IELTS Preparation Series 2, Episode 15: Astronomer
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Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English IELTS preparation.
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Today, we're going to talk about the IELTS speaking and reading tests.
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The speaking test includes an interview, where you can be asked to talk about yourself, your
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family, your job or maybe your studies.
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But you won't have to answer any questions today. Instead, we're going to interview a
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man called Perry Vlahos. He's an astronomer. By asking Perry a series of questions, we
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can learn a bit more about what makes a good response.
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Let's begin by asking Perry a typical part 1 type question.
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Perry, can you tell us about yourself?
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Well, currently I'm the Vice-President of the Astronomical Society of Victoria. Another
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thing I do is the tours at the Melbourne Observatory, where a lot of people come in to get a look
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through the telescopes and have been there for a long time - very historical instruments,
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in some cases.
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Perry answered the question very well. He gave detail in his answer.
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He's the Vice-President of the Astronomical Society of Victoria, and he does tours at
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the Melbourne Observatory.
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Perry ordered points logically and he used linking words like currently, and another
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thing.
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Did you notice that he started his response with the word well?
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He did this so he could have some time to think about his answer.
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Sometimes people will use fillers like well, um or ah while they are thinking about what
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they want to say next.
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It's best to minimise fillers. Don't use them too often, because it affects fluency.
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Fluency is an important feature of your spoken language that the examiner is listening for.
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What question would you ask Perry next?
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Perry is an astronomer. We might ask him about his area of study, astronomy.
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Perry, could you tell us about astronomy?
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Astronomy is very much a cutting edge science. It's the oldest science and it's also the
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newest science.
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And then, every time we find out something new and interesting out there, it also tells
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us something new and interesting about ourselves and our place in the cosmos.
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Perry used words that belong to the field of astronomy.
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For example, he talked about cutting edge science and the cosmos.
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Perry also used opposites in his description. He described astronomy as being both the oldest
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science and the newest science.
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Perry didn't just tell us facts about astronomy, he extended the description to tell us his
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opinions about the effect that astronomy can have.
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He said that: It can tell us something new and interesting about ourselves and our place
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in the cosmos.
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To enhance his response, Perry could have talked more about the cosmos. That would show
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more of his vocabulary range.
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So, let's ask Perry:
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Why did you choose to study astronomy?
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When I was about eleven or twelve and had my first science lesson at high school and
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the teacher went up to the board, drew a semi circle, put in various dots, labelled them,
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said: "Right. Now copy this down into your books. These are stars, planets and constellations,
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go out there and find them tonight and then let me know how you went." It inspired me,
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fired my imagination and gave me something