IELTS Speaking for Success - 😊 Part 2: Describe an occasion when many people were smiling

Episode Date: February 14, 2026

Get access to our premium episode archive: https://www.patreon.com/ieltssfs You should say: when it happened, who you were with, what happened, and explain why most people were smiling. 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: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for our archive to get access to the transcript⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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, hello, dear listener and welcome into ILD speaking part two. Describe an occasion when many people were smiling. You should say, when it happened, who you were with, what happened, and explain why most people were smiling. What a lovely topic. Rory, could you give us your story? Rory's story. Well, there are lots of times this has happened in my life. But I think the most recent one, for me at least, is, or it was my little brother's birthday party.

He just turned 33 earlier in January, and my parents decided to throw a party for him in their home. So when it comes to who I was with, it was my brother, obviously, but also his girlfriend and my partner and I, and my parents, of course, because it's their house. Oh, and my brother's girlfriend's dog was also there, if you can follow that. That sticks out in particular because we were all quite taken with her. She's just a big lump of a dog that doesn't really bother anyone and just sits and chills. So that was quite nice. In terms of what exactly happened, nothing terribly out of the ordinary for a birthday party. We talked a lot because, well, a lot of us had just come back from various holidays over the winter.

So we had a lot of news to share, and that was interesting. My brother had been away to South Africa for a month, and that was very fun to hear about. And we had just been back from the Canary Islands, so that took a long time to cover and go into detail about. And once we were done talking about that, we settled into our usual sharing stories from the past and telling people from outside the family how things seemed to have changed over the years. As for why most people were smiling, well, not only was it a fairly positive occasion, already, what with it being a birthday party and all, but it's also just par for the course since most of the stories we were sharing were rather funny,

which naturally makes people more inclined to smile, I think, anyway. I'm glad we had the chance to do that. If we hadn't, it probably would have been ages before we all got together again. I hope we get the chance to do the same thing soon. 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. Hey, thank you, Rory, for your story. So, do you listen, a new topic. Describe an occasion and event, a time when many people wore smile. Yeah, pass continues. So at that moment, people were smiling. Yeah, it could be a birthday party or, I don't know, a wedding, a time when you met up with your friends.

So something, you know, like when many people were smiling. But make a wise choice, you should be able to describe this event. Rory told us about his little brother's birthday party. Yeah, and a nice choice because usually people smile at birthdays. How old is your brother? 33, no. Yeah, little brother, 33. And you can start it off with, there are lots of times this happened, this meaning like events when many people were smiling.

But the most recent one for me was my brother's birthday. Okay, so the most recent event when people were smiling. was my brother's birthday, he turned 33. So he kind of became 33 years old. He turned 33. A nice expression to use. And my parents decided to throw a party. We have a party, we throw a party, like organize a party. When it comes to who I was with, it was my brother, his girlfriend, parents. Yeah. One of the bullet points is who. who you wore with. And we make a link.

When it comes to who I was with, it was my brother, his parents, my parents, la la, la. And the dog, yeah. The dog is the most important part. Absolutely. Yeah, the dog is, yeah,

the main member of the family. And that sticks out because, ta-t-ta-ta, like, sticks out, it's something memorable. It's something, you know, like you remember very well. Like the most memorable moment.

The moment I remember well is the dog. So that sticks out because everybody liked the dog. The bullet point, like in the question, in the task, in the card, says, what happened? It's a birthday party. So what do you think happened? In terms of what happened? Or in terms of what exactly?

happened. Nothing extraordinary. So nothing terribly out of the ordinary for a birthday party. So nothing sticks out or stuck out in the past. We talked a lot, we ate, we shared the news, we had fun, we settled into our usual way of doing things. Yeah, kind of We settled into something, we started doing something. Like we shared stories from the past, stories about our families. And Rory, can you use any synonyms for people who were smiling? Well, this is it. Not really. There is more about describing the occasion than things connected to smiling,

which is what I think is the most important. If you describe a happy occasion, then it will be obvious why people were smiling. So for me, it's easier to talk about a burst of. A birthday party, a wedding, what other reasons or what other times do people smile? New Year party. Yeah. When a photograph is being taken, maybe. Oh yeah, okay. Yeah, something like when you were on holiday, right? So yeah, you can say like people were laughing, okay? When people laugh, they smile, right?

But we don't have a clear synonym to smile. Smile is smile, you know. Like everybody was happy, everybody was glad. people were laughing. You can say like we cracked jokes. We told jokes. We made jokes. So we had fun. Or like maybe you were watching a funny movie or maybe just a movie and everybody was laughing.

People were smiling. Everyone was happy. But do use the past continues. So people were laughing. We were watching a film and everybody was happy laughing. And then we finish off with as for why most people were smiling, it was because blah, blah, blah, right? So it was a fairly positive occasion. Fairly is like pretty positive.

It was rather positive, right? Occasion. Fairly positive occasion. It was a birthday party, so everyone was happy. And most of the stories we were sharing were rather funny. See? so like fairly positive, rather positive, rather funny, which naturally makes people inclined to smile.

So if people are inclined to smile, they want to smile. But yeah, no need to use any synonyms for smile here. So to be inclined to do something, to kind of to want to do something. And you can say that I'm glad we had the chance, chance to do that. So we had this opportunity to do that. I'm very glad we had the chance to do that. And usually Rory finishes off with a conditional. And here it's the third conditional with the pass

perfect. So we imagine that it didn't happen. So if we hadn't had this party, but we did have it, it would have been ages before we got to. together again. Get together, meet up with each other, meet all together. Yeah, so if we hadn't had this party, I would not have seen my brother for ages. If it's too difficult for you, dear listener, doff, just don't bother, forget about it. You just say that I'm glad we had the chance to do that, and I hope that we'll do the same thing sometime very soon. Rory, Rory, Rory, so why did you say anything about the present? Like, what did you give to your little brother, who is 33 years old?

That's a good question, actually. I should have said that, although my present wasn't very exciting. I just gave him money. Boring, boring, boring. How much money? Oh, that's none of your business. All right, fine. But how did your brother feel?

I'm guessing he was quite happy, although I didn't know, because I'd already given him his present before he left. He was in South Africa for a month, so I sent the money beforehand. Even more boring. I know. However, I think that we, or at least I made the right decision here, I didn't talk too much about describing smiles in different ways. I just talked about the people there and then described what we did in detail,

and it should be obvious from that why we were smiling and what the reason was. Absolutely. That will do. Do you think so? Yeah, absolutely. Do you not want to talk about how I organised my beautiful answer? How did you organise your smiley answer, Rory? I'm so glad you asked.

I would just like to draw my attention to something new that I am doing. I have been doing it for a while, but I would like to focus on it again. Just to talk about the introduction to this saying there's lots of times this has happened, or I know lots of people like this or places like this, but one that stands out in particular is. And then you go into more detail about it. This is a nice introduction to the task because already we say one that stands out

or one that sticks out, and that's an idiom or a phrasal verb. I think it's a phrasal verb for this one. So it's nice for the examiner to hear. And then of course we go back to the classics in terms of what happened when it comes to who I was with. As for why people were smiling.

And then I managed to finish off with my conditional sentence again. If we hadn't, it probably would have been ages before we got together again. But conditionals are necessary for an eight or a nine, dear listener. So yeah, if you want an eight, well, you should be able to use conditionals, okay, to show off your super grammar. If you have the time. I was talking to one of my students about this the other day and she asked, do I need to include a finishing phrase? And I said, if you're very skillful and very lucky with your timing, then yes.

But you don't know how much time you have left because you're busy talking. So it's not immediately clear if you have the time to do this or not, really. Yeah, de listen, it's okay if the examiner stops you because the examiner controls the time. Two minutes. Thank you very much. Next. Next questions. Okay.

So that's fine. if you don't have time to finish everything you want to say. Yeah, just do what the examiner tells you to do. I remember when I had my examiner coughed, and I thought that meant it was my time to stop speaking. So I stopped speaking. And then she moistened to me and said, and was like, why are you not?

Why are you stopped laughing? Keep going. And so I had to start up again. And then I started my conditional sentence. And then she said stop. And I was like, well, that was pointless, wasn't it? Oh, but at least like you started your conditional, you know, because like if hadn't, okay, so the third conditional, well done.

Thank you very much for listening. And do listen to our part three section where we talk about smiling. Okay? Bye. At Medcan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health. From the big milestones to the quiet winds. That's why our annual health assessment offers a physician-led, full-body checkup that provides a clear picture of your health today.

and may uncover early signs of conditions like heart disease and cancer. The healthier you means more moments to cherish. Take control of your well-being and book an assessment today. Medcan, live well for life. Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. Describe an occasion when many people were smiling. You should say, when it happened, who you were with, what happened, and explain why most people were smiling.

Well, there are lots of times this has happened in my life. But I think the most recent one, for me at least, is, or it was my little brother's birthday party. He just turned 33 earlier in January, and my parents decided to throw a party for him in their home. So when it comes to who I was with, it was my brother, obviously, but also his girlfriend and my partner and I,

and my parents, of course, because it's their house. Oh, and my brother's girlfriend's dog was also there, if you can follow that. That sticks out in particular because we were all quite taken with her. She's just a big lump of a dog that doesn't really bother anyone and just sits and chills. So that was quite nice. In terms of what exactly happened, nothing terribly out of the ordinary for a birthday party. We talked a lot because, well, a lot of us had just come back from various holidays over the winter. So we had a lot of news to share, and that was interesting.

My brother had been away to South Africa for a month, and that was very fun to hear about. And we had just been back from the Canary Islands, so that took a long time to cover and go into detail about. And once we were done talking about that, we settled into our usual sharing stories from the past and telling people from outside the family how things seemed to have changed over the years. As for why most people were smiling, well, not only was it a fairly positive occasion, already, what with it being a birthday party and all, but it's also just par for the course, since most of the stories we were sharing were rather funny, which naturally makes people more inclined to smile, I think, anyway. I'm glad we had the chance to do that. If we hadn't,

it probably would have been ages before we all got together again. I hope we get the chance to do the same thing soon.