank you very much for listening. We're sending you hugs, love, and joy and bend thy vocabulary with

grammar. Bye. Bye. Do you like swimming? Yeah, I love it. I try to go once a week with the Wild Swimming Club from my area. We never stay in very long unless it's the same. summer, but it's a fun social experience. Is it difficult to learn how to swim? That's a good question. I suppose once you master the basics, like how to stay afloat on the surface and how to do the different strokes, then it's fine. Though I imagine some have more difficulties than others, looking back it seemed pretty easy

to me, but that could just be my memory being selective. What's the difference between swimming in the pool and swimming in the sea? Oh wow, there's like a world of different. difference. A pool is mostly a warm, controlled environment with good supervision and lots of people to share the space with, but an open body of water has currents and various kinds of wildlife to contend with, so it could be less safe, although there are fewer people, which I consider a plus. Where do people in your country like to go swimming? Well, wild swimming really seems to have taken off big time here, so you see people in the rivers and the seymour, maybe not at this type of

but in general. But we also have lots of public baths for those who prefer something longer lasting or who want to make a day of it. I can't really think of anywhere else.