📕 Part 1: Secondary school

Do you remember your first day at secondary school?

Honestly, I can't remember it for the life of me. I suppose we would have been given a tour and introduced to our teachers so we could find our way around. And I think there was probably some sort of assembly to introduce us to our schedules and a different way of working and learning, but it's all very murky now because it was so long ago.

Is there anything you miss about your secondary school?

Not the school itself, just that time in my life. There was so much time and energy and creativity and mischief that we got up to. But when it comes to the classes, the teachers, and things like the timetable or the school grounds, I don't miss it much. I'd prefer being an adult and in control of my life.

What was your favorite subject at secondary school?

Well, I really liked history. We had some brilliant teachers who made it very engaging and gave us different tasks related to it as well as taking us on trips to various local and national historical sites and places of interest. That was cool. I definitely get my interest in history from those days in the history department.

Were there any subjects that you find difficult at secondary school?

Oh, yeah, I was rubbish at maths and geography in particular. I don't really have a head for numbers, so it was difficult to do the more advanced equations like trigonometry or calculating the height of a hill or mapping out some sort of route on a map. I was absolutely bored out of my mind in those situations, I'm sorry to say.

Right, dear listener. Secondary school. So, first of all, what is secondary school? It's different, depending on a country.

Allegedly.

Yeah, and at the beginning Rory says secondary school or high school. Sometimes they are the same or senior school. Again, depends on the country, depends on your education system. So, usually secondary school ages from 11 to 14 or 11 to 16, right? But there are different options. For example, in the USA, they call it middle school, and then high school. Primary school, middle school, high school. Or primary school, secondary school, high school, right? Rory, in your country, in Scotland?

In my country, it's the same thing. High school and secondary school are combined together. We just call it secondary school.

Wow. So you don't say high school?

Not really, no.

Well, we do say high school, but not as a separate thing. It's like either high school or secondary school, they mean the same thing.

Okay. Interesting. Right, dear listener. So, again, you can just Google it, what's going on in your country, but usually kind of secondary school somewhere in the middle. You started school, and in the middle of school, you have this secondary school. I remember my first day at secondary school, I don't remember anything, can't remember anything, honestly. To be honest with you, I can't remember anything. Or you can say, I can't remember it for the life of me.

But that just means I can't remember it very well. And even if I had to think about it really hard, I couldn't do it.

It's all very murky now. Seriously, perhaps it was ages ago and you don't remember anything, or maybe it was like five years ago or a year ago, and you still don't remember. So it's like dark and difficult to remember, so it's all murky, blurry. It was so long ago. Or if you do remember, you just say, okay, yeah, I remember my first day at secondary school. I was bored to death. It was raining. They gave us our timetable. I hated it. I hated the teachers. Yeah, or maybe I was very happy to get back to school. Maybe you were after summer holidays. I miss a lot about my secondary school, or I don't miss anything.

Or I don't miss much.

I don't miss much.

Or I don't miss it much, which means I don't miss it at all. It's just a very polite way of saying that.

Yeah, I don't miss it at all. Or, for example, you can say, I miss some teachers, or I miss my classmates, right? I miss all this atmosphere of creativity and mischief. Mischief is like something children do. Kind of like a childhood behavior. Not bad. Like slightly bad, but it doesn't do serious harm. We talk about our favorite subjects at secondary school. My favorite subject was chemistry or mathematics. Careful, maths, mathematics, or English or literature, biology. And you can say I really liked history, like Rory. Or I really liked chemistry, biology. We had some brilliant teachers. I had a brilliant teacher.

Amazing teachers.

Yeah, I had a brilliant chemistry teacher, or I had a brilliant literature teacher. And the teacher made this subject really engaging. It was really engaging. Interesting, attractive. Some subjects were quite difficult. So you can say, I was rubbish at maths. I was rubbish at geography. So I was really bad at geography. Now Rory knows lots of capitals. And, okay, what's the capital of Zimbabwe?

Oh, Harare, but I don't know that from geography. I know that from the news.

I struggled with chemistry. It was very difficult for me. I struggled with literature. I was rubbish at mathematics. And you can say I didn't really have a head for numbers. So mathematics was very difficult for me, because I didn't really have a head for numbers. Have a head for something. It's an idiom. Have a good head for something. Like he has a head for numbers. He's good with numbers.

A head for facts.

Yeah. And it was difficult to do advanced equations. So, you can also talk about mathematics and just use these vocabulary. Equation, C2, or C1, sorry.

Oh, is it?

C1, yeah, advanced.

Nice.

Solve an equation. So the strategy, dear listener is, the examiner asks you what subjects were difficult. You say mathematics because I don't have a head for numbers. It was difficult for me to solve equations. Bam, super specific vocabulary, everybody's happy, and you lie about mathematics, even if you're good at maths, you just use the freaking vocabulary, all right? Yay. Yeah, Rory, then you said something like trigonometry.

Trigonometry.

Trigonometry. What is that?

Yeah, I think trigonometry is using information about triangles to work out angles and lengths, but I have never been very good at that. Even when I did it at university, I was still struggling.

Trigonometry, a type of mathematics that deals with angles, triangles, trigonometry. I don't know if you can remember that.

Or if you want to remember it.

Yeah. I was absolutely bored out of my mind in those lessons. So I was absolutely bored out of my mind. I was really bored. I was bored to death. Seriously bored. In those lessons. Not at school, but in a lesson. Dear listener, why? Because it's English. Rory, did you misbehave at secondary school?

Oh, maybe just a little bit.

Did you throw paper at teachers?

No, I didn't throw paper at teachers, but I may have made the occasional cutting remark. I was definitely not as well-behaved as I am now, clearly. But what about you, Maria?

Oh, I was really boring and absolutely not interesting, dull. No personality, at school.

Well, you made up for it now.

Why, why are you laughing now?

No, because we need to finish on something positive. I can't find a joke.

Surely the joke is that I was disorganized at school and you were not charismatic.

Oh, yeah. No, no. Absolutely not. Now you know the truth.

Tell us now. There you go. And the truth will set you free. And now we've got to set you free and record the next episode.

Thank you for listening. Sending love and hugs. Bye!

Bye!