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 to work towards.
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Perry answered this question by telling a story. He used narration.
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He began the story by telling us when it happened, that is:
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when I was eleven or twelve
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and he then told us where the story took place, that is:
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in my first science lesson at high school.
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The narrative follows a sequence of events. Perry used direct speech. He quoted exactly
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what the teacher said.
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The teacher said: "Right. Now copy this down into your books".
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By quoting what the teacher said, his response is more interesting.
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By listening to Perry, we can get a few useful tips for the IELTS speaking test.
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Perry did a number of things that you should do in your IELTS test, to give the examiner
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the best chance to hear you speaking clearly.
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It's a good idea to link ideas and language together and give interesting answers.
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You should also try to give details and answer questions fully.
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Remember how Perry told us that astronomy was both the oldest and also the newest science?
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Using these opposites was a good way for him to describe the field. It also allowed him
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to show that he was aware of the relationship between these words.
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Understanding the relationship between words can help to build your vocabulary. It will
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also help you to answer some questions in the IELTS reading test.
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Let's have a look at some word relations you should know.
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First, synonyms - words that mean the same.
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For example, for interesting, we have synonyms such as:
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entertaining
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fascinating and
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intriguing
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And for the word beautiful, we have:
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gorgeous
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handsome
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lovely and
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exquisite
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You should also know about opposites.
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For example:
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high and low
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big and small
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anxious and calm
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cheap and expensive
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Another group of related words that can be useful to know is words related by degree.
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These are words we can put on a scale.
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For example:
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hot
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warm
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cool and
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cold
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Hot and cold can also be opposites. So can warm and cool.
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Now here's Perry talking about what it's like to look up at the stars with his telescopes.
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Listen for adjectives and adverbs as we ask: Perry, do you enjoy your work as an astronomer?
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I imagine the closest that I come to a great spiritual experience is when I'm out there
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with my telescope, total darkness and the universe above my head, and you feel this
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strong connection between all of those elements, and that really fires me, and I'm always looking
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for new things to see as well.
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Perry uses a range of adjectives such as:
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total darkness
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strong connection and
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new things
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Can you think of any synonyms for these? How about:
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absolute darkness
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firm connection and
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unfamiliar things
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What about opposites?
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The opposite of strong connection is weak connection.
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The opposite of new things is old things.
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Perry also uses the adverb always.
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The opposite of always is never.
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We could also form a scale from always:
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always
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sometimes
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occasionally
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never
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Knowing how words relate is useful when answering true, false and not given questions in the
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IELTS reading test.
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But that's all for today.
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Let's review what we've learnt:
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First, we saw how Perry answered interview questions. We saw how linking ideas, using
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narrative and giving detailed answers can be helpful.
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Then, we looked at word relationships. We saw that learning synonyms, opposites and
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scales can help build vocabulary and can also help in the IELTS reading test.
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Of course, all of these skills take practice.
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Make sure you visit the Study English website for more. It's at abcasiapacific.com/studyenglish.
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Bye bye.
