📕 Part 1: Paper

Rory, do you carry paper and pens with you when you go out?

If it's a long trip, then yeah, just to make notes on. I have a lot of small notebooks for that just in case the mood takes me. But if it's something like nipping out to the shops, then I prefer to just take them on my phone's notebook app instead of having sheets or reams of paper with me.

Do people still keep handwritten letters today?

I think so. I suppose they're so seldom sent these days that most people keep them for the sentimental value they might have. I've certainly kept a hold of mine.

Do you still write physical letters?

Oh, absolutely, but only on special occasions. I think the last one I wrote was to my flatmate on his final day staying with me just to say thank you for all the memories and wishing him all the best for the future. It could have been an email, but it wouldn't have had the same emotional impact, I suppose.

What did you like to do with paper as a child?

Oh, all kinds of things. I did a lot of drawing, and I was a lot better at it back when I was younger, so the house would be covered in all kinds of sketches and designs and plans. And I wrote a lot, especially when I started getting homework tasks or just to doodle on when I got bored.

Have you made any crafts with paper?

Actually, yes, I have. I used to make origami hand puppets with my classes, which was a lot of fun, not just for the artistic and creative aspects, but also to help develop students' dexterity, since you need to coordinate your hand actions to make these things, even if they are quite simple.

We might carry paper with us, you carry your keys, you carry your phone, you carry your bag, you carry your brain inside. So, a usual question is, do you carry paper with you? Do you carry some paper and pens?

No, actually, sometimes you do.

Sometimes you do, yeah. Yeah, okay, if you go to school, I don't know. Right. So you can say, I carry paper, and it's paper, not papers. Paper, because like love, paper, water. But if you say papers, for example, when we cracked that joke at the beginning, Rory said, papers. I was just fixing some papers. So they are pieces of paper. For example, Rory has some legal documents, and it's all legal stuff on paper. So there are different pieces of paper, right?

You could have sheets of paper as well.

Sheets. Careful with this word, dear listener, sheets of paper, pieces of paper or papers. I have my papers with me means I have my documents with me, maybe passport, maybe some legal documents. So, I carry paper to make notes on. Make notes on paper, when you write something down. Or you can say, I have some small notebooks, paper notebooks. Rory, what did you say about the shops? What what do you do? to the shops.

Ooh, I nip out to the shops or I pop out to the shops. I think we've talked about this before.

Why out?

Because you go outside to go to the shops.

Oh, yeah, you go outside your home. Yeah, okay.

I hope you go outside unless you live in a shop, in which case, that's horrible.

Yeah, nip out, nip out to the shop. Or you can say I never carry any paper with me because I make notes on my phone or on my phone's notebook app. I have a notebook on my phone. I use different apps. So instead of having sheets with me. So you can say sheets of paper or just sheets. In this context, the examiner understands that you mean sheets of paper, but careful. Sheet. Rory, how do you say it?

Sheet.

Right. Can we pronounce another word?

No.

All right. Okay. Because it's kind of it's spelled with an I, so be careful. If you mispronounce it, dear listener, the examiner will be whoa. I you carry what? I carry with me. Sheet.

I wonder if that's going to make it into the podcast.

Whoa, I didn't say anything.

You implied it, though, using the no no words.

Right.

And another one, you said reams.

Reams.

Yeah, reams of paper. That just means a lot of paper.

Reams, a very large amount of something. Reams of data, a lot of data. Reams of information, a lot of information. Reams of paper, a lot of paper.

Write letters, dear listener. Yeah, 50 years ago, people used to write letters physically on paper. We call them handwritten letters. So do you write physical letters or handwritten letters? Or do you keep such letters? Maybe at home somewhere. And you can say, no, I don't keep them. But some people keep them for the sentimental value. Rory, what does it mean, the sentimental value of letters?

Oh, that just means the emotional value or the memories that you get from having them. It's not about the money value or the monetary value. That's how much they're worth in terms of money. It's more about how much they're worth in terms of value to you emotionally.

Yeah, and I was in China and I was very surprised when so many people were writing cards, not letters, but postcards.

Really?

Wow, there were so many people in that shop, a souvenir shop and you can buy a nice postcard, write something and send it there. Wow, that was so popular. So, dear listener, you can say, well, I don't know about letters, but a lot of people around the world still send postcards, cards to their friends, relatives. So yeah, there were lots of people. I was like, whoa, you kind of you write with a pen? Really? So yeah, physical cards.

I didn't, I didn't know about postcards. I knew about letters, but yeah, it's funny though, because you see postcards being advertised and sometimes people send them, I suppose.

If you write physical letters, you say, on special occasions, like, on special events, on holidays, sometimes I do write physical letters, or never. I usually send emails. And you can say the last time I wrote a physical letter was to my flatmate, to my friend, because blah, blah, blah. And I wished him all the best for the future.

And if you wish someone the best, then you hope they do well, and you tell them this.

And you can say that physical letters usually have an emotional impact. Because you leave your soul on that letter. You do it with your own hands. So, you can say, yeah, sometimes I do, because writing a physical letter leaves or has an emotional impact on the reader, on the receiver.

The next question is weird, strange. What did you like to do with paper as a child? Toilet paper.

Of course, you would go there.

Yeah, by the way, toilet paper. No, but come on, paper, paper. A strange question. So you can say, oh, all kinds of things, a lot of things. I did drawing, so I used paper to draw things, to paint with paints, draw with pencils and pens. I wrote a lot. So I would write things on paper. I did my homework on paper. Or I used paper to doodle.

Doodle? Doodle means to make small drawings, especially when you're bored. They don't really have a point to them.

Yeah, doodle, draw pictures while thinking about something. So we usually doodle when you talk on the phone, for example, or when you listen to a boring lecture. So, or if you have a textbook, you can doodle all over your textbook, which is not good. And I would doodle or I doodled on paper when I got bored.

Paper crafts, dear listener. So as a child, I made paper crafts or I did paper crafts.

Do crafts or make crafts. I suppose when you're crafting, you make things, don't you? It looks like both. I'm just looking at the dictionary. Both, apparently.

Wow, for once it can be both.

Yeah, you can do crafts. Because you're doing the activity, but you're making the thing. So both of them will be fine.

Yeah, do the activity. Okay, make something. All right, there you go, you listen, English. Right. But what's that Japanese art?

Oh, origami.

Origami, origami, right. So, yeah, origami, the art of making objects from paper, origami. And again, we do origami or we make origami?

Yeah, make origami.

So, dear listener, you can say I used to make origami from paper, right? Or hand puppets. If you made specific things, so I used to make origami hand puppets, kind of little dolls from paper. Or I used to make origami giraffes, tigers, I don't know, just a lie, penguins, bears.

Well, you can do all of these things. It's super easy. If you just type in origami hand puppets on YouTube, you can learn how to make them. You can make them with post-it notes or bits of paper. It's very easy.

Yeah, and this was very creative, artistic. So it developed my dexterity. That's the word. Dexterity, because you are super, super educated person, so dexterity, the ability to perform a difficult action quickly and skillfully with your hands. Dear listener, and origami helps to develop manual dexterity, dexterity. So being good with your hands. and then a paper giraffe.

Appears. Like magic.

Yeah, out of nothing. And it's quite impressive, actually. I tried origami, oh no, that was horrible. It was like, my giraffe was half dead already. It was born but it was dead, like tired.

It was dead on arrival. It was not a, not a well giraffe.

Yes, it was dead on arrival. I just made an origami giraffe and it was just dead. Yeah, like this. Right, dear listener. So paper, there are different kinds of paper. Rory, what did you mention? with lines? So I usually use what kind of paper?

Oh, narrow ruled paper. And you can have wide ruled paper, but both of those are kinds of lined paper.

You can have blank paper.

You can also have, I think it's grid paper, where you have squares. Is it called grid paper? I call it grid paper.

Okay, blank paper. Yeah, a sheet of paper, a piece of paper.

We haven't commented on the grammar yet.

Ooh, yes, grammar. Oh, newspaper, by the way. I usually use a newspaper, and filter paper, if you are a fan of coffee, you use a filter paper for your coffee. Do you carry paper when you go out? Yes, filter paper. For coffee. And newspaper, a joke. Haha. Rory, go ahead. In grammar.

The grammar. When you were asking about do you still write physical letters? And I said I wrote a letter, it could have been an email, could have been, but it wouldn't have had, wouldn't have had, so talking about things being different in the past, or the outcome.

Is it the third conditional?

Yes, it is. Yes. Really?

I know.

And all of that with the modal verbs and everything. Very nice. And then when you asked me what I like to do with paper as a child, I said the house would be covered in all kinds of sketches. So here it was what happened in the past. And talking about the past, I also said I used to make origami hand puppets, used to the regular action in the past. I haven't made hand puppets with my classes in a while, actually, maybe I need to start. Yes, I can. I should say I've recently taken on some new students online who are young learners. They're like 10 years old. So I think that's what we're going to do in our next class.

Yay.

There we go. From explaining grammar to coming up with ideas for lesson activities.

Right, dear listener. And I have a joke for you. Rory, you don't answer the question. You remember that, right?

Why don't I answer the question?

No, because it's a joke, Rory. I answer the question and then you explain the joke, all right?

You are so so rude to me.

I know. I'm horrible.

Maria's like, yes, I am the worst person ever.

No, I'm the worst in the world. Yeah, I'm even worse than the worst. So, dear listener, the joke is, what do you call a paper airplane that can't fly? Stationery.

Okay, that is actually quite funny. The reason why if something is stationary, then it means it's not moving. But stationery is also the word we use to describe things like pens, paper, pencils, and anything else we use to write with or to help us write.

Stationery train, a stationery car is not moving.

And one is with an E and one is with an A. I'm going to say the one with an E means that it's not moving and the one with an A means that it's connected to paper. Am I right?

Vice versa, no.

No, I've got it wrong. I always get those two things wrong. Oh, well, it's a speaking podcast, not a writing one, so screw it.

There we go, dear listener. Now. Thank you very much for listening. We'll get back to you in our new episode. Bye.

Bye.