Keith Speaking Academy

Live Lesson Notes

Animals

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Some useful Links

Test your vocabulary about animals here

https://www.passporttoenglish.com/Advanced-English/Lesson14/
Vocabulary.html

Zoos good or bad? - watch the debate!

https://www.kqed.org/education/532723/are-zoos-good-or-bad-for-
animals

Ideas for some interesting animals

https://allthatsinteresting.com/interesting-animals

Click to get a complete Mock IELTS Test.

https://takeielts.net/the-path-to-success-in-the-ielts-test/

Use the CODE: keith10 to get a 10% discount.

Find a teacher on italki so you can start practicing all the language you
are learning here. Practice is the key!

https://bit.ly/IELTSSpeakingitalki

Collect my free materials here

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General Vocabulary

When talking about animals you like, the most common mistake is to
use the singular, but if you are talking about this animal in general, you
should use the plural.

I like giraffe X

I like giraffes / dogs / elephants

I adore cats

I am into _____

I am a big fan of ______

I am a ___ person

I am a cat person

Pets

I have a pet hate, people speaking whilst eating

=something I hate a lot

I was the teacher’s pet

= the teacher’s favourite

Zoos

There are many different species (n.)

Capture (v.) - catch (v.)

Animals are kept in captivity (n.)

Cage (n.) -

It’s sad to see caged (adj.) animals

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We can save endangered (adj.) animals

Tigers are an endangered animal

The tiger is an endangered animal

To become / be extinct (adj.)

= to disappear, so no longer exist

They are on the brink of extinction (n.)

= about to become extinct

They are on the verge of extinction

= about to become extinct

In a conservation / natural / safari park animals are allowed to roam

(=to walk without direction) freely

We can protect animals from poaching (=illegal hunting)

Wild animals

herbivores (n.) = animals that eat plants

Cows, rabbits, horses…

carnivores (n.) are meat-eating animals

lions, tigers, snakes

mammals (n.) are warm-blooded, and the young feed on milk…

Humans, whales, dogs dolphins, bears

marsupials (n.) - the young live in a pouch (native to Australia)

Kangaroo, Koala, wombats, platypus, possums, wallabies

Animals that eat other animals are called predators

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Why do people have pets?

With this kind of question ‘WHY DO PEOPLE ____?”

I recommend you focus on 1 group of people, and then talk about

them.
This makes it easier to answer because it is very specific, otherwise you
may just give a very general, ‘surface-level’ answer.

Also as you become more specific, you will find you use more specific
vocabulary which can boost your vocabulary score.

For example,

If we are talking about old people, I think….

If we are talking about disabled people, they…

When it comes to young people, they….

More useful phrases

For security

For company

For companionship

They keep you company

In today’s isolated life they want a companion

Pets symbolise a sense of welfare / well-being

To curb loneliness (=reduce, keep in check)

Help us meet other people

Pets give us a great chance to socialise with others

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Zoos: Good or bad?

As you can see from the poll in our lesson, this is a hotly debated issue.
If you are not sure about your opinion, you could say…

I am on the fence on this one

=undecided

I am in two minds about this

=undecided

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Zoos are not a good thing because…

Cages and living conditions are too cramped - wild animals need
liberty and freedom

Animals lose their instincts (for example how to hunt) and often
become depressed

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They might be good for people but if we think of animals, zoos limit
their activities and natural way of spending their life.

By keeping animals cooped up (in a small cage), there are more

chances of extinction as they don’t get the conditions they need to
mate and reproduce

By keeping animals in captivity, ecosystems can be badly effected.

Some zoos abuse animals, for example, training elephants for

entertainment.

Zoos pose a risk, if animals can escape, they can harm people.

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Zoos are a good thing because…

They can help educate children

Zoos can be good for educational purposes to let children know

about a wide range of animals.

That said, we should protect the natural habitats where the

endangered species live.

I think, if workers treat animals kindly, zoos are good.

well, It really depends how well zoos are managed, and how much
protection can be provided to the animals.

Its good to keep some of animals in zoos, as otherwise their predators

will eat them and their numbers will decrease.

I think zoos are good to provided favourable conditions to endangered

species and so help save them.

Zoos can help us understand the biodiversity on our planet

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Wild animals
Students’ Questions

Keith, tell us about a time when you saw a wild animal

Well, it’s an interesting question because I live in the city, so I don’t get
a lot of access to wild animals, as you can imagine.

But I do remember once, when we were out trekking in the

mountains, we went through a forest, it’s not far from where I live,
actually.

Whilst we were going through the forest, suddenly out of the blue
(=unexpectedly) we saw this fox and I didn’t know there were foxes in
that forest, but there you go, lo and behold, (=used to present a new
and surprising situation) there it was.

It was a lot bigger than I imagined. As I mentioned I live in a city so I

don’t see many wild animals, but this fox was almost the size of a wolf

and what was interesting was, it was really scared of us. It was more
scared of us than we were of it.

So, it kind of peeped up (=took a quick look) from behind the bush, it
looked at us and then scurried away (=ran away quickly), to run away
and escape.

Obviously, it was afraid of humans. So, I felt surprised to see how big
it was and how scared it was, but it was a really interesting experience
that time I saw a fox in the forest near where I live.

Notice, my speech is not in perfect sentences. If you write your answers

out in perfect sentences, it will not sound natural, it will sound like you
are a book!

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Keith, do you think zoos are a good way to conserve wild animals?

Well, it’s an interesting question and I think I have two minds about this.

I know that, by and large, scientific research points in the direction -

to suggest its not a good way to conserve wild animals,

because wild animals are kept in captivity, often in small cramped

places, they lose their instinct (=natural ability to do things),

whether that be, how to hunt, how to look after their young or how to
socialise,

and so they become depressed and they change their behaviour and so
really they are not surviving as a species.

If we were to let them out into the wild, they would die within a week .

So, I think we really have to question whether we are really conserving

the wild animals, the species, for the long term.

That said, there are certain animals may be endangered animals on the
brink of extinction that need more protection, otherwise they will die
out

and so for those animals it may be plausible to put them in captivity,

preferably a natural park, where they can roam freely and be closer to
nature

and so that yes, in that case, that may be a better way to conserve the
species.

Notice, my speech is not in perfect sentences. If you write your answers

out in perfect sentences, it will not sound natural, it will sound like you
are a book!

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Keith, what wild animal do you like and why?

I am a big fan of elephants. I think, elephants are curious and

amazing creatures.

I have seen elephants on the television, not in real life, where they are
trained to do amazing things, from almost acrobatics to painting with
their trunk.

I just think, they are lovely creatures and they seem very sociable, and
very friendly, although of course in the wild I am sure they are much
more aggressive,

but they are typically an animal that humans like to tame (=to
domesticate) and I think they wonderful.

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