IELTS Speaking Idioms: ENVIRONMENT

♪ I want some idioms ♪

♪ And I want them now ♪

♪ I want some idioms ♪

♪ But I don't know how ♪

♪ How to learn them ♪

♪ How to remember them ♪

♪ All I know ♪ ♪ And I really think so ♪

- Good. Florence, thank you for your comment.

Florence says, "Vocabulary vault is great."

Kristen says, "As well." Excellent.

Leila says, "Indeed. A gold mine."

Wow.

I'm not sure if it's a gold mine, but thank you so much.

That's great. I'm pleased that they are useful.

So, idioms, I want you to see

if you can guess the idioms, okay?

I'm gonna show you, in a picture,

and see if you can guess.

Here is number one, the first idiom.

What is this?

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And you can type in the chat.

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Oh wow. Iwona, that's interesting.

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(laughing) Nice one, Alexander.

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Assalamualaikum. (indistinct)

Nice to see you.

Oh, interesting, Eva. Interesting.

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Right. Okay, let me stop us there.

I'm gonna stop where Sumon has, Sumon Khan,

"A drop in the ocean."

Let me show you the answer to this one.

So a lot of you can see it's a drop.

It's a drop in water, in the sea, in the ocean.

What's the correct idiom?

The correct idiom actually is "A drop in the ocean."

So it's drop, the color doesn't matter.

Because the ocean's blue,

I had to make it a different color or you wouldn't see it.

But it's a drop in the, in the.

Not a, but the, and it's ocean.

Not water. Not sea. Ocean.

A drop in the ocean.

A drop in the ocean.

If you can say it as one sound,

it's even better, right?

So instead of saying

a drop in the ocean,

say "A drop in the ocean."

A drop in the ocean.

A drop in the ocean.

A drop in the ocean.

It's a drop in the ocean.

What does that mean?

It means it's a very small amount

or insignificant amount.

Okay.

For example, switching off one light bulb

feels like a drop in the ocean

when it comes to tackling climate change.

A drop in the ocean.

(laughing) Tackling.

Do you remember the eco linguistic friendly language?

Tackling climate change.

Let's change that. Let's change to stopping.

We're not tackling, we're stopping climate change.

So switching off a light bulb, right?

I just switch off the light bulb.

Well, it's nothing, it's insignificant.

It's such a small amount.

It's important, but it feels like a drop in the ocean.

A small amount from the picture, right?

You can see when you've got that drop in the ocean,

it just means it's a really small amount.

Okay, well done.

Number two. What is this?

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So this is the bandwagon

you were asking about.

This is the bandwagon.

Yes, it is.

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Oh, Irene. That's a good expression.

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(laughing) Yes, it is a party in the car. Very good.

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Jump on. Jump into.

Interesting, Victoria.

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Well done, Maya.

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Backwagon or bandwagon?

It could well be.

I've never been to Bremen, but it could be.

(laughing) Interesting Eva.

Okay, now to jump on the bandwagon

means to join an activity that has become popular.

Do you remember Jack and Sarah?

Jack and Sarah were arguing

and Jack was saying, "Well, you know,

all this talk about wind energy

is just pretty words, right?

Sounds good, but it's not realistic."

And he says, "I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon."

Right. "Just because it's popular doesn't mean it's good.

I'm not going to join that.

I don't think it's a good idea."

I'm not gonna jump on the bandwagon.

So to join an activity that has become popular.

For example, 20 years ago,

no one was worried about recycling.

Now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.

Jumping on the bandwagon can sometimes be seen as negative

because you are following a fashion

without thinking about it.

But it's not necessarily negative, right?

Here, it's quite positive. Right?

Everybody is jumping on the bandwagon

because they're following something that has become popular.

So it can be positive,

but just be aware,

possibly English and American people

can use it with a negative idea.

Right? Almost ironic.

Almost. So just be careful with it.

But jump on the bandwagon. Now you know what it is.

That's it. Excellent.

Good. Okay.

Let's have a look at...

Let's take that off

and let's take Fakour off.

Number three. What is this?

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Anna, join the vocabulary vault as a start

and maybe the gold course, if you are intermediate.

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Any ideas? What's happening here?

What can you see?

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Some nice ideas.

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Okay, I'm gonna stop here with Saliha Hilmy.

Go green.

Because the answer here in fact

is to go green.

I was just gonna put the sign go,

but I thought I'll make it more difficult for you.

I need to challenge you

'cause you are too clever, everybody.

So I had to challenge you.

To go green, meaning to adopt

or to begin environmentally friendly practices.

Particularly with companies and businesses,

we talk about businesses going green.

Many companies are trying to go green

by reducing their carbon emissions.

You can say a person is going green.

I want to go green.

But usually it's companies, businesses,

countries, bigger ideas, right?

To go green.

Now there were some interesting expressions.

The grass is always greener, means things are better.

I'm seeing what other...

There was some other ones.

Let me just check.

Walking on the right path.

Green carbon footprint.

Carbon footprint, yes.

Green, not really, because it's kind of a redundancy.

It's already green, the carbon footprint.

Well, not exactly,

but I don't think we normally say that.

Carbon footprint, yes, but go green here.

Yeah, there were other ideas, but not quite there.

Okay, that was number three.

The last one is coming up.

What is...

Not that one.

Saliha, let me take you off. The last one.

Some of you got this, but let's see what you think.

The last one here.

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Massive, these idioms are. Mm.

Well, I think actually these idioms today

can both be speaking and writing.

By and large idioms are more speaking,

but I think the ones we have today

can be writing as well.

Oh lala.

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Sounds like Bob Dylan, Roblox.

Blowing in the wind.

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This is quite challenging, yes.

Oh, carbon emission. Interesting.

Hello, Juana Maria.

Uh-huh.

Right. I'm gonna stop with Goch Dut.

Blow hot and cold

because your answer absolutely is

to blow hot and cold.

So the idea is to frequently change opinion

or feeling about something.

So we often say the government blows hot and cold.

They're changing their idea quite frequently.

You can say a person is, you know,

they are blowing hot and cold.

Sometimes I, you know, maybe you ask your wife

or your husband, "Do you want to go out?"

"Yeah, let's go for dinner.

No, let's stay at home.

No, let's go to the restaurant.

No, no, no, no, no.

Let's cook at home.

No, wait a minute."

They are blowing hot and cold.

Make up your mind.

Don't blow hot and cold. They're blowing hot and cold.

Right? They're switching hot, cold.

It's that idea. You are changing your mind continually.

So often with governments, but it can be people.

Example here, some governments blow hot and cold

when it comes to taking action on climate policies.

Yeah. Sometimes they're in favor.

Then the next year they're against it.

Then they're in favor then they don't know.

Similar idiom.

It's not the same, but similar,

is to be in two minds, right?

To be in two minds is when you are undecided.

To blow hot and cold means you are changing your mind a lot.

Right? So similar, but not the same.

Moving the goalposts, similar. Yeah, Julia, similar.

Yes. Okay.

Excellent.

It often becomes greenwashing when companies

announce that they will go green.

Yes, that's true. Yes.

They're just jumping on the bandwagon

in a negative sense, right?

Like sit on the fence.

Similar, Victoria. Yep.

To be in two minds, to sit on the fence.

Similar idea.

Brian says, "I always blow hot and cold

on deciding which Lego sets I should buy.

I just can't make up my mind."

Ah, very interesting.

You are a Lego fan.

Ah, that's very interesting.

Excellent. Good.

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