📙 Part 2: Describe something you did that made you feel proud

This episode's vocabulary

To turn out (phrasal verb) - to happen in a particular way or to have a particular result, especially an unexpected one.

No mean achievement/feat (idiom) - a great achievement.

Proofreading (noun) - the process of finding and correcting mistakes in text before it is printed or put online.

To break out (phrasal verb) - if something dangerous or unpleasant breaks out, it suddenly starts.

Blasted (adj.) - used in phrases to express anger.

The dust settles (idiom) - if the dust settles after an argument or big change, the situation becomes calmer.

To work up something (phrasal verb) - to develop an emotional or physical state that you feel strongly, after a period of effort or time.

Turnaround (noun) - a positive change; improvement.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory, shoot.

R: It's not a recent accomplishment. But I'm quite proud of the fact that I managed to publish my last book. This was in 2020. So it's a little while back, but it took a lot of effort. And I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I had to collect all these interviews with teachers around the world, which was no mean feat since I had to travel to places all over Moscow and then to America, and Kurdistan in northern Iraq. I also had to organize the chapters, put everything into the right place in the right order, and do most of the proofreading and audio taping, although I did get a little bit of help with that last part. As if all of this wasn't enough, when I began working on it finally, a global pandemic broke out and threw the world into chaos. And I thought I would never publish the blasted thing. However, as the dust settled, and my new schedule came into focus, I managed to work up the will to get on with it. And, well, I did. I think the reason I'm most proud of it, I mean, after putting in all that work and research and getting myself into some rather dangerous situations, since Iraq is not very known, well, it's not well known for being stable. It's because I achieved my goal, I wanted teachers to have a voice and I wanted a diversity of voices at that, and I got it together. Moreover, I think the fact that I managed it in the middle of a global crisis is pretty impressive, to be honest with you. If I hadn't done it, what I just said in mind, I'd still be pretty pleased with everything else I did, but to publish a book on top of that, it's rather good going. Though I couldn't have done it without help from my good friend Lena who did the cover art for one of the editions. And my colleagues, Chris and Chi Wei who typed up their own audio scripts. Although that wasn't my idea. They did insist on it. Now that I think about it. However, we did it and we managed to get everything together and out in time for the summer of 2020. So not a bad turnaround overall.

M: And are your friends proud of it as well?

R: I don't know. I haven't asked them.

M: Thank you, Rory!

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Discussion

M: Whoa... What a story! Yes, dear listener? Our Rory is an author. He's published what? How many books? Four books?

R: Four books. Yes.

M: I can't remember your name. I can't remember how many books you've published.

R: Do you even know anything about me?

M: You're Scottish!

R: Will anyone want to know anything about me after this time in the morning?

M: Yeah, dear listener, an interesting task, "describe something you did that made you feel proud". So Rory talked about his achievement. He's written a book and he managed to publish it. So to feel proud is this feeling of pleasure, of satisfaction. Okay? You've done something good. So this is about like good things you've done in your life. Okay? And you are satisfied with them, you have this feeling of pleasure. And we usually use I'm proud of something, right? Rory, can I say I'm proud about publishing a book?

R: No, but people do say that and it's wrong. It's always I'm proud of.

M: Yes. You could have said I'm proud about at the beginning. Yeah, dear listener, so make sure you say I'm proud of it. I'm proud of my parents. I'm proud of my company. So the preposition is of. Also, I'm very proud to have written the book. Yeah?

R: Oh, wow, what would that be? I'm very proud to have written.

M: Yeah, I'm very proud to do something.

R: Yes. Oh, having written the book, I am very proud.

M: There you go. Or I'm so proud that I've written a book. Okay? So I'm proud of my achievements. And the feeling is what's the noun.

R: Pride.

M: Pride? Yeah. Yeah. Pride could be negative.

R: If you're being overbearing about it. Yeah, if you're going on about it all the time, but I hardly ever do, so...

M: Yeah, like a sense of pride. Take pride in something. So another synonym could be like, I take pride in writing a book. Okay? But usually, you talk about something good that you did. Rory talked about his recent accomplishment. Oh, no, you said like, it's not a recent accomplishment. Accomplishment or achievement. But I'm still quite proud of the fact that I managed to do something. Yeah? It was difficult for Rory, but he managed to do it. 2020. What a year it was...

R: Yes. Let's never do that ever again.

M: Yeah. And you said that I'm very pleased with how it turned out. So is this a synonym to be proud of? To be pleased with it, you said.

R: Yes, pleased with. There's actually quite a few, if we're talking about accomplishments, but pleased with is a good one.

M: You can say I'm very pleased with it. Or I'm proud of how it turned out. So it turned out well. I managed to do it well. It just happened in a good way. So turn out is a phrasal verb. So like how it turned out, how it happened. And then Rory talked about the process of collecting the information for the book. I had to collect all these interviews, because Rory's book is about teachers' interviews. So you interviewed...

R: It's a collection of interviews.

M: How many teachers? 20?

R: Oh, my God, I cannot remember. Hold on. I need to find a book. This is how you know it's too early in the morning, because I'm not prepared. Hold on.

M: He can't even remember what he wrote in his own book, dear listener. Well, but it's 9am in the morning, so it's okay. Oh, wow. It's a doorstopper. It's huge. How many teachers did you interview for the book?

R: Oh, my God, I didn't even give the number. I could have given the number.

M: Rory met different teachers in different countries. He asked them questions. And then the answers were written by Rory in his book.

R: 35, I think?

M: 35 teachers? Whoa... I'm not one of them.

R: Well actually, no, if memory serves, it was actually 36. But for whatever reason, the data for one of the interviews got corrupted. And I couldn't use it. It was such a pain. Because it was, well, all of the interviews were good. But this lady in particular. Hello, Olga, sorry, again. This lady in particular was very interesting to talk to. I was just like, no, I can't believe I've lost it. But I'm not doing it again. I had to travel all the way to Tver, which is a town north of Moscow.

M: Wow. Yeah, so Rory interviewed 36 teachers, and he wrote the answers in the book. And you said that you travelled to Iraq?

R: I did. Hello, Luca. You're probably not listening. But yes, we're talking about you.

M: Yes. So Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, Moscow. Wow. So I had to organize the chapters. I had to put everything in order. And I finally began writing. So first, you did all the interviews, and then you kind of wrote everything down?

R: Yes.

M: And then a global pandemic broke out, which is another phrasal verb. So a global pandemic happened or it broke out.

R: Yes. I'm yawning. But it was a very exciting time for all of us. Not too much excitement happening on a Sunday morning.

M: And then Rory said, like, I thought I would never publish the blasted thing. Like the blasted thing is a kind of like, you can use an F word, dear listener.

R: No, we do not talk about the swearing.

M: Yeah, but kind of it's the meaning pretty much.

R: Yes, but it's not an F word. But it's good for pronunciation score, actually, because you have to stress blasted. The blasted thing.

M: Yeah, or like the darn thing. The darn thing.

R: The darn thing. Maybe if we were living in like, you know, the 1840s in middle America.

M: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so if you feel emotional about it, and if you want to avoid cursing, swearing and F words, you can say, oh, I thought I would never find this blasted jumper. Or I thought I would never publish this blasted thing. Or I thought I would never take this blasted IELTS exam and get a 9. Yeah? I managed to walk up the will to get on with it. Wow. Two phrasal verbs at the same time. And this sounds natural. So I managed to do something. It was difficult, but I did it. I managed to work up the will. Work up the will?

R: Well, I created the efforts to do it. If you work up to something, it's like a lot of well, it's like you're trying hard to do something. And usually, it's work up the effort or work up the will because it's like, I'm creating the willpower in my body in my head to do this thing. I had to work up the will to wake up this morning.

M: Yeah. The will? Like your mental power to control and direct your thoughts and actions. Kind of you work up your will to get up at 6 am in the morning, like Rory. So Rory worked up his will to get on with it. When you get on with it, you continue doing it. Yeah? Which is another phrasal verb. A really nice one. So it was difficult for me, but I got on with it. I kind of, I continued doing this. And you can use it about work. And then I think the reason I'm most proud of it is because blah, blah, blah. So I'm most proud of it. I'm like very proud of it. And then Rory talked about this dangerous situations. When he went to Iraq, which is known for being very unstable. I achieved my goal.

R: But that's the same way as, well, almost the same as talking about accomplishing the goal?

M: I accomplished my goal, I achieved it, I managed to do it. That's why I feel most proud of these achievements. And it was impressive, because I did it in the middle of a global crisis. And our favourite strategy in speaking part two. What is it, dear listener? The third conditional in the end. Yeah. So if I hadn't done it. The story was about the past. Rory wrote his book in the past. Now we're imagining. If I hadn't. Had not. If I hadn't done it, I'd still be pleased with everything else. Okay. So it's actually a mixed conditional here. If I hadn't done it in the past, today, I would still be pleased with everything I do. But you can use the third conditional. If I hadn't done it, I wouldn't have known that blah, blah, blah. Or I wouldn't have been so happy at the time. Yeah? So referring both parts of the sentence to the past. Yeah? And then Rory also used some perfect phrases like I couldn't have done it without help from my good friends. But Rory did it. So I couldn't have done it. We use perfect because it's in the past. Okay? Like I couldn't have done it without my friends. Hey! What helped you organize your answer?

R: Well, just the task, really, to be honest with you, apart from the part that I added at the end for the ending, where I've talked about how I would feel if I hadn't done it. So I started off by talking about, well, I was describing what it was, but I initially began by talking about when it was, because it was difficult to think of something recently that I'm quite proud of. So, describing the time, and then moving into what I did, and how I did it, I had to collect these interviews. So I had to do this, or I had to do that. And then talking about how difficult it was, just describing the, well, apart from the fact the burden was on me, I also had the burden of a global pandemic, which everybody else had too. And then how I felt about it. I said, I felt pleased with it. And I felt super pleased with it almost, because it was like on top of everything else, I managed to do this thing too. So it was pretty good. Although we did talk about a strategy for the end of the... Well, when you're speaking, when you're like saying with a third conditional. If I hadn't done it, I'd still be and then talking about yourself. But another strategy that I've just thought about there would be... Usually, the examiner asks you a question after the finished speaking. And it's usually about how your friends feel about it. And you could always say I haven't asked or I haven't thought about it or perfect tense.

M: Hmm, yeah. Usually, the examiner asks you a short question after your speech. So, like, oh, and what about your friends? And you say, well, I haven't asked them about it. And that's all. So one sentence answer. Okay? Yeah? Just to finish off the topic.

R: But make it a good one. Don't just say yes or no. Say I haven't, I haven't thought about it.

M: Yeah, I haven't thought about it. Or what about your friends? I haven't asked them. So I don't know what they think. Hey! Sweet! Dear listener, now, think about something that you did that made you feel proud in a good way. Okay? Maybe you graduated from a university? Maybe you took IELTS or you can imagine this situation. Imagine that you wrote a book, you know? Yeah. And just like, use Rory's words. And what else do people usually do and then they are proud of it? Travelling, perhaps? Getting married?

R: Surviving a global pandemic?

M: Okay, yeah. Setting up your own business, for example. Quitting your job that you didn't like?

R: Oh, I should have talked about that.

M: Yeah.

R: Oh, this is like an Easter egg. If anyone's listening to this in the future, then by the time this episode comes out, I guess I'll quit my job.

M: Ooh, yeah, Rory is quitting. Oh...

R: Oh... We've just revealed things that we shouldn't have. Oh, well, no, I should say quitting my job as a primary school teacher. I'm not quitting my job on the podcast. But you heard it here first. I'm only going to be an English teacher from now on. Well, from the time that you're listening to this on, basically.

M: Yeah, you see, dear listener? It's only on premium. You have like the news, the gossip, the, you know, it's not a gossip, kind of piece of gossip, it's like a fact.

R: It is a fact. Yeah. Assuming I don't die between now and then.

M: No, Rory, we need you well and alive.

R: I know. But why are you making me work on a Sunday if this is the case? That's great. Nevermind. Thank you for listening.

M: And we'll get back to you in part three! Bye!

R: Bye!

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