📕 Part 1: Classmates

Did you like your deskmates in primary school?

I think we got on reasonably well, but that tends to happen when you're randomly thrown together with a group of people you barely know. You just make do, don't you?

What did you usually do together?

It was quite a while ago, but off the top of my head, I think we were in the same reading groups, so we would read together and do projects and things like that. We were also responsible for keeping our desks in an orderly manner. Though, I'm not sure quite when how the teachers wanted it to go.

Can students choose their desk mates in your country?

Well, it must have changed a lot since I was younger, but I think we could when I was at school for some limited things like personal projects. And not for other things like mathematics work since we were at different levels. So that might not have worked too well. Students probably have much more choice these days, as far as I'm aware.

Is it good for children to play with their classmates?

Well, assuming they rub along nicely enough, I don't see why not. Play is one of the ways we bring skills together and develop them. So it makes sense to do this with people of a similar age and ability.

Would you like to meet your classmates?

What, now? I wouldn't mind seeing them again, but I won't be terribly cut up about it if I don't ever do. We're probably all very different people to how we were in school, so I doubt we'd have much in common these days, but just a random meeting in the street, I don't see why that would be a problem.

Hey, dear listener, so classmates or desk mates! So what is a desk? A desk is like a table, but a special table...

A table you sit at for work. No?

Yes, like a table for work. Because at school, we don't have tables, we have desks. But at home, you can have a table, or you can have a desk. But a desk is usually like, you do some work at your desk. But a table is like, it's not for work. Right, Rory? Or can I work at the table?

You could work at a table, but most people work at their desks.

Yeah. Desks for studying, for working, tables for enjoying your life. Like a coffee table, and for some magazines, jewellery and nice cakes. Yum, yum, yum. And here we have like a deskmate. So who is a deskmate?

I suppose that someone who sits next to you, that you share a big desk or a big table with at school.

Exactly.

It's a weird word.

Yeah. Cambridge online dictionary doesn't know this word, but the Oxford Dictionary does know this word. A desk mate, a person whose seats or sat in the past next to you. Next to you? In a line with you. Yeah? Because usually we have a desk for two people. So my desk mate sat, in the past, 10 years ago, next to me in class, at school. In class. But desk mates and classmates, are they the same?

I would consider them to be the same, especially in a discussion about school. However, the classmates might be people in the class in general, whereas your deskmates would be people who sit with you. So it's a type of classmate.

Yeah. So dear listener, be careful with the verb sit. So sit down. And in the past, 15 years ago, my classmate sat next to me, or I sat next to Rory at school, in class. And we're talking about primary school. Like, well, primary. Like you go to school for the first time, and you go to primary school and then secondary school, but, Rory, these days, do schools have like single desks? What do you call them? A desk for one person.

They might. I mean, the teacher definitely has a desk for themselves. So they might have a desk for one person or two. Whenever I've been in schools recently, they've had groups of people at desks.

So like big desks, not for one person.

Yeah.

Okay, cool. And you say we got on reasonably well. I got on reasonably well with my desk mates or classmates. We had good relationships, okay? Reasonably well? Like it was okay, quite well. So to get on with people, have good relationships. You can say that it was quite a while ago. A while ago? Some time ago. I don't remember when. Do you remember your classmates, Rory? Do you remember like, sitting next to people?

I remember them, but I don't remember them very vividly or in a lot of detail. So it's probably best to say this like, it was quite a while ago, but off the top of my head. So off the top of my head meaning what I can just about remember or just about think about. So not very well-thought-out ideas.

And this is an idiom, dear listener. Band nine, C2 level. Off the top of my head. Off the top of my head. Like, ooh, I kind of just like, I don't remember well, but just like, the first thing that pops into my head is this. Could you please use it in a sentence, Rory, for us?

Could you give me a question?

Who did you sit next to in class in primary school?

Oh, God. Well, it was quite a while ago, but off the top of my head, I think it was someone... I can't actually remember, to be honest, even off the top of my head.

Yeah, you see? And Rory made a pause. So at first he kind of reacts to the question, saying, ooh, it was quite a while ago, but off the top of my head... And now he makes a pause because he's thinking for ideas, dear listener. Not for the language, but for ideas. And it is okay. You can say that you had reading groups in primary school, or you worked on some projects. You worked in pairs, in groups. Or you worked alone. We were responsible for keeping our desks in an orderly manner. So it was our job to keep the desks clean.

And tidy.

And tidy. Yeah, I also remember like we sat next to each other, and everybody had a deskmate, and we were also told to keep our desks tidy. So one desk, two students.

What if you don't like the person you're sitting next to?

Ah, you had no choice.

Oh, wow. You just have to like them.

Yeah. But normally we... Ooh, I actually don't remember, you know? Maybe they swapped us. So if the teacher changed places. Like changed kind of your places, you can say like the teacher swapped us. How do we spell it?

S, W, A, P, P, E, D. Swapped.

Yeah. So we got swapped. So we changed places, or the teachers swapped us. Or they didn't. Yeah? Because yeah, I remember sitting next to people I quite disliked, especially when I had to sit next to a boy. Horrible.

And now here you are working with one.

So students can choose their desk mates. Or they can't choose their desk mates in my country. Or, for example, in primary school, they are not given any choice, right? But in secondary school, they can choose who to sit next to. Dear listener, okay? Students can choose who they could sit next to. Or they can choose their desk mate. There you go. Or maybe you can say that in some classes, students have to sit in the same place in every class, okay? They have to sit next to the same person every class, or they choose to sit next to the same person in every class. But students now have more choice. A stupid question from IELTS. Is it good for children to play with their classmates? No, not good. They mustn't play with other people.

They must not have a good time. It is forbidden.

For children to play with other children. You've used a nice phrasal verb, rub along.

Yes. So if you... We've talked about this before. If you rub along well with people, then you like them, or you get on well.

Yeah, it's UK, and it's informal and perfect to be used in IELTS speaking. Hey! To rub along. So if two people rub along, they work or live together in a satisfactory way. They're kind of happy, happy, happy together. We're happy together...

Well, if it's satisfactory, are they getting along in a happy, happy, happy way?

Yeah, yeah. Kind of like a satisfactory, happy, happy way. Well, maybe happy, but it's satisfactory. Satisfactory - kind of positive.

It's okay, it's adequate.

Yeah. And you can say my flatmate and I rub along okay together, or rub along well together, right? Could you give us a sentence about classmates and rub along?

I used to rub along quite nicely with my classmates at school.

Yeah, the stress is on alone. So we say rub along. I used to rub along well with my classmates. Rub along. Along is more stressed than rub. And about primary school, about secondary school we usually used to. Because not anymore, school is over, hopefully for you, dear listener. So if it is over for you, then used to. Okay? So I used to sit next to a boy who was quite unpleasant or pleasant. Or I didn't used to like my classmates. Or I used to love my classmates. We used to rub along quite nicely. I wouldn't mind seeing them again. So I wouldn't mind seeing my classmates. So I wouldn't mind doing something. Okay? A nice phrase. Kind of, I'm okay if I meet them, if I don't meet them. And then another phrasal verb, I won't be terribly cut up about it.

But that just means not literally getting a pair of scissors and cutting myself to pieces. It's more about feeling bad about something, but I won't feel bad about it if I don't see them ever again, like I don't know what they're like now, they could be really cool people. They're probably very different to me, and maybe we wouldn't be friends naturally.

And could you give us another example with cut up in this context?

In the context of classmates?

Well, what, I like my classmates, but if I don't see them again, I won't be very cut up about it.

Yeah. Like to be cut up is an idiom. Again, the UK English, to be upset. So to be cut up about something. For example, he was very cut up about the fact that he failed his exam. And you can say that we are probably all very different people to how we were at school. So we are different to like what we were like at school.

We have changed.

Yeah, we've changed. We used to be friends, but not anymore. And you can say that we would have little in common. So to have things in common, to enjoy the same things. And you can say that, ooh, if I saw my classmates, we would have little in common. Rory, and have you ever seen your classmates? Have you ever met your classmates?

I think I have like very briefly in the passing at different events, but it wasn't very serious. I think it was just like briefly and saying, oh, hi, we used to go to school together, and then bye. That was it.

Ah, so you just bumped...

Yeah, we just bumped into each other. But it wasn't, it wasn't terribly exciting or interesting.

Yeah, I know. Like I think most of us have the same feelings about like teachers from school, people we used to study with at school. It's kind of like, ooh... Ooh... Like this.

Yeah. I mean, I say this, it wasn't like it was a horrible experience either. It was just like, oh, okay.

I have to go! Bye!

Bye! Yeah.

Is it the same for you, dear listener? Maybe you loved all your teachers, you loved all your classmates. You had, like, the best time of your life. Or maybe you are at school now. I just wanna look at my school photos now. Because I was a different person, and Rory was fat, dear listener.

That's great. That's so nice. It's so good that everyone knows about this.

Oh, is it a secret? Sorry.

Well, it was a secret, but now all 1 million of our subscribers know.

No, I was, I was quite dreadful myself. So...

Well, that's fine, then. That completely justifies what you just said.

Yeah. So we are like, I think we're on the same page.

Aha, okay.

But Rory is quite handsome now. Like really handsome, dear listener. So he's fine. I'm gorgeous, so we are fine.

That was one of the cards in the card game I was playing with my friends now. It was like, which one of your friends has had to the bet the biggest glow up, which is a massive improvement in looks and perhaps personality. And it was agreed that that was me, so that was nice to know.

Sweet. Thank you very much for listening, dear listener! And we'll get back to you with our new fresh IELTS speaking topics! Okay? Bye!

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