📙 Part 2: Describe an important event you celebrated

This episode's vocabulary

Casual (adj.) - not regular or fixed.

To delegate (verb) - to give a particular job, duty, right, etc. to someone else so that they do it for you.

To throw a party (idiom) - to have a party.

Milestone (noun) - an important event in the development or history of something or in someone's life.

Culmination (noun) - the point at which an event or series of events ends, having developed until it reaches this point.

Elation (noun) - a state of extreme happiness or excitement.

Relief (noun) - a feeling of happiness that something unpleasant has not happened or has ended.

Ignorant (adj.) - not having enough knowledge, understanding, or information about something.

Ultimately (adverb) - used to emphasize the most important fact in a situation.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory, are you all ready?

R: Yes.

M: Let's celebrate it.

R: I suppose it's not traditionally considered a major event, but recently I celebrated the last day of my placement in primary schools as part of my teacher training course. My mentor and I decided that the last day, which was also the last Friday of the month, would be more relaxed and casual compared to what things are usually like. It was just a quite happy coincidence because the last Friday of the month is usually casual Fridays anyway. We started out with a PE lesson and we delegated that to the PE specialist and he was going to teach an engaging lesson, but we prepared everything for later in the day. I went to observe another class to finish off my CPD goals, and then I spent the break handing out presents to the staff at the school to say thank you very much for having me there. And afterwards, we gave the students a short maths and French lesson before throwing a party for them just before lunchtime. It was actually quite a pleasant day and we managed to finish on time with everything tidied and ready for the weekend break. I thought it was worth mentioning because it represents a milestone in my training and the culmination of ten months of work, planning and research that was part of my course. Plus, it's nice for the students to see adults celebrating things going well, so they can join in the feeling and have a model of how they might do things when they're older as well. I felt a weird combination of elation and relief, since it was the closing moments of the course and the end of quite a stressful and tiring time. And as for the feelings of others, I think the staff were pretty happy about it. It had been a good placement. Though, the kids were probably largely ignorant of the whole thing. There's just too much going on in their lives for it to mean much. But it meant something to me, and I think that's ultimately what counts. And certainly, it would also mean a lot to any teacher who is finishing off their course. And it was funny because it wasn't just me that was celebrating that particular day for that particular reason. It was all of the teachers on the course because we all finished on the same day. So it's nice to have a happy ending to something like that which has been so demanding.

M: Sweet. What a happy story. Hey! Celebrate! Celebrate! Come on!

R: Is this the new form of follow-up question which the examiner will be asking?

M: Yes, but I don't know to ask, to be honest with you. I can't... Can I ask you something like, oh, what about your friends? Did they find it important? I don't know.

R: And I could say, the ones who are teachers - yes.

M: Right. What about your friends did they find it important?

R: The ones who are teachers did. Yes.

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Discussion

M: Dear listener, why did Rory insist on this follow-up question? The truth is that when you finish your monologue speaking part two, the examiner will wrap it up by asking you one question. It's usually a short question. Something about your friends or the future, or something like very simple. And your answer should be pretty short. Like Rory, he just gave me one sentence and that's it. We finish part two and we keep on moving to part three. If you start, blah, and blah, and blah, blah, blah, blah. Telling like a lecture, no, the examiner will stop you. So, and the examiner will be really grateful to you if you give a very short answer to this last question after your story. Okay.?

R: But it's still nice to be asked.

M: So, dear listener, the topic is "Describe an important event you celebrated". What can we celebrate in our life? Birthdays, weddings, Rory's birthdays.

R: Well, you can celebrate my birthdays if your go to them, Maria. And Vanya.

M: Oops. Right, but when's your birthday?

R: Oh, that's a good question. You don't know the answer to that either.

M: I don't remember your name. Your surnames. I don't know when your birthday is. Yeah, we are very good friends, dear listener. With Rory and I. You know, like we know each other very well. So...

R: So well that we don't go to each other's birthday parties. Well, wait, I did go to your birthday party.

M: Did you? Did I have a party?

R: And I got you a birthday present when I wasn't there.

M: Ah. Oh, right. Oh, how lovely of you. I loved your present. I still wear them. Rory gave me earphones. Earphones, earrings, earrings.

R: I would not give you earphones.

M: Earphones. No, not yet. Earrings. Moving on. So, birthday, a wedding. You can celebrate your final day at school or at university. Something maybe you went and took a driving test and then you got driving license. So, yeah, any day. Could you now, dear listener, choose a day that you would like to talk about? Maybe not a day, just an event. Rory talked about the last day of his placement in primary school. Rory was a teacher there, not a student, obviously. So his final day at school as part of his teacher training course. Maybe you, dear listener, finished a course and you want to celebrate. Or maybe the first day on the course, you know. And Rory started off with major event. So it's not a traditionally considered major event, but recently I celebrated my blah, blah, blah. 58th birthday. I was very happy to turn 58, for example. And you can describe it as a relaxed and a casual event. Casual like, you know, casual, not official celebration, but a relaxed and casual celebration. Then he gave us some background, background story, like of what he did on the day. And Rory, it was kind of like a regular school day, right? But with a party.

R: Yeah. Basically, I would like to point out for any teachers listening that they did do some learning that day. It wasn't all party, party.

M: Yeah. So people taught some engaging lessons. Engaging - interesting. And then Rory prepared everything for later. He also observed a class, wow, lots of work. Work and play, together. And then you said that you handed out presents to the staff at the school. Oh, it was so nice. It just like was your idea just to give them presents?

R: It wasn't my original idea, but it was a nice thing to do. It was a good school.

M: Oh, okay. And so you worked with them and you just gave them presents.

R: Yeah.

M: Okay. That was sweet. Yeah. To the staff of the school. To the staff, employees at school. Yeah? To the workers who work at school. To the staff of the school. And also we can use this staff in the plural. Like the staff were happy. Right? So the staff, like people who work at school were happy. Right? It's interesting. Not like stuff, my things. Like stuff. And all this stuff, you know, my stuff is everywhere. No, but staff as people. With an a. Yeah, we write it with an a. And then the party. Throw a party. Yeah? This is a collocation we throw a party before throwing a party, Rory had some classes, yeah? Or we threw a party, we partied wild and crazy. It was a pleasant day. That's a nice one. We managed to finish on time. Were you the only organized person at that school? Like so well organised?

R: No, actually the school was really well organized. It was quite interesting to work at a place so well organised.

M: Nice. And then you can say it was worth mentioning because... Right? Something that you want to say, you can say it's also worth mentioning that blah, blah, blah. And Rory used a very nice expression, a noun, a milestone. It represents a milestone in my training. Rory, what did you mean by a milestone? One word.

R: Just a key event or a key event as part of a process.

M: What else could be a milestone?

R: My birthday is a milestone. It's a key event in the process of your life.

M: Yeah. For example, like you turned 30. So 30, and this is a milestone in my life. Or for example, you graduate from university. This is a milestone. Or I don't know, you write a book, so you finish it. And this is a milestone, right? So something like marriage. I don't know, divorce. Things like this. And this is the culmination of ten months of work.

R: That just means the endpoint.

M: The ending, the endpoint. Yeah. So if you graduate from university, you can say, oh, this is the culmination of five years of tiring studies, of boring stuff, I hate it. So the culmination of something, of studies, of planning, research, work. So this is a real milestone. That's a nice one. You can also use it in an essay. And then it was interesting that Rory said so we were having a party and it was useful to have a model. So to show children a model of how they might do things, so how they might organize a party. So not only did Rory party himself, he also showed a model. He gave a model to children. Oh, how nice of you. So educational. Aren't you good?

R: The best.

M: The best. Rory is the best. Two birds with one stone. He threw a party and he educates little kids. Feelings. A very common question in IELTS section 2. Speaking how people felt about it, how you felt about it. And Rory just said, I felt a weird combination of elation and relief. Elation meaning?

R: Positive feelings.

M: Yeah. Like I was elated. I was, like, super happy. Like, hey. Elation and relief. Relief. Like, oh, okay. It's over. And as for the feelings of others, right? Because the bullet point is about other people's feelings. As for the feelings of others, I think the staff were happy, content, pleased, satisfied, and the kids were largely ignorant. So they had no idea what was going on. So you didn't have any alcohol at the party? No crazy games?

R: Small children. Absolutely not.

M: No, maybe a Scottish school. You know, Scottish rules.

R: Well, also small children.

M: What helped you to organize the answer, Rory?

R: Well, again, I just followed the bullet points, really, if you think about it. Saying what it is and where it happened and why it was important. Well, I suppose where it was and what it was was in the first, well, section, if you like. But introduced a different way. I didn't say like an important event I celebrated was. No. I was just introducing it saying it's not a traditionally considered one, like it's unusual. But recently I celebrated and then explained what it was. And then in terms of giving more detail about what it was, I described what happened. So we started out with X and then we blah, blah, blah. Afterwards, and then summed up with it was a pleasant day. I have to explain why it was important in the task. And I left that towards the end where I said I thought it was worth mentioning. So not I thought it was important because. But I said I thought it was worth mentioning because and then we talked about how people felt about it. I actually talked about myself first. I felt a weird combination of elation and relief. And then introduced the point about other people. And as for the feelings of others, I think, and then I talked about how other people felt too.

M: Yeah. Beautiful. Isn't it beautiful? Yeah, dear listener, please choose an event, an important event you celebrated. Please make it easy peasy, super duper. Yeah? Maybe a birthday. Right? Or your final day at school or university. Something like this. And use some of the language from Rory's answers. Stay tuned and we'll get back to you with our speaking part three about important events. Bye!

R: Bye!

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