Practice English expressions and academic vocabulary words from a talk about what makes us happy!

What makes us happy?

Some people think that having more money, a bigger house, or their dream job will make them happy, while others aren’t sure what the secret to happiness is. Robert Waldinger may have the answer. He is the director of a Harvard study that followed several hundred men, and later their wives, over a period of eighty years to find out how satisfied or happy the participants were throughout their lives. Through this study, we learn the most important factor that predicts people’s happiness, health, and well-being. Let’s practice the vocabulary words, and then we will look examples from his talk.

First, read through the vocabulary words:

Study Tip! Tap or scroll over the list below to see the definitions.

1. Well-being
2. In trouble
3. Someone who has your back
4. Proud of
5. awards
6. talking to a stranger
7. physical fitness
8. Proactive/ Take the initiative
9. Take for granted

Now, look at how Robert Waldinger uses these vocabulary words in his talk about what makes us happy.

Read through the sentences. What do they tell you about relationships? Do any of them surprise you?

1. “And we began to find, about 30 years ago, this startling connection between warm relationships and how good our lives feel to us, our well-being…”
2. “…having at least one person in your life who you feel really has your back, who you could go to if you were in trouble, that’s essential for maintaining our happiness and our health.”
3. When people were asked what they were proud of, “they didn’t say, “I made a lot of money” or “I won some big awards.” They said, “I was a good mentor,” “I was a good friend,” “I raised healthy kids,” I was a good partner.”
4. When talking about making connections to improve our well-being, the talk said that “even talking to strangers has that benefit.”
5. “So what are some ways that we can be proactive and strengthen our relationships? Well, one way is to be proactive, to take the initiative.”
6. “The other thing we can do is liven-up those long-standing relationships, particularly like the people we live with. You know, people we can come to take for granted.”

After reading these sentences, what do you think? What makes people happy? How can we become happier?

What do you think?

1. Who is someone who has your back? Describe your relationship with this person.
2. What are three ways you could be proactive and improve your relationships with others this week? What effect do you think this will have on your well-being?
3. Why do you think we sometimes take our relationships with the people we live with for granted? How can we prioritize those relationships too?
4. Name three things you are proud of in your life. How did other people support or encourage you on your journey?

Got it? Now practice the vocabulary words in context below.

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You did it! You learned new words today! Keep up the good work!

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Improve your listening skills and hear the vocabulary words used in context. Listen to the full TED Talk about what makes us happy here.

What do you think about what makes us happy? Keep practicing English and learn even more new words by joining the conversation and sharing your thoughts with learners from around the world.

Practice using comparative and superlative adjectives, and then take a short quiz to check your understanding.

Try the complete practice with everything included. Let us take you through the listening, vocabulary, grammar, and joining in the conversation. Here, all English skills are integrated with a real topic! You’ve got this!

Sources

Waldinger, Robert. (2023, January). The Secret to a Happy Life-Lessons from 8 Decades of Research [Video]. TED Conferences LLC. https://www.ted.com/speakers/robert_waldinger