This episode’s vocabulary
Historical account
noun — a written or spoken description of past events. → I enjoy reading historical accounts about ancient civilisations.
Click with
phrasal verb — to connect with or understand something easily. → Maths never clicked with me, but literature did.
Excel at
phrasal verb — to do very well at something. → She excels at writing persuasive essays.
Regardless of
preposition phrase — without being affected by something. → He continued playing, regardless of the rain.
Off-putting
adjective — discouraging or unpleasant. → The food’s smell was so off-putting I didn’t eat it.
Lack energy
verb phrase — to be dull or uninspiring. → The teacher’s monotone voice made the lesson lack energy.
Revisionist history
noun — a reinterpretation of historical facts. → The book offers a revisionist history of the French Revolution.
Indigenous
adjective — originating naturally in a particular place. → The Indigenous people of Australia have rich cultural traditions.
Contribute to
phrasal verb — to help cause or bring about something. → Exercise contributes to better mental health.
Enlightenment
noun — a historical period focused on reason and individualism. → Enlightenment thinkers valued logic over tradition.
Subsequent
adjective — coming after something in time. → The subsequent chapters go into more detail.
Artefact
noun — an object made by humans, usually historical or cultural. → The museum displayed ancient Roman artefacts.
Personal level
noun phrase — relating to one’s own life or interests. → On a personal level, I found the story very moving.
Professional level
noun phrase — relating to one's job or career. → On a professional level, I often give presentations on this topic.
Mode of thought
noun phrase — a way of thinking or approaching ideas. → Western modes of thought often emphasise individualism.
Questions and answers
Do you like history?
Yeah, I love it. To the extent I actually studied it at university, and a lot of the books I read for pleasure now are historical accounts. I'm not sure why I like it so much, though. It's just something that clicked with me when I was at school.
Did you like history when you were young?
Yeah, absolutely. History was one of my favourite classes, and I absolutely excelled at it when we wrote essays on it, regardless of the historical topic. Except for the history of agriculture, I have absolutely no idea why we had to learn about that or at least learn about it in such an off-putting manner. It lacked any energy whatsoever.
When was the last time you read about history?
Well, that would be the last time I picked up the book I'm reading now. It's a kind of almost revisionist history of the world and how Indigenous Americans contributed to Enlightenment thinking and subsequent modes of thought in the West.
Have you ever been to historical museums?
Not recently, but I have been to quite a few, like the McManus Galleries in Dundee, which has a historical art collection, and the Natural History Museum in Oxford. It also has this massive collection of artwork and cultural artefacts that were produced by Native people from across the world. They're of great interest to me on a personal and professional level, since I like learning about them, but I also have to teach students about culture at times.
Discussion
So, dear listener, history. Yeah, we study history at school. Usually, you study the history of your country, the history of other countries, but as a subject, it's just like, I love history. I hate history. I can't stand history. Like, I really dislike it, right? Or you're like, yeah, I love it. Or I don't. It's not my thing. Like, whoa, no, history is not for me. So you can say, it's not my thing.
History is exciting.
You can say that I actually studied history at university, or I loved it at school. I read a lot of books on history. And when a book is about history, we call it a historical book?
I think a historical book refers more to how old the book is, whereas a history book is on the subject of history. We can also call it a historical account.
Yeah, so we just say books on history. And you can say that history clicked with me when I was at school.
That just means it was like a natural connection.
Clicked with me. It's informal. You can say that I didn't really click with my boss. So, like, I didn't like my boss the first time we met. I studied history when I was at school, when I was at primary school, secondary school, and high school. Actually, we kind of study history all the time at school.
Yeah, we are living in history.
It was one of my favourite classes, or it was one of my least favourite classes. Like, I absolutely hated history. All the dates to remember, all the names, geographical names, oh la la.
An important thing to point out now is the grammar here. It's not one of my favourite class. It's always one of my favourite classes. Remember the plural, even though it's one of.
I always had bad marks at history or I excelled at this subject. So, I got excellent marks.
Is it a band nine collocation?
Let's check. Excel at. So, be excellent at something. Let's check what the Cambridge Online Dictionary says. C2. Absolutely. But…
Yay!
The Cambridge Online Dictionary says it's excel in.
Oh, okay. I think you can excel at something as well. ChatGPT: Hi there, Chad GPT here. The correct phrase is excel at. For example, she excels at mathematics, he excels at public speaking. However, excel in can also be used, but it's typically followed by a field or area rather than a specific skill. For example, she excels in the field of neuroscience, he excels in sports. So, use excel at for specific activities or skills and excel in for broader areas or disciplines.
It's like succeed in or succeed at.
All right, okay. And then you can say like I particularly enjoyed the history of…
Oh God, it could be the history of anything. It could be military history. I already talked about agricultural history. It could also be the history of something, the history of World War II, for example, or political history.
Or for example, ancient history, early modern history or just modern history, then Chinese history, Japanese history, African history. If history is taught in an off-putting manner…
It means you don't want to talk about it because it's not interesting or exciting.
If you don't like, if you didn't like the teacher, the classes were boring, so you can say that history was taught in an off-putting manner. Unpleasant…
Boring. Not engaging…
…boring. So, I didn't like history school because it was taught in an off-putting manner or it was off-putting like unpleasant. Actually, C2.
Nice!
Band nine, off-putting. For example, people could be off-putting or like he's off-putting. He's unpleasant or he worries all the time. Or like I didn't agree to take this job because the salary was off-putting. Or you can say just like I didn't like history because of the teacher. The teacher was dull. History is boring. To paraphrase the examiner's question, you can say I picked up a book on history. So, the last time I picked up a book on history was last year or at school or at university. And the book was about indigenous Americans, dear listener, or indigenous tribes in New Zealand. This is what you should say. Or you can say, oh, actually, I'm reading a book on history now. I learn a lot of interesting things about indigenous people in Mexico. All right, dear listener? Indigenous refers to people who originally lived in this place. So, like local people, local tribes, indigenous people of this land. Or you can say the indigenous population. And usually kind of New Zealand, Mexico, Scotland, Rory? Do you have any indigenous tribes?
I don't think… Well, you could argue that Scottish people are the indigenous people of this country.
Actually, yeah, Scots. Scotland freedom! And then you can say like I've recently read a book on the Enlightenment, this period of history.
The period of history when everyone turned the lights on, metaphorically speaking.
Careful with the pronunciation. We say enlightenment.
Yes, enlightenment. If we enlighten, we inform, we illuminate. And people became more informed, allegedly, in this period of history. Other opinions are available.
The late 17th century to the early 19th century. So, either talk about indigenous tribes in Mexico or Enlightenment.
Or both, like me. Thank you very much to my good friend Elena for her book that I'm currently reading. That will be very useful for talking about this kind of topic. And it has been very useful as well.
We can go to historical museums. Can I say history museums?
I don't see why not. I don't know what other kinds of museums there are.
Yeah, different websites say like history museums. Like 12 history museums you should visit at least once. Hmm. What's number one? What do you think?
Is it going to be the Natural History Museum in London?
No. Athens, Rory. Greece. Acropolis Museum. Super ancient. The Acropolis Museum. Yeah, dear listener. Museums come with articles. So, the Acropolis Museum in Athens. The second one on this website.
The British Museum?
Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul, Turkey. The Cathedral Museum. I think I've messed up the pronunciation. Hagia Sophia. The Agia or Hagia.
I say Hagia Sophia. But I don't know. Some people say Hagia as well. I've heard it said in different ways. If there are any people from Turkiye, then please enlighten us.
A lovely place. And then the Army Museum in Paris. So, it's like there, you see. And these kinds of museums, dear listeners. So, the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, for example. So, Asian Civilisations. And in China, it's the Museum of Terracotta Warriors.
Oh, they're made of... Oh, is it sand? I thought they were made of pottery. But I don't know much about them.
Warriors and horses. And there's this astonishing army of sculptures. And then the Egyptian Museum in Egypt, obviously. So, you can choose one of the museums, learn a fancy name, and say that yes… Rory, nothing about, you know, London, Scotland? Nothing?
Well, the McManus Galleries is in Scotland. And the Natural History Museum is not just in Oxford. Sorry, it's not just in London. It's also in Oxford.
And you should use the present perfect. So, I've been to... I've never been to any museums. Any historical places. Or I've seen a nice art collection at the Natural History Museum in London, in New York. And you can talk about a massive collection of artwork. Like a huge collection of art. Different artefacts. So, different items. So, when you go to a museum, you see different exhibits, items, things. Or artefacts.
That's just things. Or items.
Sweet. And we're gonna wrap it up with a joke, dear listener. But Rory, you need to teach one word for our listener to understand the joke. Okay? So, Rory, tell me. But don't tell the joke, okay?
Okay, fine.
Just answer the questions. So, snakes. You know, we have animals, we have birds, we have snakes.
I am familiar.
What sound do snakes make?
They hiss.
Yeah. Cats – meow. Cows – moo. But snakes make this hissing sound. So, the joke, dear listener. What's a snake's favourite subject in school? History.
Thank you for listening to the episode. I will be in a dark room somewhere if anyone needs me.
A snake has their favourite subject, and it's history.
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