Hello, lovely, I'm Maria.

And my name is Rory and we are the host of the IEL 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 started this podcast to give you look at how a native super English speaker would answer some of the most common

I-out speaking questions using gorgeous grammar and high-level vocabulary for a high score.

Ben 9 score, Rory, where are you?

Well, was that a band 9 answer?

No.

I'm all over the place. Aw. Well, that's a shame. I have a present for you though.

Oh, give it to me. Here you are. Thank you so much. That's so sweet of you, Rory.

That's okay. Shall we talk about giving gifts today? Absolutely. In AIL speaking,

part one, they can ask you questions about presents and gifts.

Rory, do you enjoy giving gifts?

I like making people happy, but I'm not sure those two things are synonymous.

Sometimes you can just do a nice thing for someone or pay a compliment and that's enough.

It doesn't have to be a physical thing.

Although I suppose a compliment or an action could also be a kind of gift.

Do you prefer to give or receive gifts?

Doesn't everyone prefer getting gifts?

My philosophical approach to this kind of thing aside, it's

nice to be given gifts, not just because it's nice to have things. Usually some things are

useless, for example, but it shows the person who's thinking of you and cares about you, which is

really cool, I think. How often do you buy gifts for other people?

...