📙 Part 2: Describe a helpful person you know

This episode's vocabulary

Mind's eye - in your imagination or memory.

Run out of steam - to suddenly lose the energy or interest to continue doing what you are doing.

Persevere (verb) - to try to do or continue doing something in a determined way, despite having problems.

Put up with sth/sb (phrasal verb) - to accept or continue to accept an unpleasant situation or experience, or someone who behaves unpleasantly.

Indispensable (adj.) - something or someone that is indispensable is so good or important that you could not manage without it, him, or her.

Modest (adj.) - not usually talking about or making obvious your own abilities and achievements.

Thank your lucky stars - to be very grateful for something.

-

Questions and Answers

M: Rory is going to describe a helpful person he knows. He's going to say who this person is, how he knows this person, why he thinks this person is helpful, and he's going to explain how he feels about this person. Rory, are you all ready?

R: Yes.

M: Yes? Good. Fire away.

R: Well, whenever I think of helpful people, an image of my best friend John always forms in my mind's eye. I haven't met many people quite as hard working, or brave, or patient as John. He always seems to put in a lot of effort and has a lot of time for people, who, well, most people might become quite frustrated with, at least initially. We met during the course of our employment at BKC-ih Moscow, which has been previously established as Moscow's worst language school, and certainly a challenger for the worst in the world. Regardless, ever since we started working together, I've seen John helping out loads of people with different projects and problems that they might have. Because he is a manager, and a teacher trainer, like I was. John never seems to run out of steam or the will to persevere with those who really need it. Of course, that's his job to help people as a teacher and teacher trainer. But most people who are in those positions have their limits, but not John. He has put up with quite a lot. Without John in my life, I don't think I'd achieved nearly as much as I well as I have currently. Nor would many other people. And they would do very well to remember that, although many of them often forget. He's truly indispensable. Although he would never admit to that, because he's far too modest. So if you're privileged enough to have someone like that in your life, you really need to thank your lucky stars every day.

M: Oh, that's so sweet. What about your friends? Do they know John?

R: Everyone that knows John loves John.

M: Oh, cute. I know John.

R: And do you love John?

M: I love John.

R: John's never gonna hear this. It's so sad. But John is just great.

-

Discussion

M: So that's a nice story. You described a helpful person, so helpful person...

R: I love how you said that there that's a nice story. It's true.

M: Yeah, yeah, it is true. Yeah. John does exist. And I saw John, I worked with John. And John is lovely. So a helpful person helps people. And you described John as...

R: That's a very in depth analysis.

M: Well, a helpful person helps people. Okay, that's it. Done.

R: I think we're done here.

M: Easy. Yeah. Moving on. So he's hard working, brave and patient, right. So we do use

adjectives. But also, you said that whenever I think of helpful people, an image of John always

forms in my mind's eye.

R: Yes. And that's an important thing to point out with, like, you don't need to start out with like, a

helpful person that I know is called blah, blah, blah. You can say like, whenever I think of helpful

people, an image of whoever forms in my mind's eye. If something forms in your mind's eye, it just

means that you can see in your head

M: Nice, nice. If the question is about describe an energetic person, describe a polite person,

you always can use this expression, whenever I think about energetic people, an image of my

friend Maria forms in my mind's eye. Beautiful. John puts in a lot of effort with work.

R: You put in effort with work, you put an effort with something, but anything really. Usually with

some kind of task or job. And that just means that you work very hard.

M: John, who is a really helpful person, never seems to run out of steam.

R: Yeah, that's because he's hard working.

M: Really hard working.

R: If you run out of steam, it just means you lose energy or you lose the ability to do something.

M: And steam is trains have steam. Steam trains.

R: Yeah, but it's just an expression meaning you have a lot of energy or you don't run out of

energy.

M: He perseveres with those in need. So with people in need, he perseveres.

R: That just means he keeps going and he helps people.

M: You said that John has to put up with a lot.

R: He is friends with me, of course he has to put up with a lot.

M: With Rory. So put up with is our favorite phrasal verb and it means tolerate, deal with. So he

doesn't like it but he has to put up with it. He has to deal with it. You also said that he's truly

indispensable. Indispensable. That's a nice word.

R: If someone is indispensable, it means that you cannot remove them. They're just, they cannot be

taken away without everything falling apart.

M: Yeah, indispensable. So Rory is truly indispensable. We just can't replace this beautiful Rory,

full of Scottishness, and fun, and education, and what else, charisma?

R: Yes, you can.

M: And energy drinks.

R: There's nothing, there's nothing that you couldn't accomplish just by pumping a native speaker

full of an energy drink.

M: So about your friends, you can say he's truly or she's truly indispensable. But they are far too

modest. Modest?

R: Modest means that you don't take too much credit for what you've done. So you say it's not

me, it's everybody that's working together that helps. Like our podcast. It's not me. It's everyone

working together. It's mostly Vanya working to be honest, if we are honest about this, really.

M: Yeah. And you can say like, he's far too modest, far meaning like he's like, really modest. Like

he's far too modest or he is by far the most modest person I know. To intensify the meaning. So

he's far too modest or he's far too hard working. Right? And then I really enjoyed the last phrase,

if you are privileged enough to have someone like that in your life. If you're privileged enough,

right? You really need to thank your lucky stars everyday, nice one, lucky stars.

R: Yeah. Well, we thank your lucky stars, it just means that you should be thanking the universe

that you're lucky enough to have this person. In the same way. If you're privileged, it means that

you have like some unearned power that was given to you. So like, having a helpful person in

your life really is a privilege, and you should cherish that person.

M: So, dear listener, please make sure that you do know this person who is very helpful. Again, it

could be the same person as like the person who is an energetic person, the person who is polite,

a relative you like, a friend you admire. So it could be all one person that you're going to

describe using some precise adjectives.

R: You can talk about us. We're helpful.

M: Yeah, yeah. We are lively, and energetic, and indispensable. Yeah, so you can talk about

Rory, you can talk about me. So Rory talked about me in this energetic person.

R: Did I?

M: Yeah, you talked about me, which was lovely. That was lovely, water. Hello, lovely, give me

some water.

R: Thanks for tuning in, we'll see you next time. Bye.

M: There's some accents now. Yep.

R: Hopefully you found us helpful.

M: We've been really helpful, hopefully.

R: Hopefully.

M: Thank you so much.

R: Hopefully helpfully.

M: In the next episode, we're going to be discussing help in general and receiving help, reasons

for giving help in speaking part three. Bye!

R: Bye!

-

Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff:

Our Instagram: bit.ly/instagramswi

Our Telegram: bit.ly/telegramswi