📙 Part 2: Describe a famous person that is a role model for young people

This episode's vocabulary

To taint (verb) - to spoil something or give it an unpleasant quality.

Scandal (noun) - (an action or event that causes) a public feeling of shock and strong moral disapproval.

Fanbase (noun) - the fans of a singer, group, team, etc. considered as a group.

Iconic (adj.) - very famous or popular, especially being considered to represent particular opinions or a particular time.

Work ethic (noun) - the belief that work is morally good.

Sizable (adj.) - large.

Presence (noun) - the fact that someone or something is in a place.

Crucial (adj.) - extremely important or necessary.

Controversy (noun) - a lot of disagreement or argument about something, usually because it affects or is important to many people.

Judgmental (adj.) - too quick to criticize people.

Morally (adverb) - based on principles that you or people in general consider to be right, honest, or acceptable.

Act (noun) - something that you do.

To move mountains (idiom) - to do something that seems impossible, particularly when love or a particular belief makes you feel determined to succeed.

Questions and Answers

R: Oh, wow. It's hard to think of someone who isn't tainted by some sort of scandal these days, but a fairly safe option might be someone like Dolly Parton. She's a famous country music singer from America who has released lots of music over the decades, and at least seems to have a massive fanbase. I think she's also had a lot of plastic surgery done, but that's not relevant to being a good role model, or why she might be a good role model. She's all over social media these days, despite being older, since she's had many iconic interviews in the past, and still does now, where she shows off her sense of humour and wisdom that's built up over time. I also sort of grew up hearing about her, since my mom and dad were very big fans of her and Kenny Rogers, who is another singer, and they worked together. Not my mom and dad, but Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. They used to have all the videos of their concerts back in, well, back when people had video cassettes that is. So that's what I remember from my childhood. Dolly is a singer, but I actually think the reason she makes a good role model is actually connected to her work ethic and charity works. She's built up a sizable media presence and maintained it while working to promote literacy in the United States. And I think she has her own charity for that, but the name actually escapes me just now. I think, but I still think that's important, as it shows that it's important not only to help yourself, but also to help others where you can and being able to read is pretty crucial to being successful, usually. Another thing is that she's the godmother of Miley Cyrus, someone who isn't without controversy in their lives, but she doesn't seem to be very judgmental towards this person that she is morally responsible for and I think that's a good act for young people to follow as well, that we can be supportive of other people, even if they aren't perfect. If it hadn't been for Dolly, all of those people would have been without someone to help them in that way. And at the same time, it's not like she's moved mountains or achieved the impossible either. So young people can see that it is possible to help lots of people in a realistic and easily accessible way, rather than trying to be some sort of superhuman.

M: Hey, thank you, Rory!

R: Thank you Dolly!