📙 Part 2: Describe your favorite childhood friend

This episode's vocabulary

To hang out (phrasal verb) - to spend a lot of time in a particular place or with a particular group of people.

Utter (adj.) - used to emphasize something.

Nonsense (noun) - if something someone has said or written is nonsense, it is silly and not true.

Ultimately (adverb) - used to emphasize the most important fact in a situation.

Relate to someone (phrasal verb) - to understand someone and be able to have a friendly relationship with them.

Frame of reference (noun) - a set of ideas or facts that a person accepts and that influences the person’s behavior, opinions, or decisions.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory, are you ready?

R: Yes.

M: Come on.

R: This is difficult since I didn't have many friends growing up, and usually I was just grateful that anyone took an interest in speaking to me at all. However, one friend does stand out, now I think about it. In greater detail, I used to have a friend called Kevin, who I hung out with in primary and high school. We actually met each other twice, now that I think about it, both through school and mutual friends. I think in terms of what we got up to, it wasn't much different to what teenagers usually do. Generally, a lot of walking and talking utter nonsense and thinking we were being very grown up, when in fact, we were just kids, to be honest with you. I think it was ultimately our shared sense of dark and wildly inappropriate humor that brought us together. Although the coincidence of being approximately the same age probably made it easier for us to relate to each other, in addition to living nearby. Oh, well, by that, I mean, when you're of a similar age, you usually have a similar frame of reference too. Still, it couldn't have happened with just anyone. We had a lot of fun together. And I don't think I'll ever forget these days just because, well, when you're a child, everything seems so new and fun. And it's not really like that when you're an adult, and you've kind of done everything. So it sort of fades in your memory and doesn't stick as much. But I still think it made for some pretty good times, to be honest with you. I definitely wouldn't have traded those experiences for anything else.

M: Thank you, Rory! And what about your friend, does he like you?

R: I certainly hope so.

M: Oh, does he feel the same about you?

R: I certainly hope so.

M: Yeah, dear listener, just at the end of this part, the examiner will ask you a very short question just to wrap it up, just to finish, right? And you just answer with one sentence, this would be enough. Usually, the examiner asks this question and just moves on to speaking part three.

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Discussion

M: So, what a topic, describe your favorite childhood friend. Again, dear listener, you should now choose a friend. It may not be your childhood friend, but just a friend who you're gonna describe here. And again, the tense forms that Rory has used, Present, Past, Present Perfect. So different tense forms. And you started off with this is difficult, since... Since means because. So this is difficult, since I didn't have many friends. Or this is difficult, because I didn't have many friends growing up. So when I was growing up, I didn't have many friends.

R: No, thanks for putting a fine point on it.

M: And one friend does stand out. Yeah? You said, so one friend does stand out, and I'm gonna tell you about him or her. So to stand out like that friend was memorable. And Rory remembers that particular friend. Then you said, I used to have a friend called Kevin. So this is a nice starting phrase, I used to, now I don't have this friend. So I used to have a friend called Kevin. Right? A friend called Kevin. Or I had a friend called Maria.

R: I still do have a friend called Maria.

M: No, for example. And then you said hung out with.

R: Yeah, so if you hang out, you spend time together.

M: So I had a friend called Kevin who I hung out with, so mind the tense form, the form. So hang, hang out every day, but in the past it's hung out with. I hung out with Kevin in the past. And then you met each other through school. So through school, because of school, and also through mutual friends. Who are mutual friends?

R: They're friends that you share with each other. So he had friends who lived near him, and I shared those friends, but not through living near them, just through being at the same school.

M: Yeah, we met each other through school or through college, or through mutual friends. And then you used a phrasal verb, which is we caught up to.

R: Yes. So you get up to, well, different actions, but it's usually like getting up to no good or getting up to mischief. So it just, it's another way of describing being badly behaved, but in a, in a not so bad way.

M: So if, for example, you want to do something like naughty, and I come up to you and say, oh, Rory, what are you up to? What are you up to? And Rory's like, hey, I'm gonna do something bad. Yeah. So we got up to. Yeah, something naughty. And a nice one is in terms of what we got up to. So it's kind of like what we did together. In terms of what we did together, we did this and that. And Rory said, like nothing much, we did a lot of walking, talking utter nonsense. Yeah. Because it's kind of again, you are childhood friends. So when you were a child, when you were maybe at school or before school even. So we did a lot of talking. So we talked utter nonsense, or like real nonsense.

R: Complete.

M: Yes. Complete nonsense. Yeah, like silly things. And we thought we were very grown up, right? So the phrasal verb here is to grow up. So we were growing up, I met this friend when I was growing up. And also you can say we were just kids. We were just children, we were just kids, kids is a nice word to use here. We were just kids, what is a shared sense of humor? So it was our shared sense of humor.

R: It's like mutual friends. Shared means you have it in common with each other. So a shared sense of humor, or a shared interest or a common interest.

M: And you can say that our shared sense of humor brought us together. So if something brings us together, it kind of unites us, right? So this podcast brings Rory and I together, perhaps you can say our activities brought us together. Our, I don't know, our friends brought us together. So something that brought you together. And then about the age. What can we say about the age? So you said that we were the same age? Right?

R: Yeah. So it just means, well, we were about the same age, so I said approximately the same age, but about or around the same age, because we're not exactly the same age. He's a little bit older than me.

M: And then you can say we were of a similar age. So we were the same age, we were peers, right? So the same age. And then another one is, we were of a similar age. And then a similar frame of reference. What is this? A frame of reference?

R: A frame of reference is like sharing a context to understand things. So you and I share a similar frame of reference because we're both English teachers. So we can talk about things related to English teaching. People who are the same age usually like the same memes or read similar books or literature. So that gives them a similar frame of reference. So when they talk about something, the other person understands what it means.

M: Like a similar context.

R: Yeah.

M: Okay, nice. It couldn't have happened with just anyone. This is a very nice one. So here because the story is in the past. It's about your childhood. So back at school, we can't say it couldn't happen. No. So we need Perfect Infinitive. So Present Perfect. And could, it couldn't have happened with anyone. Right? It happened only with this person. We had a lot of fun together. Yeah. Growing up.

R: And then even though we're talking about the past, we can refer to the future. I don't think I'll forget these days.

M: Yeah, this is a nice one. Or if you use the past, like I didn't think we would be friends. Right? If you still have this friend, right? So, like a childhood friend, but you are still friends with this person, you can use Present Perfect. We've been friends for a long time. And we are still friends. We get along well. So get along well with this person, to have good relationship with this person. But Rory talked about the past because like I used to have this friend. But now Rory and Kevin, don't hang out, right? Rory, you don't call Kevin?

R: Well, yeah, you asked me to describe a childhood friend.

M: So describe your childhood friend, it means a friend from the past, right? Even if I'm still friends with this person, I can't talk about this person?

R: Oh well, you could if you wanted to, but we're not, like I've met lots of people since like, I was a child. So sometimes you move on.

M: Yeah, so you had this friend, and then you moved on. Rory, what helped you organize this answer?

R: Well, the answer wasn't very organized, was it? Because of course, I started off just by saying, like, why this is difficult? Because I don't know. But you can say that at the beginning. Because there's lots of structures there. Like, oh, it's difficult since, so because, and then I had a chance to use the phrasal verb, oh, now I think about it, someone does stand out. And then I stopped talking. And Maria prompted me. In the exam, your examiner will not cough, they will look at you like you're a mad person. So then I went into greater detail about who my friend was, and where we met each other. And what we used to do together in a bit more detail, but then I ran out of things to see. So Maria prompted me again. And then I went into more detail about what brought us together as well. And the reason why I can do that is because we had to talk about what we often did together. And a sense of humor is something that is recurring throughout your childhood. And then I ran out of things to say again, and Maria coughed, to tell me to keep going. And then I went into even more detail about what I meant when I said, we were brought together by our shared sense of humor.

M: Sweet.

R: So just remember, look at the examiner, make sure that they're looking at you like a normal person, not a crazy person, and you'll know when to keep going and when to stop.

M: Excellent. Thank you very much for listening! And we'll see you in speaking part three, where we talk about childhood friends! Bye!

R: Bye!

M: Bye-bye-bye!

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