📙 Part 2: Describe a time when you taught a friend or relative something

This episode's vocabulary

Impromptu (adj.) - done or said without earlier planning or preparation.

At (your) ease (phrase) - relaxed.

Next to - almost.

To drill (verb) - to make someone practice a skill by repeating the same thing several times.

Wander (verb) - (to walk around slowly in a relaxed way or without any clear purpose or direction.

Merrily (adverb) - showing happiness or enjoyment.

Accustomed (adj.) - familiar with something.

Awe (noun) - a feeling of great respect sometimes mixed with fear or surprise.

Utterly (adverb) - completely or extremely.

To pull something off (phrasal verb) - to succeed in doing something difficult or unexpected.

Contrary (adj.) - opposite.

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Questions and Answers

R: It's ironic, I suppose, since being a teacher as my job you'd imagine, I'd have taught someone in my family something at some point. But it's actually quite hard to think of something off the top of my head. Well, I think a while back, I gave my mother an impromptu Russian lesson when she was visiting me in Moscow. I did explain that being a relatively more closed society compared to the one we have in Scotland, it would be a good idea to at least try and use a few local words and phrases to make people feel more at ease, more comfortable. And we were having dinner at a restaurant and she wanted to place the order with the waiter who clearly spoke next to no English, so lots of help was needed. So I demonstrated how to order food and say the names of the different dishes and how to say thank you in Russian. Making sure to stress not to touch anyone at all, since it's strange for people to make body contact with those completely unknown to them. And moreover, that men do not shake hands with women, generally speaking. We did a lot of drilling of pronunciation and practicing of the different phrases. And then I sent her on her way. Only to watch as she wandered up to the guy, pointed at the menu, speaking English the whole time with a massive smile on her face and putting her arm around his shoulders before giving him a hug to say thank you. It was as if my mouth hadn't been on, or I'd been talking entirely to myself for the past several minutes. Regardless, she got the job done and our food arrived. But I couldn't help but wonder how on earth the catering staff felt about the experience of this strange, tiny Scottish woman appearing before them, and proceeding to merrily violate all the social norms that they'd become accustomed to. Despite feeling a bit useless and almost a sense of awe at how utterly useless I had been. I was still quite impressed that mum had been able to pull it off contrary to all my expectations. If I hadn't done that, well, nothing would have been any different. She leads a life of her own.

M: Have you tried teaching your friends the same skill?

R: I'm afraid not. They're either more proficient than I am or don't have the interest.

M: Hey, thank you, Rory, for your story!

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Discussion

M: Hey, what a story! What a story! Such a nice story. I love stories about your mom.

R: Is it because she's like you?

M: Maybe. The shoes.

R: If you have not met my mom... No one's ever seen my mom on the podcast before but she and Maria have too much in common.

M: Aw, sweet. Yeah, dear listener. You should just read the script if you didn't understand everything in Rory's story, but it's just hilarious.

R: Because that's what my mum basically did. She didn't understand anything and did what she wanted to do anyway.

M: Amazing. Amazing. Yeah. So Rory started off with since being a teacher is my job. Since - because. I am a teacher. You would imagine, I'd have taught someone. I would have taught someone? I had have taught? What is this?

R: I would have taught. I would have taught.

M: Okay. Yeah. But Rory told us not about his teaching, but a time when he tried to teach his mother do it.

R: And failed spectacularly.

M: Yeah. And then Rory goes like, it's hard to think of something off the top of my head. So that's a difficult question. It's hard to think of something off the top of my head. So just like right now, I can't really think of anything. Nothing comes to my head. Right? So if I ask you like, oh, what's the name of the largest planet? I can't answer it off the top of my head.

R: Well, I can, because I'm a big nerd.

M: Oh, can you? What's the largest planet?

R: Well in the solar system is Jupiter.

M: Oh, wow. We should check that.

R: But there's another one, it's about 24 lightyears away. That's about 20... No, it's about 5 or 10 times the size of Earth. And it's the same shape and distance from its Sun as well. And people think there might be life there. How cool is that?

M: Super cool. And then Rory described the story. A while back.

R: Some time ago. I honestly couldn't remember when it was, even though it was an unforgettable experience for me, but I still don't remember the exact time. I think it was 2017.

M: And the story should be in the past. So describe a time when you taught somebody something. Like a friend or a relative. So you taught something, it's in the past. So a while back, some time ago, so my mother was visiting me sort of past continuous forms. Past Continuous. My mother was visiting. We were eating in a restaurant. We were having dinner at a restaurant at that time. And I gave my mother a Russian lesson.

R: An impromptu Russian lesson.

M: Yeah. What does it mean? Impromptu?

R: Well, it was unplanned.

M: Yeah, I gave my mother an unplanned Russian lesson. I was trying to teach Russian to my mother. I did explain something. Like I did explain, not just like I explained.

R: Emphasising I did do this, but it failed.

M: And Rory told his mom that it would be a good idea to use some Russian words when she ordered her food. So it would be. Would be - in the future.

R: Yes, I probably should have said it would have been a good idea. But it never happened. That would give away the ending to the story too soon.

M: Oh, so can you imagine like Rory is sitting there with his mom in Russia, his mom doesn't speak any Russian. Rory does speak some Russian. Rory teaches his mother, some simple Russian words for her to order food. Funny.

R: And then it turns into a total waste of time.

M: I demonstrated how to order food. So when you teach something, you explain, you demonstrate how to order, how to do certain things. And also Rory told his mother not to touch anyone.

R: Well, no, you don't touch people. Like that's true, isn't it? Is anything that I said there incorrect about Russian culture generally?

M: Yeah. Sometimes it's just strange when you touch people you don't know. And especially in a restaurant you just kind of like start touching a waiter. But again, depends on the situation. You know, if... Yeah, but usually we don't do this. Yeah.

R: Usually you don't touch your waiter. It's phoned upon.

M: Yes... Yeah. And then Rory's mother went to order some food and the waiters didn't speak any English. And then his mother was speaking English to people who didn't speak any English with a massive smile on her face. And she put her arm around the waiter's shoulders. So she did touch the waiter.

R: Yes, of course, she did.

M: So funny. And what was the waiter doing? Like was he smiling? Was he happy?

R: He was looking absolutely terrified. I've never seen someone look more uncomfortable. Like he was like, what is going on? And then like, as he was understanding like, this woman is from a foreign country. He was like, ah, it's okay. She's fine. But I was just like, I was looking at it thinking I'm going to have to say something like, please excuse us. We're from Scotland. But yes, there you go.

M: So Rory taught, well, tried to teach his mum a lesson. some Russian words. It was as if my mouth hadn't been on.

R: Yes. Is this thing switched on?

M: Right. Kind of it was as if I hadn't done anything. And we're using the third conditional, because Rory did teach something. But his mother didn't use it in practice. So it was as if I hadn't done anything. It was as if I hadn't taught her anything.

R: This raises an interesting question about teaching, though. If you tell someone how to do it. And demonstrate and drill the pronunciation with them, and then they don't do what you asked of them. Have you actually taught them anything? Or were you just talking to the air?

M: Yeah. It was as if I was talking to the air. Talk to the air, well, just talk to the air, yeah? Just like useless. Or I was wasting my breath. I wasted my breath, just nothing happened, people didn't listen, people didn't do what you wanted to teach them. And what do we say? I taught my mom something? I taught something to my mom?

R: I tried to teach my mom something.

M: So I tried to teach my mom some Russian, yeah? I tried to teach my friend how to swim. So I taught my friend how to speak. I taught my friend how to swim. I taught my, I don't know, brother how to cook an omelette.

R: Did you teach your brother how to cook an omelette?

M: No, no, no, no, just like...

R: Oh, I think that would be a good story. You should do some of these.

M: I should. She got the job done. So she ordered some food, she got the job done. She had it done and she violated all social norms. There are some social norms, some social norms of behaviour. So she violated them.

R: There are some social norms. My mother apparently disagrees.

M: So she broke the rules, right? Of like, don't touch people you don't know. Well, usually kind of Russians don't like it. Again, depends on the situation. Not everybody's like this. Yeah? And then Rory felt useless. I was feeling a bit useless. Because okay, he tried to teach her but she did her own thing. And almost a sense of awe. So I felt a sense of awe. What does it mean?

R: Just, I was amazed at how much she had failed to listen to what I'd said. It was like, do the opposite of what I just said. I'm glad you think it's funny.

M: Oh, it's hilarious. I felt utterly useless. Like I felt really useless. Like, utterly useless. But I felt impressed, because my mom was able to pull it off. Pull it off, to do it. So she did it. She got the job done. She was able to pull it off.

R: Against all odds, somehow she did it.

M: So she didn't speak any Russian. The waiter didn't speak English. She pulled it off, she ordered the food. With a massive smile on her face. And then again, our strategy, using the third conditional, we are imagining, what if I hadn't done that? But Rory did. If I hadn't taught her some Russian, nothing would have been any different.

R: Yes, nothing would change, I would still had to suffer through this experience.

M: Yeah. So the third conditional, because it's in the past, and we are thinking like unreal past.

R: Insane past

M: Rory, what helped you organize your story?

R: What did help me organize my story? Well, I really don't like this idea of when you start out your introduction, you'd say like, I'm going to talk about a relative. But instead, it was like a good idea for creating interest just saying, since this is my job, you would imagine I would do this. But actually, it's quite hard to think. And then you go into what you're going to say. Because most people are like this, most people do not have a story prepared in the moment for whatever it is they're going to be asked. So this is like quite a natural beginning to it. And then moving into a while back, because it's still not sure, just warming up my memory about when it happened. And then talking about who I was with there. So it's easy just to say my mother, and what I taught was the Russian lesson. And then talking about the result, I spent a long time talking about the result. And how I taught things I talked about demonstrating and then the result to say only to watch, and then describe how everything I had done was for nothing. I was a little bit mechanical and robotic with talking about how I felt because I just said despite feeling a bit useless, but still, it's good to start off with despite so even though I felt a bit useless, it was still very impressive to watch. So talking about my feelings, introducing the fact I'm going to talk about my feelings but in a slightly more creative way. And of course, making sure that I round off with my conditional ending. If I hadn't done that, and then changing it, twisting it a little bit. If I hadn't done that, well, nothing would change, it would have gone exactly how my mother had wanted it to go. She leads a life of her own.

M: Yeah. Dear listener, what you can talk about here? So first of all, decide friend or relative, what would be easier for you to talk about. Maybe you taught your friend how to speak English, how to cook, like choose something which is easy for you to talk about, okay? Or you can choose the same situation and just imagine that a foreign friend came to your country and you wanted to teach them some of your native language. What else do you usually teach? Teach them how to speak a certain language, teach them how to cook. Teach them how to drive. Yeah.

R: Well, my family never taught me how to drive.

M: Teach them how to what? How to use some kind of technology.

R: Oh, yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. Like lots of young people teach their older relatives how to use apps and technology.

M: There you go.

R: And all of this would fit in great because, of course, when you teach someone how to use technology the first time they always make a mess of it.

M: Yeah. Thank you very much for listening! And we'll get back to you in speaking part three!

R: Where I'm going to talk about teaching and skills. Bye!

M: Bye!

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