Live Lesson Notes

Ambitions
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What you will learn in this worksheet:

Useful links

Warm up questions

Useful vocabulary

What ambitions do you have?

Idioms to talk about ambitions

Ambitions - good or bad?

Model answers

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Useful Links

How to answer the ‘do you have any ambitions?’ question.

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Video about Ambition is killing us

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Introduction
In this free IELTS Speaking lesson on the topic of AMBITION, you will
learn how to talk about your own ambitions and whether ambition is a
good or bad thing!

Watch the complete video about this topic of ambition here.

Warm Up Questions
These are the kind of questions on this topic of business that you might
find in IELTS Speaking.

Speak out your answer to the following questions!


Are you ambitious?

What ambitions do you have?

Is it a good thing to be ambitious?

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Useful vocabulary
Ambition (n.) uncountable

I have so much ambition

Ambition (n.) countable

I have many different ambitions

I am ambitious (adj.)

What is ambition? = a desire to do well, to achieve a goal and to

succeed

I have an aspiration to make a lot of money

Intention

Goal

Plan

I want to + verb

I want to be rich

I have an ambition to improve my English skills

I long to travel around the world (really want it)

I strive to be fluent in English (try very hard)

I dream of being rich

I dream about having a big house

I am ambitious to pass my exam with flying colours (=do very well)

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An ambition can be long term, for example,

He is ambitious at work, he wants to climb the corporate ladder and

become the CEO

It can be short term, for example,

She is quite ambitious, she wants to invite 500 guests to her wedding

I want to sell 1,000,000 copies of my new book!

That’s very ambitious, do you think you can do it?

Common Collocations

Personal ambition (run a marathon, have a big family, lose weight, visit
Paris…)

Professional ambition (get a PHD, get a promotion, publish a book,

speak at a conference…)

Lifelong ambition

It’s a lifelong ambition of mine to _______

Having a healthy ambition can lead to success

I have a burning ambition to become a doctor

She is a person of driving ambition

You lack ambition

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What ambitions do you have?
(Typical job interview question)

If you get this kind of question in a job interview, you want to sound
enthusiastic but not arrogant. So a short answer like this, is not so
good.

I want to be successful!! ☹

You should be more specific (whether you are in a job interview or the
IELTS speaking interview)

I want to do my job well, and one day get promoted because I think I
have a lot to contribute, such as my ideas for teaching students in
different ways. 😁

This is much better. Notice the idea of giving

1) Idea

2) Reason

3) Example

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Idioms to talk about ambitions
Dig in your heels
=to be persistent

I am going to publish my book, even though my friends say it’s just a

dream, I am going to dig in my heels

I will never throw in the towel

= give up, stop

You need to stick at it

= to continue, persevere

Carry on at all costs

= come rain or shine (even though it is difficult)

I have got a bee in my bonnet about writing a book.

=something you really want to do

Publishing a book is beyond my wildest dreams

=something so great, I can hardly imagine it

I was losing the game, but I managed to claw my way back and win

=make a come back, to be successful after a failure

I’ll have to go to great lengths to achieve this goal

= do everything possible

I reached my goal but it was blood, sweat and tears all the way.

=very hard work

I had to fight tooth and nails to reach my goal

=fight and struggle hard

I’m willing to go the extra mile to reach my goal

=to do some extra work

I will keep my nose to the grindstone

= continue working hard

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Ambition: Good or bad?

Good

It’s beneficial to have a competitive spirit and to strive for success

It helps you keep on track with your goals

It’s good as long as you don’t hurt others or stamp on others

Bad

If it can be bad, if you see things as a zero sum game (=a win - lose
situation),

and if your success is at the expense of others (=other must lose, so

you can win)

So long as it is not at the cost of others

If you have an arrogant ambition it can get in your way, and make
you lose time

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Model Answers

Q: Do you have an ambition and what are your ambitions in life?

A:

I wouldn’t say I am a particularly ambitious person, but yes,

I do have some ambitions, particularly, professional ambitions.

I do dream about writing a book and publishing a book and so right

now I am actually going to great lengths to write the script and start

editing this idea I have for a book, and, yes, that’s an ambition that I

have.

Q: Have the dreams you had as a child changed?

A:

Oh, absolutely, I mean you know, it’s a bit funny, but as a child, I longed

to be a postman, because I thought postman had fantastic bicycles,

but now, I think even as I was growing up as a young adult, that dream

changed significantly and I think I have become a little bit more

ambitious and I think certainly, from a professional point of view,

I have an ambition to be successful in the work that I do.

I long to be a good teacher and to use innovative and creative ways of

teaching and although I don’t wanna stamp on other people,

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I do want to dig my heels in and, you know, do as much as it takes to

become successful in my area or my field as a teacher.

Q: Have you ever achieved your ambitions?

A:

That is a very good question.

I think I have had several ambitions in my life, and to be honest,

I haven’t achieved all of them. One of them that I have not achieved is

to be a kind of a famous guitar player.

When I was in my 20s, I used to play guitar in a rock band and I used

to dream of being a famous rock star, and playing the guitar in big

concerts and whilst I was happy playing the guitar in the band, I never

really achieved that level or status of being a world renowned

musician, but I have achieved my goal of building, you know, a happy

family.

That was a personal goal that I wanted to, always, I wanted to

achieve. I do feel that I have reached that. It’s been blood, sweat, and

tears sometimes because, obviously families have disagreements but I

think we are getting there, we have gotten there.

So, that’s the ambition I feel I have reached

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