🤖 Machines (Part 1 ) + Transcript
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Hello, lovely. I'm Maria. And my name is Rory. And we're the hosts of the IELTS 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, for your, for your, for your what? For your I-IELTS score. Rory, look at you. You've taken IELTS. You're now doing your visa.

You're going to Oxford this summer. You're like a machine, Rory. You are like a productive machine of life. You produce stuff. It's like a machine. Like poch, poch, poch, poch, poch, poch, poch.

Huh? I have become a machine, that is true. Shall we talk about machines? Dear listener, let's talk about machines! And this is a super new topic! We've never had such a topic: machines, in IELTS Speaking Part 1. So yeah, it's like, wow, it's a new topic. And what a coincidence, because our Rory is indeed a machine.

A Scottish IELTS machine. Rory produces Ben 9 answers. Like a factory. Rory, you're not just like one machine, but you are a factory of IELTS Ben 9 answers. Oh, heck, wonder if I can put that on my CV. What's your favorite machine in your home?

Well, I suppose the biggest time saver is the washing machine, actually. I use it once a week, but it saves me having to do all that manual labor of washing, well, of hand washing clothes by myself. I can't imagine life without it, actually. Do you read the instructions before using a machine? Normally, the first time, yes. Usually the process is fairly self-explanatory, but it's always good to check. After that, I find it easy enough to remember what I need to do.

Is it important to read the instructions? Generally, yes. Even though you can usually work things out just by looking at whatever the device is and what the functions are, a manual or a set of instructions can be handy if you have to do something out of the ordinary, like use new settings, for example.

Do you think washing machines and sweeping machines are important? Well, I think the washer is pretty much indispensable at this point, given the number of hours it lets you spend doing other things. But when it comes to sweeping machines, I don't actually know what those are. So I couldn't say. They're definitely not so important for me. I mean, I know my way around a brush and dustpan reasonably well. ♪

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What a topic, dear listener! Machines. First of all, what are machines? Like, like, machines, like, what is a machine? Mechanical things that make life easier? A piece of equipment with several moving parts that uses power to do a particular type of work. For example, a vending machine, like we buy our, you know, drinks,

and chocolates from a vending machine or a washing machine is a machine. But here, in this context, we can talk about different gadgets, dear listener, appliances that we usually use at home. So, home devices, appliances, gadgets, air conditioners,

AI-powered machinery, dear listener, that you use at home. And our common devices are air conditioners, refrigerators, blenders, air purifiers, smart TV. Maria is just listing things that I don't have in my home. Yeah, well, because you're boring. Come on, let's just like...

Come on, come on, just like, Rory, you don't need any machines because you are a machine, okay? Our listener may not be a machine, that's why. Our listener might have an automated coffee maker or a dishwasher, alright? A vacuum cleaner. So, dear listener, you can talk about these machines.

and your favorite machine in your home, you can be very interesting and just say something more interesting than Rory. Because Rory, you just said a washing machine. Okay. And a washing machine is a real time saver. It saves your time. It washes clothes for you.

And what do you call a machine that washes the dishes in the kitchen, Rory? A dishwasher. A dishwasher, yes. So a dishwasher washes your dishes in the kitchen. Do you have a dishwasher? Yes, I do have a dishwasher. Oh my God, that's amazing. I don't have a dishwasher.

Or you can say that my favorite machine is my multi-room audio system. Or is my smart lighting system. You know, lights or different lights. Or for example, my favorite machine is a do-it-all smart oven.

It can be interesting, dear listener, even if you don't have anything at home, just say, yeah, I love my smart couch station.

just google it it's amazing how many machines we have oh it's amazing you know it's a smart couch station so you have a couch a sofa and then there is this little kind of table kind of coffee table but it has different function functions it has a cup holder it has an ipad stand it has a cooling fan fan you know like you are sitting on your sofa watching

television and then you have a fan from this smart couch station. That's crazy! Like a super smart coffee table. I know. We usually read instructions before using a machine or a device or any gadget. They are also called manuals. Okay? So, manuals or guides or instructions that we use before using a washing machine, for example.

And Rory tells us: "Well, the process is self-explanatory, so you don't have to read instructions,

You can understand everything yourself. And it's like self-explanatory, no need to read anything. That's probably a very male interpretation of how you should approach things like this. I imagine some more sensible people would probably be like: "Oh, no, it's not self-explanatory, you should always read the manual in detail before you attempt to do things."

Even though you can usually work things out yourself, understand things, work things out, it's useful to read a manual before using a device. So, a manual or set of instructions can be handy, useful.

And you usually read a manual if you need to do something out of the ordinary. So you need to change the settings of a machine. This is something extraordinary, out of the ordinary, so you need to read the instructions.

The questions could be about specific machines, for example, washing machines, coffee machines, coffee makers, right? Or sweeping machines. Dear listener, go to Google Images and write "sweeping machines" and then you'll see "sweepers" or "handheld sweepers".

Out of the ordinary is probably a good collocation to have. Out of the ordinary? Yeah, something that's not normal. Like a native speaker with a band 9 score in IELTS, for example. Without a dishwasher. I don't need a dishwasher, I have two hands.

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Make it an Abercrombie summer. Shop their newest arrivals in-store, online, and in the app. Yeah, but a dishwasher is kind of a luxury, dear listener, yeah. If you don't have a dishwasher, that's fine. But you can lie to just show off your super vocabulary, dear listener, all right? Even if you don't have a refrigerator or you don't have a washing machine, just say that you do, all right? To be more interesting to the examiner. Because everybody will talk about...

a fridge or a TV and you being super cool, dear listener, you will talk about water purifier. A water purifier cleans your water. Okay. And this is like super interesting. Or you can talk about a gym machine at your home. Rory, what machine from the gym can I have at home?

What do you call a machine you run on? Oh, a treadmill. Treadmill, yeah. Oh, I have a treadmill. I should have talked about that. Oh, there you go. I don't use my treadmill, actually. So if anyone would like to buy my treadmill, please get in touch. What do you call a machine that cuts your grass? A lawnmower. Yeah, a lawnmower, dear listener. So you can also talk about your vacuum cleaner, a lawnmower.

Or please Google a sweeping machine or a sweeper. You can also call it a handheld sweeper. You just hold it with your hands. And you can say that they are pretty much indispensable. So that's your keyword. You cannot live without them. Indispensable is C2 level, band 9. So this machine is indispensable.

indispensable, so it cannot be changed. I can't manage without it. And you can say that my water purifier is an absolutely indispensable piece of equipment. Yeah.

And also, dear listener, we are living in 2025, right? So everything, pretty much everything is operating with AI, artificial intelligence. And you can talk about AI-powered devices.

When you start talking about a different machine, you can say: "When it comes to sweeping machines or when it comes to dishwashers, they are definitely not for me, for example."

or they're not useful, or they're super useful, or I don't need a sweeper, I know my way around a brush and a dustpan. If you don't have a special machine to sweep your floors, you use a brush and a dustpan, like the old school way. And now Rory.

you will need to choose a machine for your house. Are you ready? Oh wow, what are my choices? Okay, okay. So the first choice is... And this is the equipment that people use in 2025. So it's like super new. So the first one is a vacuum cleaner that has an arm for clearing socks. So it's like a vacuum cleaner that is a robot.

But this vacuum cleaner has an actual arm, you know? It kind of... It cleans your floor and then just an arm appears. And then you just... It just takes your sock and removes it. How difficult is it to pick up your socks? It's amazing, right? So, dear listener, we do have vacuum cleaners with an arm.

installed into them. So you have one of those or Rory, you will have a voice assistant like Amazon's Alexa, for example. A voice assistant is also kind of a type of machine. Or you can get a smart couch station that we've been talking about, this kind of smart coffee table that has everything. Or

You have the Totem Planter. What is that? That is a smart system for growing your indoor garden. So these kind of like little shelves that you can plant different herbs and plants and they grow. And it's kind of self-watering.

That is the height of laziness. What was the one before the couch station? The one before the couch station was voice assistant like Amazon's Alexa. Right, then I'll get that. That seems to be the most practical one. And it's fitting because I have an Alexa in my house. I just don't talk to her that much. You see, Delys, so we do have different machines and like AI powered machinery. So, yeah.

Also, you can talk about something like smart water sensors. Do check out smart couch station. Just Google it and go to Google images. All right. And also do check out the stair climbing robot vacuum cleaner. Rory, did you know that these robot vacuum cleaners can now climb the stairs? Did you know? What?

Why? They climb the stairs to clean the second floor in your house. It's amazing. That's crazy. Thank you very much for listening. Please be interesting when you talk about machines. Feel free to lie and just think like a robot.

super AI-powered machine you'd like to have in your home and just lie about it. This is also useful for your essays because you can make examples writing about specific pieces of technology that people are using these days. Bye! Bye! Eczema isn't always obvious, but it's real. And so is the relief from Evglyss.

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Well, I suppose the biggest time saver is the washing machine, actually. I use it once a week, but it saves me having to do all that manual labor of washing, well, of hand washing clothes by myself. I can't imagine life without it, actually. Do you read the instructions before using a machine? Normally, the first time, yes. Usually the process is fairly self-explanatory, but it's always good to check. After that, I find it easy enough to remember what I need to do.

Is it important to read the instructions? Generally, yes. Even though you can usually work things out just by looking at whatever the device is and what the functions are, a manual or a set of instructions can be handy if you have to do something out of the ordinary, like use new settings, for example.

Do you think washing machines and sweeping machines are important? Well, I think the washer is pretty much indispensable at this point, given the number of hours it lets you spend doing other things. But when it comes to sweeping machines, I don't actually know what those are. So I couldn't say. They're definitely not so important for me. I mean, I know my way around a brush and dustpan reasonably well. ♪