📙 Part 2: Describe a photograph in your home

This episode’s vocabulary

To stick out (phrasal verb) - to be extremely noticeable.

Vivid (adj.) - producing powerful feelings or strong, clear images in the mind.

To be sat somewhere (phrase) - to be situated or located

Adjacent (adj.) - next to or adjoining something else.

To occupy (noun) - to fill, exist in, or use a place or period of time.

Memorabilia (noun) - objects that are collected because they are connected with a person or event that is thought to be very interesting.

To draw attention (phrase) - to attract attention or interest.

Ornate (adj.) - having a lot of complicated decoration.

To gear up (phrasal verb) - to prepare for something that you have to do, or to prepare someone else for something.

To gather (verb) - to come together in a group.

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Questions and Answers

Maria: Rory will describe a photo in his home. He'll talk about: what is in the photo or who is in the photo, where the photo is in his home, how this picture was taken, and he'll explain what this photo means to him. Could you start speaking now, please?

Rory: Yeah, I'd like to talk about my grandmother's birthday photograph. Specifically, it's her 90th birthday photograph, and it's the thing that sticks out the most vividly in my memory of my parents house. It's actually part of a collection of several photographs in a single frame. If we talk about where it is, I already mentioned, it's in my parent's house. It's actually sat in our dining room, which is adjacent to the kitchen, and it occupies a large area of one of the walls, and it's surrounded by other family photos and various memorabilia. But this picture draws the most attention, at least in my case. The frame is quite ornate. And there, I said it's surrounded by other pictures, there are actually six pictures surrounding the main photograph and they show all the individual families that made up the main picture, which is of our whole extended family. As I mentioned, it was taken at my grandmother's birthday and we needed a professional photographer to do it. Everyone was dressed up for the occasion. Most of the men were in kilts and the women were in fancy dresses and outfits. Everybody was really geared up for the occasion, I suppose is the best way to talk about it. Some people had to travel thousands of miles to be there for the party, not just for the photograph. And we were all gathered together to celebrate the birthday, and then we posed for one big group photo towards the end, in addition to all of the other individual family photographs. I think it was a really beautiful moment, to be honest. And I think a lot of other people would agree with that. One of the main reasons it's so special is the fact that all of these people came from so far to be at the event and it shows just how much family means, I think. For a lot of the people there, it was actually one of the last times that we were all together. So I think that's a reminder of how valuable family and togetherness are more generally, and why we should try and maintain these things for as long as we possibly can.

Maria: Thank you very much. What about your friends? Do they enjoy this photo?

Rory: Um, I don't think so. I think my parents' more outrageous decorations occupy their attention more.