📙 Part 2: Describe a time when you felt proud of a family member

This episode's vocabulary

High-flyer (noun) – A person who is or has the potential to be very successful, especially academically or in business. → My family are a bunch of high-flyers in a lot of ways.

Stands out in my mind (idiom) – To be very memorable. → One time that particularly stands out in my mind is when my cousin was accepted into the program.

Prestigious (adjective) – Inspiring respect and admiration; having high status. → She was accepted into a prestigious English teaching course in Japan.

Pay off (phrasal verb) – To result in success or a benefit. → Her hard work had paid off rather nicely.

Jump through a lot of hoops (idiom) – To do a series of difficult or annoying things in order to achieve something. → You have to jump through a lot of hoops to get into that program.

Several times removed (phrase) – Used to describe a distant cousin relationship. → She's my cousin, but she's several times removed from me.

Unaccustomed to (adjective) – Not familiar or comfortable with something. → She speaks several languages, so she's not unaccustomed to getting a lot done.

Smooth sailing (idiom) – Easy progress without problems or difficulties. → It wasn't smooth sailing, like with most job interviews these days.

Hassle (noun) – Irritating inconvenience. → Even with all the hassle involved, she still managed to reach her goal.

Reach a goal (phrase) – To succeed in achieving something you want. → She still managed to reach her goal and didn't let anything stop her.

A real class act (idiom) – A person who is stylish, sophisticated, and admirable. → She's a real class act and I hear she's been doing very well since she started.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Describe a time when you felt proud of a family member. You should say when it happened, who the person is, what the person did, and explain why you felt proud of him or her.

Rory: Well, there are lots of times this has happened, really. My family are a bunch of high-flyers in a lot of ways, but one time that particularly stands out in my mind is when my cousin Rena was accepted into the JET program, which is a prestigious English teaching course in Japan.

When it comes to when it happened, it must have been about two years ago, I think. She had been working really hard on organizing her acceptance and everything related to it for about a year and it had paid off rather nicely. As I understand it, it's not an easy program to get on and you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get in, in addition to being an ideal candidate. So, it's impressive that she managed to do that, or both of those things, really.

With regard to who she is, like I said, she's my cousin, but she's not just any cousin. She's several times removed from me, but that doesn't make a difference as our family is quite close. So an achievement by anyone is always a good thing. She's in her early 20s now, but at the time, I think she would have been in her late teens. At least I suppose so. And she speaks several languages, so she's not unaccustomed to getting a lot done.

In terms of what she did, or what exactly she did, as I mentioned, it was with the aim of being accepted, but she had to do things like prove her credentials and qualifications, in addition to going to interviews to demonstrate her suitability for the position on the program. It wasn't smooth sailing, like with most job interviews these days. And I suppose that's why I'm proud of her, when it comes to that side of things. Even with all the hassle involved, she still managed to reach her goal and didn't let anything stop her. She's a real class act and I hear she's been doing very well since she started. If she hadn't got that position, I think we still would have been pleased with her trying, but obviously it's even better that she succeeded.

Maria: And what about your cousin? Did she feel proud?

Rory: I don't know. I certainly hope so. It's a big achievement.

Discussion

Maria: Yay! Thank you, Rory, for your story. So, dear listener, what an interesting topic. Describe a time when you felt proud of your family member. So there could be anybody from your family, or you can make this person up. Okay? So maybe a cousin, a sister, a brother you don't have, your son, your daughter, anybody, all right? So when we feel proud, we feel satisfied. You feel pleasure, satisfaction, because somebody has done something good. So I'm proud of Rory. Okay? Rory has written many books, so I'm proud of him. So I'm proud to have something, or I'm proud that my son has done something. Okay? Or I'm proud that my grandfather, who's, who died, did something. Right? So you can talk about a person who is alive or not alive.

Rory talked about his cousin.

Rory: My cousin several times removed. But that just means it's not a child of my aunt or uncle, it's a child of another cousin from a different part of the family.

Maria: Right. Rory, that doesn't matter. You know, distant cousin, close cousin.

Rory: Oh, distant cousin's good.

Maria: It's okay. Just a cousin. All right? A sister, brothers, doesn't matter, dear listener. Again, you can make up the story, just lie. And we can start off with one time that particularly stands out in my mind is when my cousin was ta-ta-ta. Or is when my cousin did something. Entered university, graduated from university, got married, traveled to Africa, jumped with a parachute. I don't know, dear listener. Took IELTS, all right? You can talk about taking IELTS. So the phrase is, one time that I particularly remember, that particularly stands out in my mind. If something stands out in your mind, you remember it very well. And Rory talked about Rena, his cousin. She was accepted into a teaching program in Japan. So a prestigious English teaching course in Japan. Wow. And is she Scottish, Rory?

Rory: She is, yes.

Maria: And she went to Japan to kind of complete the program?

Rory: Yes, and she's still there, I think.

Maria: Ooh, nice. From Scotland to Japan. Oh la la. And Rory felt proud of her. To be proud of somebody. So I feel proud that my cousin went to Japan, I feel proud of my cousin who went to Japan. Again, we start a new topic with when it comes to when it happened, it was about two years ago. If you're not sure, like 100%, you can say, it must have been two years ago. So probably it was two years ago, it must have been two years ago, but that's like a C2 grammar. Super advanced.

Rory: Is it?

Maria: Yeah, must have been. You can receive one C2, yeah. So probably it was two years ago, or it must have been, it must have been two years ago. I'm not completely sure, but I'm pretty sure. And then you say, okay, she was working hard, she wanted to go to Japan, she wanted to be accepted onto this program. She had to jump through a lot of hoops to get in. So that's a very nice expression. If you talk about a situation when you have to do certain things to get something, jump through hoops, it's an idiom. Have to do a lot of things that are difficult, but you need to do them to achieve something. For example, to get a degree, we have to jump through hoops. To get this position at Google, you jump through a lot of hoops. So she had to jump through a lot of hoops to get in this program.

Rory: What else do you have to jump through hoops to do? Probably to get a visa.

Maria: Well, to take IELTS.

Rory: Do you have to jump through hoops to do that?

Maria: Well, you have to learn how to write essays, you have to practice, you have to do practice tests, you have to listen to this podcast.

Rory: That's not jumping through hoops. That's a pleasure. Everybody loves doing that.

Maria: With regards to who she is, again, we are jumping to another bullet point. So who the person is. With regard to who she is, well, she's my cousin. And then Rory said that she's several times removed because we have different cousins. Rory, you can just explain. I don't know how to explain it.

Rory: It just means a cousin that's not from the immediate family.

Maria: Yeah, because usually a cousin, you have your father, and your father has a sister. So your father's sister's daughter is your cousin. Are you with me, dear listener? Are you following? That's it, I can understand that, but then your father's aunt's daughter's children, and then their children, and then somebody else's, oh, what?

Rory: Do you feel like you need a flowchart to understand it, Maria?

Maria: So exactly, so there are cousins who are distant cousins, maybe they are not your family, but somehow they are related to you. We can say that she's my cousin once removed or twice removed. It's very strange, dear listener. So you can say she's not my close cousin, but I love my family and everybody's achievements are good. So achievement, right? So the thing that Rory's cousin went to Japan is an achievement. In terms of what she did, she was accepted onto this program. Or she jumped with a parachute. She graduated from Oxford. It wasn't smooth sailing. Again, we talk about this process that she did something and she succeeded, but it was difficult. So instead of saying it was difficult, you can say it wasn't smooth sailing. It's an idiom. So to be smooth sailing means to be easy without problems. Sailing is when you go sailing. You have your sea and your sail, a boat. And you just you take your boat and you're kind of, oh yeah, it's smooth. Everything's fine. The wind, the sea, everything's beautiful. No problems. So it wasn't smooth sailing. It wasn't easy. So, taking IELTS isn't smooth sailing, usually, because people have problems with writing, speaking, listening, reading.

Rory: But you practice with us and listen to our podcast, which is useful. And if you're very, very good, then you can book classes with me.

Maria: Oh, yeah. Rory gives classes. There you go, dear listener. So I feel proud of her because blah and blah. I feel proud of her because she went to another country, she was very organized. She managed to reach her goal. So it was her aim, her goal. So she managed to succeed. She didn't let anything stop her. She didn't let anything stop her. Nothing stopped her. She was determined. She wanted it and she got it. And I'm very pleased that she's done it. I'm very pleased, happy, glad that she has succeeded. Rory, and what other topics can our listener talk about?

Rory: Oh, it could be anything. A wedding day, or someone being accepted into university. Or maybe one of your relatives passed their IELTS test. You could talk about that.

Maria: Yeah, like, I want to talk about my grandfather. He took IELTS last week. Yeah, dear listener, you can you can imagine. You can talk about your cousin, Rory, who lives in Dundee. Or your cousin, Maria, who has like 10 bags and is crazy about shoes.

Rory: The examiners won't know.

Maria: The examiner won't know. And then, but maybe the examiner will go, are you talking about Rory and Maria who are doing IELTS speaking for success podcast? You go like, yeah, yeah, I'm lying to you.

Rory: And you'll say, absolutely not.

Maria: Exactly. You say absolutely not, the examiner. I wonder how many IELTS examiners actually know about our podcast.

Rory: I think they're very busy. They won't have the time. It's a secret.

Maria: They're busy people. They're too cool for school. Right, dear listener. Thank you very much for listening. We'll get back to you in our IELTS Speaking Part Three about feeling proud.

Rory: Bye.

Maria: Bye.