This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1465. Use Instagram for Band 9, Part 3, Environment Answers. ♪
Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English, downloaded more than 22 million times with former IELTS examiner Jessica Beck and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz. If you are stuck with a low score, our insider method will help you get the score you need to unlock your dreams. Get your estimated band score now with our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com
forward slash my score. In this part two of our series on the environment, we share two band nine sample answers. Listen in today so you are ready for these extremely common IELTS questions.
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Aubrey, can you remind us what happens on IELTS Speaking Part 3?
Often these questions are related to your part two. I mean, always. So whatever you talk about for two minutes in part two, it's going to transition really smoothly in part three, right? The examiners are going to say, we've been talking about whatever your part two is about. Now I'm going to ask you a few related questions. So first of all, part three, you get a little bit of a heads up as soon as you see that part two question. Ooh, my first part three questions will be about this.
And then you have three sets of questions here. The examiner has to ask a specific number of questions. So we've mentioned this before. You might be interrupted because there's a limited amount of time and they have to ask a certain number of questions.
Yes. So the examiner has three sets to choose from, but they're only going to ask you about two of those groups of questions depending on your level, right? Because they can get progressively more difficult. Examiners have to prove to themselves if you are actually a seven or actually an eight. So in those cases, they're going to ask you harder questions. But here's the thing.
In part two, the candidates get the topic. They can read the topic, right? In part three, can they see the questions? No, right? This is very different. Part two, you have a minute to take notes and think about your answer. Good thing, because you have to talk for a full two minutes.
But part three answers are usually about a minute long and you have no time to prepare, no time to think about your answer. Like Jessica said, these can be very difficult questions that in real life you would probably be like, "Huh, let me think about this. I don't know." Yeah. These usually aren't things that you actually talk about on the daily.
We did environmental issue vocabulary last time. Does that mean we're going to do part three environment questions today? It does. This is part two of a very fun series. If you missed part one, scroll back, listen to it. We shared a lot of great vocabulary you can use about topics.
You might not have thought about recently the environment, right? Things are changing. Issues that weren't as big of a problem in the past are now. So you don't want to be using outdated resources, outdated sample answers. You want to keep it fresh. Exactly, exactly. So definitely.
- Definitely guys, listen to 1464. That was our last episode. You can listen after this episode, but do not sleep on that one. So today guys, we're gonna do things a little bit differently. Usually when Aubrey and I plan the episodes, we like choose the questions together, you know, and we like look at this document while we're recording. But today guys, we are challenging ourselves
I am going to approach this just like you guys have to on the exam. I have not seen today's part three questions. Yeah, so she has no time to think about it or prepare, just like this is exactly how it will be for you on test day. You have to answer on the fly. You might need to use a filler phrase to give you just a second to decide how you want to answer. So we're going to see Jessica implement those strategies today. If you look on YouTube, I am pretending to bite my nails. Yeah.
in apprehension okay she hasn't even seen these this is rare for us usually we at least read them first right oh okay let's do it all right here's your first question tell me about some of the environmental problems that are affecting countries these days that are affecting countries wow um great question you know i would say global warming of course is affecting everybody um
The way that it comes out, though, the consequences that each country is experiencing, I think
are slightly different. So for example, here in Oregon, right, with global warming, the temperatures here are a lot warmer than they have been. Our summers are roasting, which causes a whole bunch of problems for the residents because we don't have air conditioning. It literally causes more deaths every summer just from the heat than ever before.
But if you go to another country in a different part of the world, now I'm not an environmental scientist, so I don't actually understand the link for this or how this works. But anywho, if you go to another country, the same global warming that is making us hotter is making other countries colder. And you will have ice storms and blizzards and these massive
monumental winters that have never been seen before in places that, and they're not ready for this kind of harsh condition. It will also nonetheless, sadly have the same effect of causing human deaths.
Excellent. Okay, I'm going to give some feedback to this answer. Fantastic vocabulary. So as you can see, Jessica focused on global warming, which is wise for a question like this, because you have to share how it's affecting different countries, right? And she first shared about what she knows, where she lives, right? To say the consequences are different depending on where you live. And then here in Portland, summers are roasting.
And I loved this chunk, a whole bunch of problems. I wanted to highlight it because it is sort of an informal way to say a lot of problems, but you can be informal on part three. It makes sense still. You don't want to say a lot of over and over. You need lots of ways to say this. And this is a good one. A whole bunch of problems.
And then she admitted that she's not an expert, but that she has heard that in other areas, right, she's saying they're being affected. They're having ice storms and monumental winters. So she's contrasting how this might look elsewhere in the world without giving like details about a specific country because she doesn't know. Right. You don't have to have all of those specifics.
The examiner knows you won't, they don't expect it. You can still share a lot of details about what this looks like around the world. Use vocab like harsh conditions like Jessica shared. And then I loved this linking phrase, nonetheless. We often hear however, even nevertheless. I don't hear nonetheless as often. So that the examiner is like perking up like, ooh, impressive linking word.
And to be honest, I mean, our winters here are harsher as well, but I didn't want to only talk about where I live. And I know for a fact, I read the news. Like, I know that people are dying because of horrible winters elsewhere. I couldn't remember where on the spot.
But I did want to provide like a larger context. Yeah, which is just a good note, I think, that don't stress yourself out if you can't remember the exact country, these exact details. You're still using interesting vocabulary. You're sharing what you do know. And the examiner isn't like, oh, wait, if they didn't say the country where these harsh whishenders are lowering your score, it doesn't work that way. Yeah. All right, Jessica, are you ready for your next question? You know, we'll see. We shall see.
because you don't know what it is yet i don't know okay do you think that governments around the world are doing enough to tackle the problems definitely not um
It doesn't matter if you're asking me about the environment or gender roles or equal pay. I don't think governments anywhere in okay, in most places are doing enough to tackle our modern problems. But let's get back to the topic at hand, which is the environment. Definitely not, you know, here's what's interesting.
Yesterday, I was on Instagram and I follow a lot of like art artists that post things. And I saw this installation. I have no idea where it was. I think it was in London, but I don't know what museum. But the installation was a very real life statue of an older white man.
who was in the corner of a room and he was holding a red paintbrush, a paintbrush covered in red paint, and he was surrounded by red paint. So it was a metaphor for painting oneself into a corner, which is to say that the governments of today, which are...
populated by older white men. They are out of touch with modern problems. And we know this is exactly the problem with environmental regulation is that our governments are so out of touch with what we need today. And we're so far behind the legislation that we need to change ourselves that we have painted ourselves into a corner. Thank you. Wow. What an amazing answer. Yeah.
To be able to bring up this art installation and share how it's a metaphor for what governments are doing. 10 out of 10. Chef Liz. I was so excited when I remembered that like on the spot.
I love that. And guys, think about how the more you are visiting museums, listening to podcasts, exposing yourself to culture and going, then you will have cool examples like that, right? And they'll be able to just come to mind for whatever you're asked. Amazing. Just on Instagram. That's all you got to do. Yeah, just being on Instagram. You guys are probably on Instagram. Even you don't have to go to London to the museum. It's not on Instagram. Love it.
Okay, great vocab here. First, I want to just highlight how you started it to say definitely not. I love that if ever you can, you know, give a resounding no. Start it this way, right? Some interesting pronunciation. Absolutely not or definitely not.
So good. And then I love that you were able to list a lot of the things that you feel like governments don't handle well enough, right? The environment, whether it's the environment, gender roles or equal pay, but then use this really cool transition to say, let's get back to the topic at hand. And so this gives you a chance to share other interesting details that are related, but then come back to make sure you answer the question.
And then the vocab, an art installation. This is, you know, it's not just a painting. There's maybe some type of sculpture or something that's like a think piece, something that is somewhere. It might be in a museum. It might be on a sidewalk somewhere. So this is impressive vocabulary to talk about art that you saw somewhere.
Yeah, it's usually about like a, it'll be like a 3D multimedia piece. It won't just be one kind of art, like a painting, a sculpture. It'll be like a mixture of different mediums. Yes. And then I also wanted to share, I loved that you,
when you described what you had seen on Instagram, you were like, I think it was London. I'm not sure which museum. This is great if you can throw that out, any details you do know, right? Anytime you're able to share names of cities, museums, whatever it is, doesn't have to be exact. And this is very native and natural. We do this as we're telling stories. I
I think it was Paris, I don't remember exactly. And you're showing fluency by sort of narrating where you thought it might be. And then a great transition phrase when you said, which is to say, when you're describing this installation and then sharing what it means, right? And lastly, out of touch. What great vocabulary to say governments are out of touch or people are out of touch means they don't really have a full understanding of the current situation.
And that kind of summarizes a lot of our rule makers today. Well, you know, fingers crossed it does not listeners where you live. I know everywhere is different. I don't want to offend anyone there. There are some great politicians out there for sure.
Uh, anyway, guys, um, go ahead and send us an email if you want to share, uh, your answer to one of today's questions, send us an email and we will try to, uh, shout it out on a future episode. So write to us [email protected].
Awesome. Great job on these answers, Jessica. Thank you. Great vocab, great pronunciation. And we're excited for you guys to use the vocabulary from part one and practice answering questions about the environment because it's extremely common. You are likely to get questions either on speaking or writing on test day. Definitely.
follow if you're not following us already or subscribe on YouTube because coming up very soon in the next couple episodes, we're going to have another two-part series linked to the environment. This time, we're going to share listening multiple choice strategies and we're going to do a listening practice about the environment. Yeah, you don't want to miss that. So be sure to hit follow. Awesome. Aubrey, thanks for talking today. Thank you. See you next time, Jess. Bye. Bye.
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