IELTS Speaking for Success - 🙂 Being happy (Part 1) + Transcript

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

Get our premium episode archive: https://www.patreon.com/ieltssfs What made you happy when you were a child? Is there anything that has made you feel happy lately? Do you feel happy when buying new things? When do you feel happy at work? Why? What will make you feel happy in the future? Tune in and have a great day! - Book a class with Rory here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://successwithielts.com/rory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our course on Phrasal Verbs: https://successwithielts.com/podcourses Transcript: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://successwithielts.com/s12e24 Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2025 Podcourses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, lovely. I'm Maria. And my name is Rory, and we are the hosts of the AILT Speaking for Success podcast. The podcast is to help you improve your speaking skills as well as your listening skills along more. We started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and fabulous vocabulary for your high ILD school. Your band nine score. You look very pleased with yourself. Of course I am. It's Friday. And I'm super happy about that. Oh my. Let's talk about being happy.

Yes, dear listener. Being happy. What's a happy topic. I'm happy, Rory's happy and you are happy. Dear listener, just because you are listening to our lovely voices. How happy are you, Rory now, from 1 to 10? Yeah, let's say 9, just to keep the theme. Ben, nine.

What made you happy when you were a child? Well, I quite liked spending time with people and going, on adventures. That was very entertaining. And I liked the relationships we developed that made me feel supported and give you the chance to tell jokes and funny stories. And of course, I was always happy whenever I was praised or rewarded in some way. I still am pleased by those things. Is there anything that has made you feel happy lately? I went for dinner with my family recently. That was very good fun. And we were telling jokes and sharing stories and welcoming new people into our lives.

That was a good time for everyone. Hopefully we can do it again soon. Do you feel happy when buying new things? I think that depends on what it is, to be honest. If it's something like a new train ticket after finding out the one I bought was useless, then I'm not exactly going to be thrilled about that. But if it's something I worked hard for that I know will improve my life and make me a better person, like, I don't know, a new phone or a new laptop,

or something like that, then yeah, 100%. When do you feel happy at work? Well, I'm usually happy at it, to be honest. I suppose the moments that really stand out are when my students or colleagues get something new or special from what I'm doing, like some sort of new insight or understanding. That's quite rewarding to see happen. And of course, I love putting things in order,

so whenever I'm planning lessons and preparing materials and that's all coming together nicely, then that's very satisfying. What will make you happy in the future? Well, that's an interesting one. I hope my relationships will continue to grow and evolve and get stronger. That would be, or it should be, pretty gratifying.

And continuing to grow and do well at my job, I really get a kick out of being successful, although doesn't everyone? As you know, we now release all of our premium content for free and it's available for one month. After one month, it goes into our super secret archive. To sign up for the archive, click the link in the description below. See you soon. I wonder what people mean when they say be happy.

For you, being happy is one thing. For me, being happy is another thing. For you, dear listener is the third thing. You know? I feel like a positive feeling will be good. Yeah. Any positive feeling should be close to happiness. I think anyway.

Yeah, when you feel joy and you smile and you feel like light and bright and you're kind of like, happy, happy, happy, like this. Yeah, so it's like a feeling of happiness. When you get band eight for speaking or band nine or even band 7.5, you're kind of happy, hey. And you expect it to get a five. And we say that something made me happy when I was a child. Like chocolate made me happy. Spending time with people made me happy.

So doing something or something made me happy. Going on adventures made me happy. So when Rory went on some adventures like what, Rory? Oh, it could be a visit to the park or walking somewhere new with friends. It doesn't have to be like something super exciting. It was new and fun. It was very entertaining. So entertaining, like, it was fun.

It was exciting. Telling jokes made me happy. Telling funny stories. I was always happy when I was praised. So here we are using the bus simple. So I was happy whenever I was praised, whenever I was rewarded. So when people gave Rory, praise when they said, oh, Rory, well done, you did it well, at a boy, you know.

Did you, I feel like that last one might be a bit old, but any positive praise saying that I did a good job will be good. Yes, well done. You've done a good job. And I was very pleased. A very good synonym for I was happy. I was pleased by such rewards. I was pleased when I told jokes, when I spent time with my relatives, family. Something has made me happy lately or recently, like not a long time ago. And here you can say like, oh, a delicious dinner has made me happy. And then you can use the past simple. It was very good fun. So I went out with my family and it was very good fun.

It was fun. What were you doing? Here we can use the past continues. We were telling jokes. were telling stories, we were drinking, we were eating, I was wearing my favorite dress. Well, Rory wasn't, but I was. Well, I wouldn't be wearing my favorite dress. Maybe my favorite clothes. When I buy new things, I usually feel happy. Or I usually feel really pleased when I buy new things. Or another synonym you can say, like, I was thrilled to buy and you watch. I was thrilled like,

Yay! I was excited. I was thrilled. Or you could say I was ecstatic. Like, if you bought something, if you bought a flat, for example, if I bought a car, or even, you know, something small, like a ring, or even, I don't know, like cream. I was ecstatic when I bought this cream. You look like moisturizer.

Yeah, moisturiser for your body. No, recently, actually, I've bought like super cool. moisture and I think it was, yeah, it was body oil. Oh. I was ecstatic. I was like in the shop like, yay! Ah, that's been my dream forever! Yeah, because it was pretty expensive.

So, yeah, so I felt ecstatic. Like super happy, this ecstasy, you know? I would just be happy to get my moisturizer with a discount. Yeah, but it's not like luxury moisturizer or just a simple, usual moisturizer, right? I know, it's not. Oh, thank you. Maria's just like, no, it's not luxury. And you're right.

Yeah, I see. I've been dreaming of buying this luxury, this oil, like, mm. And it does smell like heaven. I don't know what they put in there, but it's just, oh. I'm just, I don't know, in some Egyptian palace, maybe? Palace, yes. I'm in this palace when I put it on, you know. And Rory told us that he enjoys things that improve his life.

So, things that make me a better person make me happy. Or I'm happy when I buy something that makes me a better person. And then, for example, like a new book, a new set of pens. You see, because Rory writes everything down in his super diary, Rory's diary, and pens are pretty important because using pens, Rory creates his life. What a crazy question. When do you feel happy at work? Never. No. You feel happy at work.

Yeah, but not everybody, Roy. Not everyone is as lucky as you are. So if you, dear listener, feel unhappy at work, you just say never. No, I really dislike my job. I'm there only for money. So I hardly ever feel happy at work. Well, many people, unfortunately, are like this. So hardly ever, or rarely, Like, not always or sometimes. It's very sad.

Well, it is, but that's true, right? Some people just dislike their work. Or you can say, I'm usually happy at work. You can lie, because the examiner doesn't want to see, you know, like, Yeah, I'm unhappy, I'm miserable, I'm depressed, help me. Yeah, the examiner doesn't want to see that. The examiner wants to see a happy person full of life, you know. Feel free to lie.

Or I'm happy at work when they pay me. or I'm happy at work when I don't have to go to work on national holidays well yes although we don't do that and you can say that these moments stand out

something unusual right so when I get a bonus so this moment stands out and you can say like well the moments that really stand out are when I get my bonus or when I get praised by my boss or when my colleagues

the get-together or the moments that really stand out are when we celebrate each other's birthdays, for example. And you can say that it's really rewarding when my colleagues praise me, when my boss is satisfied with my job. It's rewarding. So that's a nice adjective. Because actually we feel happy at work when our work is rewarding. That means it makes you feel satisfied. So you've done something important and useful and it's rewarding. So my job is rewarding. Intellectually rewarding and financially rewarding. Financially rewarding. Very important. And another adjective is satisfying. So I'm happy when my work is satisfying. It's satisfying to finish a project. So I'm satisfied or I'm dissatisfied when you're satisfied when you're

you are not satisfied. Hopefully most people are satisfied with their job. In the future, something will make me happy. So we use the future. And here Rory is speculating. He's thinking, hmm, that's an interesting one. Well, how many people think about that? Hmm.

Because what makes you happy now may not make you happy in the future, right? Yep. Hopefully you are changing, dear listener, right? And maybe, like, when you were a child, toys made you happy but now we have different toys like cars, flats jewelry gold

and diamonds and luxury body oil I love how you've got to the diamonds I just love it no diamonds make me happy I bet they do yes you can say something like

growing as a person makes me happy like getting stronger makes me happy getting my body healthy makes me happy, right? Taking care of myself and my family makes me happy. So we can kind of go spiritual, de listerner, right? So about like self-development makes me happy. Right. And then diamonds also help. It's always going to come back to the diamonds, I think. Yeah, because well, we live in a material world. So we eat food, we sleep in a comfortable bed.

so we need some kind of material comfort. You said so. Yeah, but Rory, tell us about your glasses. Like, you drink water from what glasses? Well, I drank it from crystal glasses, but none of them I paid for myself. They were bought for me. Oh, yeah, but people still, like, they bought them for you.

But if they didn't, you would buy them, right? No, if they didn't, then I would drink them from a normal glass. I have normal glasses, too. people you don't want to give people the idea that I'm just like swanning around my home surrounded by crystal glassware yeah you see it's a combination deal is it's a combination you know self-development spiritual world helping people and also drinking your water from a crystal glass and we have another adjective gratifying and rory tells us more about this adjective gratifying it just makes you feel satisfied, I suppose, it leads me feeling satisfied. Yeah, if something is gratifying, it's pleasing,

satisfying. So it's gratifying to see all my family close to me. It's gratifying to see all my children grown up and happy. So it's satisfying, it's pleasing, it makes me happy. A very nice phrase is, I really get a kick out of being successful. So get a kick out of doing something. So get a kick out of doing something. Well, it just means it makes you happy, probably for a brief period. Yeah. I think there's a song get a kick out of you. Yeah. There's Frank Sinatra that sings that. Yeah, so Frank Sinatra, listen to this lovely song, I get a kick out of you. That means that I love you, I enjoy your company, you thrill me. So I get a kick out of champagne, I enjoy champagne, I get a kick out of yoga. Rory, give us examples with this phrase.

Well, you could, I don't know, I get a kick out of doing sports, for example, or you might get a kick out of playing video games as well. I get a kick out of watching old movies. I get a kick out of dancing tango. Oh, that's true, actually. So what do you get a kick out of, the listener? Can you say I get a kick out of ice cream or something? Probably not.

It's usually out of doing something. It's because you have the I-N-G. So I get a kick out of drinking champagne. I get a kick out of playing something or doing or, I don't know, listening to doing something. I think it's usually like a physical activity that involves some sort of movement. Drinking champagne might be a push. I think. I've been reading this article.

Be happier. So you can focus on three things to be happier. So the first thing, prioritize your own hair. health and well-being, dear listener. Well, that makes sense. The second one, asking for and accepting help. So that's interesting. So you're not just alone, but you should ask for help and accept help.

And the third one is listening to our podcast, dear listener. Yes, this article. That's exactly what it says. Thank you very much for listening. We wish your happiness, joy and love. Hugs and love and kisses. Bye. What made you happy when you were a child?

Well, I quite liked spending time with people and going on adventures. That was very entertaining. And I liked the relationships we developed that made me feel supported and give you the chance to tell jokes and funny stories. And of course, I was always happy whenever I was praised or rewarded in some way. I still am pleased by those things. Is there anything that has made you feel happy lately? I went for dinner with my family recently.

That was very good fun, and we were telling jokes and sharing stories and welcoming new people into our lives. That was a good time for everyone. Hopefully we can do it again soon. Do you feel happy when buying new things? I think that depends on what it is, to be honest. If it's something like a new train ticket after finding out the one I bought was useless, then I'm not exactly going to be thrilled about that.

But if it's something I worked hard for that I know will improve my life and make me a better person, like, I don't know, a new phone or a new laptop, or something like that, then, yeah, 100%. When do you feel happy at work? Well, I'm usually happy at it, to be honest. I suppose the moments that really stand out are when my students or colleagues get something new or special,

from what I'm doing, like some sort of new insight or understanding. That's quite rewarding to see happen. And of course, I love putting things in order. So whenever I'm planning lessons and preparing materials and that's all coming together nicely, then that's very satisfying. What will make you happy in the future? Well, that's an interesting one.

I hope my relationships will continue to grow and devolve and get stronger. That would be, or it should be, pretty gratifying and continuing to grow and do well at my job, I really get a kick out of being successful, although doesn't everyone?