Q: So what do people in the UK do

The Outdoors the rest of the year?

Q: Do you enjoy spending time They've got things during the summer, so
outside? there might be different festivals.it could
I would say that depends on what I'm be private festivals as well, where people
doing. go along and go to a book festival. Or a
And I'm also a cold-weather person, so I music festival, lots of different
prefer the cold. If it's really hot outside, I celebrations. Easter is popular. In the UK,
do not like to go outside. But if I'm playing we don't have Thanksgiving, so we don't
baseball, it doesn't matter what the celebrate that one.
temperature is, because that's something Q: Do you know of any local festivals
that I really enjoyed doing. in your area?
But in terms of like picnics or taking walks, Where I live, there is Chinese New Year...
it's just not my thing. it's really, really popular here. We have a
Q: What activities can people do lot of people who are from China who live
outside? in this area.
Heaps, lots. Taking walks, going for a run, So every year I think its January, February,
cycling, taking their dog out, going to it depends, and there's always a big
parks, having picnics, playing sports. celebration. They have the Chinese
Q: And how can the weather affect dragon, they have the drums, and they
these types of events? have lots of great food at that time of a
Well, obviously, if it's raining, or if the year.
weather is inclement or the kind of bad, Q: Do you enjoy celebrating events?
then it's going to deter. Keep people away I love it! I am quite as I'm quite a social
from doing those things because they person,
don't want to be uncomfortable or get so I love going out meeting new people,
wet. So yeah, definitely. trying new dishes. I remember when last
Q: So you say that you're not really year there was one event, there was a
an outdoorsy person. So what things Nepalese festival from Nepal, and I got to
do you like doing inside? go to this event.
I'm a reader. I love to read out. Also a They were celebrating their national day
gamer. I still play video games. I grew up and we had Nepalese food. It was
with that generation. So, those are some fantastic!
of my favorite things to do indoors. Q: So what was the last celebration
that you attended?
Celebrations My friend, my friend's birthday about four
We're gonna talk about celebrations. weeks ago just before the lockdown. So,
Q: So what is the most common we had the lockdown, and then my friend
celebration had a birthday.
in your country? We went to a restaurant, we had a really
Without a doubt, I'd say it's probably nice Italian meal, and he celebrated. He
Christmas. In December, and I'm from the had a great time, and that was the last
UK originally, and we celebrate Christmas one I went to. All right, well, you answer
on the twenty-fifth of December. Families those as usual very well.
get together, Gave a lot of support, had a lot of good
they spend time, they cook, they open details behind your responses. Something
present and they generally have a nice you mentioned earlier that you said you
time. I'd say the second, the second most were a social person.
popular would probably be New Year's. Q: What would you say that means?
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, I enjoy spending time with people.
where we celebrate on the thirty-first of Actually, In fact, I also enjoy spending
December. time with myself.
But when events are happening, I do enjoy Yes, I believe so. Yeah, so we can also say
spending time with people. nuclear family. Immediate family and
Yeah, so I'm a social butterfly. I like to go nuclear family.
to these different events. Q: Could you give some examples of
people who are in your extended
family?
So my grandmother, my grandfather, my
aunt, my uncle, my cousins... These are all
examples of extended family.

Restaurant / Eating out

Q: So how often would you say you
eat out?
Too much, too much. In where I live,
there's a tendency for people to eat out
quite a lot. I probably say once a week
Family and once a fortnight, and so that's
Q: Do you have a big family? probably too much. Because you know it's
Yes and no, so my immediate family is quiet expensive, but you know I just want
small. to spend all my money before I die, so I
It's just my mother and father and my want to have nice things.
sister, and so I have one sibling. But my Q: Okay, what type of restaurants do
mother and father had lots of siblings and you like to go to?
brothers and sisters. All sorts. I love to try every type of food. I
So, I have lots of cousins and lots of aunts really, really, really like trying different
and uncles. cultures. So, recently I went to a Somali
Q: Do you often speak to your restaurant which was from Somalia. And it
extended family? was delicious food, lots of really tasty
I used to when I lived back home, but now meats, and it was really great.
that I moved away, I don't talk to them as Q: Who do you go to restaurants
much, sadly. with?
Q:And how often does your family Depends, so it could be family, it could be
meet together? friends. Most of the time it's with friends.
When I was younger, we met all the time, We meet up, have a catch-up, have a chat
probably six or seven times a year for and you know, have a nice time. So most
various festivals and holidays. And as we of the time it's with to see friends.
got older, we just kind of stopped it, we And this topic is about tidiness.
just don't meet as much anymore, and I
can't really explain why. Tidiness
Q: And does everyone have the same Are you a tidy person?
type of the family? I'm a very tidy person.
Yeah, I would say so. In the United States, I might almost be considered OCD.
it's a lot of mom, dad, and kids living OCD- Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
together and then grandparents live That means somebody who really, really
somewhere else. Aunts and uncles live in is obsessed with cleaning.
another place, and you go and visit them. Mess/ Messy
Q: What's immediate family? what is the difference between mess and
So immediate family is simply the mom, messy?
the dad, and then the children. Well, mess is a noun usually.
Great. Is that the same as nuclear And we use that to say that you are
families? making a mess, or there is a mess in the
bedroom.
Whereas messy is an adjective that A great example is fish and chips.
describes someone or someplace. We would never say chips and fish.
A person has a messy appearance We usually say black and white.
You say somebody's got messy hair. We don't often say white and black.
So if you were saying you're talking about we're talking about neat and tidy.
your tidiness, you could talk about Well, just an area, or even yourself that is
whether a room is tidy, or whether your kept clean.
appearance is tidy. So, my room is really neat and tidy.
Now, let's talk about your obsession with I like to keep my house clean and tidy.
cleaning.
Q: Why are you so obsessed with Let's talk about the phrasal verbs:
cleaning? to clean out/ to clear out/ to clean up
I don't know, it's just who I am. It's part of Some of them can be used slightly in the
my personality, and I feel good when I get same way, but others not so much.
to clean, or if I wanted to clear out my garage,
or when the house is cleaned. And it just or if I wanted to clean out my garage,
makes me feel nice, and I actually kind of or if I wanted to clean up my room,
look forward to a good clean on the would you say there's much difference?
weekend. There isn't much difference.
A hoarder/ to hoard But definitely, clear out would probably
Well, a hoarder is someone who cannot let have a connection to getting rid of old, or
go of material things.(囤积者) unwanted materials things.
They... everything they've purchased, or I know many people nowadays often have
accumulated, or gathered over their life, too many clothes, or clothes they don't
they usually keep it. And it becomes a wear as much as they want to.
problem So I know that every few months,
because their house becomes very full of I will have a clear out of my old clothes.
these items, and it becomes also very have a clear-out of sth.
cluttered.
My dad loves collecting everything and
Texting/SMS
anything. He will collect old newspapers. Today, we're talking about text
He even collects nails. It's so strange. messaging,
So I said to him, "What's going to happen Q: Are you a big texter?
when you die, dad? I would say I am, yeah, I think most people
A hoarder is a person who is obsessed are in this day and age. So, smartphones
with keeping things. now have lots of different messaging
like a bomb site/a bomb hit it apps:
Okay, so the next words in the UK, we say such as Whatsapp, WeChat, Telegram in
something like, like a bomb site some countries. Or you could just
"Your room looks like a bomb site." generally SMS.
in the United States, we usually would say
something, "Along the lines of your SMS is kind of the old way of sending a
room looks like a bomb hit it". message via your mobile, using the
So, does your room look like a bomb hit it? cellular connections around you.
Because I know for many teenagers, if you Whereas now, texting also
go into their room, there are clothes and encompasses using other messaging apps
books all over the floor. like WeChat and Whatsapp, and Facebook
I would say it looks like a bomb site. messager, etc.
Maybe even food hidden under the bed. So there's a bit of a difference.
Binomial(成对词) And texting is probably a verb.
And a binomial is when two words must be To text somebody, to text somebody back,
in the same position each time. is a phrasal verb.
Q: So can you text me back quickly? Nowadays, the phone will tell you exactly
And do you text people back quickly which word it's expecting you to write,
or do you wait? and it just writes the word for you.
Some people like to wait and some people I think people are becoming lazy because
just forget. of this. I think not having to think about
I am notoriously bad at texting back. the word or not having to think about how
I'll read it and I'm doing something, to spell it.
and then I forget to text back, so I am It might have an effect on people's
terrible. spelling ability or even being able to
put together basic sentences.
One thing that I will admit to: But again we might be exaggerating here.
In a group message, for example, I suppose the other side of the argument
on WhatsApp, muting message, is that it actually teaches people the
do you know what it means to mute a correct word,
message? so they don't make spelling mistakes.
I think what that means is you simply Q: Do you prefer to speak on the
won't get notifications for that particular phone or text?
chat group. I prefer to text. However, if it's something
Do you mute messages? important, I think speaking is the way to
I do, occasionally. Usually like you, from if go.
it's part of a group that maybe... So most probably eighty percent of my
lots of messages are coming through communication nowadays is probably via
and it's kind of bothering me a little bit. text or messaging and then about twenty
I might mute them, but I don't really percent over by speaking over the phone.
mute individual people too often. I don't particularly like just chatting on the
Fast Fingers phone. I don't have enough time to just
What about fast fingers? chat on the phone, so texting is a
This is a description. really time-efficient.
If somebody said, do you have fast
fingers?
I guess that would mean someone who
can get their thumbs or their fingers
across the
mobile device very quickly and send out
multiple texts very fast.
And do you have fast fingers?
No, I have very slow fingers because I
don't tap when I text. My phone is an
Android phone and I have swipe
capability, so I never pick my thumb or
finger off the device. I just swipe what I
want to say.
Predictive Text
Now, most phones nowadays will use
predictive text, and I sense this is
becoming a problem for some people,
especially for teenagers, because spelling
is an issue.
And once upon a time you and me were a
bit old.
We had to learn how to spell words, didn't
we?
 If you realize that you made a mistake
earlier in the sentence,
you could say something like, "I think I
said, but I meant". Or "Did I say?... I
meant."
Those are two options for you.
For example:
I normally go to the dentist every day
because I tried to look after my teeth. Oh,
did I say, "every day? I meant every year".
The important thing to note is that you
can make mistakes.

Do you know what hesitation is?

Hesitation in the IELTS speaking test can
be identified in two ways:
The first way is language-related
hesitation.
The second is content-related
hesitation.
Have you had any tests which you thought
were surprising? Now, when the examiner
Self correction asked me about the sky, I was a bit taken
Self-correction is part of language, and it's aback. To be taken aback means to be
part of being a human being. So, if you surprised by something. I hadn't really
make a mistake in the test and you realize prepared myself for this topic, and... so I
you said the wrong thing, maybe you wasn't really sure what I should say.
made a grammar mistake or you made a I think her first question was: Do you like
mistake with vocabulary. to look at the sky? I know that you cannot
Remember, the best thing to do is to just answer.
correct yourself. And I'm going to show Yes, I do. So I probably started with.
you two things that you should do now. Uh...yes, I suppose I do.
Number one: don't panic. An examiner will notice when you have
I'll be honest with you, it's probably not little to say and may move on to the next
the first mistake you've made. It's likely to question.
be the first mistake which you'd noticed. For example: Do you prefer to look at the
When I say don't panic, I mean, don't sky at night or in the day?
fluster. Don't lose your train of thought. This will give you more things to talk
Number two: make a self-correction. about.
You could do that immediately by saying, So if we go back to the question,
"I mean", I mean... do you like to look at the sky?
For instance, And your answer is yes, I do.
I normally go to the dentist every day. I I really like to look at the sky at night. At
mean, every year. home, I use a...
it's the thing that I look at the stars with.
I can't remember the word in English.
you'll know that I'm trying to use the word
telescope.
But don't make too many pauses because
this will limit your band to a six.
Here's an example:
I could say "I really enjoy looking at the
sky at night and often use a thing which
my parents bought me for my birthday.
It's a special tool that when you look into
the sky, the stars look bigger".
Okay,
so you didn't use the word telescope.
But instead of hesitating,
you spoke fluently.
In summary,
content-related hesitations are better than
language-related hesitations.