IELTS Speaking for Success - 🎂 Birthdays (Part 1) + Transcript

Episode Date: August 25, 2024

What do you usually do on your birthday What did you do on your birthday when you were a child? Is it important for you to celebrate your birthday? Whose birthday do you think is the most important to celebrate in your country? Tune in and have a great day! - Get exclusive episodes on IELTS Speaking parts 1, 2, and 3: https://linktr.ee/sfspremium Book a class with Rory here: https://successwithielts.com/rory Our course on Phrasal Verbs: https://successwithielts.com/podcourses Transcript: https://successwithielts.com/s10e33 Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2024 Podcourses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, lovely. I'm Maria. And my name is Rory. We are the host of the IELT 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've started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and fabulous vocabulary for your high I.I.L. Your bad night score. Oh, Rory, Rory, Rory, Rory, Rory, Rory, Rory, Rory. It's a special day for you, Rory, isn't it? It is, yes.

It's my birthday, and this episode will be released two days after my birthday. Happy birthday, dear Rory. The Roryest Rory of all Rory's. I can't believe that I'm going to be 21 again. Again 21. Every year Rory turns 21, dear listener. Me too, by the way. I'm always 21.

You know, it's magic. Isn't that a brand forever 21? Sorry what? I think it's a brand. However, we're not advertising for them. Let's talk about birthdays. What do you usually do on your birthday? I mean, I don't think I've had a normal birthday for the last 10 years, frankly.

One thing they've all had in common is that I've had a party with different friends. But the who, the where and the what of it all changes every year. What did you do on your birthday when you were a child? The same thing as most people in my country. We had a party with cake and party games. It's all very run-of-the-mill stuff, really. Nothing particularly exciting. Is it important for you to celebrate your birthday?

It's important for me to be with my friend, so a birthday is just another ideal excuse for that. Otherwise, I'm not really fussed, to be honest. It's just another day of the year. Whose birthday do you think is the most important to celebrate in your country? Well, good question. I honestly couldn't say. Birthdays are such a personal thing,

and there are so many people you could choose. some people think it should be their birthday and other people think it's their mother's birthday because mothers have a special place in people's hearts but I don't think there's a hard and fast rule about this at least not in my culture How do children celebrate birthdays in your country? That's a good question

I haven't been to a child's birthday party in my entire life now I think about it I would imagine though that it's probably much more extravagant than the ones that I had I think kids are exposed to much more materialism these days. It's my party and I don't want to cry if I want to. So our birthday, Rory, dear listener. Roy, how old are you?

21 still. Ah, yeah, you're 21. Okay, you're 21. Hey. Hey, if you want to know how old I am, they can message me on my Instagram or something like that. Go to Roy's Instagram and just bombard. him with questions.

And bother me with requests for my age. Send me the copy of your passport. So we celebrate our birthdays and we do something on our birthdays, dear listening, because on this day, on my birthday, my birthday. So we say, I was born on the 6th of May in 1990, 1990. That's a good point, though. You should probably practice how to say the dates of things. like I was born on the 6th or I was born in the 8th

because I think in some countries and cultures they just say a number. They don't say the numerical form. They'd say like the 8th of May or May 8. They don't say the 8th. And that's a good thing for pronunciation. Yeah, in English we say I was born on the 1st, on the 12th of May. What's the most difficult one to say in Russian?

Oh, sorry, what's the most difficult one to say if you're a Russian speaker? or like the number, like the 13th. This is like 13th, but also it's true for other speakers. Yeah, 13th and 30th, they're hard. Yeah, the Sss-S-S-S-fifth, 10th, yeah, 13th, the 30s. Make sure you practice this, that's important.

Yeah. And so we say do things on your birthday and I was given a present on my birthday, for my birthday or at my birthday. Well, not at my birthday At my birthday party To describe the place But I was given a present for my birthday

Or on my birthday Usually What present have you given me, Maria? I'm your present I knew you were I knew you would say I'm giving you the gift of my presents Exactly, I kind of find

I think of you every day I'm sending you positive vibes Think of different ways to kill me every day I'll be Killing me so I'll play with my love. So, present perfect deal, listener, I've had a normal birthday, or I haven't had a normal birthday in the last 10 years,

and Rory being normal, says, I've had a normal birthday. I haven't had a normal birthday. Ah, yeah, like, I don't think I've had a normal birthday. So, but what is a normal birthday? A normal birthday party. I think a normal birthday, people usually have either with their friends or with their family, and it's a party with kids. and songs and games or some celebration.

But in my case, I mean, I'm thinking about my... I'm trying to think about what I did for my last first day. What did you do? I can't remember what I did for my last birthday. Ah, so you got so drunk you can't even remember. I see. No, no, I don't think I... I think I... Oh my God, I remember.

I was... Someone very nice, who shall remain nameless, paid for an extremely expensive hotel and champagne in one of... the larger cities in my country. So that was very nice. And thank you. You know who you are.

And then the birthday before that, the birthday before that, I was teaching in a primary school and it was one of the worst days of my life. So you see, these two things are very different experiences. Yes, the listener. So you can say, like, I usually have a normal birthday

or I don't think I have a normal birthday. And my birthday parties do have something in common. So they're kind of the same. I usually have a party with friends, but like the place changes every year. As a child, I used to do this and that. We had a party with cake. Okay, and party games. We would have a party with cake.

Yeah, so you can say we would have a party with cake, which means I had a party with cake. It was a regular thing. Like every year, I had a party with cake. So as a child, I would have a party with cake. cake, we would play party games, but now you can say, like, I can't pick out anything significant. So pick out, choose, okay? And if you usually do ordinary stuff, you can say all very run-of-the-mill stuff.

Run-of-the-mill, which means, like, ordinary, nothing special. Could you give us another sentence with run-of-the-mill? My fashion sense is pretty run-of-the-mill, especially in comparison to Maria. There's nothing very extravagant or flamboyant about it. We can say that it's important for me to celebrate my birthday or my friend's birthdays. I'm not really fast, to be honest. This is a good expression, which means that, well, I don't bother. Not really important.

I celebrate it, but kind of I'm not really fast. Because some people like make, I don't know, they're obsessed with their birthdays. It's like a massive party. and they plan it for a year, you know. Some people make a huge deal out of their birthdays. Yeah, or you can say, I make a huge deal out of my birthday. Okay? Or I'm not really fast.

Like, I have a party, but kind of I don't really care. And you know, Rory, like, this year I celebrate my birthday and I got into hospital. It was one of the worst moments in my life, can you imagine? Were you partying too hard? No, like my body. was partying too hard way before my birthdays. So, dear listener, stay healthy, okay, especially for your birthday and the night after your birthday and just every day.

Then a strange question. Whose birthday in your country? Is it important to celebrate? Yeah, I never got that question. No, it's like, what do you mean? Like, is there a special birthday that everybody celebrates? Yeah, let's think about it. Maybe like some famous people and they celebrate their birthdays.

Maybe like president, but not really. maybe the birthday of your city Oh, there we go But the question is who's birthday? So maybe like parents Like my birthday, my parents' birthday, my friend's birthdays, my relatives' birthdays.

Okay, dear listener, maybe you have your favorite grandmother. Allegedly, or apparently, the king's birthday is celebrated in this country, which I didn't know about until somebody mentioned it to me and I was like, really? So I wonder,

if you are from a place like Thailand or Japan where you have a monarch or an emperor, do you have a day off for their birthday? I don't think so. Maybe they do. Yes, the listener, you can say, like, we usually celebrate our monarch's birthday, so a queen or king's birthday, with national celebrations, and it's a national holiday or a day off. Okay. Do you have anything like that in Russia? No. I think you have like Russia Day, which is the day that Russia got its constitution. That's kind of like a birthday for the country.

You also celebrate our city's birthday, like Moscow's birthday. Oh, yeah. And, dear, listen, children these days are materialistic. Okay, so they are into materialism, some material values, like buffons. Well, I don't think the children are. I think they're exposed to it. It'd be very difficult to encounter a child that was like, yeah, I'm very into my things. But I think parents often confuse being a good parent with having lots of stuff.

for their children. So you can say that children's birthday parties these days are more extravagant than they used to be extravagant, unusual, they do crazy things, these children, and materialism, like what did you say, they kind of have turned to materialism? They're exposed to materialism more these days. I would say so anyway, this is what I see on the internet. I don't know if it's true or not. I hope it's not true. And also you can say that, I haven't been to a child's birthday my entire life. Like my whole life, all my life, I've never been to a child's birthday. That might be a bit of an exaggeration.

My entire adult life, I haven't been. I've been to them when I was a child, obviously. But, like, as an adult, why would I go? I don't have my own children. Or you can say that I've recently been to a child's birthday, and it was this and that. Children were absolutely crazy. Right, dear listener, are we ready for a birthday joke?

from Maria. Rory is super excited. Rory, this joke is like a nice present for you. What type of birthday cake do monsters eat? Ice cream cake. Do you listen to, did you get that? So ice cream cake, monsters, when you see a monster, you scream, and you eat an ice cream.

Rory, is it funny? Are you laughing? your head off. I'm laughing politely. Right. Happy birthday, Rory. We love you. We hug you.

Okay, we are happy to have you. Yes, the listener? All our listeners agree. I hope so. But even if you don't, hopefully our episode gave you some nice vocabulary to help you out. A gift on my birthday,

from me to you. Happy birthday to us. Bye, bye. Bye. What do you usually do on your birthday? I mean, I don't think I've had a normal birthday for the last 10 years, frankly. One thing they've all had in common is that I've had a party with different friends. But the who, the where and the what of it all changes every year.

What did you do on your birthday when you were a child? The same thing as most people in my country. We had a party with cake and party games. It's all very run-of-the-mill stuff, really. Nothing particularly exciting. Is it important? for you to celebrate your birthday? It's important for me to be with my friend,

so a birthday is just another ideal excuse for that. Otherwise, I'm not really fussed, to be honest. It's just another day of the year. Whose birthday do you think is the most important to celebrate in your country? Hmm. Well, good question. I honestly couldn't say. Birthdays are such a personal thing,

and there are so many people you could choose. Some people think it should be their birthday, and other people think it's their mother's birthday, because mothers have a special place in people's hearts. But I don't think there's a hard and fast rule about this, at least not in my culture. How do children celebrate birthdays in your country? That's a good question.

I haven't been to a child's birthday party in my entire life. Now I think about it. I would imagine, though, that it's probably much more extravagant than the ones that I had. I think kids are exposed to much more materialism these days. Thank you.